Firestorm Event

Song had heard the call. They were not sure what was going to happen, but they sure were curious to find out! Traveling to the plains had been quite a task for the small Seafloor Esk, but they felt their energy returning to them as soon as they started getting close to the destination and seeing how a lot of other Esk had already gathered to the site. Even one of the great Wanderers was there! Walking suddenly felt really slow and troublesome to the eager creature, so with a tiny hop Song got wind under their fur fins and started to soar through the air like it was water. Sun was just about to rise above the faraway mountains when they landed again, and the Wanderer of the Plains, Vetru, was ready to start their speech...

---

After finishing their speech Vetru started to trot around, greeting all the Esk that had gathered to the field. Song was not in a hurry to have their turn so it took some time, but finally the Wanderer noticed how a couple of tiny visitors from faraway seas had gathered on one of the charred tree stumps.

"Well hello there. Who might you be?" Vetru asked politely.

"My name is Spud!" the smaller one started.

"I'm Song of the Abyss", the other one chimed.

"Oh? Does that mean you sing?" Vetru continued. They seemed mildly surprised by the idea, but Song didn't mind it at all.

"I sure do! Would you like to hear? I can sing you the prettiest song I know. I learned it from an old, old whale", the marine Esk excitedly suggested.

"Um... Sure. I guess?" the Wanderer said and glanced around. It's not that they wouldn't have been curious to hear such thing, but there were still so many Esk they hadn't had time to greet. What if someone saw them as a bad host for not getting their duties out of the way first? What if--

But there was no time for more worries before Song started to hum their surprisingly sad, slow melody. It indeed sounded like it originated from dark, lonely depths of the vast ocean, being sung by an ancient animal that had seen the beauty of this world and was now heartbroken because they knew they would be soon forced to depart from it. It made even Vetru's anxiety fade for a little while, and a few other curious Esk also came to listen the Song of the Abyss.

---

After spending the better part of the morning playing games with All Ball's quartz ball, the Esk involved ended up taking a short rest together. And short indeed did that break end up being, as everyone's heads jumped up as soon as they heard the distressed voices echoing further away.

"Fire! Fire is spreading!" Every larger Esk jumped to their feet to see better, and to their horror they noticed it wasn't just a terrible prank: flames were really spreading to the beautiful meadow. It all caused what could only be described as a stampede: friends were looking for each other, rescue groups meant to save animals were formed, Vetru was being searched... And in the middle of it all, a group of small Esk was left to seek comfort from each other.

"We can't run fast enough! What if the fire surrounds us?"

"There's already so much smoke..."

"What should we do?" Panic was spreading and making thinking straight difficult, which must be why everyone was so relieved when Song finally made a suggestion.

"Hey I know, I'll fly us all out of here!" the Marine Esk that commonly moved by levitating chirped. Soon enough all of the tiny Esk (Well, except Little Volcano, who had no idea why everyone was so afraid of such nice thing as fire. It was almost like lava!) tried their best to get a hold of Song, and with huge effort and a lot of grunting the pile of Esk slowly rose up from the ground. They were just starting to move when a more cool-headed Esk ran by and almost angrily yelled at the peculiar sight.

"What are you doing?! You are Esk, you can all levitate! Or even teleport if you want!" The remark made the pile stop in silence. After dumbfoundedly hovering for a while they landed back down and scattered to different directions, all too embarrassed to even talk. Some indeed hopped to air themselves, someone teleported out of the smoky field, and finally only Muscimol was left with Song. The poor Fungi Esk was too scared and powerless to move by themselves, but they were fortunately small enough for Song to carry around with ease. So, without wasting any more time, the Marine Esk escorted their fungal buddy out of the danger before gliding back to the field to see if there was anything else they could do to help.

---

After doing their best to help to get all the animals safely away from the raging fire, Song made their way to the search parties that were looking for Vetru. Using levitation the Marine Esk floated high above the ground, probably the highest they had ever been, to get a better look of the environment. It was a miserable sight: the pretty flower fields were scorched black and ash and smoke was filling the air.

"How did everything go so wrong so fast", Song whined to themselves and flew onwards. They never found a single trace of Vetru, not even a glimpse of their beautiful auric horn, but eventually they found something else: a horrible raging cloud with angry, piercing eyes in the middle of it all. It was emanating such an oppressive, ominous feeling that no Esk seemed to be able to get near it. Song was no different, but even so they kept staring the thunder storm with glazed, mesmerized eyes. It was something bad, that was sure... But also something extraordinary and unique. The feeling it gave to the Seafloor Esk reminded them of some of the ancient horrors they had seen in the deepest, darkest pits of the ocean, in places that most living beings liked to think didn't anymore exist on this planet.

"It's... Beautiful. Not like a flower field, no... But it is", Song pondered when huge bolts of lightning danced around the cloud and illuminated the faintly glowing eyes that were staring through every creature's souls. What was the purpose of it, where had it come from and most importantly what would make it stop this mindless destruction? What in the world could satisfy the hunger of chaos itself?

---

Vetru was finally back! Song hadn't seen if someone had found them or if they had just returned by themselves, but the effect was still the same: every available Esk hurried to the Wanderer to get instructions. And Vetru indeed had brought a plan with them! First they sent big part of the group to summon Elemental forces of water to put out the raging wildfire, and that sounded exactly like a job well suited for an Ocean Esk like Song! But... For reasons they didn't quite understand, Song didn't move. They listened what Vetru wanted the rest of the group to do, and quite honestly the other job sounded much more terrifying: they'd lend Vetru's Enchantment to keep the lightning igniting any more fires. Many Esk looked scared of the idea, but most of them braced themselves and declared they were ready to take on the task anyway. Song shuffled their tiny legs uneasily. It would make much more sense for them to help with water-related issues, but... Maybe that was the problem. Everyone else was doing their best to face their fears, so why Song should've assumed the easiest route would be the right one for them? After all they felt such a weird, strong pull towards the task of lightning herders, so maybe they'd just need to suck it up and see where that road would take them. And so, when Vetru bestowed their power to their followers, Song was among the ones who grew an impressive variety of auric horns and headed to push the menacing thundercloud back.

---

The hard work of all the Esk finally paid off and the wildfires died out one after another. Even though that had been the goal all along, it was hard to be happy when it happened: it left behind a dark, murky, devastated scenery. Though the lack of cheers and celebrations came also from the fact that the mission was still incomplete. The path to the center of the defeated storm was now clear and Vetru stepped forward to approach it, leaving behind the mass of anxiously waiting Esk. What the Wanderer found was a tiny, lost Marine Esk, abandoned by their ancient boundary and confined by their anger. When the creature told its story Song started to understand their own feelings thorough this ordeal a lot better: why they had been so captivated by the storm, why they had felt such a strong need to face it head on. The source of it had after all been another Seafloor Esk who loved their home waters more than anything. The sad situation of another of its own kind made Song turn quiet and wistful and even the glorious re-transformation of the suffering Esk wasn't enough to instantly brighten their mood. Only when the newly born abnormal walked to the crowd of Esk alongside Vetru, Song decided to consciously push their thoughts to the backburner for now. They'd have all the time in the world to ponder them when they'd return to the ocean, the place the Esk had previously thought to be as eternal as the sky itself.

---

The scary, exhausting mission was finally wrapped up when the night fell. Some Esk gathered to one of the areas that hadn't burned completely down to catch some sleep, some were making their leave and Vetru once again slipped away from the group. Meanwhile Song gathered as many of their acquaintances as they could find to do some stargazing before everyone went to their separate ways. There were still a lot of heavy clouds around, but seeing how the night sky slowly swept them away was both calming and symbolic: it reminded everyone how the ash was going to be eventually blown and washed away from the ground, too, leaving room for beautiful things of nature to return.

"Even if this day sure wasn't what I expected, I am really happy that I got to meet you all. If you ever want, feel free to come visit me in my boundary! I'd be glad to show you all the coolest things around the ocean", Song said happily but also a bit sheepishly. They had never had any proper friends, not really, so they were quite unsure of how to approach things like this. But it was never too late to try, right?