The Watchers Prompt 3

Saikaam watched the surface dwellers uncertainly from his vantage point on the stalactite spires off in the distance from the boutique. He still didn't trust these bizarre new creatures in his territory and he especially disliked the small pink chaser but he couldn't help but feel pleased that they were fitting in quite well with the Watcher Haedians. They had instantly connected with the owner of the salon and seemed to have formed a friendship with the natural born communicator. The group of surface dwellers were now leaving the salon and were being guided back toward the castle gate which they had arrived at. Now was the time for him to return to the group. Their openness to the Watcher's culture and willingness to embrace their practices without being pushy or judgemental had earned them the slightest bit of the angora haedians' trust. Whether or not they were truly worthy of such grace remained to be seen, their reactions to the next facet of the Watchers culture would further solidify Saikaams budding opinion of the surface.

With well practiced grace, the massive haedian deftly launched from the stone spire he was perched upon and easily glided his way down to the group. With well practiced ease he landed silently behind them and quickly stepped forward to take the lead from the salon owner. When the attendant spotted her Clans leader she quickly bowed respectfully before scurrying off back to her store. The surface dwellers were all shocked by Saikaam's sudden reappearance but their time with the attendant seemed to have eased their initial worries. Reginald stepped forward and greeted the leader respectfully, the haedian noted the clothes that the attendant had picked out for each of them and silently laughed at the chaser and his infantile birthday attire. The haedian smiled but there was little warmth in his eyes, he was still wary of the strangers. "Now that you are in proper clothes I shall show you around our domain." Saikaam stated before quickly giving the group a whirlwind tour that sadly was comprised of the most bare bones and basic explanations of the domains daily functions. Reginald and Lianna felt a little dissatisfied with the complete lack of worthwhile information they were being presented with, while Kernel was still feeling proud and boastful of his previous accomplishment and his fancy new threads. He didn't really care about what they were being shown, he simply knew that they were receiving one of the first tours of the Watchers domain and thus they must somehow be considered special.

As the group proceeded along the tour, something caught Lianna's eye. The green empyrian paused and wandered closer to what had caught her eye. Stretching far above her was a large section of flat cave wall covered in intricate painted and carved patterns. There were many different paintings of various levels of skill almost as if many different reoseans had contributed to the massive mural over a long period of time. Saikaam noticed the other tyrian was no longer following and paused to look back for her. When he saw her examining the cave wall he became a little intrigued as to why it interested her. Surely this group of surface dwellers was trying to make political or financial connections with the once thought lost race. "Is there something wrong?" He called over to her skeptically, accidentally startling Lianna. She quickly shook her head and replied, "No no! Not at all! I just noticed how gorgeous these paintings were and I thought I recognized some of the beings depicted here so I wanted a closer look." Saikaam blinked in surprise, most of the paintings on this section of the wall depicted the gods or their chosen. He hadn't expected for someone from the surface to be aware of their existence. During the haedians brief moment of shock, both Reginald and Kernel wandered back to their companion and also examined the wall. "Oh yeah!" Kernel exclaimed when he spotted the main creature depicted on the wall. "That's the god we saw with Khaldor!"

Saikaam stiffened at the mention of both a god and The Curator of the Keepers. The being depicted on the wall was none other than the great Cosmosis himself, surely there was no way these surface dwellers had actually seen the God of the Stars? As far as he was aware, the Keepers no longer had any records of the gods other than second hand accounts and oral stories. They didn't have true depictions of the gods. He knew that for a fact. So then... how could they possibly know about their god? The small pink chaser continued, musing, "But this painting... It's kind of..." he searched for the word to describe the basic cave painting that depicted a one headed wyvern with large blue wings and a golden chest. "Lacking?" Lianna offered. "Wrong." Reginald also offered, further flummoxing the Watchers leader. The haedian stepped forward, both curious to find out more about the surface dwellers apparent knowledge and a little angry that they would insult one of the best depictions of their god they had left. "How is it lacking? And how could you possibly know better what the great god of the Stars looks like?" The surface dwellers exchanged a nervous glance at the haedians harsh tone, unsure if they should apologize or insist on their assertion. Reginald finally stepped forward to explain and calm the bristling haedians anger.

"While we were in the Keepers domain, we helped the Curator restore an ancient crystal that contained a projection of the God. When we activated it, the crystal displayed an ancient recording where Cosmosis himself manifested in the sky." When the dark runner finished speaking Saikaam's mouth hung open in shock, if this was true this was an incredible step forward for the haedians to recover their lost history. He eyed the surface dwellers warily, still not fully trusting them but also desperately longing for their assistance. "If I were to provide you with the materials and space... Would you be able to recreate what you saw?" All three of the surface dwellers nodded in unison. "Most definitely!" Lianna exclaimed, remembering the awe inspiring sight of the God. Reginald smiled to himself as he finally saw a creak in the Watchers guard. "We'd be honored to."

Saikaam quickly escorted the surface dwellers to an untouched section of the cave wall and ordered them to wait there. The massive angora haedian quickly bounded off to gather the needed paints. While they waited the group decided to go ahead and start sketching what they would paint on the wall by scratching the stone surface with their claws. The sound of claws on stone was grating and made their ears hurt but they were extremely excited to be able to contribute to the Watchers wall of murals. By the time Saikaam returned with multiple haedians laden with painting supplies the trio had already finished scratching out a large sketch on the wall. When Saikaam saw it he was immediately shocked and excited, the creature that was just barely discernible from the scratch marks was remarkably different from the small painting they already had. A great wyvern with many heads coiling and writhing was depicted on the wall, the trio had even arranged the many heads so that the crystals looked like eyes. As the haedians marveled at the already impressive sketch the surface dwellers quickly thanked them for the supplies and got to work painting their sketch.

The trio rapidly painted the cave wall with large sweeping brush strokes. All three of them seemed to become fixated on painting the cave wall, their eyes all filled with laser focused determination as they did everything in their power to recreate the other worldly beings they had witnessed. The Watchers leader sat transfixed as he watched the trio rapidly paint their god with such fervor. Deep rich blue mixed with light cobalt blue as they painted the winding body. Lianna expertly recreated the cloud like star dust of the god's body while Kernel sprinkled and formed the bright white dots of the stars. Reginald painted the main form and laid down the base colors and mixed the various shades of blue until he reached the heads. Unlike how the Watchers were expecting they did not depict the God with a golden chest, instead the snouts of the many heads were gold. Even though the painting was only half finished it was already far more majestic than the other little painting they had. As the group worked more and more members of the Watchers heard about the dazzling display and gathered silently to watch the topsiders paint. The only sounds were the rapid application of the paint, the quickly muttered directions the surface dwellers gave each other, and the normal cave ambience that echoed in the distance. Time passed rapidly as the group worked diligently and no one, not even the hoard of Watchers that had gathered, noticed that the hour had gotten quite late. Head after head was finished, spine and spike erupted from the body, the great spread wings of the God were rapidly painted and rendered in an awe inspiring fashion. The surface dwellers even used glowing paint to further accentuate the space like ethereal body and faces of the god. The more the surface dwellers worked the more enraptured the Watchers became with the glorious visage of their god.

Finally after many hours of fervent effort, the surface dweller trio stepped back from their masterpiece. The sore surface dwellers smiled at their painting with satisfaction, it wasn't a perfect recreation by any means but it was truly a marvelous depiction of the great deity. The group giggled at each other's disheveled, painted stained, state as the tired group deliriously celebrated the masterpiece they had just created. The leader of the Watchers stepped forward and barely managed to restrain himself from reaching out to touch the nearly life-like painting of the god. "It's magnificent.." Saikaam breathed in awe as he took in the great painting.