Shamala knew that the man was an enemy of the shamans. She understood that he previously intended to kill her. She also acknowledged that he had been behind the plan to plunge Iria back into a dark era. Moreover, Shamala also knew that below the terrace of the volcano's interior was scalding magma at temperatures higher than she could imagine.
Even so, and in spite of all this, something in her heart was telling her to go after the Black Dragon Knight. It was something she couldn't ignore.
Fwap!
With little hesitation, Shamala rushed over to the edge of the terrace and sprung forward. Down she began to descend, prepared to plummet countless meters below ground to the hellish sea awaiting her. Again would she be risking her life meaninglessly, just as the Black Dragon Knight had once told her, and just as the Milletian and her teacher were more than likely thinking by then. However, it was too late for the shamaness to possess any regrets. She was set in her resolve.
In her descent, Shamala could feel the heat beaming at her in every direction. The temperature within the volcano was already quite hot; it only continued to steadily increase the more distance she covered in her fall. It was close to suffocating. Even so, given the situation she had thrown herself into, there was no room for worrying about the atmosphere. The shamaness instinctively dedicated her focus to scanning the general area. Any trace of the Black Dragon Knight would be helpful, as it would possibly be the difference between his life and death.
Much farther below her, several large cave rocks that had gotten swept up in the chaos of the battlefield were falling. When they hit the magma shuffling throughout the volcano floor, a crackling sound took over. The rocks were incinerated completely. Coincidentally enough, a burst of humidity swept past Shamala's face at the same moment she noticed. She was forced to squint, but refused to allow it to get the best of her.
The shamaness instead looked over to her left. She caught sight of a nearby piece of terrace that had been freshly scraped. It looked like a few pebbles originating from it had been chucked upon impact. Shamala instantly located the pebbles, then followed the 'trail' they seemed to be heading down. There, within that line of sight, she spotted red. It was the red hair of the man donning heavy armor. He was below her to her left, much farther away, and flailing helplessly. The Black Dragon Knight.
Now, with his exact location known to her, Shamala looked for something below that could be used as a platform to land upon. Varying types of cave drapery were present; they spiraled down from the volcano's ceiling, but nothing more as far as she could tell. Meanwhile, she and the red-haired man were getting closer to the volcanic pool. The magma beneath them bubbled up at the surface before it popped and released a sharp hissing sound.
Shamala felt her body grow cold, contrary to the environment encircling her. For not the first time in her life, she was experiencing the feeling of fear driven by uncertainty. She had not come up with a concrete plan the moment she made her decision to save the man. She feared that she was going to suffer for it.
As the shamaness continued to frantically search the cave for anything to work with, she happened to notice a faint gesture from the armored man beneath her. He extended his arm out in some direction, but then withdrew it powerlessly. Shamala's eyes swiftly darted into the direction the arm had reached for. There, below them and some ways to their right, was a carefully placed rock with a flattened surface, seated just above the magma. At the sight of it, she could feel warmth circulating throughout her body again. She would have to work with it.
Shamala observed her own surroundings once more and with a clearer mind. She noticed a thick stalactite twisting down from the ceiling. It was a bit of a stretch away, but using her axes as an extension of her body, she could probably reach it. Shamala withdrew one of the axes and took a swing at the stalactite. She barely scraped the surface, but confirmed that it was at least solid. She swung at it again, but with both axes this time, and managed to stab into the structure. The action allowed her to skid a little before her fall was halted completely. Then, before she could lose her grip or even dangle, the shamaness swung her body onto the piece of cave drapery, latching her feet onto the surface of it to catch her footing.
The exterior of the rock formation was rough due to its unpolished nature. Still, pushing herself further, the Shamala pulled her body back against the stalactite like a compressed spring, using the axes to hold up her weight. Only a second later - because she knew she was going to need all the time she could get - she released the weapons from their position in the rock and jumped, pushing herself forward and into the direction of the Black Dragon Knight.
Shamala darted across the volcano's lower region, seemingly flying above the volcanic sea. Her line of sight returned to where she had seen the man. The Black Dragon Knight was very close to reaching the magma at the floor and thus closer to meeting an inescapable fate than ever. The shamaness could feel hot beads of sweat trickle down her forehead the more she observed him; the more the driving force from before pushed her closer to him. She needed to successfully pull this off. There would be no other chances.
Ruairi had stopped counting the seconds it would take for him to meet his end. Time seemed to progress slower the closer he was to the volcanic sea awaiting him. The prospect of waiting felt more tortuous than the idea of death itself. With what little breath he had left, he cursed the world he would be leaving. The plot so thoroughly devised by his friend had been foiled. The gods would win again, it seemed. He wouldn't bring back Triona, let alone see her once more. Everything that had been worked for would be meaningless.
At the very least, Ruairi hoped that Tarlach would survive the encounter with Macha.
Please, he thought, closing his eyes.
The heat of the magma was growing nearer. He could no longer sense the battle going on above anymore. The atmosphere of Renes was ruthless, choking all five of his senses. He was certain this was it. After all, he had escaped death several times already. Why would he be spared again?
The magma beneath Ruairi bubbled, crackling and fizzing. It was like hellish laughter welcoming him. With what mental strength he had left, he began to prepare to kiss it. A sudden burst of pain struck his side. With it, he found himself being taken off course and into another direction. It felt as if there was some added weight, or that his own burden from the armor he was wearing was perhaps lightened. Ruairi opened his eyes for a moment to confirm whether he was already dead and just couldn't feel the magma's heat. However, he was instead met with the silhouette of a very familiar physique. To his misfortune he found himself unable to clearly discern who it belonged to. The atmosphere of Renes was catching up to him; he was already dehydrated.
The entity that had collided with him and pushed him into another direction wrapped their arms around his torso. He could actually feel it. They seemed familiar somehow, as if they were a person he encountered on several occasions yet did not exactly know. The realization then finally dawned on him at that moment. It was her.
She had, in fact, collided with him to give him the necessary push in order to reach the flat rock that he once saw much farther away. They both flew over the volcanic sea for a moment. Then, as soon as they hovered just above the rock, his savior withdrew one of her axes and stabbed it into the structure. The both of them together skidded across the surface a little. They only came to a complete stop seconds later.
Ruairi could hear the other release an exasperated sigh as she released her grip from him. He couldn't exactly see her, much less process everything that was happening, but he theorized that the noise she made was a reaction to the temperature radiating from the magma around them. He couldn't tell for sure; his body was starting to feel numb.
After some time passed, Ruairi took a deep breath, then managed to shift his head upwards. He noticed the shamaness crawling closer to him. Slowly, she came to a halt beside him. He was reminded of the moment in which he asked her to lend him some of her power. The situation now was very different, though. He didn't understand her actions.
"Why... did you save me?" Ruairi finally asked. His voice sounded so dry and hoarse.
The shamaness heard him. She tried to relax as best as she could, unsteadily curling her body into a knelt. For what felt like a long minute, she gazed at him with the same unchanging expression on her face. Why she bothered to risk her life to rescue the enemy was a total mystery to Ruairi. Then again, he realized that there were also many other aspects about her that were mysterious to him.
Suddenly, she spoke.
"You're no different."
It was a brief response. However, it was one worthy of consideration. Ruairi's pitiful countenance shifted into that of a puzzled one.
"You're just like me." the shamaness finished.
'You're just like me?' He mentally repeated the line, allowing her words to sink in for a moment. After a bit of thinking, it struck him. The answer she offered him right then was the same one given when she had been held captive in the Hidden Ruins.
He closed his eyes upon the revelation. Back then he had flatly denied it, yet the confidence in her tone had been enough to make him hesitate. Back then, she had even forced him to consider the sightless path he had been walking upon; the loneliness he experienced being unable to return to proper society; and most of all, who he truly was and if things for him were meant to be this way, just with those words.
The realization of it all was most unpleasant, yet… humbling. Her words had been startling, but now, he was beginning to accept them. He could no longer blindly deny her statement as he had long before.
"...Yes. You're… right." Ruairi finally offered back. He opened his eyes again. There was a bit more to his voice that particular time, however the signs of his suffering were still audible. Even so, he tried to lift his back in order to pull himself into a comfortable sitting position.
"...We are almost strangers to the land we currently lie upon…" He coughed. "...met with both fear and malice from its inhabitants. …We're not quite meant to be part of its greater picture to shape whatever future will form from all this… yet we've been swept up in it regardless.
"I feel like you and I understand this... the most."
The shamaness, Ruairi noticed, pursed her lips and returned to her usual silence. She did not respond. However, she did try to help him sit up. He released another cough as she attempted to straighten his back.
"We have to get out of here, grr." she'd state once he was partly upright.
Ruairi stared at the structure separating the two of them from the surrounding molten rock. Upon first glance, it seemed like a flat rock sitting above the magma. However, it was likely to be part of a larger formation that was still intact with the volcano floor. There were signs of it being weathered; it could only hold up for so much longer. The magma shuffling about the region seemed like it was becoming more restless, too.
Ruairi answered the shamaness by shaking his head. "No, you need to get out of here... safely. My time has come; this is the end for me."
Although he could not tell, the shamaness was not satisfied with his response. Her countenance did not show it. Her words, on the other hand, expressed it clearly.
"I cannot let you die here."
"...Why is that?"
Ruairi looked her straight in the eye, and with some hesitance, she began to do the same to him. She answered,
"Something within me… tells me I cannot."
Both voices fell silent. The only audible sound was the environment around them for a good minute. Internally, Ruairi was not sure of a counter statement he could provide. He felt no reason to create unnecessary tension by arguing with the shamaness, in truth. There was just an unexplainable feeling beyond human reason that drove her to follow him… and rescue him from immediate death. Wasn't that enough to allow her the liberty to at least try to free the both of them? It had to be.
Ruairi wanted to… No, he decided he would place his faith in her this time.
Just then, the entirety of Renes began to quaver. Shamala's gaze quickly darted upwards in search of the source. Ruairi attempted to do the same, but with great difficulty. Both were left to assume there was a fierce battle going on above between the Goddess of Destruction and the other inhabitants within the cave. Neither were sure of what the result would be, however they knew it wouldn't be wise to remain where they were.
With swiftness, Shamala rose from her knees and tightened her grasp on Ruairi. She needed to find a means to escape. Surveying the volcano interior once again, she was met with the sight of crevices in the walls and various dripstones meters upon meters away. As far as her physical abilities could manage right then, it would not be possible to make use of the surrounding objects.
The volcano trembled again. The Black Dragon Knight and the shamaness could feel the rock underneath them vibrate. Small cracks began to materialize in the formation as the pressure from their bodies and the impact of the battle above weighed down on it. The supporting structure was finally beginning to give in.
"What choice do we have?" Ruairi asked before he coughed. He could barely move his body quick enough to react to the situation at hand. "...Can you still transform?"
Shamala found herself fighting between keeping both their balances steady and moving away from the cracks spreading across the rock. The tasks both contradicted each other, therefore she could not immediately respond.
"I gave much of my power to you, grrr." she answered, "I do not think I can."
"...Then? There's no point putting yourself through all of this. Just-"
"I will try anyway, grrr. We have no choice." interrupted Shamala. Once more, she faced him, but this time her eyes locked with his. "Can you stand?"
Ruairi held her gaze for a moment. Disbelief reflected from his expression. However, he remembered his own resolve in trusting her to do this. "I will keep myself upright for as long as I can." He began to demonstrate as much.
Shamala released her grasp on him, curling her body into a knelt. With great concentration, she centered on the little power that remained within her. A faint sense gathered within her before being directed to her brain. Building upon this, the sights, sounds, smells, feelings, and tastes she had experienced in the form of a King Black Panther swept through her body. The sensations encircled her only briefly, however it was a sign that she was getting somewhere.
On the other hand, fate seemed to have other plans in mind for her. Shamala could feel one of the cracks spreading at an alarming rate directly beneath her feet. She was still heavily focused on harvesting her power. She needed just a little more time.
Unfortunately, the crack completed its journey across the rock. The formation curved inwards beneath her, forcing the shamaness to break her concentration and lose her footing. She began to slip beneath the newly-formed incline between the divided rocks with an alarmed groan. One foot slid forward, propelling her straight towards the magma.
Below, the magma greeted her with a distorted cackling sound. Humidity began to eat through her. Shamala almost thought she was seeing her own image reflected from the surface of the molten rock.
Ruairi, still upright on one face of the once fully intact rock, was there witnessing Shamala's sudden descent towards the hellish sea. Again would he lose someone that had become important to him… Unless he did something.
Without second thought, he extended a hand to her, making contact with one of her arms. With his weakened strength, he gripped her arm as if his own life depended on it - and because it did. He then pulled Shamala towards him with greater force, bringing her back to his fragment of rock.
As Shamala was safely dragged back, she turned her head to see that Ruairi had indeed caught her.
"Are you… alright?" he then asked. Between keeping his body steady and bringing her back, his body felt even more weakened. In fact, it was finally starting to give in. He slumped, leaning onto her again. She held him, offering a startled nod in response.
"Thank you, grrr." she quietly stated. He slumped further and by then Shamala noticed how heavy his armor was paired with the dual-headed axes at her waist. The remainder of the rock was steady enough for the time being. She knew she needed to take advantage of it while she could.
"Let's not waste anymore time."
The shamaness knelt down once more, feeling their combined weight create another crack in the platform. She wouldn't get another chance; she had to transform. Concentrating once more, she felt a deep resolve to save the red-haired man and escape from Renes. The little power within her then surged, taking over her mind and body completely. The five senses of the King Black Panther felt clear to her. With this, she was able to transform into the beast.
Ruairi felt fur instead of bare skin, straw, and animal hide. With a sigh of exhaustion, he leaned against the large panther's back. His arms instinctively wrapped around her torso. He dragged the rest of himself onto her, lying his head against the back of her neck. He let his legs hang before her own back legs.
As soon as she felt the man climb onto her back, Shamala released a growl. She used her heightened sense of sight to detect the fragment of the rock that had broken off. It was floating just meters away. Furthermore, beyond the fragment was a stalactite that could be used to climb upwards to a larger platform.
Even in the body of the King Black Panther, Shamala tensed. The distance between the two rocks was considerable. It was not impossible to reach the other half, however doing so would require straining her mind and body some more.
The crack in the rock deepened. Shamala grunted. She was going to have to make a leap of faith across the magma.
Shamala sprang forward with as much force as she possibly could. The humidity swept over the both of them as they moved above the hellish sea. Bubbles that formed had popped right beneath them. The sense of anticipation… the difference between life and death… crept up on the man and the panther in between each second of the action taken. Even so, the other half of the rock grew closer… and soon their answer was found when her body hovered just above it. Shamala landed on the other rock successfully.
If she could release a sigh of relief in her panther form, she would have. However, she and the Black Dragon Knight were only partly through their journey. Another leap would be needed to reach the stalactite up ahead. Thankfully, the distance was not as great. Shamala leaped once more, feeling the rock fragment slowly succumb to the magma as she applied greater pressure to it. She then reached out for the awaiting nearby object.
Shamala gripped the stalactite with her claws. She could feel the body on her back wriggle, but otherwise there in one piece. She held her own weight and Ruairi's firmly as she prepared to position herself. Then, as if she were in a tree, she began to climb.
Halfway through the jump, Ruairi had felt himself begin to lose his balance. He hugged the panther's torso tighter, but then found himself slipping the moment its body latched onto the cave drapery. His situation only worsened once she started to climb. With every jerk of the beast's shoulders and push of her back legs, he could feel the strength in his arms weakening. It was growing difficult to keep up with holding up his own weight as she climbed. It wasn't very long until Ruairi felt his arms loosen. In fact, they loosened at a faster pace than he realized. He let go of the panther's body, falling back towards the magma.
Shamala felt the sudden shifting of his weight. In her beast form, she turned her head to see that the red-haired man was no longer holding onto her back. Alarmed, she reached out for him, mouth wide open. Her teeth were eager to catch something from him. She bit down onto some aspect of him, but her reaction was a moment too late. One of his arms sank into the magma below.
The red-haired man released a pained scream as the magma made contact with his arm and ate through him. Shamala reacted wildly and bit down harder on what she now realized was his torso, causing dents in his armor and serious pressure on her own teeth. Still, using the shock from the situation to propel her forward, she ultimately kept up with continuing to carry him.
Shamala could not look at the man's ruined arm. She had to focus on climbing the rest of the way up the stalactite to get them to safety. As his body dangled from her mouth, she could feel his weight cause more pressure on her own teeth.
Finally, she brought them to a point where a steady rock formation seated high above the magma was present. In the distance she could almost make out the battle between the other inhabitants and the Goddess of Destruction. However, her vision was incredibly hazy. Renes' nature was truly beginning to weigh down on her. She would need to recover outside of the humid environment if she wanted a better grasp on her senses.
With the swing of her head, she threw Ruairi over her back. She then began to zip towards the entrance of the cave. Shamala suddenly stopped just before the opening, however. She remembered that the Giants were handling the Cessair outside of it. They would not take the sight of her with the enemy kindly.
Carefully, she placed Ruairi down on the rock formation she had found for them, then canceled her transformation. Several minutes of her time were spent just breathing and regaining a grip on her own senses.
At some point in this, Shamala heard a pained groan. She rubbed her eyes and sat down, looking over to Ruairi to actually assess the damage that had been done to him by the magma.
The sight was horrifying.
What was once a complete, sturdy breastplate had been eaten through almost entirely. What parts were still intact faced heavy dents thanks to the King Black Panther's teeth. Worst of all, his arm… or rather, the area in which he was missing an arm, and where it connected to…
Shamala quickly turned her head and made a noise to indicate her displeasure. After another moment, though, she looked at him again.
She could see that Ruairi was still alive and breathing, but she wasn't sure if he was still conscious. He needed medical attention immediately. Who would treat him, though? He was an enemy of the shamans. The Giants, Elves, and presumably the Uladh humans, too, saw him as a threat. Getting any sort of help for him seemed unlikely.
By then, Shamala felt a strong sense of sorrow take over. She had been able to save him, but at a heavy cost. He was missing an arm, and given his unconscious state, it was possible that his wounds ran much deeper. Unsure of what to do for Ruairi or even herself in that moment, she watched over him with deep sadness. She realized that she could be content if it remained that way a while, at least until the fierce battle in the cave ended.
Suddenly, footsteps came forward. Shamala instinctively raised her head to see who they belonged to, while her mind's fight-or-flight radar began to swing wildly. It was several masked men wearing robes who she instantly recognized as the Cessair. They looked terribly beat, though. Their swords were chipped; their postures were not steady; and although she could not hear breathing, they looked as if they were panting.
The masked men continued to approach. Upon noticing her, they shifted into their generic fighting stances. It looked as if they had just gotten out of them.
Shamala backed away, reaching for her Bipennis that had been knocked off the sides of her waist after she canceled her transformation. Much to her surprise, however, she was not the focus of the masked men. Instead, they circled their Black Dragon Knight with great urgency. They spent a long moment carefully observing his body. As they determined what damage had been done, the robed men seemed to communicate to one another through nods and odd gestures. It was nothing that Shamala could decipher. Her knowledge on the interactions of people was still budding.
As such, Shamala opted to watch the situation, partly in awe. The other part of her was not quite sure of what to do with the Cessair there. She knew that it would be wise to escape. However, she was just as equally curious of what the masked men intended to do with Ruairi.
In that moment, she exhaled, letting out the breath she had been holding since the Cessair arrived. The hand that had only made half the journey to her weapons began to move again, with her slowly reeling the weapons back to herself. She felt like she was finally pulling herself back together.
Meanwhile, the masked men's 'conversation' abruptly came to an end. They each stared back at her, likely coming to their own conclusions about what had happened to the injured man's body. They had never left their battered fighting stances, either, and seemed to be glaring behind the masks. This alarmed Shamala. She was forced to react.
The shamaness swiftly rose to her feet and dismissed her interest in what the robed men intended to do to Ruairi. Instead, she allowed her flight instincts to fully take over. Eyeing the entrance of Renes up ahead, and with what little energy she had left, she made one last dart for it. The world around her felt blurry as she traced the volcano flooring with her bare feet. Moreover, she was feeling very light-headed, which, in turn, only made her dizzy.
Shamala had lost her perception of time completely and didn't know how long it took for her to reach the mouth of the cave. She also did not know whether the masked men attempted to pursue her. What she did know, however, was that she could immediately feel the bright sun beaming against her skin once she escaped the volcano. With it came a different kind of heat; a comfortable one paired with the cool breeze coming in from the ocean. Her vision was starting to fail her. As soon as she hit the beach, she tumbled into the sand, completely immobile.
Shamala registered that seconds were passing. Soon, it became minutes. Then, a series of minutes, even. Recalling her efforts in Renes up until that point, the shamaness finally began to close her eyes.
"Hey, that's Shamala!" a familiar, booming female voice suddenly called out.
Before she knew it, Shamala was being lifted up and that was all she could remember.