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Many of the guards were simply fleeing now, having given up entirely. It made sense. It was simple self-preservation at this point.

But the Rainlords couldn’t budge. They still had reapers trapped in here, not to mention the non-servants elsewhere in the compound.

They had to stop it. They could stop it. With. Just. A little. More. Effort.

Zeff saw kept pressing, kept dousing. Not letting up. From his overhead position, he could see almost everyone--their collective strength and work. Scores of servants, Rainlord and not, were all straining to push the creeping wall back. Many had even left the cell block entirely, having gone around the gargantuan lava mass to create street-sized trenches all along its flanks in an attempt to redirect its flow.

That seemed to be the work of destruction users, mostly.

The lava was still resistant to their efforts, though. The sheer mass and accompanying inertia, infused with an unknown quantity of hyper-potent ardor--it was almost like the lava had a will of its own. Like it did not wish to be moved by anything other than itself.

But even if that were the case, the Rainlords most certainly had a will to match it. They would not be moved, either. It may not have been at the forefront of his thinking, but Zeff could feel it instinctually, without a doubt.

Their collective intent. The Will of Lhutwë, perhaps. The Soul of the Rain.

It spurred him on. Resonated within his heart. Reminded of who he was. His duty. Of everyone he loved, of every single member of his kin here with him, right now.

And then, finally, mercifully, the wall of lava stopped. It still oozed around the rest of the compound, moving through dozens of freshly dug trenches, but the dripping down into Cell Block Y ceased, frozen in place.

He almost couldn’t believe it, not enough to let himself feel any sort of relief, at least. And he obviously wasn’t alone in that, because everyone kept trying to push the lava back even after it was clear that they had turned the tide. Perhaps everyone expected it to be suddenly reinvigorated by a new quake--a concern which would not have been without merit.

Either way, the work continued, and no one slackened their pace until the lava had fully retreated from the block and been diverted into the trenches.

Only then did Zeff allow himself to take a breath, to relax his exhausted mind and begin dematerializing without immediately rematerializing.

Then the sky split apart.