The Icy Peaks

As Nagala continued to seize and convulse, the Aschen medic working tirelessly to save her was faltering, with the Diagnostic system finally hooked up, the rapid beeping of her heart would be followed by a long, steady and seemingly never-ending flatline.

The Flatline persisted for a moment, and then a mechanic voice called out.

"Clear contact with patient..."

The Medic turned to Savan and then shouted. "Hands off of her for a moment!"

"Defibrillation in three, two, one..."

The body would suddenly tense up, and then relax, then a second shock followed, and then a third until the heart was beating once more.

"Defibrillation complete, stabilize patient now."

The Medic nodded, and quickly returned to trying to stabilize the Admiral, and affirmed Savan's actions, as fluid began to drain from the intubation that Savan had created, a putrid mix of blood and biofoam, in addition to fluid from the lungs.

It was this sudden lifesaving measure that allowed the Admiral to stop convulsing, and draw in a breath as the biofoam sealed the wound in her lung and it began to inflate.

"Go ahead and remove the tube and let the biofoam seal the wound." The Medic said, as he moved towards the medical pack, and then he withdrew an IV drip with a bag of nanite solution. Once the needle was placed in the arm, the Admiral was placed on a stretcher.

"Now let's move her to the fire and keep her stable. Fortunately both bullets passed right through, so we won't have to dig them out."

He then turned to the other scientist.

"Call for evac, we're done here."

As Jason lowered his gun, Cináed let himself relax to a degree, the tension that he hadn't noticed in his muscles releasing. He seemed almost to shrink from trying to square off with confidence against the angered militiaman back to the shaken youth who had just witnessed a shooting. He avoided Jason's eyes, fearing that he'd managed to incite the ire of yet another of the expedition's informal leaders in the space of ten minutes.

He turned to Adriaan and spoke in a lower, meeker voice, "We should get some rope and tie him up." he said, gesturing to the unconscious Taiyou man. "And get rid of his explosives and weapons."

Acting as told again, the vaennord removed her hands from Nagala’s body. Her body convulsed from the defibrillator, arching as if electricity zipped through her body. A fatigued Savan wiped her forehead with the back her hand, her nose wrinkling as the biofoam smell intensified with her hands near her face. The corner of her mouth pulled a little as the first gasping breath was taken. Blurry eyes watched as the medics swooped in, taking over the job she had deftly executed and carried the Aschen leader away.

The room swam as she glanced around, watching Jason and others square off over the life of their attacker. Sav frowned, looking for words to calm the situation as none paid her any heed despite her help. As the exhaustion crept up on her from the journey and excitement the room went black. Her slender figure fell over. Savan slept the deepest sleep she had known in years.

Several hours passed and twilight had long dwindled away to the darkness of night. With it came a biting chill that swept the mountains, and only the stone walls of the tower and the embers of the hearth provided a measure of comfort during the night. The excitement of earlier left some unable to sleep, but those that could had given over to resting.

The Aschen men were taking turns at watching over Nagala so that one of them was near at hand while the other two could sleep.

The Taiyou soldier had yet to rouse either, and was being watched over by Amethea who it would seem had a remarkable fortitude with remaining wakeful and vigil even during the dead of night. Some might attribute it to the fiery and passionate nature of the woman that left her senses heightened and gifted her a keen ability to resist matters of weariness and fatigue.

Among those still awake was Adriaan who had been lost in thought for the past few hours. His eyes occasionally shifted to where Nagala lay unconscious by the hearth, and finally he rose to his feet with a look of resolve etched upon his angular features. He lay a hand lightly upon Roan's shoulder to rouse him from sleep before he cast his gaze around the room looking for Koneko who was likely still rather miniaturized from the earlier chaos.

After he had used so much primal energy as well as physical energy during the events earlier, Roan had finally laid down to sleep. Roan didn’t know how long he had slept before someone lightly shook him awake. He looked around to see who had woken him up.

“Huh? Adriaan, what is it?” Roan asked sleepily as he caught sight of the avorian.

Pain was all Koneko knew when he opened his eyes, only to tense up when he saw that everything around him was far more larger than him and blinked as he struggled to sit up and growled softly when he had difficulty doing so and looked at himself than his wings and groaned. 'Great. Just what I need. What happened...I reme-" he grew silent as images flickered through his mind and he laid his head down on his paws and closed his eyes.

"Seems as if I am still a pup when it comes to being on my own." he muttered as the pain in his wing eased as it healed. "But how did I get small?" he muttered, ignoring the rumbling of his stomach as his thoughts whirled and twirled, trying to figure out where everything went wrong, as he sighed and tried to rise to his feet and stumbled growling again since he was once again unstable on his feet do to the fact that he had wings and short feet.

Giving a soft grunt he tried to see around the area but everything was to big for him, but his ears did perk up when he heard the voice and moved towards the sound, though it seemed to echo slightly, his form zig zaging as his wings kept trying to flutter and lift him up, yipping slightly when he lost his balance and stumbled over his own feet and fell to the floor.

"Damn stupid paws." he muttered, huffing as he closed his eyes. "Just like before..."

Adriaan nodded his head towards Koneko, indicating to Roan his wishes non-verbally. After all, most of the group was catching some much needed rest, and it wouldn't serve to wake them by creating a racket.

"We need to talk," he told Koneko quietly as he gestured for the stone stairwell that wound its way to the upper floors of the tower.

"Come on, the both of you," he added quietly as he led his way upstairs.

Should the pair follow, Adriaan was leading them to the upper floors of the tower. The rising heat from the hearth down on the ground floor had helped marginally against the cold, but Adriaan was less concerned about heat, and more concerned about privacy. A wooden trapdoor led to the crenelated heights of the tower, and though it left them exposed to the night's elements, it would provide them a measure of privacy.

Roan followed Adriaan without a word up the stairs. He gripped his arms and gritted his teeth from the sudden change in temperature. If there was one thing Roan hated more than being in the cold, it was leaving a warm area for the cold. Roan scowled at Adriaan, hoping that Adriaan had a damn good reason for why this had to be so far away from the warm hearth.

“Why the hell are we up here?” Roan asked irritably. He knew it had something to do with Koneko because of how Adriaan gestured towards the small dragon. However, he was still too tired to fully trust his own interpretation of what Adriaan wanted from him.

A low groan slipped from Koneko as he watched Adrian head up the stairs and followed, struggling partly up the stairs until several minutes later he was out side and he sighed as he enjoyed the feel of the wind as it ruffled through his fur and his wings fluttered, a slight grimace at the ripple of pain, though it was faint. "I have messed up....and I am sorry." he stated, having to raise his voice slightly, for them to hear as he sat down his wings flaring out to keep him from tumbling over backwards.

"I have failed my Grandfather..."he said as he closed his eyes and sighed before shaking his head. "When do you wish for me to return to the Village and then home?" he asked looking up at the male before him, watching both of them with his odd sapphire eyes.

"So you can fix him," Adriaan explained to Roan with a light chuckle.

It wouldn't do to send Koneko off in his current state. Koneko's inquiry sobered his humor up to something more serious though. He didn't much care to send Koneko away, but if he was here when Nagala woke - or worse, died - the Aschen would kill him for what he had done. It would tear the expedition apart, and likely result in more deceased before all was said and done. It was in the interest of all parties, if the point of conflict was simply removed from the vicinity before Nagala regained consciousness.

Didn't much mean he cared to do it though. He certainly had no authority to send Koneko away, but that's why he had chosen to speak to him privately, so that he might understand and make the decision on his own.

"Tonight, before the others wake. If you're still here when the woman regains consciousness, they'll try to kill you for what happened earlier. You need to leave before that happens, or more people are going to die."

Roan gave Adriaan a small nod and started focussing his energy on Koneko. He frowned at the thought of Koneko being sent away, but Adriaan was right about what would happen if he stayed. After he finished focussing his energy, he activated his magic in order to , hopefully, return Koneko to his normal size. He had much more concentration than before so the magic had little effect on his own state this time.

He frowned as he shook his head, a puzzled look crossing his furred face as he thought over what Adrian said, only to leap into the air when the magic washed over him and felt his body resume his natural length and landed on the edge in a sitting position before slowly returning to human form, grimacing at the pain. And sighed as he looked towards Adrian and Roan.

"I do not understand why they would wish to kill me. I was only trying to help, but it seems that not all humans are accepting." he stated as he shook his head and looked towards Adrian and Roan. "Is my gift that horrible, that it would cause them to hate me enough to kill me?" he asked, his puzzlement and innocents evident in his eyes, though his face was devoid of emotion.

He sighed and closed his eyes, as he tipped his head back, the wind fluttering his feathers as they flexed and fluttered behind him. "I understand. I will leave. I do not wish to cause any more problems than I already have. That man's hatred was strong and I do not understand why." he stated as he looked back at them. "But it does not matter. I will state this though, they follow me, they will not survive." he stated as he turned and headed for the doorway, intending to grab is things and begone. "In form Sir Sigurd that I am sorry for causing problems to his expedition."

The remainder of the night passed without event, and come early morning several of the group departed with the intent of radioing for assistance to get a team up into the mountains to have Nagala extracted. The woman was stable, but still in critical condition. She needed medical care of the sort that they couldn't provide her out here.

Something seemed amiss though. For those who had remained behind, the hours seemed to dwindle on from morning to late afternoon. It would be evening soon, and there was no resign of the return of the absent members of their party. Conversely, those that had departed would return to find the small tower gone - as well as the people it had contained within it. Nothing but rock and snow remained, and the picketed beasts of burden.

Having picked up his belongings and slipped out the room through the blanket and into the blowing snow the coldness not bothering him at all since he comes from a much colder place than this. Anger and disbelief was evident on his face as he moved silently through the woods, his ears twitching as his wings fluttered. "I'm sorry Grandfather...seems that I'm not worthy enough of your belief in me let alone in doing what you wanted me to do. Human's are...difficult to understand let alone distrustful of everything." he muttered as he closed his eyes while disappearing into the woods. "I do hope your Gods and Goddess' are with you all." he whispered fading away.

Four men sat in a hoverbus of a sort monitoring the area. With the reports coming from the capital at Wing City of the earth quake these four men were sent to keep watch in the case of an eruption,. which sadly came moments after the report from the city. "Sir, reports from the city just came in on the l;atest earthshake news, its a ten, a solid ten and still getting stronger"

The leader of the foursome simply watched the icy mountains before them, ice was breaking apart and sliding down the sides, steam hissing. Finally a loud crack was heard and visibly seen as ash started spewing forth from the tip of the icy peak itself, the towering mountain spewed ash for miles into the sky. "There!" Said the leader of the group while pointing at the ash. he turned to the radio man "Call in the report, as of zero three hundred hours local Wing City time Ice peak Mountain has begun spewing ash seven miles into the air, surrounding areas must be evac'ed ASAP."

Fingers flew over the radio as the report was sent, a reply came "Observation team stand by, we're getting reports of ash falling in the city not related to the earthquake, whats your current status over ?"

The leader grabbed the radio "This is Observation Team Lead; we have a visual on the ash cloud point of origin, I repeat Ice Peak Mountain is spewing ash...." He broke off as the lava itself blasted upwards like a firetounge "Make that just erupted. I repeat, Ice Peak Mountain has now gone critical, Ice floes are falling from the mountainside in steaming droves. Evac those require!"

"Copy that Observation Team Lead, we're reading volcanic activity at ice Peak Mt. Windcrest is nearby and according to our readings directly in the path of the ice floes, get your asses over there and start evac now, Over."

"Copy that, we're on our way" Getting off the radipo the leader spoke "Get us out of here and over to Windcrest City now!" As the lava erupted into the sky sending ash spewing into the air for miles the hoverbus turned and floored it away as fast as it could move, which was pretty dang fast come to think of it. Ash soon however turned the air into a blizzard like conditions

Along a crack in the earth spewing sulfur a vent from the volcano hissed as a creature rammed his way across the planes with a proper gate. He bled the growing power of earth to fuel his own needs to escape the black storm. The way was an elegant transfer of mind-creatures but Hashim needed a more physical way through the crack in reality allowing access to this world. Amid the sulfur and light frost edged up the side of the volcanic vent then fractured. A detonation of gravitic forces shattered the rocky burnt earth throwing frozen boulders free. A single creature stood atop magma cooled quickly into obsidian as the lava busily melted it from underneath. Heavy boots made crinkling noises as they crushed the volcanic glass glowing yellow underneath.

A noise not of fire or molten rock caught Hashim's attention and curiosity. How interesting perhaps mankind has changed since he'd last seen them. A small gesture cast discern location on the curious noise source. A gossamer book appears out of thin air as Myrkul's almanac came to Hashim. Flowing words and runes over the blank pages indicate direction to the arcane mind. Soft sure footsteps pounded into the earth for good anchor.

Shortly, along the road through the haze of ash a light walked up to the side of the road. A yellow burning light from within armor in the shape of a man. Up the embankment through the blizzard of drifting death Hashism moved closer to the path of the curious moving metal vehicle in the distance. He'd wanted to inspect the curious vehicle and knowing they couldn't see him aimed to make sure it survived.

A creature of artifice he drew a faint pattern of runes in the ash as cones of headlights point his way. He waited patiently a hand aglow with the spell ready to pound his armored hand into the surface etching draconic into the frame protecting the vehicle from fire.

"Sir, Windcrest is not far away but we got problems, the earthquake's strength went up by a lot" Said a man in the observation team, the hoverbus floated a good meter and a half off the ground away from the shaking and a few vents around that boiled with ash spewing into the air around them

"Define a lot."

"Mag ten, since the last report it went up bt I think a half mag but I'm not sure." The leader of the observation team looked out the front window of the hoverbus at the shaking ground, ash choked the sky.

"Mag ten ? Great. That's just what we need. Whats the status of the volcano ?"

"Beyond critical, more like twelve levels beyond danger, oh I dunno there is, danger, critical, redzone, run like fuck, and kaboom, I think we're at kaboom." Said the observer driving the hoverbus

"Great, we got a problem too boss"

"And ?"

"its not just Any volcano, but a super volcano. According to this readout and information, Ice Peak Mountain was a dormant Supervolcano, its caldara alone measuring 7,500 square miles. Been dormant for generations. before the top broke apart it was measiring about 14 Km tall, now its a KM or so shorter without the ice."

"Great, superv9olcano, unnatural earthquake..... " He was cutoff as a warning blasted on their internal alarm. "Alright get word back to HQ, Ice Peak Mt has erupted." As he spoke the ground shook madly and ash spewed into the sky from cracks appearing in the road around them as the Supervolcano fuinally let out one hell of a bang. The energy wash from said boom spread in eight waves. Drowning out the Obersavtion teams voices and for the brieift moment, leaving the four mean stonedeaf for about a moment before the mere motion of slam on the gas was given and the hoverbus shot forwards like a rocket.

The blastwave was massive, it lasted eight seconds before the echo came back just as strong, and it too lasted for eight seconds, six more times the echo came back, each time the echo lasted eight seconds, but each time the echo had lost some of its strength.

Yet that was not the only thing that was a problem

Bits of pure white hot Adamantine, Adamantium, and red hot Shardis rained from the sky like drops of fire in all directions as smoke and ash spewed into the air high into the sky like a nuke had just gone off

Because in a manner of speaking, a nuke indeed had done just that. But it was not a megaton strength nuke either, but a gigaton strength nuke. And Terra could taske such a explosiove of pyrocalstic fury, Terra was a unique planet, it could take it..... If it could take invasions, glassing and otherwise, a volcano, let a lone a super volcano, it could easily take a supervolcano.

But because of them going totally tonedeaf for five minutes, none fo the 4 men within the hoverbus that madew up the observatino transport team were away of the sudden defense runes to protect them and their bus from the sudden flow of lava surely headed for them

A gauntlet hand pounded runes into the side of the vehicle protecting it from the elements of fire at least. The side of the metal observation vehicle furrowed in five ways as powers arcane wrote a spell into the surface. They didn't seem to notice but that suited Hashim just fine. He could find where they fled to. There were certainly more important matters.

Deep beneath one of few remaining creations of the Fallen Emperor and born of the last true Nethril mages ever to walk the planes boiled an unstable monstrous power. Hashim himself was a thing of the monstrous arcane drawn to these places of power. Even here nature awed him where Aetherkind and Demonkind had failed to impress upon Nethril anything but bile. He could feel the fuse running short and the stone bulging beneath him. If he planned to help this place survive for Myrkul he would have to work quickly. In ash that ran red with interred blood from ten thousand mages in Terra's long history Hashim worked the stone splitting it apart through summoning lost souls across the Aether. Bloody bones of dead men attracted to him and helped carve a locus upon which he could work. The blades of the volcano would come soon enough.

Come they did. The whole of a mountain's landscape redesigned through nature's wrath. The thin layer of stone connecting the molten core to its tenuous magma chamber erupted pressure from below hurling a mountain entire into the air. A looming shadow overtook the landscape as a mountainous roar shook the whole of the planet and silenced by nothing. In a single moment every living thing reminded of the thin plates upon which they stood could sink into fiery hell beneath. Hell came not in the dark but in that first silence between echoes where the plume blew out one's ears by its scream and a looming fiery blackness that pushed all clouds away. The black plume of a supervolcano dwarfed all below it as thundering ash poured overhead. Then the first noise came in the pounding through one's feet. Whole hillsides thrown at the earth as if summoned from that black wrath full of molten veins of metal that once gave life and power to the mountain.

In the distance as if racing to demolish the earth before the hillsides arrive a last scream of the dying mountain races with the pressure wave across sundering earth. Metal, ash, fire, heat, and wrath. The pyroclastic flow was a reaper of souls sparing nothing with scalding sharpness of metal blades as all things are sent into eternal fire. Tree trunks exploded into ash then sundered at the hot angled metal pounding through them. All turned to black as even the dirt turned to ash churned up by roiling bubble of pyroclastic flow. As if a corrupting blackness immolating all that came before it the flow bore down on a single creature of its own metal and fire aiming to ensure the survival of mankind. Equally unmoved by noble purpose as the flow itself the two soon would come at odds.

Hashim and the summoned spirits of mages gone by finished the sigil in time to see the encroaching fire rolling down the road like a hungry demon following a tether to soul. It would find this particular soul unpalatable indeed. Hashim stood in the sigil and began with hands raised. As he gathered power his flame turned blue at the sheer animus thrumming in this region.

He chanted in Draconic, ((On this night, I invoke the powers of the Black Storm to protect Mankind from all that would harm them. The eater of all flesh. The drain of minds. The eternal lack of succor. The end of all that is Aetherkind.))

A sacrificial dagger appears in his hand a thing of molten adamant ramming itself into his hand, ((By your own lifeblood I breach the void between realities.))

Plunged into the center of the circle as the pyroclastic flow bore down a single moment lasted longer than it should even for the observers. That feeling at time itself needed to stop to contemplate. A blacker void ripped between worlds at Hashim's own location as a geyser from a single crack into the Black Storm threw up behind them impossibly vacant. The pyroclastic flow pounded into it and was found wanting. As it turned aside the flow the Geyser drained heat from the flow. It slowed but still raged behind the observation team tossing trees and melted boulders beside. However from this side of the mountain the flow moved like a thing bleeding to death. A fountain of negative energy sent to stab at the heart of the volcano. Perhaps to slow it down at least if not to ensure the curious vehicle of Mankind to escape.

Hashim himself derelict inside the fountain was simply not, for a time, serving as a familiar anchor until the Black Storm was either sated or driven away. The former a thing far unlikely.

The explosive fury of the volcano could literally be heard the world over, and denizens of every description took note.

"So, this is how the Ice Lord calls me to action once more," a somewhat familiar voice rumbled from one of the many caves. Out came what seemed to be a gigantic snowman, half again as tall as a man. A series of progressively smaller snowballs formed its lower body, which it used to slither about on the icy terrain. In its massive hands came a roughly hewed broadsword made of ice, the length easily as tall as a man. "A volcano right under me...who would have thought? It is my duty to fight and protect all mortal creatures from the Fire Lord's destructive tendencies...and this certainly qualifies. To battle!"

He seemed to move faster than he would have been able to over dry ground, using his elemental qualities to hasten the charge. Truly, the day of reckoning had come, and from the ashes of one last battle where god and man alike would meet their end, a new world would arise. At least, that's how he saw it. "Should I fall this day, may I fall having battled valiantly. May my deeds be worthy of glory!" The ancient battle prayer was shouted this time, for who knew if he would live to speak it again?

From the north, those with a birds-eye view could see a sudden winter storm approaching to try to choke off the lava flow. It couldn't do much about the burning chunks of adamantium, however, except to make walls of ice to take the blows. This was a common tactic used to hide their numbers and force enemies to go on the defensive...by making the weather their ally.

Arlin Soarge has arrived, coming from The Icy Path.

Arlin Soarge has left the area, heading south towards Collenham Mountains.