Northstar Vale And nobody owes you now

shardik leaned against the stone wall, his shoulder pressed up against the crack and his claws blindly fumbling. stone, dust, pebbles; their feedback clambered up his claws and through his pads - stone, dust, pebbles -- flesh.

with a squeal of rage he felt mou's hips slip from him, and a sudden plop that suggested he was now well beyond the beast's reach. furiously, shardik withdrew his arm and a hateful, round eye appeared in its place, searching rapidly in that dark corridor for any sign of his prey's form.

there was nothing -- just shadows, and disturbed, swirling dust. another snarl rippled in the demon's throat and with newfound fury, he romped down the slab, stone splintering as he shouldered his way through brittle earth and wearied stone, forcing his immense frame into a nearby tunnel with the fierce burrowing of some rabid cavebeast.