“My behavior?” Bel shrieked indignantly. “That’s a pile of fish offal. Hanti can go eat crow.”

Her new snake hissed at the air, twitching from side to side to see who it should bite.

“Sure, sure,” James laughed. “This is all just political theater. It’s pretty tame really, at least for a medieval fantasy world. At least there isn’t any poisoning, and thank all of your gods that this isn’t like the fantasy from my world – everyone would either be stabbing everyone else or sleeping with them.”

Bel clicked her tongue. “James, you know that we’re real people here, right? This isn’t how you talk to Daran, is it? Do you tell her that she’s just a character in one of your tv shows?”

“No, I–of course, I don’t tell her–well, maybe I’ve said–”

Bel grinned as her brother sputtered on the other side of the conversation.

“So is she actually sending people after us?” she interrupted.

Her brother’s annoyed huff was just barely audible over his talking rock.

“Nah,” James eventually replied, “there’s been other stuff happening here too. A bunch of seal and otter people showed up and started yelling at the Alliance, blaming them for all of the elf attacks.”

“Wait,” Bel interrupted, “seals and otters?”

“Don’t tell me you’re going to have a problem with that, sis. There are ant people. And you’re travelling with a fox and an octopus.”

“She’s a cuttlefish, actually.”

“The things that people in Satrap used for ink?”

Bel glanced at Orseis. “I’m not going to mention that part to her. She’s full of hope and dreams and stuff and is looking forward to meeting the people there.”

“Huh. I thought she just did what Beth told her and liked to eat.”

“Oh, she’s those things too. She’s a complex individual with at least three dimensions.”

Bel locked eyes with her new snake, who was leaning over her face and peering around, curious about the source of James’ voice. Her eyes widened. “Oh, James, I have some super exciting news!”

“Is it actually good, or are you–”

Bel bopped the little magma snake in the nose. “I got a new snake!” she squealed.

“What? Like, as a pet? Or did that spirit stuff work out?”

“It’s on my head! Just like Dutcha said!”

“Cool. Look, I’m glad you’re okay, but the battery won’t last much longer so we should get serious. Tell me everything important for anyone who wants to follow after you.”

Bel puffed out her cheeks, but she swallowed her pride a moment later. James is right, there are a lot of people counting on us.

Then her eyes narrowed. “You aren’t going to tell Hanti, are you? I don’t want her sending Cleis after us. He’s a loser.”

“No, no,” James agreed, “I’ll just pass along everything you’ve learned to Beth. She can dole out bits and pieces for bargaining power. We just need some details to show that you still have a chance of success down there.”

“Sure,” Bel agreed.

She quickly gave her brother a run down of the things that they’d encountered, from the scrattes to the path they were following. She ended with the flying serpents and the sirens.

“You know,” Bel mused, “it’s weird that these animals with the human heads – the cat girls and the sirens – are so powerful compared to all the rest of the semi-humans.”

“You mean sphinx…” James started to respond, but his voice became too quiet for Bel to hear him.

“James, are you still there? James? Ah, damn, it’s out of power.”

“Call over?” Orseis asked. “What’s happening back at Outpost 3?”

Bel shrugged. “Politics. Hanti’s trying to blame us for Cleisthenes being a moron, so we need to accomplish enough to embarrass them. James will call for regular status reports.”

“Too bad we haven’t done much,” Flann lamented.

“If the call stone started working that means we’re close to the pillar though, right?” Orseis pointed out.

Bel grinned. “Yup! Let’s look around!”

“Whoah, hold on Bel. You were acting weird back there.”

“No I wasn’t,” she denied.

The two of them crossed their arms – and tentacles – and stared at her.

Bel examined her companions critically. Flann’s fur was bedraggled and matted, and Orseis’ cloak was torn in multiple spots. She also had a large bruise on her head from where she’d been tossed into a tree.

“You know, I think we’ve all been under a lot of stress. I’m sure a bit of success and some food would do us good, right?”

Orseis narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Ah, shoot, I thought for sure that talking about food would distract her.

Flann made a calming gesture with his hands before Orseis could open her mouth.

“Standin’ around isn’t gonna help,” he declared. “We may as well keep goin’. Let’s just take it easy.”

He pointed at Bel. “Don’t think this means we’re droppin’ your weird behavior though. Stickin’ strange spirits into your head can’t be good. And that one looks like it’s liable to set you on fire.”

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He flicked his tail with unease. “Just keep it away from my fur.”

“But you use fire abilities constantly,” she complained.

Bel gently moved her new snake out of her face, depositing it on top of her head.

“And my mother – my other mother – she told me to do it. Mothers know best, right? And I want a full head of snakes.”

Flann’s tail stood out from his back as he puffed up and waved his cane in Bel’s direction. “Your other mother? The crazy spirit? The one who’s causing a disaster on another island?”

“Yeah, h–oh, I see.”

Bel rubbed her chin, feeling slightly worried and possibly a bit foolish.

“Well, I’ll tell you if I notice any strange effects,” she promised.

Orseis waved her tentacles towards the heavens. “No, Bel, we’ll tell you if we’re seeing anything strange. It’s already happened.”

Bel rolled her eyes. “Okay, well, the next time you notice something just let me know okay?”

Orseis writhed towards the heavens and silently screamed into the air. Flann gave her a comforting pat on the back.

“Just drop it for now,” he suggested.

Bel flashed a thumbs up and turned around to survey the area that they’d reached from the stepping stones. The far shore of the water had been swampy, but on this side the water was moving freely. There were large outcroppings of mossy rock through which the water had carved deep furrows, and what was left behind was a series of fast moving streams with slender fingers of moss-covered stone in between. The path left by the Dark Ravager’s people was easy to see; they’d trampled a deep furrow through the thick moss, leaving a slick, barren trail through the vibrant green.

The mist was still thick though, and, with the reduction in large plants, the ever-present light of the glowing insects was fading, as if the world were captured in an eerie, unshifting twilight.

“I guess that we’ll just keep following the path?” Bel asked.

She looked at her companions and they shrugged. Since there were no objections – just grumbling from Orseis – Bel set off at a mild pace. She wasn’t sure how long the day had been, but it only took her a few steps to realize that she was exhausted.

“We should keep an eye out for a place to rest,” she suggested, gaining grunts of approved from the other two.

After another minute of silence she glanced back.

“Hey, Flann, why are the sirens and the sphinxes – the cat girls – so much stronger than everyone else?”

“They’re not natural creatures,” he responded. “Some god or goddess assembled them.”

“And that means?”

His ear flicked at the question. “They’ve got an unfair advantage. Most are unnaturally strong, and they’re blessed with special abilities.”

“Huh.” Bel put a finger to her chin as she considered that. “Oh, like me?”

Flann chuckled. “Of course. It’s not natural to have snakes comin’ out of your head, now is it? Some crazy god or goddess must’ve come up with that one.”

“They aren’t actually in my head,” Bel replied indignantly. A couple of her snakes nodded along. “They just kind of go along the top.”

“You sure about that?” Orseis challenged.

“Well…they’re spirits actually, so I don’t really know. Maybe I should have asked Kjar.”

Bel idly poked at a snake. “I should have asked her a lot more questions actually,” she mumbled, disappointed with herself.

“Well, I wouldn’t push it,” Flann said. “Everyone knows that the gods are capricious, you don’t know what’ll rile ’em up. We’re lucky that Kjar didn’t decide to wipe out the entire Plains when she was there.”

Bel laughed. “Kjar would only do that to people who are guilty and deserve to be punished. She wouldn’t do anything bad.”

“Oh?” Flann’s eyebrows went up. “And how does she judge that?”

Bel pushed some extra energy through Kjar’s Sight and looked at her companions. They were still fine.

“You can just tell,” she responded. “You can just look at someone and, bam, you know. Guilty. Punishment. Simple.”

“So she looks inside your head?” Orseis asked. “Can she mess with it too?”

“No…well, I don’t think so, or at least not that I’ve noticed,” Bel admitted.

“So you haven’t noticed that sometimes you start talking all weird? You don’t think that’s a bit of mischief from one of your illustrious parents?”

“What? When have I talked weird?” Bel turned to look at her companions.

Flann waved his hands for her to keep walking. “Let’s just say that you’ve got some personality quirks. Nothin’ too extreme. Maybe think of it as an accent that you picked up from your parents.”

“Oh, that’s a good way to put it,” Orseis agreed.

Accent? Personality quirks? Do I have those? Bel wondered.

Well, I grew up locked in a prison cell, so I can blame any personal weirdness on that.

She hadn’t interacted with her divine origins much though, so Bel doubted that she’d picked anything up as Flann implied.

“Well, whatever,” she muttered as she pressed onward over the slippery rocks.

The scars cut through the rock deepened as the volume of water increased, forming chasms through the rock. The path lead straight over one of those gaps, but whoever had blazed their trail had left ropes of braided metal strung across them. The thought of holding onto nothing but water-slicked metal as she hung over the scalding water below them was terrifying. Luckily for the group, Bel had packed some metal clips for climbing that they could use to make little safety harnesses before they crossed.

“You’re surprisingly well-prepared,” Orseis remarked once they had all crossed.

“Of course,” Bel said, proudly. “I planned all of this out with my brother. I’m taking this seriously, you know.”

“Sure, sure.”

“Hey,” Flann called out, “come look at this.”

“Food?” Orseis responded with excitement.

Bel and Orseis hurried over to the excited fox. As they moved towards the edge of the narrow strip of rock the mist fell away from them. It was thick around the surface of the water, but now the water was descending below them, flowing into the deep grooves that it had carved through the rock. For the first time in days they could actually see the world of the second layer as the sheer drop from the cliffs revealed a wide panorama of activity that spread out before them.

The water collected below them in a sea that filled the bottom of the cavern. Land jutted up from its surface, and where it broke through the thick mist Bel could see roosting sirens. Brightly colored lizards crawled up and down the stone surfaces while swift-winged birds patrolled the skies. Strange shark-like creatures with thick, powerful legs strode over the land, their wide, toothy grins and menacing presence enough to scatter the other wildlife.

Towering over everything else was the pillar. Its opening oozed with glowing lava that slowly dripped into the land below, creating an incline of newly formed land cut through with grooves and channels from all of the rushing water. Where the angry, red lava and the sea met they hissed and fought, sending out huge plumes of smoke and debris.

“I guess going up or down the pillar is completely out,” Orseis muttered.

“Is that the blue wall back there?” Flann asked.

Bel squinted. She could just make out a blue tinge to the horizon, although there was plenty of haze in the air. She didn’t look for very long, she was much more interested in the flowing lava. It was just so powerful and exciting, and it filled her with a sense of awe.

“It looks like there are some handholds cut into the cliff over here,” Orseis called out. “And the path continues below.”

Flann stuck out his tongue and flopped onto the mossy ground. “No more today. I’m beat.”

Orseis made her way back to the group. “Yeah, my head and back are killing me. Remind me to avoid smacking into trees in the future. Living on land is dangerous.”

Bel was silent, still watching the lavafall.

“Bel? You want to rest? We can take turns keeping watch.”

Bel nodded. “Sure.”

“What’s up? You’re just staring.”

“Yeah. The lava is beautiful.”

Flann and Orseis exchanged a glance.

“Yeah, it’s great, kid. How about we set up a tarp to hide under? Maybe we can bury it with moss or something, I don’t much fancy being found by those sirens.” Flann gestured vaguely into the air.

Bel glanced at him. “Sure, Flann. Sounds good.”

Orseis waved some of her tentacles. “You with us Bel?”

Bel smiled. “Of course. I was just thinking that when I grow up, I’m gonna be the best volcano.”

Flann’s eyebrow climbed to the top of his furry head. “Yer gonna what now?”

“Uh…you know, you two may be right.” Bel tried to grab her new head snake, but it pulled away. “This new one may be messing with my head after all.”

It flicked its tongue out at her.

“Although, Dutcha would probably enjoy being a volcano too,” Bel muttered.

“I don’t think we should let Bel keep watch alone,” Orseis whispered.

“Agreed,” Flann replied.