>>6154924>>6155288>>6155772The more Miranna descended, the hotter the air grew.
“Take me to the entrance,” you asked her, steeling yourself.
On the winding slope between the sleepless volcano and the growing cinder peninsula, nestled between the twin lava-laden ravines, on top of which edges stood blackened basalt walls, rose a plateau with a refugee upon it. Within the walls’ stone-stacked depths, a fierce glow bled through every fissure, embers and white ash spilling out. The hot steam poured from the vents, streaming down the volcano’s bluffs, blanketing the ground like a fog, with the parching arch joining in like charcoal snow.
Encircled by the high walls and veiled by the mist stood a vast tangle of above-ground passageways, stretching from dome to dome, its shape resembling a maze. Hundreds of basalt stones were stacked upon one another, their layered crowns gleaming with glassy obsidian tiles. The labyrinth’s shadows sprawled against the ember-lit walls, bashing at each other like stubborn horned rams.
Miranna caught sight of the entrance—an opening set between the walls and a worn stone arch bridging the lava streams—and touched down at its threshold.
She didn’t lower you, yet the scorching air crawled up your skin regardless, like a famished beast given a bone to sink its teeth in. Miranna’s wing wrapped around you, its immense span shielding you from the boiling heat. In spite of her affinity with flames, her pale freckled face grew wet with sweat.
“I haven’t been inside,” Miranna said, parting her feathers enough for your eyes to see through. The heat’s touch dried her plumage, thought only barely.
No sooner her had claws touched the bridge than a sharp clang of armour rang from the tunnel’s mouth. From the chill darkness stepped out a hollow suit of armour, its steel infused with or by a demon spirit. His spiked pauldrons were warped by the heat and licked by the flames, his breastplate poorly patched by obsidian plates, with sulphur taint yellowing and chipping half its helm.
“Back you are, King’s obedient. Now, bringing a human?” he said, words rattling through every seam of its armour. “Do you, King’s loyal, mean to barter him for the furry creature?”
“We’re here for the pet,” Miranna said with a smirk. “But this one here is not for barter. That’s his belonging, you know? It would be best if you return it.”
He strode further outside the basaltic entrance, black ash settling upon his shoulderplates. “As if any demon, no matter how small or beastly, would belong to a human. We have taken a liking to it. As had been said to you, King’s unquestioning, we are fulfilling the King’s order. His is above yours. Your demands mean nothing until his are satisfied. Take them with you as you leave.”
