Ashes toward the lava

One paper roll appeared in front of Roxy.

"Show me the logs please." She inquired. The text that was on got replaced with another, she read it.

"Oh dear.." Roxy said looking at her wish paper roll.

Ryu was sitting next to her, tensing up. pretending to wear stiffness as calmness.

"That's why wishes should be super precise you dingus!" She politely said to the paper roll.

" You can see others' wishes?" Ryu asked.

" Some people can, you probably do as an apex predator."

"Excuse me, it's apex loser now." He said with a defeated sigh.

"Do not fret my comrade! we'll get the last pack of matches in the morning and it'll be sorted out."

" How? Didn't you throw it in a volcano?"

"It's a special volcano, in the morning we have better chances to extract the pack. "

He was biting the dry skin of his lips. It was almost nine o'clock and the morning was weeks away in his circuits.

Roxy yawned and laid on the hard floor next to the giant cowboy garlic plush of hers while he stood in the middle of the one room flat like a sleep paralysis demon. The heavy clouds covered the starts and the Saturn shaped objects, much less light got in the room.

" It's gonna be okay, I promise. Get your beauty sleep after today's shenanigans."

She closes her eyes, breath evens almost immediately, falling asleep.

'Why did you throw it in a volcano anyway? ' He thought one eyebrow up, looking at her.

One tendril closes the window extra carefully. The invisible blob flies away.

He flies and flies toward the volcano in the depth of the orange zone. Landing on a snowy mountain's tip for a break, sweating and looking at the far distance. He looked at the sky, an yellow shining object was in the depth of it.

"All that flying and I still in the yellow zone?" He wraps a vast tendril around a block of ice near him, chopping it off.

"Hydrated, let's go"

It was a normal rocky location of land, nothing too special, except for the much darker color of the ground, almost coral black. One mountain had a reddish glow on it's top.

' I hope this is the one she threw the pack of matches in it.' He thought.

Flying near the ground he felt the heat radiating off the rocks.

"This will burn my flesh, well first let's asses the surroundings, as Roxy used to do."

He transformed into his human form, Ivory feet and leather shoes protected against the heat.

The next moment the ground was shaking underneath him.

The clam volcano had a staid feeling to it. It's glow got more luminance, almost overwriting the darkness of the night. The heat increased until the air is thick and woven, making the whole land resamples a boiling bot.

Ryu didn't know how to react. the moment he decided to transform back the lava splashed violently out of the volcano. Solid rocks and melted ones in the air made flying impossible, he know he didn't have enough precision while flying. Dodging anything isn't in the equation.

But with the ground not being a pinch safer as everything eventually succumbs to gravity he flew anyway. spawning into the smallest size he could manage, the previous size, roughly around a watermelon turned smaller.

The apple sized blob dodged in a sloppy way. The smoke filled the air that was already suffocating with its temperature.

'It's alright, just fly toward it then I can slash it!'

"You can not slash me with a heart as heave as yours, child."

A voice in his head spoke. Steady and staid, as if knowing what its talking about.

That combined with the heavy smoke suffocating him, Ryu had to land on the ground.

He involuntarily turned into hid human form, coughing.

" what was that?"

"unprepared." The voice rang again in his head. He remembered Roxy saying ' It's a special volcano'.

His mouth got dryer, sweat pouring. As if the air itself disintegrating from the high heat.

' Should I go back and try tomorrow? That probably the logical thing to do.'

Despite knowing what he should do, he contemplated looking at the uneven rough ground.

'The auction is after tomorrow, if they found the sculpture messing this morning, the management will cancel my spot at the auction.'

The face of a blond somebody with eye bags came to him. The blood in his veins boiled more violently than the new patch of lava splattering out of a volcano.

His teeth clenched against each other, his frown got deeper. A vein in his neck is apparent.

' No, you're not gonna ruin everything again. Not this time!'

He covered his nose with his sleeve, marching toward the target that was firing back even more and more lava and volcanic rocks.

He managed to spawn one tendril forward wrapping it around a bigger rock, closing himself to the target and burning himself in the same time. The tendril was regenerating while the heat of the rock burn it continuously.

A new sharper tendril was spawning from his shoulder at weaker rate, still pulling himself forward in the thick smoke. Pupils as narrow as a line.

The rock's heat wins, tearing up the tissues of the tendril. He screeched, letting the smokes reach him. The gases filled his system, vision blurry, balance tottering. He falls back on his back.

His consciousness wobbled for couple minutes, not recognizing much. The smoke rose above, making room for what's breathable.

Slightly waking up, barely registering anything. Eyes on the smoky sky, dark and gray, resembling a ceiling in his mind. Panic sets in, scrambling to move he realizes the lava is drenching his right foot, he's on a rock swimming in lava, any move threatens to let him swim personally in the golden red sea.

Forced to lay down he tries to not look at the sky, to not feel his back pressed against the ground. Vision shaking and breath quickens, his limbs trembled. He knew what's coming next, what's his involuntarily reaction gonna be. Leaning to it was the only way to riddance, he closes his eyes.

The sunrise awakes him truly this time, feeling everything ache as he stands up. The trusty ivory still intact, toes and heels disfigured. but still functioning. Looking at the scenery in front of him. Once lofty standing tall volcano is now slashed in half lava flowing slowly between the abundance of cracks in destroyed rocks. He looks down toward the next solid spot, skipping around the moraine for a while. Wondering around until seeing a pack of matches, floating unharmed in lava.

Roxanne drills holes in clouds with the speed of broomy, the moment the clouds get grayer she flies straight down, stopping on the sight of a volcano cut in half horizontally.

' He should be here' She looks left and right. Between the cooling lave and smashed rocks blue flames tells her where to go.

Flying slowly toward Ryu he sees the worry behind the neutral expression.

As they fly back home he looks back at the volcano. He see a normal glowing mountain, as if nothing has happened.

"The volcano feeds on whatever bothers people but it's only active at night or when you get inside it. When you get out it goes back to normal, waiting for another victim. Extracting the pack from inside would've been much chill exercise." She answers the silent question.

He looks back one last time.

" I guess I could've waited."