After Kai returned to the group, he explained the situation to the rest - especially about the exploding magma raining from the sky. Then, he brought Song to the bridge to check the surroundings and the ground.
“What can you sense?” Kai asked.
The tall man was currently resting on his knees with both palms and his left ear placed against the ground. He was occasionally activating his ability to enhance his heartbeat and send the sound through his arms and into the ground.
Song had developed this use of his bondshroom’s ability during their time on the frontier and had developed it into a form of echolocation similar to how Darkwings perceive their surroundings through screeching.
After a moment, he opened his eyes and turned to look at Kai.
“Seems to be clear, old friend. I can’t hear anything breaking under us for at least one league, so even if this rock isn’t connected to other ground beneath, we don’t have to worry about it sinking from our weight.”
Kai listened to his trusted musician. While not the best scout, like Lily, or possessing any precognitive or warning spells like Beri, the man’s sound perception was of a high enough grade that he could entrust the lives of the rest of the team to it.
“Alright.” Kai calmly replied. “Let’s get the others, and we’ll carry on from here.”
Having finished speaking, Kai began to command his water shackles to lift him up.
“Before that–!” Song worriedly interrupted, causing Kai to stop and hover in the air as he turned to look at him.
“I want to check in on you. Now that it's just us.” The kind smile returned to Song’s face as he spoke.
“I’m fine.” Came the short reply.
“Kai. Come down for a second.” Song’s eyes fixed on his friend as if warning that he wouldn’t allow the man to fly off without speaking first.
“Song, really, I’m fine.” A relaxed smile appeared on his face as he began to explain to his friend.
“Yes, I'm a little tired, and the heat isn’t helping, but… I’m okay.”
Song stared at his friend for a few seconds before returning a friendly smile of his own.
“You look like a half-corpse.”
“...”
Unsure of how to respond to his friends' beaming joy at having just insulted his appearance directly to his face, Kai was stunned.
He slowly floated down and landed on the ground.
After taking a deep breath, Kai spoke with a slow and heavy tone.
“I’m worried about if we will make it out of here. We only recently just got Myst back when Lily suddenly joined after the attack.” Kai’s expression suddenly reflected his pent-up worries.
“Next thing, we’re at the bottom of the sea facing a group of Unbound siren’s and forced to retreat, only to be caught in some strong current and thrown into this scorching cave – With no way out, no food, and only a blind direction to possible escape.”
Kai paused for a moment, before a shaking voice asked his oldest friend.
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“What…What if I'm not able to save everyone?”
Song stared at the young leader. Despite having led them into battle against beast tides and bandits and having guided them across two realms… He was still just the young boy he met less than a year ago in Kindom City.
“That’s easy.” Song smiled back.
“You’re not. None of us are. We’re doomed. Horribly, and it will probably get much worse.”
Kai’s face looked at his friend in anticipation of his next words.
“But…?”
“But nothing. Like you said, we're back together. Ask for advice if you’re stuck and get their opinion.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Song turned around and began to play a light beat on his drum as if the heavy tone was never there.
Kai stared at his musical friend for a second before sighing. He never changes…
Turning away from the music, he began to pull himself upwards, his body feeling a bit lighter as he thought about if he should ask Myst for advice.
“Something’s coming.” Song suddenly stopped drumming.
Kai turned around to follow his friend's gaze into the mist. It was still too thick to see anything, but he could feel the change in the air.
Grabbing an ice-pine from his pocket, he prepared to activate the spell instantly if needed.
Du-du-du-da, Du-du-du-da, Du-du-du-da, Du-du-du-da.
Song began to play a fast beat, causing both men to enter a ready and battle-sharp state.
From in front of them, a low and wide silhouette slowly crawled forward. Its legs made quiet clicking noises as they touched the rocky ground. Before it could get close enough to be seen, it stopped.
The next second, it pounced. A shadow launched itself at Song. Kai activated his spell. Song loudly struck his drum.
CHING!
The sound of a crystal bell being struck escaped the beasts back as the spell landed. Kai flew forward to try and see it better as the best turned to him and spat a large ball of molten earth his way.
He barely managed to avoid being hit by flying to the side as a large tail appeared next to him and blasted him away.
“Song!” Kai cried as he lost sight of his ally.
“I’m okay! Came the reply before the sound of aggressive drumming filled the area. Song was enhancing his heartbeat to fill himself with energy - the pugilist's favourite way of preparing himself for charging face-first into danger.
Kai flew back just in time to see the tall man duck under a swinging claw and drive his fist into the back of the creature’s shoulder before backing away quickly.
“Damn, that’s hard,” Song muttered as he shook his now red knuckle.
“Strength?” He asked aloud.
Kai turned to observe their attacker. It was a large lizard with wide proportions, almost as if someone had tried to squish it flat, and it extended outwards to overcompensate.
Its scales were a bright and reflective reddish-brown. The dark grey mist in the reflection gave it a sinister underlayer as if it had two layers of armour, one corporal, and one illusionary.
Kai focused his aether into his eyes and tried to stare at where the creature’s heart should be. Under its skin, he could see a pair of mottled, earth red, scale-shaped clumps of rock – not too dissimilar to the magma that surrounded the rocky island – about the size of an apple each.
“Wild Unwithered, unknown attribute - possibly hot earth? I’ve never seen anything like that before.”
“Then I'll need to hit it hard!” Song laughed aloud as he ran toward the creature's head.
The strange beast turned towards him as its mouth slightly opened and began to glow a mix of orange and red.
“Not on my watch!”
Kai grabbed another ice-pine and threw it just in front of the creature's head. As it left his hand, the aether inside caused it to expand rapidly from a few centimeters into a two-meter-long javelin made of carved ice.
As the javelin struck the ground in front of the flat lizard, it exploded, conjuring a frosty wind that caused the beast to shriek and step back. Its mouth was now closed and no longer glowing.
As soon as Song got close enough, he placed his foot into the ground, twisted his hip, and leant forward as his hand slapped to the top of the creature’s head, producing a thunderous gong sound. His arm erupted into a fountain of blood as the creature's eyes and nose did the same.
By the time Kai reached the pair, the beast had slumped down and collapsed on the ground, dead.
The pair glared at the creature for a few seconds, ready in case it got back up. After a few moments, they calmed down as Song’s heartbeat sounds disappeared.
Glancing between the brains leaking out of the creature's now vacant eye sockets and his friend's mangled forearm, he grimaced.
“Did you have to do that?”
Song threw a brief glance at his limb; the torn muscles had already repositioned themselves, and his shredded skin was rapidly regenerating to cover his exposed muscles and bones. A few seconds later, it would be as if he was never injured.
He threw a wide grin back at his team leader. And pointed with his blood-covered fingers.
“Hey, leader, I found food and drink!”
Kai stared at that annoyingly excited grin…
Well… It did solve one problem... Withholding a large sigh, Kai turned to fly back up and bring their chef first.
