The crimson glow of evening illuminated the sky above, the glistening fruits of the majestic tree captured the fading sunlight and bathed the ground below like twinkling stars.

It was a magiestic sight that captured the sight of all who gazed upon it, yet it was what was occurring beneath the trees branches that was what one truly needed to be wary off.

For beneith the glittering jewels a war was being waged. Hundreds of beasts were embroiled in combat, be they the local denizens of this jungle biome or the invading beasts that had gathered here for the chance of gaining one of said fruits. Regardless of that the simple fact remained that their would be no peaceful resolution to this.

Violet and her group of beast stood at the boundary of the jungle and the clearing surrounding the giant tree as they observed the carnage that was happening before them. They stayed within the shadows cast by the dense canopy and tried to remain out of sight so as to not attract the attention of the battling beasts.

Yet they did not have to worry as a sense of madness seemed to have overtaken all who stood below the branches. The beast fought with a sense of recklessness, not caring about any wounds they may be receiving only what damage they could instead deal to their foes.

It was a strange sight to behold, for whilst some beasts were not exactly smart, even the dumbest of beasts had a strong sense of self preservation. Yet this appeared to be gone from all present. It was unnerving to say the least.

Violet gazed out at the macabre sight before her and frowned as she tried to work out what was causing this madness. She looked at the various beasts, taking not of which ones seemed to be effected and which ones did not. She soon came to a tentative conclusion.

Whilst all of the local denizens were indeed fighting with a sense of ferocity, they clearly still held strong to their survival instincts and fought defensively. They made few dangerous gambles with their lives but worked together with their neighbors to fight back with cold efficiency.

The invading beasts however, were split. The strongest of the beasts seemed unneffected by the madness and easily battled whatever foe approached them. Similarly the groups of beasts that had banded together also seemed mostly unaffected. It was the beasts that were by themselves and in the middling range of strength that were instead infected with the bezar madness.

It would seem that one needed to either be individually powerfull to the level that one could shrug off the mind altering effect. Or instead to have teamed up with a diverse group of beasts to achieve the same result.

For not all groups were infected. Any group that consisted of a singular type of beast were all fighting with the tint of maddness in their eyes. Yet any group that held an assortment of different beasts held strong and resisted the incideous affliction.

Seeing this violet felt a sense of relief, if her understanding of what was going on was correct her and her group should be safe from the maddness. She suspected that her, Luna, the alpha and the trunked beast would have been fine by themselves. The rest of her group however, might not have been so lucky if they had arrived here by themselves.

Yet even when she felt sure in her deduction she still made no move to advance, instead she seemed content to sit back and watch as the carnage unfolded.

Some of the beasts behind her seemed to be growing restless yet some remained calm. Particularly the natural predators amongst them. The wolf and feline beasts in particular seemed to grasp her intentions and settled down in the shadows to wait.

Sensing some of the confusion from her allies Violet decided to voice her plan and connected a bridge of telepathy to the entire group. It did strain her mind and skill quite a bit of weather herself to so many minds, yet as she had no intentions of keeping it up for long she struggled through the strain and spoke.

"We wait for now. No need to fight just yet and waist our strength. Rest up and recover, we will be fighting soon." A ripple of emotion threatened to surge back through the mind bridge she had established yet she broke the connection before it could truly reach her. Yet she still felt the aftershock of having linked her mind to so many others all at once.

Violet then proceeded to settle down herself as she dealt with the headache that she was now suffering.

Luna chose that moment to sit down besides her companion and leant against her side as she too rested.

Her shoulder was still injured yet was well on the way to recovery by now thanks to her impressive recovery ability. Whilst her healing presence was not exactly great in battle it was a wonderful skill for the post battle recovery. It had only been an hour since she had received her wound, yet already the hole in her shoulder was mostly covered and she could now move her arm, albeit with some pain and discomfort.

Together the two of them rested and hoped to regain as many of their resources as possible in preparation for what was to come. For they both knew, they all knew. Soon enough their group would be joining in on that battle before them, and they would need all the strength that they could muster.

The sun high in the sky slowly drew closer to the horizon, its crimson rays gaining a deeper hue as the evening was slowly beginning its transition into night. Strangely enough as the sun began to dip and where light levels should be dropping, the opposite instead occurred.

For whilst the sky itself may be beginning to darken the clearing below the great tree had its own source of radiance. Or should it be said its own sources of radiance.

For as the sun slowly faded away and crossed that final line of the horizon the glittering jewels that had sepnt all day absorbing the sunlight began to glow.

A collidascope of light rained down on the clearing, painting the landscape in an ethereal tone. The macabre massacre going on below the glittering lights, took on a different tone. For as the jewls above shone, the spark of madness in many of the beasts eyes bloomed. The already reckless abandon of these infected beasts intensified and they seemed to gain a second wind.

It would seem that the battle below the tree was entering its final stage. And as the time remaining hit 30 minutes, the dragon and her group began to rise to their feet.

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