Catch a Falling Star

[MadEmperor]

Grav nodded. "Agreed."

The journey back across was far easier. Not once did the wind threaten to blow them away. Before long, they were once again by Kit's side.

[DragonSong]

"Kit! Kitten!" Kiara bolted to the dragon's side and started shoving at his shoulder, trying to jostle him awake. "C'mon, you great stupid lizard, wake up--"

Kit grumbled, snorted, then came awake with a start, wings flaring. "Volke! Kia--!"

He blinked, looking down a them. Then blinked again. "Am I...still asleep?" He lowered his head to sniff cautiously at them both, lingering on Grav.

Another blink.

"First fires. You--did you do it? You really found it? You're both alright?"

[MadEmperor]

Grav nodded, smirking. "What? Did you think some snobby wizard could get the better of us? Kit, we're fine; I wasn't shot or anything."

Oops. 

He attempted to cover, but he only made it worse. "Shot? Did I say shot? I meant--uhh... he missed."

[DragonSong]

Kit and Kiara gave him equally incredulous looks, if for different reasons, and without thinking their voices echoed down the link: Idiot.

Kiara blinked. "Oh, hey--wait a second, can you still hear that? Er, us?"

Kit snorted. "I'm sorry, can we go back to the whole being shot?"

Kiara winced. "Okay, lots of questions--but maybe we should worry about explanations once we're topside? I wanna get out of this place as quick as possible."

[MadEmperor]

"I heard you both call me an idiot, yes. I just don't feel your emotions anymore. I guess that was a lizard thing." Grav thought aloud.

"And, yes, let's get the hells out of here." He coiled up the rope and nodded.


They found, on their way out, that Volke had somehow killed the lake monster. Also, without the Tear, the fire trap had gone out. These things made getting back to the temple easy.

As they passed the laboratory, Grav looked back. "Hey Kit, do you think we should burn his shit? I think we should burn his shit."

[DragonSong]

The dragon paused, then his lips pulled back in a feral grin that really looked like more of a snarl. "I think you're quite right, my friend," he rumbled, then shifted to usher the two humans closer to the exit, blocking them with the bulk of his body as he reared his head back and exhaled a jet of crackling gold flame from one end of the laboratory to the other.

Kiara found herself grinning almost savagely.

[MadEmperor]

The fire danced in his blue eyes as he watched the lab burn. "If he somehow isn't dead, at least we set him back a laboratory and stole the Tear out from under him."

Something exploded, turning the fire green for a moment. The swordsman stepped back nervously. "Yeah... maaaybe we should get out of here before something bigger explodes."

[DragonSong]

"Good plan," Kiara agreed quickly, while Kit nodded.

"Up you get then," the dragon muttered, nudging first Kiara and then Grav toward his side so they could climb up and settle onto his back. Once everyone was secured, he made his way out through the dragon-accommodation-sized areas of the temple that he'd managed to get through before, finally bringing them out into the main cavern.

Behind them, there were occasionally popping or shattering sounds from deep in the recesses of the temple.

Kiara glanced back, evaluating. "There's not enough fuel down here naturally for that fire to spread far, but...maybe I should try for a barrier, just in case." They didn't want to destroy the crystal lizard's natural cavern, after all.

[MadEmperor]

Grav gave her a concerned look. "Are you sure you're up for that? You're supposed to take it easy on the magic, and that sounds like a big spell."

As if to make a counterpoint, unusually colored smoke began to billow out of the structure. "Right. Alchemy fire. Proceed."

[DragonSong]

"I'll be fine." She was glad he could no longer feel emotion through their mutual connection with Kit—it would be more difficult to tell if she was lying.

As Kit bounded away from the temple, she cast a hand back toward the fire, closing her eyes to feel the flames in her magic, then slowly curled one finger in toward her palm at a time.

A scorched circle slowly drew itself around the temple. As soon as it connected to its origin, she let her magic go, slumping forward with a sharp exhale. "Damn...okay—that should...should do it. Fire won't...go past that line..."

[MadEmperor]

Grav grabbed her so that she didn't fall off of Kit. "If this is fine, I'm afraid to see what you consider not fine."

"I didn't survive just to see you hurt yourself," he chided. "No more magic unless you absolutely have to, okay?"

[DragonSong]

"It's alright," Kiara sighed, voice slurred a bit. She leaned back into him slightly as Kit started climbing back up out of the crevasse that he'd broken through to get down to them. "Just...precision work is...sorta tricky..."

Kit rumbled and glanced back at her, but she was still conscious, and they were almost out. He kept moving.

The sunlight made both Kiara and Kit squint, though the dragon's eyes adjusted much more quickly. "Fires preserve me." He fanned his wings wide and arched his neck up, crooning happily at the warmth. "I missed daylight."

[MadEmperor]

Grav shielded his eyes, but was grinning. "Gods. It feels like we were down there forever."

He did some mental arithmetic and frowned. "Wait. How long were we down there? It should be dark."

[DragonSong]

Kit shook his head with a small snort. "I think it's...morning again."

Kiara frowned. "Either a lack of day-nigh cycle seriously fucked with my sense of time, or...maybe the magic of the Tear messed with time? Or at least our perception of it."

[MadEmperor]

"Or maybe those spores knocked us out for longer than we thought." Grav shrugged. "It would explain why I'm so hungry. So, uh, back to town for some grub? Yes?"

He patted Kit's side. "And we'll tell you everything."

[DragonSong]

"Do we...wanna risk staying in town?" Kiara said hesitantly. The idea of food—and a bed, gods—was so tempting it made her chest ache, but... "If Volke somehow survived all that... I don't know, maybe we should try to get some distance between ourselves and this place."

[MadEmperor]

Grav frowned; he had been afraid that she'd say that. "Damnit. Yeah, you're right." He sighed. "We should at least sell off as much as we can of what we took from the lab. Too much weight to carry a long distance and too much that can break and ruin everything else."

Squinting at her neck, he asked, "Speaking of... has that potion worn off yet?"

[DragonSong]

"Hmm?" She honestly had to take a second to remember what potion he was talking about. Then she reached up to touch her gills—or where the gills had been. They seemed to have sealed over, leaving thin scars along the length of her neck.

"Oh. I guess it has. I can't...feel them anymore, it's not sore like it was." She ran her fingertip along the curve of the scar. "Mmm. They're not opening. Yeah, I guess that was it."

[MadEmperor]

"Good. We're all back to normal," he said, dressed like a noble. "... -ish."

[ Continued Here ]