A Fiery Disagreement (Kanon to Dreams)

A white haired man in a blue cloak, a purple scarf wrapped around his neck and shoulders, stood atop a roof in a small village, stretching as he looked down upon the people. A scar across his face as he watched them doing their every day things. Well... Looks like I should be off.

The young monk jumped off the building, landing somewhat gracefully as he started heading into the forest, his staff in his hand, using it as a walking stick as he entered the forest. Looking around, he shifted his form into a hawk, and started to fly forward. Just what am I looking for, anyway, he thought to himself. Hmm... Right, but where will I find it? He continued to think as the forest started to get dark, losing track of where he was. He entered a cave which seemed to be the right way.

Shifting back to his human form, he entered, looking around. "Alright, this doesn't seem right," he murmured, noticing a fiery river of lava inside the cave, as he jumped over it, a rock falling in when he jumped. "Man, that looks painful," he whispered as he continued inside. There's something about this... Something that doesn't feel right, the air feels... Off, not sure what, though...

As he continued inside, he approached a figure. Stopping, he grasped his staff tighter, and looked forward. "Is someone there?" He asked, his eyes fixed on the figure.

* * *

Tierra slid her hand over the iron plate in front of her. Its lettering was worn from exposure to the harsh elements of the volcano. There were three iron bars that stuck out from it, sealing a portion of the rock wall shut. Tierra wasn’t certain how that was possible, but she figured it must have had something to do with the mixture of the steam pressure and stone pressure of the caves. Wonder of pressure or not, it was keeping her from going further in. She took the teak wand out of the pouch on her side and traced eight pairs of glowing blue runes in the air. She assigned half of each pair to a different part of the iron support, and took up a stance with the wand on her right side, slowly pulling it away from the from the wall. The iron support did not budge, but something in the air nearby changed, like a strange pressure were building. ‘Just a little bit more,’ she thought to herself.

“Is someone there?” a masculine voice interrupted.

Tierra jumped. She was so off guard that she reeled back, pulling the iron support free from the wall suddenly. Three cracks exploded from the wall, each running in a different direction. One downward, one to her right, and one to her left – the direction the voice came from. Steam blasted out from the cracks, filling the entire cavern in mere seconds. She spun around, looking for the source of the voice. It was a man, standing about twenty feet away from her. She squinted, trying to discern him better through the haze and steam. The iron bracket sped past her, speeding through the air for the stranger. In her surprise, she had turned the wand around and pointed it at the newcomer as well. There was no time to explain.

Cursing herself, Tierra cut the tethers of the terragaldr abruptly, letting the girder hurtle freely. With her other hand, Tierra made a gesture in the man’s direction. A jewel on one of the tiny chains on her right arm glowed brightly, and the sound of a soul being wrenched apart – much like a child screaming – filled the cavern as a blast of eldritch blue fire erupted in front of the man, its blast knocking him and the girder’s trajectory just far enough away from each other to keep him alive.

The jewel on Tierra’s neck shone like candlelight and thumped softly on her sternum as the ground rocked beneath her feet – a tectonic shockwave. “Damn!” she cursed. Turning on her heels, she stuck the wand back in its holster on her leg and bounded down the newly created hallway. Steam assaulted her as she fled, but anywhere was better than that place was about to be.