Chapter 45 - Volcanic Orc
"Tave? What's going on?"
Tave turned to his right. Lily was awake, sitting up in a panic.
"What happened?" Oriana's voice followed, sharp and unsteady. She was awake too, still dazed, but quickly pushing herself to her feet.
Instinct kicked in. Both women rose despite their lingering dizziness, their bodies already shifting into alert mode. Tave, still breathing heavily, was trying to recover from the desperate sprint, every muscle in his body burning after carrying them both.
Then, they saw it.
The source of the earth-shaking impact finally emerged, just ahead of them.
At first, it looked like nothing more than a massive chunk of volcanic stone, motionless, lifeless. But then, slowly, it shifted. Stone cracked and groaned as the figure began to rise, revealing a massive humanoid form nearly twice the height of a grown man. Lava-glowing veins pulsed faintly beneath the blackened rock skin.
"Can someone explain why we're here? What exactly happened?" Oriana asked, already falling into stance as the tension in the air thickened.
No one answered, not immediately.
Behind them, the forest loomed, filled with crawling vines and death. Turning back meant certain doom for Oriana and Lily. The only way was forward.
"Can anyone tell me what kind of monster that is?" she pressed again.