He channeled his dao around him. The humidity of a swamp filled the small area he was trapped inside. The flesh he found himself stuck to started to quickly decompose.

The rancid teeth softened before turning gelatinous in texture. The rough palate turned to bleached bone as the flesh sloughed off and the jaw turned brittle.

He rolled his body over and hopped out of the puddle that was once her head.

The rotten chunks pooled around the floor. The elf that was working away at the downed orc’s head put his hand up to his mouth and ran to the corner to throw up repeatedly.

“Why are you blowing chunks? I am the one that was bathing in an orc's blood, spit, and brains you pansy."

He kicked his legs to throw off some of the gunk that stuck to him and hopped out of the tent, leaving the useless elf behind with the filthy corpse.

‘I wonder why it worked once she was dead? It was obviously way more potent once the lady died, but how does that make much sense?’

He jumped through the encampment, taking in the bloody sights of war like a proud general that just so happened to have bathed in brain matter minutes prior.

‘Maybe there is some force stopping the decay of living creatures, maybe even trees. The rotten log fell to my dao quickly and now the body had done the same. I guess there is more testing to be done.”

The dead orcs and elves littered the dense encampment he found themselves in. Soldiers tore the houses apart looking for anything of value before setting them on fire and moving on to the next place.

It was a wonderful sight to behold. The young orcs did not receive any mercy either as their body sat in a pile ready to burn.

“You need to get them all at once or all the bloodshed is for nothing. They will just repopulate and make more problems for everyone nearby.” The old elf walked around the mountains of bodies with a torch at the ready.

“I agree. They have a lot of strange tastes in decoration and gruesome practices.” Egosum turned his body to look at the speaking man.

“Hahaha, strange taste in decorations you say? Well, I guess you aren't wrong. I found some horrific stuff stored away in chests I fear to even identify the origin of. Decorations, heh. That is a good one.”

The toad stared at him in silence for a few seconds before turning away to look around while the elf stared into the body bonfires.

‘What's so funny about what I said? I swear, these elves were just more tolerable humans if the stories were to be believed. I better still get my reward for all the dirty more I did protect that piece of garbage.’

He leapt to the extinguished central cooking pot to get a good look around the parts of the camp he had yet to explore.

Weird, muffled noises sounded off behind him. The white and black remnants of the fire sat smoking below a large iron pot, hanging from two cooking forks.

He turned back around to look at the leather tents and blood-soaked paths between them. The elvish soldiers toiled away to perfectly exterminate the war band and any foothold they could try to establish so near to their homelands.

The same muffled noise startled him from his musings. He turned to the fire and glared at the ashes. Silence rained for nearly a minute until a light bang and more noises drew his attention.

He looked upwards to where the sound came from and stared at the cast iron pot. He squinted his eyes and waited for the noises one more time to confirm his suspicion.

Sure enough, the light bangs and indecipherable noise poured from the metal container.

“Soldiers! I need someone to put that pot on the ground, there is something living inside.” His demand echoed across the camp with authority he certainly did not have.

The elves all turned to look at the toad with interest but no sense of urgency. After a few seconds of nothing, one of the elves that Egosum recognized from the tent clearing came over and lifted the large metal container off the forks and sat it on the ground before him.

“Thanks, it is kind of difficult to do stuff without the opposable thumbs and all. That comes in a later metamorphosis.” He used his hands to push the warm lid across the pot and peered deep inside the dark container.

Two yellow dots stared back up at him in the darkness. He pushed the lid all the way off and looked back inside. Sitting in some water at the bottom of the pot was a large red salamander with small black dots covering its arms and bright yellow eyes.

Light steam billowed up from the water it sat in, causing Egosum to pull back from the heat.

“Hey buddy, you gonna reheat the water for me? It is getting a little chilly in here.” The salamander inside the pot spoke out to him in common.

The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

“I…I… um, what?” he balked at the request.

'Did the amphibian want to be boiled alive?'

‘Wait. The prince spoke about another talking brother being turned into food a while ago. Is it this guy?’

Egosum climbed up on the lid and looked down at the slimy creature inside.

“You know the orcs were trying to eat you, right?” The deadpan question elicited a light giggle from the creature inside.

“Tehehehe, well you know how it is. It’s an eat or be eaten kind of world and it looks like I ended up on the wrong end of the equation. That’s all. So are you going to help me out and start a fire up or do I need to go find my clothes?”

He detected a hint of sass in the strange salamander's voice.

“I don’t really get it, but you are free to leave now that we killed all of the orcs. They aren’t going to kill you now. I have much to discuss with you.” Egosum tried flipping the pot over to spill the contents out.

“Hey! Stop that! It isn’t half bad in here. Are you really going to dump me out onto the grass with nothing to wear? At least get me my clothes before you dump me out on the dirt.” Egosum halted his actions and looked around. The floor all around was devoid of anything the salamander could wear.

“Any idea where clothes would be?”

“They took them off me when I was in that big tent with the elf.” Egosum looked back at the tent he left earlier and marveled at the massive fire that raged on its burned rubble pile.

“Yeah, that tent is currently a bonfire. I don’t think your clothes will make it out of that.”

“No, they should be fine, better even, just wait for the ashes to smolder and have someone bring them to me.”

One of the elves nodded his head at the request and walked over to the fire.

“While we wait, can you explain why you want to be boiled or maybe how you survived the first boiling they put you through?” Egosum leaned forward expectedly, hoping for a real answer for once.

“I am an ember salamander. We need it pretty hot to live and that pot was the warmest place in a day's walk in all directions.” Pieces of the puzzle came together in his mind.

‘Why is an ember salamander out of the molten swamps? That makes no sense.’

“So why are you wandering around the forest to be picked up by orcs in the first place?” She took on a proud look.

“I am a mage.” Small fireworks went off in his mind as she spoke the words. “I have a specialization in ash and a minor in lightning magic, so I figured that it made sense to check out the caldera of the volcano I lived out during a thunderstorm.”

“Lightning came crashing down on the lava and excited the volcano's spirit, causing the first eruption in a hundred years. It was quite a sight to see so close up. There was so much ejected material, it carried me high up into the sky and carried me away.”

“You are an actual mage? How did you get captured if you could entomb them in ash or channel lightning and melt their brains?!” Egosum got excited at the idea of the first mage he had the opportunity to meet.

“Well, I weaved my clothes from the mana-conductive volcanic ash while I was floating high up in the sky after I was swept up in the rubble. It kept me nice and warm for a while until I started to fall back down and landed in a lake near here.”

“The cold water sapped me of my mana and left me powerless to do anything but walk out and dry in the sun. That was when the orcs found me and brought me here. It was bad luck, truthfully. Nothing more.”

The elf came over to them with a grey woolen-looking sweater, four gloves, and an ushanka with the flaps down. To call it strange was an understatement.

“I hope I found it all.” Egosum re-evaluated the man before him. His common was far better than any of the other elves he had spoken with and he had actually offered to help him on multiple occasions.

“Thank you. Finally, a gentleman in my darkest times.” Egosum blanked at the sentence.

‘What is wrong with every kinsman I find? Please just let me find someone normal.'

It hopped out of the pot and shimmied into the clothes with relative ease.

“Ahhhh. It feels so nice. The fire really warmed them up. They keep the heat trapped very well on the inside.” she visibly relaxed as the warmth sunk into her flesh.

“That's good and all, but what are you going to do now? You can come with me if you want. I plan to travel around for a bit so we might get to your volcano. The company would always be appreciated.”

The salamander thought for a little bit before looking him in the eye.

“Are you mocking me? My home is unbelievably far away. I traveled for days in the clouds. There are not any lava fields or volcanos anywhere around from what I've seen while high up, not even warm swamps. I am lucky I came here during the peak of summer. I would have frozen to death if not for that small grace.”

“I came from a swamp not far from here and it was certainly warmer than around here. I don’t remember exactly where it is, but it can’t be too hard to find. The civilization in it was massive. You must have heard of us! We were led by the great mageking Quetulopus!” The excitement climbed up his throat, leaking out with each word he spoke.

The salamander’s face darkened in a way he hadn’t seen before. It looked like it was full of pity and sadness.

‘That does not make any sense. I am not the one to be pitied. They are the one without a way back home. They are far from any friends or mentors to guide them. I am just a few days away from the front lines. From home.’

“Oh sweety, you don't know do you?” The soft words and constant pitying look inflamed his anger.

'What does she know that I don't?'

He doubted she knew five languages. He doubted her teacher was a civilization-creating super salamander. He doubted she could even beat an orc at full strength.

“I know a lot of stuff.” He was just angry now.

“I can tell you do. It is just that something happened there. It was about a week ago if my memory serves me. A day before the eruption that scattered me, my civilization got word from a messenger that a coalition of forces launched an ambush on the mageking Quetulopus’ holdings.”

The words sunk deep into his core as he thought of the implications.

“But the land was so expansive, and it was our home turf. How could even a coalition of several armies break their way in? It doesn't make any sense.” He almost refused to believe it.

'The home advantage should make it almost impossible for anyone to do anything to them without every race near them unifying or some super technological advancement.'

“The mageking died just before the main attack was launched.”