The pool is fed by a small tunnel and when I swim out of it I find myself back in the volcano. There is a massive amount of lava and it is all moving upwards, I guess the volcano erupted. That makes me really worried about Brightfire and Nala, but first I need my gear.

The problem is, I have no idea where to start looking because I don't know where the gem was. What's worse is I don't know if my stuff sank or was pushed upwards by the lava. For all I know it could even have been thrown out of the volcano by the eruption.

So I really have no choice but to start moving around and hoping that luck is with me. First, I head down to see if anything sank and also to see how deep it goes. As I am making my way down I spot movement, there is life down here.

It looks kind of like a fish but made of rock, at least from what little I see before it moves away. There are also still some fire elementals wandering around, but they ignore me. I get lucky when I reach a flat area and find the angel armor sitting on a rock.

Unfortunately, I can't put it on and without my pouch I have no way of carrying it. So for now I mark the location in my mind and go back to looking around. Not seeing anything down here I let the current move me up as I circle around.

My tabard, I find caught on a protrusion of rock, but it doesn't look so good. It has been shredded and burned until I almost don't recognize it, but I still grab it. When I put it on it turns into a collar around my neck instead of trying to fit me.

A quick scan with my mana shows that it is in a dormant state while it repairs itself. That is reassuring, there is no way I could possibly replace it if the tabard was destroyed. Now I just need to find my belt and pouches and then I can go look for Brightfire and Nala.

After searching what feels like all of the volcano with no luck I head up to the crater. It looks totally different now, there is lava everywhere and the elementals are fighting again. The salamanders have come out of their cave and are attacking the elementals.

All of the salamander's huts are gone and most of the caves have collapsed. This has forced all of the salamanders out into the open and the battle involves all of them. They still outnumber the elementals but the battle is fairly even from what I can see.

As I am studying the battle I finally spot my belt and pouches, right in the middle of the fighting. The eruption must have thrown it out of the volcano for it to end up here. I quickly realize one of the advantages of my new body, the salamanders pay no attention to me.

Being small and harmless looking turns out to be quite useful as I run through the battlefield. My happiness fades when I get to my belt and realize I am too small to pick it up properly. I grab the belt with my mouth and start dragging it away from the fighting.

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Once I am clear of the battle I try to get the belt to shrink so that it fits my new body. Unfortunately, it seems the belt has a limit on how small it can go and I am smaller than that. So, until I grow a bit I have no option other than dragging it around, which is a pain.

Especially since I need to drag it down to the bottom of the volcano to recover my armor. With no time to waste I head straight for the lava and start making my way downwards. Dragging the belt and pouches makes it much harder to move through the lava, but I am not dropping them!

It takes me a full twenty minutes to return to where my armor is and put it in the pouch. Then before I return to the surface I head back to the little cave to collect the egg fragments. Surprisingly, the fragments of the egg have turned back into the gem.

No way am I going to touch that thing again, so I lift it using mana and put it in my pouch. Later, I will study that thing and try to figure out what it was doing to me. For now I dive back into the lava and head for the surface, time to find the others.

When I return to the surface I find the battle is still going on, but I ignore it. First I head for where I left Brightfire and Nala, but they are not there. Looking around I can't see them anywhere, but I can see that parts of the jungle are on fire.

There are several flows of lava, or I guess it is magma now, going down the side of the volcano. Or maybe I have it backwards, I can never remember which is which, but they mean the same thing. With nowhere else to look I head down the side of the volcano, dragging the belt behind me.

Luckily, near the edge of the jungle, under the burning smell I catch a whiff of tiger. Hoping that it is Nala I follow the trail as best as I can and enter the burning jungle. The fires and lava pose no danger to me at all, even the smoke doesn't bother me.

An hour later I finally find Brightfire and Nala in a small clearing, and they look fine. Unfortunately I didn't consider my new appearance before entering the clearing. Brightfire spots me, rushes over, and picks me up, then she starts rubbing her face against my fur.

Brightfire says "Wow! So cute and soft too! Where did you come from, little guy?"

"Mew!"

'What the hell?! I can't even talk in this new body?!?'

Brightfire says "Wait! Why do you have Ash's belt?"

"Meow!"

Once I struggle enough Brightfire puts me down and I shapeshift into my Elven Warrior form. Brightfire looks shocked but Nala instantly runs up to me and starts rubbing against me. I don't look the same at all, but it seems that she can still tell it is me.

Brightfire says "Ash? Are you alright? Why did you use that new form to trick me?!"

"That new form is not a form, that is my real body now! I'm just glad shapeshift still works!"

Brightfire says "Your new body? What exactly happened to you?!"

"I'm not entirely sure, but I will explain once I figure it out. For now I am getting a headache being in this form so I need to drop it. We will camp here for now."

Brightfire says "Okay!"

I feel better as soon as I drop shapeshift, other than my stomach trying to eat my spine. While I was in elven form I had put the belt on, but as soon as I drop shapeshift it drops to the ground. However, that doesn't stop me from opening the food pouch and pulling out a feast.

As soon as I pull the food out both Nala and I fall on it ravenously, while Brightfire laughs at us. After eating almost my own body weight I curl up with Nala and we both fall fast asleep. When I wake up, Nala and I are all tangled up with Brightfire curled around us both.