Julius stepped off the insignificant sailing ship without as much as a thought. Instinct was his driving force right now; but the same hopefully couldn’t be said of whom he was escorting. One Miss Katrina Woods, denizen of the recently discovered Koholint Island. In a surge of seaward exploration, a string of new landmasses had been discovered; almost all of them islands. Much like the one they had just recently docked upon. He walked forward, shuffling through the turgid tufts of grass and dirt. The island was mostly barren, and Julius knew why. The island’s climate closely reflected that of a desert, and it even reminded him of the Tantari Desert in Southern Hyrule. It's so damn hot, Julius thought to himself. He hadn't made the best choice in apparel before embarking on this journey; he still wore his ebony Zora mail, thick and heavy in its construction. It was certainly excellent at not only allowing himself to swim in it, but at retaining heat as well, it seemed. He wanted to remove his helm, and his gauntlets, and his boots, until he wasn't in anything but a loincloth and his socks. His breathing was a little ragged, but he had been through such heat before. He knew he could do it again; but still, perhaps taking off his helmet wasn't such a bad idea . . ? It was no matter to him, however. A stirring under the sands brought his attention back to the most pressing matter at hand: guiding and protecting Miss Woods. He knew she was a somewhat capable magician; though he knew just how tricky some of the uglier foes could be. Though the island was mostly sand and rock, with bits of grass here and there, it seemed to him that there were other creatures on the island. He put his free hand out to his right, as if to stop Katrina. “This isle isn’t as it seems,” he spoke, before placing a hand the hilt of his sword. “Be careful where you tread,” he uttered, drawing his blade and advancing with caution.
Katrina slowly stepped out of the ship, wiping some sweat off her forehead. It was extremely hot, and it felt more like she was on a desert than an island. Her clothes weren't helping much either, as her dress was retainig a lot of heat. She already began having second thoughs, but she knew she couldn't turn back now. She was lost in though until she noticed Julius talking and going on ahead. Katrina walked forward, taking a look around. The island seemed barren, but she could feel that something was not right. She could feel some sort of powerful force. "No, it's probably just the heat." She though to herself. The island was fairly uninteresting: the ground was just some rock and sand with the ocasional grass. What has more interesting, however, was the volcano on the middle of the island, where she noticed a small building in it. Katrina then pointed at it. "What's that building over there?"
Julius looked off in the distance, halfway to the top of the spire that grew from the earth. It looked like a needle made of gray, ashy rock. His eye seemed to snap shut for an instant as he began to leer at the structure. A decrepit, almost delicate looking bridge extended to meet the mouth that fed into the hungry spire from a lofty rock perch. Extending an armored arm beyond himself, he summoned an insignificant, yet still useful creature which fluttered forth from his palm in a veil of darkness that quickly dissipated as it hit the noon sun. A keese, a bat like creature. Considered little more than a nuisance by most everyone, it was enough to fill his inkling of recently emerged power already. As the beast flew forth, it began to circle around his head. It seemed that, for now, it would be taking the place of his usual companion: a small, light green orb of light known by himself, and all the inhabitants of the Kokiri Forest as Lexi. It was short for Lexicon, of course, though as far as Julius had been able to tell she didn’t possess any extraordinary linguistic skills. It didn’t matter at the moment, however. As Julius set his sights on the entrance, he took a step forward, followed by another, and then another. Soon, they approached the base of the looming volcano. The smoke already billowing from it seemed much more intense than it was when they first landed. Thick, foggy clouds obscured his vision as he rounded the slope which lead to the bridge above. The keese flying alongside them noticed the impending threat as soon as Julius did. From above fell three large, slimy forms: ChuChus. Their lengths coated with flame, scorching the rock and soil beneath them, they morphed and extended themselves, their almost snakelike movements sending a shiver down Julius’s spine. He sent a silent command to the bat-like creature, “Stay back,” knowing that their flames would scorch and maim its body worse than an adventurer. As one started to shrink, and then to slowly expand. Having fought many creatures similar to this before, he hustled to Katrina, his shield extended, as it splashed against his shield’s painted iron surface. It stuck there, almost like glue for a moment, heating its surface almost to where it would melt, before he finally managed to shake it off. Quickly, he followed with a slice, but it only seemed to make their situation worse off! One large ChuChu, coated in embers and seeming to be an incarnation of flame itself, split into two equivalently sized ChuChus. If one was about six feet in length, then the two that just split were about three.
