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For miles along the dusty ground of the roguelands stretched a deep furrow gouged into the ground, weaving occasionally but always headed singlemindedly towards the west. The upturned earth was freshly tilled, and marked the passage of something large. If one followed it to its end, they would eventually find a very dirty and weary lion, pale green where there were gaps in the dirt, throwing all his weight against a boulder.

It wasn't a particularly impressive or unusual boulder, simply a great big rock. But Eiszapfen had found it at the location as ordained by his visions, as marked by a charred tree whose branches formed a cross. So now it fell to him to do as duty required, and carry the great rock to the waters of the west. Though, carry wasn't exactly the right word for it. He'd been trying for weeks, painstakingly nudging it along by heaving, shoving, scraping. And so far, no waters in sight. If he didn't know how vitally important this was to the future of the world, he would've given up long ago.

It had been some time now. Well, not really that much time, maybe several minutes. But to someone like Raiden, of course, it did feel like enough time. But it was still very interesting to him, seeing a lion deciding, for whatever reason, to push along a boulder. So he perched in the inconspicuous form of a small black bird and watched, perched on a small bush. He was somewhat aware of a nearby serval watching him, but didn’t mind. Should he be attacked, well… That was the serval’s problem. Of course, it didn’t really take long for Raiden to get sick of simply watching. So soon enough, he had taken the appearance of a vulture and flapped noisily to take perch on the boulder. Once there, he glared down at the lion, spread his wings and squawked. Lets see what he thinks about that!

Huffing and wheezing from his effort, Eiszapfen saw nothing of creatures around him, until he heard the squawk so closeby. Peering up, he was nonplussed to see a bird sitting there so casually. He watched for a moment to see if it was a sign, but no, it just looked like an ordinary vulture. Maybe it thought him dying, out here in the dry terrain, acting so peculiar as if half mad from fatigue. He snorted ruefully. About half sounded right. The rest was sane and only too painfully aware of how he looked sometimes.

Still, as amusing the unafraid vulture was, it was just adding more weight to an already very cumbersome rock. He waved a paw in a shooing motion. "Be gone with you, carrion creature of destruction. It's not time for the end yet. Still much to be done before the walls of reality come crashing down. Then you can feast on the aftermath."

Raiden continued on his avian scrutinizing as the lion examined him, tilting his head this way and that and twitching his wings slightly. He squawked lightly again, as if to make sure this crazy lion had noticed him, but a reply came soon enough in the shape of a paw. The god flapped his wings irritably towards the paw, but stayed on the rock. “Watch your tongue, mortal! “ He hissed, deciding to, at least in part, drop the vulture charade. Well, he remained in the same body, but it wasn’t often that vultures talked back. “You don’t know who you’re talking to. “ Despite the tone in his voice, Raiden was inwardly having much fun. Because it wasn’t often that he found the right kind of lion to play with like this!

Pausing in surprise, Eiszapfen regarded the strange bird carefully, in part grateful for the pause to his gruelling routine this allowed. He might as well deal with this creature while he caught his breath. Though he didn't hold any particular animosity for vultures in general, this one was in the way and seemed intent on staying in the way, which was irksome. But he didn't necessarily want to harm it.

"Now look here, bird, this is a very important rock," he explained, the 'mortal' comment having gone straight over his head. "I've got to take it to the west water, and that's hard enough without having to work around a buzzard. If you're looking for lunch it's not me, I'm doing just fine. So unless you're interested in helping, and I don't see how you could, you might as well flap on by."

Though momentarily frustrated, because he did expect a rather different reaction, Raiden’s amusement was endless. “Oh, an important rock, you say? “ He ruffled up slightly, inching more toward the edge of the boulder, even though it brought him close to the lion. He peered down at the lion, head turned towards the right in that very avian way of looking at things. “Now, why do you say that? “ He hopped a bit closer, and briefly wondered if he wanted the lion to strike him, and he could turn into something bigger. But, then, he also didn’t want this game to end so soon, so he had his wings ready to flap out of reach if he must. … Or whack this guy in the face with them, whatever was necessary.

Eiszapfen watched the bird hop closer blandly, wondering if it intended to peck at him and see if he was really dying or not. He was more bemused than anything else, even at the concept of being pecked. Maybe he had an atmosphere of death about him, being so focused on the endtimes as he was, and the vulture sensed it. Two creatures of destruction they were, and he had a momentary sensation of camaraderie.

"The rock was located at the charred tree that looks like a cross, as foretold by prophecy," he replied, not knowing any reason why he shouldn't answer. "It has to be taken to the west water as one of the rituals that must be fulfilled before the Apocalypse can begin." Normally he would've cringed to say that to another lion, anticipating their reaction, but this wasn't as embarrassing as that.

…Not quite the answer he was expecting.  Well, he supposed he wasn’t sure what to expect.  Fortunately, vultures aren’t the most expressive of creatures, or else this lion might actually notice one of those reactions he dreaded. Raiden was –pretty- sure the world wasn’t about to end, and he wouldn’t start thinking so because of this lunatic. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t play along. “Aah, I see. “ He nodded, as if this made complete and total sense to him. “Well then, I suppose I won’t get in your way, but, if you wish, I could assist you. “

Eiszapfen was rather pleased to find the vulture so accommodating once things had been explained to it. Maybe it really did grasp the concepts of destruction. Or maybe it was just anticipating the amount of carcasses that would be lying around if the world ended. He nodded gratefully, though doing so reminded him of the muscles in his neck aching where they'd been pushing against the boulder.

"Well, I thank you for the offer, chaosbird, but you're a bit small to help with the pushing I'm afraid." He pondered, and brushed some dust off his legs absently. "I don't suppose you'd know anything about the terrain west of here? How far it is to water, maybe? I'm not sure if I'm looking for a lake or ocean or what, but I really hope it's closeby. Otherwise it's going to take forever."

For a brief moment, Raiden reveled in his new nickname. Chaosbird. He liked that! He shook his head, both at the comment on his size and the question about water. “No, I’m afraid I flew in from the east. However, size will not be a problem. “ He nodded, hopping off the edge of the rock to take flight, getting somewhat higher before swooping back down. “I will push this rock until that tree, over there. So you may rest. “ The tree was about a mile away, which wasn’t too much, but Raiden wasn’t feeling charitable enough to accompany this lion for too long. Funny as he was. “Now, if you’ll excuse me. “ He landed next to the blue lion in front of the rock, and stared at the rock, then back at the lion. “I can’t do this if you don’t give me some room, if you will. “ He spread his wings slightly, to indicate he be given space. “What is your name, by the way? “

Eiszapfen was disappointed not to get any news on the water, but resigned himself to pushing for as long as it took. He'd already come this far, afterall. But at the bird's comments about helping, he opened his jaw to reply, then clamped it shut and frowned in befuddlement. He eyed the tree in the distance skeptically. It would've taken him all day and then some of backbreaking work to get that far.

Oh, he understood now. The vulture was treating it like a game. Lion spouts crazy nonsense? Let's play along with his silly antics! Twitching in slight annoyance, still he backed up to give the smaller creature the requested room and watched on with a weary expression. He wasn't about to pass up any offer of help, no matter how impossible. Probably the bird would peck at it like a nut for awhile, then get bored and fly off.

Raiden nodded, pleased as this insane lion backed off, though not entirely happy that he hadn’t told him his name. Oh well, he’d get that later. He didn’t really need this lion’s name, but it would be fun to tell anyone he might talk to later, like Kivu or Ethi. He inched closer to the rock, and put his beak against it, simply for theatrics. And suddenly, a much larger creature stood where the vulture once was. Raiden found it a bit tiring to turn into creatures big like rhinoceroses, but switching forms was something he did often enough, and he got over the odd feelings quickly enough. “You didn’t tell me your name, “ He remarked again, as he lowered his head and began to push the boulder with a significantly larger amount of ease.

At the sudden change in shape Eiszapfen scrambled backwards in sheer shock, instincts forcing him away from the unexpected threat. Holy gods a rhino! For a moment he didn't even think of where the rhino had come from, just that he had to get out of goring range. He leapt away a few body lengths before turning to review the situation, gasping from the rush of adrenaline that had overtaken him.

He was in time to watch the rhino begin to push the rock, and he put it together. He winced. Holy gods a rhino indeed. Quickly he reviewed everything he'd said to the vulture, looking for any insult he might've given. He cursed himself. He should've known better! Signs came in all shapes and sizes. "Eiszapfen, I'm called Eiszapfen, er... lord?" he answered hesitantly, once he'd recovered enough to speak.

Raiden would have nodded if his head weren’t against the rock. He frowned, flicking his small tail and shrinking his horns so they wouldn’t get in the way of pushing. As much as he liked having two giant horns.  “Eiszapfen, ah. “ A complicated name. Maybe he should figure out a nickname. Or maybe just… not address him by name any time soon. “Lord, now? I thought I was chaosbird. Well, I suppose that is fine. “ He mused, raising a brow and glancing back at the lion, but not stopping his pushing. This might go faster if he were an elephant, but if rhinos were hard to mimick, elephants were –really- hard. He’d only ever managed to make himself a decently sized elephant once, and not from lack of trying!

Following along at a distance, Eiszapfen watched the progress with a sense of awe. The rock was moving along at a fair clip now. Already the few moment's effort had pulled off what might've taken him as much as an hour. He absently made a mental note not to mess with rhinos, or gods, if he could help it. "Sorry about the name, lord, I didn't know you weren't actually a bird."

After awhile, he felt awkward just letting the god do all the work, so he nervously edged in closer to the bird-turned-rhino, looking for a way to help out. He didn't know if his own strength would make any impact at all in comparison, though. Now he knew how birds must feel when facing a lion! "My name means icicle, lord," he offered. "Because when I was born I was injured by a falling one."

See, this kind of stuff made the doing-favors-for-silly-mortals worth it. Rai just loved it when they reacted like this! He smiled slightly to himself as he pushed along, but quickly made another indifferent face, as being all smiled was somewhat… undignified. For the situation, anyway. “Oh no, by all means, it was rather amusing. “ If he weren’t in this situation, Raiden might actually be snickering about it. But right now he made a note to seem aloof, because behaving like he usually did wouldn’t really fit! And ear twitched curiously as the lion crept closer, but he made a point not to look. You’re a god, Rai, this isn’t too interesting. “I see. I suppose it suits you. “ He nodded slightly. “If it interests you, I am the god of thunder. “ He said this simply for his own benefit. Because it was good to be known. Being the god of thunder, it wasn’t hard for Raiden to have enough belief in his element to be happy. All someone ever had to do was believe in thunder and how can you –not- believe in thunder? But, a little recognition to himself as a god was nice.

Eiszapfen couldn't see any way to get a purchase on the rock with Raiden's bulk taking up all the room, so he backed off again and paced ahead, looking for brush to clear out of the path, though that also wouldn't make much of a difference. Still, he knocked a few dry branches aside anyway. He glanced ahead to check on the progress being made. That tree was looming up faster than he'd ever expected.

At the word "thunder" he looked at the sky worriedly, almost expecting a thunderbolt for emphasis. Now he would be paranoid about being struck by one if he ever insulted a bird. "It's a pleasure to meet you," he replied, trying to be formal, though conversation in general wasn't something he excelled at. "I met the goddess of love once," he added out of hand. "She wasn't a rhino."

Raiden’s ears perked, and he followed the other lion’s movements idly. A thing he didn’t like about this form was the bad eyesight, though he supposed he wasn’t using it much now anyways. At the comment of another goddess, he perked up slightly. Love, really? That was a rather “big” domain. He briefly wondered what kind of character this goddess of love had, but, being a god, he wasn’t always so thrilled to meet other gods. Sure, they were fun and all, but he couldn’t act all ‘I’m above you!’ with them. “Neither am I, “ He shrugged his large shoulders. “We can change forms if we wish. Not all of us really exercise this ability too often… “ He was sure he knew a god or two that would rarely change to such different shapes. The most common transformation was simply concealment of wings or any other… oddities, so they could pretend to be mortal. “I can show you my true form once we reach the tree. “

"I'd like that, lord." Pleased at the prospect of seeing what this god really looked like, Eiszapfen was also very grateful for the opportunity to rest. After such a long time laboring, just walking felt as refreshing as a gentle night's slumber. It also reminded him of all his aches and twinges, as his muscles tried to recover, which wasn't so relaxing. But he tried not to show them as he simply paced along. They were the consequences of his geis.

They made good progress for awhile, the rock nearly to the tree, and Eiszapfen stayed quiet mostly out of trying not to say something. He didn't want mention that, at the time he'd met the goddess, he hadn't even known about gods. That part of his childhood education had been neglected, and he'd only thought her a very strange lioness... with wings. At least she had been the kindly type of god, and not the smiting kind.

Though it hadn’t been much of a challenge, Raiden had begun to grow somewhat bored, and he didn’t reply. He was happy to reach the tree, and backed away from the rock, turning his large grey head to look at the lion. Man, Rhino’s had awful eyesight. It was an easy fix, but he might as well leave it. He wouldn’t be one for much longer. “We have reached the tree, as you can tell. And I feel I’ll move on now, good luck on your quest. “ He really wasn’t sure how far the water was. He glanced up at the boulder, and for a minute it seemed like the rhino might jump, but what came off the floor was actually a large black lion with wings and horns. Raiden paused, so that the lion could get a good look. And then, very unlike the way he had been behaving, grinned a toothy grin and waved. “Bye! “ And without another moment’s delay, spread his wings and flew off, leaving Eiszapfen to push his rock along.