I do everything with all of my heart

Lena

LongNight’s sprawl was another restless endeavor. With everything going on in Stormbreak, including the rebuilding process, new council ideas and notions, and hordes of other dilemmas, the peace certainly hadn’t completely overrun any of them. While they wouldn’t have to watch their backs from the Family, they certainly had enough to do that the repose didn’t come as quickly or swiftly.

Even the animals seemed to have taken it on. The feelings of foreboding lingered under her skin, and the prey instinct held within every ounce of her being left the hairs on the back of her neck upright as she worked – striving to calm and soothe, as if they were all on a rolling ship in the middle of the night. Within each enclosure, she found herself attempting to pacify and exude the calm, soothing conjectures she’d always encompassed, but with each hush of the evening and eternal twilight, naught much else seemed to make do; and even Lena found herself jumpy.

Taking another long, deep breath and trying to settle her own nerves, she grabbed hold of another stack of hay, lining it within the unicorns’ large and massive expanse, hoping some extra goodies might relieve the multitudes.

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

The Celestine’s lanterns burn steady but dim tonight, their golden light flickering across the stalls and pathways. Shadows stretch long between the enclosures, catching on the bars of cages and the shimmer of wards woven through the air. Somewhere far off, a creature calls—low and mournful—and the sound rolls through the twilight like thunder.

The unicorns are uneasy long before the noise comes. Their hooves strike the stone in a restless cadence, ears twitching toward sounds Lena can’t hear, eyes gleaming like shards of glass in the lanternlight. Even the air feels tense; thick, like the hush before a storm. Every shift of their weight sends dust and straw whispering across the ground, and when Lena murmurs soft reassurances, her voice feels swallowed by the endless twilight that presses in from beyond the gardens.

Lena’s hand stills mid-motion, the hay slipping between her fingers. The unicorn nearest her—silver-maned and wide-eyed—lets out a sudden, sharp snort, muscles coiling tight beneath its pale skin. Then, from deeper within the gardens, a crash breaks the fragile calm. Metal twists, something heavy splinters, and the echo of a gate slamming against its hinges rings through the air.

The reaction is immediate. The unicorns rear and scatter, hooves flashing, breath steaming in the dim light. One lashes out against the stall door, another bolts sideways, nearly knocking Lena from her feet. Lanterns swing wildly on their hooks, throwing shards of light across the walls as the entire enclosure dissolves into chaos: panic spreading like fire from one creature to the next. And beneath the clatter and cries, something else begins to move. A deep, rhythmic sound—heavy paws on earth—rolling closer through the shadows.

Lena

She stilled immediately, head swinging towards the sound, fingers shaking, heart beating and drumming through the twilight madness. Instincts told her to run as soon as the unicorns began – but down she went anyway as one of the equines bolted sideways. “Hey, easy,” she murmured, eyes narrowing to see into the dark, to peer against the harsh light of the lanterns and make anything out as she whipped upward, striving to ensure she remained off the ground and out of stomping and stampeding range.

But then there was something – and she took a deep, startled breath. Striving to encompass the calm while her own ribs threatened to break under the pressure in her chest, she shook and staggered. “Okay, everyone, let’s head this way,” thinking maybe she could lead them further into the enclosure, out of danger, while still reaching out across the void, she'd done it before, she could do it again – trying to see what lurked. If she could entice it away and the rest could be safe.

Somewhere in her soul, she was still full of hope. And maybe it was nothing. Nothing at all.

--

Lena tries to persuade whatever lurks out there away using her compulsion.

(Beastmaster) can compel any non-mythical sentient animals for assistance (6 large, 12 medium, 20 small)

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

The unicorns respond to Lena's voice even through the panic, their instincts warring between the need to flee and the memory of her gentleness. They skirt around her rather than over her, hooves tearing furrows through the straw, breaths misting the air like smoke. The scent of fear is sharp and electric, pulsing through the enclosure as their muscles bunch and ripple, all restless gleam and tension. One whinnies in alarm—high, piercing—and the others echo it, their unease spiralling into chaos.

And then the air changes.

A sound rolls through the gardens; low and resonant, neither roar nor song, but something between. It threads through the air like a lament, vibrating through bone and blood alike. The Requiem Call. Every lantern shivers in its glow, light bending toward the sound before steadying again. The unicorns freeze for the briefest moment, as though listening to something ancient and terrible, and then break all at once. Their cries rise to a fever pitch, the air filled with the scent of ozone and fear as they wheel and clash, rearing against the confines of their space.

From the edge of the shadows, movement—fluid and deliberate—emerges. The Sea Panther prowls into view, black as the space between stars, its wet hide catching the faint lanternlight like oil on water. Horns curve from either side of its skull, gleaming faintly gold where the light dares to touch. Each step is soundless, its wide paws leaving prints that glisten before fading, and its eyes—slitted, glowing—fix upon the trembling herd.

The air grows colder. The unicorns slam against the enclosure walls, desperate now, the sound of iron rattling through the Celestine. And the great beast only keeps coming, drawn toward the fear like the tide.

     
     
   
   
       
     

Sea Panther       Areas Found: Torchline — Rare       Sea Panthers are rare creatures of monstrous size. As one might think, they have many feline features, including a long tail, paws, fangs, and eyes with vertical pupils. But per their aquatic nature their paws are webbed and wide, everything streamlined and without fur. Their most notable features are their horns, one on each side in front of their ears. Lore has it these were created by Mort as a gift for Ludo, and as such Sea Panthers are thought to gather the souls of sailors lost at sea. Encountering one is considered either an omen of death to come or a blessing from Ludo, depending on circumstance.         Challenge Rating: Brutal | Mythical  | Admin approval needed       HP: 3,951 | To Hit: +116 | Dmg: 435 Hostility: Will attack if provoked       Movement: Swim 70 ft.; Dive 60 ft.; Walk 25 ft.; Surface Glide 40 ft. (riding the wake)       SPECIAL SKILLS Soul Gatherer: drawn to the dying and the drowned, guiding their spirits toward Ludo’s care; Omen of the Tide: sightings foreshadow death or deliverance, often amid storms and wrecks; Mort’s Gift: a sacred hush surrounds it; lesser spirits balk at approaching; Stillwater Mantle: can briefly calm nearby waves and wind when circling, or rouse them in defense

TRAITS Streamlined Build: furless hide and wide, webbed paws cut through heavy seas; Feline Grace: long tail acts as a rudder for tight turns and sudden bursts; Nightpiercing Eyes: vertical pupils see cleanly through moonlit chop and glare; Double Horns: paired horns ahead of the ears for ramming and warding; Abyss-Tolerant: comfortable in deep, cold water and can hold breath for long spans       ACTIONS Horn Ram: surges from below to smash prey or batter a hull; Riptide Pounce: erupts from depth to seize a target and drag it beneath or bear it skyward in a spray; Tail Sweep: a sweeping, rudderlike strike that knocks swimmers or skiffs aside; Requiem Call: a low, carrying bellow that summons or quiets nearby spirits and chills mortal hearts; Undertow Drag: pulls an enemy under...or, when so inclined, ferries a chosen survivor safely toward shore

Lena

It didn’t go away.

She trembled under the wake of the picture beneath the lanterns – a Sea Panther, with all its horrifying laments and calls from the bestial, seething points of the earth, and for half a moment she didn’t know what to do. The dread filled her heart and lurched with festering power, twisting into her ribcage like a knife. It’d be very easy to curl up into one of the darker corners and wish it’d all fade before her eyes.

Nor did she have anything to fight against it. Compulsion was one thing, and her shifts another; small, prey angled, eager to flee instead of defend.

But her responsibility was the Celestine and its animals. She couldn’t be the one to fall apart here, where all of them were sitting ducks. “Okay, hang on,” she whispered into the endless night, as if it might pause and let her think. As if the unicorns would be able to do the same. “We can’t-,” she offered, hands going instinctually towards the iron. If they all got out, it’d be far worse, and then what? Could she lead them, deeper into the threads of the enclosure’s meadow? And what thereafter?

Maybe she could get help.

Striving to summon a bird nearby, or anything, she thought she’d be able to convey a message quickly, efficiently…if the Dragoons or Zavien or someone with a bit more power would be able to combat and help.

--

Lena tries to compel any animals nearby for assistance (mainly to send a plea for help XD)

(Beastmaster) can compel any non-mythical sentient animals for assistance (6 large, 12 medium, 20 small)

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

For a heartbeat, silence stretches between the bars, thick and trembling; the kind of silence that makes every breath sound too loud. Then the shadows shift, and the sea panther is gone. One blink and it melts backward into the dark, as though the lanternlight itself rejects the shape of it. Only the echo of its Requiem Call lingers, low and thrumming, haunting the air like a second pulse.

When it moves again, it’s all motion and muscle. The great cat lunges forward, gathering its limbs and leaps its claws catch the curved iron at the top, body suspended for a moment in the lanternlight, sleek and black against the warm gold. For that frozen second, it looks almost divine. Then it drops. The thud as it lands inside the enclosure sends shockwaves through the ground. Hay flies up, and the unicorns explode into chaos. Their whinnies fracture the air, sharp and terrified, as they spin and surge together in blind panic. Hooves crash against stone and each other, horns glinting with light as they wheel around the space in frenzied circles.

Lena’s presence, once a tether, becomes a target of their confusion. Even the gentlest of them are too far gone to see anything but danger now. Their instincts override everything. One rears, another bucks, and the sound of metal and bone and breath all blur together. The enclosure becomes a storm of light and motion, flanks colliding, hooves striking sparks.

Overhead, several birds take wing at the caretaker's summons, darting toward the barracks, their wingbeats a frantic whisper of hope against the dark. But here, within the pen, the storm only worsens.

The sea panther lowers its head, horns gleaming faintly in the lanternlight, and begins to move; slow at first, a deliberate prowl that becomes a quickened, predatory jog. Each step draws the air tighter, and the unicorns’ circle tightens with it, panic closing in from all sides.

Lena

For one solitary moment, she thought it’d simply go away. The ether would disappear; they’d be fine and safe. It no longer lingered in the evening thrall.

And then it was back – motion, muscle, lunging, and she kept her scream withheld in the back of her throat, hands shaking as she reached out for something, anything, to delay the inevitable. To give them more time. To send missives and information. Panic rose in her throat and then she was running too, trying to chase after the unicorns, trying to corral the situation, trying to find a way for all of them to evade and escape.

Then she fell, down into the dirt and dusk, and rose again, stumbling, trying to duck around hooves and flanks.

sunlight on mist; summer lightning
your choices outweigh your substance

The unicorns break all at once, a wall of white and silver and terror that surges forward like a wave. They bolt toward the far end of the enclosure, muscles bunching and hooves tearing through straw and earth, the sound of them deafening.. Lanternlight flashes across their flanks, painting wild streaks of gold across their bodies as they gallop, desperate to outrun what they cannot understand.

Lena runs too, her figure caught in their wake, but their speed is beyond anything she can match. Within moments she’s left at the tail end of the herd, swallowed by their chaos; the sound of her boots and their hooves melding into one long, feverish rhythm. When she stumbles, the world seems to tilt, dust and dirt rising in choking clouds as she hits the ground. By the time she pushes herself up, the unicorns are already gone ahead, their pale shapes vanishing into the folds of shadow and mist.

For one fleeting instant, it’s quiet again.
Then the air splits open.

The sea panther lunges from the side, its massive form a blur of motion, wet hide glistening in the lanternlight. Claws rake down her back, slicing through fabric and flesh alike, the heat of the pain white-hot and immediate. The force will send her forward into the dirt, breath ripped from her lungs as the weight of the creature lands atop her, pinning her with terrifying ease. There’s a sound—low, guttural, almost mournful—as its jaws find her neck. The pressure builds, sharp teeth pressing against skin, muscle, bone—and then everything stops.

No pain. No sound. No fear. Only an instant of stillness amidst the lantern light, the chaos fading into quiet as the Sea Panther lifts its head once more, blood dripping from its jaws, its horns catching the light.

---

The Sea Panther has killed Lena.

~FIN