A/Ns!

Lysha: I'm evil :)

Rayfan: Plently more good deeds were that came from :)

Dawnspirit: I am truly evil, making you frustrated like that XD, don't worry though, red eyes will make plenty more appearances before you find out who he is XD (yes he's a he!)

Heyhwa: Nice to know that u like my story :)

Rebelgirl: Stop being frustrated and pay more attention to the story. You will soon find out what is happening (but later maybe, because I'm going to thicken the plot XD)

Aspect of Fire

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Rayman walked past the picture, and moved on. The tunnel led ahead slightly, and then turned a corner. Somehow, Rayman was suspicious of that corner. As he approached it, he charged up a power ball on his left hand too. He moved as far away from the turn as possible. He edged closer and closer.

There was something behind him! Rayman turned, having heard a sound. He searched around the tunnel with his eyes, looking for the disturbance. But there was nothing there.

He approached the turn again, if possible, more carefully than before. He leaped around the corner but there was nothing there. Rayman sighed, putting out the power ball on his right hand. He was letting his nerves get the better of him.

He moved on, not as warily as before.

BANG!

The sound came, clearer and louder than before. Startled, Rayman turned round to see who was there. There was nothing.

The attack came before he even knew what was happening.

There was a scuffling sound as though somebody was moving behind him. Rayman half-turned and saw the edge of a large cloak, with black feathers on the edge of it. It was brown.

It was the last thing that Rayman saw.

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Globox was feeling worried. It had been a long time since Rayman had been in the cave.

'Ly?' he asked, 'why do you think that Rayman is taking so long?'

Ly answered without taking her eyes off the cave entrance. 'I suppose that the cave is long, and it probably takes a long time to get to were Rayman needs to go.'

I hope. She added silently. Secretly she believed that Rayman had been attacked. She now sincerely regretted letting him go on his own. Please be ok.

Furio and Furion were standing some way apart, talking in their mind language.

What chance do you think he has? Furion asked Furio.

I don't know but I think that it should be a pretty good one. The way he took that golem down…do you realise what it was?

I do, but we should not speak of it here.

I know. To tell you the truth, I don't know how much of a chance Rayman has. Furio said, surprising Furion. He turned his head toward Furio.

Maybe…in truth, I hope that he does survive.

Me too…

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It was still some time later. It was beginning to get dark. Now even the ex-slaves were beginning to worry. There had been many times when some slave drivers had gone into the cave alone. What if they had placed traps?

There were only two people who still believed that Rayman was alive: Globox and Ly. Their hope was not much but they both remembered how they had felt after Admiral Razorbeard's ship had blown up. Rayman had still come back to them.

But where was he? Why was he taking so long? What had happened in the cave?

What if they were wrong…?

Neither of them gave up hope, both of them refused to give it up. They helped the ex-slaves to clear up the mess and damage caused by the slave drivers. There was also a funeral procession, to properly bury those people who had died at the hands of the 'oppressors'.

It was the leathery-looking person who had said that he was a guardian of the cave who had thought of the idea. Ly had set off to look for some hard mahogany tree who accepted that it be partially cut down to be made into a coffin. Ly would then magically restore the felled branches to the tree.

As Ly returned, followed by magically floating branches, she gazed back into the cave.

'He hasn't come back yet,' Globox said. 'But he will come back, soon.' He glanced at his feet. 'I hope.' He added in an undertone. Ly's enhanced hearing caught it.

'He will, don't give up hope!' she told him, trying to comfort herself as well as Globox, and looking at the cave. 'He will,'

-_~*~_-

Inside the cave, there were many noises. Squeaks of small rats made a constant drone to the symphony of sounds. The rocks and woods were creaking, blown by an unseen and breathless wind. The sighing of the rocks was punctuated by the gentle drip of the collected moist on the roof of the cave.

And amidst all of this, there was a chuckling. A chuckling of a small creature pleased by its success at doing what its master had told it to do. Admittedly, its master had done much to help it, whilst it had merely distracted the limbless creature; it was its master who had landed the killing blow.

It chuckled again as he reached the target that had been killed, hoping to scavenge anything off the creature's body. To its dismay, there was nothing there, so it turned away, its mind already back to how it would get back to its master.

There was a sound behind him, a small thud. It would normally have been inaudible, but in this reasonably quite section of the cave, he heard it. He turned.

-_~*~_-

It was dark. Very dark. There was something on his chest, restricting his breathing, killing him. He tried to shout out, to move, to punch, kick, push his way out of this air restricting place. Tears fell down his eyes. He couldn't breath.

Sweat mingled with his tears as he tried to push the weight off of him. The darkness was consuming him, chocking him, adding to the heavy weight on his chest. He tried again to shout, and again it didn't work.

A laugh! Somebody was laughing at him! Mocking him! Now a rage consumed him, adding to the air restricting weight, and the all-consuming darkness. He gritted his teeth, biting, scratching, punching, kicking: anything to get him out of this spot.

He tried to calm down, to focus. But it wasn't happening. The rage was completely consuming him. The laughter grew louder in his ears, making them ring, adding to the pain he already felt.

Still the laughter went on, and the weight never lifted. He pushed, hands aching. He no longer had the strength to move, but he carried on; if heavily, if tiredly.

And finally the blackness lifted. It gave Rayman hope. But it also hurt his eyes to see the light after so much time in the dark. His head ached. His rage died down slightly, but not completely.

And now the weight lifted, leaving him gasping for breath. He saw a huge yellow circle obscuring his vision. He placed a hand upon his chest, trying to slow his breathing and calm himself.

His tears stopped, and he wiped away the sweat. He tried to stand up, but he still did not have enough strength to do so. He focused on gathering his energy to get up out of this venerable state.

The laughing died down, as though it had been cut off. This gave Rayman strength. He struggled to get up. He pushed himself up off the floor, and turned to gaze at where the laughing sound came from.

There was nothing there! Rayman turned, again and again. There was nothing there! The laughter rang up again, behind Rayman. He turned. It was still behind him. shock and confusion filled his brain, but he began to take in the surroundings; ignoring the laughter.

He was in a circular room. By the looks of it, it was made out of mahogany. Forcefully taken. He fought down the anger that threatened to consume him again.

In front of him, and slightly to the right, was a huge pair of windows, five times as wide as Rayman, and as tall as the room. He looked up and saw that the walls reached up many metres. The roof was clear glass; Rayman could see the sky.

As he walked toward the window, his ears caught the sound of gushing water. When he reached the window, and looked out, he saw that there was a large waterfall. He looked down, and nearly fell in surprise. He was many stories up; at least twenty!

And now the walls were spinning, making him dizzy. He was beginning to feel nauseous. Was it the room spinning or him? Everything went black.

-_~*~_-

He was back in the cave. He opened his eyes, his vision blurred slightly. He rubbed his eyes with his hands. As his vision cleared, he saw that there was something in front of him.

He could only see its back at the moment, but what he saw disgusted him. A bony back, so bony that he could actually see the spine: individual segments. It was bent slightly, a hunchback. Its skin looked like it had once been full and healthy. Now it looked a dull brown, almost grey.

It was moving away from Rayman, staggering slightly as though he was hurt. He wore nothing but a small loincloth. His bare legs were thin and looked as though they could snap with the slightest tap.

Rayman jumped to his feat, and charged up both his fists. The creature turned, and Rayman saw fear in its eyes.

Its face was heavily mutilated: its nose was blown out of position. One of its eyes was small and watery whilst the other was large and reproachful. It had sharp teeth and a powerful jaw. Rayman could see its ribs: sunken and bony. Its hands had hair on the back of them, and he kept rubbing them.

He looked at Rayman as if he thought that Rayman would kill him. Rayman stepped forward, smiling, and raised his hands in a gesture of peace. The creature yelped, mistaking the kind smile as evil, and the peace gesture as a gesture of attack. It turned tail and ran.

Rayman's eyes followed it, wondering why it had misunderstood him. he walked in the direction that the creature had gone in, thinking that that was the way that he needed to go. He charged up a power ball again, lighting the scenery. He walked a few steps, and realised that he was going in the wrong direction: he spotted the painting.

He looked at it again, suspiciously. He remembered the sound, and the thing that had knocked him unconscious. He supposed that it couldn't have been the creature; it had seemed too weak, and besides, Rayman hadn't seen the cloak or the feathers anywhere near it.

Rayman turned around, and walked back to the corner that he had been attacked on. This time he felt no warning about it. He had learned to trust his instincts. He turned the corner again, and saw that this tunnel was much larger. He couldn't see the end of it.

As he ventured down the tunnel, he heard the rats' squeaking stop.

Weird… he thought. I wonder what happened to them.

As he reached the end of the tunnel, he saw that there was a door. He could only see glimpses of it, because there seemed to be some shadows moving around it. He approached the door carefully. He looked over his shoulder – not wanting to be ambushed again – and looked back at the door.

He knew that he was approaching the end of his journey. He moved closer to the door, more verily. He put his back to the walls, so he could see both behind and in front, and so nobody could ambush him.

His shock was evident in his face when something sneaked up behind him. it grabbed his 'shoulders'.

Rayman sent a fist over his shoulder, and he heard a clattering sound. He turned and saw a zombie chicken.

Oh no. Rayman thought. Now they can sneak up behind me!

Masses of zombie chickens flew out of the walls, the floor and even the roof!

Rayman was beginning to panic, if many more come, he wouldn't have the strength to face them.

As though recognising his weariness, the number of birds dramatically increased. Rayman sent fists flying all around him. then he remembered his power balls.

How stupid can I get? He scolded himself. They were incredibly useful last time.

So Rayman started using his power balls. It felt strange, yet he liked it. He could feel the power next to his hands, and as the zombies crumbled, he felt new strength returning to him.

Now the zombies seemed to be decreasing, but they attacked more cleverly as though directed by a greater force.

At last Rayman managed to destroy them all, and rested his hands for a little bit. He suddenly spotted a large withered…thing coming out of the wall. He watched, horrified as it emerged: a giant zombie chicken. He saw the feathers, like rags withered and specially cut for this zombie. It raised its bony arms, and many smaller zombie chickens flew out of the walls, full speed at Rayman.

He was too stunned to protect himself, raising his hands too late. As the chickens reached him, they broke, and withered, but they left Rayman hurt. Dust was rising, as the chickens launched themselves at Rayman.

Rayman could see through a small gap in the dust, the leader of the chickens seemingly smiling at him; an evil glint in its eyes. Its arms were still raised, as many more chickens flew out of the wall.

Rayman raised his hands and managed to make a power ball. It crashed through many chickens, making them crash and clatter onto the floor. The smile on the leader suddenly wavered, but its hands were still raised. Rayman continued to make more power balls, sending them in all directions.

Suddenly the attack stopped, though the giant zombie still had its arms raised. It seemed that the zombie chickens had run out. The furious leader launched itself at Rayman, swinging its arms, and trying to hurt Rayman as much as possible.

Rayman leaped up high, almost grazing his had against the roof of the tunnel. He sent punches and power balls flying at the zombie, causing its attack to falter. But then it attacked with an increased ferocity.

Rayman leapt, from wall to wall, floor to roof, all the while sending power balls flying into the zombie.

Rayman was leading a long a weary dance. He did not dance in a pattern, but rather he danced more wildly, the exhilaration of the dance pulsing through his veins, all the while hurting the zombie.

An arm fell off it, and it stood there, with only one arm, floating inches off the ground swiping at Rayman with its one remaining arm. Rayman, realising its weak spots, started to aim at the arm joints, trying to whack the other arm off too.

The zombie chicken began to attack with such ferocity that Rayman was hurt twice. He had a small cut on his back, and two deeper cuts, one on his chest, and the other on his face. He was covered in grime and rising dust, still wildly dancing with the chicken, the dance reaching its peak, but not quiet there yet.

Now the arm fell, not completely, but enough so that the zombie could no longer use it. It screeched with rage, and began to chase Rayman, snapping at him, its eyes blazing with an unmatched ferocity.

Rayman ran backwards, sending punches into the giant bird's eyes, and down its mouth.

The zombie caught Rayman in its beak! He had tarried too long in one place, paying dearly for his moment. The furious bird shaked it head from side to side, biting hard into Rayman. Rayman went flying into a wall, which crumbled slightly sending dust landing onto him – and into his wounds.

He got up shakily, and managed to send one last power ball into the creatures face. It blew up, sending more dust over Rayman. He coughed, and rubbed the dust out of his face.

He turned his head wearily to the door. He groaned as he got up, and limped his way to the door.

The shadows flickered across the door. Suddenly, they leap out at Rayman.

Rayman groaned. 'Not again!' He looked closely at the shadows and realised what they were: black caterpillars, from the cave of bad dreams. How did they get here?

Rayman didn't have time to wonder, because they flew right toward him. Rayman raised his aching hands to defend himself, throwing fists and shooting power balls.

He almost fell with exhaustion, for every time he killed a caterpillar, it regenerated. Then Rayman fought a different battle: rather than attacking outright just beating the caterpillars up, he shot them both at the same time, so that he could make it to the other side of the door.

He worked out this plan in his head, and decided to give it a go. He moved closer to the door, which seemed to be the place that the caterpillars were rejuvenating from. He punched one, giving it time to rejuvenate. Meanwhile, the other - oblivious to Rayman's plan, charged straight at Rayman. When it was next to the door, the other caterpillar also charged at Rayman.

With precision timing, Rayman shot them both on the heads. As soon as this had happened, he ran toward the door. But before he reached it, he heard a sound: a clapping sound.

Somebody was applauding him.

'Well done,' a slightly mechanical voice spoke, though no body could be seen. 'You have passed the first test. Pass through.' As this voice finished, there came a sound as though of a lock unlocking.

Rayman walked toward the door, and looked at it for the first time.

It was a great size, almost twice as wide as Rayman was tall, and three times as high. Rayman gazed at it for a second, taking in its beauty. It was a large, possibly oak door. It had jewels incrusted in it. Around its edges were sapphires, rubies, pearls, diamonds: many things. In the centre, taking place of pride was a large jade. It was set in perfectly, seemingly dimming the beauty of the other gems.

Rayman pushed his hand against the door, pushing it gently open. It didn't creak. Rayman walked into the cavern. He didn't walk wearily, or in a protecting manor, but rather he walked confidently, and meaningfully.

He walked right into the centre of the room. He was suddenly aware of the stifling heat that was in that room. Pieces of rock were beginning to melt slightly.

A sound came from somewhere above him. He looked up and saw that the rock seemed to open up into empty sky. Presently, he became aware that the sound he heard was somebody talking to him.

'Rayman,' it began. 'I've heard such a lot about you.' Rayman gazed around, searching for the sound.

'Welcome,' the voice said, and with that, a huge flaming rock crashed into the ground in front of Rayman. Rayman walked closer to it, warily. He almost jumped backwards when he saw that it was moving.

It wasn't a rock. It was a person. But Rayman had never seen anything like him before.

The person in front of him stood up, straight and tall. He looked at Rayman for a few seconds, with startling yellow eyes. Rayman stared at him, surprised at what this creature looked like.

His yellow eyes were set in a perfect, handsome face that looked almost orange in the light. His blond hair was swept backwards, as though a flame was being bent in the wind. He had a tell body, that was an orange-y colour, and his hands were huge. He was barefoot. A huge amount of heat seemed to be emanating from him.

But before Rayman's eyes, he began to change. His handsome face seemed to melt, into what looked like frozen lava. It was still handsome, but it looked different, as though he had undergone a transformation. After this, his hair turned a dark red, almost black, and fell down onto his shoulder his arms themselves began to thicken, and turn yellow too. His legs stretched, making him seem larger, and the skin was set alight in a blazing fire. All of him, his arms, legs, head and his bare chest were now blazing.

And again he changed, back into his first form.

'You have seen two of my true forms.' He said. 'My name is Flaréoné' he offered a hand, and Rayman shook it. 'I am the one that the seers told you to come to.'

Now Rayman looked up into Flaréoné's face. 'They sent me to find you?' He asked. 'Why you? Who – what – are you?'

Flaréoné smiled. 'Follow me,' he said, beckoning to Rayman to follow him.

Flaréoné ran swiftly over the rock, and as he reached the door, it opened. The caterpillars flew forward, and Rayman jumped in front of Flaréoné, ready to protect his new friend. But Flaréoné just waved a hand, and the caterpillars moved aside.

Rayman stared at his new accomplice. 'How did you do that?' He asked, astonished.

'I set them to guard the door. The zombie chickens were not under my command, but they proved a valuable defence.' Flaréoné replied.

'So why did you not tell them to stop attacking me?' Rayman asked, furious.

'It was your test. You passed it.'

Now the two had reached the painting that Rayman had examined earlier. Flaréoné pointed to the one on the left.

'Me. Surrounded by flame.'

'But how come they don't affect you?' Rayman asked: the first of the many questions that were bursting from his head. 'How do you know Polokus? Who are the others?'

Rayman was stopped by a hand from Flaréoné, 'The flames don't affect me because I created them. I am the aspect of flame.' Rayman gazed at Flaréoné, mouth opened slightly. He didn't know what an aspect was, but he could see that it was something of great power.

'How do I know Polokus?' He laughed. 'Well many would say that he was my brother. All of them.' His gaze hardened. 'But we are not. We are of kin, but we are not related.' He paused. 'The others? I will not say here, not now.'

Rayman would normally have pursued the subject, but upon seeing that it was a touchy subject for the aspect, he did not.

They walked back out of the cave.

-_~*~_-

'Ly?!' Shouted Globox, spotting his friend. She was lying on the ground some way away from the small forest. She had just collapsed. Globox ran toward Ly as fast as his legs could carry him, and knelt down next to her.

'Ly…Ly?' He said, trying to wake her up. Her eyelids fluttered, and looked up at Globox's face.

'Globox,' she began, spluttering the mud away from her face. 'I felt a strong power, it made me faint. I think it came from the cave, but it was too powerful to tell!' She tried to get up, but Globox pressed her down. He conjured some water, and bade her drink it.

'Thanks Globox,' she said, after a long refreshing drink. 'I feel much better now!' She smiled, her eyes twinkling.

Ly got up and approached the cave. Globox went with her, looking over her soldier. She knelt down, and laced an ear on the floor. She was straining to listen for some sound, and Globox, realising this, was quiet.

Ly sighed. All she could here was the squeaking of mice, the gentle pitter patter of their feet. She listened harder, her brow furrowed. She heard something…footsteps!

She listened more carefully, and recognised that they were Rayman's feet. But along side them was another, unfamiliar footstep. But Rayman seemed to be ok, so she lifted her head away from the ground.

'I think Rayman is coming back now!' She smiled at Globox. No sooner had she said that, did Rayman come out of the cave, smiling from ear to ear. However, he seemed to be hurting slightly. His cuts seemed to be affecting him.

'I'm back!' He announced, 'and I've got a friend too!' Ly gasped as she saw Flaréoné, in his fiery form. He turned quickly back to his humanoid form, not wanting to alarm anybody.

After a short introduction, during which Flaréoné shaked hands with everybody, Rayman, Globox, Ly, Furio, Furion, and Flaréoné discussed their plans for what to do next.

'We do not know what the next thing to do is.' Furio said, indicating him and Furion. 'We were just your guides to get you to the cave. Though, of course, we are more then willing to continue with you.' Rayman smiled at Furio's friendship.

'I do not want to put you two in danger,' he began, but was interrupted.

'You have no need to. If you do not allow us to go, we will follow you anyway!' Furio interrupted. Again Rayman smiled, and agreed. Globox and Ly also decided to come with them; Flaréoné also 'offered his services'.

'So we know who's going,' Rayman said. 'But we don't know where to go.'

At this, Flaréoné raised his head to the sky. 'I know,' he said.

'Where?'

'The glory glade.' He said. It didn't quite have a dramatic effect.

'The glory glade?' asked Rayman. 'What's that?'

'The glory glade…that's were we need to go. It is hard to describe, it would take many hours to do so. I think that you shall see when you get there.'

There was something about the way that Flaréoné spoke that gave Rayman an ominous feeling.

He had no time to wonder about this however. He suddenly felt faint.

He looked down into his wounds, and saw that they had become infected by the dust and grime from the cave.

'Oh no,' he whispered. Then he fainted.

-_~*~_-