Grand Celebration *NW and FW*

First topic message reminder :

Oculus stood on a small slope overlooking the charred battlefield from the FireWings flames. Grass was burned, stones turned, and metal puddles beneath the walls that once 'guarded' their foes. The battle was over, and the dragons had emerged victorious. There had been no fatalities, a remarkable feat for this troublesome battle. There were injuries, however, some grave and others not. Now was the time to celebrate their victory, the human menace had been removed from the old EarthWing lands! Goal accomplished! Oh, how there would be much deserved celebration and partying. Those that knew how to cook were already using the flames of the FireWings to make delicious steaks, gatherers foraged for berries to decorate the food, and others helped bring in the wine that they had stored for just this occasion. The others just seemed to stand, maybe chatting, but waiting. Oh how Oculus wished Tempest was here instead of the infirmary, giving speeches were dreadfully frightening. He really wished someone else would give a speech, but as he was the only standing leader, it seemed the duty fell upon him. Clearing his throat and waiting for those gathered to silence, and also noticing those that had been busy stopping, he mentally cursed at having the attention drawn to him, but he kept a cool composure on his face. "Well...what can I say but congratulations my fellow brothers and sisters, and of course our lovely FireWing cousins? We have done it, we have removed the bipedal scum from the lands, and have once again returned it to the rightful rule of dragons! After countless hours of training, with those nights of aching muscles, and the callouses formed under our paws from tedious hikes, all that hard effort has paid off! YOU have risen to the plight of dragons, and YOU have overcome the challenges and defeated the bipedal humans! So tonight, the night is in honour of you! Tonight, we celebrate the fruition of your hard labor, so with one last order for the night, as I'm sure you are all sick of hearing orders from me," he said with a grin and a wink, "I order you all eat and drink to your own satisfaction, and celebrate! Congratulation mighty NightWing and FireWing warriors." With that, Oculus abruptly ended his awkward speech, remaining where he was for now. If Delillah was near him, he would ask her to put a skeleton crew on guard duty, the shift no longer than an hour and no more than one shift, with those on guard having at the very least food and a companion. The humans that had been captured had been dumped into a 20ft ditch with a net put over it to prevent their escape. They'd be dealt with later. For now, he waited to make sure everyone got busy celebrating and enjoying themselves before trying to slip away to the infirmary to dismiss sLy as long as the patients were stable so he too could enjoy the night.

Tempest groaned as the wound tore open again, the blood-covered bandages not hiding the deadly secret of her mortal wounds. Groaning, Tempest would raise a paw to touch the blood across her chest. However, Sly chose that moment to dash back into the tent, his eyes glinting in a slight horror at what he had seen. At that moment, Tempest realised, she had really gotten into a bad situation. She felt his powerful paws push her down onto her back again, the pain shooting through her chest. A quick slice with his paw opened up the bandages once again, and Tempest would hiss at the gush of cold air rushed into her. She would attempt to bash Sly away, but her strength was greatly weakened and she would only be able to gently bap his shoulder if she even got that close. Tempest gritted her teeth, her eyes squeezing shut as her horns dug into the ground to try and block the pain away. A vicious snarl would come from her as soon as he came close to her with the needles again, but the numbing mists calmed the flaring wounds.

Almost howling as Sly slowly stitched the wounds together again, Tempest would snarl at him, her hell claws almost igniting from her pain as it switched to anger. Thank goodness that most of her strength had left her, or she wouldn't have hesitated to try and claw Sly.

As Sly finally finished stitching her wounds together, Tempest groaned, her claws energy dying down, but her pain still remained and clouded her judgement. And made her hear things. As she laid against the crimson stained ground, Oculus had asked how she was, but Tempest didn't have the strength to even try to raise her head to answer. Her heart slowly beat in her chest, her breath drawn in sharp, horrible gasps as her lungs crackled due to the growing amount of blood in them. The death rattle.

She was going to die.

The thought horrified her, she never had found the right mate, never had seen little Nyx grow up... And she never would. As torrents of dying thoughts came to her, just for a for a few moments, Tempest thought she had died. The reason was simple, her beloved former Queens voice had called out in the haziness. But it was strange, Kenina didn't seem to be talking to her, but seemed to direct her attention and questions elsewhere.

A rush of adrenaline struck her, as if from the bowels of death had decided to give her a few last minutes. Tempest's eyes slowly opened, squinting as she tried to look around her. Her breath inhaled sharply as her eyes saw the familiar flames which burnt brightly in the dim tent. The fire which Tempest needed once again to take over. Even though Kenina had gone into a pursuit of a goddess, Tempest never realised that she had kept an eye on her kingdom. But now, the FireWings needed her to return as Tempest laid on her death bed.

"My Queen..." Tempest groaned. She moved once more, her front legs slowly moving to a somewhat of a laying down position, instead of sprawled across the ground. Tempest looked to her former Queen, her eyes glinting in disbelief as she bowed to Kenina once more, her form shaking as she struggled to hold the position. Slowly, she put herself back onto her bed, her eyes downcast, "Whe...where have.. you been my Queen? I-I fear.. that I have... failed you.." She groaned, the words being almost torn out of her from grief. "Queen Kenina..."

Jansi continued to listen to Firefly speak, his scales beginning to change color a bit. As part LightWing, his scales still could change color depending on his mood. And he was beginning to grow rather nervous, for some reason. But he shook the nerves away, he color reverting back to his usual orange color from what had turned into green. There were still specks of green littered across his underbelly, but attempting to change all of his colors would be kind of tiring, so he let them be.

He wasn't even sure why he was nervous. This was a party! Everything was fine here! But with Fire fly venting about her failure as a guardian of Tempest, something strange was beginning to gnaw at his stomach. All this talk of Tempest reminded him that he needed to go check up on her. Of course, Jansi had assumed that Tempest was completely fine. After all, she was their great demi goddess leader. He shrugged off the feeling, and offered another smile to Fire fly, who now had her back turned to him.

"Well, just remember, what ever happened wasn't your fault. There's no need to blame yourself for these battle scars that aren't your own. But I can see you grow weary of mindless chat, so I will leave you be," Jansi said, turning away from Firefly. This was actually perfect, since he had promised himself to go check up on Tempest, and this would be the perfect opportunity to. However, before he left, he turned his head to face her once more."If you need me, you can find me by Tempest's tent."

And then he was off.

He casually strolled towards the tent, passing dragons and offering congratulations to anyone who would take it. There were certainly many battle scarred heroes here. He even bumped into a cute NightWing, and stopped by to congratulate her a little longer than most. Her name was Nivradel. Interesting name. He'd remember to hang out with her a little bit later.

After some much needed flirting with the allies, running into two other cute FireWings, Jansi finally managed to pull himself away from the party, and went on a determined path towards Tempest's tent. He was quite eager to congratulate the queen on her victories. He was sure she was celebrating with wine and venison in her own private quarters. It wasn't long before Jansi found her tent, and entered, his usual happy attitude following inside.

"Greetings, my queen! It's great to see you-" Jansi's eyes would widen when he saw Tempest. She looked terrible! How had the queen, and a demi goddess, no less, been harmed to such a degree? He had no idea of the extensiveness of the wounds. He quickly rushed over to her, ignoring the guards that would snap at him. He'd simply glare over at them and growl. "I am one of the queen's elites. You will not offer me such disrespectful tongue." before turning back to his love.

"Tempest- My queen. What are you doing out of bed? You should be resting in your current condition." he said noticing Kenina. He had not been there for the exchange, so he hadn't heard what Tempest had called Kenina. All he knew was that the healers were not doing their job to help the queen. He looked around, wondering if Tempest even had any healers, a rather worried expression on his face.

They lived through the ordeal. The queen seemed to have calmed, but he did not check up on her right after the emergency operation. His claws ached and cramped, both of them drenched in blood. They were not part of him, and for a moment he saw them as such. He tried to move but they remained rigid, doing nothing more than a tremble. He huffed, frozen like a statue as he just stared down at his claw.

It was not until his perks to the flaps of the tent entrance pulling away did he snap out of it and looked at his Emperor in the eyes. More uneasy than the usual calm demeanor he once had. The smirk, gone, replaced with exhaustion and defeat.He did not reply when Oculus asked how Tempest was fairing. It was right in front of them. The queen. A second look at her was horrifying to Sly. Like a painter trying to replicate a beautiful dragon to preserve that ephemeral nature of such discovery, but only to make a monstrosity that will leave a permanent scar in any mind. Tempest was saved. She lived. But her raspy, hollow gasps. The groans. The weakness in her limbs. The blood she lost and coughed. And the pain she endured. It would have been a better blessing to just let her be at peace, than to force her to live any further.

We are better off praying to the gods, Sly said, almost brushing past Oculus' shoulders as he exited the tent. He caught a glimpse of the Firewing hatchling expanding in size, but paid little mind to it. His work here was done. A failure or not, he could not stand to see the final moments of pain he forced upon her just for another few moments of life.

Sly paced around the small clearing outside of the tent. It was not the first time he saw a patient dying, but something about all this just seemed to push him to his limit. His foreclaw stumbled over a large rock and he hissed as it scraped along the edge and peeled a bit of his scales off. Gritting his fangs, Sly struck the rock away. Hard. Then he huffed. Slowly he was starting to calm. And then he sat on his haunches. It seemed even for this victory to reclaim what was their kin, a dark era would descend upon the Nightwings and Firewings as they lost one of their leaders. Last thing Sly really wanted was panic and unrest. What if Oculus was next?

Suddenly he remembered. Sly looked aroubd near the tent. There was some large mass that fell on his head, but it was nowhere in sight now. Perhaps it was just his imagination. Or a dragon landing themselves in a precarious situation and fled at the right moment. No matter. He just wait out here until he was needed.

(Low muse, sorry)

Having entered the tent, he listened to sLy give his not so good analysis of tempests dire situation. Once Tempest had calmed down, he noticed someone grow out of what seemed to be a hatchling, and glared at the dragoness. Whoever it was was picking a very bad time to attack or try something, as he was not in the mood to entertain it. As they spoke to him, it seemed that it was not an attack, but still was not ideal position to try and greet him. " Miss, if you have no reason but to greet me, please leave the tent." He spoke with little emotion, before turning to watch the downed FW queen. At tempests comments, he turned slightly to face Kenina again, raising a brow at her but not knowing who she was. Whisper inquiry so only Kenina could hear, "if she's being dillusionius, please leave. If not, we will have to get acquainted another time."

At Oculus's comment, Tempest's maw twisted, before she coughed up blood. Crimson decorated the floor in front of her and she groaned, her vision swimming. She knew that she wouldn't last much longer, but her thoughts went back to the FireWings. Where would they be without a leader? Would they go back into a depression, where they turned against one another to tear each other apart...? That was written down in their history, dragons fighting one another for the crown. A death riddled claim which would harm the majority of dragons. She shook her head, time seemed to slow. But she couldn't hold her form, forcing herself down to the ground.

"She is my Queen, Kenina..." She groaned, her own blood choking her. Tempest couldn't stop. The FireWings had to have a leader. Raising her cloudy vision to her, she would give a polite bow to her. "And seeming there is no one else worthy of taking care of our beloved FireWings..." Her voice hooked, "Ken...ina, take back your throne... You have to, for our kind, for our FireWings. We both now I'm not leaving here. But I can think of no one else who can handle this bunch... of crazed dragons... Kenina, you are the new Queen..." Tempest declared, unaware of the other FireWing in their tent. Tempest knew that at this, Kenina would have potentially no choice but to take back the role which she once left. But, this time, Tempest knew the FireWings would be in safe hands. At this, she would be able to rest easily on.

Tempest would only stay alert for a few more moments to listen to what both she and Oculus would say, before she would rest her head down on the ground. That was when her world turned dark, her body no longer able to sustain her as her lungs ceased to draw breath.

The end of Tempest's reign.

Ferrum's keen senses heard someone coughing a few tents down.  He hadn't heard anyone with a wet cough in his few minutes standing around the medical tents.  Peeking around the corner, he looked for anyone who might punish him for sneaking around.  Finding nobody, the Nightwing snuck towards the tent that he had heard the coughing coming from.  Well that can't be good. he thought as he saw the tent where the noise was coming from.  It was the Firewing Queen's tent.  Her name was Tempest, right? he thought as he slowly crept closer and closer to the place where she was being cared for.  I hope whoever is coughing is going to be okay.  Not knowing that his Emperor was in the same tent with her, he peeked inside and saw Tempest's limp body lying there, dead as a rock.  He gasped loudly and clamped his maw shut as fast as he could.  He couldn't tell anybody about what he had seen, or the Firewings would most likely go into a frenzy.  He turned his back to the tent and looked around, hoping that nobody had heard him.  Sneaking away from Tempest's tent, he looked back at it one last time and sighed sadly.  A great leader had died that day, but it's not like there was anything that Ferrum could do about it.

"Please Tempest save your energy." Kenina begged as Tempest exerted what little precious energy she had simply to tell Kenina she had failed. Despite her request Tempest spilled more blood to keep speaking. Kenina could not deny with the poor medical care she has received and the condition she was in she saw no way Tempest would make it out of this alive. Tempest asked that Kenina retake her position as queen. "I will and as your queen once again, I command you to save your energy and rest."

Kenina looked at the FireWing Jansi that had walked in on them. "Unless you are a healer leave. Tempest needs her rest." Rest though didn't seem to have given Tempest much more time as she passed away not long after. Once again Kenina would lead the FireWings and once again and opportunity presented itself. Failure was not an option. The FireWings would become the greatest tribe in Pyyria with the alliance of the NightWings if they had to. Kenina would not abandon the promises she made to the FireWings this time.

In honer of Tempest Kenina sat in silence for a time. An unknown NightWings seemed to poke their head in and gasp at the realization the queen was dead before disappearing. Kenina was not a fan of sitting idly by so her respects to the previous queen would not last long. Her attention would turn to Oculus. "Indeed we will have to get acquainted at another time. For now though I shall make the announcement. We already have an unchecked witness and word will spread quick. I'd rather get the news out officially before a rumor sparks unrest." With that Kenina would leave the tent and make her way to a slope that Oculus had made his announcement on.

Kenina would weave a spell upon her voice that would allow it to be heard over mountains before addressing the crowd. "Attention FireWings, it is I Kenina your former queen." Kenina would wait for attention to be given before continuing. "I bring you sorrowful news. Your Queen Tempest was grievously wounded in combat and her soul has been reaped by Nimbus. But do not let this news ruin your marry making. It is the blessing of the gods that she is our only casualty in this war and before her death she has returned the position of Queen to me. I shall uphold the promises I gave you when I was first crowned. For now though come, let us honer the victory she has paid her life for."

With that Kenina would take off and seek a tent to make her own. While the others hopefully continued to celebrate Kenina had many things to contemplate. Seeking the truth of her goddess would have to wait.

His insides cringed and tightened as he watched the previous queen of the FireWings struggle. Oculus could only sit and watch, hoping for the best. As Tempest struggled to speak, he could only listen, casting a sideways glance at Kenina, knowing that she was the previous leader, but had never bothered to meet her during his initial period of reigning over the NightWings. Oculus spoke no word to Kenina, the new leader of the FireWings, but instead watched Tempest breath. The blood in his entire body chilled when he observed the chest of Tempest rise no more. Sitting still, unable to move for several seconds, he could only watch and hold his breath, thankful that Kenina had all but ordered everyone else out of the tent. Whoever did not heed Kenina would have hell to pay. He heard words that Kenina spoke to him, but they fell on deaf ears. No...no no no no no....no deaths.....no one dies... he said or thought, not sure of his own actions to himself as he observed the very still Tempest. Either as Kenina walked out or before, he did not know, but he could not just sit here and do nothing. She had fought with him, and he could not let a comrade perish. No matter how futile it was, he did what he could, and attempted to give her breath. With his paws on her side, away from the wound, he tried to make her heart beat. Either in denial or shock, he wouldn't stop till he passed out, or was physically dragged away from her body, not ready to face death of a friend.

Finally it seemed the dreaded cold descended upon the supposed victory of the war. He remained outside the tent, like he was a sentry, knowing that he had done all he could and her fate rested upon Nimbus. It was not long before another figure approached, daring to try and sneak himself to the tent. Sly watched him carefully, but for some reason it did not seem he noticed a healer standing right outside the tent and dared to poke his head in. How irritatingly disrespectful. The medical tents here were for the privacy and comfort of the wounded, not some circus for all to see as they pass by. After he got a blast of what was inside, Sly cast a stern glare at the nightwing, his eyes turning yellow. How insensitive it is for you to stick your nose in. Did your mother not taught you how rude it is? Get lost.

He watched without word as the dragon walked away. Thanks to him, now this scene was to become public and everyone would eventually know well too soon that the queen of flames was dead. Her dying words were to the other dragon that snuck in, known as Kenina. So she came to take back the throne. It would still be a sign of weakness if a tribe kept switching leaders like it was a game of passing the baton. Even after Kenina left to make the announcement, Sly waited outside, at least for Oculus to come out. But he was in there for far too long. Sly pushed open the flaps while the announcement echoed across the fields, and there he saw his emperor standing over the passed queen, pushing against the sides of het chest, against the bandages, as if that would restore her heart. Sly gritted his fangs. If this were anything else, he would have said something about his perfectionist view on the war and his plans being flawed. But it was not appropriate to do so. Oculus, stop, he said, but it fell to deaf ears. The emperor continued to try and restore her heart. Oculus? Sly asked, a little louder this time. Stop! It is... He wrapped his front legs around Oculus' shoulder and leg and dragged him back, a little awkwardly, as Sly had no choice but to then push him so he was off Tempest's body. Sly then stepped in between him and Tempest, a stern look on his snout. She is gone! My apologies, emperor, but it is futile. The least we can do now is respect her body. He then allowed a moment of silence to seep from his maw before turning to Tempest. Sly grabbed the sheets, rolled up on the side and kicked during her thrashing, and unfurled it, carefully placing it over her. He then turned to Oculus and approached the exit, stopping when their shoulders were aligned. I will let you some time alone with her.

Sly exited the tent and huffed a sigh, jhmust as Kenina finished her speech. A shame that he did not hear it. He could have learned something about the new firewing queen or maybe something important that he should know. But what to do now? Just as he thought of this, some of the healers came back, a look of shock in their expressions as they asked Sly if what happened to Tempest was true. Sly just gave them a nod before pushing the responsibility of the injured back to them and left the area.

He figured he should go find Mythryl, who was patrolling somewhere. When Sly turned his head sharply, he felt something piercing his head. Shaking it off made it worse and he tried to push whatever was on his head off him. If he managed to succeed, the black mass would fall before him and he would quickly recognise it to be a hatchling. Hello there. Enjoying the ride on my head?

Hopeless.

Efforts spent in vain, the corpse laying on the ground refused to be revived. The air wasted as the lifeless body refused to move. Refused to awaken as if from a deep sleep.

Souls would be dragged through time, dragged to a version of hell and back. However, on a rare occasion, hell would reject a soul.

This was one of those weird times.

It would never happen again to her.

Thrown back into the mortal realm by the order of Nimbus and his power, Tempest's soul was sent back to the realm of the living. Her soul retrapping within her body, the wounds almost, as if out of magic, clotted themselves again as her heart would slowly restart, aided by what Oculus did.

However, he was pulled away, her memories clouded at the owner of the one who spoke to him. Why was it so pointless? Couldn't they see that she was somehow alive? He seemed familiar... But she couldn't put her claw on his name. Something brushed over her scales, her a white sheet covering her form. No, that was for dead people! Couldn't they see that she was alive?!

Footsteps left, the voice of Kenina fading in the background... Did she announce my death? Tempest would ask herself, being trapped in her own body which refused to move.

However, she felt her muscles slowly twitch at the response to her movements. She just had to be patient. She saw a shadow form over her sheet of white and she watched as it come closer. Slowly, the sheet was taken off from her face - at the exact moment, she would regain control of her muscles. Before he could even speak, her tongue assaulted his cheek as she licked him.

"It's rude to look at dead people."

He hated it, just hated it. Another presence had entered the room, but it was hardly the topic of his focus. Oculus was not snapped back to reality out of the self absorbed attempt to save the fallen FireWing comrade. Pulled from her body, he glared with teared eyes at sLy, hating him. Not hating him for being there or pulling him away, but for being right. He could only stand and glare, grinding his teeth as he watched Tempest covered. As the medic walked past and left him alone with her corpse, he just stood there. Why couldn't it have been him? Why couldn't he have stopped this.... was all that went through his mind. After several cold, long minutes of standing there, he tore himself, knowing he would have to move on. He could not abandon the NightWings. Resigned, a single tear escaped his watery eyes down his left cheek as he approached the body, looking too peaceful under the white sheet. Lifting it to say one last goodbye to the comrade who fought with him to secure this monumental victory, he....was licked.

Freezing in place, staring wide eyed at the 'corpse' that had just licked him...unable to comprehend. Staring now mouth agape, breath caught in his throat, he could only look at the fallen FireWing, who was now looking back at him. It was....impossible....maybe hallucinating? But...he heard her talk....not a corpse, but Tempest speak. Hearing how he was rudely staring at her, even with the joke, he half turned his head, but still stared as if he could not comprehend what he was seeing. His jaw moved slightly along with his tongue as if he was speaking, but that ability seemed to have left him as he could only....well...he had no idea...so he just stood there...flabbergast...maybe dreaming....maybe he passed out and this was a dream....but it was too real...was she...alive? No matter his thoughts, nothing came from his maw, almost like he forgot how to.

She glanced over her shoulder and sighed. Maybe she shouldn't have pushed him away...she stood up and quietly walked over to Tempest's tent. She poked her head in and whispered her queens name. "Tempe-..." her whisper broke of and her voice cracked. She stared at her queen. Dead. Her queen was dead. The thought floated around before her mind could grasp it. No... nO... No no no nOo... her breaths were short and ragged. Her head spun and her vision blurred. She muttered incoherently and few words were heard. .... my fault.... could have warned her...... dead now.... she let out a sudden sob and ran darted away trying to keep herself in control, she could let any one see her cry. Still hyperventilating she stumbled I tp several others and curled up in a darker part of the area. The sky seemed to be faling, the ground rising, and the air around her was rushing towards her.

OOC: she didn't stay long enough to notice her "come back to life"