Year 765 The Storm Crawler Charge

"'Scuse me missy!"Jerilyn charges in front of Rhea, spear out and ready. She dons a metal mask that only covered up to her nose but based on the glitter in her emerald eyes it is obvious that she is smiling. Her pet clung desperately on her armor.

The Saoirse leaps into the mass of foliage, deeper even and then what Rhea can see. The inhuman cries that follow suit brought a shiver along her spine. What is that!?

Connor yanks her back, the urgency lacing in his voice when he calls her name. The action woke her from her fixation, hearing the disheveled forms that lurk around them, too many to really count right now. The jungle is too thick to see all of them.

Panic sped her heart when one finally reveals itself. This one was once human, the four limbs and standing upright was proof enough, but that is as far as the resemblance goes. So skinny that the bones protrude awkwardly against the graying skin, yellow ooze drips out of the orifices of its face while darkened fingernails grew sharp and long. It screeches when its pale eyes took in their presence, it got on all fours making the spine of its back protrude next. The leathery dead muscles barely holding on as each disk threatens to break through. Rhea held her lip taut fighting down the urge to lose her stomach fluids once more. The creature didn’t really let her delve further in the temptation jumping at them.

It is very quick despite the sickness that plagues it. Connor is even quicker, shooting a bullet right between its eyes. The bullet pierces its skull with ease, and the thing drops lifelessly with more brain matter mixing with yellow goo from the new wound.

The sight and the smell raise bile right up her throat, it was like the time she had to experience the Caem’s Hideaway and its chimera. Now the rations she scarfed down earlier came right back out and on the ground.

"Rhea! Get a hold of yourself!" He looks just as disgusted by the pungent smell but not to the point like her. But he is more likely t be disgusted that she vomited. It was hard to say with everything going on.

"Ehh," She desperately wipes her quivering lip, gathering the resolve. The hollering between the creatures is getting closer, ganging up on them there is no chance they could escape without confronting these monsters. "It is just smell…that is all."

She straightens herself, hands burning bright with hot mana. Waiting until she can see another one of those freaks to swing fire that way, creating a half circle of a wall to keep more of them at bay and burning a few in the process. Burning them only made the stench worse, she held down another compulsion to barf, losing concentration means losing control of the fire. She cannot risk Connor’s safety

The captain moves his aim where she did not wall off with fire and shot more of his bullets. He chucks what looks like a few bottles filled with conspicuous liquid. Once it lands on the ground a dust plume explodes from the contents.

Anything and everything that went through it collapses in a convulsing heap. He backs close enough to touch her, cocking his father's rifle. "Keep moving forward!"

Rhea did not question him; she drops the firewall and sprints onward into the foliage. Even now, the leaves lick her skin with the dew it collects. Her hot skin burns it away. Her hands burn anything that looked wrong or even in the way. She kept in mind Connor is just behind her so made sure he didn’t have to dodge her flames.

Too much is going on in the fraction of seconds, her skin pimples at the powerful burst of mana that she felt behind them. Briefly guessing that Azar is handling his own share of these monsters.

Right ahead, she can hear the Krax Horn again drawing more of those things in and giving away the perpetrator's location. No, it is out of the way. They need to get to the ruins at least. Chances are that is the safest spot and based on how these creatures avoid her flames heat they don’t like heat. The Lost City of Jarg is the gaping maw of Erathea, filled with Manuk’s blood. This makes it the hottest point of the Jungle.

It was some time before they made it to another clearing and in the far distance, she could make out the outline of the ruins. This clearing is huge compared to the last one. Due to being near an active volcano, the grass here is short and blackened compared to the others, and the trees keep a wide girth of distance to these ruins.

From where they stood, they were about two miles away, her body aches at the thought of running anymore. Lacking any food and expelling so much mana has weakened her endurance. But running is all they must if they want to survive and that is enough to pump more adrenaline in her legs.

It isn’t the first time she ran like this without any food in her stomach. Yet she is struggling more than usual, have I become so weak since I joined the crew? No…something else feels wrong.

Now with the big birth of the clearing she felt more confident to release her fire as aggressively as she wants without hitting Connor.

Running backwards, she can make out the hoard pouring out the forest line and charging after them. They aren’t as fast, but they do not tire either, eventually they won’t be able to keep their distance forever.

She slows her pace to match with Connor and unleashed a wave of fire towards the sickly hoard.

Her attention on the horde swung her around bringing on a new wave of fire each time. Pushing the freaks back more and more but slowing her pace. She cannot run and push them back at the same time, not when she felt so wrong.

Connor must have sensed her issues since he grabs her attention by pulling on the scruff of her cloak. His eyes intense as if he dared her to defy him.

She grits her teeth but obeys, leaving the trail aflame but those creatures just lope around the blaze. This time she remains right behind him so that she can burn their path bit by bit.

Just when they are in sight of the entrance is when they stop their running. The Lost City of Jarg gapes its crumbled maw and Rhea can feel the very heat of the lava. Her head throbs at the memories again.

Connor stood towards the barreling horde, weathered palm reaching for the next bottle. He held the Caem’s shotgun to keep its muzzle towards the horde. Rhea sidles near him, breathing in the warmth of the sticky air till she composes enough to control the mana in her.

The sound of the horn grew ever louder and closer. Rhea and Connor watch the barreling horde follow the sound, gaining her breath now. This is so odd...it is like they follow the sound.

His face is brimming with all these questions as well. The way he glances her way suggests that he was about to. Instead of asking, her husband must’ve decided to shove them down with that heavy sigh that escapes him. The captain lowers the point of his rifle to the ground. His hand reaches for her face only to stop right on her shoulder, as if the idea of touching her eludes him. "Come we need to barricade ourselves here. I doubt it is the last we will see of them."

She wrinkles her nose at the thought. "Yes...I cannot wait for more of them."

The female hesitates right in front of the entrance, the heat that permeated out of it reminds her about something worse than these monsters. Connor saw the hesitation and ask with more of a demand in his tone, "What now?"

"Lava..." She winces at the acknowledgement of it, dreading this awful day. "I can feel it."

He studies the dark columns of stone, the etching of old calligraphy along the surface. Then he plainly states as if the warning didn’t bother him, "The Lost City of Jarg has been foretold to be an unground one so lava being present does make sense."

"Does not make me feel any less worried." The female Krax glares at him this time, sometimes she speculates if he could ever understand her turmoil at the mere mention of lava. Her skin formed goosebumps along her arms and behind her neck, she hugs herself to hide the shaking. The power of lava is too great for any mana mage to control; some say it is the very blood that Manuk bled over their humankind during the Mage wars. Too hot and strong to ever dry out or harden it forever pools around tunnels and caverns like these.

The very same essence that claimed my life...or did it?

Lost in thought, she did not notice her captain grabbing her by the biceps and kept her from avoiding his gaze. "Since the chieftain, you've been acting worse."

"I…" Rhea opens her mouth to say but quickly snaps it shut. Anything that comes out of her mouth in her vulnerable state will sound insane. What good does it do to stall like this? Connor pierces through her with those eyes of his, as if he could very well see the very circulation of her mana. He isn't going to let her go this time with the way he holds her. The very same copper eyes had a glint of hurt when she did not answer right away.

"So, you don't trust me?"

Mortified by the comment, she stutters while shaking. "I-it is not that. I do not trust myself. I mean my memory of any of this…"

She would have explained further if it weren't for the loud explosion in the distance. The vibration is felt beneath her very feet even where they are, her eyes snap over towards the distance. She can make out the outline of a fiery explosion, she can sense it to be purely mana not lava which eases some of her anxiety.

That changes quickly when a beast barrels into the clearing, a sickly Rheno.

It is quad pedaled, huge with thick armored gray skin. Black beady eyes ooze with yellow goo, its blunt exposed teeth tinted yellow. It sports two spiral black horns on either side of its head, and a ball tip tail. These creatures are powerful and very difficult to kill by normal means, almost making Rhea guess how Braska ever managed to kill one on his own. That thought no longer matter when she studies the beast further….