Nightwhispers: Silence/Chapter 2

Darkness transitions into light, and there's a small room, a single person is inside a chair, strapped to it and forced to watch a screen. Their eyes held open, while lights flicker on an old fashioned screen. They are screaming, although silently, their hands pressed tight against the chair. On the screen is a library, rather massive in shape, and four figures can be made out. They seem to be playing out parts of a script, a skunk, two foxes, and a husky, oddly realistic in their shapes, the special effects these days are quite good. They appear to be running from something, shadow moving behind the four.

And the camera focuses on the four, reality coming in along with realization that something is out of place. The robotic script comes to a hault as the four have memories flood back in. Sorien, Aidan, Alynna and Narg are huddled around inside an area that the sun shines down, illuminating the four and holding the shadows at bay.

Sori blinks and looks around, trying to get a grip at just what the hell is going on...

Aidan opens her eyes wide, looking around with a really uneasy feeling, like if recovering from something awful. "What.. where am I now?" she asks, clearly confused and... still scared. Aidan. Scared.

Narg blinks and growls putting her hand on where the apparent dream had stabbed her "Well whatever that was could have gone better... Now where am I..." she takes a look around at her surrounding to determine this information.

"I don't recognize this place..." Says Sori, looking more closely at the scene.

Alynna looks straight up, averting her eyes from the sunlight only by a bit, trying to discern where it is coming from. She doesn't know where she is, and oddly enough she doesn't know what she had been doing before either. "Where the heck.." is the only thing that escapes her mouth for the moment. Her appearance at the moment was that of her feral form, and she looks like she had spent a month in some forest.

Corridors go off into the distance, lined high with books, there seems to be no end. A thin haze of bookdust hangs in the air, masking scents beyond the four, but the four do smell. The light above streams through a vaulted glass ceiling, casting sunlight into an otherwise dark tomb of literature.

Narg nods at Sori and stands up to dust herself off. "Well, wherever we are I'm not sure we should really be here... anyone else agree?" She looks at all the books with eyes of admiration, however. "I wonder if any of those books are still readable..."

Are you three okay? I seem to be... I remember a truly screwed up dream." Says Sori.

Aidan focuses a bit on the other, still holding a defensive stance against the others. "What's... happening? Alynna? Sorien? Narg?" she asks, before answering Sorien, "Sorien.. yes, I can definitely remember a screwed up dream. If a dream..."

Sori replies, "I have no clue. But..."

Narg nods "I had me a messed up dream too.. I died, I seem to be fine though..."

Alynna raises her nose up high and starts to sniff about, curious about the scents. Her ears perk to points as she hears other voices, moving slightly forward like she's prepared to track a scent. "If we were not supposed to be here, why bring me here?" She yips, and then when she hears Aidan she moves straightaway over to her mate, rubbing against her leg.

A small finger of shadow probes the light, flickering for a moment against it and then pulling back. The place is utterly silent besides the four friends, but not far away there's a terminal counter, and a map posted on one of the large columns nearby. Besides the scent of the others, and that of dust, there's a very faint background scent, or... lack of scent, almost like an impression of something that was once, and no longer is.

Narg wrinkles her nose at the bugging of a small lack scent for the room "That's... strange. Course I should expect that..." she walks over to get as close to the map as she can without going into the shadow and begins to study it carefully "Someone may wanna check that terminal out..."

Aidan is used to relying on her scent, and the lack of scents is really setting her a bit off. As soon as Alynna is close to her, the fox seems to forget about her fears- for now at least- and wraps her arms around Alynna, holding her tightly. "Yes.. there isn't anything normal since.. a while, at least for me. But from what I hear, it was weird and unpleasant for you as well."

Alynna started to circle around Aidan, almost looking confused as she sniffs around in every direction and wonders why there is such a lack of scents. "I'm sorry I've been away for a bit... What's weird and unpleasant?" Her ears lower significantly. "I seem to be missing a spot of memory."

"I'm loathe to interact at all here. It feels like... Well, I don't think I'm... WE'RE here. Wherever here is. I may be dreaming- I have no idea how I got here, now where I am, and I don't feel like I've been drugged or anything. My brain is saying 'trap' too, but maybe 'safe zone' is better." Sori says.

The map is gigantic, showing quadrants, and miles and miles of corridors. No exit, it seems entirely self contained, but there is a more central area, and their location is in the southeast corner, the mythology section.

Narg whistles at the sheer size of it all, or at least to tries to whistle. She then rubs her hands together. "We seem to be in the mythology section of this place, southwest corner of the complex if I read this right"

Sori says, "What do you all think- trap or safe zone?" She moves forward, staying well within the light and glances at the books.

Aidan holds tightly to Alynna, walking to the map with her at her side. "It seems so. And yes, I had quite... An unpleasant dream. Not that this makes more sense, actually."

Alynna glances over in Sori's direction. "Considering I don't remember what I was doing before now and I don't know what I'm doing here, I'm going to place my chips on 'trap'.. That being said, I'm glad yer all here."

The edge of the shadow creeps again into the light, making the light recoil for a moment as it slides over the surface, and is then pushed back. The border of the light ripples near Sorien, when she looks at the stacks all of the books read Coyote, every single one of them is about him. And amazingly, none of them are duplicates.

"Mine... Was a twisted variation of what happened on P-Day. Reality was that nothing happened to me on P-day. It was days later than everything went truly to hell. ... Huh. They're all Coyote." Sori says.

Narg grumbles "I don't feel comfortable relating mine at the moment... Sori, that shadow is reaching at you I think..." She moves over to the terminal desk as long as it's in the light and checks the terminal for the first thing on the screen. "But my money is on a trap at the moment"

"Mine... was unpleasant. I was... It. And everyone in the pub was staring at me, hating me. There was your daughter, Sorien. She was with me, hugging me even if I was trying to push her back, scared to hurt her. She was telling me that everything was fine... and I bit her. Then I think I woke up here."

A scream erupts from one of the corridors, echoing through it, otherwise eerily silent. It is accompanied by a rippling in the dust in the air. The computer terminal seems locked, and spurts out the word, Coyote. Over and over again.

Sori snorts. "Huh. Playing on fears. Wonder who does that. I think we have our villain." She hugs Aidan. "I trust you, sweetie. You'd not hurt Kay."

Alynna moves over to one of the books, and starts to sniff at them. "Thats not much of a surprise, Coyote gets all the attention." Her ears started to lower a bit as she thought about it.

Narg frowns. "The screen just seems to be spouting Coyote over and over again..." Her ears prick at the sound of the scream before earflattening "Yeah, definitely not a good place to be right now. We either need to get out or investigate that scream... So who has a plan?"

Sori gives a little, sharp laugh. "We've been aware for all of 5 minutes! WHAT plan? I'm still working on what the hell is up, and how this happened. Shadow was OUT of all of us. Somehow the shit got an avenue back in- the real question we have is how." She reaches for one of the fully-lit books. "But we can't just do nothing, so I'm checking this."

"Coyote..." Aidan sighs a bit, before hearing the outburst after the hug. "I think we should calm down and try to relax a bit before starting to think about why we are here and how to get out of here."

The book opens to a small passage that reads, Chapter 1: Cannot Run. The test below it is empty. The next chapter repeats the same, and so forth. And the shimmering shadows again reach out for Sorien before being snapped back from the light.

Narg rubs her eyes at the apparent lack of urgency to the situation; she does notice the snap of shadow at Sorien. "Sori, get away from the shadow NOW!" she isn't yelling, rather emphasizing the point that she should move.

Sori puffs out an already-exasperated breath. "Cripes, knock of the theatrics! We know who and what you are. We know the game. Cheap movie effects ain't gonna do it, Shadow." She steps back, entirely for Narg's benefit, saying, "He preys on fear. That's what the snapping shadows and screaming is about. Getting us scared. Mostly he just ticks me off."

Alynna tries to grab one of the books on the shelves, in her mouth, so she can read it. After retrieving a random one she drops it on the floor in front of her. "I wonder who needs soo much documentation and what it's all for. Maybe someone's looking for a weakness. Is this the shadow thing y'all are always talking about?" she yips softly.

Narg nods "Yeah well if you'd had my dream you would be just a tiny bit more concerned about the fact it's only been trying to grab at you Sori, I'm just trying to look out for you"

Sori smiles at Narg. "Its cool, I do understand. But I won't let this twenty-thousand-odd year-old amateur Wes Craven wannabe get to me."

Now there is crying that can be heard, Kaylah's soft whimpering. She sounds in pain and terrified.

Narg nods "Well get to your reading th.... Kay?" she twitches her ears around in an attempt to hear which corridor the sounds are coming from

The book Alynna has is a story about Coyote's fall, it has a comic image of him rolling down a hill like a rock.

Sori's ears flat. "Cheap bastard..." She takes a breath, then another. "The book said 'Can't run.' I'm not sure if that's a hint or what. But protecting my own... That's what I'm about." She raises her voice, knowing that if it IS Kay, she'll respond. "Kay! If this is you, don't be afraid, no matter what you see or hear. Tell me what your favorite thing is!"

“Fear... Shadow?" Aidan asks, seeming that Sorien knows quite better what's going on. Still, she shivers as she feels Kay's voice.

She clearly can't hear, as no response comes, but the whimpering doesn't stop, and only grows louder with time. And out from one of the corridors stumbles Rihko, mildly dazed and walking in the shadows, confused as to where she is.

Narg nods and tenses as she sees something stumble out of the shadows only to relax and rush over to help Rihko into the sunlight "Rihko you all right?"

Alynna's ears perk up a little bit, leaving the book where it is. She wanders back over to Aidan. "Dollars to donuts that isn't even her. Someone who wanted to rile us up would just try to think it was.."

Sori is doing her best Vulcan imitation, but it's obvious the sobs are getting to her. "If it's getting louder its not her, its Shadow pushing the situation. And I'll kill him for that alone."

Aidan nods at Sorien, still moving closer to her, as well as keeping Alynna close. n"What are we going to do? You seem to have been in more encounters with... Shadow."

Rihko staggers forward a few steps, eyes wide and blank. When someone calls her name she slowly turns her head towards Narg, then takes another couple of unsteady steps towards the husky, slowly entering the light. The kitsune's head tilts to the side, and she slowly blinks, then looks down at her paws. Then she looks back up, and blinks at Narg.

"I wish I had a better answer other than 'I don't know', Aidan. What he'll do is drive fears down our throats til we do something stupid, like walking or running into the shadows- that'll be us giving a willing avenue for him to directly get into us... But its gonna hurt, what he's going to do to get that," Sori says.

Narg tilts her head at Rihko's confusion "If your wondering if it's me then yes, yes it is... And if you had any weird experiences they were not real."

Alynna sighs and shakes her head a bit. "You didn't tell me that this Shadow guy was also pathetic as well." She yips loud into the air and follows it with more commentary. "Come out come out, wherever you are. If you want to kill somebody today you're going to have to be a lot more direct."

"He CAN do that, Alynna. He wants a tool though, and we've thwarted him before." Says Sori.

In response the shadow leaps from the boundary into the light in direct path to Alynna.

Sorien leaps and tries to spin Alynna clear of the strike, while avoiding it herself!

Rihko's ears go flat and her paws drop. She continues staring at Narg with a blank, empty stare. "You're not real either..." she echoes Narg.

"This is..." Aidan says, "And you fought him. I can't really... What's that?". The fox growls, jumping in front of Alynna... but it's too late, since Sorien already did.

Four more Tendrils also leap, the original missing its target, two more going for Sorien and Alynna and falling back from the light, while two come into contact with Aidan. The moment they touch her flesh, it begins to dissolve, eating at the flesh of her legs, stripping it to the bone.

Narg watches as everyone jumps at Alynna before she can react and returns to tending to Rihko "Rihko snap out of it what ever you saw was put into your head to confuse you that's all"

Alynna quickly summons balls of light around the group to attempt to drown out the Shadows, taking a single step back. If she's afraid at this point there's no appearance of it, even if she should be. "Hmm.. No." she raises a paw in the direction of the shadow to direct it to chase the Shadow off, if that is even possible.

The light illuminates the areas that cast a normal shadow, but the stuff attacking them is a thick globe of potent and pure darkness, it slinks away to hide back away from the light and begins to pull in its prey.

Aidan falls on the ground, passing out from the pain of having the flesh of her legs eaten.

Sori snaps, "Narg! Grab Aidan's arms and pull her back!" When she says that, she tries to use her healing ability on Aidan, knowing that it isn't precisely Nanites.

Rihko pats Narg on the shoulder. "Sure, dream-Narg. Sure," she says, her tone rather... empty, still. Her head turns though and she frowns as she sees dream-Aidan being eaten; at dream-Sorien's order, she steps forward to grab Aidan's arm and try to pull her back away from the shadow. "Hey. That's not nice. I like Aidan."

Narg whips her flashlight out of the side of her backpack and moves to grab Aidan to pull her well out of the way; she flips the light on and sweeps it before Aidan's legs as she pulls!

The thing reacts poorly to the light and slips its grip off of Aidan as she's pulled away. Sorien's attempt to heal is little more than a joke, like a bucket in the water. Aidan's well past the point of unconscious, and leaves a slick trail of blood on the ground as she's pulled away. The area fills with a chill breeze and the lit area seems to be shrinking around them as a cloud overhead moves in front of the sun.

Alynna erfs softly. "Ahh, shit." she yips, directing the light to follow in front of hir as shi walks quickly in Aidan's direction. Shi grabs onto one of Aidan's tails in hir mouth and starts to help drag her away as well, rring softly, not speaking as that would cause her to let go. She tries to surround Aidan in the lights she's summoned, and then everyone else as shi tries to bring Aidan over into the group.

Sori strips her shirt off and starts stanching the bloodflow, wrapping the horrid injuries as best she can.

Narg offers a small prayer to God for that cloud to move quickly as she draws her pistol, probably more for comfort than anything else. "Yah had to say somethin' didn't you, Alynna didn't ya..." She sighs and points at any point that seems darkest in the darkness and fires her weapon, sending a bolt of light into the shadows.

Rihko stops dragging when Aidan is in the middle of the circle of light; she crouches there a moment and blinks, then sniffs at the air. She helps Sorien with Aidan's legs, looking to the shadows and back to Aidan a few times as she works. "This..." she says, and pauses, then tries again. "This... You're not just a dream-Sorien, are you?" She asks quietly, her tone livening up with growing realization.

Sori mutters, "Yes and no. Busy here..."

A series of vines burst out of the ground. They snake their way around Aiden, and dig into her flesh. The darkness makes another attempt to leap at the group, and a massive tree bursts from the ground meeting it in the way. The vines snake up and around the group, and then begin to pull Aidan down, into the earth below. One by one, the vines wrap around each of the others, pulling them under; Alynna, the last one to go, is startled when a fox bumps up against her, and presses its cold nose up against her. With some sadness it watches as Alynna sinks as well, as if waving goodbye, its sad eyes staring. Alynna sees the globe of nature shatter just as she slides into the warmth.

Sori grits her teeth and hangs onto Aidan, even as the vines grab her.

Narg curses and holsters her pistol, breathing calmly as she is sucked down into the earth before stopping her breath and offering another small prayer.

Snowblind's ears are ringing as the sounds of artillery and explosions echo, falling marble striking the ground and people in the city flee for cover. It takes time for her brain to focus amongst the confusion, the city walls locked and thudding as a siege outside lays waste to the town defenses. She finally gets her bearing to see the prone form of Aidan in front of her, who's groaning and appears to have taken some kind of wound to her leg, though not severe.

Alynna yips loudly as she is dragged underground by the vines, though she turns quickly to look at the fox that pressed its nose against hir, trying to get a good glimpse of who it was before she is tugged away. Even more so, she tries to figure out where they are all going. Shi mumbles softly, something about not letting the shadow have us.

Snowblind shakes her head and rushes towards Aidan to help her with her wound. She shakes her head some more, trying to clear her vision and her ears. But more importantly she wants to get Aidan and her to the semi safety of cover and shelter.

An old opera house is nearby, and from the noise coming from within is occupied with a performance despite the city being under attack. Aidan's conscious but dazed; she seems confused, but her memories are there though she's not sure how she got from protecting her mate to the city. She does remember the pain.

Narg lets herself be dragged along by the vines in confusion as to where she is being brought

Aidan seems to groan in pain, slowly shaking her head and looking around confused. She touches her legs, like if reassuming that they are still there.

Snowblind clears her head enough to hear Aidan groan and helps her with a calming voice. "Easy Aidan. I think you got hit by something. Just stay with me. I see an opera house still standing; let me get you to it before I help more. Spirits... I..." She stammers at the end but then just gives a gentle but firm tug to help her up and into a position where she can carry if need be.

Aidan seems to appreciate the friendly touch, shaking her head with confusion. A shadow.. ate my legs away. Alynna.. where is she?" she pants in pain.

Alynna takes a look at Aidan's legs, then starts to lick at them a bit, as if she expected the licks to help in some way. Then she moves straightaway over to Snowblind and Aidan. "I think that went better than expected. However, maybe I should apologize. He was just being annoying, that Shadow guy. I thought it'd be better to bring him out on our own terms, rather than fall into his traps." shi looks over to the opera house, then returns to licking at Aidan's legs, trying to heal them the rest of the way. "Speaking of which, I wonder if we're still in one."

There's more ringing as another artillery shell strikes one of the nearby buildings, demolishing its roof and sending chunks of stone to the ground below. The opera house is particularly welcoming to the group in this time of great war. Inside the orchestra is playing a rather cheesy tune, and on the stage are rather obscenely large set pieces, in this case a giant fake water scene, and a ship peeks just over the edge. On the stage are multiple actors on the boat, the captain is a robust man, and behind him his ship is being crewed by familiar faces, Narg, Sorien, Crystala, and Rihko are all there, playing their parts, until realization hits them again, memories of who they are returning.

"Shadow? The Shadow?" Snow asks then blinks and nods to Alynna as it seems that Aidan asking for her brought her here. "She is right here, Aidan. She is helping you as well." She seems more interested in making sure that Aidan is alright than discussing shadow more right now. "Dear, will you help Aidan on my back. The licking is doing well but we should head for cover. I'd rather a roof try to hit us then more artillery." Snow says as she then gets in the building with the rest of the group on stage. "Now... what the?"

Sori blinks, looking around startledly. She looks at the players she doesn't recall, seeing if she knows any of them.

Rihko strikes a dramatic pose, finger raised, then abruptly falters. She freezes, and blinks, and looks around at the others. "I... uh..." her head turns and her ears swivel. "I... where's Aidan?" she asks, turning to peer out over the opera house.

Narg shakes her head as she begins climbing the rigging. She blinks a moment, then a wry grin appears on her face. "Avast me 'earties where in the seven seas we be?!" She snickers and continues climbing the rigging to keep up the act for a bit.

Aidan nods confused at Snow, still hugging Alynna as soon as she's close. "Are you alright, love?" she asks, touching Alynna's body as to reassure that she's real. Then, nodding to Snow, she says, "Shadows... but from the way Sorien was speaking, I think THAT shadow."

Sori looks at the rest of the crew, swallows, then starts laughing!

The captain continues on his monologue, announcing himself as the great Baron, and talks into the sea, where women in mermaid costumes peek above the fake waves, and flaunt themselves at him. The performance is really hackenyed though, and quite terrible.

The audience begins to boo, throwing rotten food at Sorien.

Sori bites down on the giggles and tries to fit in for the moment.

Narg arghs as she reaches the top of the rigging and moves to the crows nest where she hangs off and swings around with her hand above her eyes to look at the scene.

Alynna rubs up against Aidan's paw and nods a little bit. "I was relatively unmolested by the Shadow. I think it went after you just to piss me off. It must know that my nanites suppress fear, kind of like Loki's nanites suppress social skills." She giggles softly. "Well, i'm not really sure how much or if they do so, it just seems to be a hard thing for me to feel."

Rihko moves up and puts a paw on Sorien's shoulder, fighting down a little snicker. "If there's one place we'd be safe, it would be at the side of Baron von Munchausen. And he is always wonderful to the ladies," she says quietly, and smiles.

An old man interrupts the play, shouting, "No, No, No, this is all wrong! All wrong!" The man is quite old and hobbles up onto the stage, but is dressed similarly to the actor on the stage playing the Baron. He shakes a finger and turns to the audience, "This is not right!" and the audience boos at the man interrupting the show.

Rihko's ears perk up and her tails flick. She giggles, and leans against the side of the fake boat. "And who are you then, good sir?" she calls out, her tails waving more energetically as she gets into it. "Why are you interrupting us?"

Sori has the muzzled equivalent of an ear to ear grin, knowing what's going on VERY well. "Bloody right it isn't," she mutters in a bad english accent.

Snowblind sets Aidan down in Alynna's arms as she looks over the damage that is done. Her ears are turned toward the stage and at the multiple outbursts she turns her head ever so slightly. "Ever get the feeling that nothing is making sense?" She murmers to the two before she gives Aidan a pat on the leg. "Alynna did a good job, it will sting a bit I bet but you should be able to walk." She smiles to Aidan then takes a seated position to look a bit more towards the stage. "And why during the shelling are they even putting on..." She shakes her head once more to clear it. "So much not making sense right now."

Narg drops by means of rope from her perch up on the crows nest, winding up standing next to Sorien and Rihko with a thump of floorboards. "An' why are ya disruptin' tha play ye ole sea dog?"

Alynna transforms straight away into the taur version of herself, so that Aidan can be placed on her back and carried, which she proceeds to do. Then she looks up. "Better question. Why is the entire town being shelled in the first place? I'm guessing we're headlong in another illusion."

The elderly man turns to Rihko and says, "But /I/ am the great Baron von Munchaussen! Do you not recognize me?" He appeals to the crowd, attempting to put on a show despite being hilariously old and frail. The boos continue.

Crys moves forward to Sorien and whispers, "Love, what in the bloody hell is going on? Do you know these people?"

ori blinks and HUGS Crys. "We're in a movie. I think... Its a safehaven, of sorts. It certainly isn't the Shadow's doing," she whispers. Louder, she says, "I believe you, Baron."

Narg snerks "Nay my ole sea dog ye are much to old an frail ta be tha great Baron von Munchaussen! If ye must say ye are then prove it!"

Rihko peers down at the Baron for a moment, and her head tilts to the side. "That sounds nasty. Is it contagious?" Her ear flicks, and she grins, then looks over at Sorien and Crys and giggles.

"Nothing is making sense here... beside the pain." Aidan sighs, relaxing a bit on Alynna's tauric back. "And about that, love.. I don't have any answer. Still, thank you for what you did, I thought I'd lost the legs."

The Baron's smile brightens, "My, my, such beautiful ladies..." He begins, and then a thrown object strikes him on the head and distracts him. Small differences in the scene playing out are beginning to add up. He turns to scowl at the crowd, "You are all brutes! You should show these beautiful ladies more respect!"

Alynna's ears lay back a bit. "I.. The vines were not my doing, there was someone else..." she thought a bit about that then turned to the movie characters, gently poking at the ones she knows, staring with Crys. "You all alright?" she yips softly.

A shell strikes the theatre, shaking the building and putting a hole in the ceiling, part of the ceiling tumbling down and crashing into an empty section. The fighting outside seems to be getting worse, perhaps the Turks are winning?

Sori giggles appropriately at the flattery, giving the Baron his due.

Crys is just outright confused now, she does spot Snow, Aidan and Alynna entering the opera house, and her eyes flicker in recognition. She then hops over the edge of the boat and passes up through the jeering crowd to approach her friends, who might be more forthcoming.

Narg grumbles a bit about being called a beautiful lady but bows in thanks, before stumbling to the left a little bit as the theater is hit by a shell. "By davey jone's locker what are they doing out there!?!?"

Rihko giggles happily and claps her hands. "Oh, Baron, you are such a gentleman..." she catches sight of Snow and Aidan and Alynna in the back of the theater, and waves them over, motioning for them to join the rest.

Snowblind just ends up nodding to Alynna and Aidan and watching the tragedy unfold on the scene. "I am half expecting a knight to come charging across the stage. It would make just as much sense." She then turns after jumping at the shelling that has hit but luckily not harmed anyone. "Or that... Alynna, you have Aidan?" She asks before turning back to them and making sure Aidan is set. "If you want something for that pain I should have something here somewhere." She then checks herself once again. "We should grab everyone and leave before the next shell."

Rihko gives Narg a little nudge. "It's a war. We're at war with the Turks."

Narg nods and frowns "Well, why are we in a play then?" a question to herself more than anyone else.

Alynna nods in agreement with the group. "Yeah, I think we ought to get the heck out of here. In particular, perhaps a bomb shelter or something would be nice to seek out.." shi started to have a look around, then yips softly. "I wonder if we're in the right time period. Maybe we ought to just leave the city?"

"Thank you, Snow..." Aidan nods. "And leaving this place before it fall on our heads... sounds quite a good idea."

"We're safe here. Kinda." Sori says to those still near.

The Baron seems to be growing more youthful and spirited, especially from the flattering reactions of Rihko, Narg and Sorien. He grins widely and says, "I shall tell you all about my stories!" and begins to tell a rambling tale, correcting the details, but missing out on key things that explain how he got to that point. He turns back to the three women and bows, "We shall have to fight the turks, and save the city! That will prove I am the Baron will it not?"

Crys moves up close to the three, and says, "I... I've no idea what's going on, but Sorien mentioned something about being in a movie? I've no idea, but this place feels... wrong. Are we dreaming?"

Sori says, "That it will, Baron, that it will. Call Beaucephalus, and ride!"

Rihko giggles, and claps her hands. "Oh, of course, Baron!" She calls out. "You've already beaten the Sultan once before, haven't you?" She bounces a little on her feet, then leans in towards Crys and Sorien. She examines Crys for a moment, then nods. "Mmhm. I'm not sure if you're all real or not, but I like this dream much more than the last couple."

Rihko hops down off of the stage and scampers after Crystala, eager to see if Aidan is alright.

"Yes, or at least I hope that this madness is a dream... a bad dream..." Aidan sighs, resting on Alynna's back.

Alynna starts to tap on her head a little bit. "That's a good question. I wonder if I'm dreaming. Not that I object, but I literally haven't got the foggiest clue what I'm doing here or even what I have been doing before I was here. At the same time, too many questions are being asked for this to be a dream, at least from only one perspective.."

The ever younger Baron shouts out about how he, and his companions will push back the Sultan, and save the city. The crowd continues to jeer. "And onward!" he shouts, and begins to lead his way out of the theater. Another shell strikes, bringing a different part of the stadium down, this time onto one of the loudest parts of the crowd that was jeering.

Crys looks over the wounded Aidan, "What happened to you my friend?" her eyes grow with concern, not really paying attention to the rowdy Baron's scene that's playing out.

Snowblind smiles and gives a last look over the injured. "Crys I think we are, if not then I ended up in the wrong place, the wrong time, but with the right people. Though..." She pauses and listens to Alynna and Aidan before nodding again as Rihko starts to approach. "I would like to ask another question though. Who is dreaming? For here I am with friends but still it looks like... SPIRITS!" Snow exclaims as the roof comes down on a crowd. "Alynna get Aidan and Crys out NOW." She says then to the group on stage, "Forgot the play get out, get out NOW!" She yells and runs towards the collapsed section of the roof to check for anyone who might of survived it falling in.

Narg looks at a loss for what to do before she runs to the edge and hurdles over the lip of the boat. She follows Rihko before stopping and watching the baron run off, then the section of the ceiling falling down. "I think the Baron I shall follow! Onwards and outwards!!!"

Sori hops out of the boat, heading for Crys and the others. "Follow the Baron, my friends! To Victory!" She says loudly! When she reaches Crys she whispers, "Its one of the gods, one with a sense of humor, protecting us. Follow along!"

Rihko waits for Sorien to catch up, then pats her on the shoulder before following in behind. She's grinning, and moving light on her feet, happy and amused at the dream and her.

Alynna looks around confused, trying to figure out what is going on. If this is a movie, she's never seen it before. She leads Aidan on her back over towards the Baron. "Well, I s'pose we ought to follow him about a bit, he seems to be in charge."

Outside the Baron marches, and points to a large hot air balloon that seems to have appeared from out of nowhere. He invites everyone to join him for adventure, looking quite youthful and spirited now. He once again compliments all the beautiful ladies with a giant grin.

Aidan holds tightly on Alynna as she follows the Baron, the whole situation preventing her to reply to Crystala.

Sori follows along, wondering if she's in the part of the young girl or if someone else is in that role.

Narg blushes and waves the compliment off as she boards the airship on her own, without the help that the Baron would be sure to offer if she was to believe Rihko's description of him being good with the ladies.

Rihko gives the Baron a deep curtsey and holds out a hand to be kissed. "I would be delighted, Baron!" she exclaims, then laughs happily and, once the proper formalities have been observed, she scrambles up into the hot air balloon as well.

Crys looks questioningly at her mate, "Should we follow?" seeming to be as lost as the others.

Another artillery shell whistles in the air overhead and hits the opera house again; shaking it to the core and making it painfully obvious that the city itself is not safe, despite the welcoming content of the dream.

"Yes!" Is the succinct answer, Sori still grinning. "The Baron is a Hero. Note the capital letter!"

Crys shakes her head and sighs, and then helps Alynna to get Aidan into the Balloon.

Alynna nods and heads over to the balloon. "I tend to agree with Sori here. The Baron looks like a smart bloody fool to me. In either case, he's our guide," she yips softly, as she gets into it.

Sori boards, then after Aidan is aboard offers her hand to Crys. "Go with it, sweetie," she whispers. "What does the Shadow fear?"

With some help, Aidan manages to get into the Balloon, looking back grateful to those that help her.

Rihko helps pull Aidan into the basket, and holds her steady until Alynna can climb in as well.

After helping Aidan inside, Crys headtilts at Sorien, "The Shadow fears?" she looks genuinely confused, "He never seemed to... fear, as he lives off it."

Alynna hmmphs softly. "Well then, we should operate without fear. Seems simple enough!"

The Baron pulls out a sword, and begins to cut the supports to the Balloon, letting it up into the air. Just as the thing begins to take off Crys does a tally of the occupants. Then her face screws up, "Wait, where's Snow?!"

Narg waits for this show to get rolling then blinks as Snow is forgotten "Oh no! We forgot her!!" She rushes over to the edge and peers down. "Frac it all."

"What?!" Rihko exclaims. She glances around, then rushes to the side and looks over, then turns to the Baron. "Baron? What should we do?"

"I'll get her." She tests to see if she can shift still, then if she can she leaps out to bring Snow back along!

Sorien moves to shift, and is slammed to the ground as her body shifts into a nonanthro coyote. The Baron answers, there's no turning back now! onward and we will find our companions!"

Sori yips in startlement. "Dammit, I should have KNOWN better..."

Snowblind comes with a few of the audience that she managed to bring out of the rubble outside the opera house as the balloon becomes smaller and smaller. Though she does not look up as she is intent at looking right back at the rest of the rubble and finding more in there.

Narg snickers and looks at Sori. "S'okay Sori.. we all make silly mistakes..." she then peers at the scene around them.

Rihko reaches down to pat Sorien on the head, then rises up. She gives everyone in the balloon a quick hug, moving from Crys to Aidan and around in a circle until she finishes with the Baron, then leans against the side of the balloon and scans the horizon.

Sori shakes herself, scritches behind an ear with a hindfoot, then leans against Crys. She sniffs the air as she does.

The Baron doesn't really pay attention to the others, just continues to ramble about stories of adventures, as they rise high up into the sky.

Alynna glances around to have a look at Sorien and can't help but smile a little bit. "How cute! We must totally be in Coyote zone or something. I don't dare try shifting now.." she moves down to scritch Sori behind her ear.

Narg returns the hug to Rihko and scans the horizon along with her.

Crys looks around, "So... what are we going to do? Sorien mentioned us being safe, but where are we, why are we in a dream? What the heck is the Shadow after and how did he do this to us?" she hammers questions, assuming the others know more about whats happening.

Narg shrugs as she stares at the horizon. "I have no idea as to what is going on either and I won't pretend to either."

"... Huh. Wonder why..." Sori mutters, head tilted. "Sweetie, did you have a bad dream?"

Rihko continues to lounge against the side of the balloon, eyes scanning the horizon. "That would make sense," she says quietly. "Balina and Sparhawk... maybe they called it up. And we were just in the..." she waves a paw at the dreamscape below them. "In the nearby area." She pauses, and frowns a moment. "I hope they are okay."

Crys shakes her head, "I always have bad dreams, but no, over time I've managed to stop them from happening to me. I... The last thing I remember was us with Kay in the den. All the others were there too, except Alynna."

"We all apparently had bad dreams before ending up in a weird library, then here. The Library was the Shadow torturing us. This," Sori puts forepaws up to look out at the scenery, "Is someone elses doing. We're being helped. Right, Baron?"

Alynna's ears prick up to points but she doesn't say anything yet, she just looks contemplative for a good number of seconds and then murmurs softly. "Wonder why I'm here then."

The Baron pauses his monologue to say, "Hrmmm? Yes, yes..." And then continues on with his stories. There's a light rain now picking up, and some wind.

Sori grins like a coyote.

Crys frowns, "Aly, where -have- you been?" she puts it together, wondering if perhaps she's the reason all this is happening.

Narg blinks and wipes a bit of rain from her face "Are you sure it's a good idea to continue on into this storm?"

Alynna turns to Crys and yips softly. "I've been, umm.." then her ears lower a little bit. "Fuck if I know actually. Don't remember. Last time I remember I was in the glade, wondering what I should do for my birthday if anything at all. Fell asleep in a tree. Now i'm here. I could be dreaming I s'pose."

Rihko looks up into the rain, her tails swishing, then turns to give Narg a nod. "Of course. It wouldn't be an adventure otherwise, now would it?" she asks the husky, her tone applying that "Should we fly into the storm?" is a question much the same as 'Do I need to wash my hands before I eat?' and 'Should I put on clothes before I go outside?' She does look thoughtful for a bit, though, her ears flicking and twitching and her tails squirming, listening to the Baron telling stories.

Narg snickers "Hey Rihko... I am sure that every adventure has somebody ask that type of question! I don't mind going into it at all... I was really kind of putting it out there," as she stares into the horizon there is a tiny glint in her eyes as if to say, 'adventures are what I joined up with this crew for.'

The wind picks up, shifting into a heavier storm, and the Baron shouts onward!, despite the balloon being whipped about like a toy. More and more the dizzying storm rocks them about, throwing them until the storm consumes them.

Rihko grabs onto the side of the basket with one hand, and one of her friends with the other, doing her best to hold on through the storm.

All that remains of the wreckage is the partially intact basket, a thick and deep swamp surrounding. The first to come awake is Alynna, who's caught among undergrowth. Sorien next, still in the shape of a coyote, her muzzle half under the bogwater. Cilan blinks her eyes open, sprawled in an odd position, the last thing she remembers was the plane. Next Snowblind crawls out of the basket, the last thing she remembers was a piece of marble coming down on her. Narg, and then Rihko are the last to wake up.

Sori sneezes bogwater out of her nose. "Bleah!" She looks about, shortly asking, "What happened to Crys and Aidan?"

Cilan groans painfully before slowly but surely rising to her feet, at the memory finally hitting her Cilan blinks and looks around quickly, frantically for any familiar sights, or better yet what happened to put her there, "What.. the hell?" is asked of herself before she moves to the nearest object, the basket.

Rihko groans a bit and sits up, rubbing at her head. The kitsune pulls her self up to her feet, then looks around, offering a hand up to anyone who needs it. "Oh. Cilan. Hello," she says. "Fancy meeting you out here..." she frowns then, and her ears go flat, looking around again. "What? No Crys? Or Aidan? I hope they are alright... maybe they woke up..."

Snowblind looks around and rubs her head and mews as she looks around. "Ok... what... Now I know I am dreaming as there is a coyote grinning and asking about Crys and Aidan and I know I was not in a basket before now." She turns towards Cilan and padds a few steps before she checks the rest. "Ok... Dream, when looking for what you need it is always in the last place but things have to make some sort of pattern..."

Alynna yips softly and works her way partially out of the underbrush, but not too quickly, she actually finds it kind of comfortable. "I hope camera control calms down a little bit soon." Her ears lower as she starts to look around. "Where's my mate?" She works her way from underneath the brush, and then starts to hunt around. She appears to keep her cool, but she's still looking pretty intensely.

"I suspect that, as we're crashed and lacking supportive figures that we may be on our own again, guys. Welcome, Cil, and welcome back, Snow- I'm Sorien if you couldn't tell"

Cilan says, "Where the hell is here anyways?.. last thing I remember I was.. no.. I had killed my friends, and tried to stabilize a plane that I was on.. and then nothing!"

Narg wakes up with a little groan and a few spits "Bleach....*spit* marsh dirt!" She shakes her tongue around to clear the taste from her mouth and stands up dusting herself of and then looking at their surroundings.

Rihko slowly nods her head. "Another bad dream... there is certainly a theme here..." She looks around and sniffs at the air, then clasps her paws together and bows her head for a moment.

A horse whinnies in the distance, not far from the group. A young man is on horseback. He's struggling, and shouting at the horse. He shouts encouragement and cries out, calling the horse Artax, but the horse seems to be sinking. He leaps off the side, and sets down Aidan, who appears battered again but groaning. He's concentrating on the horse, trying to push it, shouting at it to fight.

"Well, crap. I can't help him, guys- no hands! Rescue the horse!"

Narg shouts "Gotta help... be careful of quick sand though!" She rushes over and keeps an eye out for the telltale signs of the dangerous quicksand or really boggy mud that will suck you in.

Cilan scratches at the back of her head for a moment trying to figure the things out before suddenly being alarmed by the whinny, turning her attention to the horse next Cilan quickly runs off from her allies and towards the struggling man, along the way the soldier remains watchful for any sinkholes.

Sorien trots after, paying more attention to what's around her than the struggles ahead.

Aidan wakes up, shaking her head as she's set down, plus as she hears the shouts from the boy. She sits, looking at the scene, closing her eyes. This time... The winged fox stands, growling and starting to force her form to shift, something big, something that can take the boy and the horse in her claws and taking them out of the swamp.

Rihko blinks, and looks up, tilting her head to the side. She frowns a moment, then motions for everyone to move ahead of her towards the horse. She waits, making sure she takes up the rear, and mutters a couple of times under her breath, "Artax... Artax..."

Alynna runs over this time, seeing Aidan over there. As she runs along she figures out she recognizes where she is, and then stops beside the horse and Aidan, which she offers her back to, once again. "Hmm.." she starts to wonder out loud. "This should be a magical land, I wonder what is possible."

The boy yelps in surprise, and brandishes his blade and a golden medallion rests about his neck. He watches as Aidan shifts into a large snarling beast, growing larger and larger, and before long is a large snarling wolf beast. The boy shouts and whips his blade toward the large beast.

Snowblind is still just a bit stunned but walks with the rest of the group. "Wait... Artax... I... I know that name." Snow says as for some reason she is more then confident that everyone else can get the job done this time. Then she looks towards Sorien as she is also hanging back since she is a Coyote right now. "Have we been in movies?" Then as Aidan shifts she starts forward. "No... He is a friend, Don't attack!"

Narg turns her attention from the horse that she just about reached and moves to tackle the boy from the side "No don't do that!"

Sori keeps jogging along, and calls out, "Hey! Kid! Don't hurt her. She's trying to help, believe it or not!"

"Wait!" Rihko calls out, darting forward to put a hand on the boy's arm. "She is a friend! Let her help!" The kitsune moves quickly, trying to head off the trouble.

”Yeah, movies, Snow." Sori answers, watching the unfolding potential disaster.

"Hey, hey.. she's a friend! Don't hurt her, please!" Cilan shouts as she waves her arms above her head as though trying to gain the mans attention.

Behind the boy, the horse sinks lower, and he looks back and forth, between the horse, and the beast attacking him.

Aidan growls looking at herself, shifting in a... wolf beast. She looks at the boy, stepping closer to help the horse and says that everything is fine. Instead of saying words of peace, growls of hatred come from the wolf, snarling and circling around the boy, avoiding the blade and the swamp.

Narg shouts "someone save the horse!"

Alynna goes silent except for the fluttering of wings, her paws sinking below the surface of the swamp, as she closes her eyes as well.

Sori gathers herself, and jumps on Aidan's head! She dances there for a moment saying, "Nanny nanny booboo!" Then flees, flicking her tail in not-quite-Aidan's face!

Rihko turns her head to Aidan, ears lowering, and slips between her and the boy. "Aid-" she starts, before Sorien's interruption. She.... stands there... and... blinks... then coughs, and splutters, and snickers, wrapping an arm over her stomach and doing her best not to break out in full laughter.

Forgetting the danger, and using the boy's distraction to her advantage Cilan rushes in front of the horse, and grips the horse as hard as she can, from there, she begins pulling at the beast with every ounce of strength she has, trying to free the two from their potential danger.

Strange vines lift slowly out of the soil, pushing everyone up and out of the muck, rising their level slowly. The horse whinnies loudly as the vines grow up -through it- consuming it as it creates a platform out of the dangerous swamp. The horse becoming the plants which grow out and across the swampland, spreading into the distance. The boy is thrown off his feet. And shouts, still keeping his eyes on the wolf, not noticing whats happening to his horse.

Noticing she was too late to save the horse, Cilan pulls twin trench knives from thier sheathes and quickly slashes at the vines entangling the horse, trying to free it.

Aidan growls at Sorien, trying to follow her. Instead, she turns again to the boy, boring her fangs. It quite clear that the wolf want to just bite to death the boy, slowly - forcing to - move to the fallen boy.

Snowblind blinks and then blinks again at the vines. "Ok..." She says stunned a bit at the fact that she just witnessed the vines and that people's shifting are not working like intended. All this weirdness and she is just stunned. "Ok..." She says again before she gives a shrug of her shoulders. "I don't know what to do anymore."

Narg is now confused as all get out, but turns to face Aidan, gun flying up from it's holster and being pointed at the wolves knee; the report of the shot rings out through the air as she attempts to cripple the wolf's leg.

Sorien feels something calling to her inside. Something wrong that must be fixed, a powerful feeling that builds. And then the power and knowledge hits her, a perfect moment of clarity. She knows whom she is.

Alynna starts to flutter her wings, rising up out of the swamp and slightly overhead, looking down at the situation. "Note to self... and all. Magic so far has proven to do some approximation of what you want it to do. Might simply be unsafe to use period right now," she observes aloud.

Rihko gives her head a little shake, her feet quickly shifting as the ground moves underneath her. She waves her hand a few times, still in between Aidan and the boy. "Hey. Aidan. It's OK, we're fr-" she flinches, her ears dropping as Narg fires. She facepaws, with an audible smack. "Not cool, Narg. NOT cool," she says, glancing over at the husky.

Sorien stops, turns and there is a flicker- Aidan suddenly ripples her form rather quickly returning to her normal form! "Things are all messed up here. How about we sort a few things, shall we?" Her tone has an odd quality to it.

Aidan is hit on the knee, falling on the ground and snarling in hate and pain.

The bullet pierces Aidan distracting her, while Sorien fills with Coyote power, her body warps and alters, changing and /becoming/. Coyote awakens and blinks at the dream world. He frowns and says, "This is early... far too early." his voice is gruff and he moves and cracks his neck.

Narg stares blankly as the Wolf beast she just shot at returns to Aidans normal form, she hoslters her pistol and puts her fingers on her temples "No... why did I go and do that....." she slumps down on the platform and growls to herself quietly "She was gonna hurt the kid... I couldn't let that happen... I couldn't..."

Snowblind gives a rather large sigh "Well, now I know what to do again. Thank you Narg... but what is it about everyone shooting at peoples legs?" She looks towards Sorien as she shifts back and approaches the downed Aidan. "Easy dear... Looks like you need a bit of patching up again." She at least still has her gear and goes about helping where she can. "Narg... it is alright... things will be ok. Right Aidan?" She asks and then gives a smile.

Cilan ends her slashing at the vines as a familiar voice passes her eyes, turning to Coyote she asks, "C-Coyote?.. is that really you?"

Rihko walks up to Narg and gives her a quick smack, assuming that one of the more medically inclined people would be treating Aidan first. "Snap out of it. None of that crap here, Narg, chin up and shoulders back." When she hears the voice, her ears perk, and she quickly twists. "Wait. What. Coyote?" she asks. Her eyes widen, and her tails shake a little, before she gives Coyote a deep bow.

Aidan seems to regain control of herself completely. As Snow gets closer to her, the now cat fox curls against the medical taur, letting her to patch, whispering words of thanking.

Alynna flutters over, preparing to land on the vine net near Snow and Aidan. She glances over to the ones people are calling Coyote, her ears perked up with a great deal of interest. "Mmm.." she says softly, as she watches.

Narg blinks a moment and nods "You're right Rihko... I'll be saving the breaking down for later then.... I am sorry Aidan... And Snow, I didn't want to shoot anywhere else." She dusts her self off and stands up shoulders back and chin up.

Alynna lets out a soft growl, "I don't think a shooting was necessary, especially of my mate.." but for the time being thats all she says about it, because something else seems to be happening that she doesn't want to interfere with...

Snowblind turns only her ears to the rest as she gives nods to Aidan's thanks. "You are most welcome." She says and turns quickly to Alynna "I believe Narg that she was at least not trying to more then stop Aidan but..." She turns to Narg and shows a smile to ease her words. "Guns when reaches for quickly make for a lot of noise and a lot of regret." She then turns back and helps Aidan onto her back. Then she offers the rest of the room to Alynna before she pads a few steps towards Coyote.

Aidan clings on Snow's back, hugging her thankfully and leaning on her tauric back, looking at Alynna and then coyote.

Coyote is Sorien still, her eyes peering out from inside his body, but Coyote walks again. He shifts the new body into a strange shape. "Something isn't right, he's... keeping me distracted from something. Wait, where is she? Where is my daughter?" he asks the others.

Cilan says, "With the Aassahke.. probably still in Oregon I'm guessing?"

“This feels really weird, you old lech." Sori says.

Narg watches on with a confused look although it also has a semblance of understanding, just not much.

Rihko rises up from her bow, and then looks around the swamp before turning back to Coyote. "Which daughter?" she asks.

The boy is in shock, but he now appears to be frantically searching for his horse. A small flower is blooming near where the horse was taken under, and he begins to cry. Sorrow overwhelming.

A deeper voice comes from Sori. "Dream. My daughter."

Rihko moves a few steps closer, then shakes her head. "I don't know," she admits, then nods to Cilan. "She should, though. But... is it wise to linger here?"

Cilan glances over to the crying boy and moves over to him, along the way to her destination Cilan says over her shoulder, "Could still be in Oregon, but she could've also moved with the small group to California. Why do you ask?" at her destination she kneels down beside the boy and places a hand on his shoulder as if to comfort and console the child.

Snowblind gives a sigh and pads a few more steps towards the boy. "Easy dear," Snow says with those on her back able to watch better towards Coyote/Sorien as she talks to the boy. "Your story is not over just yet. You are still alive and well. And for now you may weep but in time you will know that you will survive it and in time you will remember only the good times."

"So who do we have here... "I know you. Cilan and Snowblind, right?" He trails off. "Oh, fine, talk then." His voice feminizes again, and Sorien speaks. "Are you okay now, Aidan?"

Alynna looks a little confused for a few moments, then wanders over to Coyote, or Sori, whoever it might be. "Dream?" she yips softly, then she glances back over at Aidan. She thought she was ok before.

Narg sits down and watches the proceedings with interest and keeps her trap shut.

And the Nothingness is, it storms over the mountains in the distance, tearing and eating at the land. The small flower in front of the boy named Atreyu grows, larger and larger, and then it blooms, the horse swallowed within steps out, its body tinted green and plantlike vines coming from it's mane, but it whickers and recognizes its master.

Cilan offers a short wave with her free hand as Coyote mentions her name, but concentrates on Atreyu.

Aidan looks back at Alynna, even if she just look at the boy for the most, still not feeling to speak for what happened before and just staying tight against Snow's back.

The voice that comes is Coyote once again. "I'm not supposed to be awake. Or am I... Tell me what... Yes, yes, I got what YOU know. Stop that. What do the rest of you know?" Hir ears twitch as if being pestered by a fly.

Coyote sighs. "No. About what is happening here, to you and I... We. Whatever." And he starts sniffing the air.

Narg nods "Got nothing on that either other than the fact we keep drifting from one dream, vision, movie or what have you from one moment to the next."

Rihko flicks one of her ears, and gives Coyote a bit of a disappointed look. "That's a bit vague," she says, and crosses her arms. She ponders, and shrugs. "I know there's something chasing Sorien. And you. I think it wanted to lure you here. I know Sparhawk and Balina probably called it into a dream they were having. And, considering what happened to Aidan, I am fairly certain that we have not left its influence entirely." She sniffs at the air again, and looks around. "We should probably move on before it catches scent of you."

Snowblind settles down and turns her ears looking away from Coyote so that Aidan can look towards everyone else. "As far as I know we are dreaming in past books and movies. Why I do not know, why you are awake, why we are here, why anything." She says and then motions to the boy to mount up and ride off before the page turns. "Currently we are in one of my more favorites from childhood but if not for the fact that we are in the Neverending story I don't know why you are awake or in Sorien."

Cilan rises to her feet, and steps away from the plant like horse, moving closer to Sorien/Coyote along the way she says, "Your guess is as good as mine.. frankly all I know is I was suffering a nightmare, and when I woke up, I was here!"

Atreyu points up into the sky and cries out, he kicks himself onto the horse and begins to charge off. A large white creature is diving down towards them. In the distance behind, the Nothingness continues to advance.

Coyote grins. "She stank of me long before this. My scent won't give any clues. The weird lookin' one and Wh... Ah. Cow turned wolf-servant of Fenrir. What did they stir up, I wonder... But perhaps this is a time to run rather than talk! Come, follow the boy!"

Rihko glances over her shoulder, to Narg and the others, and nods towards Coyote; then she moves after him. Her. Whichever it was, Rihko kept pace with it, agilely moving over the vines.

Narg sets off in pursuit for the heck of it and makes sure to follow the same path that Coyote/Sori go.

Aidan holds tightly on Snow, ready to dollow coyote when Snow will starts to move.

Coyote goes to all-fours in an easy lope, not outdistancing hir followers; much as it tempts to do so. Trouble's afoot, and shi knows its name. Finding the source and a way out of the trap is the game.

The white spot grows larger, and the great thing in the sky becomes visible, a weirdly shaped dragon. It roars out and dives at the group.

Cilan runs away from the dragon as though to dodge out of its way as it crashes to the earth.

Alynna moves closer to Coyote, and starts to sniff at him a little bit, very curiously. Her wings flutter. Then she looks up at the nothingness. "I bet that's not the real Nothingness, which is to say, the fake nothingness..." then she makes her way beside Snow and Aidan, and sighs softly. "We are doing way too much running."

Rihko glances up at the dragon as it starts diving, then back in front of her at the ground she's covering; another glance back up at the dragon, and she shifts her position a little, ready to knock somone out of the way if need be.

"Nonsense!" Coyote says. "Running is often the best solution! Especially if you've stolen a chicken from a pen, or a pie from a windowsill." He pauses. "Then again... What have you been running from?" He stops dead.

Narg stops with her paws digging into the earth as coyote stops dead in their tracks, she immediately looks around with a worried look

Snowblind follows the the group and gives Aidan's hands a light pat as she watches Falkor drive from the sky. "Best to not change the story to much. Just watch." She says from her part in the last dream. "Right now we are not running, and if you be so kind neither should you Coyote. We need to face shadow eventually and now we need to get more help to figure out a way to not just reseal but to defeat."

Coyote gives a silent laughing look at Snow, having already stopped before shi spoke.

The horse spooks, and drops Atreyu off onto the ground, and then bolts into the distance. The dragon shakes its shaggy coat, and pulls the boy up onto his back. He grins widely at the group. His voice is loud, and he speaks, "Would any of you like a ride?"

Rihko skids, then rolls a little at the abrupt stop. She moves back to stand at Coyote's shoulder and brushes herself off. She starts to say something, then shakes her head, her ear flicking.

Cilan says, "Uh.. yeah, please!"

Narg nods "Well a ride would be nice yeah....."

Coyote raises a shared eyebrow-equivalent. "Huh. A talking dragon-dog. One up on me! Certainly. Hop aboard, all!"

Narg does indeed hops up on the dragon. She sits as close to the back as she can but still get support.

Snowblind softly mewls, "Better leaving this way then getting hit with a rock. Would someone help Aidan up before I get on as well? And Coyote, I meant in the figurative sense as well as the real. For some reason I get the feeling you are looking at me weird at the back of my head."

Rihko motions for Coyote to take the lead, giving the dragon a smile. Once shi has scrambled up in place, Rihko climbs up as well, settling herself for the next bit.

Cilan takes the dragon up on its offer grips onto its shaggy side, hopping on, and climbing close to the front of the mythical beast.

Coyote hops on, for a moment looking more like a natural Coyote than a humanoid one- if you blink, you miss it. Shi settles in place. "And on, anon!"

Alynna mms softly, and wanders back over to Coyote, and curtseys. "Well, I don't think I have been running from anything." she looks over at the dragon dog, then flutters her wings and wanders over to Aidan, and grabs her paws and tries to lift her along with her, getting on the dragons back.

And the Dragon-creature does the unthinkable, it takes off up into the air, and flies straight into the Nothingness.