The first thing Ampere takes note of is the victorious sensation of flesh giving way under her hooves. It feels not much different from horse hide, but it is thicker and rougher with its scales.
Oh yeah and it bleeds lava.
After the brief moment of victory, Ampere plummets into searing agony as the molten fire sizzles against her hooves. It eats away at the outer wall and misshapes the well worn angle of her hoof which will make landings harder than even she knows. Blood wells at her toes where the wall is most eaten back, bringing a cry of despair that only intensifies as the magma spills over her coronet band and gnaws at her fetlock region. All the hair dissolved in a wisp of smoke while underneath the skin and muscle cracked and fried, peeling away black and dead or red and raw.
Feathered wings beat the air into submission as Ampere yanked herself away from the bleeding monstrosity, her angle jarred as she had planned on pushing off with her hind hooves, a plan she abandoned the moment her front hooves literally began burning off - no need to risk her rear end as well.
Because of this her escape is not as agile and the flailing head knocks her side, sending her plummeting towards the inflamed ground below. Mercifully she misses the flamethrower the beasts unleashes soon after.
With her wings not in ill repair Ampere cuts through the wind with some tilting and turning of her appendages, allowing her to pull up before she kissed the dirt and ash beneath.
Furiously she climbed back up, higher and higher, but she kept a healthy distance for now, still nursing her wounds and the chaos of nearly falling. A bruise was forming on her side where the beast had struck her; the muscles already had a tightening sensation as they swelled and cells died off. Each stroke of her right wing pulled it taut and sent a new wave of sensation over her nerves, but it was easy to ignore compared to the raging pain in her front hooves. Unlike the 'burn' of electricity that left one feeling numb and cold, the lava made her feel as if the flame still burned. Though her legs were clean of any magma residue it felt as though her traumatized skin recalled the process and replayed it like a cruel memory.
The frenzy of movement and bursts of flame below eventually call Ampere's shaky attention back to the battle, just in time to see Tinek yank free the beast's eye she'd been going for. That seems to serve as a catalyst for the monster's rage as his spine unleashes a foul cloud that Ampere can only assume is not wise to mix with - it seems different from regular fire-smoke. Not willing to get too close to the beast and his blood so soon Ampere nonetheless drops in closer, tilting back and strenuously beating her wings in swift tempo. Sweat beads along her nape and soon forms a lather, the effort to stay aloft while trying to clear the toxic cloud a difficult feat for an animal not of the most aerodynamic design. She aims to roll the cloud off the rear of the animal, knowing many are concentrated around the head and not wanting to inadvertently place more of them in harm. Eventually fatigue forces her to abandon her attempt, bringing her to circle around the monster in what seems a great enough radius to avoid damage.
As she moves she catches blurs of colors that are the others, small and frail, darting around the monster. Some she recognizes and silently roots for, but most she can't be bothered to focus on, save for the smallest of them all.
In the fray the flash of silver (Tinek), green (Suli) and white (Otienu) seize Ampere's heart with terror as she watches such tiny, caged animals be sent to their doom against the behemoth. If she felt insignificant against him what feelings must they harbor?
None Ampere thinks with a sharp dissatisfaction.
They know only the emotion of their bonded, and with all of them fighting the adrenaline and battle intent coursed through the small companions as well. They charged into battle with little say in the matter, their hearts controlled by a cruel and unfair magic that Ampere was still struggling to understand.
In one instance the monster's head connects with the plucky little griffon and Ampere screeches out in dismay. She tosses back her own concerns, the pain of her hooves momentarily forgotten as wings tuck to her side and she looses from the sky like an arrow aimed for the feathered cat. Would she reach Otineu in time to grab her before she splattered on the ground? Ampere could only hope as she flared her wings before her fate was similar, using her back and the angle of her wings as a cradle for the poor creature.
[Ampere is burned on her front hooves to her fetlocks badly by the eye lava. She is knocked and bruised by the head on her left side, nearly falling to the ground, but flies off and away to safety.
She comes in closer and tries to blow away the toxic smoke with a breeze made from her wings, but soon tires. She then bolts to save Otineu as the griffon is knocked by the monster's head.]
.svg/2000px-Google_Chrome_icon_(2011).svg.png){kind=icon}
⇒
[O] [Endless Night] From the heart of the world
