When last we saw our heroes, they had embarked upon a quest to the Snake Cave near Cloud Mountain. Their objective was to go inside the cave and discover who, or what , was amassing large amounts of deadly snakes inside of the cave, and if possible, destroy the source. However, before they arrived, they came across a strange fairy named Istara, that Aaliyah, and Gorpi had met once before. Istara was very reckless, and Erana decided to return her to the wounded camp before preceding further. That, however, is a story for another day. Right now Aaliyah, Fudjya, and Gorpi, all sit in front of the cave, awaiting Erana's return. As far as Aaliyah knows, she is with her new boyfriend, and her best friend. What she doesn't know is that her new boyfriend is also her best friend's old boyfriend. Yet that too, is a tale for another day. Today the topic of conversation is Erana...

"I wonder what is taking so long?" Gorpi asked as she rolled her eyes. "I guess her tiger is not as fast as she claims."

"Who knows?" Aaliyah said, a little annoyed herself. "Istara may have gotten into more trouble, perhaps we should go looking for them?"

"I'm sure they are fine." Fudjya replied with a smile. "Erana's a pretty good healer. She healed me so fast when we fought those Cacodaemons. I'm sure she can handle any problem that comes their way."

"She's a little brat who needs to learn some manners." Gorpi said with an attitude.

"Gorpi!" Fudjya said in a tone Gorpi knew only to well. "That's Aaliyah's friend from home. Be nice okay?"

"No. It's okay." Aaliyah responded with a smile. "Erana was always a little strange. Ever since she was a child. At school the other children called her the Ice Princess. She was always very cold and unapproachable, but every now and then she would come to school with these strange smiles on her face. I was probably the only friend that she had, and that's mostly because of how close I was with her mother."

"Well I don't like her. S he was rude to me in the Blacksmith'a Shop. She was pretty rude to Bardo too." Gorpi said, her attitude unaffected by Aaliyah's short tale.

"If I remember correctly, you did not seem to get along very well with Bardo yourself." Aaliyah said bluntly.

"Hey! e was rude to me first!" Gorpi said in a defensive way.

"Yeah, Bardo is pretty rude." Fudjya said, recognizing that Gorpi was getting angry. "It's nothing though. Once we finish up here, we will probably never see either of them again, so it's no problem. We'll put it with them for now, if they keep being as rude we'll just have to put them in their place."

"Look here comes Erana now." Aaliyah said as she spotted Erana pulling up on her tiger. The tiger is very large, covered in gold-plated armor adorned with jewels. Erana steps down off the tiger with a large, wide smile on her face just as Aaliyah described earlier. She begins fidgeting with a jewel behind the tigers neck. She then pulls out her lucky bag and presses down on the jewel. Instantaneously the tiger begins to shrink down to the size of a small rodent. She places the tiger in the bag and puts the bag back on her belt. "How did you do that?" Aaliyah asks in wonder.

"You mean using my lucky bag?" Erana replied as her smile widened even further. "You just add the lucky charm to whatever piece of equipment you need to store, and the spell within the charm will shrink it down to a manageable size. That way it is compact and ready to use at a moment's notice. The armor or items are actually sent to a mystically-created pocket universe, similar to the one the tamers send their pets to. Isn't that right Gorpi?" She said as she began laughing uncontrollably.

"Um, yeah." Gorpi said, unfamiliar with this side of Erana.

"Well, you seem to be in a good mood." Aaliyah said with a smile.

"Yeah, what's so funny?" Gorpi said as she tried to understand how such a dramatic mood swing could take place.

"Oh nothing." Erana answered as she tried to contain her laughter. "It's just that the fairy was so goofy, and strange. All she would say was: "Zobel Kill!, Zobel Kill!.". It really got to be funny after a while."

"Yeah she was a weirdo" Gorpi said as she began to share in Erana's laughter.

"I don't know you guys, there was something about the look in her eyes." Aaliyah said with a sad tone in her voice. "Like she was trying to tell us something, but could not get the words out." The smile on Erana's face vanished.

"Well she won't be bothering us again anytime soon." Erana said as her eyes narrowed into a squint. "Let's get this over with so I can report back to my leader."

As they enter the cave Aaliyah sticks close to Fudjya. The entrance to the cave is another portal, this one apparently had been opened, and no one had bothered to close it. As they enter Gorpi thinks to herself how much she hates portals, but Aaliyah gives her a reassuring glance, as she always does, and Gorpi feels better. Once they all enter, they are each astonished by the beauty of the cave. Large rock crystals of all different shapes, sizes, and colors protrude through every surface possible. Strange mushrooms as unique as the crystals litter the landscape.

"Wow, this is beautiful!"Aaliyah said.

"I have a map but I have no idea where we are supposed to go." Gorpi said as she unrolled the scroll that contained the map.

"Perhaps now would be a good time to summon your pet." Fudjya suggested. " Hopefully he will know where we are supposed to go.

"Okay but make sure your all ready. We don't know how he will react, so be prepared for an attack." Gorpi said as she pulled out her pet bell and began to summon her Snake Captor. "Here goes!" The Snake Captor appeared in a flash of colorful light that left behind shimmery sparkles as it faded. The Snake captor looked up, smelled around, and then bolted into the heart of the cave before anyone could react."Great, thats just what we needed." Gorpi said frusterated that once again her control spell has failed. "Okay everyone, hope your ready for a run."

"Wait, do you hear that?" Fudjya said abruptly.

The group all quieted down and could hear strange screeches, and hissing noises. Suddenly Gorpi's Snake Captor emerged into site.

"Look there he is!" Fudjya shouted.

"Wait!" Aaliyah yelled. " Look behind him!"

As they all turned their heads back they witnessed four large Jungle Boas emerge from behind him, followed by two even larger Jungle King Boas, all coming directly towards them...

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So what did happen between Erana, and Istara? Will Aaliyah ever find out about Gorpi, and Fudjya? Will our heros even make it out of the Snake Cave alive to discover the answers to the questions? Find out later this week in Secrets and Lies part 2. Also I am sorry I forgot to say earlier that I would be taking a two week long break after Iron Arms and Erana so sorry about that. Beginning this week I will attempt to post mulitple parts per week to make it up to you so please keep reading!!! =)