Dune wakes up instantly, getting up and looking around. She sees Arche on the other side of the cave in his new form getting up. He stumbles a little bit with his new legs, but quickly learns. As does Dune.
"YOU TWO, HELP!" Dune hears Armolten shout. Everything rushes back, what happened before meeting the goddess: The fight. Sane and Gher are blasting Armolten with their breath while dodging flames. Armolten looked like she was going to get owned. Arche reacted first, lunging at Sane and knocking her to the ground on her back. He snaps his new jaws at her neck, sinking his larger teeth into her scruffy mane. Sane uses her hind legs and kicks him in the gut, forcing him off. Now they were fighting again. Dune turns her head to Gher, who was currently flapping his wings in front of Armolten while spraying on her head.
It's time to end this for good, was Dune's last thought before she sprinted toward the quarraling creatures, leaping in the air with her jaws wide. Gher saw her, but it was far too late. Dune had bit down on Gher's neck and her claws raked his wings, tearing them like flesh. Now he wouldn't be able to fly. The agonizing shriek that came from Gher tore Dune's ears, which she didn't even know she had now.
Dune threw Gher to the wall, blood from his wings and neck splattering the cave stone. Armotlen regained her strength and went to help Arche with Sane. Dune slowly walked to Gher, who was now coughing up blood. She saw now that a sharp rock had impaled him through the middle of his chest, just missing his heart, and centered right through the trachea. Gher was having trouble breathing.
She loomed over Gher with a shadow casted by the fire. "Where is the stone tablet about the portal?" Dune demanded, stepping on his tail and tearing a bit of the tail-end off. Gher would have screamed if he could.
"I-It doesn't- cough... matter." He mutters, giving Dune aggressive eyes. "A little friend has already begun the process." Gher tilted his head to the side. Dune followed his gaze to Sane, who was being pinned down by Arche and Armolten at the moment.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, sand blasted her face. Dune stumbled back, shaking her head. She heard Gher shout, "GET THE ROTTEN CORPSE AND GET IT TO TIO!" Dune reacted quickly, swinging her tail and stabbing him right in the heart. Gher was paralyzed, giving Dune enough time to pick up a rock and bash his head in. Blood got everywhere, all over her new body. When she was finished, she turned to see Arche and Armolten on the ground, with Sane carrying a dead khemador. The same khemador from the volcano. She was flying out the other way, a different exit from the way they came.
"Come on, come on! We gotta catch up!" Dune said, already dashing through the cave. She could hear the other two trampling behind her.
Sane was already several wing beats ahead of them, flying through the cave as if she already knew the layout and where every rock was. Dune kept running into large boulders and stalactites, which made it easy for Arche and Armolten to catch up. Luckily, the bright blue flames from Armolten lit up the cave enough for them to keep running.
It took ages, and multiple run-ins with many rocks, but the trio eventually saw a natural light. Dune sped up. She saw Sane in the air for a moment before she dove downwards into clouds of steam. Dune skidded to a halt at the edge of the cliff and looked down. The steam clouds were thin and easy to see through. She could easily shape out small pools of water and large ferns and exotic flowers. This must be the hot springs. Luckily, it was cherry blossom season, so they didn't have to worry about any hostile reptilian carnivores keeping warm in the water. Dune could also see another aereis shape that wasn't Sane.
Arche came to Dune's left while Armolten stopped behind her, catching her breath. "How are we going to get down there without wings?" Arche said, kicking a rock off the edge and watching it tumble down."
"So we aren't going to talk about how in Sonaria you two went from spiked lizards to even more spiky lizards?" Armolten said, coming to stand next to them, inspecting the height for a second before inspecting them.
"NO!" Arche and Dune said in Unison. Armotlen gave them a stunned look.
Dune shook her head and raised one claw. "Later, we will, but not now. We're all trying to stop the end of the world right now."
Armolten nodded. "Right. Yes, totally our top priority right now." She said, backing up. "We need to look for a way down, we won't survive that jump."
She was right, they were way too high up to survive jumping. Dune looked around for a way down. She edged past Arche and went left, looking for any slope downwards. She saw a hill that descended, but it looked very steep. One wrong step and they'd all probably roll and die.
But... it was the only chance they had. She didn't see another way down.
"We'll try going down this way," Dune called, getting Arche's and Armolten's attention. "One at a time, though. We can't mess each other up." Dune didn't wait to decide who was going down first. She stepped carefully on the slippery moss-covered rocks. One step at a time, she slowly learned how to use her new pair of legs. They were useful for propping her up like crutches. She kind of hoped Arche was watching her movements.
The sun was starting to set below the trees of the redwood forest, which was just barely visible from the mountain covering most of the view. Dune's attention was quickly switched to the pair of aereis at the top of the hot springs. Somehow, her vision was much clearer than before. She could make out three, totally fresh corpses of a hemokai, a hikorshi, and a khemador. All laid out in a line. She could also see the color of the new aereis. Male, by the longer hind leg protrusion. The main body was a bright yellow with dark blue wings. The tertiary patters were a glowing bright yellow. They were a glimmer.
The glimmer aereis was drawing a circle around the three bodies with a green substance. Their eyes were scrunched up. Maybe whatever they're spreading smelled.
Dune took another step and slipped. She skidded down the rocks for a few seconds before something bit her tail. She had to force herself not to scream while she positioned herself again where she wouldn't slip. Dune looked behind and saw that Arche had leaped forward past Armolten with her tail tip in his jaws.
"Let go," Dune whisper-yelled. Arche released her, and they all continued downwards. It took a few minutes, but they all made it down. The downside is, they were all the way down at the bottom of the hot springs. Now they had to run up the smooth rocky hills, but at least that would be easier.
Except, something was happening. They couldn't see the two aereis, but there was definitely a green glow at the top. And above it, a glowing green orb was rising into the air, higher and higher...
"Son of an kendyll!" Dune shouted, completely ditching her friends and running to the source. It was happening. The summoning had begun. Was it too late though? Was it irreversible?
She could hear Arche telling her to wait, but she didn't answer back. There was no time to wait! Sar'Hingaro was being summoned!
Dune made it up the hill, and a foul smell filled her nose and lungs. She saw Sane looking at the neon green orb in the sky while the other aereis was chanting something in a strange tongue.
"STOP!" Dune shouted, and the two fliers turned towards her. The yellow aereis stopped their chant, and the green orb stopped ascending into the sky. It didn't shrink. It just floated there. Dune could see that the corpses were the source of the portal increasing in size.
Sane got into a fighting stance. "Tio, keep chanting," Sane said, and Tio nodded, turning back.
But Dune stepped forward raising one front talon, but Sane growled, licking her snout horn and growling. Dune didn't take another stop. "Wait! Don't do it!" She said. Armolten and Arche were just now coming up. Dune used her tail to stop them from moving any closer. "Don't do this, er... uh... Name?"
"Tio..." The yellow glimmer said, glancing up at the orb. "My name is Tio." His eyes seemed a bit worried. Maybe I can try and convince him, Dune thought.
"Look, Tio, you don't want to do this," Dune said slowly. "Whatever comes out of that portal, we won't be able to stop it easily. Gher is dead, and I have a feeling he manipulated you into doing this for him."
Tio looked down at the ground. "Sane told me about Gher," he said, looking at his paws. "But he didn't manipulate me. Sure, his idea was terrible. But I have my own intentions of opening this portal, and so does Sane. We all have a reason to open it."
"What could you possibly want from Sar'Hingaro?" Dune asked. She looked at her friends. Armolten was shooting spikes with her eyes at Sane, who returned the favor. Arche was just standing there, ready to jump at whatever.
"Well, Sane wants to battle Sar'hingaro," Tio said, waving a wing at the brown, angry aereis. "I want to go into Daimona and bring back a few things to study," He picked up a self-crafted neck pouch made from morinus pelt and tossed it over his head, hanging it from his furry mane. "And Gher-"
"I know what Gher wants," Dune hissed. "He wanted to summon Sar'hingaro to kill my friend, who's currently ruler of Skeleton's mesa, because she killed Igiris. And Gher was a gay simp for that stupid fish blood smelling creature."
Behind her, Armolten and Arche burst out laughing, completely changing the vibe. It took a minute for their laughter to die down before Arche gestured to Dune to keep talking. "Aaanyways, don't. Do not open the portal, just don't! Sonaria is in huge danger if you do, and you'll be blamed for all of it."
Tio looked down at his paws, then at the rotting bodies, up at the orb, then back at Dune. He closed his eyes and shook his head. "I'm sorry," He said. "I really am. But this... this is my purpose. My destiny, to record all of Sonaria's history." Tio slowly looked towards Sane, who was desperately waiting for the to-go signal. He nodded his head toward them. "Buy me some more time." He told her. Sane looked at Dune with a wide, toothy grin and leaped into the sky before diving down, right toward Dune.
Sane was only inches away from Dune when Arche leaped in between both of them. Sane rammed into the teal knariki, and they both quarreled once again. Only this time Armolten was there to help. She blasted fire at Sane's hide, forcing her to release her bite on Arche's neck, giving Arche a better vantage point and kicking the cursed aereis off.
While the three were fighting, Tio was chanting a lot faster than before. The portal was rising quickly now, and at the same time, it was beginning to open. Dune could see Daimona clearly. It was a wasteland. There were no plants, at least no living plants. Geysers sprayed green, toxic gas, and the ground and rocks were all... dead.
In the distance, though. Something was coming. She could barely even see it. It looked like a black and green blob that was getting larger. But really, it was a creature coming for the portal... Dune panicked. She had to stop Tio. Right now, he was on his hind legs, chanting louder in an old tongue. Dune hissed, sprinting toward him. Tio didn't see her until she leaped forward and onto his back. Tio stopped chanting and shrieked. It was surprisingly easy to pin him down. Sane couldn't even close enough to help him without being stopped by Armolten or Arche.
Dune dug her claws into Tio's forehead. "Reverse this!" She demanded right into his left ear. Tio grunted, flapping his wings and kicking his hind legs out. To Dune, it was just pure luck that Tio was scrawny and had no experience in fighting.
"Urgh... N-No!" He shot back. "This is- it's for history and science! But mainly history!"
"You'll be history if you keep opening-" Dune was cut off by a loud, booming roar that shook the earth below. Sane, Arche, and Armolten stopped fighting and looked up. Dune followed their gaze. Tio tried to roll his eyes up enough to see.
A massive creature's head came from the portal. It had a head crest that acted as some sort of mask. Engraved on its forehead was a small dot, a runic S, and two thin eyes on each side of its head, all the same color of bright green. Long, lanky horns came from under the crest, and its head narrowed forward. The underside of its neck was plated with pale green. This was it. Sar'hingaro. It had to be...
"Open the portal completely," it demanded, looking down at the mess of tier three creatures. Dune was frozen in shock. This was only the head and neck of this creature and it was huge! Dune was flooded with worry, and her hope started to drain.
How are we going to defeat this thing? Dune asked herself. Something sprayed her in the back of her head. Shocks of electricity and numbness spread through her body. Tio took this chance to arch his back upwards, knocking her down, and taking into the sky in front of Sar'Hingaro, where Dune wouldn't be able to reach him. Tio was chanting again, and the portal was getting larger. Sar'Hingaro brought fingers through the edge of the portal, as if trying to force it open.
Dune turned to Armolten, who was struggling with Arche to pin Sane down and keep her mouth closed. "Armolten, shoot Tio down with fire!" Dune shouted, swinging her tail up at the yellow furred flier.
"Shouldn't I shoot the massive freaking three-headed creature?" She shouted back.
"NO! BURN TIO-" Dune paused. Armolten did what she was told, and started shooting balls of fire at Tio. She didn't miss a shot, but Tio was only pausing. Dune however, panicked again. Or even more. Three heads? Three? Dune looked up. She was right. Two more heads were on each side of the main head. The heads were mostly the same, except the left had an A engraved, and the right had an R. Yep, this is definitely Sar'Hingaro.
Sane managed to turn herself to the side enough to bite onto Arche's chest. He screamed, stumbling off of Sane, which gave her the room to spray her breath at Armolten and not stop to reload for a second. Armolten stopped breathing fire. She was paralyzed and numb. Sane lifted into the air and hovered there, continuing to attack the blue-fire valkurse while Arche's pathetic attempt at stopping her was to throw rocks.
Everything that was happening, it was too much. The portal opened enough for Sar'Hingaro to squeeze half his body out. There was no hope of stopping now. Dune looked behind her. If they started running down the hot springs now, they could make it to the Oasis and warn everyone. That really seemed like the only choice. The sun was far gone now, and the moon was rising slowly. They had to go. Now.
Dune picked up a large stone and pelted it at Sane, hitting her right in the head. Sane stopped her breath, and Dune ran to hoist Armolten up. Surprisingly, the fire on her didn't burn enough to hurt, but enough to sting a bit. Arche came over to help.
"We're going to the Oasis right now," Dune said quickly. "Can you run, Armolten?"
Armolten coughed and nodded. "Yeah, yeah, let's go. Now. Agh, stupid minawii-bitten furbag." She cursed, starting to run downwards to the sandstone arch at the very bottom.
"Wait, I thought we were stopping-" Arche was cut off as Sar'Hingaro roared. He was nearly out.
"We can't stop them now!" Dune said, shoving Arch forward. "Move! GO!"
"Jeez! Ok, going!" He said, sprinting downwards. His leg seemed fully healed now. Dune was right on his tail, following the two of them. With one last look back, she saw the creature's massive size looming over Sane and Tio. Sar'Hingaro seemed to be talking to them. The portal still swirling with a bright green smoke glowing against the starry night sky.
Dune didn't know what was going to happen next. But she had one thing to do: Warn Aire and the rest of Sonaria.