Company and Calamity

"Perhaps, but I'll have to see how this cycle ends." Hyrax seems to grow sorrowful. "I fear the worst, but I can't say for certain." Hyrax looks off into the distance.

They all stand, quiet for a moment. They all look at each other. Daybreak looks worried "the longer this goes on the more I worry...I don't like the way this thing sounds..." he swayed and looked down, a worried expression on his face, he fiddled with the cup in his hands.

Hyrax redoes his calculations over and over for about a minute. "I keep thinking I've miscalculated in some way, shape, or form. My calculations just keep coming back as normal." Hyrax winces and slams his claw deep into the icey floor. "That one hurt."

"what hurt?" Desire looked worried "are you alright?" she stepped towards him a little. Daybreak nearly dropped his cup but managed to catch it before it fell.

"There's something I don't know. I should not be this far along the cycle." Hyrax rips his claw out of the ground. "The pains inside me. They only normally show up close to the end of the cycle when I'm asleep." Hyrax reruns his calculations, but does not receive a new result.

They all look at each other again but they look more worried this time. Desire steps hesitantly backwards, trying not to draw attention to her motion.

Despite Hyrax's six eyes, he does not see the motion and winces once more before calming down. "I think it's done for now. It won't happen for a while." Hyrax sits down and sorrowfully cleaves the ground repeatedly with his tail.

"are you sure there's nothing we can do for you?" Sky asked he raised both his hands a little "I would love to help you get through this alright. I hate to see someone in pain" Desire nodded and Daybreak as well. "do you need, anything? Anything at all?"

"I need... Answers." Hyrax continues cleaving the ground. "Something happened to mess up the cycle's flow." Black specks began to form in the cleaves as time passed.

They all look at the black specks in the glasslike ice and begin to worry, "m-messed up the flow of your cycle?" Sky stammered a little, he kept looking at the black specks. Daybreak backed up and ended up bumping into Sky who quickly glanced at him before turning back to the cleaves in the ice. Desire shifted and looked at the speaks as well. Kyuubi and Life walked into the hall, Kyuubi trust his arm outward in front of Life and stopped him from advancing. He pointed at the cleaves in the ground.

Hyrax continues to run calculations before stopping his tail. "Nothing I've checked comes up conclusive." The specks has grown to coat the cleaves entirely. "Gotta hang in there." Hyrax looks around for a moment and notices Kyuubi's arm preventing Life from advancing. "You just wanna rip a chunk outta me don't ya? Well go ahead! I'm at the weakest point in the cycle anyways!" Hyrax nearly collapses, trying to goad Life.

Life looked at Kyuubi, he looked extremely confused "what is he talking about?" he tilted his head, Kyuubi looked at Life, confused as well. The other three shifted a bit uncomfortably. Kyuubi put his arm down. Tide came sliding into the hallway "what's wrong Hyrax " Tide stepped up behind Life. "the cycle?"

"One of you is hiding something! Admit it!" Hyrax looked fragile and... scared. "I should not be this far along with the cycle! I've lost nearly thirty minutes somehow! Do you have any idea how much time is actually left now?!" Hyrax was loosing it. "SOMEONE SAY SOMETHING OR THINGS ARE GONNA STOP EXISTING REAL SOON!" The black specks surround the ground by Hyrax's feet.

Everyone looked around at the others. They all seemed either looked confused or worried or both...Daybreak looked around, he tried to avoid eye contact with anyone. He closed his eyes and balled his hands into fists, a faint dark aura eminated from him. He put his hands up next to his head and the rings around his neck, wrists, and ankles slowly got bigger "ALRIGHT!" he screamed, "I CAN'T LIE ANYMORE! You where frozen! You and Katie from another dimension! They came to check on you and...!" everyone looked at him in shock, the rings had spread close to his eyes and his black tail swayed and the horns protruding from his ears had grown slightly, the rigs on his arms and legs had made it a considerable distance before they froze, as he cried out the rings came to a slow stop. Daybreak's eyes had changed colors that looked a lot like the clouds during a...sunset..."I...can't..." he said, a tear formed in his eye...the aura faded away and the rings retreated slowly, his horns shrunk back to normal and His eyes had changed back to to normal as well. Everyone seemed frozen and Daybreak's breathing echoed around the hallway...

Hyrax stares for a moment before each of his eyes runs a calculation. They all flash once at the same time. "That checks out..." Hyrax grows a grim smile. "So it seems..." The black specks from around the hallway vanish. Hyrax winces and grips his chest, slumping over in absolute agony. "Congratulations... My cycle has entered the last phase prematurely." Hyrax straightens up and looks out to the group. "A portal to my realm is open in the forest nearby. If you find it, you may enter and learn the truth. If you do not, my Pursuers will catch you faster. Best of luck." Hyrax whistles once, and a loud crashing noise can be heard outside. A portal opens behind Hyrax as walks through it. It closes behind him, leaving the room awfully quiet. The silence is only broken by a chorus of bellow in the far distance.

They all turned in the direction of the noise and then looked back at each other. "We need to go!" Kyuubi said and turned to the door and started running Life and Tide followed behind him, "come on guys, let's move!" Sky said and chased after, the Hollow knew something was wrong and followed behind, Desire grabbed Daybreak's hand and pulled him forwards as she ran, he began running too and she let go of his hand. Shade shrugged his shoulders and followed behind the whole group. The entire group sprinted towards the door way, Tide waved one of his hands once and the hallway changed, the hall lead directly to the doorway without connecting to any of the other rooms in the main lobby anymore. They all leaped out the doorway, one after another and landed on the grass outside. They all stood together and looked in the direction of where the sound came from, some people looked up and around and others looked in the opposite direction, just in case. They all stood prepared to run again, they where looking to see what the sound was and whether or not they could see the portal without going into the forest, just in case it was that shallow into the maze of trees.

A loud roar boomed through the trees. Without warning, a tree was hurled at the group from within the forest. Several noticeable paths of falling trees were seen advancing towards the group. Whatever these were, they weren't friendly in the slightest.

They all stair for a moment "run" Life said and the whole group ran away from the direction that whatever it was that was comeing at them was. They ran into another section of the forest all in a crowd and leaped over and under branches and roots and rocks. Kyuubi pulled his blades out and cut through some branches to keep them out of everyone's way. "anyone see the portal anywhere?" Tide shouted to the rest of the group as he hurteled over a root protrudeing out of the ground "Keep looking. You think it would be easier to spot a portal in the middle of a forest." Desire ducked under a branch. Daybreak glanced back towards 'the pressures' and picked up the pace a bit.

Several trees around them were toppled over as a fist swiped at them. The group was being chased by giants, not as large as the Hyrax Colossus, but arguably more aggressive. They bellowed and screamed as they threw trees and tumbled trying to catch the group. Some of the giants were even crawling on their knees at surprising speeds behind the group. There seemed to be giants everywhere. A faint feel of negative energy could be felt as the group ran through the forest. The Pursuers were not making this even remotely easy.

The group kept running, some dodged the flying trees, others deflected or blew them away as they came even remotley close to the group. "THIS IS NOT OK!" Syrix screamed. Daybreak screamed as well. He stopped screaming, however when he felt the negative energy, "do you guys feel that?" he shouted out to them "yes! I feel it too. The energy." he shouted back. He leaped over a rock and slashed at a tree that was flying towards it which not only cut it in half, but sent both sides of the tree in separate directions. Sky fell back a little to the center of the group "gather around me!" He shouted. The group moved closer towards Sky as They ran forward until they all surrounded Sky. Sky took an extremely deep breath in as he ran, he then exhaled and projected his arms outward and a dome of wind formed around the group. Almost like a tornado, whatever came at the dome was whipped around and flung in a random direction, protecting them from whatever came flying at the group. "you think it could be the portal?" Daybreak shouted to Kyuubi "it seems likely. Just keep running!" he shouted back. Tide stepped next to Sky and began waving his arms and a wave of water came around and added to the barrier, helping make it stronger.

The giants pummeled and slammed against the barrier, but had no effect whatsoever. Trees would bounce back and topple over a giant or two, but there was always another giant to charge into the barrier in it's place. The group slowly advanced through the forest. The negative energy growing more intense as they inched closer and closer to it's hiding spot.

Sky and Tide flinched and they both walked slower. Sky began breathing heavier and he projected his arms outward again and sent out a pulse, refortifieing the barrier. Daybreak began to panic, he raised his hands up and clenched his fists, his breathing sped up and tears began to roll down his cheeks. "this energy!
Its getting worse!" Life shouted, he put both of his hands on both Tide and Sky, helping them recover and calm and Desire put both her hands on Life calming him, refortifying the shield and helping Life keep focus. The Hollow walked a bit quicker towards the dark energy, almost tracking down it's exact location and Shade made sure nothing got through the defense by making spikes of shadow around the shield.
"Soon...I...Hope?"

The giants weren't giving up and began to attack even harder than before. The roars and bellows were nearly deafening. Within sight, and only yards away, was a portal, just as Hyrax had said. The group was feeling the negative energy seeping from the portal.

The shield began to weaken and Sky and Tide began shouting after every time the giants hit the shield Life and Desire flinched as well. "ITS RIGHT THERE!" Kyuubi shouted to the group, everyone moved at a sluggish pace as the shield weakened and the dark aura eminateing from the portal made them all feel slightly ill. The shield was on the verge of breaking and the group was slowing down, even slower. Daybreak held his head with both his hands, he was scared and he cried even more, he began making somewhat of a whineing noise with every breath. He closed his eyes, he felt sick with fear...

The giants were relentless. How could Hyrax have any sort of control over them? They just kept getting back up and slamming the shield again and again. They didn't even seem remotely tired. Seeing as the barrier was weakening, the giants increased their attacks, outright punching the shield and slamming the ground around it to push the group out of focus. The noise was not helping and the negative energy was starting to take it's toll on the group.