Zaya heard it as clear as day, she turned entering the cave back, weaving through the reptilians, trying to break the wall on the right, at this point a heavy strike attacked her from the back. It was one of the reptilian creatures. The calm voice from deep in the cave suddenly yelled "kill them all!"
"You have to make it, I can't hold much longer, they would be barriers on your part." Zaya raged uncontrollably as she began slashing through the dozens of reptilian creatures with her claws.
Her face tinted with red, blood splashed everywhere from left to right, some tried to escape out of the cave but she caught up, killing them all, not leaving anyone alive.
Then she heard the voice again, "Break the wall on the right. Find me! I cannot hold it much longer." The strange voice said again. Zaya was reluctant as she stared at her hands filled with blood. At first why should she follow the voice she asked herself, but there was some sense of familiarity in the tone, maybe she could finally meet another half‑breed fox she thought.
She began smashing the wall on the right with one of the large weapons of the remains of the reptilian creatures. Soon enough, it broke into pieces revealing a passage with walls plastered with glittering bronze alloys, along with the ceramic floor.
It was beautiful as there were other symmetrical designs on it. She dashed in through the narrow way at breakneck speed.
After a while of continuous sprinting she stopped at her front where two paths. "Where should I go?" she yelled expecting for the strange voice to answer.
"Down!" the voice yelled. "Be quick, purple one, or you might not make it in time." Zaya stomped on the ground repeatedly.
It broke, sending her deeper into the mountain. To her surprise she crashed among more reptilian beasts but this time in thousands.
"I'm going to die," muttered Zaya to herself.
"You do not have the time to die!" the strange voice yelled. "Assert your dominance, use the ancient gift of the mighty growl." Zaya then remembered the growl she'd made when Zoey was in danger, but how will that stop these thousands of these reptilian creatures from trying to kill her she asked herself. It might attack and even kill some but not enough to kill all. She thought, without any further hesitation she growled mightily, the ground below her shook, the air ravaged sending some of the reptilian creatures flying.
After the loud and powerful growl, all of the fire creatures began clearing the way, all separating towards one side. Zaya stood still at alert. There was a loud shriek right from the ground a few miles away from Zaya's position as a three‑headed snake came twisted out from the ground, lava dripping from its tail.
"Kill this," the strange voice spoke. "It'll be the only way to cross the cursed bridge. Speak to me not till you've crossed it. Make haste, I cannot hold this much longer." The voice spoke louder.
Zaya expected the three‑headed snake to move and attack her, but it was seemingly stuck to the ground, it only laid there staring at her far away. Then Zaya went forward at full force ignoring the pains in her back, her torn mouth and her definitely broken bones.
The snake shot out some liquid from its mouth, Zaya did not need to think to know it was poison, she dodged, aiming straight for a solid attack, while suspended in the air, she then thought what was she going to strike with? Surely her claws were not enough to kill the beast and she was already halfway, stopping this momentum would only lead to a fatal injury. Zaya could only leap over the dangerous snake landing on the other side.
The snake turned its head firing towards Zaya, by facing the back she dodged again and again. Zaya then dashed into the midst of the reptilian creatures grabbing a rocky hammer in the hands of one of the reptilian warriors, she went towards the great snake aiming for its head, she was sure she had it. She dodged all the incoming poison spills coming from the snake.
She hit the hammer on one of the snake's heads. It dealt fatal damage, but was not close to satisfying. Zaya saw that the once still army had begun to loosen as she looked like she was not a match for this beast ahead of her. She moved forward again, rage boiling around her body, this time going for its eyes. She managed to avoid all the incoming poison attacks, she then went and dove for its eyes but just as she had assumed the eyes were even harder than its scales.
She had expected this to occur, she then used that opportunity to step on the snake's head and gave the loud deafening growl facing the head she stood on. The force was powerful, reaping her mouth even harder getting the torn part really close to her neck, she shot upwards sending the wild beast smashing into the ground which sent her flying upwards. She reached towards the ragged ceiling of the mountain hole and, giving a tough punch to the loose ends, it began raining large rocks. The soldiers stood still watching the battle with no care for their lives.
Zaya grabbed the largest rock heading for the head of the snake that she just took out; she hoped it was the main head. With a hit it was sent into immense pain, the three‑headed snake hit the ground in a loud thud signifying its death, its body began to dissipate into shrouds of light.
Zaya began dodging the falling rocks. As she stared at the tail that was stuck to the ground, it didn't vanish along with the other body parts. Zaya went closer to it. She could see that the tail of the snake was stuck to the hole in the lava. It looked like a spear, it was burning immensely. She removed it from the lava raising it up like she had just conquered an empire, immediately all the dying warriors stood in attention hitting their weapons on the ground with their other hand on their chest simultaneously and bowed.
Zaya stared at them as they were being bombarded by rocks yet they didn't flinch. She then screamed the loudest she could, "Leave! Return to your homes." She was not really certain on where their homes were or even if they had homes. But seeing them being crushed by the rocks was not a satisfying sight, the soldiers disbanded their formation, running for their lives.
The remnants of the three‑headed snake was a golden staff stuck to the ground, Zaya pulled the staff. The voice then spoke again to find the bridge, she ran straight ahead hoping for her to stumble upon the bridge the voice was talking about.
She focused, closing her eyes trying to sniff it out, yet still she couldn't point out if anything like that existed. Zaya then realized she's looking for a magical bridge her physical senses couldn't possibly help, though she might have probably had some, she didn't know how to use it. Even till the extent of finding a cursed bridge.
She grabbed one of the reptilian warriors standing close to her like it was waiting for an order.
"Where is the cursed bridge?" asked Zaya. The reptilian warrior unafraid, pointed in a particular direction.
"Follow me," Zaya yelled, she was sure the reptilian warrior didn't understand her language but definitely understood her gestures.
Zaya sprinted aiming for where the reptilian warrior pointed, her feet pacing quickly at a speed that could not be visible to the naked eyes, with the reptilian warriors running behind her they aimed towards where the bridge was located.
When they arrived at the location, just as Zaya had thought, it was a huge icy wall. She was about to give it her best punch when the reptilian warrior stopped her and raised its hands. Red energy engrossing its palms it then focused the power on the wall. The illusion disappeared revealing a dark portal. The reptilian entered the portal, Zaya following, as she took a step, the energy raging portal it seemed to have dragged her in forcefully.
Zaya and the reptilian arrived. They were in a big rock shaped as a dome at the center upwards Zaya could see the blue sky. She could sense the volcano had disappeared along with any other traces of the reptilian creatures. Her gaze then fell on the bridge just a few meters ahead of both of them, it was weak, tinted white, with ropes as railings, some parts of it patched with blood. What was below the bridge seemed like an eternal abyss of darkness. The bridge led to a shallow path she couldn't quite sense.
Zaya was about to take a step when the reptilian stopped her with its arms stretched forward. Red energy began engrossing its body, enveloping it. When the energy cleared, Zaya was staring at a girl who looked at least two years younger than her.
The girl then spoke, "Purple one, I've been waiting for you."
"What's going on?" Zaya said startled. "How are you a human?!"
The girl then said, "I am Nyx, a half‑breed of the fox clan, there's not much time to explain, some dangerous creatures are coming and it's my destiny to protect you from them. Hurry!"