Snowhead (Tsuill RP)

Kasumi put a hand on Marcus' shoulder. "It's ok-kay. There's nothing we could have done. But all we c-can do now is continue from h-here...." She spoke sporadically, the cold really getting to her. But she had to tough through it. 

Kasumi came out here to learn to fight those who committed injustice to others. Goht, as supernatural as it was, had done just that. So regardless of where she was, she had to hold her same conviction to fight it as if it were attacking her home. 

She began trudging forward again, but Loft stopped her to give her the flag. It likely wouldn't give TOO much more warmth, but extra layers were extra layers. She took the material, wrapping it around herself. "Th-thank you Loft..." 

Now with an extra layer, Lasumi tried to warm herself up. She cast fire in front of her, hoping that the ground ahead would burn for long enough to get some warmth, but just as quickly as it appeared, the wind took the flame away. "D-dammit..." She muttered. 

The zora then kept leading her Hylian companions up the mountain. After about an hour, a trembling finger pointed up toward the mountain's peak. "There... Th-that's... The t-temple..." If one were to look into Kasumi's eyes now, they would see pain. Or perhaps lack of pain while knowing how much there should be. Kasumi knew once they got into the cave, she could at least make a fire. But could she get there?

"C-come... O...n..." Kasumi took three or four uneasy steps before passing out in the snow. Were she alone, that would have been the end of her.

Marcus walked steadily through the snow. He had left the warriors' bodies behind, both in body and mind. He was concentrated on his goal, making it to Snowhead and ending Goht. His emotions were not running rampant. He was perfectly in control, focused entirely on the present. No thoughts of his sister plagued his mind, no pathetic sadness stung his eyes, and he was not embarrassed over his behavior earlier. Right.

Marcus ground his teeth together. Such an illogical display of emotional drama was beneath him. It may have been standard behavior for a normal person, but he was not normal. He would not-

Something tapped on his shoulder. He looked round, startled out of his useless thoughts. Loft was standing next to him, but he wasn't looking at Marcus. His eyes were focused on Kasumi.

"Fish-lady's not doing so hot," Loft whispered, "and I don't think she'd taste too good cold."

Marcus, ignoring the slightly disturbing implication of his statement, followed Loft's gaze and trained his eyes on their guide. His eyes widened. Loft was right. Something was wrong. Kasumi's steps were delayed and erratic, her form was hunched over, her arms were folded in around herself. Alarm bells were going off on his head, and he rushed over to her.

"Kasumi!" He cried.

"C-come... O-on...." She staggered forwards, then buckled. Her body collapsed, her unseen strings cut as she toppled to the soft ground below.

"Kasumi!" He repeated, dropping down and feeling her pulse. It was there, but it was so weak. He cursed. How could he have let this happen? He was a trained Healer, it was his job to prevent things like this. He had been so wrapped up in himself, caught up in thoughts of his sister, that he had neglected his oath, and now one of his companions was suffering because of it. Because of him.

He leaned down, bending his head over her face. Yes, she was breathing. They needed to get her out of the cold, and warm her up immediately. "Loft, do what I do." He crouched on Kasumi's left side, and Loft mimicked her on the right. Together, they reached under the shoulders and the knees, holding on tightly to each others' wrists. Slowly, they stood from the knees, and they began to walk.

Loft groaned. "Eww... fishy skin, slimy...."

"Concentrate," Marcus snapped, hoisting Kasumi's body further into the air. "Now, where's the Temple?" He looked up, trying to remember where Kasumi had pointed. There, dozens of feet up Snowhead's slope, was a break in the snow. A patch of darkness, a hole in the blanket of endless white.

"Come on," he said, and the two of them carried her as quickly as they could towards the hole. Marcus bent his head down in an awkward attempt to check for breathing. His heart nearly stopped. He couldn't hear or feel anything. He cursed again.

"What?" Loft said.

"She's not breathing," Marcus replied.

"Should we stop?"

Marcus bit his lip, and regretted it when more blood burst from his cracked lips. "No, she won't make it," he decided. "I'm going to have to start healing her now."

He took a deep breath. This was going to be really touchy. This was an on-the-move Healing, which was never easy, but there was something else that made it worse. Something that didn't involve the snowy, mountainous terrain, or the heaviness of their companion. It was Loft's hands. They were gripping Marcus' wrists, and Marcus wasn't even in true hand-to-Kasumi contact. He twisted his fingers, trying to establish some kind of contact. His index finger brushed against Kasumi's skin, and he held it there, ignoring the pain that came from stretching the digit that way.

"Heal," he breathed, and focused on the magic coursing through his body, directing it down his arms, keeping it firmly contained in his own skin, closing off the connection between his and Loft's wrists, denying them access to the boy's body. The magic spun down his hand and into his index finger, and it flowed into Kasumi's body. His aim wasn't perfect. Bits of magic ran into the wrong fingers, fizzling uselessly in the freezing air. Some slipped through his barriers and into Loft, and he could hear Loft's breath hiss as the unexpected magic sped through his hands.

Marcus was beginning to pant. Keep the magic going, he told himself. Keep your concentration. Her core temperature had fallen too low, and her brain was slowly shutting down all organs that weren't it. He had to raise her temperature and kick-start her organs, one by one.

This was hard work, especially since the contact was only held through a stretched index finger. When the task of carrying the individual was added... well, that's when it exits the realm of plausibility and breaks into the realm of fantastical wishing.

All three of them fell to the ground, Kasumi tumbling into the snow. Marcus scurried over to her, placing both hands on her crumpled form. Now, this was more like it. Full contact. His hands burst with light, and he was pouring magic into her. His job was to give her enough of a boost so that they could carry her to the Temple's entrance without worrying about her spirit joining the Goddesses.

He cut off the flow of magic. "Loft, ready?" Loft nodded. The two of them picked her up again, and high-tailed it over to the Temple. The dark blot on the side of the mountain grew into a large, black mouth in the snow, and soon it had swallowed them up. They had rushed past the gaping maw, and they collapsed amidst its teeth. Marcus leaned Kasumi against a broken pillar, fired up his magic with a flick of his wrists, and pressed both glowing hands against her chest.

"Now, Heal!" He grabbed ahold over her core temperature, yanking it back up to a Zora's typical state. He zapped each organ back into use, and sliced and regrew all the damaged skin on Kasumi's body. All of that was metaphorical, of course. Zoras did not have a sliding scale of temperature that could be pushed up to "healthy," and the organs did not have an "on switch" that could be pressed. However, for all intents and purposes, this is what Marcus did.

The glow subsided, his hands dropped from her chest. Her heartbeat had stabilized, and her breathing was deep and slow. Marcus fell back onto his knees, wavered, and collapsed on the ground beside her.

Loft, who had seen similar things several times before, silently pulled the fallen flag over Marcus' sleeping form. He pulled his Red Candle out of his pack, lit it with a thought, and placed it between the Hylian and the Zora.

"I won't draw on you," he said to Marcus, "because my knife's freezing and it'd hurt." He kicked the ground sullenly, and realized that the stone floor had been reduced to semi-solid stone. He smiled, and drew his knife. It was carving time!

Kasumi found herself back in Zora's domain, frozen waterfalls and pools of ice making the Zora's jaw drop. What had happened!? She raced through the streets, seeing the frozen zora, all in the middles of actions. The whole domain had been flash frozen. She saw friends... Loved ones... Acquaintances... All solid and unmoving. That was when she realized something. She bent down, finding something strange on the ice. It... Was bizarre. A thick layer of dust. 

Kasumi's eyes widened as she realized what this meant. Everyone before her was long dead. She saw Triton... Frozen in form, reading a book... Seeing him was too much for Kasumi, and she fell to her knees, crying deeply. 

Before long though... Kasumi's chest began to spread with pain. She clutched her heart, then saw her hand. It was glowing. She stood and looked around, seeing ice become slush, then water. The waterfall cracked and groaned until the water pushed through, refilling all the pools to where they should be. And then Triton moved. 

The Zora snapped awake, still shivering. Marcus was laying next to her with a candle between them, warming her. "W-where are we? What happened?" she asked Loft, who appeared to be etching something on the ground.

Loft didn't look up from his drawing. "Fish-lady died. Marcus brought her back." He rubbed his arm. "Fish-lady heavy."

He slashed a few more lines into the ground, and leaned back. "My Prissy," he said to his knife, "not so stuck-up now, are you? You've had actual work now, you're all toughened up!" Indeed, his once perfect knife, disturbingly, horribly flawless, was now covered in dust and small nicks. He ran a loving finger over them, each one a little personality marker. A bit of soul was shown in each nick, each unique speck of dust.

He glanced at the girl. "I drew butterflies and rainbows," he said happily. "Except," he said sadly, "that there are no butterflies or rainbows to draw." He drew another line in the dirt. "All the unicorns have gone," he said sadly, "the masks are chasing them away." He winked at the Zora. "You know how scary they can be." He spat on the ground, rubbing much of the slashes away. "There won't be much left to draw soon," he said.

He gasped. "Of course!" He said. "I'll draw jell-O! There's always jell-O to draw!" He cut long lines into the ground, and nodded, satisfied. "There," he said, "now there's jell-O."

Loft glared at the fish-lady. "You can't have my jell-O."

Kasumi was shocked to hear what had happened, and she immediately cast a look at the sleeping form beside her. Maybe the info was a bit… off… considering the source, but there had to some truth to it. She was especially worried about his mental health when he stared going on about unicorns and masks and… Jell-O? What was that? Kasumi pondered briefly, looking at Loft’s drawing to maybe give her a clue.

Nope. Random lines. Totally helpful. Whatever, it didn’t matter. She leaned back against the wall, her chest still hurting too much to actively get up yet. Looking back at Marcus, clearly the more stable of the two, she wondered if he’d be up soon. She certainly wanted to let him rest, but they had a mission to do. “Loft… I don’t want your Jell-o. How long was I… er… dead for?”

"Well, it was like this. I told Marcus you'd taste awful cold, then your legs failed, and we tried to carry you up the mountain, but you were too heavy so the snow grabbed us, and then Marcus sorta-healed you (but it wasn't a real heal), and we ran you up to the mountain's mouth, and then he healed you (it was for real this time), and you weren't dead anymore (which is good, I guess), but Marcus was really tired from healing you twice (you're special, most people only need one healing) and he collapsed and I drew ponies and unicorns and rainbows and jell-O and I'm hungry does Fish-lady know where to find food?"

With a worried stare, Kasumi reached into her pack, taking the snack she’d packed for herself earlier. She handed it to him and looked at Marcus once again. At this point she was pretty concerned for her own well-being, given what Loft had said about… her tasting awful cold… Very disturbing…

She needed Marcus awake now, she couldn’t risk a guy getting literal hungry eyes for her. She shook Marcus’ shoulder, sitting just in front of him. “M-Marcus? Are you okay to get going? He’s been…. S-saying things.”

Marcus was not dreaming. Or, rather, there was nothing to dream of. He supposed that he was dreaming, only that there was nothing around him to show it. There was no landscape, no ground, no nothing at all. He wondered whether this was how he slept every night, when he wasn't dreaming, and he simply never remembered in the morning. He wondered whether it should frighten him, that this version of himself would disappear come dawn's light. Marcus decided that it wasn't worth worrying about, and continued to be in the nothing. Then again, the phrase "be in the nothing" lends a visual of a body, floating in a black abyss. This wasn't correct. Marcus supposed that a more accurate phrase would be, "he continued to be the nothing," or, "he continued to be nothing." It was as if his incorporeal essence, his very soul, had floated away into the darkness, leaving his worldly form behind.

Marcus felt suddenly that he rather missed his body. It was strange, but he had never realized just how wonderful it felt to feel, to see, to hear, until he was no longer able to do so. Yes, he conceded, such a feeling was cliched, but wasn't there truth in the classic cliches? Was that not precisely why they were over-used, because of their classic truths? Truths that had lost their power, when gagging became more of a response then stimulated thought.

Marcus wondered whether he ought to wake. He wondered whether, in fact, he was capable of waking. Then he realized that he really didn't want to wake up at all. He hadn't noticed it before, but he realized now that he felt so... heavy. Tired, drained, and heavy. Simply being, just (for want of a better term) 'floating' in nothing, as nothing, felt wonderful. So peaceful, it was a balm to his soul's aches and pains. He didn't want to leave, not yet. Not until the nothing had done its work.

Nothing. Was that really the right word for it? Could nothing indeed help him so much? It could be that the lack of stimuli was relaxing, but Marcus had an idea that true nothing would not have helped him to the extent it did. This was a kind of warm glow, something that soothed and massaged his soul. Perhaps, he thought, he was in the Goddess Farore's hands. There was no way to tell, but this notion comforted him still further. It was bliss, simply being, with energy swirling through him, recharging him. Bliss...

His fingers twitched. What? Fingers? Marcus wondered where that had come from. He had no fingers, he was merely spirit. How were his fingers twitching, if he didn't have any fingers to twitch? It happened again, this time accompanied by the feeling of his shoulder being shook. Everything shimmered, and Marcus' legs felt cold against the stone.

No, Marcus thought, I'm not ready yet. I'm not ready to wake, leave me alone. Farore, come back!

But the warm glow was fading, fading away as the physical stimuli surrounding him being to re-assert themselves upon his mind. A voice was intruding into his mind-space, and Marcus groaned as the last vestiges of the warmth were shook from him.

"Marcus," the voice said, "Are you okay to get going?"

"No," he moaned, "come back."

"He's been," the voice continued shakily, "S-saying things."

Marcus' tired eyes opened. He was sitting on a stone floor, a pillar to his back, and several dozen feet before him the room opened up into howling winds and swirling snow. However, he only saw these things from the corner of his eyes, as the majority of his vision was blocked by the person in front of him.

"Kasumi," he responded tiredly, sitting up straighter, "telling me that Loft's saying strange things is like telling me that a cuckoo clucks."

He stood up, wincing as his sore muscles objected to the movement. He was still so tired... and he felt so... empty. Like something had been sucked from him, draining his insides of light and warmth.

"My magic is gone," he said. "Used up. Don't worry, it'll replenish itself eventually, but for right now... I won't be able to heal any of you. I can still use minor spells- I rested long enough for that. But don't get yourself injured, because I won't be able to help you."

He looked around, rubbing his eyes to clear the sleep from them. Much as he wanted to collapse on the floor and never move again, they had a mission to do. The room was narrow and long, lined with broken pillars, and topped by a black, barely visible expanse of dark rock. At one end of the room lay the mouth of what he supposed should technically be called the cave, opening up into the blizzard outside. At the other end... well, Marcus didn't know what lay at the other end. Their Red Candle didn't penetrate the darkness far enough to see anything. Past their little shelter lay half a dozen feet of clear illumination, then it slowly dimmed, shadowing everything in murky darkness. Eventually, after perhaps two dozen feet, there was nothing to see at all but blackness.

"Well," Marcus said, "let's get going, shall we?"

Kasumi looked deeper into the cave nervously, but once she pulled out her rapier, focusing her will into it, the blade lit up, sending a nice light out. "Yes. Let's start..." 

She shone her sword ahead, coming into a room with a few icy juts coming up. They almost looked like ribs... Kasumi looked to the door ahead, blocked by a few icicles. With a flick of her wrist, a fireball flew forth, getting rid of them. Unfortunately the ice gave way to reveal a massive block that looked like it didn't belong. It was easily ten feet tall, probably a little more.

Unfortunately, the ice breaking also spurred a bunch of spirits to pour from the walls. They dove for Kasumi, who hadn't noticed their presence yet. Upon receiving a bite to the leg (which she hoped wasn't Loft) she whipped around and saw the spirit, joined by many others. "A-ah! Get them off!"

Kasumi's withdrew her blade, and a deep white light shone forth from the steel. It pierced through the darkness beyond them, sending the shadows scurrying away from the rays in panic. "Yes. Let's start..." They began to walk, Kasumi leading the way with her glowing rapier. Marcus glanced left and right, trying to see the sides of the cavern, beyond the broken pillars, but the light didn't reach far enough. To him, walking along the path in their small spotlight, it seemed as if the cavern extended indefinitely to all sides, its depths shrouded in darkness and steeped in mystery. The glow of the open cave mouth slowly shrank to the size of his thumb, and eventually it disappeared all together.

Marcus concentrated on the walk, watching the glowing rapier and hoping that it didn't die into nothingness. While they had their Red and Blue Candles, it was still nice to have a clear, white light to guide their way. The broken pillars stopped suddenly, and the group walked onwards, hesitating only slightly at the unsettling change of scenery. They continued forwards, and Marcus realized with a start that the cavern was narrowing into a bottleneck around them. The light rested on the smooth cavern walls, and they stopped before the conjunction of the two walls. A door stood before them, and Marcus stepped forwards to push it open tentatively.

Inside was a room almost completely covered in snow and ice. The white powder was neatly settled onto the floor, and when they stepped in Marcus' feet sank completely into the snow. Ice cracked against the square room's walls, and opposite them stood another door. Between them and it lay six enormous icicles jutting out from the powdered snow. They extended ten or so feet into the air, and they curled inwards, pointing their deadly tips into the air at an angle.

"Ribs!" Loft cried happily, pointing at the large icicles.

"No, Loft," Marcus said, staring at the far door. They were blocked by five or six small ice structures. Marcus supposed that they looked fragile enough for a simple kick to fell one.

"No, they're ribs," Loft insisted. "These are the ribs, that was the throat, and the mountain-hole was a mouth- the pillars were its teeth!" He stretched his mouth wide open with his fingers, baring his teeth and growling.

"That would be interesting," Marcus said, "but the Hylian body has twenty-four ribs, not six."

Loft crossed his arms. "Who said they were Hylian ribs?"

Kasumi blasted a fireball at the obstructions, saving Marcus from the tedious task of formulating a reply, and the path to the door was cleared. However, not everything was as approving of this act of vandalism as they were. From the icy walls and the snow-covered floor drifted small white balls of translucent vapour, their bright white colouring only interrupted by two dull orange orbs. No, not orbs. Pupil-less eyes.

The spirit-like balls of vapour drifted over to Kasumi with an alarming speed, latching onto her pale pink body and causing her form to blur, as if Marcus was seeing it through a semi-transparent glass. "A-ah!" She said. "Get them off!"

Marcus looked around for Loft, wondering why he wasn't already helping the woman. "Loft?"

"Down here!" A laughing voice replied. Marcus looked down and saw Loft, waving his arms and legs back and forth in the powdery snow. "I'm making a snow-Loft!" He said happily. He hopped up, and very carefully stepped out of his art. Loft's snow angel was surprisingly well done- it had a clear, defined shape, the wings were clearly visible, and Marcus concluded that it was only missing one thing. With his foot, he quickly added two dashes to the head.

"There," Marcus said. "Now it has horns." Loft stuck his tongue out at him, but Marcus waved him away. "Go help Kasumi, devil-man," he said. Loft rolled his eyes and sighed dramatically, then skipped over to Kasumi.

"Hmm," he said, bending down and staring at the white balls of translucent fluff. "What are these, Marcus?"

Marcus shrugged. "Ice spirits of some kind, I suppose."

Loft nodded thoughtfully. "If they're ice spirits, then they should be weak against..." he slung off his pack and pulled out his Red Candle. With a burst of willpower, he ignited the flame and held it close to the white balls. "Fire! Fish-lady'll be fine in no time. Ice spirits be gone and extra crispy Fish-lady!"

Kasumi swung her rapier at the icy spirits, but they were small and somewhat quick. She knew she had to use something else to get them. Loft’s candle seemed to destroy a solid chunk of them, probably half or so, but four still remained. The Zora focused her mind on the red candle, then each of the puffballs. With her targets picked, she let loose her Aquarang, which became enflamed as it went through the candle. This basically made it dissipate each ice wisp as it neared it until all four were gone.

Before her Aquarang, which was now insanely hot, could reach her again, she used the mental control of her weapon to turn it around and plunge it into a snow pile, cooling it. After a few seconds she retrieved her Aquarang, slipping it back up her sleeve. The fact that spirits were no longer nipping at her legs allowed her to focus on the block that she’d uncovered with her spell before. It was big, but certainly looked like it was to be moved. “Hmm… This is kind of big… It’s gonna take more than average strength to move this thing. Help me out here…” She said, pushing at the block to no avail.

Marcus and Loft leaned against the block, digging their feet into the snow for purchase. The block was large and heavy, but the three of them proved strong enough to move it. It slid back, and they almost lost their footing as it dropped down and thudded into a groove set into the floor. The top of the block was now merged almost seamlessly with the floor, and the path to the door was finally clear. They walked through it, and found themselves in a long rectangular chamber. The bottom stretched down forever, and the empty darkness was coloured only by grey wisps of fog curling through the endless abyss. Being a boy, Loft did the natural thing. He hocked up a great ball of spit and shot it down the chasm. Being an idiot, it didn't come out quite right. It stuck to his mouth, leaving a long trail of spit connecting the main body of the saliva and his lips. Loft spit again, and thankfully the fluid detached itself completely, falling down into the darkness. It grew smaller and smaller, and eventually they lost sight of it completely.

"Try not to fall," Marcus said wryly. At the opposite end of the long, floor-less tunnel lay the top of a staircase, leading down into the depths of Snowhead Mountain. Between them and the door lay nothing but the chasm. There were no platforms, not a single way across. The walls were not sufficiently dotted with handholds, so they couldn't climb across, and Marcus had an idea that jumping down wasn't the greatest idea.

Loft kicked an icicle. The tip broke off and flew forward across the void. "Great, now-"

Crack. The shards of the icicle slammed against the empty air some ten feet away and broke into tiny particles of frozen water that dropped down out of sight.

"What was that?" Marcus asked. "Loft, do that again."

Loft checked the ground for another icicle, and kicked it. Again, the tip spun forwards, and again, it slammed into the empty air.

"There's something there," Marcus said, stooping down and forming a snowball, "something invisible."

He hurled it at the spot, and the bits of snow stuck to the invisible object. To their eyes, it seemed almost like the powdery white stuff was floating in midair, almost like a sliding, white sheet.

"Could it be a platform?" Marcus said. "Kasumi, what do you think?"

Kasumi also almost fell when they pushed the block as well, but her natural agility made her able to quickly stick out a leg and catch herself while only going down onto one knee. Upon bringing herself up, Kasumi saw the empty room before them. The walls smooth and blank, and the floor non-existent. The actress’ first thought was that there must be something here... a switch, maybe a target she had to hit... But nothing. When Loft kicked the icicle though, it all snapped into place. “I’d say it’s a platform... only problem is, do we know it’s straight?”

She stepped forward, drawing her aquarang. “I can check with this.” Throwing the projectile, she mentally controlled it to hit the platform in front of her and graze the ground, showing that while invisible, it was indeed solid. She cautiously put a foot out, stepping down and now floating in midair. It was awkward to see an illusion like this... It was the kind of thing Triton would have liked to see.

“Alright, follow my exact path and nobody like... push eachother or anything.” She walked forward cautiously, throwing her weapon ahead ever few seconds. It was a slow approach, but hopefully it’d work.

Marcus followed Kasumi up as Loft protested. Ignoring his claims that he would never do such a thing, Marcus concentrated on following Kasumi's footsteps. It was very strange, walking on nothing. If he closed his eyes, he could feel no difference between this and normal turf, however his eyes were sending the extremely convincing message to his brain that there was absolutely nothing separating him from falling to his extremely painful death. As a person who trusted his own senses to relay valuable data for processing, the illusion was very disconcerting for Marcus. He did his best not to dwell on it, however, and instead focused on Kasumi.

He had hoped that the pathway would be a direct bridge towards the stairwell opposite the chasm, however the dungeon designers clearly had clearly not been satisfied with anything so simple. Instead of a straightforward connection, the invisible walkway curved and twisted through the empty air, and Marcus had to continually check the path with his feet to ensure that he would not fall into nothingness. There were several times when Marcus had over-stepped the path and nearly toppled into the abyss, but thankfully each time his companions saved him from death. He was thankful that Kasumi had her Aquarang. It may have been slow going, but it was much safer than using her foot or even her rapier. This way, she couldn't use too much force and be lost to the darkness.

Curving was the least difficult aspect of the path they had to deal with. The narrow walkway had a tendency to end abruptly, then start again five feet away in any direction, horizontal or vertical. It took careful manoeuvring of the Aquarang on Kasumi's part to determine exactly where the path picked up, and it was difficult, especially in the pi/4 angle differences, to reach the next area safely. It took some time, but they managed it. Eventually, the party reached the comfort and safety of the visible cliff-face by the stairwell. Marcus sat on the rocks, relaxing against the visible solidity of the floor.

The stairwell began twenty feet away from the edge of the cliff, and spiralled down into the depths of the mountain. The stairs had no railing, and Marcus resigned himself to another death-defying trip over an endless void. They walked down the stairs for some minutes, and gradually there shone a light quite separate from the cold luminescence originating from Kasumi's weapon. A red glow, hot and sinister, grew from the depths of the dark mountain as they walked nearer to it. As it became more pronounced, Marcus noted that the temperature was being steadily raised, as if the glow and the heat were interrelated. His suspicions were confirmed when they reached the bottom of the spiralling stairwell.

"Lava-town," Loft said, turning to get a better look at the semi-molten rock surrounding them. They were standing at the base of the stairwell on a small peninsula of stone. Marcus frowned, and reminded Loft that lava was the term used for magma once it had reached the surface world. This was magma, not lava. They were surrounded by magma, and yet they weren't burning to a crisp. This didn't make sense at all. Most magmas were in the range of 700 to 1300 degrees Celsius, and yet all they were experiencing was the equivalent of a nice day in the Tantari Desert. Uncomfortable, but hardly deadly.

Marcus walked to the edge of the platform, noticing that the temperature did not change as he neared the the magma. He pointed at spiralling runes carved into the black stone. "There. That's why we're not deep-fried adventurers right now. Make sure you stay within their protection- anything outside the barrier will be destroyed."

The isthmus of the stone peninsula was about the same width as the pathway from earlier. Plenty of room for a single-file march. Again, Kasumi went first, with Marcus following close behind. Loft, who served as the caboose, smacked his lips loudly. He wondered aloud whether Kasumi's pink skin would turn nice and golden-crispy from the heat, and Marcus stomped on his foot. He reminded Loft that they were not eating Kasumi, and he assured the Zora that Loft was just messing with her head.

Kasumi walked out front, but still turned to ensure her teammates didn’t fall. A few times she’d just barely caught Marcus from falling into the abyss. When they finally reached the end with the staircase, the zora shed her cloak, it now being far too hot for it. And then the lava. Or magma, whatever. “Oh, I love logic. Magma pools in a frozen over mountain.” Yet again, as per the usual the very next thing from Loft’s mouth scared the hell out of her.

She stopped walking, ignoring the runes and the tunnels and this whole crazy thing for now. She glared at the two boys. “Marcus, enough from you. I want to hear it from him. He’s got to show he realizes that, because he’s really starting to worry me and he hasn’t admitted it won’t happen once yet.” She looked fairly angry, but it was more of a cover for scared.

Loft's head tilted slightly to the side as he looked at the pink Zora lady. Well, not really at her. What he was really looking at was a cloud of dancing embers twirling high into the air after being forcibly expelled from the bubbling magma. He pursed his lips, thinking. Would he really eat her? "I dunno," he said. His stomach growled, and he put a hand over it. "I am really hungry."

"I'm sure we can find some edible things farther in," Marcus said.

"No," Loft said. "I could really go for some fish right now."

Marcus chewed his lip. "Loft, does she look particularly tasty right now, as she is?"

Loft looked the Zora lady up and down carefully, examining her form and noting her skin. "No," he said, "raw fish are yucky. We'd need to cook her first."

Marcus swept an arm around grandly at the magma. "This magma is burning at approximately 1000 degrees Celsius. If you put her outside of the runes, she'll be reduced to ash almost immediately. So, if you can't cook her outside the runes, and you can't eat her inside them...."

Loft nodded. "I guess," he said, picking a piece of lint off his tunic and flicking it past the runes. It immediately fizzled and disappeared. "I mean, if I can't make her yummy, I guess I'll have to find something else to eat." His head snapped up, and he smiled radiantly at Marcus. "But, I could just use my Candle and-"

"No," Marcus interrupted quickly, "the flame's not nearly large enough to cook her."

Loft shrugged. "That's okay. We can just cut off some of her arm and cook that. Besides," he said, cutting across Marcus, "you can just zap her with magic, so what's the problem?" He gasped, tugging on Marcus' arm excitedly. "Marcus, it's a never-ending food supply of cooked fish!"

"I don't have any healing magic left," Marcus reminded him wryly. "And besides, Zora skin is much too resilient to be nicely cooked by a Red Candle." In actuality, the flame of a Red Candle is considerably hotter than mundane fire, and Zora skin is barely any tougher than regular fish flesh underneath the scales. But, Loft wasn't to know that.

Loft admitted defeat, and Marcus turned back to Kasumi. "So, in short, there is no reason for you to worry. Loft is quite incapable and unwilling to eat you under present conditions, so you are perfectly safe. Now, can we please continue on?"

Kasumi scoffed, still uncomfortable with the situation. She made a mental note to keep an eye on loft at all times, then turned towards Marcus. “I don’t know why you hang around with someone this crazy.” The Zora then started walking overtop of the stone pathway. At least it wasn’t an invisible pathway over the magma. That would just straight up suck for the three. ‘Oh great...’ Kasumi thought to herself. ‘I’m just giving this place ideas now, aren’t I?’

As she walked over the magma, she looked down at the stuff, noting how this place was so different than she’d expected. To be fair, she’d rather deal with heat than cold, so it was good that this place wasn’t just some big ice cave. When she heard a strange noise above her, Kasumi looked up and saw a few keese, which with a single throw of her Aquarang, she destroyed. “We don’t want those things getting the jump on us, as small as they are.”

Marcus agreed with her. A confrontation on this narrow walkway, where an errant step to either side would mean certain incineration, was best to be avoided. They walked on for a little while longer, and they eventually came to a large circular platform. Nine different walkways shot off like spokes into the beyond, not counting the one they had just used. The question of which way they should go, however, died on Marcus' lips. The sound of screeching metal reverberated through the super-heated air, and they broke into a run to investigate. It came from the walkway directly opposite the one they had come from, and they dashed along it. Thankfully, it wasn't as narrow as the previous walkway, and they were able to make good time.

I don't know why you hang around with someone this crazy. The Zora's words echoed through his mind, despite his attempts to dislodge them. They were like flies buzzing around his skull, flies that he found nearly impossible to ignore. He stomped his feet on the ground, scowling to himself. It wasn't like he chose to stick with Loft; the Goddesses were the ones who kept throwing them together. Yet, as he glanced behind him to make sure that Loft hadn't pursued an ember past the runes' protection and died, he wondered if that was really true. Was that the sole reason that he stayed with Loft? Outside of these missions, they were never together, so it was quite possible for him to blame their strange relationship on the Goddesses. Somehow, though, this reasoning didn't quite sit well with him.

His thoughts were interrupted when they came to a sudden stop. Protruding at least a dozen feet above their heads was a long wall of stone, extending far out into the magma and rounding back out of sight. A flight of steps led them up to its top, into a great stone ring suspended dozens of feet above the surface of the burning rock. The center of the ring was an empty hole, with no railing or obstruction to keep them from falling down into the magma below. Likewise, the outer edge of the ring was completely lacking in safety precautions, and Marcus frowned at the irresponsible design. Any further wonderings were put on hold when he looked across the gap. At the opposite end of the ring stood an enormous mechanical monster. Its spinning gears were showing underneath its transluscent casing, and its bull-like horns waved wildly as it tossed its head back and screeched its horrible call once more.

Marcus instinctively turned back, but he found his way blocked. A shimmering barrier stood between them and the stairwell, keeping them firmly ringed in. He glanced at the floor, and found that a group of runes he hadn't noticed before were shining like little stars. Unfortunately, those same runes did not extend beyond the stairwell's entrance, meaning that they could still fall quite easily into the magma. Of course, they wouldn't feel the magma; they would be dead and ash long before they reached the surface. Who had drawn the runes, and why they hadn't taken the simple precaution of extending them around the entire ring, or indeed around all of the walkways, was rather unimportant at the moment. What was important was the large mechanical bull which had turned and begun to race along the track. It would be maybe ten seconds before the thing was upon them.

"Kasumi," Marcus said, "do something!"

Kasumi looked at Marcus incredulously. “Wh-what?! Me do something to... THAT?!” It was getting closer and closer... “W-well...” She had a split second idea. Maybe if she could knock it off balance... She brought back her arm, throwing her aquarang at it from an angle, hoping it’d strike the neck and knock it into the lava. As most small metal objects do when struck against a larger, heavier ones, it unfortunately just bounced right off and returned to Kasumi, who caught it and looked down at it disappointedly. “..........Well shi- Ah!” She got bowled over, dummied by the charging bull machine thing.

She nearly flew off the edge, but she slid to a stop in time. Goht went right past her, staying on the inside edge of the track, but it was still going around the ring. That still meant it was coming around for more hits. Kasumi struggled to her feet, glaring at the monstrosity. “Well... There’s one bright plan down the drain...”

Marcus watched dismayed as the boomerang glanced harmlessly off of the monster's metal casing. He knew that he couldn't have expected much more. After all, the beast was gigantic, and the boomerang very small. However, he couldn't deny that his hopes that Kasumi would have had a deadly trick up her sleeve, some kind of gizmo or device that would have immediately paralyzed, disabled, or otherwise incapacitated the beast.

Incapacitation... the word stuck in Marcus' head, and he turned it over slowly, searching for its hidden meaning. There was something in that word, he knew it, but whatever it was danced elusively just outside the reaches of his conscious mind, hiding spitefully in the preconscious vault of human consciousness.

The metallic monster Goht veered around the track and pounded towards them again. Loft tugged on his arm, and Marcus barely managed to stumble out of the beast's way. As he did so, he stared at the thing's side, "incapacitation" still ringing through his mind.

Incapacitation. Disable, to deprive of strength or ability, to make unable to perform a certain action. The monsters' side was translucent. Dozens of whirring gears shone bronze in the fiery light of the magma. It looked like a normal beast, only mechanical, except for one thing. Its legs were different. Most animals moved their upper and lower legs, the thighs and the calves working together to achieve movement. Goht's upper legs were completely stationary. It's lower legs were all blurs, moving too quickly to accurately follow with the human eye, but its upper legs seemed to be stuck firmly in place.

Goht sped away, its strange legs pounding furiously against the stone rock. The lower legs couldn't be examined because of their speed, but the lower legs were almost fixed into place. They looked like awkward lumps glued onto the main body of the beast. Its translucent casing, however, told a different story. The gears and thick wires within the upper legs were working furiuosly to keep the lower legs moving at the speeds they were going. Interestingly enough, the wires inside the upper legs narrowed into small focal points (the knees) before funneling out into the blurs that were the lower legs.

The word sang through its mind again... incapacitation. When you can't kill, disable. "Kasumi," Marcus said, running over to her, "go for the knees! The wires that make its legs move so quickly are all bundled there. If you pierce it and sever them, it can't run!"