One of the beast's eyes was a pale white from an old injury while the other glowed with absolute and unforgiving anger.

The arms that shocked looked more like muscular appendages for anchoring itself in the mud.

Its skin was a green mottled with brown splotches all over. The beast's body was covered in a dense layer of armor that stopped right before its eyes and mouth began.

It was far larger than even the ruminating sloth and Thunkar’s warbeast transformation combined.

The comparatively small mouth saved him from the familiar fate of being swallowed alive.

The red line of blood from raking his hook across its mouth was pulsing with the warm liquid each time it clamped down.

It clamped down with enough force to make Egosum tighten his jaw in discomfort as his bones felt close to breaking.

He moved his spear down to pry the mouth open, cracking a few teeth in the process, but freeing himself with ease now that the monster was taken out of its element. He turned from the seething creature and launched himself off the solid ground, straight to the bank where he last spotted Cinera.

The wave of water had pushed much of the vegetation down, but he still struggled to find her.

He blocked his senses of everything but smell. The overwhelming familiarity he felt almost made it difficult to focus on what was out of place.

The burnt, charcoal smell that accompanied her clothes and the pungent chemical odor that stuck to her skin from throwing lightning was just barely identifiable below everything else.

He knew he was on her track now.

The scent trail led him deeper into the foliage and across multiple streams.

‘I find it hard to believe she willingly crossed more water bodies in her state.’

He leapt past them and noticed the strength of her scent growing stronger with each second he followed.

The grass grew taller and the trees blocked out more of the sky than before.

He quickly found a game trail that broke through the vegetation and began to follow it wherever it led.

The trail was well-worn and obviously used by the swamp's natives. It went on for what felt like a quarter of the day when he came to a quiet pond much smaller than any other pools he had seen since arriving.

It was just as swamp-like as the rest of the wild expanses he had been traveling but there was an underlying orderliness to the space between the plants, the location of the rocks, and the cleanliness of the water that made it hard not to notice something was far different than normal.

He took a few deep breaths but couldn't find where her distinct smell led. It was a jumbled mess of scents crisscrossing all around the small area.

‘She has to be here.’

He circled the pond nearly a dozen times before he froze.

‘What’s my next step.? Do I backtrack and see if she was dragged along one of the other paths? Maybe I can flatten some of the land to give me some better sightlines?’

He turned back to the pond and all the strange things that sat around the hidden oasis.

‘It just doesn’t feel right. What am I missing?’

He contemplated the issue for a few more moments when the familiar tack sound of skin on mud entered his ears.

He had a split second to choose if it was friend or foe.

The noise was barely audible above the low drum of life around him. It was much stealthier than Cinera could ever hope to achieve.

He whipped around with his spear ready to impale the offending party.

A long, snake-like creature stared at him with the most shocked appearance he had ever seen. Its top was a cryptic gray while its stomach was a vibrant yellow. Small, clawed hands sat right below its face.

Its skin was smooth as could be, devoid of the scales he had come to expect.

It was entirely too strange. The pair stared at each other, frozen in uncertainty.

“Um, sir? Can you put the weapon down?” The familiar sounds set him at immediate ease. The common amphibian language of hoppity reminded him of home.

It had been many months since he had heard it and he hadn’t realized how much he missed it until just now.

“Sir? Can you understand me?” The creature before him leaned back away from the weapon that sat perfectly still in front of its face.

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“Oh, sorry about that.” He let his tensed hand drop to the side and sheathed the spear into its holster.

An awkward silence fell between them.

It stretched on for a few moments when Egosum’s purpose resurfaced.

“Sorry, as much as I would love to, I can't talk right now. I have to find my friend.” He turned from the creature, unsure of what his next move was.

“Was she the salamander? Orangish-red, wearing a weird hat, and thick clothes?” His heart nearly skipped a beat as it spoke.

He turned to the creature and leaned closer.

“You saw her? Where did she go?” His excitement was plain to see as it backed up even more from the hyper toad.

“She didn’t go anywhere. Way too weak-looking. I dragged her to my house to help her after I found her on the shore. She has been unresponsive ever since.” Egosum’s mood lightened at the revelation.

“Take me to her, please. I know how to help her.”

It looked him up and down before turning around and leading him to the edge of the pond.

He waited expectantly for it to guide him to its hidden lair when it dived into the water.

The clear liquid let him watch the creature swim elegantly to the opposite side and under the pond's bank. Its serpentine motions reminded him of the creature he saw near her before he launched himself into the water.

He waited for a second, unsure of what to do when it popped back up and waved him over.

“Come on! She is inside!” It ducked underwater and back into the hole.

Egosum glanced at the pond before throwing caution to the wind. He dived in and kicked to the other side, stirring the water’s bottom into a flurry by accident.

He felt around the side before finally finding a hole just large enough for his imposing figure to squeeze into.

His head broke through the surface, and he pulled himself over the side and into the dimly lit burrow.

Light green moss glowed along the sides and the ceiling, offering the only light available in the tight confines.

His head nearly reached the roof as he stood to his fullest height.

“Watch your head. She is just inside here.” The creature pulled itself along the muddy bottom with its claws and entered one of the side rooms.

Egosum pushed his head through the opening and saw Cinera lying on the dirty floor.

Her fur hat was still dripping with water from being dragged into the hideout while her coat had a few rivulets running down the side.

She was much paler than he could ever remember and was obviously uncomfortable.

She needed warmth right now if she was to stay alive and the insulative properties of her clothes were doing her no good while she had zero mana in the chamber.

“We need to move her out of here. Where is the exit?” He turned to the creature and willed the mud bellow Cinera to draw her close enough for him to reach.

“Woah, uh, It’s the same way you came in. The other exits are way too small for you to fit through.” It followed after him as he dragged Cinera through the room.

“No, she can’t get any more wet.” He began to strip her clothes off when the creature shrieked.

“You lewd beast. How dare you undress a lady like that! Show some decency.” Egosum slowly turned to the native with the most confused face he ever had.

“We are both…..naked. What makes this any different?” It covered two small patches of its skin with its clawed hands before stuttering out a response.

“Well, I, I just think, It just seems, ya know, improper. Stop looking at me already!” He could hear the embarrassment in its voice as he turned from it and continued his work.

“Do you have any way to make fire in here?” It looked at him like that was the dumbest question it had ever heard.

“I am an amphibian. Why would I want to be warm and dry? Sounds like death to me.” Egosum expanded his senses to the soil around him and felt for the surface.

He flexed his Qi and tunneled straight through the roof of the room, right to the grass above.

“Hey! This is my house damnit! Don’t go breaking shit as you please!”

He leapt out of the hole and willed the earth to lift them above the treetops.

The sun beat down on the platform, baking him and his friend while the clouds danced above them.

He could already see her color changing for the better. Once she was conscious, she would be able to start a fire and top herself off.

If he was lucky, she wouldn’t be too furious with him almost killing her, but that might be far too much to hope for if his intuition was anything to go by.

“What are you doing up there?” The creature screamed from down below them.

“Letting the sun warm her up!” It went silent for a few moments before speaking again.

“Why are you trying to kill her? What did she do to you?” He fought back a sigh before looking over the edge.

“She is an ember salamander. She needs the heat. Any more water and she might be taken out for good.” He could hear it inhale a breath through its teeth.

“Ooooooh. My bad. I didn’t know.” He looked back to his friend and ignored the apologies.

It might have saved her, or it might have just made things worse. Now wasn’t the time to figure it out.

He watched her face closely, waiting for the faintest signal that she was okay.

“Is there anything I can do to help?”

He didn’t know how to respond when Cinera’s eyes fluttered.

“Is there any dry wood around?” He heard it scoff before answering.

“It’s a swamp that rains every other day. Not a chance.” His irritation was building but he fought back the snarky comment that sat of his lips.

“Whatever. Get me some wood and grass. It doesn’t matter for fresh or wet it is.” He could hear it scuttling away to find the fuel as he watched the salamander regain more of her color.

It took longer than he hoped for her to regain consciousness as the clouds blacked the sun every few minutes, but she finally came to with a flutter of her eyes.

“Hey, can you hear me?”

She nodded but couldn’t respond with words.

“I have some wood coming. We can make a fire with it and get you back into working condition. Does that sound good?” She nodded once more and closed her eyes.

After a few hours of waiting, the creature was back with the materials. Egosum lited them up the platform and focused his down on the soaking wet wood.

His dao was so closely aligned with rot and moisture that it felt antithetical to try and pull the root causes of it from the tinder.

It didn’t matter how impossible it felt, he just needed to do it.

He thought back to the desert and his inability to use his Qi to shape the sand.

The land was completely barren of moisture, and he was intimately aware of it whenever he took the faintest of breaths.

‘What if the absence of water is what made it impossible. If water is needed for it to work, then it must be drawn from somewhere.’