Apollo was growing older, and while his body was not yet deteriorated, he found himself afflicted by that bitter malady so often affecting the elderly - nostalgia. It seemed to him more and more that the Abraxas were deteriorating from what they once had been. Perhaps the weaknesses of the mortal blood that ran through them had rooted too deeply, affections of parents for pups too great to do what needed to be done to weed out the defects. For all his threats and posturing, perhaps that had started with his father Gaios. Seeing all his siblings and their children here, away from the elder Gaios, had made clear to Apollo all the problems that had managed to slip through the cracks. Maybe it was less that he had been too attached and more that he'd simply had too many children to keep up with them all and see what they were becoming.

Pyralis' headstrong nature had once seemed like an anomoly, when compared only to Amon and Apollo's steadfast nature. Now it felt like she was closer to the Abraxas standard than many of the others who had been allowed to live. Several litters had been born to the Abraxas since they'd moved into these lands and yet did even the eldest of them, those who Amon had the most influence over, did even they understand their place in the world? He had to wonder. Perhaps it was a mistake to have allowed the trend of mating with spirits and those touched by spirits - perhaps the spirits that were propagating the new generation of Abraxas were exerting too much influence, twisting the bloodline from what the Fallen God had given them.

Slipping through the underbrush of the maze-like forest that he'd begun to know so well, like a ghost himself in the darkness with only the moon and stars to dapple through the trees and catch his pale fur, the male began to consider that perhaps it was time for him to raise his own batch of children in the ways he had been taught. A buffer, if you will, against the indulgences heaped upon so many others of the new generations. Would they ever earn their place beside their exalted Father if so many exhibited the very weaknesses they had been exhorted to cull from their ranks to bring them back to His perfection?

The God King moved through the woods with ease, unhindered by the reaching scraggly branches that broke off as his gigantic body moved through the woods. The behemoth lifted his trunk and let his head rise back with a tired yawn as he lumbered on. Tired. Why was he tired? It seemed most of his days were spent sleeping and eating, was he bored? He reflected on the thought momentarily and decided that he was. His search for other gods had been fruitless; their numbers had already begun to dwindle when he was a little godling, but since leaving his mother’s herd and venturing out on his own meetings with other gods had become few and far between until they stopped entirely ten years ago. He groaned audibly at the thought. An entire decade without his own kind, forced to live among the lesser mortals. He shook his head with a fierce grunt and lifted his trunk to trumpet furiously. It was a challenge cry; a summons to other kings to do battle, to meet someone to match his prowess and strength by the most archaic of motives; combat. He waited for a responding cry, knowing there would be none and slashed at the trunk of the closest tree with his tusks. Unthinkable. speaking you

A strange bellow reverberated through the trees, assaulting his ears with the ringing noise. By reflex Apollo flinched away, his ears flattening to his skull until the echos died away. He stood there a moment longer in caution. By the Fallen God's chin hairs, what was that? A strange sound was still echoing, a weird undertone to the usual forest sounds. A strange sort of scraping, as though a tree was being dragged against another tree, a discordant jangling of foliage.

A more prudent course of action might have been to go AWAY from the disconcerting noises that put his hackles up, but there was more riding on Apollo's shoulders than his own survival. If there was something strange going on here it could well affect the Abraxas Empire. It was his duty to investigate the unusual and report back to young Malleus.

He slowed as he broke through the trees to the strange sight that greeted him, though. A giant gray wrinkled creature with no fur, huge ears, a long nose and long tusks that extended from its mouth. He came to a stop a cautious distance away and studied the creature, which was slashing at the trees with the ivory tusks and causing the strange noises he had followed.

The titan panted as his outburst ended. He felt like an unruly calf that had just had a tantrum and as his unbridled rage faded he settled onto his stomach, one leg poised in front of him should he need to rise. He gave a long sigh as he reflected on the doom of his kind. Some distant part of him hoped that somewhere in the world his kind persisted, and he was simply cursed with the misfortune of missing them. He could die peacefully if his race continued to thrive without him, but to be the last god was a horrifying thought that chilled him to the bone. Idly he broke a branch from the tree above him and reached back with his trunk to scratch his spine with it. There was a time when the elder beings would have gladly performed this service for him, or gaped in wonder as they watched him browse for leaves. Or, he reflected bitterly, used their magic to kill him and strip him of his scared tusks. He grunted and tossed the branch aside. What if the elderlings had, in their ceaseless conquest, killed all the gods and in doing so killed themselves? They were capable of such horrors, but as he searched his memories he recalled that the elderlings were just as prone to attacking their own kind to protect the god race and aiding them with their wonders. What beautiful creatures they had been; the world seemed all the more cold and empty without them. speaking you

Apollo's brow and muzzle wrinkled in consternation as the massive creature laid itself down and set to scratching its itches. It didn't seem to notice him at all despite his close proximity, a blessing perhaps as the creature truly was enormous. Now that it was reclined, however, it surely could not get to its strange toeless paws to reach him before he could race away, so as long as he stayed out of reach of the odd appendage on its face and those gigantic slashing tusks, it could not harm him. It was his duty to report on it to Malleus, but at the moment he had nothing more to report than 'there is a huge furless tusked creature slashing up trees in the woods' and that told them nothing about what it was or its intentions. He had seen creatures similar here, but shorter and fatter without either tusks or facial appendage - a local had called them 'hippopotamus'. It also faintly resembled a giant, longer-nosed, hairless tapir. Perhaps it was some sort of spirit-god for one of those ugly prey species, an exaggeration of their features that sought to protect them.

He moved to plant himself more solidly in the creature's vision, where it could not possibly miss seeing the movement, but well out of reach of both tusks and appendage. "Excuse me," he said, politely but firmly. It paid to be polite to both potential spirits and large dangerous animals alike, but he wasn't going to act the sycophant either. "What are you?" It seemed a reasonable question.

He had glanced over the creature at first, far too focused on his own reflection to give it any attention. He narrowed his eyes on it and tasted the air with his trunk only to recoil slightly as he was met with the rank an humid scent of dog. Was it a dog though? It looked nothing like the four legged acolytes of the elderlings, but then he supposed the bird acolytes that served his own kind did not resemble every bird. The creature spoke with an informal tongue and had the audacity to ask him what he was. Had this beast truly never seen any of the god kin? Could he not tell immediately from his size and appearance what he was? “A God.” He rumbled in response as if the pale animal should have known better. “And you? What are you?” it was large for a dog he supposed, but Abaddon was still well over three times the creature’s size in height alone. Either way it was too large for the graciousness his kind reserved for the smallest of furred creatures and so it earned his indifference. A far more wicked part of his mind was tempted to lurch forward, grab its neck in his trunk and stuff its head into his mouth where he would crush its skull like an egg. But no, he wouldn’t, he had not yet felt the red fury of the rut that would condone such unjustified violence, no matter how rude the animal was. speaking you

Apollo nearly laid his ears back in irritation at the creature's words. "A god to what species?" he clarified coldly. Somehow he couldn't picture the Fallen God of the Abraxas covered in dirt and scratching himself alone in the woods. Except for those wicked tusks, the creatures teeth, he'd seen when it opened its mouth to speak, were all those of a prey animal, made for grinding vegetation, not for flesh. God or not, the god of a prey animal would always be inferior to a predator. What forsaken prey animal would worship this god? "I am Apollo Abraxas," he told the creature with clipped tones. "Child of Abraxas, the Fallen God. A wolf god," he added, with a hint of fangs showing. "A Predator who will swallow this world and bring its inhabitants to His worship." He didn't know what had driven him to speak so openly about a subject that he was normally much more reticent on, except perhaps the creature's clear disdain provoked the rage that Apollo hid within him. Analytically, his eyes flicked over the beast once again, confirming that he was well out of reach and that there was nothing blocking his way if he needed to leap aside.

With a tired sigh Abaddon rose to his feet, his blazing eyes looking down on the inferior creature with annoyance. “I am a God of all things. My kind are the only gods to walk this earth.” He stated, nettled by the creature’s arrogance. Whatever a wolf was, it seemed to place great importance on itself. It wasn’t even the most able of predators he had seen, a hyena would snap its spine in two, a lion would rake its claws through its flesh as easily as splitting a leaf, and a leopard would easily drag it into a tree and feast upon it passively. Even those marvels of creation bowed before his kind, and gave them due respect. After all, only a god could kill a god. “Tell me wolf...” He started with a bemused tone. “What makes you the child of a god? Are you immortal? Can you shape the world to your desires? Do you know the mysteries of the world you live in?” He let the questions hang in the air waiting for whatever meek response the creature would give. With his eyes alight with wicked mirth he studied the creatures jaws. Even if it could bite him his body was far too vast and his skin too thick to feel little more than a pinch from the creature’s efforts. The wolf may be able to grab his ears, but that would put him in dangerous proximity to his trunk, and that would be all he needed to fling him weightlessly against a tree or to impale him on a branch. speaking you

An icy rage coiled in Apollo's chest at the beast's words, a silent snarl lifting one side of his lip. The fury did not make him quiver, nor shake. He simply stared up at the beady eyes of the creature with the cold dignity of an offended gentleman military officer. "Take care with your words, beast," he enunciated clearly. "You are no god of mine, and I will allow no creature, not god nor beast, to malign the Fallen God."

His golden eyes glinted as he shifted slightly. "What makes any creature the child of their father? From the loins of the Fallen God my bloodline was created, that we may bring this world to its knees and prove ourselves to our forefather and join him as gods. And what makes you a god, beast? Shredding leaves with your tushes? I have seen warthogs with just as sizable ones, for their own bodies. Is it because you are large? I have seen whales dying on the beach as large or larger than you. Are you immortal, then? Or would you bleed like any animal if you were bitten?"

He seemed amused, as if he were watching a baby flail itself pitifully in a screaming fit. “I might bleed if you bit me, although not enough to die, or even feel discomfort. The scars you see are from other gods, for only a god can kill a god” He said passively while his trunk nosed over the jagged edge of a rock, just slightly smaller than the wolf’s head and lifted it, coiling the appendage close to his mouth with the stone tucked neatly into it.

“Whales die when they touch land, yes, but I am a lord of both the realms of land and sea while they only hold dominion over one.” He waved his ears as if he were being assaulted by flies, but another god surely would have recognized he flagging motions of a war dance. “I shred the leaves in my anger, yes, but shape entire forests in my leisure and should I choose I could create rivers by my own might .” He paused then, letting the words sink in.

"But enough about me; tell me wolf... How long does the child of this fallen god walked the earth before he begins to decay?” His eyes now burned with fury and joy, his legs bracing lift his girth and bear down on he creature with the full force of his weight and the added strength of gravity. His head swayed slightly to brandish the tusks the feeble creature had dared to compare to a pig’s and he could almost feel hot blood running down their smoothed edge. “I have seen the passage of fifty winters, and am still in my prime, with the promise of another thirty.” He chuffed in amusement, keeping his posture straight as his legs limbered. “Unless you would like to challenge me, sir god child. As I said, only a god can kill a god.”

speech Thought

Apollo watched through slitted gold eyes as the beast swayed and spoke, claiming far more than any creature's due. He finally lashed his tail, once, making a noise of disgust deep in his throat. "Nonsense," was his firm, cold answer to the discourse. "You are no more a lord of the sea than a gazelle is lord of air. He may soar through it as he leaps, but however hard he tries to follow an eagle the earth drags him back once more. You, beast, may swim as much as I do, but you would drown if you sought to follow the whales to their deeps. You create rivers and change the lands? Bah. Beavers can do as much." The creature had admitted to having a limited lifespan, however long it was, and that made him as mortal as Apollo himself. No true god, no equal to the Fallen One. No, just another form of life on the same miserable wreck as the rest of them.

"Death is death," he continued. "It does not matter how your years compare to this mortal shell - they still end. They say humans lived to have more years even than yours, yet they were vulnerable to any beast with tooth or claw or hoof. And where are they now? All of them dead and gone extinct like the mammoths and the cave lions that fed on them after the dawn of my race." He fixed a cool gaze on the elephant, traced its shape with his eyes. "When will your kind go extinct, beast? Long after my brethren and I, I wager."

His ire had been struck. “You attribute my strengths to those of other animals, yet lack these abilities yourself as the child of a god. This form will die yes, all things in this mortal plane  rot, but we live on in the memory of our kind, and are reborn into the next generation.” Subtly he let the stone fall to the floor and gave a deep low groan. “But I think the time for talking is done creature of few breaths. Prove the strength of your god!”

Abaddon lifted his head and trumpeted boldly, sending birds shrieking and scattering in every direction. With his eyes narrowed and ears planted firmly against the side of his neck Abaddon lifted his trunk into a tight curl against the top of his cranium where it was safely out of the wolf’s reach, his left hind leg shifted forward at an angle and planted itself firmly in the ground, shielding his underbelly with the considerably thicker skin of his leg and the nearly unbreakable bone of his femur his neck tightened his tail raised back over his spine. He turned his head to the left at a 90 degree angle and surged forward, closing the 12 inch gap between them with surprising speed. With one thunderous motion his head swept in a full rising arch toward the right hoping to catch the wolf on the broadside of his left tusk or on the pointed end of the left.

ABADDON vs. APOLLO for MAIM: Crushing the left hind leg

Round: 1 | 2 | 3

Height: 139"

Build:Heavy

Notes; using one of my 5+ fighting points from my rewards

speech Thought

"Did my words strike a nerve, beast?" Apollo said dryly, his ringing ears laid back in distaste at the racket the creature had raised. And left them back as he shifted into a battle stance, though more out of habit than any need. This was... less a battle, and more a hunt. Dangerous prey, to be sure, but not a predator at all. The creature couldn't very well rip at his ears like another wolf. His eyes, too, were narrowed out of habit rather than real usefulness. The beast wanted a fight? Very well - he would show him the folly of insulting the Fallen God, and prevent him from bringing any more of his kind into the world to provide vessels for rebirth.

Keeping his weight equally spread between all four limbs, centered as he squared up so that his paws were just over hip and shoulder distant apart, Apollo held himself lightly on his toes, like a boxer ready to move. His joints were loose for freer movement, and slightly bent to lower his center of gravity. His tail flagged behind him level with his spine for balance, and he rounded his back, arching it just slightly like a cat to bring his hindquarters beneath him for a more supple and quicker motion. His head was lowered to the level of his shoulders for balance and to attribute to the rounding of his back.

The bull elephant charged, and like lightning Apollo bounced directly to his own right to get him out of the path of the tusks, leaping sideways like a startled horse. The tusks were too long and the movement too quick for him to escape entirely unscathed with the bottom of one tusk scraping over top of his hips as he moved, smacking against the muscle atop the hips and leaving moderate bruising there. As soon as his paws hit the ground he bounded off again, leaping forward at a slight leftward angle, attempting to aim for Abaddon's left rear leg.

Kicking off powerfully with his hindlegs, he attempted to catch a grip around the creature's angled left hind leg three-quarters of the way up to the elephant's belly, left foreleg around the inside and right foreleg around the outside in an attempt to drag himself further upwards.

His hindquarters curled up beneath him mid-leap and he attempted to hit with both hindpaws halfway down the elephant's left rear leg - his toes spread wide, he sought to dig the dull claws against the elephant's skin to grip tight and gain a foothold there.

Simultaneously he snapped his jaws forward, aiming between the angled left rear leg and the belly, attempting to dig his teeth into the loose skin between the thigh and the abdomen. His aim was to rip and tear rather than grip, hoping to cut through the thinner skin and into the viscera beneath it.

APOLLO vs ABADDON for MAIM (trunk removal)
Round 1/3
Height: 42"
Build: Medium

Note: for future fights, it's usually the challenged player, not the challenger, who decides the rounds, but I'm fine with three so it doesn't matter to me any. You also didn't put a note about your edits being witnessed by anyone so it would be within a judge's rights to default it if they saw the edit done and didn't know, so be careful about that next time.

Edits to ooc information (maim) witnessed by Lazuli

And the winner is...

APOLLO! Due to Abaddon not posting in the allotted time the fight has been defaulted in Apollo's favor. Abaddon must now give up by either submitting, fleeing or passing out.

Apollo has succeeded in removing Abaddon's trunk.