The tar hungers. The tar wants. Its haunted eyes, resting in the ghostly features of the figures that run from it, only to sink down once more, watch with pleasure as Crowley draws closer. The pup is far smarter than he, he will regret the motion forward when the burn overtakes him.

When at last Crowley's horn touches the tar, it springs into action. It is suddenly quick and lively, springing from the earth to grab a hold of Crowley's horn and coat it in thick, endless black. The small puddles that had begun to form and eat away the starry earth expand rapidly into lakes, flowing beneath Crowley until there is nothing but dark, black falling. Just as he fears, the world falls away into nothing but this endless pit. Tar washes over him, spreading to fill each pore and cavity. He may feel like he is drowning, may watch his vision fade until there is nothing but endless burning heat and the pain of a mistake.

He may feel as if he is dying. It might occur to him that this is the end, locked in a foolish mistake. He may feel forever as if he is falling, falling to a place with no end. Above, the earth shifts back to what it was once before. The pup was perhaps too smart to follow his master, but his inaction will have its cost. The meadow fills the holes left in the earth and the tar that dragged Crowley down into blackness is sucked into the dirt and grass that once again covers the earth. Above, all is well, resting as it has so many evenings before. The sky returns to the air, the earth to the ground.

Deep below, the fall is broken. In a cavern within the earth, the tar withers away into tendrils of shadow and reveals Crowley as he was before. The illusion of pain remaining, the fear perhaps still haunting, but the body free to move and explore the dark underworld into which it has fallen- the hidden corner of the world where shadows reign.

The shadow of his daughter stands in the center of them all, beckoning him once again, easing the illusions of pain to a tolerable point. No words this time, only silence and a smile. Only a deft turn away and a gallop into blackness.

[[At this point, anyone to join the thread will see only Talbot in the meadow. Crowley has fallen far below and beyond.]]