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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 19:50:56 GMT -6
Azrael wasn't aware of the fear he'd spiked in his friend, he was so focused on what was going on ahead of him. "I think..." He trailed off, dragging his claws across the dirt. The earth seemed to split underneath them, and a soft glow came through. The only reason you could even see the glow was because this tunnel had become so incredibly dark and tight, underneath so much rock as they were. Azrael dug some more and opened up a hole. He lowered his face to it, sniffing with his nose to check for fumes, then sticking his head in to see where they were. When he was satisfied, he pulled back, dug some more, then stepped through and down into the next cavern. He turned to call back to Katla to follow him and to not be afraid, then he headed off a few steps in the new direction so she would have space to hop down as well. When she got closer, she would see their tunnel opened up about two thirds of the way up the side of an already formed tunnel.
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx on Jun 10, 2024 20:03:16 GMT -6
Katla grew more and more alarmed the longer Azrael focused on the floor. She was thinking all sorts of things about what could happen. The floor could open up beneath them. They could fall into the deepest chasm, falling forever into darkness. Sure, she had wings, but she couldn't see in the dark, which way would be up? Would she be able to find her way back to this tunnel to get out? And leave Azrael behind? She could feel her heart pounding in her chest as her imagination ran absolutely wild with what ifs. She took a couple of steps backward, feeling her wings scrap lightly against the low ceiling. She quickly ducked again, having forgotten to do so in her mild panic. And then Az was sticking his head into the hole he made. He didn't look concerned at all and that made her remember to breathe, breathe, breathe. Soon enough, he had the hole opened up, and he hopped through... And he wanted her to follow. On shaky legs, she made her way over and slowly climbed after him.
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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 20:09:53 GMT -6
Azrael watched to make sure Katla made it down into the dimly lit tunnel safe and sound before he took off again. He walked with a confidence that said he knew where he was, even if he had never been here before. It was reassuring to know that, even if you got lost down here, you could just dig up and up and up and eventually you'd make it back out! Katla might not be able to, but Malavos were as at home here as a Nanaiyesh was in the water, or a Shalaya in the sky.
The dim light made his white hide glow, an easy beacon for Katla to follow, though if one squinted they wouldn't be able to figure out what color the dim light was. Fire? Electric light? It was hard to tell, just barely more than shadows. Az followed the tunnel as it angled down a bit more, and a bit more, then it leveled out and swung around the bend. He of course followed that, too.
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx on Jun 10, 2024 20:14:20 GMT -6
Katla's nerves were being soothed with how calm and steady Az was being. It was like this was where he'd wanted to be all this time, like where he had been digging them, leading them, since the start. Katla felt a flare of annoyance at this, as well as the relief. Why couldn't he have just told her this? Why all the secrets and the silence? To be fair, he had wanted to show her something, and showing didn't have to include telling... But still, it would have been more polite to make sure she wasn't scared! He had asked if she was scared of the dark or the tight tunnel, and she wasn't, but she was scared of falling into a never ending hole in the earth and dying there, slow and painful!
Katla gave herself a full body shake to try and get rid of the bad vibes she'd fallen into, then she hurried after Azrael as he rounded the curve. While his scales glowed white, she was sure her golden sparkles glowed even brighter.
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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 20:18:39 GMT -6
Az was waiting for her when she rounded the curve. In front of them, about two hundred yards down the tunnel, was a very bright glow. And there was a sound - it was odd to the untrained ear, but Azrael recognized it for what it was. Magma. Lava. Down here in the heart of the world, they'd found a vein of molten rock. It would also get hotter the closer they walked to it, so Azrael would have to be careful not to let Katla get too close.
"The heart of the world," He said simply, and not that accurately if you wanted to debate science, but it sure sounded dramatic! If this wasn't going to impress her, nothing would. Az crept forward carefully, not getting too ahead of himself. He wanted to pay attention to several key factors, such as the air - poisonous gases could gather, but it seemed like there was a vent big enough to spare them - and the heat. "Do not get close. It will melt your skin and bones."
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx on Jun 10, 2024 20:26:24 GMT -6
Katla didn't know what she was looking at. There was a giant orange-red lake in front of them a ways, and the cavern was already much warmer than it had been back around the bend. But what was that stuff? The heart of the world? Why was it like that? And why would it melt her skin and bones? She shuddered at the idea of herself becoming a puddle of goop, everything about her melting away.
Yikes.
"What is that stuff? What is it doing here? How did it get here? Is it going to come and attack us?" She had so many questions to ask, but only so much air in a single breath. She struggled to make her thoughts stand still. It was lovely, but in a dangerous kind of way. She gathered that they were safe right here... Right now, anyway. But if it was a liquid, it could come for them like water. She had one last burning question that she couldn't voice. Why are we here?
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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 20:35:28 GMT -6
Azrael wasn't expecting the onslaught of questions; he would have just been content to stare at it and go "pretty" and then visit it often. But he figured Katla was a curious soul, young and excited about the world yet, so he would try to answer some of her questions. He was no scholar himself, though, so she might have to go elsewhere to get the best answers... Az had the passion, if not the words.
"That is lava. It is here at the heart of the world, deep in earth. It lives here, as we live above. It will not attack us." Little did Azrael know that it could very well jump out and attack them, if the mountain ever woke up. But it had slumbered a long, long time and would probably continue to do so for a long, long time. He ventured a little closer. "It is melted rock, like the rock we stand on. I do not know what makes it so hot, but the heart... is hot."
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx on Jun 10, 2024 20:39:22 GMT -6
Lava. Melted stone. Katla didn't like the sounds of all of this, it sounded very dangerous and she was struggling to wrap her mind around what the Malavos was saying to her, which was at war with how calm and unconcerned he was acting. They were at the center of the world, and he was just gazing at it so lovingly?! It blew her mind. But she had the fear that made her clingy, rather than making her run away, so she pressed closer and slightly behind Az, keeping his body between herself and the lake of rock. She didn't want to go closer, yet she had to when he did, or risk losing her protective bubble. The more she looked at it, it did look really pretty... But she couldn't shake the awe inspiring power of it, the heat, the total destruction if that lake of lava came toward her or came into her cave at home. She would definitely be asking Jinx and the other dragons about this!
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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 20:44:18 GMT -6
Azrael would guide her ahead a little further, where the tunnel widened into a whole cavern. There were large platforms higher up, broken boulders that had been sticking out of the walls. Up onto one of these, he climbed, and urged Katla to join him. From up there, he would bid her to lay down with him, just stretched out on their bellies, watching the lava pit. The lava bubbled and gurgled occasionally, sending up little plumes whenever a new rock or unknown creature fell into the pit. It seemed alive, both in the shimmering of its internal fire, and the way it moved just subtly, within its confines. He didn't know what kept it in place, if it could so easily melt the rock, why not just melt all the rock? He didn't realize the science answer, with the cooling edges. He was content to just sit with Katla, hoping that she would come to enjoy this as much as he did. And, eventually, he would get up and take her back home, their date nearly done.
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Jinx
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Post by Jinx on Jun 10, 2024 20:48:36 GMT -6
Katla settled next to Azrael and watched the lava. She eventually let herself feel safer than she had been, gradually piece by piece. Heartbeat by heartbeat. She found herself leaning against Az while they gazed into the pool together. She thought this was quite an adventure, after all, and she couldn't wait to tell everyone that she had seen the heart of the world! But when Az did get up to go, she felt immense relief, like an exhale to a breath you didn't know you were holding. Together, they made their way back to the tunnel he had dug, and she let him lead the way out. The temperature cooled her skin the further they got from the lava pool, and the cool wash of that plus the relief that flooded her limbs made them go weak. And then they were close to normal daylight, and she bid Az to stop. Her heartbeat had sped up again, with something akin to having survived something terrifying. And she had one thing in mind, to remind herself that she was alive. She pounced.
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Post by Ashe on Jun 10, 2024 20:52:58 GMT -6
Az led the way back to the dug tunnel, then he climbed up into it and turned to offer Katla assistance. He saw she didn't need it as she cleared the distance on her own, even though it was dark up here. He twisted around, claws and tail scraping the walls, then he led them back out to the real world. He didn't feel much himself when he saw the natural lighting up ahead, but he could feel it coming off Katla in waves. He wanted to tell her everything was okay, and it hadn't been so bad. He had wanted to impress her, to maybe make her like him a bit more, but had that backfired? He didn't want to scare her off. Everything he'd seen of her so far had indicated she was a great, brave dragon on her own.
And then she pounced. And he got the impression now that, maybe, she really had liked him, and had been suppressing it? Odd. But he wasn't going to question what happened next.
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