Kin of Jörmungandr

Hirsh was conflicted.

On one hand, the situation was certainly stressful and beyond what any of them had expected. Not only had they never thought the spatial twisting would ever be this dense, but the idea that a creature would take out their breadcrumb trail seemed ludicrous. They were lost hundreds of kilometres beneath the surface. That was an entirely legitimate reason to be grumpy.

On the other hand, Ceph had taken position as their leader. She really needed to get her shit together.

The dohrni had been agitated ever since the death of their teammates. Hirsh understood that. He'd hoped to help her push past the guilt she felt; it was something he knew intimately how difficult it was to push past… even if his own source of guilt hadn't just been perceived.

But Ceph was being intolerable.

They were lost. They had been stumbling through the dark that reflected light like somebody had taken to shattering every mirror in a mirror maze for who knows how long now. And Ceph only made it worse.

"Get up," she grouched. "We've rested long enough. It's time to continue the search."

"Oh, go fuck yourself," Tavi snapped, having long since found himself fed up with Ceph. "You're leading us in circles anyway; what's it matter if we take a few more minutes?"

"As always, you're welcome to go your own way." She gestured to the darkness, as if she didn't know that would be suicide for the volan.

It was the scrunched up face of Tavi as he glanced out into that darkness that finally had Hirsh act. The volan was actually considering it.

"Ceph," he snapped, rising to his feet. "I need to talk to you." When he saw turning her eyes away in a dismissive motion, he wrapped an antler hand around her tentacle. "Now."

His tone left no room for argument.

As he led her away from the three new members, he left a strand of water connecting himself to each.

"I understand you are frustrated, but you need to get a hold of yourself," Hirsh hissed once he believed they were far enough not to be heard. "I know you don't like the idea of new teammates, but as acting leader, you are responsible for them. Do not act like such a child. It is time you got over your grief already. We are all struggling here, and you are only making it worse."

"Oh, I'm making it worse am I?" she snapped. "If we'd listened to me from the start we would have found the snake already. It is close, I know it, so why won't you believe me."

"Because rushing anywhere in these tunnels is nothing if not a recipe for our deaths."

"We've survived this long, haven't we?"

"Only because the creatures hiding around us haven't seen the need to strike at us. What would you do if one of those three were injured?" Hirsh demanded. "Right now, would you abandon them?"

The very fact that she had to think about it crushed Hirsh.

"I really hope you are simply stressed… because if this is what you've become, I cannot work with you again. Even if we escape."

Finally, his words seemed to get through to her. He hated the wounded expression she returned his way, but she he had to be harsh to get the message through.

"Just… give me a little more time. We can find the serpent. I'm sure of it."

It seemed that she was the only one that hadn't realised it had become more of an obsession than an actual goal for herself. She would drive them all to their deaths if he didn't stop it… But with how she looked at him, he couldn't deny her this final chance.

"Be nice to Tavi, and just a short while longer."

She nodded seriously, and he was thankful that she was taking his threat to heart.

He could only hope that she actually gave up when the opportunity to leave arose.

Hirsh had only gone along with her for this long because it was just as likely they would find a way out as achieve her goal by going forward. Retreating had already shown to be less than effective. And they would never accomplish anything by stagnating.

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When they returned to the trio, Hirsh was thankful to find them ready to move. The two volans leapt at him to cling to his antlers, while Albin stood with his weapon casually leaning to the side.

In silence, they all moved on. It was better than the earlier arguing, but Hirsh had hoped she would apologise.

As they walked through the confusing tunnels, Hirsh kept a blade of water ready to fire out at any moment. Thankfully, there hadn't been any beast as dangerous as that glacial ape, but that didn't mean the common creatures weren't a threat of themselves, even without enhancement. They'd already been shown that everything down here had long since adjusted to the spatial distortions.

At once, the two Volans swivelled on his antlers. They stood, and peered into the darkness behind him.

For a few moments, he just let them look and listen, but when neither deigned to speak, he had to ask. "What is it?"

"Don't know," Fay answered curtly, head swivelling.

"I didn't see anything either," Tavi said, his frustration from earlier forgotten. "But I felt my instincts flare at me. Something is watching."

Ceph slowed down at their lead, and was already flicking her eyes over their surroundings. She was unlikely to spot anything the volans couldn't, but it was hardly a waste. Hirsh did the same, and while for a brief instant, he was sure he spotted something blazing red off to his side, he couldn't find it when he looked again.

Probably just one of their lamps being reflected.

"We'll keep an eye out," Ceph said. "But we can't linger only to give it an opportunity."

They returned to a light jog. Only rising to a pace that they could see where their feet would land. Each team-member ran side by side, and yet if not for Hirsh's water bands connecting them, they would lose each other.

Hirsh leapt through another portal which flipped gravity. He groaned at the feeling and tried to get his feet beneath him before he struck the ground again. The spatial distortions that simply changed which way he was walking were fine. It was only these ones that shifted his sense of up and down instantaneously that messed with his head. If his body wasn't so enhanced, he was sure he would have already been sick.

"It's approaching on our right," Tavi said.

"You can see it?" Ceph asked as she reoriented in air without problem.

"No, but I'm pretty sure it's leaking presence. I'm surprised none of you can feel it."

It was as if those words were an invitation. Suddenly Hirsh's mind was ringing danger. The presence was only slight, barely even perceptible to his senses, but it held a power to it that no normal creature could contain.

They would not survive if it caught them.

Hirsh veered away to the left, trying to get as far from the being as possible.

"No," Ceph suddenly shouted. "Go right. It's corralling us."

Hirsh didn't know what made her think that, but now wasn't the time to question her. He simply followed

The action seemed to surprise the beast, as its presence suddenly spiked, almost tripping Hirsh where he ran. Whatever it was that followed them, it was no longer slinking along to their right; it was right behind them.

There was no need for anyone to shout. They all knew they needed to forgo safety and run if they wanted to survive.

And so, when they bound through the next hole in space, and found themselves falling over an ocean of magma, there was nothing they could do. Whatever was chasing them took away their ability to keep at least one of their team grounded in case something like this happened.

Hirsh shot out spears of water into whatever stone he could still see. Most flailed pointlessly through portals he hadn't noticed, but of those few that connected, he flooded with power. It slowed their descent, but a problem arose.

His water ropes were steaming.

Under the intense heat of the endless ocean of magma below, the water he controlled was evaporating quicker than his hyle could replace. Abandoning all but one strand, he tried to reinforce it as they swung to the side. But the tether had been thread through a portal. The water severed. Hirsh had no chance to try again. They were too far from any wall, and it was too hot.

All he could do was wrap his team in a sphere of water and hope for the best.

The spatial distortions still disturbed his sight, but the ocean of magma was truly vast. A stone ceiling hung kilometres above extended as far as his eyes could see. It was truly hard to imagine this was all beneath the feet of of the home he'd lived all his life. What stopped all the rock above from melting away and leaving anyone on the surface without a surface to live?

Only Tavi and Fay would survive this. And without the rest of the team to help them, they wouldn't live long down here either.

A sudden deep, bellowing hiss rang through Hirsh's body. He froze. His water dispersed, no longer able to control it. The presence he'd been feeling for the past few moments amplified to impossible levels and neither he, nor any of his teammates could budge a muscle.

Out of seemingly nowhere, a Titan appeared, shooting through the air faster than they fell. The being was massive, and Hirsh absently noticed the waves it struck through the magma with its presence alone.

It came right for them.

The serpent hissed again, feelings of agitation and annoyance rolled through the powerful noise. But Hirsh swore he felt a tinge of relief hidden within. Likely just his imagination.

They were going to die to an ocean of magma. Now they would die to a Titan. Hirsh wasn't sure if that was better or worse.

…until the serpent slid beneath them, and Hirsh's team crashed into the hard scales.

As he felt control of his limbs come back and scrambled for the edge of a scale to hold on to, Ceph laughed to his side. "I knew we would find you!"

Hirsh looked down on the giant beneath him. There was no way this was the same serpent, right? It hadn't been this big.

"Why are you here?"

The hissed voice was engulfed in a presence so thick that he almost missed that they were actually words, but their meaning made itself known clearly in his mind. Even as his body froze in terror again, he knew the Titan was questioning their presence.

They had found the serpent they were after, but did it care to let them live?