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 Posted: Sun Jan 15, 2012 7:22 pm
As soon as Alyna mentioned it, Karma realized he hadn't seen Bari ever since the herd split up. He stared around for her but with now soquili running in every direction, he wasn't able to spot Bari anywhere. Bari had been a nervous wreck ever since her mate turned on her. Karma felt a stab of guilt for losing track of her. She needed to be looked after now more than ever, and he had completely lost track of her.
He didn't have long to think about that.
When Alyna ran he ran too, but they weren't the only ones on the move. Karma ran headlong into Maitreya who had been running in the opposite direction. His vision swam with spots and he looked frantically around for his mate. "Alyna? Alyna!" he called out. He spread his wings to take to the air after her but a gust of wind and a dark shadow ended that plan in a haze of fear. Kalona! The kalona was flying above them! Gasping, Karma ducked his head and ran...
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 6:51 pm
Xelloss was nearly giddy with delight. The cries of fear were like music to his ears and it filled him with such joy to see the herd running in every direction to try to avoid him. He flapped high above them then dived low, skimming just a horse's length above them and smacking a few with his wingtips. It wouldn't do any damage, but it would keep them terrified.
Laughing, he pulled up again and this time readied himself for a more serious attack. This time when he dived he set his tail lashing. He struck out at any soquili he could hit as he swept over them. With so many targets it was impossible to miss!
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:08 pm
In her fractured mental state, Bushkin was drawn to Revyra. The mare had drawn her wings out and the increase in size caught Bushkin's attention. Most of the other soquili were running around helplessly, but the purple feathered mare was standing still as a mountain. That made her easier to focus in on and easier to target. Lowering her head, Bushkin thundered at that motionless mare.
Her hooves threw up clods of dirt as she ran. Other frightened soquili crossed her path but she shouldered them out of the way as if they were nothing but tree branches. She could save the rest for later. Once she crushed the purple mare into the ground, she'd crush the rest of them too!
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:17 pm
Smirking, Unenlagia spotted a soquili running for cover. It was a gold male with lotuses on his feet and a mane mixed with red and gold. The stallion's name was Devastrigarbha, though Lagia had no way of knowing this. The stallion had been foolish enough to separate himself from the group. With a hunter's instinct, Lagia knew this meant that made him the perfect one to attack!
"That one!" he shouted to the two wolves beside him. They needed no other direction. Lagia and the two wolves were soon shooting a line straight for Deva and it would have been difficult to say which of them looked the more vicious. Unenlagia smirked widely. Even though Xelloss was patrolling the skies, the stallion ought to have taken flight. He would stand a much better chance in the air with the kalona then on the ground with him!
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Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2012 7:33 pm
Kakumei didn't understand most of what was going on between Shrivatsa and Vara. It was all adult stuff that he didn't have the background to comprehend. Whatever it was, it was making Shrivatsa sad, and then Vara ran off somewhere else. Kakumei relaxed a little when Vara left. If the herd alpha was gone that meant that there had to be no danger, or so he thought. That notion held him over until the kalona and wolves popped out of nowhere. Then, Kakumei realized that the danger hadn't ended, it had just begun.
His mother shouted at him and his siblings to follow her. Kakumei tried... but sudden dust in his eyes blinded him momentarily. He staggered blindly, bumping off other soquili and just trying to keep running away from where the frightening sounds were coming from. He could hear his mother calling him in the distance but couldn't figure out how to get to her! When the dust finally left his eyes in blurry tears, he had no idea where she was.
"Mom? Mom?!" he shouted. Someone turned, were they going to help him? Kakumei looked up hopefully, but the other soquili didn't even notice he was there. They shoved past Kakumei and knocked him over in the process, leaving him lying in the dirt in the midst of countless falling hooves.
"Mother!" he cried frantically. "Mother!!"
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 7:38 am
At first Wohl merely followed Unenlagia's orders, a target was a target, why should he care what target they were after? Unfortunately he did care, just a miniscule amount but enough for his attention to be drawn away by the sound of growling coming from outside their little pack. He turned to see a wolf that seemed to have interest in protecting the herd. It looked past it's prime but something like it would still prove to be a threat if it butted in at the wrong time. It needed to be disposed of now and that little spotted mare, Alyna, that it was standing watch over could go as well.
Snarling and gnashing his teeth Wohl charged the Padmapani wolf with nothing but the promise of death in his eyes.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 7:49 am
It wasn't particularly difficult for Revyra to figure out that she was a target. The draft mare baring down on her didn't seem to notice anything else. She pushed herd members out of the way in her charge like a bull would. Hopefully the draft mare was as good of a tactician as a bull would be. It would put Revyra at a distinct advantage despite her lack of size.
She took in a deep breath and steeled herself before beating her wings to aid her in a jump. She tucked up her back legs and aimed her forelegs at the neck and back of the dark mare before quickly beating her wings again to propel herself down at her opponent.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 8:02 am
 It was chaos. That was the only way to describe it. Soquili were running every which way colliding with each other and being pushed out of the side. A thin cloud of dust covered the feet of every living thing. A kalona cackled and dove in and out of the crowd slashing at friends and family. It was a scene from his nightmares but Vivace was not sleeping.
He swallowed tossing his head about wildly to keep his bangs out of his face and try to see what was going on. So far he seemed to have gone largely unnoticed rooted to the same place he had been when Revyra had shouted that it was a trap. He should run. Everyone was running, or fighting, he couldn't fight. He'd skipped too many lessons to be useful. He watched in a daze as the kirin Cappricia ran by with her children, his young cousins Kouichi and Kadentsu. He should follow them. Vivace started to move towards them when he suddenly remembered something. There was a third: Kakumei. Where was Kakumei?
He turned quickly and squinted out into the chaos looking for a little blob of pink. There he was! "Kakumei!" He shouted pushing his way through the crowd trying not to think about what was going on around him. He needed to get the kid out of there. "Kakumei! Over here!" He only hoped his voice could be heard over the calamity.
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Posted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 11:26 am
Alyna had lost Karma. She had lost her sky, and she had lost her way in the chaos. Her fear drove her forward, even as she called for her mate. Karma had wings, he would be fine. He could just fly away if he had to--he was skilled enough to outfox that stupid Kalona in the sky, she was sure. But she knew he wouldn't leave her...and she knew she had to find him so they could escape together.
But she knew something else too. She knew that not everyone would survive this attack. There were too many attackers, the herd was too disorganized...and most of their protectors had stayed to fight the skinwalkers. They were in serious trouble.
And now some strange wolf was edging his way toward her beloved familiar.
"Lyka, no!" she cried. She knew Lyka was older now, that she was past her prime, that she was not the wolf she used to be. And Alyna was afraid for her friend. "No...there must be another way!" She glared at the red wolf, tears in her eyes. "Why are you doing this?! "
Lyka had seen the wolf's approach before Alyna did. Her growling intensified, as she stepped forward to face the young red wolf. She and Alyna had been together since Alyna was born--there was no way Lyka would allow this whippersnapper pup a single snap at Alyna's heels. What she lacked in vitality she made up for in experience--a lifetime of defending Alyna on her various adventures. But she knew that even that wouldn't be enough.
"I don't know what your game is, mutt," she snarled, "but you've got another think comin' if you think you're gonna get my girl."
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 7:34 am
What was he doing? His family was being attacked, hurt, possibly even killed and Deva was just...running away. Sure, he couldn't fight but he was a spiritual leader. He was supposed to stick with the herd and try to keep them as calm as possible, to try and fight the chaos that had ensued. Instead he ran away, by himself, like an idiot and only added to the chaos.
He'd been so caught up in the screams of the herd and his own fear that it wasn't until now that he felt the glass circle bouncing against his chest. It wasn't anything special, really but it had always helped him focus during meditation. And now it was going to help him amidst all this turmoil. He poured all his concentration into the object, blocking everything but the thumping of the necklace against his chest. Quickly he felt clarity returning to him and he realized what he had to do. He had to turn around and help his family, if not to fight then to help those who couldn't defend themselves get to safety.
But turning around now would have been a bad idea. He hadn't been aware of the stallion and his pack of wolves chasing him before. Now that he had seen them and knew they were after him his panic was starting to settle back in. Continuing to run, he focused on his pendant again to fight it off. This was a good thing, if they were after him then that would be three less foes attacking his family. As dangerous as it was, Deva decided that the best thing he could do for the herd now was to keep running. So he did. And if they started to lose interest he would turn and face them. He wouldn't allow them to hurt his family.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:56 pm
Kakumei heard the sound of a familiar voice and lifted his head, looking around wildly for its source. His eyes locked onto the familiar figure- Vivace! His mother and siblings were still nowhere in sight, but Vivace gave him someone to flee to. "I'm coming!" he shouted through the crowd. He was sore from his fall but managed to climb to his feet. He started to run for Vivace but the sound of laughing overhead made him duck in fear.
"Vivace!" he cried out in fear as the kalona swooped by above. The kalona didn't stop and flew right on by, but Kakumei stood watching the sky in horror in case he should come back again.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:09 pm
Bodhisattva was one of the few trained defenders of the herd that hadn't stayed behind to fight the skinwalkers. There were too few of them who knew how to fight and so many enemies to defend against! She started running at one of the wolves advancing on an isolated herd member. She saw a draft mare attacking Revyra and then turned to join that battle instead. That was when she noticed yet another wolf heading in another direction to terrorize another herd member.
She wanted to scream in stressed frustration. There were too many things to do and she was only one mare! Scythe or Hayagriva might have been able to drive off all of them on their own, but not her! She ducked as the kalona swooped by and her herdmates screamed and scattered. There was something awfully familiar about that monster...
It was him! It was the kalona that had attacked Nirvana years ago! Haya had coached her and others of his students into driving off the kalona and it had been their first big success. So, the kalona thought he'd come back for a little vengeance, did he? That didn't sit well with Bodhisattva. Staring at the kalona, she squared her jaw and flapped her wings.
Soon she was aloft and zooming over the head of her herdmates. She flew after the kalona and trilled a song of challenge to him. "The skies are mine, monster! Fight me if you want to claim it!" It sounded like the beginning of a heroic ballad to her, Bodhisattva vs the monster. No matter how fast the kalona was in the air, she knew she was faster. The game was on her terms now.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:16 pm
Xelloss stopped terrorizing the soquili below him in order to properly inspect his new challenger. There was no pause in his moment of recognition. It was one of the soquili that had participated in shaming him during that fateful attack. He still smiled, but the darkness churned within. "My my," he crooned, flapping gently higher into the air. "You want to fight me? I'm flattered, really."
This was exactly the opportunity he had come with for, the chance to put to rest one of the soquili who had hurt him. "If you don't mind, let's not waste more time chatting." True to his words, he spoke no more. Once he had acquired sufficient height he dived at the flying mare, horns pointed at her with deadly accuracy.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:22 pm
Unenlagia sneered with derision. His target was running! Instead of facing his fate he fled like a coward. This herd was full of soft weaklings. According to natural law, they deserved to be culled if they couldn't defend their own lives. He had nothing to say to Deva. He just lengthened his stride and kept running. This was a game he was familiar with. Though Unenlagia was slight in stature he was as fast as the wind blowing over the prairie.
The two wolves strained to keep up with him but they weren't built for the same extended sprints. "Go back! Kill others!" panted Lagia between strides. The wolves peeled away from him and back to the herd, but Lagia kept going. The distance slowly closed between him and the winged golden stallion.
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Posted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 1:27 pm
Wohl rolled his eyes at the wolf and horse duo. Why were they wasting their breath talking and asking him questions. It was pointless. It wasn't even funny. This was battle. There was no room for idle chatter and he didn't need to explain himself anymore than a tree needed to explain it's leaves.
With his tail standing erect he made a beeline towards the wolf that acted so tough. The old wolf an inch away from death. A centimeter even. When he was in striking range he made his move for the other's jugular just like her would with a deer. It was the place that few animals ever survived a wound to.
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