The Dao of Magic

82 - Heat

I hastily move through the red hell. Ash is everywhere and I see a large front of lava moving towards the buildings. I hum to myself as I freeze a group of cowering people.

"Fell in-nto a burning ring of fire..."

I snap the iron manacles from the sorry group and pull them inside Tree. Evacuating slaves and servants is apparently not high on the priority list of panicked mages.

"And it burns, burns, burns."

I gave Tree orders to place these people inside the storage complex I made. There is still plenty room left inside the stalinist apartment building. I see the frozen humans and beastkin being carried on golden threads as they are placed inside.

"The ring of fire, ring of fire."

I kick a door into smithereens. Startled shouts come from below as I sprint through the rain of fragments into the cellar.

"The taste of love is sweet."

I quickly connect a thread of qi to each and every living signature I see. I don't even have time to thoroughly scan through their auras, but none of the people here have filthy auras like that captain.

"When hearts like ours meet."

I frown a bit and my happy song falters as I find some sort of torture dungeon. Instead of the usual implements like knives and tongs, each implement of pain has something to do with fire. I see some candles and I snatch a box or two of the things. Wax play could be fun with R... Anyway, lots of brands and hot pokers.

The iron bands keeping the sorry figures locked down snap as I freeze and kidnap them. I do a quick scan and sense no more people in this building. I run back outside just in time to avoid a large piece of molten rock smashing into the structure I just exited.

The pressurized magma chamber beneath the island is emptying out now that one of its exit chutes has been cut in half. The explosions are calming down, so I only have the large wave of slowly moving lava to contend with. I speed off through the widely spaced streets and dart inside one of the largest towers.

More slaves and servants get kidnapped as I make my rounds with haste. A scanning process finds a large library higher up, but time is running out. I make sure that building is clear of any living humanoids and stand still.

I punch upwards with all the power inside of my body, smashing the ceiling. I jump through the cloud of stone debris as the shock wave causes half the tower to collapse. My jump is executed perfectly and I only have to punch a large piece of flooring to the side to reach the collection of books.

Ten seconds later they are all safely stored inside my ring and I jump away from the toppling mess. Let's see, any more life signatures? The last mages jump in the boats behind me as the lava reaches the first buildings. I already cleared those, so I spare a few seconds to watch them being swallowed by the glowing front of molten rock.

I spread my senses while observing the toppling buildings, washing half the island in a thin sheet of qi. Only one place still has moving shapes, a large warehouse near the harbour. I look in that direction and see the last boat cutting its lines as the last mage climbs aboard.

I kick the cobblestone, causing it to shatter under my feet. This is all going to be covered in meters of solidified rock anyway, no need to worry about leaving evidence behind. The large warehouse is a shabby building and the shockwaves of exploding volcanoes didn't do it any favours.

Inside is the sorriest collection of people I have seen so far. Dirty, emaciated and dirty. Did I mention dirty? This must be a new haul, just loaded from the boats. Humans with odd skin colours and a wide variety of beastkin. I freeze them all and pull them inside Tree, ignoring the weak cries coming from them.