[Isabel POV cont.]

I went around the pits of boiling magma and the sharp obsidian walls, surviving once again. I joked to myself that after trekking through all the lava and the rocks I've gotten immune to fire. But that would've made walking around this place even more boring.

I was really getting irritated of going around the damn place, each time thinking that maybe, just maybe, I'd finally catch them this time - the two bastards who killed my father and caused the disappearance of my mother.

And worst of all, I was pretty sure I lost a lot of weight, considering I only packed food that would last me for at least one to three months. (Hey, you never know when you'll return when you're in these kinds of places.) But you can't stop a big appetite, so all that food lasted way shorter than it would've.

I decided to sit on the only non-hazardous rock that I sat on for the last 411 times, close my eyes and ponder just liked I had for the last 411 times, and check on my watch and for the current date and time, just I had been doing for the last... Well, you get the picture.

October 29th. Almost six years since I'd found the gate to this hellish realm, wherever it is in. It's my cousin's birthday today. Maybe when I get out of here, I can give him that wrestling poster he'd always wanted. If I can get out of here...

I really miss that cousin of mine. Always cheerful and optimistic all the time, even after all that crap we went through - his mother being killed by his own father, and those two men who killed my father. Add other crazy idiots trying to slit our throats open once they found out the only person of authority in our harsh part of the city, and our lives are pretty much crap.

But even after all that, my cousin always had that humorous underdog attitude - thinking he would achieve anything despite people saying otherwise. He never raised his voice to anyone, even me. And let's just say I was no typical obedient younger cousin.

He had always worried about my ways as a criminal-murderer/weapons dealer in order to get money for his education, but thankfully I was smart enough not to reveal myself and harm myself in the process, even if was a mere 7-year-old. Then nine years later I decided to retire from that business and continue to be wrestler alongside him.

I remained on that rock, hand on my chin and staring at the magma in thought, when some really crazy and stupid idea hit me.

Some people might say that challenging a superior foe does not make you brave; it makes you stupid. Well, bear with me while I'm saying this, but I had a sudden desire to touch the magma. Yes, yes, I know, I'd melt my ass off if I dared to even tap it, but some stupid impulse or mental force made me. Anyway, I got up from my rock, walked to the magma, and hesitantly, I let my entire forearm sink into the molten rock.

I waited for a few seconds, seeing if the heat would dominate my flesh and turn my bones to ash, but all I felt was a warm feeling. No searing burn. And when I got my arm out, it was completely fine. All in one piece.

How the hell did that happen? How? When I was younger, I'd always get burned when I got too close to fire, and I would certainly be burnt by lava. Why was I suddenly immune now?

I didn't have much time to think about it because a humming sound started echoing around the realm. I looked around, trying to pinpoint where it came from, when another sound echoed, then a tiny glowing speck came to me.

"Hey!" it called to me in a high-pitched voice. I looked closer at the speck and realized it some kind of fairy. She circled me, trying to catch my attention.

"Hey!" it called again. "You look lost."

"Really?" I said. "Can you hardly tell?" The fairy-thingy, along with the confusion my arm just gave me and my hunger for food, was not helping my mood.

She must've sensed I was grumpy. "Listen, I know the way out!" she exclaimed, as if that would help me cheer up. She started flying away, then paused to see if I'd follow her way.

Now, normally, if anyone faced a situation like this, they would assume they were hallucinating and end up staying in a similar cave or any other extreme environment and die from insanity.

But she may be my only way out of this godforsaken land, I thought. After some deeper thought, I decided I should follow the fairy.

She led me to a section of the realm where I was not familiar with. Instead of being threatened by the reddish glow of the magma, I was greeted by the cool blue glow of crystals.

There was another part of this damn place, which I've been wandering around for six years, and I didn't find it? Note to self: Never volunteer to be navigator in a hiking trip. That way, you won't be pressured into finding a way out then make problems worse by having you're whole group, including yourself, be eaten alive by whatever wild animals. Though I will admit: the crystals did look beautiful, giving off a gentle blue glow on the stalactites.

After following the fairy around in the cave for a few miles, still admiring the view, I turned my head to the right, and what looked like some kind of portal shined. It resonated the same humming sound I heard in the magma field. It showed a wide grass field, and immediately beyond that field were some houses and unpaved roads. It looked like any other countryside town, but something didn't seem very... Earth-like about it.

I looked at the fairy, then walked the last few feet of the cave, and went through the portal.