Deep below the epidermic layers of the Wandering Contagion was a small network of chambers much like an ant's nest- none less disgusting to the unaccustomed dragon, of course, thanks to the faintly throbbing, pinkish-mauve (or mauve-pink?) walls riddled with what looked like veins and pustules.
At what served as the current heart of the lair, where most of the tendrils coming from the surface were bundled up, lay a Fae; his frills twitched and fluttered, a sign that he was tapped into the energy of the immediate world around him. Due to his frail build, he preferred to remain in the safety of his quarters, like the nucleus of a cell. Leviathan's little den reminded the other dragons of a brain- which suit him fine, since his primary duty was to gather information. So long as it crawled upon the festering skin of the Contagion or tread upon one of the "nerves" that sprawled along the walls and floors, Levi could tell its form, and whether it was food, friend, or foe.
"... Dragons," he muttered, deep in concentration. In the corners of the room where the light of the luminescent bacteria, thriving in pustules either on the wall or hanging from the ceiling, could not reach, a Mirror dragon lurked. "Two of them... Unfamiliar. But-"
"Send Ignition and Kakkab to the north and west burrows respectively. We're engaging them."
"Kerrigan, they might not be-" But the Mirror was gone. Levi inwardly shrugged; that's how she was, whatever the disturbance was. Perhaps she figured it would be either predator or prey; after all, there were no friends in the Plaguebringer's domain for a newly-established clan.
Whatever dangled from the skeletal form of a tree exploded in an imploding cloud of Shadow-imbued magic.
A Coatl, wrapped in an equally-magical (if not
more magical) Woodsdrake Cape, hovered over the shriveled ground about three meters away. "Hah! This is getting easier every time." With an expression of triumph on his face, he looked at his Bogsneak clanmate.
Antigone stared at him blankly. The Somber Spirit that had accompanied her journey since she emerged from a tiny, cosmic sphere of energy likewise stared at the Coatl, as it floated by its charge.
"Oh, come on! You
can tell I've gotten better at this, right?" Moses' wings fluttered in agitation the way they always did when he was exasperated. The Bogsneak, stoic and frugal with her words, merely pointed her snout towards the setting sun. Soon, it would be time for the den to awaken and go about their chores. "Bah. They haven't been able to figure out what we-" Antigone looked at him with the tiniest hint of disdain. "-okay, I've been up to this far, thanks to my magic. Not even the brain could tell two grown dragons- two!- have been entering and leaving the lair! I'm almost done, anyway. You don't have to be so nervous." But any happening bystander, even the maggots that crawled upon the decaying ground, could tell that
he was the more anxious between the both of them, really.
"Is... Is the chief serious about this? Those dragons look... well... y'know, a little out of our league," said the Nocturne, frowning through the Birdskull helmet. After a quick peep through the one of the little seeing-holes, hidden underneath an unassuming muck-covered boulder, Ignition decided that although she could probably tangle with the Guardian-
probably-, she would not want to mess with the Imperial. The Guardian alone seemed like a formidable enough foe on its own, like a Greatshell. The Imperial, on the other hand... she wasn't sure if even Kakkab, the Ridgeback whom she now addressed, could tackle it and come out without a broken wing or two.
"Just imagine we're dealing with a couple of Shattered Serpents. Really big prey." Kakkab stared up at the pulsing ceiling above them (if one looked closely enough, it really seemed to be
slithering more than anything else), as though he could envision the intruders. The Fae had relayed Kerrigan's instructions to them: take a triangular formation surrounding the Imperial and the Guardian and, upon the Mirror's signal, leap upon and drag them into the lair. "You should get back to your position; any moment now, she's going to give the green light to attack." Reluctantly, Ignition nodded and crept along the corridor to stand underneath her designated burrow. "I could never really get that "green light" metaphor... What's a 'stoplight', anyway?" she murmured to nobody in particular.
Ten seconds later, audible (albeit muffled) even from where the resting Imperial and Guardian pair lay, a Mirror shrieked. The next moment, a Mirror and a Nocturne, both donning the skulls of huge birds and covered with the red goop from the earth, leapt at them; a Ridgeback similarly emerged from the slime-covered terrain and, spreading his wings, charged at the duo.
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Comic1Sans I like that idea, actually! An attempt to capture it is. Also, apologies for the really long text... felt like adding a bit more introductory dialogue .w.;;
