"Blunk here!" Caleb frowned as the torchlight flickered off and Caleb held restraint from pushing forward to break the tiny, green-skinned creature's neck. The ignorance of passlings outstanded Caleb, though it was no surprise that they were a mostly dying species. "Bring food for birdies!"

Blunk rush forward eagerly and Caleb snatched the bag away; a scowl growing across his face from the immediate annoyance, and stink that oozed from Blunk. He knew a passling, and he knew fine well that he hadn't yet payed Blunk, so he forcefully pushed his hand to find only crushed crumbs at the bottom of the bag. "Àrpax: It's empty."

The passling had been backing away, and Caleb growled inwardly as Aldarn's hand grasped his elbow. Caleb, baring teeth, twisted his face to that of slightly less anger, if only so that Aldarn would let go of him, but as soon as he had, Blunk shrugged sheepishly and Caleb felt his anger rising again. "Blunk get hungry too... Heh.. Heh.."

...

"Elyon's mind is ours." Prince Phobos smirked as Cedric stood, stoic features stared at the wall ahead of him rather than the prince, and Phobos' favourite part: the raw red that spread over Cedric's cheek, now blurred out of it's hand print shape. Cedric had been absent for three days until now, and frankly Phobos hadn't cared one bit of his departure. And he was sure that Elyon was thrilled, too - the only hitch in the serene trifecta of days being her constantly heated words that revealed more of what she was thinking than he'd thought. And the touching.. Phobos' eyes scanned over pages of script revealing his very thoughts on absorbing Elyon's full power. Full strength. That was the hitch and he'd found her later than he'd wished and it'd take at least to the years end to capture her. "Return the Book of Secrets to my library. Soon enough, every segment in it will come true.. And Elyon's fate will be the final chapter."

"Yes. My- Prince." Phobos smirked at the deceptive snake's stutter, and the Prince let himself lay back as Cedric's echoing steps faded; water from the fall suddenly starting to trickle around his shoulders into a searing bath. Water, siphoned from the falls of the Mage herself: a magical being, clearly dead as her waters now only trickled into a chasm of earth below.[0] The great Mage was a woman he'd known to have powers, and she'd gone missing once the rebellion started - the beasts had obviously killed her, and it was a shame not to have her to be on his side. Her waters still eminated power though; the waters exuded it and he had been drinking up the strengths for years. Let the Gods know, he'd probably wasted most of it.

...

"Boy.." Hay Lin rubbed her cheek as Cornelia forced another puppy into it's cage, and she let herself lean back on the wall and yawn. Will was staring at her, Cornelia had noticed. Staring at Hay Lin's little scratch with a dazed look that she wasn't sure how to help. It was Elyon who'd done this, and including Cornelia, Will was the only person blaming Will. And Hay Lin got bumps and scratches all the time. She would be fine. "When a friend of ours goes bad, she really goes bad.."

"She must be.." Cornelia frowned, forcing herself back to the moment when Elyon glared at them with so much resentment. It wasn't Elyon; little Elyon who was more interested in boys and makeup than even Cornelia. "She must be under some kind of a spell."

"Oh, come on! How do we know that?" Irma swung her legs back and forth and Cornelia wondered what 'Mr Olsen' would say when he came from getting seed in the back. "Elyon was born in Meridian, and she's Phobos' sister! What if you've been going to school with th-"

"Irma." Cornelia's eyes, along with those of the rest of the group swivelled to Will; stunned that the girl had spoken at all, nevermind actually holding authority in her voice. "Rethink finishing that sentence."


Àrpax - Snatcher.

[0] Of course to the Infinite City.