The lava below them moved. A massive serpent of liquid fire rose out of the pit like a god dragging itself from the underworld.
Its body dripped flames in slow-moving sheets. Each drop hit the molten river below and was reabsorbed, the creature shedding and regenerating its own skin in a continuous cycle of fire that made it look like it was perpetually melting and perpetually rebuilding and the perpetual was hypnotic and the hypnotic was a trap because staring at the thing was using up seconds they didn't have. Its mouth glowed white-hot, heat warping the air around it. Its eyes snapped open, two burning coals, locked on them.
Aeron looked at Hyran.
"Is that a lava serpent?"
Before Hyran could answer, another one erupted behind them, spiraling upward around a jagged spire. The stone screamed as it melted beneath the coils.
A third exploded out of the lava river farther down the path.
Then a fourth.
Then a fifth.
