[ORP-ish] The murder of hope (Completed.)

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Adagio slumped to the ground as the wolf ran off with the corpse of her beloved familiar. A splotch of blood still pooled on the ground where Coda had lain. She stared at it as if fixated, eyes wide open and yet processing nothing. Her breathing seemed unnaturally loud as it pulsed in and out in short bursts. She turned here head and there was Bodhi again. Adagio's lower lip trembled. "... Bodhi?"

Of course, there was no answer. Still on the ground, Adagio pulled herself inch by inch until she was at Bodhi's side. Shaking, she leaned down to nuzzle her sister's cheek. In the chilly air, Bodhisattva was already growing cold. Adagio's teeth clenched shut and several small bird-like sounds escaped her lips. Her head fell forward and she began to sob. Her entire body was wracked with the movement and her wings opened and shut as if trying to catch hold of the sky for comfort.

"Bodhi..." she cried. "BODHI!"  

[Nisshou H]

At first it looked as though the mare wasn't prepared to give up the fight, Revyra readied herself for the next onslaught, but then something odd happened. Carried on the wind she could hear a strange sort of call and the dark draft seemed to be responding to it. Whatever it was it was some kind of signal but, much to her relief, it seemed to be a cry to retreat.

Revyra watched as her opponent backed out of range before racing off. Her luminous eyes continued to watch until the mare was out of sight and it didn't seem like she was coming back. Only then did she let her wings drop the amount she had used them today left them hanging at her sides like lead. She would have let herself drop as well, to rest, but there were things that needed doing. Looking around she could see frightened faces and blood splattered ground everywhere. She could hear someone's cries on the wind, probably for a missing or injured friend or family member. There attackers were gone but the effects would be permanent in the minds and hearts of those present.

Across the way she could see Shrivatsa with her brother and the fallen angeni filly. Shrivatsa, their new alpha. Her first test had been the chaos of battle. She did not envy the child. Avalokiteshvara had told Shrivatsa to trust Revyra's guidance and right now it looked like the young mare could use some. She made her way swiftly across the field of battle to stand near the siblings. "It appears our attackers have run off." She said in case the mare had missed this critical piece of information. "What would you have us do?" She would give advice only if it seemed necessary.  

[Revolutionary Roniel]

Revyra was asking her for direction? Shrivatsa was stunned by this new development and it rendered her speechless for a moment. She gathered her wits again quickly and gave the herd a quick visual assessment. There were no enemies left in sight, that much was true. They disappeared as quickly as they had come. Without them, she was left with the slightly surreal vision of her weeping and wounded herdmates.

"We need to..." At her hooves was the injured Auva who she had been just trying to treat. She might not feel much like the herd alpha yet, but she knew how to heal. She sent grateful thoughts to Regulus for teaching her a skill that was proving invaluable. "We need to get everyone together and gather the injured in one place." It would be easier to treat them and watch over them if the wounded were in one centralized location.

"Could you..." She hesitated. Telling Revyra what to do was very unnatural for her. "Could you gather the unicorns together?" To her brother, she was less reserved. "Phala, help me move Auva to the others." She glared sharply at him.

It would be important to have all their healers up and working as soon as possible. Shrivatsa stared back up the pass to where the rest of the herd had been left behind. There would be injured from that group as well, and she hoped it was just injuries and not worse. Shrivatsa was grateful that there had been no deaths in her part of the herd, or so she thought. The wailing voice of Adagio became more and more clear as the sounds of battle died away...  

[Celestial Requiem]

There was his chance! The other stallion had been distracted by something, something that Deva hadn't caught but he didn't care. With the opening he was given, Deva scrambled back to his hooves, though it was a bit difficult as one of his legs had been damaged a bit. But there wasn't any time to think about his leg right now. He had to get away, get into the sky. And that's what he did. With a great beat of his wings he lifted himself into the air and away from Lagia. He didn't know that the battle was over, he was too afraid to look down, to see the carnage that might lie below him.

But eventually he had to, and after searching through those that he could see, it was obvious that none of their attackers remained. Many of his herdmates were missing though. He knew it was an over reaction, but he couldn't help but panic at the missing faces. He had to remind himself that they could easily be hidden in the trees. It didn't really help to ease his fear though. Slowly, and with a great deal of dread, Deva circled back down to the ground to be with his family.  

[Nisshou H]

Revyra nodded, both in approval of the mare's choice of plan and in agreement to follow orders. It was a good sign that Vara had made the right choice. At the wrong time, of course, but at least young Shrivatsa showed promise. "Right away." She said before leaving the pair in a purposeful stride. Then she began making rounds calling, in a booming voice, "All unicorns are to gather with the rest of the herd. You are to move swiftly and promptly there! There are wounded that require assistance! You will receive your assignments once you have gathered!" As tired as she was her voice still rang out clearly in the falling silence. She moved from place to place repeating the message to make certain that all herd Shrivatsa's orders.  

[ArashiX]

There was another that was part of Shrivatsa's little huddled group that the shock hadn't fully settled, nor would it leave for quite some time. Aria could feel the sting of tears in her deep crimson eyes, and until Revyra's orders rang out, she stood, wide-eyed.

Such feelings of overwhelming shame coursed through her veins, but that was numb, just as the bright tang of fear that had been felt during the attack was dull--a lingering taste of disgusted bile on her tongue. Bitter, a hard drought to swallow that she could only keep with the group that followed their new Alpha's orders.

Mechanically, the brown member of the sparrow-like family within the Padmapani Herd edged out to help bring the wounded together...

...until a sound finally registered.

Bodhi.

The cry was like ice-water from the mountains. It chilled her veins. Adagio! The feathers on her brow quivered in stress, just as much as they flit to the side as she swung her head around. Reacting once again and choosing flight, Aria tore away from one of the injured she had moved to the designated area to race towards the mournful cries of her younger sister, and the unanswering quiet of her elder sister.

"'Dagi! Bodhi!"

 

[Revolutionary Roniel]

There were so many injuries and so much pain. Shrivatsa wandered among the wounded and did her best to bring some relief. The unicorns were busy tending to those that were seriously injured, leaving her to manage those with lesser scratches and cuts. She lost track of how many soquili she told to chew willow bark and she was quickly running out of her medicinal herbs. She didn't have the supplies for a tragedy of this scale. Obviously, she would need to start bringing along a wider store.

There was no end to the grief they felt when it was discovered that Bodhisattva was dead. Somehow, it escaped their notice for much longer than it should have. Poor Adagio was the one who found her and had been alone with the body for some time.

Her first time leading the herd and someone had died without her even noticing. Guilt gnawed at Shrivatsa like a sharp-toothed rat. She'd let someone die and her brother had almost killed a foal. The gloom that hung over their family was thicker than ever. "And I'm the one Vara chose to be Alpha," she muttered bitterly. "What was she thinking?"

Shrivatsa would never know the answer to that question. From behind the herd came Hayagriva, bloodied and battered with news to relay.

Vara and Scythe were dead.


((The end. Thank you for everyone who participated in this RP or who took the time to read it. Here is the funeral RP for those that died.))