Liren and Hilda, unsurprisingly, were the last to arrive at the small gathering outside the monastery gates. The Lions were surprised to see the pink-haired girl, but no one resisted her presence, all aware of her skill with an axe. Wasting no time, Liren showed the group to the spot where Dmitri had been taken earlier in the day.
"Alright, thanks, Liren," Annette stated, giving the boy a smile. "I can warp you guys to the general area, but it won't be exact. And also, I have no clue what the terrain will be like. Hopefully it's not like, a volcano or something!"
"How could it possibly be at a volcano?" Felix asked with judgement. Annette crossed her arms defensively, throwing the boy a glare.
"Bad guys totally have their secret hideouts in crazy places like volcanos!" she shot back. Felix opened his mouth to retort, but Ingrid jumped in first.
"Would you two focus?! We have to find Dmitri before God knows what happens to him," she commanded, immediately silencing the pair. Sylvain nodded his agreement before scanning across the group.
"Alright, we've got our healer, tracker, dancer…" he stated, pointing at Mercedes, Ashe, and Liren, giving the Lion a special wink. He then pointed at himself with a grin. "And our muscle!"
"Ehem…" Hilda asserted, not pleased with being overlooked. Sylvain rolled his eyes, but gave her her wish.
"And our…'delicate flower'," he added, which seemed to please the Deer as a smile crossed her face. He tossed her an axe that he'd had strapped to his back, then turned to the rest of the students. "You guys hold everything down here. We should be back soon!"
Ingrid nodded her understanding, then pulled Annette to her side. "Alright, enough time has been wasted. Annette, send them on their way!"
The five students going on the mission grouped together as Annette opened her spell book and began an incantation. The girl's orange hair fluttered as magical energy wrapped itself around her and a runic pattern appeared on the ground below the group.
"Gosh Ingrid, don't be in such a hurry to get rid of-" Sylvain began before they were engulfed by the warp. Liren felt his stomach lurch-the same feeling one gets when falling from a great height-as a blinding light overtook his vision. To be honest, he had never been warped before, and he hadn't been sure what to expect. At the same time that he felt like he was falling, it felt as though a vacuum were pulling at him from every direction simultaneously. He tried to take a breath, but the air around him was non-existent. Crap, he should've taken a bigger breath before the process began. Just as he felt himself begin to panic, the sensation ended and he felt solid ground beneath his feet. Well, semi-solid. Liren dropped to his knees, completely woozy from the unexpected side-effects, but he regained his composure after a moment.
"You've gotta be kidding me," came Sylvain's voice from above him. Liren raised his head, a sweltering heat enveloping him, and let out a gasp of shock as he got a look at their surroundings.
"A v-volcano?!" he exclaimed, immediately rising to his feet. From the looks of it, the group had been teleported into the interior of some sort of magma chamber. The slab of stone they now stood on was floating atop a pool of magma that filled the cavern from wall to wall, with similar slabs floating next to theirs. Lava oozed down the walls of the cavern and the heat was overwhelming.
"Well, I guess Annette was right..." Sylvain stated, looking around in disbelief. "It's a good thing she didn't accidentally warp us straight into the lava."
"This...this is insane! And it's way too hot! I didn't wanna break a sweat on this mission, ugh!" Hilda exclaimed, helping to steady Mercedes, who seemed to still be recovering from the warp. Ashe remained silent, his eyes scanning the interior of the cavern as he looked for their next move. Beneath them, the stone slab floated unsteadily upon the lava, rocking them back and forth.
"Everyone move towards the center so you don't accidentally fall off! I don't think there's any coming back from that," Sylvain ordered.
"That's reassuring," Hilda said sarcastically, helping Mercedes to the center of the platform. Fortunately for Liren, his dancing had trained him to be well balanced, and the gentle rocking proved no problem for him. Still, the sheer heat radiating from the lava against his bare skin was painful in itself.
"Ashe...do you see a way out?" asked Mercedes, a strand of her blond hair falling into her face. "At least no one has noticed that we're here yet."
"Mmm, there's an archway over there," the archer stated, pointing to the opposite side of the cavern. Liren had to squint his eyes to make out the shadowy passage that the Lion was speaking of.
"Of course. It's ALL the way across from us," Hilda stated with a groan.
"It's fine! As long as we're careful and take our time, this shouldn't be too hard. It's what's on the other side of the passage that we should be worried about," Sylvain stated. "Now let's go before we get roasted here. Ashe, lead the way!"
The hunter nodded his understanding, then headed to the far side of the platform they stood on, looking at his possible paths. After a moment, he seemed to decide, jumping to another large slab of rock slightly in front of theirs and veering to the left. Liren could feel his heart race as he watched the boy jump over the river of lava. The gap wasn't very large, but any slip ups here would be fatal.
Hilda walked Mercedes towards the edge of the platform and Sylvain held out his hand towards Liren. The dancer knew that the knight wanted to protect him from falling, but he was sure that if it came to it, he'd be the one keeping the red-head balanced. Liren watched as Mercedes made the leap, Ashe grabbing onto her from the other side to help her away from the edge. Hilda, though she looked nervous, jumped over with no trouble as well.
"You go first," Liren ordered as he and Sylvain reached the edge. "I'm a dancer, so balance is kinda my thing. It's best for me to make sure you make it over safely!"
"Psh, this little jump? It's nothing!" Sylvain exclaimed, jumping over the gap with a smirk. Liren narrowed his eyes, worried that the knight wasn't taking the danger seriously. With a sigh, he also leapt over the gap, landing lightly on the other side. The next few jumps were similarly easy, and the group arrived at the center of the cavern unharmed. Ashe pointed at four slabs spread out in front of them that formed a path to the opening.
"We'll take those four since they look pretty stable, then we should be good!" Ashe said with a reassuring smile. Liren had yet to spend any time with Ashe or Mercedes, but from what he'd heard, the two were some of the nicest students in the whole monastery. He was grateful that everyone in this task force was kind-hearted.
"Let me show ya how it's done on this one!" Sylvain exclaimed, jumping to the next platform ahead of the others. Though it had worried him before, Liren had to admit that Sylvain's lightheartedness made the challenge they were facing a bit less daunting. Ashe and Hilda followed across the gap, but as soon as the pink-haired girl landed, a giant crack as loud as thunder filled the air. Hilda almost lost her balance, stepping dangerously backwards towards the edge, but Ashe and Sylvain grabbed the girl's arms and pulled her towards the center. Mercedes, who had covered her ears in fright, looked at Liren beside her with a worried gaze. As soon as the sound disappeared from the cavern, a horrible rumbling began, shaking the lava pool that the group stood upon and causing the platforms to ungulate wildly.
"Get back!" Ashe exclaimed to Liren and Mercedes, who still stood at the edge of the initial platform. The pair fled back to the center of the slab just as the magma rippled, rocking the platforms violently.
"Ah!" Mercedes exclaimed, losing her balance and stumbling backwards. Liren grabbed her hand, but could hardly maintain his own balance, dropping to his knees and pulling the girl down with him. The three on the other slab fared no better, being forced to the ground as well. Liren glanced at the ceiling as he held onto the healer, his eyes widening as he realized the force of the rumbling was causing loose parts of rock to dislodge and fall.
"The ceiling!" he exclaimed to the others, just as a giant piece of rock broke off and plummeted into the rock slab two pieces away from the one Sylvain, Ashe, and Hilda were on. The force of the collision shattered the platform, causing rock and lava to spray out, while also generating a huge ripple. To make things worse, the ripple caused the distance between the two groups' platforms to widen to an un-jumpable distance.
"No!" Sylvain exclaimed, trying to climb towards the edge of his platform before getting pulled back by Ashe.
"Oh no...you guys go on before the path gets crushed!" Liren exclaimed to the others, trying to steady himself.
"We can't just leave you!" Hilda exclaimed, her pink-eyes full of genuine fear. Ashe looked around the cavern rapidly, scanning for any other exits. His green eyes suddenly lit up.
"There! Up there! There's another exit!" he exclaimed, pointing at what looked like a tunnel drilled randomly into the cavern wall halfway between the lava pool and the ceiling of the chamber. Sylvain shook his head, once again trying to climb towards Liren.
"That's way too high! How could they possibly reach that?!" he responded.
"Sylvain! Get to the other side! We'll find a way! And we can't all get toasted here or Dmitri will be trapped for good!" Liren demanded, his eyes pleading with the red head. As more rocks fell, the conditions continued to become increasingly precarious, platforms breaking left and right. Ashe seemed to notice, grabbing Sylvain and Hilda and pulling them to the opposite end of the platform.
"He's right! We have to go or we'll all just get trapped here!" Ashe exclaimed, all but pushing Sylvain to the next platform. He forced Hilda to jump over as well, then followed suit.
"Liren! Mercedes!" Sylvain exclaimed, before yet another rock fell and crushed the platform they'd just been standing on.
"Go! Hurry!" Liren shouted, Mercedes nodding beside him as tears welled in her eyes. As the other three seemed to finally accept their mission and head to solid ground, the dancer turned to the blonde girl.
"We can get out of this!" he stated, trying to calm the girl down. "I have an idea! You know magic, right?"
"I-I do know some spells!" Mercedes replied, trying to regain her composure. Liren pointed at the upper tunnel that Ashe had pointed out.
"Do you think you can use a spell to launch our platform towards that?" he asked. The girl hesitated for a moment and Liren expected her to object, but instead, she nodded her head.
"I can try...but if I miss…" she began. Liren gave her an understanding nod, well aware that it'd be their doom.
"It'll be tricky, but we can do it! I believe in you!"
Mercedes bit her lip, but pushed herself to a kneeling stance. "I'm gonna use Bolganone...it should have enough force to lift us to that point!"
The healer closed her eyes and began casting as the platform continued to ungulate, rocks still falling around them. The girl finished her chant and the lava beneath the platform instantly erupted, shooting the rock into the air. The force was so great that it launched the pair from the platform, sending them hurtling through the air above the lava.
"Holy shit!" Liren could hear Sylvain exclaim from the far side of the chamber, upon seeing what was happening.
Miraculously, Mercedes' aim had an almost perfect trajectory, and the healer was launched directly into the tunnel, landing upon the ledge roughly before rolling to a halt. Liren's fortune was not so great as he collided with the bottom edge of the tunnel, the air getting knocked out of him. He grasped at the rock, but there were no good holds, and he felt himself slipping backwards off the cliff. Refusing to let it end like this, his fingers caught on the edge of the cliff and he managed to hold on as he dangled over the pool of lava below.
"Liren!" Sylvain and Hilda exclaimed in unison, the red-head looking like he was about to throw up.
"Ah! Hold on!" Mercedes exclaimed as she picked herself up from the ground and rushed over. She locked her hands around the boy's wrist and heaved with all her strength. Through a mixture of their strength, Liren was able to make it over the cliff face. The pair collapsed to the ground, heaving from the exertion and nerves.
"I can't believe...that worked…" Liren stated between breaths. "Your aim...is amazing…"
"It was all luck. The Goddess was watching over us," Mercedes replied with a relieved smile.
The dancer mustered his energy and pushed himself to his knees, peeping over the edge and waving to the trio who had made it to the other exit.
"Oh my gosh! Are you guys insane?!" Hilda exclaimed, stamping her foot angrily. Sylvain nodded his agreement and Liren could see that he was genuinely displeased.
"I'm going to make you pay for scaring me like that later, Liren!" he shouted, pointing at the dancer. "You two better not do anything that dumb again before we meet back up!"
Ashe seemed to know that the pair had had no other choice and tried to be sympathetic. "It's okay-they made it, right? Now...let's head out and look for Dmitri. Meet back here in 3 hours, even if we don't find him. We'll have to think of a way to regroup if it comes to that."
"3 hours! Got it!" Mercedes exclaimed, her mood having lifted upon reaching stable ground, though she was still breathless as well.
"And you two be careful! Don't fight unless you absolutely have to. This is honestly the worst way our party could be split...a dancer and a healer stuck together, while all the fighters are down here," Sylvain stated, shaking his head in annoyance.
"We'll be fine! Now let's go find Dmitri! Hilda, I'm depending on you to protect Sylvain for me," Liren exclaimed, giving the knight a grin. He saw the worry in Sylvain's face melt upon seeing his smile, and with that, he and Mercedes turned to head down the tunnel.
Ahh, I'm so inconsistent with updates T_T tysm for following and your nice comments!