Murder watched the iridescent damsel with a pensive and curious eye. Ophelia appeared so youthful but she exuded such a mature aura it startled him. She could be no older than three by the looks of it, not even a wholly developed mare, yet she was in other aspects one of the most cultivated unicorns he had ever encountered. It was refreshing to see an adolescent femme so compassionate. The ire Murder felt still festered inside him, but the generous gesture of this girl provisionally soothed the monster. Rubicund optics fell upon the bleached dragon once more as it crept down its master’s neck and onto her vertebrae. Its agitation was obvious, and though Murder had no yearning to engage the avian lizard he wasn’t bothered by its displeasure with him. Dragons were a relatively novel concept for Murder, having only encountered his first one a year ago, however they had not established in him an overly invigorating interest, and that didn’t seem to be altering today.

As the bantam fiend spread his fibrous appendages and took to the skies Murder glanced back to Ophelia just as she moved forward, her abnormal gaze grasping his. The melancholy manifesting in her pools intrigued Murder, it made her smile seem so false, and he had a peculiar aspiration to know what experiences had wrought the vixen that was poised before him. Afore he could delve into her depth however Ophelia spoke and Murder nodded in return to her words before looking back at the meddlesome brute one last time, bathing in the mild pleasure from her dismissing him. Rotating to shadow Ophelia, though her snowy pelt did make it challenging, a relief began to encompass the stag. The thought that momentarily he would be reunited with his comrades elated him yet he didn’t let it show. What if the deities wouldn’t give them back? That question weighed heavily on Murder’s mind and just as the jubilation had come it hastily diminished.

They had been itinerant for a short time before something caught Murder’s eye and he reduced his pace to a slow jog and raised his head. Through the space in the trees he could see something moving rather haphazardly and after a moment he could tell it was a Pegasus. "The Veins of the Gods are far south,” were the final words he heard from Ophelia before deviating to the left and halting behind a pine to watch the epileptic harlot. After a minute of observing the silver dame’s bizarre dance Murder twisted his skull to look in the direction Ophelia had just been and realized she had vanished. Wonderful… Murder thought wordlessly as he turned back to stare at the wench before treading into the glade.

{ Blah blah blah battle happens and shiz gets real ha ha and now back to our regularly scheduled program }

Every stride conducted an abrupt ache up Murder’s posterior columns. A large quantity of the blood had dried by now but the coagulated plasma, which fastened the torn flesh together on his hindquarters, ripped agonizingly at his hairs and frequently reopened on his voyage. An exasperated grunt fled Murder’s nostrils as; once again, he took a step and detected some of the cruor release from the skin, allowing a new trickling of claret fluid to begin to flow down his buttock. The scabs were certainly not doing their job. The bitch that did this to him would be redeemed for her insolence but he knew he won the battle and that assisted in easing Murder’s discomfort. When he reached the earth bridge he stopped and looked down into the cerulean abyss as it collided against the precipices and howled. Conveying his gaze back to stare across the expanse of azure magma he had to admire how exquisite it was in its own right. For emulating something that belonged in perdition it was quite beautiful.

As Murder revered the pumice covered terrain he forgot for a second why he had ventured here in the first place until he laid eyes upon Ophelia. The pearlescent amazon contrasted to the background of cobalt fire like a diamond in a cluster of rocks. Murder heaved a sigh of liberation and twitched slightly as another spasm of pain surged through his thigh. Languidly he began to make his passage across the land bridge, his dome hung indolently and his leonine extension flicked lazily as he sauntered towards her. It felt like decades before his hooves found themselves on the island but Murder couldn’t have been more solaced when they did and as he traveled on the path to the gods shrines a grin began to form on his lips. When Murder finally reached tarragon baroness he raised his crown and regarded her with another nod, endeavoring to conceal his evident suffering. Not avid about giving her a chance to enquire about his unexpected disheveled condition Murder decided to persist in their mission immediately.

“Sorry for my tardiness Ophelia, I thank you for waiting.”

Voids sailed back to the monuments now to speak to the divinities, and his tone tersely transformed.

“Gods I am here for what you procured from me, I request for you to return my crows and I will be on my way.”

Murder’s voice was harsh as he struggled to be courteous, the animosity he held for these idols was almost more than he could endure. Now they had to wait, this he knew, but the indignation was beginning to escalate in Murder again and if they did not emerge he was unsure of what hell would be released.

{ ooc: sorry this took so long, and I just went ahead and wrote it like the battle happened. If I need to edit anything let me know. }