by cocoa » Wed Jul 05, 2017 3:09 am
Prompt 9
The lavalands are unique, unlike a single volcano, but more like twenty of them, all below there feet. Twenty years ago, the lavalands consisted only of one active volcano that stormed smoke in the air and houses bubbling lava, only visible to those who braved the hike to the summit. But the corruption that has tainted all of Kalonkari and twisted the forest into a raging pit of demons made the once peaceful, if occasionally smoky, lavalands the same: suddenly, it was as if the dusty and granite laden ground split open from tens of dormant, thought extinct volcanos. Lava sprung up like pools of water after a heavy rain, lakes soon following to turn the lavalands from hot to blistering. Now, it was dangerous to brave the lands. Some kalons remained, not wanting to leave their homes and believing themselves strong enough to to bear the heat. Fewer adventurers wandered into the depths, tourists long scared away until only the bravest of kalons and volcano scientists remained.
The team of kalons wandered, condemned to their fates as heroes, past the rocky foothills interspersed with shrubs and the occasional pine tree (one of the few uncorrupted lands) until they reached the lavalands. Sen was impressed, wondering at the red glow that canceled out his own. Sen found the warmth comforting, even as sweat began to bead under his fur. He much preferred it, however deadly, to the cold of the forest - there was little Sen hated more than wearing jackets over his fur. Much of the original granite was covered in dried lava flows, slow, rugged slopes dark and rough on their paw pads, and rather hot, like lava still ran under the shell. Ragiel was complaining, pacing anxiously in a vain attempt to catch a breeze of wind. He seemed to want to try and jump lot of his skin: into the clouds, Sen thought idly, unaffected, as if the space in the clouds was reachable in it's cool wonder. Ulyana was grimacing, pressing her water bottle repeatedly to her face as if it would cool her fur, as if it wasn't already lukewarm from the almost visible heat in the air.
Sen did not mind, but he feared for his friends lives and his own. Water would be a hard commodity, and none of them were sorcerers, able to conjure water or draw it up from the ground. Ulyana said she had a plan, like she always did: draw it in a well they build, or maybe find a springs (which is more likely to be hot springs, but it would be better than none at all). She had the information to find these things, accordingly.
They also had strapped several large containers of water to their backs. Just in case. (Sen doubted it was enough. It was a lot).
Last edited by
cocoa on Wed Jul 05, 2017 8:55 am, edited 1 time in total.