Post by Vio on Apr 11, 2020 7:47:38 GMT -5
Edith #1
Across the seas she had travelled, weeks on end in search of her goal. Now, she had finally arrived at a place that seemed an all too perfect location — a place known only as the Burning Caldera. It did not take a genius to figure out why it was called by such a name. The very air shimmered with fiery heat, dry and desolate was the landscape, and perhaps the only saving grace that made the island somewhat bearable was the innately cold climate of the surrounding sea, so far to the south that the land could well have been frozen over in winter.
“Damn this heat,” cussed Wieliczka Edith, stepping onto the shore. Boots met not with coastal sands, but instead a dense layer of volcanic ash into which she sank a good couple of inches. Heat trapped beneath pestered her feet and ankles, even through her footwear. “Damn it to hell,” she added, spitting for good measure, only to watch saliva sizzle away as it hit ashen sands. It seemed the isle wished to challenge her inner flame, but she paid it no real mind aside from occasionally mopping her brow.
“You sure you want to hang around here, Miss?” asked a scrawny man — her guide to the land who stood firmly in the rowboat used to reach the shore from the main vessel. Few came to the isle — few with any honest reason at least — and she had had to hitch a ride with a research team to get that chance, simply because no other sailor in their right mind had cared to even sail close to the volcanic shore.
“What? ‘Course I’m sure!” Ede answered, harshly.
“I don’t know what you’re hoping to find in these parts,” he added as other boats came to shore. “But, at best I can give you some warning about what’s here, if you’d like?” To the average person, the offering would have been appreciated, but Miss Wieliczka simply stared at him almost expectantly, knuckles on her hips and half a scowl upon her face. “Uh, well,” he coughed, “over yonder is San Icopa, which I’d suggest you avoid unless you want to deal with Goliath Ants. If you follow the coast to the north, you’ll reach Dermit’s Landing. Though,” he added a little more hesitantly, “you’d probably want to avoid that place as well.”“Tch!” Edith mocked:
“Why? Goliath Ants?”“Shady business…”
Wieliczka Edith ❘ #007ba7
Guide ❘ #eeeeee