Fowlhunter [GL]

After the Cockatrice left, Ennanis was alone in the volcano.

Everyone’s been safely evacuated, came Asha’s signal through their communication charm. The girl updated her: that there had been a scuffle between the guards and the Beasts at first, but after Vesuvio’s second announcement, the evacuation had proceeded without issue. The man was probably busy praying to the Agni that the eruption wouldn’t now decimate generations of his precious work.

He had better’ve prayed harder, considering who success was really relying upon here.

The remote to activate the bombs lay in Ennanis’ hand. A tiny device, but loaded with an incredible destructive potential. Well, the tiniest things were always the most dangerous. Now that they on the cusp of setting their plan in motion, it was too easy to chicken out. It was really beginning to sink in how much trust Ennanis was putting in the Cockatrice. In her archenemy. Blowing up a volcano, while a rightfully demanding task on its own, vastly paled in comparison to the feat known as extinguishing it.

Even Jemi had laughed at her about it.

…And yet, Ennanis trusted her.

No one could’ve known why, except for the angel herself. It was simply beyond reason. Beyond understanding. All we knew was that Ennanis Zoleil did trust her, otherwise she would never have agreed to this risk-ridden plan. She would not have been here in the first place. And she definitely would not have done the rest of what we are about to see her do.

“Commander,” rang the glassy voice of a certain Beast in her head. “I’m all set.”

Without blinking, without even wasting a breath, Ennanis pressed the button.

With a zap, a light flickered on, a white burst in the crimson shadows.

Then, in quick succession, a series of other lights flickered on, like how coloured lamps had unfurled upon a lake to the east. But where those had been gentle, still and calm, these lights shimmered with an explosive violence.

KABOOM!

The frames trembled, the glass panes deforming as they bulged outwards.The air filled with the sound of a thousand rattling grates.

Lienna ablaze, Ennanis slammed torrents of Soleki against the barriers. SCHWING SCHWING SCHWING! Still it was not enough, for there were way too many barriers to get through, and they held fast.

It required… a little push more.

Ennanis craned her neck upwards. She gazed up the vertical walls to the red-webbed ceiling. Then she looked down. She sighed.

“Sorry, Jemi,” she muttered under her breath.

A metallic click. And finally, something erupted in the centre of the maelstrom, a blinding firework of gold and fuschia. The final push.

Glass shattered, the frames holding them together splintering apart in the brightness—

And the rest followed.

~~~

It was dawn. An ominous rumbling reverberated through the air, but the sky was clear of lightning or thunder. Everywhere, citizens of Kanch looked up, confused.

Still catching their breaths, Ying, Asha and Lochlan led the children out of the tunnels. The Beasts had transformed back into humanoid forms, so they blended in together with the visitors who had been in the middle of their tours when the announcement happened. A large crowd had thus gathered at the entrance of the mines, which was a fair horizontal distance from the amethyne mining zone, some ten, fifteen kilometres. It wasn’t much, but it was something.

The guards had already rushed on ahead of them, all too eager to get themselves to safety first. There were other mining personnel helping them, though. There was a little man of a supervisor who had been carefully scrutinising the tunnels, doing headcounts to make sure that everyone was accounted for.

“All the upper level personnel have gotten out,” he said. “But I’m afraid I don’t have the numbers on the dust.” He looked sheepish as he said that.

Just then, a little black-haired boy wearing a fluorescent vest and hardhat stood out.

“The dust are all here,” Moru Colton said.

The supervisor looked down at him. Meeting his gaze, he nodded. He wrapped an arm around the little boy, and they both watched the workers fall into lines and rows as they had practised during fire drills. The visitors had been formed into a little block of their own, though some of them were fleeing from out the gates altogether.

Of course, even though everyone had followed directions, few truly had any idea what was going on.

“What’s happening?”

“Did someone say there was going to be an eruption? What eruption? I thought there were no volcanoes in this area?”

At that moment, a girl came stumbling out of the cave entrance.

Pelia, peachy-red hair struck in a terrifically messed-up ponytail, joined the group. She was flanked by guards.

“Pelia Vesuvio!” everyone gasped.

“Just Pelia,” she murmured, but no one heard her. Squinting through the masses of people gathered, emerald eyes glittered. Her head whipped in a particular direction. With quick steps, she raced ahead of her entourage, diving headfirst into the crowd. She elbowed and shoved her way through, and people on all sides of her parted for her. At last, she found who she was looking for.

“Pelia?” the girl with long, soot-black hair caught Pelia in her arms. Capri hugged her to herself. “Oh, I’m so glad you’re safe.”

“We’re not out of the woods yet. And, you have no idea,” Pelia snarked into the other girl’s fluorescent-vested shoulder, “the week I’ve just had. Because of you. Better start counting your blessings.”

Capri fanned her lightly. “Tell me about it.”

Before Pelia could say anything, though, a shadow fell over them.

The sky had turned suddenly dark. Rather, a thick blanket of clouds had covered the sky. Upon a closer look, a mushroom-cloud of dust and debris was escaping from the peak of Amethyne Mountain, smothering the incoming sunlight.

And then, a column of fire erupted from the peak.

Although no one could see it from this distance, a bird was outflying the explosion behind it.

No—not a bird.

Ennanis Zoleil rose on rapidly-flapping wings. Gold light wrapped around the angel’s form like a brilliant cocoon, fighting against the fire roaring all around her.

She wasn’t the only one flying in the explosion. With a long howl, a wraithlike creature emerged from the freshly-created volcanic mouth. As it connected with the atmospheric air, its interminable, curling body instantly turned to steam. It looped around once in the air, then raced away into the western sky, disappearing into the dark ash. The Kraken had made its successful escape.

The problem now was the rest of the lava. Ennanis’ wings blurred as she flew from one end of the volcanic mouth to the other, shining bands of light following her outstretched hands. The dawn’s light fell upon her and flowed to her command, but even with how high above she was in the stratosphere, the light was rapidly becoming blocked out by the clouds.

Still, the angel was not one to give up. After all, prominently, her right armbrace was undone, this time folded to a flat piece, dangling from her belt. The exposed line of her right wrist glowed with an incessant heat, almost as bright as the volcano, casting a warm glow over the smoggen clouds overhead. Flames of Soleki continued to rush from her hands. As more and more bands of golden light showered down around the volcano’s rim, it slowly became clearer what she was trying to do.

With a raise of her hand, the bands converged at the top. The rays of light had formed a sort of huge, woven cage around the volcano. From where the onlookers watched, it looked like a massive, inverted golden lotus had bloomed atop the volcano. The lava spewing from the top of the volcano became condensed within the borders of the lotus, though it pulsed and bulged as it struggled to spray out. When Ennanis lowered her hand, the tips of the shimmering petals flattened themselves against the incline of Amethyne Mountain, halting the descending lava in its tracks.

This awesome feat did not come at a light cost. Ennanis’ face was twisted in a grimace of exertion, her body trembling and shivering. Sweat poured down her neck, and yet she had to keep herself aloft on her wings to maintain her grip on both the top and bottom halves of the ‘lotus’. She was buying time, but her control would not last for much longer. Desperately, she glanced downwards, awaiting her ally’s move.

She didn’t have to wait long. She felt it before she saw it.

Pitter patter patter…

Water trickled across her shoulders. A cool drizzle of rain, in the midst of infernal heat.

Up above, shadows flashed across the sky, a symphony of screeches and flapping wings.

Awestruck, Ennanis looked up.

~~~