Fallen Succubus tilted her head. "So we push it. Force the evolution. Whatever is under the ground will not wait for us."
"And if it can't control it? If it devours something it shouldn't, or loses itself in the process?" Aether shook his head firmly. "We don't know what that power is, where it comes from, or what it costs. We don't even know if the pup chose to use it."
"We need to understand this before forcing your next evolution," he said quietly. "I won't lose you to something I didn't take the time to learn about. Understood?"
The pup licked his chin, once, in answer.
They moved on.
Hours later, the amber light beneath the ground had grown so bright that it lit the ash from below, turning the whole plain the color of embers. The air had thickened. It tasted of old iron and cold smoke. The land began to slope downward, gently at first, then more steeply, until they were walking along the rim of an enormous crater that appeared on no map Aether had ever seen.
