[color=gray][quote=Lila]"Don't touch anything! Things are not as they appear!" With that she tried to see if putting the ruby back in the socket would return things as they were. But it was too late, something else was set in motion and the ground rumbled.[/quote][/color]

The ruby would no longer stick in its socket -- the glowing runes in the column pulsed with a deep blue light as Lila's valiant efforts proved fruitless.

The ruby shone brilliantly, and red light illuminated the bones of her fingers from within her grasp. Strings of tiny red runes snaked and twisted around her arm, raced up her elbow to her shoulder. The ruby dug itself into her palm and the runes continued to draw themselves on her skin: across her torso, her throat, her face.

She would feel constricted, like the air was pressing in on her. The ruby was a sealing stone, and now it was trying to seal [i]her[/i].

[i]Itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout[/i]

A child's voice sang in the treetops. Or maybe it was just in her own head.

[i]She ate all her friends and turned to stone throughout[/i]

Lila saw red. Below her, Leon and Clavic and Kettle were being accosted by a monster -- as monstrous as she herself. A command hissed in the back of her mind; Leon, Kettle, Clavic, Nel and Aloe glimmered in her vision as targets.

[i]Kill them[/i]

[color=gray][quote=Leon] He didn't have time to think for long, he backed up, observing more than trying to just flee. Watching for whatever it did, looking for its behavior any kind of heart beat, a vulnerability within its body. "If you're going to shoot me, do it after you're a safe distance away from this big guy. I'll keep it distracted while you run. But if I live through this then you owe me answers, Kettle. Got that?"[/quote][/color]

Leon didn't have time to finish his sentence. The stone beast leaped and landed with a crashing rumble between him and Kettle, its fangs sharp and snarling. Its spiked tail whipped fiercely, catching Kettle in the chest; the pistol went flying into the bushes, and Kettle slammed into the white pillar with a sickening crack of bone.

The beast had barely noticed; its glowing eyes were focused on Leon, and the ruby glowed bright in its mouth. Something dark dripped from the crevice in its chest, where bits of fur and bone were visible among patches of stone.

The beast barked and snarled and shook its head -- then suddenly switched its attention and dove directly for Clavic, its jaws open wide to clamp down upon him.

It was behaving as if it were frightened and uncertain, lashing out at anything that seemed a threat. Anything that the spell in its head told it to attack.

Grom bellowed mournfully and pawed the ground where Kettle's spear lay in the mud.

[color=gray][quote=Nel]She knew what was happening; she couldn't breath, her head felt slight, the light was dimming. She tried to turn, tried to murmur something to... someone... before... her eyes... closed... her.. .  he ad. .  h it    th e   gr ou n d    .[/quote][/color]
[color=gray][quote=Aloe]Wrapping his arms under her pits and around her chest, Aloe dug his heels into the ground and began to pull. At a much slower rate than he would’ve liked, he dragged the young woman to the nearest thicket, concealing themselves among the branches.[/quote][/color]

For awhile there were only sounds of confusion and destruction -- then, the flap of wings, and the magpie perched on a boulder behind them.

[i]"They're here! They're here!"[/i] the bird warbled happily, hopping and flapping to draw Lila's attention. [b]"Itsy-bitsy, bitsy spider, come to eat you all up!"[/b]

The ground continued to shake.

The grass a few feet from where Aloe and Nel sat began to move and separate. A clink and clank of scraping metal echoed in the darkness below a perfectly square hole that slid open in the ground.

A stairwell led deep below.