Eliane's eyes narrowed with a focus that would make her sword instructor proud. She grasped the cold, dark Sea-Stone of Jannali's cuffs, her small hands glowing with a gentle, internal heat. The metal resisted, humming with a latent energy meant to suppress power, but it was no match for the awakened heritage of a Lunarian. The cuffs grew warm, then hot, glowing with the same cherry-red intensity as her own had. With a sharp, grating crack, they split apart and fell to the stone floor with a final, definitive CLANK.
Jannali shook her wrists, rubbing feeling back into them with a grimace. "Cheers, mate. Nasty bits of kit, those."
Before she could say more, a new sound tore through the dungeon's silence. A deep, blaring WHOOP-WHOOP-WHOOP erupted from horns mounted somewhere in the fortress above, a relentless, rhythmic alarm that vibrated through the stone walls and floor, shaking loose a fine mist of ancient dust from the ceiling.
Jannali and Eliane's heads snapped up, their eyes meeting.
Eliane blinked, her brilliant white wings giving an involuntary, nervous flutter. "What…?"
A slow, knowing smirk spread across Jannali's face, cutting through the tension. She tapped her ear, where one of her large golden hoops swayed. "Told ya she wouldn't be sittin' around having a cuppa."
Eliane's worried expression melted into a dawning, hopeful grin. The golden flame on her back danced higher. "You mean…?"
"What else could get the whole kennel barkin' like that?" Jannali said, her voice rising to be heard over the din. She pushed herself up, her athletic form now coiled with ready energy. "Now, what do you say we stop spectatin' and try to get outta this dunny too? Reckon we've overstayed our welcome."
Eliane's grin turned fierce. She gave a firm, confident nod, and with a powerful downbeat of her magnificent wings, she lifted a few inches off the straw-littered floor. The gust of air stirred Jannali's afro and made the torch flame outside their cell door gutter wildly. "Let's go."
"That's the spirit!" Jannali crowed. She strode to the heavy, iron-bound door and pressed her ear against it. Her third eye, hidden beneath her headband, throbbed as she listened to more than just sound. "Right… two big fellas stompin' this way. Sound cheesed off. Standard procedure, probably comin' to check on the noise we already made." She looked back at Eliane, her eyes sparkling with challenge. "Feel like givin' 'em a proper greeting?"
Eliane landed softly, her fists clenched at her sides. The fear was still there, a cold knot in her stomach, but it was now smothered by a warmer, brighter feeling: a sense of her own capability. She wasn't just a captive chef anymore. She was a Lunarian. And her friend was counting on her. She focused on the door, on the thick iron lock. "Should I… melt it?"
"Think like Marya for a sec," Jannali said, leaning casually against the wall next to the doorframe, as if waiting for a bus. "What's faster? Melting through a kilo of iron… or convincing the door to open itself?"
Eliane's brow furrowed. Then, understanding flashed in her blue eyes. She looked at the lock, then at the narrow gap beneath the door. A plan, simple and clean, formed. She raised her hands, not towards the lock, but towards the gap. She concentrated, not on unleashing a inferno, but on shaping the warmth, on pushing it. A focused, thin jet of concentrated heat, visible as a rippling wave in the air, shot from her palms and under the door.
From the other side, they heard a yelp of pain and the sound of something metallic clattering to the floor. "AGH! The floor! It's burnin'!"
Jannali's smirk widened. "Knock, knock."
On cue, the viewing slot on the door slammed open. A furious, red-faced Ogre guard glared through the bars. "What in the black forge are you little—"
He never finished. Eliane, moving with a speed that surprised even herself, didn't use fire. She used her heritage's other gift—natural durability and strength. She shot forward, a blur of white wings and golden flame, and slammed her small, hardened fist directly into the viewing slot. It wasn't a punch meant to hurt the Ogre through the door, but to target the door itself.
The iron plating around the slot dented inwards with a catastrophic CRUNCH. The mechanism holding the slot shut sheared apart. The guard stumbled back with a curse.
"Lock's probably buckled," Jannali observed cheerfully. "Your turn, little chef. Put your back into it."
Eliane planted her boots, grabbed two of the now-loose iron bars, took a deep breath, and pulled. Her wings flared, her halo-flame blazing. The muscles in her arms corded. With a groan of tortured metal that drowned out the blaring alarm for a second, the entire damaged door section ripped free from its hinges in a shower of stone dust and splintered wood.
Jannali didn't hesitate. As the stunned guard fumbled for his weapon, she sprang through the jagged opening. Her retractable spear, Anhur's Whisper, was already in her hands, extending to its full length with a series of sharp clicks. The sea-stone tip swept the guard's legs out from under him before he could swing his club. He hit the ground with a floor-shaking thud.
The second guard roared, charging. Jannali twirled her spear, deflecting a wild blow, but the force was immense, driving her back a step. "Bit heavy-handed, mate!"
"Jannali!" Eliane cried out.
"I'm right!" Jannali grunted, parrying another smash. "Now would be good!"
Eliane didn't charge. She raised her hand again. This time, she didn't hold back. A roaring plume of golden fire, shaped by will and worry for her friend, engulfed the second guard's club. He yelled, dropping the superheated weapon, his hands smoking.
Jannali took the opening. A swift, sharp jab with the spear's butt to his temple, and he joined his partner in unconsciousness on the corridor floor.
The alarm screamed around them. The corridor stretched in both directions, dark and ominous.
Jannali retracted her spear, clipping it to her hip. She looked at Eliane, who was breathing heavily, her wings slowly folding against her back, her flame settling to a calm glow. There was no fear in the little chef's eyes now. Only a clear, determined fire.
"Not bad for your first proper shift," Jannali said, offering a genuine, proud smile. "Now… let's go find where they've parked our ride out of this joint."
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