Hazardous Expeditions

The warm environment encased the ash land's hot pools of lava spewing bubbles in the air. The heat in the air was harsh for most dinosaurs who inhabited the island, most staying away from the intense environment. Footsteps lay imprinted in the ashy ground followed by feather marks from a low hanging tail that swept on the ground as the dinosaur it belonged to walked. Merlot, a brown sucho had ventured into the ash lands wanting to enjoy some of the intense heat , his blue eyes piercing through his dark facial complexion. His pale grey snout sniffing the ground trying to pick up scents from past dinosaurs that maybe had made their way into the lands themselves, only picking up the ashy smell from the overflowing lava pools.

The large dark rock cliffs overhung and surrounded the rather orangy area , rocks crumbling and falling into the various lava pools. Merlot kept his distance from the rather hot area’s as he knew they had a tendency to pop from the pressure, as he kept his pace it was getting rather warmer shaking his feathers to get a breeze under them with the little they could fluff up. He let out a growl of annoyance as heat was not his favorite due to being a feathered individual of his species, before looking at his surroundings.

“This place seems a lot warmer than I remembered, and the lava seems to be a bit more active than usual” letting out a sigh. The stumbling rubble falling made loud sounds as they fell. As he kept walking more ash stirred due to the movement and shaking he was doing, little did the carnivore know he was causing unknown damage to himself. He came to a opening where more rocky area’s lay flat stacked onto eachother, this was the main lava pool area in the ash lands. Its ground lay lined with various sizes of lava pools spewing out gas bubbles that popped in the air due to the heat and pressure that was under the ground. Merlot growled at the loud popping sounds as some lava splashed close to his feet taking a step back, his tail curling to his body so it wouldn’t sway over the other lava pools.

“This place seems a lot more dangerous the last time I was here, the activity seems more aggressive” he said looking at the now cooled lava splash on the ash near his foot “ best keep going” he added before stepping over the spot. Making his way to a less warmer spot taking a seat in the ashy ground preening his feathers for a moment before looking around. As he sat there Merlot’s head began to hurt due to the intense heat he was experiencing shaking his head due to the discomfort he was feeling. Merlot sighed before getting up to continue his journey through the harsh area as he kept going white bones lay bright in the black ashed ground , unfortunate victims who had gotten lost and couldn’t make it out. He leaned down sniffing them, worrying flooding his mind slightly as the bones meant something had gone wrong for them while here, the large sucho could hold his own but it did worry him what could be lurking within the dark areas of the lands.

“Ah my head what is with this sudden headache” he groaned to himself, his head now throbbing from the heat. “I might need to find a better place to rest from this heat” he added before beginning his search for a suitable spot to rest for a bit. Letting out an annoyed growl from his jaws snapping at the ash that got in his eyes as it floated through the air from the movement causing it to stir up. As he made his way down a pathway that lay uncovered from the ash it began to become a lot more rocky than before making it hard to traverse , rubble rolled down the rocky pathway as Merlot moved carefully down it seeing an open flat spot being a promising spot to take a quick rest. With a misstep from the sucho his toes slipped and getting caught on the rocky terrain taking a rough stumble down the pathway, Merlot growled in pain his claws catching himself closer to the bottom as he lay his body full of pain from the fall, ash entering his lungs making it hard for him to breath. His increased breathing from the rough fall was not helping his case, Merlot laid still slowly rolling over getting to his feet painfully.

“Well…that was painful, and now my feathers are messed up,” he said, fixing his feathers and lifting his leg due to soreness. Seeing the spot he was trying to get to in the first place, lifting himself up onto a flat lava rock stumbling before flopping onto the smooth surface. Sighing as the painful fall and soreness was getting to him, along with the pounding headache he was experiencing still.

The heat was now getting intense causing Merlot to overheat as he rolled on the flat rock, growling as he was uncomfortable and needed to get moving, and resting was not doing the trick. Merlot stood shaking his head once again trying to refocus, turning to head up a safer pathway, he finally made his way fully up before trying to catch his breath. “ Something is off with the environment in here, and it's very wrong” he let out a rough mumble before heading the way he had come from getting ready to pass by the now steaming lava pools. As he made his way through the rough area the lava pool's head started a large stir of ash clouds laying in the way where Merlot had to go, the stirred up ash now had Merlot wary of crossing through it. It was the only way the carnivore had to go, no other paths seemed doable for the mostly water dwelling dinosaur.

With narrowed eyes Merlot shook his feathers pushing the fatigue to the back of his mind, letting out a large groan before clenching his jaws waiting for the ash cloud to thin out. As the ash was thick and hard to see through as he waited it soon started to thin before seeing a spot he could get through. As he moved with large strides his feet left imprints in the dark ash, the ash cloud was thick and Merlot was now in the thick of the cloud, his lungs filling up and it was now harder to breathe. With narrowed eyes Merlot’s vision was blurred, the lava pools bursting with every pressure release it gave off, it was now too dangerous to focus on the pain running through his body. Merlot now was in a full sprint soon breaking out of the cloud, his path now clear and he was approaching the edge of the ash lands skidding to a stop the intense heat now leaving his feathers and his lungs feeling a lot clearer, now being out of the large stirred ash clouds.

The large sucho was freed of the intense headache and fatigue he was feeling being in the ash lands. He narrowed his eyes looking back at the edge of the land trying to figure out what he just experienced. Letting out a sigh of relief now being out of the very dangerous area , as it seemed something was causing the lava flows to be more active, the pools especially. As he caught his breath fully Merlot stood still sore from his rocky tumble, it was time to go on as whatever was going on was not good for any dinosaur who dared going into the lava flows, turning to sniff at the ash that was stuck to his feathers blowing it off before letting out a low growl. He wanted nothing to do with the ash as it seemed to be a part of the problem seeing as soon as it touched him it caused the irritating symptoms and the intense heat feeling he was having.

Merlot needed to figure out what was going on as this was not normal the lava flows were never that active during the times he was in there last exploring. This was new environmental activity and it seemed like a ticking time bomb from whatever was causing the intense heat, all Merlot knew was he was not going back into that wasteland , leaning down to lick his wounds that he had gained from his rough adventure before finally taking the steps to leave. Letting out some last coughs that were held in his chest from breathing in too much of the ash, battered and bruised was not a great look for Merlot and it showed. A little ways down the shore Merlot had found himself a resting spot where he laid down preening his feathers getting any of the leftover ash that had stuck to him, a lingering headache still at the back of his head. But it was time for rest and he needed it.