Ghost plodded along behind the knight. Crispin was huge, at least, compared to Ghost, both in height and mass. His muscles were lean and powerful underneath his heavy armor, which Ghost didn’t think he could even shoulder one piece of without stumbling.

Crispin was also…kind. He’d found the ghastly courser-shaped creature having just fallen down a crevice into the earthen furnace, and instead of drawing his sword, had lent his aid. Now, Ghost picked his way along at Crispin’s flank, anxiously avoiding the edge of the blackened path that fell away into lava. 

Crispin hadn’t said much since he’d found Ghost. His eyes and ears were always trained forward, scanning the furnace for danger. Ghost, on the other hand, was looking around in a mix of fear and curiosity. He’d never been to the furnace, after all. 

A tremor shuddered under Ghost’s hooves. 

He froze, planting his feet in a wide stance while his eyes rounded in nervousness. Crispin walked a few more steps before he seemed to realize his impromptu companion wasn’t with him anymore and stopped, looking back at Ghost. “Colt?” He prompted, his voice gruff but not impatient. 

“The ground is shaking,” Was all Ghost managed to whisper. 

Crispin had a second to raise a brow before an unmistakable quake rumbled through the stone beneath them, and the knight lurched just enough to watch his balance. His bright red eyes whipped to the side, scanning the surface of the lava, before he inexplicably relaxed. 

“Easy, colt,” He said in that low, soothing voice of his as he walked a loop, coming back to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Ghost. He nodded his head, and Ghost followed his bright gaze out to the pool of lava. “Watch, and stay calm. It won’t hurt you.” 

Before Ghost could ask what “it” was, a tremor several times stronger shook the stone, and he could only focus on staying steady on his hooves. Out on the lava, a figure burst forth in a blaze of heat and light; a massive, serpentine figure, with a long and gnarled snout crusted with old obsidian. 

Ghost gaped as the massive thing twisted in the air, moving impossibly slow for such a huge creature. It arched over the path, twisting and flexing huge basalt claws, and drifted there for a long moment. Its blazing eye seemed fixed on Ghost; not his body, but his very being, burning through flesh and bone down to the soul. 

The figure continued its arch, curling downward onto the other side of the stone pathway, and its long head plunged in slow-motion into the surface of the magma. It churned and glowed and radiated heat until, finally, the back end of it slithered free from its breach site, a long tail of molten rock twisting above the pair’s heads before disappearing back to where it had come. 

“The furnace has many wonders,” Crispin spoke in the silence that followed, before he started forward once more, “Not all of them are out to get you.” 

Though Ghost had known this about the dungeons above, hearing it about the furnace from a seasoned knight helped ease some of his worries as he trotted to catch up.