Antlers
Shifter_Master
Neziul
Iluvtoji
IAmTheIsland
Bugman
Passable Writer
Fetzen
Not a Sayan
Staniflythree seconds.
One
When Simon got 90 feet away from the river he could feel a strong emotion starting to course throughout his whole body, he started to feel fearless and strong. . . . Instead of just imagining it his body took over and embodied the physique of the black panther. As Simon took one giant leap into the sprays of water leaping upward he shouted " Water Spirits I plead for your assistance! " Just before he made contact with the water a bright blue light blinded Simon.
His eyes stung with smoke; his tattered clothes scraped and singed; his tender feet bled; intense heat pushed at his back; an inferno and the snarl of a panther roared in his ears.
The shimmering ghost of a panther -- sparkling blue -- enveloped Simon's body. His hands were its paws, his teeth were its fangs, an ethereal tail sliced the air behind him, his eyes seemed to glow the same blue as the stolen stone around his neck.
Water thundered, seethed, hissed, and crashed below.
Could this be the reason for the forest fire? Did they anger this fire spirit? It didn't matter because it began to run on all fours and to Talan's surprise it became a panther! "I hate this forest...", he muttered to himself before turning to Rhea. "I know the one who carries that lantern, he is not a Kith", Talan wasn't sure if Rhea believed him and before she had time to answer he continued saying "I trusted you now it's time for you to do the same!"
Rhea's face turned momentarily to his, open with wary confusion. What she saw in him was a madman, or a man on the verge of madness: painted in blood and gashes, draped with bones and skins, with a promise in the set of his shoulders that he wouldn't hesitate to kill for his own survival. It was why she had chosen him. He had something to live for.
Their ears were full of the roar of flames and the thunder of water, and the screams of a banshee woman that ran full-tilt along the cold bridge. Rhea stood close to Talan, a dagger in her free hand intended for the banshee approaching, but a blue flash over the water reflected horrified disbelief in her eyes.
She knew what that blue stone could do.
"Get down," Rhea whispered, her voice nearly drowned by the crashing, roiling water. Waves lashed up into the sky, glimmering red in the firelight. The foam had teeth.
Two
Mia-Canta spit in one hand, then the other. She rubbed her palms together quickly as she glanced at the animals tumbling helplessly in the churning waters, lit up in gorgeous orange just before they bobbed out of view into the darkness or dipped under the demands of the choking waters for the final time. I cannot save you... I am soooo soorry... but please at least let me save them. Mis amigas. Bring them to me. My friends.
Both hands grabbed at the handle of the giant gear. With every fibre of her being, she spun that thing in the opposite direction.
I keep screwing up...! I keep screwing up...! I keep screwing up...! was her cadence and focus as with each turn of the wheel.
I keep screwing up...!
Both hands grabbed at the handle of the giant gear. With every fibre of her being, she spun that thing in the opposite direction.
I keep screwing up...! I keep screwing up...! I keep screwing up...! was her cadence and focus as with each turn of the wheel.
I keep screwing up...!
clank . . . clank . . . click, click, click, click . . .
The bridge vibrated under their feet, and gears turned.
Robin and Eveline would see the missing piece of the bridge extend toward them, lifting up out of the darkness below while the water hissed and splashed and snarled higher. Behind them, the fireflies had gathered.
The fire illuminated everything now; the wet bridge glistened orange and red. The green lantern glowed brightly at the opposite end.
Something bright and blue dove off the cliff at the opposite shore and plummeted toward the rocks below. It was ethereal, like the spirit of an animal throwing itself into oblivion to escape the devouring inferno. At its chest, a blue light flashed bright.
The owl suddenly flapped and screeched, a piercing sound so close to Robin's and Eveline's ears. But it was Mia-Canta who understood; he was screeching at her: Hurry!
Three
Whether the fire could reach him or not was as much of an uncertainty as his probability of returning home. He just hoped that whoever was out there was at least human.
"M-my name's Kituo!" He shouted to those at the bridge's center, his voice a squeaky whimper. "I-I don't mean any harm!"
"M-my name's Kituo!" He shouted to those at the bridge's center, his voice a squeaky whimper. "I-I don't mean any harm!"
The green lantern flashed bright, as if to counter the light of the falling blue stone.
The ethereal panther disappeared into the seething water. The rapids illuminated from within; the water itself glowed in the same way the panther had glowed before it had sacrificed itself to the waves.
The water suddenly went very still, and very bright, like the moon glowed from beneath it.
click, click, click --
Mia-Canta's efforts had nearly repaired the bridge. The ends once again touched the shores, and had only yet to lock in place --
And then, in a blink, chaos erupted.
For Robin, time slowed down. Just like the moment when the pirate's arrow had drifted spinning toward her, everything now moved in slow-motion. She would see the paws, teeth, and glowing blue eyes of the giant watery panthers that surged out of the waterbed. The water itself had formed into the shape of hundreds of panthers -- each the size of a small house -- that now leaped up and over both shores.
They rose up just in front of Robin and Eveline, towering high and curling gracefully over them, blocking the light of the inferno, reflecting the violet light of the lantern. No fewer than four of those watery beasts would soon crash down on top of Robin and Eveline. Droplets of water sprinkled their faces.
The violet lantern glowed bright, and the fireflies so slowly moved forward, but whatever they might possibly do would not be in time.
Meanwhile, the panthers had surged up beneath the bridge, and the bridge was moving and twisting away from the shores. Robin could see the end of the bridge curling away from the shore in front of her, and the people on it slowly losing their balance, only just beginning to realize something was wrong.
To everyone else, it all happened in an instant.
ROAR CRASH RUMBLE CREAK-CLINK-GROOAANN SNAP!
Torrents of water suddenly surged upward all around the bridge, soaking it and everyone on it, and all anyone could see or hear was water and foam.
The bridge twisted and shook and tilted and snapped.
The bridge ripped away from the shores, fell among the watery torrents, banged against the rocks to either side. The gears splintered and hurtled in all directions.
CRASH
They were momentarily underwater, before the current ripped the bridge along the strengthened rush of glowing water.
The bridge hurtled like a runaway toboggan down the deeper tract, carried by waters wild and deep.