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The moment they stepped on the rocky plateau, the aag daanav ambled into their range and roared in fury

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The moment they stepped on the rocky plateau, the aag daanav ambled into their range and roared in fury. It was smaller than shyra expected; even from this distance, she could make out that it was as tiny as a human. It was made of dark basalt rocks held in place with flowing magma. To Shyra's amusement, it was even furnished with two long, curving horns.

But the daanav seemed to think it was a gigantic monster, and roared again. Shyra sighed, pulled out her sword, and prepared for battle, though she didn't have the slightest inkling of how to defeat a daanav.

"Why are we pulling out weapons?" Arina asked, placing her hands on her hips. Fitoor giggled at her outburst, drawing a glare from Shyra.

Shyra sighed, though she was getting tired of sighing so often, and gestured to the daanav roaring and beating his chest. "Then how do you suggest we beat that thing?"

"Well, how do you beat fire? With water, of course." Arina said with an infuriating air of superiority. Hira glanced at both of them and stepped forward, indicating that she was going to take on the monster.

"Empress! Please be careful. Do you have a way to defeat it?" Shyra said, trying to pull her back before the daanav got agitated and charged at them. Fitoor joined her and clasped Hira's free hand, glancing at the empress in concern.

"No," Hira said, staring at the monster with a strange calmness. "I just need to follow my heart."

Shyra sighed in exasperation, but she didn't have time to do anything else, for the daanav gave a grunt that meant it zoned in on them. To Shyra, Fitoor, and Arina's horror, it began ambling towards them at a quick pace that was completely at odds with its rotund figure.

Arina grabbed Shyra's book of stories and began flipping through them with a lack of care that infuriated Shyra, but she supposed the current situation warranted such a rough handling of the precious book.

"Come on, come on." she muttered. "Don't you know anything about them, Empress Shyra?"

"W... well," Shyra stammered, pressing the tips of her fingers together in concentration. "When the first explorers came to Ronin in search of livable land, their spaceship couldn't sustain the high temperatures and was short-circuited. The explorers fell into the burning magma and died. It's said that their souls still roam Ronin, and with the help of magic and magma, they can be used to create an aag ka daanav."

"Oh wow," Arina said, pressing her hand to her forehead. "That is so messed up. So that means the daanav rushing toward us is made of lost souls?"

"Well, yes."

"Then how do we defeat it? There must have been a way to kill these things. Uh, no offense intended to the dead souls."

"I don't know! The Maya usually destroyed it on their own when its purpose was served. I doubt anyone ever destroyed a daanav without the Maya..." Shyra said, breaking off when she realized that Arina wasn't listening anymore. Her surge of annoyance died down when she recognized that look on her face.

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