For all Kaenid knew, her body could be getting trampled underfoot by the fluffy dragon and the remaining Z'ychuula. Thankfully, yet unbenknownst to her at the moment, she happened to be plucked up by the storm witch. Not so thankfully, however, was the fact that they were leaving the clearing, but that's a matter for later. Right now, Kaenid was dead to the outside world...
At first there was nothingness. But with pain, and plenty of it. Not just her ribs threatening to poke a lung, or her back, when she landed awkwardly on the ground. Kaen's head hurt pretty bad, too. Well, obviously she hit her head at some point, which added “potential concussion” to her list of injuries.
”I don't fuckin' care anymore! I just wanna sleep or wake up. Not be in this limbo bullshit!!!” Kaenid thought angrily into the nothingness around her.
Then suddenly, as if in response to her thoughts (but surely not), there was a blinding light. Blinking away the flash of light from her eyes, for suddenly she could see now, Kaen looked around to find herself standing in a bizarre landscape. She felt none of the pain from before, but she felt... almost whole. Almost like she was physically here, though something was missing. Above her, dark foreboding clouds filled the skies, casting a weird inverted light upon everything. They sometimes dropped black rain upon the blasted lands around her, but for now it seemed dry where she was. Twisted, blackened trees, most likely dead or dying, lined what seemed a path leading deeper into this weird place.
“Am I dead?” Kaenid wondered aloud, her feet carrying her onto the path almost of their own accord. “I can't be dead! They didn't hurt me that bad... And that fluffy dragon needs help!”
She stifled whatever other outburst that was surely coming, for the path led her to a circle of rocks. And within that circle, a terrible voice rose up. Both in her head and projecting around the area.
"...Be it this tribe or another, dragging in all their twisting tendrils of deceit and wanton... such much louder now with them, how the silence would be divine! A purge, to cut the voices back, maybe then..." the voice says with a low grumble, tones harsh, angry, cutting like knives. Before the twisted forest, an image forms from the black rain, manlike as it was monstrous, with wings large and black that could blot out the sun... if there was one here, eyes flared in a red haze, and hair flowing against the wind. Feathers molt from its form, and float downwards, dissolving into the earth below his feet. A feeling permeates this being, as the forest itself: rage. He grinds his teeth, pacing around aimlessly, arms crossed, but tightened against his chest, scratching his arm. "Who's fault in the end would it be? By their works they brought it upon themselves!"
Something deep inside her bristled at the voice, at this physical manifestion of... rage. Pure and unfiltered, of course it affected Kaenid to a certain extent. She was, after all, quite possibly dead, most definitely out of her own body at least. This... being also struck a familiar chord within her, though she had never seen this guy before. This all also could just be a mad fever dream, which could also easily explain why she did what she did next.
”Purge? Purge who?!?” Kaen shouted, climbing atop one of the rocks while reaching for her axes, which she was dismayed to find were not there. No matter... the rage was with her. ”I know you, beast! We have never met, but I know you! Throw off that costume you wear and put aside your vague words! Speak to me true, as one of the last Rehnir to walk this world!”
The being freezes in place for a few moments, before his eyes brighten, scanning the dreamscape for the source of the voice that addressed him directly. It is clear by his reaction that such a thing is not common to him, but it does little to stifle the feeling permeating this realm. He finally turns himself to look down at the Rehnir, and tilting his head, he forces a wry grin. ”So, a few stray pups still live to carry the torch? My, I should feel honored that it still burns after all these years! How brave! Hmn, a female though, suppose that speaks volumes about gender roles... or there's less males... suppose that one is my fault?” he says, a taunting tone to his voice. He then frowns, his expression twisting as his form assumes a more bestial state, the humanoid form replaced with claws and maw, a draconic beast of black feathers. Something was off about it, though, wavering, and a tinge of something else is felt underneath the fury. ”But... how is it that you intrude my... skull? Well, perhaps... hmn... you must hate me a good deal.”
That hatred suddenly rose up within her, fired further by that rage all around. She had known it was there smouldering all her life, but the sudden ferocity of it nearly engulfed Kaen anyway. Some small part of her knew that this being was manipulating her emotions and even feeding off of them. And that was what kept her from launching off the rock and attacking this... dragon, weapons or no. Barely.
“Hate isn't a strong enough word for someone that nearly wiped out my entire race, you beast!” Something about his manner and his question about being inside his skull made her bite off whatever other vitriol that was about to spill past her muzzle, still locked in a rictus of rage. ”Isn't it apparent, beast? Obviously we are connected, that much at least I can see...”
The creature stood unphased, narrowing one eye into a tight squint. With a clawed hand, he scratched his chin, before tilting his head and letting out a short laugh. "So... what? You intend to finish what your all-so-proud-and-mighty failed to accomplish, to hunt me down?" the creature asks, not even hiding his mocking cynicism. The monster then descends, dropping his massive body before the girl, his face meeting level to her, the contrast in size apparent. He blows hot air from his nostrils and bares his teeth. "Pointless."
The breath that washed over her, blowing back her hair and ears, reeked of rancid carrion. At least to her nose. His taunting words might also explain her next action. Even as the last word escaped the dragon's maw, Kaenid wound up and threw a wild haymaker punch into his nose. For a moment, surely no longer than a split second, it seemed as if her hand made contact with the scaly nose, the hand erupting in searing, burning pain. The next moment found her following through on the punch of nothingness and nearly toppling off her rock perch.
”W-what?!?” Kaen exclaimed, looking down at her hand. The fur on her knuckles was singed away, and the better part of the rest seemed to be blackened.
Struck in the nose the beast lets out a short snort, reeling his head back, and with the knuckle of a claw wipes his nose, and glances down at it, as a trickle of blood flows down from it. More than anything he seems momentarily bewildered, no howl or growl escapes him. He then narrows his eyes and chuckles to himself. "Here..? Guahah! First blood to you, pup!" He presents the blood to her and grins, eyes once again aflare, a different feeling, more frantic than before floods the world, confused, intertwined with the rage. "So, tell me! TELL ME! How does it feel?! You must have waited so long, dreamt of it, desired it, lusted it so strongly, to make me bleed!"
”Strangely humbled, actually...” Kaenid let out slowly in a long sigh, staring down at her injured hand, but then, as if feeling some of the forced cheer coming forth, a wry grin flashed across her muzzle. ”But I do not have first blood here, we have drawn it equally, so to speak!”
She profferred the injured paw forward for his inspection, yet at the same time her whole body tensed. Poised for flight, yes, but there was also plenty of fight left in this bewildered, somewhat frightened young Rehnir.
"Eh..?" the beast mutters, his grin fading, squinting one eye to look at her injured paw. His ears draw back and he audibly sighs, waving his hand, the armosphere almost dramatic in its change, a somehow... colder feeling, what was a raging fire, now was like smouldering embers. "What makes this flame so easily snuffed..?" He says, twisting his head as his head hangs down over the Rehnir, before he holds his head, letting out an agitated roar, the surroundings being now flooded now with noise, like a turbulent rain in static. "Damn it! For a moment's reprieve..!" he then casts a piercing glare at her. "Sod off, pup! This battle is not for the likes of you!"
The last thing Kaenid could see was the great dragon holding his head as if he had a ginormous headache, her hearing all but gone from the roar, before she found herself violently thrown back into that Limbo, with all the pain coming back with it. It was brief, yet still quite intense, the pain dulled a bit because she remembered it from before. But only somewhat.
Then suddenly, her deep blue eyes snapped open and wildly looked about. Kaen found herself in a makeshift bed of hides, a fire puttering almost dangerously close nearby, filling the cave with a (for now) sweet-smelling smoke. There didn't seem to be any way for the smoke to escape as far as she could tell. Kaenid also found herself being rudely prodded and poked, and then a wet cloth being applied to some of her cuts. Being careful not to move in a way so as not to aggravate her broken ribs, Kaen slapped away the questing hands of the wind mage.
”You fuckin' storm bitch! How could you leave that poor beast to fend for herself against that Z'ychuula!” She exclaimed angrily, the sudden expulsion of air sending a wave of pain through her, followed by a somewhat gentler wave of nausea. “Ugh... great, I've probably got a concussion, too...”
Still cursing out the storm witch under her breath, Kaenid quickly assessed all of her wounds as she drew out her satchel. Drawing out a length of fairly sturdy fabric, she wrapped it around her chest several times, as tightly as she dared, not seeming to notice that she was partially undressed in unfamiliar company. After that, she chewed a somewhat bitter concoction of herbs that would dull the pain and kickstart the healing process substantially.
”I don't give two shits what you're doing, but I'm going back and helping that fluffy dragon,” Kaenid snapped, heading toward the entrance only to be balked by the boulder. Well, that explained the lack of fresh air...
It was only a momentary balking, however. Kaen spotted a small little bit of light to one side, where the smoke was making a valiant effort to escape amid the wind coming in. Simply a matter of leverage at this point, as she grabbed a stout piece of wood and wedged it into the gap. A bit of an effort (and maybe a little help from the Aether) the boulder rolled away and she was out into the forest once more.
Time always got a little funky in areas where a lot of Aetheric activity occurred in a short while. So what may have seemed like a few hours' flying turned out to be merely a moderate jog back to the center of the action. Stopping at the edge of the clearing, Kaen took just a moment to assess the situation. It appeared that only the big bad Z'ychuula was left standing, and it was advancing slowly on the fluffy dragon.
Reaching into her satchel again, she pulled out a few things and then cut off the bark of a nearby tree. Focusing on the Aether within her, Kaenid intoned in clear, precise terms over the items. After a moment, another towering Z'ychuula appeared in front of her, a mirror image of the other one. This doppelganger roared a challenge and drew the attention of the other.
Taking advantage of the foe's distraction, Kaenid ran towards the big fluffy beast...