The combination of our figures seems effective; together, Ahvelyn and I make it towards the creature’s hip, now visible from the fire which filters above as a crocodile.

Though I have little use for reptiles or cruel Beast Gods, I cannot help but feel my eyes widen at the glistening beauty of the opalescent scales revealed suddenly before me as the Sun’s flame, and the flame of many others, melt away the cloak of invisibility that had shielded the creature from sight.

The sound of shouting and pain meets me; unlike the blood of the Bear, which crackled and hissed, arcing electricity across flesh, the fluids which pool about us now are cold – I can feel the chill against my ankles I strike along the side of the monster, golden hooves plunging forward with the angled tip of my horn to draw forth a flow of the icy liquid which fills the strange beast’s veins, the beautifully pearlescent scales, refracting the light of the flames above, parting for the tip of my golden rapier.

Suddenly, the crocodile’s behemoth body shifts, its great leg shoving its hip out towards me violently, sending me spinning in a quarter circle away; scrambling, my hooves try to bite into the silt below, finding the purchase is poor. It takes me a lot longer to regain my footing than it should in any reasonable terrain, and even then, I succumb to a violent bout of coughing as soon as I do manage to right myself.

Fuck, I think as I wheeze forward a few shaky steps, feeling the ache of where the beast’s armored skin had slammed against my soft flesh, the voice of the Sun God booming above, a wet gurgle the only answer from the reptile – I look towards it curiously, finding that a gaping wound digs into its side, where lungs go.

Poor beast, I manage to think. I can sympathize with gasping for air – forced, myself, to take a moment to pant, to try and pull air into my lungs that feel full to the brim with snot and fluid.

"Ahvelyn!" I call out to the mare not far from me as soon as I regain my own breath; I surge forward to stand alongside her again, projecting my voice towards her so that she can approximate my location without turning her head, eager to stand mostly between her and the beast (I would be greatly ashamed if the lady was gravely injured while in my company).

Angling my figure to assault the same area I had struck successfully before, I seek to plunge my horn deeper into the already weakened region of the creature’s armor, again feeling the rise in my heart at the prettiness of the thing; across its flesh dances the light of flame and lightning, effervescent and rippling as the waters the Sun God stole away from the Rift.

For the first time, I feel… pity, a reverent awe, a shame for taking the life of a creature of such splendor.

And yet… its own people fight the fight alongside us. How splendorous a God could it truly be, even if it is staggeringly beautiful?

"Let’s end this, fast," I say in a rather soft manner for one in the midst of a battle, truly meaning every word.


[ Summary: Almost morosely continues the fight against the crocodile, as he thinks it is pretty and feels sympathy over having a punctured lung (his own full of GLL goo); is shoved roughly aside and in a semicircle by the hip-check, and takes a small moment to hack and wheeze before returning to the fight. He aims his horn at the region he had wounded in the previous turn, hoping to plunge it into the God's body, while still fighting alongside Ahvelyn. ]