Chapter 4: Eruption

I saw ahead of me a wholly alien landscape. Black rock covered the ground, folded and twisted like solid tar. Beyond that, the surface changed to barren stone, then a rocky scree sloping upward to a defined top edge.

A rumbling boom sounded behind me, shaking the ground, and was followed by an odd splashing sound. Chunks of something solid rained down, several small weights bouncing off my head. The liquid I was in picked up momentum a moment later and I almost lost my grip on the edge. Somehow, I was able dig my fingers into the rock and I held on.

In a panic, I managed to free my other hand and grab on, pulling myself forward. With the top of my body freed, I needed to move my arms forward, but I didn’t dare let go. My legs couldn’t find purchase in the mire and I hesitated.

A louder boom sounded out from behind me and the whole area shook again, violently. This time, I moved without thinking. Another pair of arms grabbed the rock by my waist and heaved while I continued to drag myself out with the upper pair. I barely even registered having more arms than I thought I ought to. Once I pulled my legs free, I stood up into a half crouch and made it several steps on the uneven, twisted ground before tripping.

I fell ungracefully in a heap and rolled off the edge of the black rock and into a small divot at the base of the scree. Behind me another boom sounded. A glance behind me revealed a sight that I had never imagined I would see: I was in a large, rocky crater. A plume of molten rock shot several meters into the air, feeding the river of lava I’d just crawled out of. Said river was rapidly overflowing its banks and spilling over toward me.

I scrambled up the scree on unfamiliar limbs, flecks of drying stone crumbling off my body. A weight behind me swung side to side and nearly toppled me until I seemed to find a rhythm. In a matter of seconds, I heaved myself up to the rim of the crater. I couldn’t help but gasp at the sight before me.

The ocean. As a child, I’d always wanted to go, but Edath is far from the sea. Abby and I had always talked about going someday, even though both of us didn’t think it would actually happen. And now, under a clear starry sky, the ocean lay spread out below me like a deep blue tapestry. Down and ahead, the rocky mountainside gave way to a strip of jungle sloping down to a coastline that curved away to either side behind me.

Uncaring of the eruption and of my alien physique, I gazed out over the view and wept. I wept for the lives Abby and I had lost, for our families, and for my community. Clearly, I wasn’t human anymore, but at the moment I didn’t want to face that fact. I had to go on. I told Abby as much and if she were still around, she’d give me hell if I just gave up. After I composed myself, I stood up. Still not daring to look at what I’d become, I at least let myself look at the view in front of me.

My eyes seemed better able to pick up detail than ever before. Even by the pale light of the moon, I had no difficulty seeing leaves on trees a hundred meters out, although beyond that the detail grew indistinct. The air was warm, perhaps unseasonably depending on how long it had been since I… died. That was something I didn’t know and couldn’t find out until I met someone who could tell me. For now, I filed that as a problem for future Zarenna to deal with.

A warm climate meant I had to be somewhere far to the north of Linthel. The Empire of Ordia was massive, but I didn’t think any of it looked like this. I’d heard of volcanoes, but the only ones I knew of were in the wildlands south of Edath.

Another boom came from behind, weaker this time as the eruption seemed to be winding down. At least I hoped. I needed to know if I was on an island like the coastline suggested, and walking the crater would potentially be an easy way to find out. Or an easy way to get caught up in an eruption if the mountain blew its top.

Somehow, I wasn’t burned by the heat, but I was quite certain I needed to breathe and I could easily end up entombed. I also doubted I could survive a blast or a big rock crushing me. Carefully, I made my way around the rim of the crater. Still trying not to think about what my body currently looked like, I could nevertheless feel two pairs of arms at my sides and a big tail swinging behind me.

When I drew closer to the side of the crater where the lava flowed out, I could see a familiar orange glow from the jungle below. The river of lava spread out across the landscape, torching and burying the jungle in equal measure. However, the fire seemed unable to spread much beyond the heat of the molten rock. Unfortunately, I could make out the faintly glittering ocean through the smoke, and it confirmed something that made my heart sink.

Ocean surrounded me. I was on an island.

To one direction, the narrow arm of a peninsula jutted out, encircling a bay. A large rock stood at the end of the spit with several seamounts beyond it arcing out into the abyss; perhaps the remains of another island. The flat land on the peninsula and the bay surrounding it would be where I found people, if anyone lived here at all. Thankfully, the eruption flowed down the other side of the mountain.

I walked back to the side of the crater facing away from the lava flow and began my descent, the last bits of cooled rock crumbling away from my skin and hair. I reached a relatively flat and sturdy spot at the edge of where plant life dared to grow and finally worked up the courage to inspect myself.

Obviously, I was naked. I could already feel as much, plus I came out of a volcano, so no surprises there. Looking down, however, was a surprise: breasts. My own. I didn’t have any way to gauge size, but they seemed just about right for what I’d dreamed of; more than noticeable, but hopefully not going to get in the way too much. Despite a situation otherwise out of a nightmare, my traitorous heart did a little flip at the sight. That same feeling meant that the next thing I did was check my crotch with a hand. Nothing dangled; my hand brushed feminine parts, and I felt I smooth skin. No hair either. In fact, looking at my arms and legs, I didn’t have hair anywhere outside my head.

Above my breasts on my sternum was what seemed to be a tattoo. It nearly matched the necklace: a six-pointed starburst with a swirling vortex at the center. The marking was jet black with sharply defined edges. Placing a hand on the symbol, I felt at ease.

At this point, while looking at my hand and trying to figure out what was off, I registered that my skin was crimson. Sharp black nails tipped each finger. My arms themselves were toned with moderately visible muscle. All four of them. I took a moment and moved them about: my hands and arms were nearly identical, with one pair situated under the shoulders of the other. I tried holding all my arms to my sides, and even with the narrower shoulders of the lower pair, I had to roll one set of shoulders a bit forward and the other back so the pairs could lie one in front of the other along my sides. It felt oddly natural to do.

Bending forward and peeking between my breasts and their black nipples, I saw my toned midsection and the slight flare of my hips. My legs looked and felt strong, ending thankfully in normal feet, albeit with sharp claw-like nails similar to my hands. Turning around, I could see a large muscular tail swaying behind me. It had to be nearly as thick as my thigh at the base and tapered to a spaded tip. It was probably nearly as long as I was tall. Speaking of height, I didn’t feel any shorter, perhaps even a little taller, but it would be difficult to tell unless I found something to measure against.

This was all so odd, from the tip of my tail, to my crimson skin, to my claws, to my…shit. I’m a demon. Definitely a textbook, or nearly textbook, demon. I reached up to feel my face with my hands. To my immense relief it felt human as I would expect. I did, however, have horns. Not small ones either. They sprouted out of my temples, and swept back along the sides of my head coming to points a hand’s length above the back of my skull. My long black hair was a mess; full of bits of rock and ash. I felt short pointed ears pushing into it as I shook it out.

I should have been shocked. I should have freaked out. But while I was far from alright at the moment, my body was not one of my concerns. I felt hale and comfortable. The rocks didn’t bother my feet and I didn’t feel scratched or bruised from my tumble earlier. In my head, I was still Zarenna. I felt no strange urges. What would demonic urges even be like? It’s not like I’ve met a demon. Aren’t they supposed to be insane or at the very least destructive and malicious?

I definitely needed answers, so I tried to get my thoughts in order.

How am I a demon anyway? I’m still me! On top of figuring that out, I need food, water, and shelter. If there are people here, I need to find them—the island’s not too big to check around.

I don’t know where on Varra I am, either. If I could find out, I’d maybe be able to know how likely it’d be for a ship to pass close enough for me to signal them and get rescued. Once I see where the sun rises, I’ll know a direction to look.

Still thinking about what I needed to do to survive, I descended into the jungle in the direction of the peninsula. The flora closed around me and the light from the moon failed to reach through the canopy, but I could still see quite well, albeit without much color. Even though the undergrowth was dense, I had no difficulty pushing through. I slashed through tangled branches with my claws; an action that felt increasingly natural. The ground sloped down sharply at first, and then more gently as I made my way deeper into the jungle. Soon, I found an animal path and began to follow it.

My thoughts started to wander in the silent stillness of the night. What if I do see people? I stopped in my tracks as the realization hit me. I’m a demon. A monster: kill or run away. I’m red and have too many limbs. I liked this body, but I was obviously not human, or elf, or dwarf, or beastkin, or any other species of person I’ve heard of. I’d need to lose a lot of features and change color, and even if I somehow had the magic for it, I wouldn’t know the first thing about actually doing that. Even if I did, I knew the Church could detect me, at least I thought so. What if I run into people and it just causes more trouble? But I might need to find people to get off this island. Even if I didn’t, there was no way I was just going to hide forever, even if it was possible.

Why should I have to hide myself? At my anger, I felt a shift of power within myself. Almost like I manipulated mana subconsciously. I focused on the feeling, and tapped into my own mana like I was barely able to do before all this. I got a flood in response, along with a surge of anger and rage at how I could be treated. Who are they to judge me? I’ll show them! They’ll be nothing but ash when I’m done!

A green glow from my sternal tattoo brought me out of my feelings and clarity started to return. I shook my head to get rid of the dark thoughts. I could feel my mana within me; a lake now compared to a bucket before. Tentatively, I tried to channel some into a small flame, something I could do before. I got a surge in response, but this time I steeled my mind against the flood of emotion. Anger pushed into my thoughts. Again, the tattoo glowed and my thoughts calmed. This time, I still maintained a steady stream of channeled mana and with a thought, a flame the size of my finger flickered into being at the tip of my finger.

What I conjured felt much hotter than my old flame and the center burned an odd bluish-green, although the edges were tinged in clashing crimson. The flickering light created a dizzying display of dancing shadows in the jungle around me. Mesmerized by the light show, I focused on the flame and willed more power into it, enlarging the burning wisp to the size of my fist before shrinking it back down. Absorbed as I was in my newfound magical prowess, I never saw the attack coming.

My world spun sideways before I landed face first in dirt. I could feel an immense form pinning me down. One of my arms was being crushed by a toothed vise, bone straining. Fury flooded through me. Rend and burn!

Mana surged into me and my body heated up rapidly. Still focused on controlling my mana and my emotions, I managed to stem the tide and gain control of most of the surge. But the delay cost me. With a snap, my hostage arm broke above the elbow and the vise pulled, trying to sever the limb. Large paws clawed into my sides and rent great gashes, narrowly missing my vital organs.

I still had fire. Pinned as I was, I still had free limbs. Two hands tilted toward the mass assaulting me. Jets of fire erupted from my palms and the vise released me with a roar. Acting on instinct, my tail swept around and slammed into the mass. My strength surprised me and the beast was thrown from my body. I could hear the snapping of brush as the beast crash landed near me. Claws raked across my arms and sides in the process, leaving more bloody gashes.

With surprising agility, I stood up and faced my attacker, eyes wide with rage and fear. Some kind of immense red and black cat stared back with glowing red eyes. What set this monster apart were the horns and glowing claws. In fact, its entire body seemed to glow with a dull amber light, focused mainly on the claws and teeth.

One arm hung limply from my side, but my sense of pain seemed almost numbed. Blood ran down my sides and legs, sizzling as it scorched the earth below. The beast got up and tensed into a crouch with incredible speed. I raised all of my good arms and focused on producing the hottest fire I could. The monster jumped. I let loose.

Fire and heat blinded me as a heavy mass crashed into me. I could see within my fire a glow like the creature, except mine was a deep crimson. The beast toppled me, but paid for its aggression as my fire burned into it. Fearing its claws and in a panic, I did what seemed natural: I headbutted it. Stars exploded in my vision, but several bones of the creature crunched on impact with my horns. The beast clawed back at me but moved to disengage after swiping more gashes into my abused torso. Blood ran hot down my sides and legs, staining and charring the dirt and undergrowth below me. My vision started to blur, and the pain from my broken arm started to slice through the numbness.

With a last surge of effort, I brought my tail around for another hit and sent the creature sprawling back into the trees. For a moment, I stared after it, unbelieving that my tail flung a creature twice my size half a dozen meters. The beast stood back up shakily and stared at me with glowing red eyes. It was clearly hurt and more than a little singed.

In agony and with darkness creeping in at the edges of my vision, I prepared another gout of fire, even as I felt mana exhaustion creep up into me. Instead of going for the kill, the injured beast turned and bounded silently away through the dense brush. In shock, I took a single step after it before I collapsed onto a knee. I mistakenly put my broken arm down to help push myself up and it buckled, white hot pain flooding my consciousness. I struggled for a moment before darkness closed around my vision and I passed out.