Chapter Ten

The Lava Core

A plume of lava burst out of the ground in front of Ilia, causing her to jump back and raise her shield in surprise. From the fire burst a lava toad, slamming into the shield causing Ilia to stumble back. Before Ilia could raise her sword against the creature one of the new Cavaliers came out of nowhere, ripping through the toad with her scimitars, a grin on her face.

"Thanks..." there had been no time for introductions so Ilia left her statement open, allowing the new one to introduce herself.

"Nat, of the Gerudo, this is Am, another Gerudo." Am gave a curt nod when she was introduced. The name stirred something in the back of Ilia's mind, she had heard of the Gerudo, during a story of wars long ago.

"I thought the Gerudo were gone?" Ilia asked in confusion.

"We were thought to have died out a few hundred years ago, we didn't bother to try and tell Hyrule because no one here seemed to care that the Gerudo were extinct." Am explained.

"So how come you two joined the Cavaliers?"

"We were in Hyrule during the Time of Twilight, when it cleared and the barrier was placed around Hyrule Castle we met Ashei here trying to round up anyone that was willing to fight for Hyrule, we thought we could finally start on the way to restoring the name of the Gerudo, after all your enemy was the one who shamed us time and time again. Turns out we weren't needed though, Link stopped him. I would have thought he would be leading a quest like this though. Where is he?" She asked finally realising that Ilia was the only one dressed in green, the hero's green at that. Ilia once again looked downcast at the mention of her friend but her answer was different than usual.

"He has been taken by the Witches, who have convinced him to serve them, he is not his normal self at the moment, Sheik" she gestured to him as she said his name" and I managed to lift their control for a moment, although it was only through a huge amount of light magic." It was the first any of them had heard that he was not serving them willingly, although something must have happened to make him, because it was so against his nature that it would have been difficult to make him serve.

Ashei took charge at that moment. "As interesting as this subject is, this is not the place for this conversation. In case you have forgotten we need to get the Blaze Dagger and get out of here as quickly as we can." No more needed to be said as Ilia led the way deeper into the mines, heading for the spot the Gorons had told them about.

...

Deep in the mines, near where Darbus had once been locked away after the Fused shadow had tainted him was a door, sealed against the horrors within. An ancient enemy of the Gorons lay inside, just waiting for the one bold enough to unlock the door: Volvagia.

...

Ilia and the Cavaliers stood before a waterfall of lava, their Goron guide said that the door they were seeking lay beyond it. The Goron leapt up into the path of the lava and diverted it away from the door allowing access. The door itself was massive, twelve feet high, way taller than any Goron and very thick. Ilia led the group through the door to discover the Lava Core.

The tunnel sloped downwards and was incredibly hot, lit by torches that only served to make things even hotter. The tunnel was large, with deep gouges and large black burns on the walls occasionally hinting at whatever had been sealed away down here.

Turning the corner Ilia saw a red glow coming from the end of the passage but sitting there, in the tunnel deep in the Goron Mines was the White Wolf. Ilia drew her sword and approached the wolf.

"Wait here, I'll be back soon" Ilia told the group as the wolf pounced.

...

Ilia looked around the familiar white area and saw the Hero's Shade standing before her once again. He seemed to take in her attire in and thought it over for a moment.

"Farore I hope you know what you are doing. Ilia it is good to see you again, I was told that you would need my assistance to battle the foe you are about to face. The legendary dragon that has been slain several times but is always revived: Volvagia. This time though the legendary hammer is missing, the weapon that Volvagia has always fallen to in the past. This is why I came to you, to teach you what you need to win this battle." Ilia nodded the sheer immensity of the task that she was undertaking.

"The same Volvagia the Hero of Time defeated?" The Hero's Shade chuckled.

"The same Volvagia that I and several others have defeated, although I was wielding the Megaton Hammer when I did so." Ilia looked at her teacher in surprise, to have an old hero teaching her was one thing, for it to be the legendary Hero of Time was something else entirely.

"There is a technique that you will need, for more than just this battle, not a way of the sword, but a way of magic. You will teach yourself more magic without my help but this spell will be one of your most powerful: The Wings of Light." As he finished saying the name two great golden glowing wings spread from his back. Ilia gasped at the beauty of his wings.

"Now focus on your vessel of light, feel the amount of energy stored within? Focus on drawing it out and into the shape of wings, you can also channel this magic into your weapons when you need to." Ilia focused and drew out the energy, and golden wings burst from her back.

"These are not powerful enough for flight at the moment; they allow you to leap larger distances which will be vital. Take sword in hand and fight for light." The Hero of Time crossed his sword over his chest as the world of white faded.

...

Ilia led the group deeper into the tunnel towards the ominous red glow that got brighter as the tunnel sloped downwards, and turned several corners, soon they reached a point where the heat was unbearable and they stopped and pulled out the heat resistant tunics the gorons had provided them with. Once they were ready Ilia led them even deeper into the volcano until they turned a corner and beheld the Lava Core.

The cavern was absolutely massive, and at its centre was a huge floating sphere of lava: The Lava Core. The sphere itself had several large areas of rock that served as islands, constantly moving over its surface. Ilia steadied herself and released her wings.

"I don't think any of you will be able to help me for this one, this is the job of a hero, besides I'm the only one that can get over there, where Volvagia is. This is a hero's fight." With that she leapt off the ledge and flew the short distance to the core, feeling its pull as she landed on the bottom. The core was so large that it attracted things to it, meaning that Ilia wouldn't fall off even if she went to the very bottom; she drew her blade as Volvagia roared at the latest intruder.

The great dragon burst up from beneath the lava at the bottom of the chamber, it was different than the Volvagia the legends described; instead of being a long serpentine dragon, he was now thickly muscled with four legs and two huge wings alight with flame. Streaming from the back if its head was hair, made from pure fire. Volvagia was staring at her in utter hatred, eyes glowing red. Ilia raised her shield to block an incoming stream of fire and saw, instead of a tooth the Blaze Dagger.

The flames deflected harmlessly off her shield and Ilia ran, aiming for a higher part of the core, her wings giving her the ability to leap the gaps easily. Upon reaching the top Ilia turned and saw Volvagia diving towards her claws extended. Ilia threw herself to the side, avoiding the attack and stabbed the Master sword straight up, into his wing. As Volvagia flew over the sword cut through the wing, leaving behind a glowing red trail which left no mark behind it. Volvagia flew out and turned to attack again, undamaged.

Ilia ducked behind her shield as another jet of flame came her way, once again it was deflected. Ilia leapt into the air using the power of her wings and tried to come at Volvagia from above, but he was ready for her, extending a claw out he grabbed her and threw the hero to the ground, thankfully Ilia landed on one of the islands but she dropped her shield as she slide along the ground, leaving her with several large scrapes.

Volvagia didn't waste a second swooping in and unleashing a stream of fire at Ilia who had no choice but to run, leaping the gaps once again, trying to do a full lap of the core to retrieve her shield. Volvagia was ready for this tactic having faced so many Heroes before. As Ilia returned to the rock where she dropped her shield the dragon came in from above, blocking her path. Ilia felt the familiar energy of the Master Sword building and released it, wrapping the blade in white fire.

Volvagia released a ball of fire which Ilia countered by swinging her sword, the ball burst and the flames spread harmlessly past her. Gathering the flames on her sword Ilia swung again, sending a wave of fire at the dragon who roared and sent forth a huge blast of fire; red and white fire met and cancelled each other out. Ilia growled in frustration, her shield was right there and she couldn't even do any damage to the dragon.

Ilia put her sword away and drew her bow off her back and knocked an arrow. So far with her trying to conserve her power for her wings, which all though they only took light energy slowly would build up over time, she had done no damage to Volvagia, this time she needed more power. She drew upon all the light energy that was in the section of the Vessel of Light that she was using and put it into the arrow, she also sent a small string out from the arrowhead to the dragon's eye, ensuring she would not miss. She released the arrow.

It followed the string and impacted on Volvagia's eye, releasing a brilliantly bright blast of light. The arrow embedded itself in the dragon's eye and it roared in pain loosing a tremendous blast of fire at Ilia, as she rolled out of the way she felt the flames graze her, burning her arm and setting her hair alight. Grimacing in pain from the burn on her arm Ilia swept the Master Sword up and cut off her hair, leaving it once again close cropped to her head, like it had been years ago.

The dragon took off for a moment to recover from the arrow shot and Ilia seized the opportunity to race in and grab her shield. She scooped it up right onto the burnt patch of her left arm and hissed as it made contact, right now it didn't matter. She needed that shield. She glanced at the Vessel of Light and saw that five globes were still full; she had plenty of light energy left, smiling as she drew the Master Sword once again.

Volvagia returned around from the side of the core, losing a series of destructive fireballs. Ilia raised her shield and leapt to the side to side to avoid most of them, only misjudging the last one, it exploded next to her, showering her with hot gravel, burning and scraping her side. Ilia leapt into the air, intending to attack head on but gasped in pain and lost her focus, slamming back into the ground. Ilia focused her energy to her side for a moment, allowing the wound to stop aching and heal over enough for her to continue before throwing herself back into the air at the dragon.

Flying above a fireball Ilia swooped in to attack at a wing joint, Master Sword blazing with white fire. Her sword once again passed through the wing as though it were nothing, leaving behind it a ghostly red trail, Volvagia was gone before she could react and she was collected by the dragons tail, knocking her down towards the lava. Ilia managed to get her descent under control enough to crash land onto one of the islands, straightening up she spate out a gob of blood, aching all over.

Pulling herself to her feet Ilia realised that the only areas on Volvagia that had hit her had been its main body and arms, not the wings which she kept trying to attack, she decided to try something else. Once more taking to the sky she flew underneath Volvagia and swiped at his stomach, earning an ear-splitting howl of pain for her efforts, she had merely been attack the wrong areas. Every story said that Volvagia had been a serpent dragon; the wings were merely an illusion, created by magic.

When she had injured Volvagia she had destroyed the illusion and now she had a writhing, twisting, angry serpent dragon to deal with. Volvagia dived beneath the lava and disappeared from sight. Moments later there was a rumbling and the island Ilia was standing on shook and cracks started to appear until Volvagia burst through the centre, destroying the island and giving Ilia one less place to run to.

Volvagia followed as Ilia leapt from rock to rock, destroying each one he came to, and soon Ilia reached the edge of a rock with nowhere to jump to, she had to stand and fight, looking down she saw that she had four globes of light left. She gathered an immense amount of light energy in her sword, enough to empty two globes and leapt into the air, streaking towards the dragon as it dove, aiming to destroy her once and for all. Ilia swung the Master Sword with all her might, releasing all the light energy stored within the blade, smashing it into Volvagia's jaw, causing the dragon to scream in pain allowing Ilia to grab the Blaze dagger with her left hand, wrenching it out of Volvagia's mouth.

In Chilfos Castle she had grabbed the Frost Dagger with her right hand and felt cold and now there were blue lines on her hand. Her left hand now felt hot as her Triforce piece glowed and red lines appeared on her hand, she sheathed the dagger and started to fly back to where the others were waiting. She did not notice the bubbles starting to form in the lava below.

Volvagia was angry and far from finished, Ilia didn't have the hammer to kill him with so she fled, leading the group up the tunnel as fast as they could go, which was nowhere near as fast as Volvagia. Volvagia caught up to them within moments so Ilia turned and prepared to finish the battle.

Instead of the Master Sword she drew the Frost Dagger. The dagger grew to be the same shape and size as the Master Sword and it flared with freezing blue fire. Volvagia let loose a jet of fire and Ilia countered with a blast of her blue fire, forcing the dragon's flames backwards. Releasing a huge burst of blue fire Ilia managed to freeze Volvagia's head to the ground, she took up the Master Sword to do what many Heroes had done on their quests: kill the dragon Volvagia. White fire ran down the Master Sword as she plunged it into his head, killing the dragon once again. Ilia, a Hero that had not been chosen by the gods had killed Volvagia without the legendary hammer.

Hope you guys all enjoy one of the longer chapters I've ever written, the Volvagia fight just flowed out so well, let me know what you think. Uni is getting busier so it might be a while before I update.