His soul domain began to crumble away as he came back to the waking world.

The painful cracks in his skin and splitting headache were back in full force as he tried to force his eyes open.

The sliding of his eyelids felt like they were filled with sand, which they almost certainly were.

He squinted hard as he turned to look around at the moving things around him.

His vision was blurry beyond anything he was expecting but he could just make out his two companions staring down at him.

“You're alive! Hah. I knew it. We will go find some water. There has to be some in one of these caves or in a shadow somewhere.” She turned to find it when she jerked back as a warty hand stopped her.

“Core. Give the core to me.” He spoke through cracking lips and held his hand out for her to drop it into.

The cool core plopped down into his palm, soothing the raw skin.

He forced the small ball into his mouth and swallowed it down.

An immediate wave of energy flooded into his body, easing all of the aches that plagued him.

His body visibly plumped up from the influx of energy, revitalizing him from the head down.

The fog that clouded his thoughts blew away from his attention and he turned to his friends.

“Deserts blow.”

Cinera fought back a giggle before speaking.

“Glad you feel better. Now we just need to climb the mountain.”

They all looked towards the steep wall that cut the swamp from the hellscape at their back.

They looked to the left and saw nothing but rock far into the distance. They looked to the left and saw the same thing.

Up was the only real option.

“I can manage with my earth-shaping skills, but will you be fine?” She scoffed at his concern.

“I grew up on the cliffsides of Embermount. My childhood was scaling cliffs. I will be fine.”

He turned to Coyotl and saw the blank stare that looked into his soul.

“Just…follow me.”

Cinera lifted herself up the first ledge and began the long scramble to the top.

Egosum’s Qi forced the hard rock to contort to his whims as he made a ram in the mountainside.

His reserves were only a third full, but without the burning heat to keep him dry, he only gained more as time passed them by.

The cooling shadow of the mountain offered them the best cover possible as they got higher and higher into the sky.

They dodged caves and cliffs too steep to mold into stairs when the sun finally broke over the summit. The familiar warmth of a normal sun calmed his fears of another burning event only to be blasted by hot air from below.

“Let's relax for a bit. We can go into that cave.” Cinera’s head popped over the side, startling the pair as she spoke.

They pulled themselves into the cave and let the cool rock floor soothe their bodies from the days of activities.

“Any dangers on the mountain?” She pulled the map out and scanned it for the pictograms.

“Hmmmm. Looks like rockfalls and maybe troll things. Can’t really tell what that one is. Oh, the weird flying cross as well. No clue what it means.” She rattled off the many points of concern to his falling mood.

“No monster spider, laser titans, or demon lords lying in wait?”

“Don’t think so. Oh, and a bunch of bats if I am reading it right.” She dug their hole deeper, blowing through his sarcasm.

He slumped over and let his soreness wash away with the rest, heightening his hearing to the max to try and catch anything sneaking up on them.

Their stop ended peacefully as the sun set past the dunes in the far distance. The sheer darkness of the cliffside was astonishing with no moon to shine its light on them.

A light-ticking noise entered his ears as the group sat in silence.

He perked up as he swiveled his head to find the source. Another ticking nose joined the solitary one as he listened, then another and another and another.

Soon he was being pelted with a cacophony of ticks, blasting him with small bursts of sound.

“Somethings coming. Get close.” He kept his eyes closed as he infused the stone beneath him.

Despite the dryness of the solid rock, the inherent moisture present in the air eased his efforts significantly as he waited for the culprits to grow close.

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Crackling noises caused his eyes to open. Cinera was charging her magic as the sounds grew closer.

She threw her hand forward, flashing the surroundings with light as the bolt went flying deep into the dark recess of the cave.

Pale, pink yes reflected the light straight back at them as the white bodies of hundreds of small bats flapped their tiny wings on their journey to the exit.

“Put us in a bunker.” She spoke in a hushed whisper to the toad without moving her eyes from the bat’s direction.

“I am. The rock just makes it a little slower.” The stone began to slowly sink down into a divot.

The bats grew closer and closer as he worked.

A small bubble of rock began to enclose them when the white beasts finally made it to them.

Cinera sent out a charged cloud of ash zapping dozens of them before it lost its potency. The little bodies fell into the hole before Egosum could fully seal them inside, safe from whatever danger they could pose.

“That was close. The floor was harder than I expected.” He activated his mana sight and looked to the dead beasts at their feet.

They were devoid of mana everywhere but the small teeth that filled their mouths. Undoubtedly their main weapon for devouring their prey.

“Creepy little things.”

Cinera sparked a small ember, lighting up their small bunker.

Coyotl took the chance to devour most of them before he could be stopped.

The last bat sat on the floor, lifelessly, awkwardly lying between the trio like they were about to begin an autopsy.

“Think they were gonna suck out all of our blood or just tear all the flesh from our bones?” Cinera looked up at him quizzically.

“Probably just eat all the meat from us. Maybe they would just lap the blood up afterward.” His clinical response filled the small chamber before a light-clicking noise stole their attention. The high pitch noise echoed, making it near impossible to locate the source when Egosum felt a painful prick on his hand.

He pulled it off the ground and saw the bat they had thought was long dead, nibbling on him like the best snack ever.

“Ouch, little bastard alive. He smashed it into the ground with as much strength as he could muster, the stone behind the bat cracked under the force. The bloody mess he was expecting was still in its pristine white condition and seemed angrier than before, clamping down harder in response.

“This thing is hard as rocks. Shit, it's eating me?” He thrashed his hand around trying to throw it off of him as his companions backed away The tight confines kept them far too close for comfort.

“Just kill it already.” Cinera appeared tired of the struggle as he smashed it repeatedly.

“I’m… trying!” He strengthened his flesh and yanked it as hard as he could, finally dislodging it.

Its red maw choked in the small space, searching for its food source once again.

He put everything into crushing it in his grip to no avail when a new idea came to mind.

“I need you to zap my hand. I don’t think I can kill it.” She looked ready to make fun of him when it wiggled its way out of his grip and into the air.

“Oh fuck.” He reared up onto his back legs and kept his hands at the ready.

It flapped around the cramped space, barely able to keep in the air from its earlier thrashing when Coyotl shot his tongue forward and pushed it deep down his throat.

They all froze, staring at the frog with horror and concern in equal measure.

“Buddy, you feeling okay?”

The familiar dull eyes stared right back at him, uncaring of the monstrosity he just swallowed.

The frog belched after a few tense moments, lightening the mood of the entire chamber.

They sighed in relief before listening in on the cave above them. The horrifying ticking continued on for what felt like an entire day before it finally fully disappeared.

He willed his Qi to open them back up to the fresh air in the cave's entrance and looked around at the carnage.

The hard stone all around the cavern was scored with small scratch marks, undoubtedly from the little white nightmares monitoring and bitting in the space.

They could see the light of the exit and decided to move on before the creatures returned.

The cool shadow of the mountain sheltered them from the elements as they drew closer and closer to the peak.

They finally crested the top with one final push while the sun reached its apex above the mountain.

Egosum inhaled deeply as he stared out over his new domain.

For as far as he could see, sparse treetops surrounded by vegetation, fallen logs covered with turtles, water channels cut through plants, and reeds covering the banks of the deeper sections.

Fog quickly overtook the land as the swamp roamed into the distance.

It was paradise.

A paradise he was going to shape for his entire species.

It was his turn to be an architect of the land. The world before him was the perfect starting point for all of his plans.

The grandeur and awe he felt ran rampant through his body. His future sat before them, ready for the taking and all he had left to do was get down the mountain.

He peaked over the side and froze.

The natural cliffside was nowhere to be seen.

It was as flat as could be along every inch of the surface.

“I feel like the map should have mentioned this. This is going to take forever to get down.”

Cinera shuffled around for her map and scoured the section for any details before giving up.

“Yeah, I don’t know. It just shows the mountain and then the swamp. Nothing even close to a steep drop.”

Egosum peered over the side and watched a few small rocks fall off the side and to the ground far below.

“Hm. I guess I'll get to carving.” He forced the stone to change shape under his will.

Slowly, a column of stairs grew out of the flat surface, allowing them their first steps into the next journey.

Egosum took the lead making it down the first four steps before pausing as the whistling wind changed directions.

“Somethings coming!” The soft updraft that he was expecting turned into a gale. They hugged the side of the ridge for dear life, hoping it was going to end sooner rather than later.

The intensity only kept growing, threatening to throw them from their safety.

It whipped from side to side, causing even Egosum to struggle to maintain his grip as he made the rock shield them from some of the onslaught.

Before he could succeed in fighting it off, he turned back to watch as Coyotl was thrown from the cliff.

“No!” He went to jump after his friend when he felt Cinera’s grip on his back.

Would he throw away both of their lives to possibly save Coyotl’s? He hesitated for just one moment longer when the frog disappeared into a small black portal that appeared in front of him.

“I…uh.” He didn’t know what to say as the gale finally came to an end and it died off completely.

“Is..is he gone?” Cinera opened her eyes slowly, fearful for the wind to pick back up.

“He isn’t dead. At least, I don't think so.” His heart grew heavy as he thought about their next course of action.

“Let’s just make it to the bottom.”

They both froze as a commanding voice startled them

“Halt! State your purpose if you wish to leave the mountaintop!”

They turned to the side and stared at a massive cross with stationary wings, floating before them.