The exact location he was in wasn't on any known continent, as far as Gleeon knew. From what little he understood, it was accessible through some kind of anomalous rift that was found. Luckily for him, those mysterious lands gave him a place to try out a certain experiment of his, which wasn’t possible without the risk of collateral damage back at his current estate.
All he brought was a black duffel bag to carry a few simple supplies, his enchanted cleaver, a loaded Judge pistol, and several special items. Since he didn’t want to go through the hassle of swapping clothes, he wore his formal black suit from earlier since the valley was at a lower temperature that day. Once a good was found, the bag was placed near a boulder before setting foot out in the open.
"Okay, pray nothing goes wrong." Muttered the onyx-haired man, who stood out amongst an open flowery field. Both palms came together as his gold and black sclera hues gazed up into the heavens, which were obstructed by a thick blanket of clouds. A light breeze ruffled his wavy strands when exhaling, where a soft glow could be seen within his irises.
By raising and stomping his left foot forward, both arms spread apart as a circular rune illuminated in white formed a circle around him. Surrounding winds began to stir due to his spell causing a mild atmospheric disturbance, resulting in a vortex of clouds spiraling directly above him. His palms began sparking as lightning bolts flashed high above, which wasn't there previously.
Soon, the middle and index digits from his right hand were aimed directly up, pulsing with an increasing amount of static. Seconds later, a visible, bright cobalt beam was emitted from the gloved fingertips. Said pillar of light quickly pierced the heavens above, creating a hole in the spiraling clouds.
Unexpectedly though, something else was made from the spell he had just cast. Instead, there was a visible azure vortex, which was increasingly dark at its center. Without realizing it, the Aeromancer had just created a portal, a big one, and by accident.
"Aw no… What the hell is that?" Gleeon would question, narrowing his unnaturally colored orbs at what looked like some sort of large mass coming down, and fast. His expression wizened out of mild terror before taking off in a full-blown sprint, only to conjure up a stream of air to carry himself away from where he thought the impact site might be.
Once away, the warlock immediately cast an electron barrier to shield himself from possible debris, which resembled a translucent cobalt dome. For the next few seconds, he'd crouch, waiting for whatever had just been summoned.
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“Mmm-” Feeling incredibly weak from both his brain and body wanting to shut down, the wind warrior still managed to grab hold of her nearest horn. With what remaining strength he had, her associate managed to climb on, almost slipping off. Despite this, he still got himself seated up top, plopping down on his chest.
“Back where we came from, portal should still be open…” His voice was husky, partially distorted from how much havoc this heat stroke was wreaking on him. To keep himself from passing out, his chin was propped on one of her scales and facing forward, the same direction Kaida was aimed at. All four limbs held on for dear life since he was in a pretty vulnerable state, and prone to falling off if the Dragoness wasn’t careful.
“Between the two of us, I was hoping to find all my long-lost friends before something happens to me, and this is how my lights go out, even after everything I’ve been through.” Based off his choice of wording, it became evident that the dragon shifter thought he wasn’t going to make it out of this situation. At this rate, Kaida’s best bet was keeping his mind preoccupied to prevent him from losing consciousness, which /could/ be a death sentence or some terrible brain damage.
“If you have to find your way back without me, can you take my group with you-? They’ve been through a lot, and deserve to live in peace. The world is becoming smaller for some of them…” The draconic hybrid asked, despite how scratchy his tone was. That alone was his dying wish, for her to somehow save his people, some of whom she had seen earlier, including Trua. He was more concerned with the fate of his group rather than himself.
The whipping fire, the deep hum of heated air, the sharp sounds of cracking stone, even her own growls pressed against Kaida’s ears and drowned out the Aeromancer’s initial commentary. Rapt in the frenzy of battle, the dragoness’s mind only held the occupancy for the one task at hand.
With a final crack and a jerk of her head, Kaida’s maw finally parted from the giant’s now-gaping chest. Pebbles and ash fell from her jaws as Kaida rose and turned her horned head towards Gleeon with a low growl. A chunk of blackened stone was cradled behind her teeth, and something glowed in the interior of her mouth which cast very faint illumination between those brandished ivories. The glow revealed that the stone itself was still stuck within the charred stone, yet ultimately unharmed.
Kaida watched while Gleeon stumbled and fell, then made her approach to lower her large head towards the other. She angled it to brandish the horns that adorned her crown, and hoped that Gleeon was still coherent enough to comprehend the order to grab onto one of the horns so he could be pulled up to sit among the horns at the back of her head. Kaida could not afford to have the aeromancer fade, for he was the key to not only escaping this hellscape, but the key to saving her lands.
“Which way to the exit?” Kaida’s voice resonated through Gleeon’s mind through an established mental link. Her wings rose slightly, building the hot air up beneath them in preparation to take flight.
Before any shot could be fired from the Golem’s arm cannon, it attempted to jerk back in hopes of avoiding whatever Kaida had in store for it, only for its limb to nearly be blasted off. Such an impact knocked it back some, growling in fury at the audacity this massive reptile had for using his own element against it. The fiery entity had lost balance during her charge, attempting to swing at her with its riot shield of an arm.
Having no choice but to fall background and hit the ground with a quake, said brute flailed about helplessly With its main weapon damaged, there was no shooting her in the face. While trying to squirm free- a loud, muffled roar was heard when being struck in the face by her flame. Just like that, its head began melting, pieces dripping off and its own exterior flames going out. Because of this, the fire Golem had gone limp, both arms dropping not long after.
While the Empress was extracting their sought-after stone, the Aeromancer had sprinted over with a sphere of compressed air in hand. Upon seeing that the target was dead, he dissipated it, exhaling in relief.
“You love jumping on top of people don’t ya?” Gleeon asked with a hint of amusement in his tone, referring to what happened during his first encounter with Kaida and this poor Golem. His expression was sheepish to say the least, and his pants were nearly soaked with sweat.
All of a sudden- the man collapsed onto his knee, panting for breath and feeling increasingly dizzy. Both gold and black hues kept trying to close on him, he had to move around some just to avoid passing out. At this rate, he was having a heatstroke due to the biome they were in, pulling his own weight had become a nearly impossible task since his brain and body wanted to shut down.
“K-kaida…!” He struggled to call out, nearly falling onto his side when supporting his upper body on both hands, attempting to crawl her way. “I think I’m overheating-” The onyx-haired male muttered, finding it increasingly difficult to stay conscious.
If the Dragoness didn’t act soon and get him out of that volcanic environment, brain death or damage was going to occur for the only one who could bring her back home. At least they had gotten what they came for.
A behemoth arose from the scorching ire, one unlike anything that Kaida had ever seen before. Her teeth were brandished in a clear statement of opposition against the foe that was nearly as large as she.
Gleeon's attack served as the signal for the assault, and the miasma of glowing embers flew in a newfound frenzy in the wake of stronger wing beats that accelerated the empress forward. Smoke fumed from Kaida's snarling maw before a pillar of pale flame was expelled straight onto the aimed cannon. The hot air surrounding the pillar rippled with the sheer force of the blast, and whether the resulting combustion destroyed the cannon or merely served as a distraction to divert its aim away from Gleeon, Kaida aimed her next onslaught.
Leathery membrane flared, stifling the flighted charge just enough to bring her hind paws forward to grab the top of the shield. Hind legs forced the shield downwards, while the talons of her front paws hooked into the coarse grooves of flaming stone on the golem's upper torso. The gales upon her wings pushed enough momentum to topple the giant backwards and dropped Kaida's dead weight upon it.
The creature hardly even had the chance to fall before a VIOLENT flux of flame erupted from the dragoness' parted maw, scorching the golem's face for several long seconds at point-blank proximity.
The pillar of flame upon the creature's face was extinguished, but only because Kaida's head lashed downwards. Mighty teeth bit down hard into the chest around the stone. Her scales burned incredibly hot as the flames from the beast's torso beat upon her face, yet Kaida did not care. Fire was no foreign opponent to the draconian kind.
The dragoness' fury spilled forth in the form of a growl while she aggressively shook her head to and fro, motions intent on stripping the stone and the chunk around it straight out of the skull-faced being's chest.
Gleeon did say they did not have to kill it, but such a statement was a mere suggestion at a time like this. This being stood in the way of her Empire's welfare, and thus, Kaida did not have time for mercy.
In the event Kaida got her massive weight airborne, her companion for this journey could already feel his surroundings heating up from this as if it weren’t bad enough being there. To avoid this and hopefully not get hit by those fiery spirits, said Warlock took off on both legs into a sprint towards the massive female when she’d eventually land.
“Very likely! If that’s the case, we need to rip one of the stones off its chest, we don’t have to kill the creature for it.” Due to all the sizzling sounds from the presence of molten rock, Gleeon had to raise his voice somewhat in case she’d have trouble hearing him. He observed carefully as whatever large mass, which was thankfully smaller than her, began approaching their direction. Droplets of lava fell from its hulking exterior from being covered in it.
At the shoreline of their island, an enormous, four-fingered hand made entirely from a hardened steel gray rock rose up, taking holding of the solid land in front. Climbing out of that incredibly hot sea of molten earth was a figure, consisting of only a large, wide torso, with a large arm almost shaped like a long shield, and an opposing limb that was more circular, almost like a tube with an opening at the front that could both smash smaller targets, or possibly shoot projectiles.
While stepping ashore, a deep grumble was heard, mostly at the Hybrid. When seeing the Dire Dragoness, however, it visibly flinched back some, likely feeling intimidated by her presence alone since she was so much larger. It leaned forward, preemptively placing its shield arm up front since this creature expected some sort of attack, especially from her.
“That skinner arm looks like it could shoot something at us.” Said the Aeromancer, who was already trying to devise a plan since they didn’t do so in advance. “You’ll have to be the one to rip the stone out. If that thing is hot to the touch, it’ll burn the skin off my hands.” He proposed in the midst of keeping his gold and onyx orbs fixated on it, narrowing them. “I’ll draw its attention.”
Just as he was about to move aside, Gleeon suddenly clutched his own cranium and audibly exhaled, snickering even. This was likely due to heat exhaustion starting to affect him, especially since he was breathing through his mouth in an effort to keep cool. “I’m okay…” He’d mutter. “Let’s do this.”
Having to force himself to go through with this and wipe some sweat off his forehead, a blast of air would be used to launch himself several dozen feet aside diagonally, and towards the Golem’s direction. Knowing it would only serve as a distraction, he took aim with his weapon and fired off multiple rounds, most of which either smashed against or bounced off its exterior.
In response, the fiery rock entity grumbled, soon pointing its cannon arm towards the man. Inside the tube of said limb, it began glowing with a blazing orange hue, as if preparing to blast him with some sort of incendiary attack while trying to keep half its attention on Kaida.
The attacks that Kaida was pelted with were numerous, yet overall non-lethal against her defensive tactics and overall size. She snapped her teeth, swung her head and whipped her tail, tossing whole individuals and shattered bits alike as far out and back in the ungulating pits of lava.
Despite their efforts to keep the swarm at bay, the spirits just kept coming for both of them in a seemingly unending stream.
Gleeon's defensive measures and attacks alike did not go unnoticed, despite Kaida's preoccupied mind. She still was unsure of exactly what this man was capable of, yet these attacks gave her at least a bit of insight of his fighting style. Gleeon was strong, there was no doubt about that. What she was not expecting was that second sphere that blasted away the handful of Spirits that hounded her face.
Kaida was thoroughly puzzled at the action: was he not already overwhelmed by his own rivals? Why did he spend the energy to relieve Kaida from her assailants instead? Such chivalrous actions were uncommon amongst her kind.
Kaida did not have the time to dwell in the matter, when yet another swarm of the beings rose from the lava.
"Come on! This way!"
Kaida angled her attention back onto Gleeon, and followed his gesture towards the odd platform ahead. After throwing another glance at him to secure his location, Kaida's gargantuan wings unfurled. Flairs of flame and a blizzard of glowing embers erupted from the ground as a mighty swooo of wings lifted the Dire Dragoness off and into the air. The thermals from the heat pushed against her wings in a nearly erratic rhythm, yet Kaida flew on until she landed on the designated landmass.
Once again, Gleeon called her attention. Kaida's eyes narrowed as she honed in on the bubbling surface.
"I see it." She growled as smoke began to stream from between her bared teeth. The end of Kaida's tail began to flick too and fro like a bullwhip ready to lash. Whatever rested beneath the surface was large, but she was ready.
"Is it our target, Gleeon?
"No! Fire spirits I think!!" As many had shattered from being struck by her tail, her guide was now faced was more, and they were surrounding him. In response, jet streams of air were conjured up to fling them back for some distance.
In both palms, the surrounding atmosphere was compressed into two spheres. With careful aim, one was hurled towards a trio of those same entities, only for it to release the pressure and cause an explosion of air, large enough to blast away a small group. To take pressure off Kaida, the second one was thrown, easily blowing apart five more in a radius.
"Come on! This way!" Shouted the Aeromancer, who gestured for her to follow him towards a large platform, which interestingly enough, had a few palm trees planted in plots embedded in the bricks, as if this place wasn't weird enough already. Fortunately, this upcoming spot was wide open, even for someone as gigantic as the Queen.
Knowing that she'd need some kind of cover fire so Kaida could cross the bridge, the man knelt on the platform and took aim with the assault rifle he brought with him. Multiple shots would ring out to shatter the skulls of several Fire Spirits, luckily for them, ballistic projectiles actually worked for this particular foe. One by one, they'd be picked off relentlessly before getting the chance to literally spit lava at her.
"Lord I hate these things…" He'd mutter upon popping another one until it'd plummet back into the sea of molten rock. With how high of a temperature it was, the Warlock swiped off some visible sweat from his forehead with a wrist.
If the Dragoness were to make her charge onto the open space he stood on, the remaining entities would simply dive back into the lava, giving them both a moment of relief. "Jesus Christ, if the heat doesn't kill you, something else will." He'd say before turning his head around to examine their surroundings.
That was until something bubbled in the sea of molten rock, in addition to seeing it move around. This site immediately made the hair on the back of his neck stand up. "Kaida… Do you see that?"
The ground uttered groans and the occasional crack in protest to the weight of the dire. While Gleeon's eyes were focused on the path before them, Kaida's attention was keen on the landscape around them. Every large pop of bubbling magma and every loud hiss of releasing steam earned a momentary glance, /just/ long enough to confirm or deny the presence of a foe. The thought of them not being alone loomed in the back of her mind. She could feel eyes on them, but it was uncertain if it truly was an unseen threat, or mere phantom sensations that accompanied the act of prowling in a place they shouldn't be?
Kaida kept her strides short and pace steady to make sure Gleeon could keep up. The deep hiss suddenly sent the dragoness on high alert, resulting in her wings spreading slightly. The sight of the...things forming out of the firey pits earned brandished teeth and a deep growl.
Kaida silently acknowledged the aeromancer's ability to hold his own ground for the time being, so her attention shifted to the many foes surrounding her. Her tail whipped out and her head swung, utilizing the bristled tail spikes and great crown of horns to collide and dismantle many of the monsters that hovered behind and in front of her.
"Are these the golems?" Her voice emerged in a growl while she prepared to lash out again as soon as more drew near.
"Hardly, and if something goes wrong from doing it, there's a good chance I might not catch myself quick enough. I'd rather be safe than sorry."
This did raise one potential issue, getting around. His initial thought was using her for the sake of time, but being the critical thinker he was, Gleeon anticipated that she wouldn't give just anyone a free ride. He was open about it. "Since your back is probably only reserved for special people, let's just walk." The man said with a huff, soon addressing her final question. "The biggest fire golem we can find, and kill it. One of those stones should be inside their chest. OR~ We just find one on the ground."
Since there was a solid path wide enough for them both, Gleeon began their trek by moving forth. Up ahead was a T-shaped intersection, made up of larger stone bricks that had been scorched from the immense heat. If she followed closely, he would take a left at the corner.
Soon they'd come across a large, circular island made from natural terrain, mostly all black due to ash covering it. Steaming pools of boiling water were visible, in addition to fire jets occasionally erupting from the earth itself. To avoid accidentally stepping on one, he was checking every spot on his path.
A loud, deep inhaling sound was sudden heard from both sides, similar to air passing through a metal shaft. Left and right, multiple shapes were ascending from the molten rock. Each one resembled a charged skull with a rib cage, engulfed by raging flames that remained ablaze, able to hover and fly about freely. Just about all of them had their fiery sockets glaring down at the two: mostly at Kaida.
"Not good!"
The moment he said that, each one began spitting blazing orbs of said lava upon them. Gleeon, being more concerned about her, simply leaped out of the way and threw both palms forward towards her shoulders. Two streams of wind came down and deflected the first projectiles, flinging them back. "They're everywhere!!"
Knowing this wasn't going to stop, the Warlock began conjuring up a sphere of pressurized atmosphere. Upon throwing it, the orb would make contact and explode, shattering the first creature into pieces. A second one received a jetstream of air to the face, pushing it and two others back while the rest circled around Kaida.
With how big of a target she was, it wasn’t going to be easy. Swatting them out of the air was likely a better option at this rate.
Kaida was taken off guard by the quick impact, and the ground beneath their feet fell subject to deep tremors in response to her sudden weight. Her large wings had been spread in preparation for the long drop that never came, and they remained spread in the mere second or two it took for the dragoness to re-associate her center of balance. The leathery appendages gradually lowered then folded back at her sides while her eyes took in the red-tinted horizon.
It was clear that these lands did not intend to be welcoming. The radiating heat could be felt pooling against her scales, yet it was not yet enough to be bothersome.
Kaida had been encased in her own thoughts to immediately register what Gleeon had suggested. An upper lip twitched slightly as the meaning behind his question finally clicked.
"You can fly, can you not?" The dragoness sneered with a downward glance to the aeromancer. Kaida then rose her attention back towards their surroundings, and angled her head to peer over her shoulder at the terrain behind them.
"Where would this enraging stone be kept?"
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