To land hard and hot

Surprisingly, the fall was not instantly fatal to my lesser shape. However, that is a far cry from being a soft landing. Lava might be molten rock, but it is still rock. Frankly, it probably would have been easier recall bones that didn't facture in some way as I hit the ground. Alas, I had much worse problems limiting my ability to survive very long like this. Namely, the air down here was unbreathable, and I was rapidly burning up. The leva was less quick to transfer its heat to me than, say, water might be, but there's a lot of heat for it to transfer. I can practically feel my body as i desperately try and scramble, no clear goal but 'away'. I had to get out of this somehow, and the only way would require something more solid to hold onto-in absence of me being able to get into the air.

I only made it a few steps before I expired, my vitality failing me-and returning me to my true shape. Naturally, I instantly re-adopt my alternate form-I wasn't going to be testing my new regeneration against my weakness to fire. Now with bones and will anew, what was once a crawl became a sprint-at least, for a few steps, before my legs failed me in a most unpleasant manner. In the brief time before heat took my sight, I knew exactly what I was heading to. A small outcropping near the edge-someplace solid to stand. And more importantly, the source of why there's something solid-a pile of rubble that looked like a collapsed tunnel. A former lava tube that was closed if I had to guess-the slight island from the cooling of the other end, a way out.

Die, revert, reform, repeat. This pattern holds over and over, each time, a little more progress is made, at the expense of my mana. And pain. Lots of pain. people can get used to just about anything unpleasant with enough time-a luxury I didn't particularly have. But making use of Epoch hardened my resolve-rolling over and giving up was not an option anymore. My aim is straight forward it, a bit of progress made each time, until I eventually put my foot on solid ground. Still hot, so it's only a small relief as I but my hands to see how solidly the rubble is wedged-and find myself scorched by the walls. Even trying to push through that shows it to be far to solidly still to move while sticking with this expendable shape.