A Painful Decision (Open; Earthwings Only!)

NPCs Used:

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Several, giant wing beats echoed throughout the rain forest part of their territory. The rainfall was pounding against the three giant Earthwings' flesh. It was dark and the only light provided was the fading moonlight. Azoic flown up alongside Cosmos, Volos and Mole close behind. "Sire, we should turn back now! Prince Dusk can't be out here! They were last seen in the Seawing territory, there is no way he could be ou-"

"Keep searching, regardless." Cosmos cut Azoic off. Mole and Volos flew up closer to Cosmos and had a worried and concerned expression on their maws. "Your highness, please consider what Azoic is saying. We may be powerful but this weather is treacherous!" Volos cried. THUD! THUMP! Trees crashed to the ground, flocks of birds resorted to the pine forests of the Earthwing territory. The rainfall was coming down harder. The rivers began to flood. Giant rain forest trees were in the distance, but you could barely see them in the fog. The thunder made the sky roar, the lightning cracked the atmosphere in half. They had been searching for hours and still no sign of Dusk. Mole looked around worryingly, beads of cold sweat covered his face. "Your Highness, we should really split! I'm sure we'll find Prince Dusk, but it's impossible to look for him! I'm sure Princess Sorrell will understand! But your safety comes first!" Cosmos shook his head and looked back at the three, ignoring their calls. The fog grew thicker, and thicker. The thunder boomed, but it faded into a quieter roar. The lightning strikes faded into blurs as the four dragons plummeted into the white haze.

The three royal guards, perked their ears, sobering themselves. Cosmos had rain constantly in his eyes, his vision grew blurry. The soon entered a part of the rain forest where the trees stood hundreds of feet tall, which was normal around here. As the four glided past the trees, they couldn't tell what was ahead of them due to the fog. A few trees were hazardously close as they hissed pass them. All the guards kept silent, but Mole broke the ice. "I-it's a little quiet here..." He said anxiously. "Yes...a little too quiet." Azoic added suspiciously. A small pause came about, Volos narrowed his eyes and glared around. His eyes quickly widened in shock as he yelled at the three, mainly Cosmos. "YOUR HIGHNESS, WATCH OU-!!" KA-BOOSH! A giant human spear plummeted from the foggy darkness out of nowhere, breaking the silence, and piercing Cosmos flesh through his chest. It didn't hit his heart though, it was close. Cosmos roared in agony, he winced in the pain and crashed to the muddy ground. He couldn't move. Azoic, Mole, and Volos came to his aid immediately. They all snarled, hissed, and glared. They roared, blowing some of the fog away only to reveal a tribe's worth of humans. About 15 of them. They all threw their spears at the three guards, but it was nothing! Azoic instantly spewed toxic gas, the humans inhaling it. About 5 of them fell dead as a rock to the ground. The others simply didn't breath. KA-BOOSH! KA-BOOSH! Two other giant spears pierced Azoic's foot and Cosmos's tail, both very sensitive parts of a dragon. Azoic only groaned loudly, Cosmos roared again. He was hit directly in the tail after all!

His open wounds oozed blood along with him coughing up gushes of blood. Azoic couldn't get the spear out of her foot. They were both trapped. Swoosh! Giant ropes wrapped around Volos's body, pressing him against the ground, he was immobile. He tried to break free but these ropes were too tight, held down by giant titanium rods. Mole was the only one left and he couldn't see a thing. Cosmos, looked at him, and flicked his tail weakly. He gasped for air, and very little filled his lungs. M-Mole! Go warn the others! And Get help!" Cosmos said weakly. Mole, looked back at him, snarling at the humans. "But, your highness!"

"GO!" He yelled, blood running down his nose and maw like rivers. Mole, hesitated, but nodded. He plummeted into the air and zoomed off toward the inner kingdom yelling for help. Cosmos could feel himself about to faint. What he going to do? He couldn't move his legs, and Azoic and Volos were trapped.. what was going to happen?

(posting as Rylatha)
Rylatha was being her normal adventurous self. She trotted through the forest in darkness, and she was going to climb a tree when she smelt... blood.
"Father!" she cried in vain, and she sprinted towards the scent. She crashed into a heap of bushes, due to her blindness, and snarled. More importantly, Cosmos was right ahead of her!!

Cosmos widened his bloodshot eyes, he could see Rylatha in the distance. The humans gave their attention to Rylatha. She was blind, she wouldn't notice the humans! Azoic and Volos stared at Cosmos. The humans started to laugh and they aimed their spears at Rylatha. Cosmos snarled and used the last ounces of strength he had to spew small pools of acid at the remaining humans. A few fell in, about 5. Leaving five left. Cosmos glared, more blood oozing from his snout, "Don't.. touch her!" He roared. He shot his gaze back at Rylatha and shouted, "Rylatha, get back to safety! Find Sorrell and stay with her!" He hissed in pain. A pool of blood tainted his scales, the runoff quickly being washed away by the rainfall. Azoic hissed along with Cosmos, blood poured out of her foot. Volos stayed silent, snarling and swishing his tail around Cosmos, keeping the humans away.

mole had informed made it back and informed people levish surprisingly was quick to react. before leaving he ate enough coal to fuel himself for a week. the heavy rain made it hard to see but there was a rolling cloud that could be seen from behind the young dragoness, from behind the smoldering cloud was a glowing hew, levish was cloaked in steam from the rain hitting his body and evaporating at such an alarming rate. the vulcans sudden entrance had a few of the humans question what hell that was behind the smoke and steam. levish maw dripped glowing magma as he spews a stream of magma at the humans. the rain cooled the magma to the point it splashes hot boiling magma at them and cause them eather steam burns sharks of sharp hot rock in to the humans.

the humans would let out screams of pain as the magma splashes all over them melting them down. levish was hidden in the cloud of steam from cosmoses view or any one levish had never fought infront of the king before so none of them would reconise him. he walked around as he went up too the dragon with a spear in their foot and rips it out with out warning. "get up and do your duty." there was a hiss in the tone an only one dragon has such a hiss. the vents on levises back then blew out flames 20 feet from him causing the rain to evaporate before even hitting him alowing his body to be shown in the rain. the heat would become like a suna thanks to levish letting off so much heat.

The green dragon had initially set out about 20 minutes after Cosmos and his party. The rain battered his orange scales, the water dripping into his eyes and nostrils. Very uncomfortable. "Where are you?!" he muttered to himself, and just happened to look down.

Things, running through the forest... The trees were moving, but not from the wind or wild rain. Creatures were running from something. A spear pierced his thick hide, snapping in half. Another came whizzing at him, this time sticking in his wing and ripping!

Terra went down like a stone, crushing ancient trees, and the humans that had caught Cosmos, Azoic, Mole and Volos. He groaned and roared as more humans came and tied him up.

"Your majesty." he sad sheepish

Rylatha yelped when her father ordered her to find Sorrell. She didn't want Cosmos to bleed and be in pain though. She dashed to her father, feeling brief waves of heat and her scales burned a little, and she finally bumped against a heap of scales that smelled like Cosmos. She curled up next to it, growling, "I'd rather not. I'm staying with you."

It had been a total of three weeks since she had revealed the eggs to her mate, Cosmos, thought Tani as she hiked through the forest. She hadn't seen her mate after the incident. He had been driving his hide raged since Sorrel's confrontation. She thought it was unfair, and was endangering the tribe. If he went on much longer, dragons might start to wonder if their king was really capable of handling them. Tani really didn't want this to happen to her mate, and she was really becoming infuriated with Sorrel's actions. Making Cosmos go out in this wretched weather was just awful and indragane(Like inhumane but with dragons!)! And the worst part of all was that after all this work, Sorrel still wouldn't appreciate it! Honestly, if Cosmos gets sick from this weather, Tani would cancel all searches for Dusk. It was becoming a lost cause. The little hatchling has disappeared nearly SEVEN years ago. Tani shook her head, the wind and rain blowing in her eyes. That was when she heard a scream. A dragon scream. Cosmos' scream. Her eyes widening, she rushed toward's the source of the sound, fearing the worst. And, unfortunately, that was what she was about to get. And not counting the fact that Cosmos was severally injured.....

Running towards the sound, Tani spotted Cosmos, tied up and injured. Letting out a cry, she lunged forward. Being much bigger than the other dragons besides Cosmos, plus the side effects of the rain, fog, cold, and wind, Tani didn't notice the humans piling up around her. They made soft chirping noises to themselves as Tani tried desperately to release Cosmos, not seeing the humans. Suddenly, a net was thrown over Tani, pulling her down. She let out a screech as the humans infected her with some kind of anesthetic, causing her to slowly lose consciousness.

-

Back at the nursery, about twenty humans were pulling Cosmos and Tani's eggs along. The hatchlings were estimated to be at least twenty feet tall when they hatched. Very big for babies. The humans thought that they could raise the hatchlings to obey their commands. Thanks to the distraction from their fellow tribesman, most of the dragons had gone to help Cosmos, their king. The humans thought dragons were stupid beasts, so they thought it would take quite a while for any creature to show up to stop them. Laughing, the leader of the humans walked up to the humans, telling them to go faster, "Move it! Them beasts may be stupid, but 'er 'ighty f'ne of 'er young. So move it!" The man shouted. The men groaned as they carried the eggs out. Each egg was about twenty feet tall, maybe fifteen, and it took about five to seven humans to carry them. But the humans had brought a few trucks as well to help with the process. So far, they had gotten a total of three eggs out, and were in the process of getting another two out. At this rate, they'd be out of there in about twenty more minutes.

What they hadn't accounted for was Cosmos's personal guardian, the winged titanoboa, Hebaru. The giant snake slithered up to the humans, hissing and spitting, when he saw them carrying the eggs away. At the site of him, the humans started scrambling around. Hebaru charged at the humans, gobbling them up easily. Humans shot spears tinted with dragon poisoning at him, and he howled in pain, his frill leaping out. The man commanding the humans ordered them to evacuate. The horses whinnied and galloped away, carrying five eggs along with them. Nearly fifteen out of the twenty-thirty humans had been devoured by Hebaru, who continued to chase them. Howling, he lunged at them, swallowing the horse, humans, and cart, whole. The egg was left unharmed, for it had been held by an extra wagon, which he hadn't eaten. Hebaru couldn't risk going after the other humans, for the poison was already taking effect. Grunting, Hebaru gently picked the egg up in his mouth, careful to hold it so his fangs wouldn't damage it, and brought it back to the nest, with it's one remaining lonely brother. Placing the egg down, Hebaru grunted again. The poison was effecting the way he breathed. Breathless, Hebaru fainted, having been able to save at least one of the eggs.

When Rylatha picked up the fact that the Queen was being captured, she knew the strange, od-smelling creatures won't go away without a fight.
The hatchling sprinted forward and leaped in a graceful arc, knocking against a smooth-skinned figure. She heard a yell, and she bit down at the skin. She felt a net be draped around her, and she snapped at the ropes. She felt them give way, and she burst out. However, she was too late; she no longer scented Tani. She slumped to the ground in a heap of misery, feeling as if she tragically failed.
"I'm sooooo sorry," she weeped. "I'm sorry..."

Azoic looked at her foot with an itching pained look. She shook her head and pounced over to Volos, snapping the ropes over him, breaking him free in an instant. They both communicated through their eyes, nodding. Azoic could fly the fastest between her and Volos, so she decided to retrieve Rylatha. Volos narrowed his eyes at the remaining humans. They were so fearful of them, that they trembled so much that their spears fell out of their palms. But with no mercy, Volos whipped his tail at the remaining humans, slashing a humongous tear into their's bodies to the point they were almost dismembered.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Uneven wing beats could be heard. Azoic zoomed after the eggs (Which were only about a mile away). The humans glanced back with expressions of agony on their faces. They flinched and dragged the hatchling as far as they could to their resort before they were caught in Azoic's grasp when she swoop down to claw them. In the distance was Mole, he was coming in at a significant speed. Azoic called to Mole in a intimidating roar, asking for help. Mole nodded and swooped in. All of the few, bulky humans aimed their crossbows at Mole, who snarled at them. Azoic took this moment to breathe her acidic breath at the armed humans. They fell to the ground dead in an instant. In fact, most of them did. Some of them crawled to safety, but Mole spewed sharp daggers of solid acid at them, piercing their chests, nailing them to the ground surrounded by a pool of blood. Mole landed next to Azoic and stared at the... things encasing Rylatha, Azoic immediately snapped her out of it as Mole simply stared,  "Well... at least Princess Rylatha is safe. And after going back to the Kingdom, I was notified that some eggs were being taken. The guards are trying to handle it but they need someone to lead them." Mole mumbled. "Go back and help them, everyone on this battlefield is captured or injured. Even the Queen. " Mole widened his eyes in shock, he flared his wings up in the air, ready to take flight again. "I must warn everyo- !"

"No, you're going to take the Princess back to Princess Sorrell! And you're also going to tell our most sober Guards to protect all the hatcheries, especially the royal one!" Azoic demanded. Mole nodded instantly, grabbing Rylatha by her scruff and taking flight, headed toward the Kingdom. Azoic then sprinted back to the battle. But by the time she had gotten there, there were little to no humans left. Cosmos had already fainted and was losing blood quickly. Azoic looked at Volos, who was trying to remove that giant spear from Cosmos's tail and chest, but it was clearly not working. Azoic sighed and nudged him aside, Volos, is it not clear that it is not coming out? Use that brain of yours and snap the metal with your stone teeth, that should do the trick. She exclaimed, giving him no time to respond zoomed off where the humans were.

Volos nodded and snapped the spear with his powerful jaws. He walked back over to the Queen and stared.

~I rushed through this post, mistakes may be seen.~

(... I might have Ariki join this but he's weak & I don't know what he would do in this situation. What would happen to him?)

As she was released, Tani shook herself, running towards Cosmos, worried to death about his well being. She nudged him, whimpering, before she glared at Mole and Azoic, "What do you two metal brains think you're doing here? Get back to the kingdom and get a healer! Pronto! I'll free the other dragons!" She snarled, unaware that the eggs had been taken as she ran over to where some trapped dragons were, using her sharp claws to slice through the metal ropes.

Azoic and Volos flinched with their Queen's demands. They nodded and quickly took flight, their wing beats in sync. They nodded at each other as they zoomed off towards the kingdom, high hopes that Sorrell would be there. She was the best healer in their tribe, and besides, her father was in grave danger! How could she not want to come? With these high hopes for their eldest princess, they immediately searched for her in the kingdom. Once they arrived, they roared in the air of their coming. We need Princess Sorrell's knowledge of healing! This is urgent! King Cosmos and Queen Rektani are in danger!"

The news had reached her rather quickly and Sorrell was freaking out. Tears threatened to spill from her golden eyes but she did not let them. Shaking her head she knew she had to focus on the tribe and the king. She had to think of Rektani and Cosmos as her king and queen, not as the family they were. Taking a deep breath with shaking paws she began collecting herbs. In her head she recounted the knowledge of the injuries and how to heal them. She had been taught by a great healer, one of the best. He had been the head healer of her fathers army. Making a bag out of vines she slipped it onto the large oak horns on her head and flapped her wings. She ignored the cries of the guards saying she had to stay there and it was too dangerous. This was her mission as a healer and a daughter. Nothing was gonna get in her way of her and her father. Opening her maw in a roar she saw the humans. They were everywhere. Tying up her tribe members. Staying in the air she focused her powers and made vines scoot the cluster of large dragons into a small bunch. Taking a deep breath as she felt the energy leaving her she made 100 ft walls grow out of moss, earth, vines, plants, tree bark and flowers. Anything she could add she added to the wall. She dove in and covered the top of the protecting den in tightly woven moss, the human arrows starting to pierce the moss. She shook her head to prevent a tear. Some humans had managed to get in through the cracks and she roared in pain as one stabbed her foot. Feeling a large arrow pierce her neck she growled lowly. Grabbing the humans in her hands she threw them into the wall, blood splattering over it.

Feeling blood seep from her neck at a fast pace she quickly began trying to heal her father. "Stay with me dad. Its gonna be okay. The arrow didn't pierce your heart. You have to be okay. You can't leave me. You have to watch me have my own hatchlings." she whispered to him and a tear fell from her eye, landing on the ground. She sniffled and felt the weather start to pierce the fortress and moss. Trying to keep the fortress up and heal at the same time was weighing on her. Shaking her head she continued to try and heal him. "Its all my fault" she said, adding some cobwebs to stop most of the bleeding. Her eyes quickly developed bags under them from the use of her powers but she continued on, starting to feel slightly drowsy.

(I am going to tell you guys something, after looking at what levish said in Chatbox. You guys can't go down that easily, Cosmos was shot in the underbelly/chest with the very tip of a spear so that's a different case. But all dragon's scales are as hard as diamonds so heads up.)

The stream of blood coming from Cosmos's mouth as the bleeding had stopped. Cosmos had fainted but woke up when he was healed a little more. He coughed, leaning up weakly to gaze at his... daughter. "Sorrell..." He mustered up the strength to speak. Mole flew back with reinforcements. All of the guards roaring, immediately scaring the humans off with their numbers. The Earthwings never had trouble with humans, they were weak and small in numbers. But this however, the Earthwings were known for the large population of humans and how advanced they were then others. That was mainly why they were able to hurt them so much. Everything grew silent as the humans ran away into the white haze. It was only them now. Cosmos kept silent, trying to muster up the strength to speak again. He mumbled nothing and stuttered. He kept coughing midsentence however. But he managed to speak. "S-Sorrell... go free the ones who are trapped... that young one, trapped in ropes... help him. You... c-can worry about me later... your and the tribe's safety comes first... " He mumbled in a hissing pain.

His vision was blurry. He couldn't see very well. But the bleeding completely stopped and Cosmos could feel the adrenaline rush through him. His body managed to flinch and twitch enough to the point Cosmos was no longer numb, but could feel the agonizing pain surge through his chest and tail. "AGH! ... I need to get back... to the Inner Kingdom... to protect... the hatcheries..." He grumbled, he winced as he tried to lift himself off the ground. His legs trembled. But he only feel back down into the muddy ground below him. He panted, the blood washing away in the rain.

//My previous post never happened.. xD//

Terra had soared in, his body casting a huge shadow in the already dark conditions, in an instant, he and the guards had sent the humans running away, screaming. "Great Shardas.." he muttered quietly to himself as he took in the scene. The mud stained red, human bodies everywhere. Cosmos, laid with his daughter trying to heal him.

Terra knelt by the side of the two, shielding most of the rain from them, quite unsure what do to.

Slowly, his heart sunk as Cosmos mentioned the hatcheries. What has happened to them. "No. You're too injured. I'll head back to the hatcheries." he growled, and took off at once, flying as fast as he could in the awful conditions, toward his destination.

Rektani shook her head. She didn't know what to make of all this. How had the humans been able to hurt two huge dragons like herself and Cos(y)mos? Curious as to what the spears were made of, she picked one up and studied it. She was surprised to find that the spear was painful to the touch. Not super painful, it just felt like a buzz, or a sting. Studying the object, Tani was surprised to learn that it was coated with immense doses of dragonsbane, an incredibly toxin poison to dragons. Where on earth had the humans found enough of it tot douse all their weapons in. It didn't make any sense. Either way, it didn't matter now. Setting the spear down, Tani went to check up on her mate, make sure he was alright. But as she did so, two guardians suddenly rushed in through the dense trees, gasping for breath.

Tani wasn't sure what this was about, so she quickly ran up to them. "Raven, Soot, what's wrong?" she asked in a formal manner. The two dragons stopped gasping, a straightened up. They looked at each other nervously. Soot, the brown dragon with black spots, whispered,

"Dude, you said you'd tell her!"

"No way man! You tell her! I don't wanna face her wrath...."

"Well I ain't doing it!"

Tani raised an eyeridge at them. Why on Pyyria were they being so reluctant on telling her what was wrong? Their king had just almost been killed! There was nothing that could be more serious then that! "Tell me what?" she asked.

The dragons looked hesitantly at each other, before Soot finally stepped forward. "You see, your majesty..... when we went to check up on the royal hatchery.... we found one of our guards, Hebaru, passed out, coiled around the nest.... and....there were only three eggs left...."

Tani took a moment to process this. She stood in absolute silence. She then let out an enraged roar, blasting off inti the sky, heading straight to the hatchery. Sure enough, when she arrived, the eggs were missing. Roaring with rage, Tani took off into the sky, searching for the missing eggs, roaring angrily. When she found those humans, she'd rip their heads off!

Of course, Terra had already found out about this. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as he sped along the tops of the trees, attempting to follow the path of destruction these small creatures had caused in their wake. "Queen Rektani!" Terra bellowed, as he caught up with her, spitting rain-water out of his humongous maw. "The eggs are gone!" the autumnal coloured dragon stressed, whilst all the time below them horses pounded along, carts strapped to their backs transporting the huge eggs to the village.

Blood was the only thing that filled his nostrils, rain dripped into his eyes. But the All-Seeing flew over the battlefield below without a single glance to his kin. He followed the horse-drawn carts carrying the five eggs. He could have easily attacked now and secured the eggs, but Baldirak had another plan in mind. The Guardian would follow the cart to the human village and prevent another attack on his kin like the one that had just transpired. As they got closer to the village, Baldirak took cover in the clouds. He hovered there, looking down through a break in his cover to watch the path of the carts; they stopped in the center of the village.

Suddenly Baldirak fell from the sky as his wings closed against his sides. The Guardian dive-bombed into the village, directly above the carts. Opening his left wing slightly to send him into a spiral, Baldirak opened his maw, acid spewing from it and encircling the carts, protecting them from the group of humans that had approached to unload the cargo. Breaking from the dive-bomb, he opened his wings and landed next to the cart. The earth shook violently as his opened maw released a fierce roar. The humans that didn't run immediately began to attack, throwing their spears and firing their cross bows. A few brave souls even tried to get under the Guardian.

Baldirak's tail maneuvered between his limbs to send those brave humans flying away from him, while his midnight black claws gored one that had thrown a spear at his right foreleg. His maw spewed acid at reinforcements that were called forth, killing half. His attention was pulled toward the crossbowmen and he took to the air. He dodged spears and arrows with relative ease; a few found their mark but most bounced off his scales harmlessly. Only two, aimed at his wings, did any damage. But they were minor tears, nothing to keep the large dragon from the sky. When all their spears and arrows had been used, Baldirak began his assault.

Another stream of acid left his maw as he flew over what was apparently the humans' armory, destroying it. His wings brought down buildings and his tail coiled around small groups of humans only to release them a hundred feet above ground. Baldirak had identified the humans' leader and deliberately left him and the ones that had stolen the eggs alive. They had crept toward the cart, now that the acid barrier that had since been protecting it was washed away by the rain. Baldirak's tail slammed down just inches in front of them as he landed, his claws came down pin them to the ground. He lifted the leader to his eye level with his tail, a growl leaving his throat. "These are dragon eggs." he said slowly. "They do not belong to you. You invaded our city. You attacked my kin..!" This last sentence came forth with a level of anger that was not typical of Baldirak, who had never been known to get angry. He proved unable to finish speaking as he seethed at the human in his grasp.

The human attempted to speak, grinning."So what if we took a few eggs from you stupid lizards? We--"

Those were the last words the human would ever speak. The EarthWing Guardian uncoiled his tail from around him, then caught him in his paws, digging his claws in. But he didn't kill him. 'Something much worse awaits you, Human,' he thought as he turned away. The five other humans that had been pinned were at the same time freed and ran as fast as they could from the dragon. Baldirak allowed them to run, that they would tell others of what had happened here and think twice before they attacked the EarthWings... And then he heard a roaring of a different kind. More humans came running toward Baldirak and their weapons, he could smell from here, were laced with dragonsbane.

He took one of the carts into his paws and another in his tail, securing them before leaving the village. It pained him to leave the other three eggs behind, but he couldn't hope to remain alone against an enemy with dragonsbane. As he flew back to the palace, he hoped his kin would secure the other three.

(Bal, I'm not sure if you're aware, but I'm actually doing a plot involving the eggs being stolen. You could have recaptured one, maybe two, but that's it.)