Through the Fire

Ostiarium
JP with Bandorchu and Lucian

Alexis considers the fire for the blink of a moment, while pushing her willpower forward to not get lost in the dancing flames. Gods, this fixation is getting dangerously inconvenient.

It is still so strange to her, to seriously contemplate to simply step through the inferno. Scary, even, and not because she fears that boon might just have been a dream conjured by her tattered mind. No, somehow it is so much more frightful to think it is not.

It is a literal test by fire, and it is something she would rather face unobserved and on her own.

“Boost you up? I’ll find another way.”

She suggests over the roaring flames. They can’t tarry long, or they’ll loose him, and Tarmen is the more aggressive fighter between the two of them.

Tarmen had to hand it to these bastards, they were dedicated. He couldn't imagine many Helian soldiers jumping into a burning building, but it seemed today that he was going to be one.
With no time to think of a better way, Tarmen nodded to Alexis and prepared to enter.

Alexis quickly moves adjacent to the wall, close to another second story window. She gives her friend a leg up, supporting his ascend with her own strength.

She watches him closely until she is certain he can get in. Only then she turns back around to the fire blocked side entrance, wondering if she is really going to do this…

Objectively Alexis knows she is not looking into the fire for long.

Subjectively, it feels like half an eternity. Caught between the allure of the dancing flames and the disbelief at what she intends to do, she takes a step forward.
Then another. And another.

Before her frantic thoughts can catch up to her she finds herself sprinting. Right before the first the flames eat away at the walls she jumps and dives through a world of yellow, orange, red and non-heat.
It is yet another moment between the blink of an eye and a lifetime. She has no words to describe the experience.

Alexis bolts through the thankfully open side door and instinctively allows herself to roll over the floor, extinguishing the lingering flames licking at her clothes and armour, not quite as unimpressed by the stunt as her body seems to be.

She stands, and feels herself shaking, as a short check over confirms that, indeed, she remains unharmed.

Skin deep, that is. She knows without a doubt that this will leave a mark much deeper.

Alexis takes a breath and forcefully shifts her focus to the task at hand. It is both a necessity and a temporary escape. Straining her ears for a possible commotion upstairs she moves to locate a way up to support her friend’s effort to catch the saboteur.

Being embraced by the smoke brought up far too many memories, not just from Gra'Akast. Instead of being a hinderance however, it made him keenly aware of how to move about the flame eaten timbers. The man was less informed it seemed, looking to be questioning his choice after seeing Tarmen join him in the room they were in. He felt liking offering an easier way out of this, but a glance of the adrenaline fueled glare told him peace was no option, not even when faced with a fiery death. Respectable.

So began the dance. Tarmen making his way across the now warping wood and the man looking for any way out. He moved as fast as he could, seeing tongues of fire licking up the walls and through cracks in the floor. The smoke was getting thicker as well, making him crouch to avoid inhaling as much of it and making his progress slower. This stance was enough to give the man courage it seemed, as Tarmen soon lost sight of him through the doorway into the larger room, only to be tackled as he tried to hurry after him.

Tarmen once again found himself on the bottom of the scuffle. Anywhere else it would have been fine, but with their disturbance and the time it had taken to get here, Tarmen could feel the heat very close below him, the smell of singed hair telling him it was far too close for comfort.

Alexis’ head shoots up as she hears crashing upstairs.

Most likely Tarmen is already in the thick of it. She needs to hurry, not because she doubts Tarmen’s capabilities but because this building isn’t likely to stop burning anytime soon, so they really better be quick about it.

Motivated as such, Alexis strides quickly through the slowly growing inferno, finally catching sight of a set of stairs.

Of course that one is in the process of catching fire as well, but as she speeds upstairs at least she can narrowly avoid having to walk right through the next pyre. She’d like to keep her clothes, thank you very much. She also really, really doesn’t want to make firewalking a casual habit. She ist still reeling from her earlier leap of faith (and isn’t that an uncomfortably appropriate figure of speech).

The scuffle the two men found themselves in was quite unique. Both wanted to inflict the most damage, but knew that a punch with too much force could send them into a burning fate.
So instead it was a race to wear the other out first, to condemn them to inhale more of the smoke. Tarmen felt at a disadvantage, both without a hood to filter out the debris and already feeling his backside getting hotter every second.

"Greyriver!" He managed to bellow before feeling his mouth stuffed with a cloth bracer. Too much cushion to bite through to the arm beneath it, leaving him wheezing through his nose. A younger Tarmen would have already recklessly sent them both to the floor below and while he had been fighting to leave that man behind, he also couldn't see Alexis. Perhaps she was still below, the growing fire around them could have already covered any stairs, which meant holding out was not an option.

In between fighting for air and digging his fingers into the mans face, he decided it was time to be reckless. Biting hard on the cloth, Tarmen began bucking himself, already hearing the wood groaning beneath them. It wasn't long before the wood gave, right as the man realized what was happening and tried to leave, only to be sent to the first floor alongside Tarmen.

A shout of her name and a loud crash later, it becomes quite apparent that what she wants or doesn’t want really doesn’t factor in. As per usual.
Two men fall right through the ceiling in a shower of wood and ember, as the mercenary has managed to climb half the stairs.

As they recover Alexis can’t help but look up to the proverbial sky in exasperation before simply jumping down. She avoids the flames just enough to not have anything catch on fire, and races towards the robed man struggling to his feet.

Whether he contemplates to run or finish things with Tarmen, Alexis decides to add to his list of things to consider by brutally socking him in the face, sending him tumbling down again.

Having the man fly off of him gave Tarmen the chance to fully appreciate their landing. Even with the flames growing ever hotter by the second, he needed a second to register that the air in his lungs had indeed been forced out too quickly, not to mention the pain in his back from the jarring stop.
At least the mans arm had cushioned his teeth from knocking together.

Easing himself from sitting to standing, he forced one foot in front of the other and grabbed the man by his neck.

"Which way did you come in?" He called to Alexis.

“Not the same we get out.”
Alexis answers with a somewhat odd expression on her face, looking around for less fiery exits.

Well. There is the main gate, only it is currently blocked by a fallen beam, which is, of course, also on fire, but… she might be able to move it.

She grits her teeth and looks at her companion.

“Knock him out.”

A quick blow had the man go limp, but still alive. Tarmen then looked to Alexis with an inquisitive expression

Alexis nods and sprints over to the burning beam. Tarmen can see her clenching her fists for a moment, but the blink of an eye later she moves below it, ramming her shoulder in it, flames and all, and pushes with all her might.

It takes a moment, but the damn thing finally moves, allowing access to the exit again.
Alexis only stops to pat out the flames on her armour, then proceeds to kick the gate open.

Finally she returns to help Tarmen, her countenance unreadable.