Zaya was staring straight at the painting, seeming like she was stuck to it. What does this mean Zaya? Asked Ashara.
Zaya was about to respond when she abruptly shifted her gaze to where the hot lake was. "Leave now everyone!" Something dangerous is coming!" she yelled.
Before the others could react, there was an earthquake, the ground below shook mercilessly.
They all stumbled, hitting the ground hard, icicles began to drop from the cave ceiling. Amidst the chaos, Zaya yelled "No!!" her voice matching the ravaging sound of the earthquake.
She transformed to her fox form, tearing apart her suit like it was made of delicate rubber, she yelled louder.
"Leave now, forget about us!" Before the others could grasp what was going on, she launched towards Zoey.
The ground below Zoey opened, revealing a hole which begun swallowing her. "Zoey, Argh!" yelled Zaya, as she aimed towards the hole, trying all her best to get the slightest grip of her hand, but she failed.
She followed, diving into the dark hole to get her friend. She began leaping from one side of the hole to another, trying all her best to catch the falling Zoey, like her whole life depended on it.
Yet Zoey was still a hair's breath away from her position, Zaya's skin began to itch, as steam clouded the hole.
This could have only meant one thing, she thought, she could feel Zoey was losing her consciousness; the sunken look on her face showed she had blacked out from fear.
The last thing Zaya wanted in this world was one of her friends to die, she gritted her teeth, her fangs puncturing her lips, blood gushing from it. She went for a mighty leap, growling loudly in what felt like sound waves erupting from her mouth.
Grabbing Zoey on the way, the force of the growl was so intense, the hole cracked, the thick rocks that were foundations of the cave around her broke into shackles.
Revealing the source of the steam, Lava, it filled the whole area like a massively great river.
She began dodging the falling rocks, using some as stepping stones, trying all she could to get away from the fiery lake. It was horrifying, her eyes scrambled, looking for a large boulder in the midst of the lava to land on.
She sighted one, but it was a bit far away, she moved swiftly through the rocks, holding the unconscious Zoey in her hands tightly.
She hit the boulder in the lava's midst, dodging the incoming rocks from above without a millisecond of hesitation, muscles pounded in her leg, she launched upwards, sending the mighty boulder into inevitable shackles, leaping to the other ones in her reach.
A dangerous thought crossed her mind: what if the others didn't make it back? She thought if they didn't, they should be half way down towards the boiling volcano.
Veins bulged at the side of the purple foxes head as she kept leaping, searching for her friends.
Distracted, she miscalculated a bit, a stray gigantic rock aimed for her position, tensed, she faced her back towards the rock, clashing with it.
It broke, sending immense pains all through her fox body. She could see her fox form giving out, but she wasn't going to give up. Not yet, she thought to herself, not until Zoey was safe, even with the pain in her body, she twirled around frantically, spinning faster than fan blades, hands stretched forward with Zoey in her arms.
She threw Zoey upwards as she fell back towards the volcano, coughing a mouthful of blood. Zoey was not safe yet, Zaya was sent off from her weak trance as she sniffed out some shrieks far away beyond the lava, she felt strange primordial energy erupting from these beings, as it snapped her back to life, they were coming for her.
She looked upwards to Zoey, she was faraway indeed, over half a mile upwards, Zaya knew she wouldn't last long over there, she was not protected at all, and her warm coat only made the heat worse in the lava.
She could see two rocks aiming directly at Zoey's position; the slightest hit from those two rocks would definitely lead to her death. Now she was angry, there was a searing pain in her back, that stray rock had really sent her flying, Zaya hardly ever felt the need to use her power to the utmost level, but right now, she was standing face to face with death.
The possible death of someone she knew, she realized how a matter of life and death can push one past her limit. In that moment, she felt something inside of her awakening.
She growled, her voice resounding through the volcanic area, far louder than a carnival's speaker, tougher than the cry of a thousand ocean waves, her mouth tearing apart from the force it took out.
She balanced herself on air as she took one last leap on a rock, sending it straight to the lava, as though it had been attacked by lightning. It hit the boiling larva like a meteor, creating powerful tidal waves around the whole volcano, a huge part of where the large rock hit became void of the slightest trace of lava.
As Zaya tore through the air, all the falling rocks dispersed from the area she scraped through, as though they were hit by an invisible bomb, because of the immense momentum she carried.
She headed for Zoey, catching Zoey on the way, quickly transformed to her regular self, so as not to kill the defenseless Zoey.
She could see the upper cave above, she tensed her muscles, ready for collision, transforming back, hitting the cave's ceiling, directly stumbling away from that position, so as not to fall back into the hole.
Zaya felt total pain writhe all through her body, she knew it was not over yet, but her fighting power was drained, her fox form left, refusing to return, she was absolutely weak, she hit the ground along with Zoey, she held.