september tenth, two thousand nineteen

"i believe that this will benefit us, well, the rest of us that are alive, that is." the serval's voice was soft, somber, lilac optics flashing in concern. the crocodile turned his cranium to the side to cast a glance over the survivors of the battle, one that was still ongoing. "it's not so easy, seraphic. you do know we're talking about a wide-scale operation, right? moving the entire Tides underground." he posed a good point, but the female was still visibly troubled, having not stopped pacing, limping, ever since the last piece of dust settled.

"seraphic, i actually agree with tempest this time." the lion spoke up, voice deep, gruff. his mate had died in the battle prior to their meeting, that had broken something in him the other two carnages could visibly tell. "you're wanting to bring our entire campsite underground. that's not an easy feat." his voice wasn't gentle but it wasn't harsh either, the tone simply saddened at the loss.

They were gathered in a temporary dugout, the rest of the camp essentially having collapsed into nothing but piles of dust, sand and wood. a shadow flashed across the sky, causing the beast of a lion to wince. that worried the croc and the serval, as unholy was one of their strongest and best fighters and having him scared was worrying. seraphic stood up, made her way to him, placed a paw on his shoulder. his body jerked but then relaxed. "i'm sorry. i knew she was carrying." a quiet murmur that made the lion shut his eyes. "they ruined everything. this wasn't supposed to happen. i-" his voice broke and he snapped his jaws shut with a grunt, falling silent once more.
all of them were sporting wounds, all of them were hurt. the serval shook her head, clouded optics scanning their once beautiful camp filled with laughter now reduced to nothing but ash. the female sighed, leaned against him for support. she, too, had lost more friends than she could count as the Ancients attacked with their army. their presence was comforting, she needed them and she needed them badly and it was just depressing to see only a few left of their group sitting in the dust, puzzled and confused.

"we've made sure they're all dead, right?" she suddenly looked up, a worried frown lingering on her maw. rose to her paws, tail twitching as she scanned the flat clearing. tempest followed her, muscles visible and sinking into place like well-oiled machine gear. "i would say so..." he began, only to be cut off by a shout of "INCOMING!" everyone ducked, the lion crouching over the serval to shield her with his body. she made herself small, into a curled up ball and tucked her tail under her nose. "unholy, what's that?" her eyes were open but she had to ask to make sure she wasn't going insane. well, more than she already was.

a ball of fire, shooting straight from the sky. landed next to them in a flash. an ancient. sporting more wounds than logical it still managed to get up with a groan and a grunt. observed the three carnages. detected something in their dna and a claw stabbed out, piercing the croc through the spine. seraphic bit back a scream, feeling jaws clamp around her scruff and roughly pull her away. her eyes were fixated on those bloodred ones of the crocodile. the ancient reached for her with one hand, grabbing tightly to tempest with the other. his face contorted in pain then disappeared from view as claws crushed his head, other hand scrabbling on his body and finding grip oh his lower abdomen. then pulled, the body of the crocodile straining to fight back but the ancient retaliated.

"no-" came the only sound the female made as she watched through watery optics as with a loud tearing sound he was ripped in half, the head with the spine latched onto it now dangling limply in the air. the ancient, as if finding fun in this somehow, began shaking the broken body and smashing it against the floor.
"unholy-"
"i know."

"meet your maker" - earth will die, and our world will be reborn - "speech"