The grayness reformed into the scene they had been at earlier, except much darker. Kun'nuk'kles looked up at the Watchers again. "You're back? I thought you had left for good. I couldn't sense you at all."
We're back. In a sense, we never left. You are the one who went, instead.
"What do you mean?"
We are not where you are, if you haven't figured that out. But I already know you have. We are looking at Memories. I know what will happen, and another of us is in the Memories, and saw them from a different point of view. The third of us has an idea about what might happen, and knows the results, but does not know what happened. We are watching to teach him what he needs to know.
"I… see…"
It was then that Klinok came up behind him and spoke, "It ready, friend Kun."
Kun'nuk'kles looked at Klinok and smiled. "I thank you," he replied, standing, and putting his things back in the sack about his neck.
As he walked out of the dome of light, the Chipmunk, Al'mun, approached him. "Kun…" he said, grimly. "I have thing, made of Dragon you kill."
"Yes?"
"Yes. Here," the Chipmunk said, handing something wrapped in cloth to him.
Kun'nuk'kles unwrapped it. It was a belt, with a sheath attached to it, and in the sheath, there was a dagger. As Kun'nuk'kles slowly drew the curved dagger from its resting place, Al'mun explained. "The belt, made from scales and skin of Dragon, the sheath from the same. The dagger I made, carved from claw, from hand of Dragon. Always be sharp. Never break. That part of magic of Rock Dragon."
"Thank you…"
"You welcome. I sure you do same for me, if I ask same of you."
Kun'nuk'kles nodded, and put the belt on. It was not at all heavy. He then started walking across the desert. As the sand slid and crunched under his feet, he shivered. The night was quite chill, but nowhere near as chill as the mountaintop. It was bearable, even though he might not want to. He wouldn't have to use his magic to simply survive, here.
Magic wasn't something to be used to just make things easier. In fact, he SHOULDN'T have used most of the magic that he HAD used on this journey. He was sure that magic would, eventually, present its bill to him. And, inevitably, it would be more than he was willing to afford. That was part of the Laws of magic. The easier magic made something, the more it would cost in the end.
Kun'nuk'kles slid down another dune. The sky in the north was glowing red, and Kun'nuk'kles could faintly make out lines of red light spreading on one of the mountains. It was just about time, then. About an hour of walking later, the mountain was obviously a volcano, and the chill night air was warming. That meant that it was finally time to use it. He stopped walking and took the Barrier Artifact from his sack. He then threw it in the sand in front of him, and stomped down hard on it.
As the disc cracked, it vanished. But something else happened. A sphere of Flame surrounded Kun'nuk'kles's body, encompassing him and some of the sand. But the sand did not seem affected, at all. The Flames circled him, and he walked on. Two hours later, it was pitch black to the south, but the sky was glowing red above him. Clouds of ash were orbiting the volcano, and small rivulets of lava were flowing in and out of the volcano through small cracks.
Kun'nuk'kles went over to one of the rivulets, but still felt no heat. He reached over to the flowing rock, and still felt no heat. He stuck his hand in, and still, felt no heat. He pulled his hand out, and it was unscathed. Not even so much as a scorch mark. Tiny bits of hardening rock were clinging to his glove, and he flicked them off. Taking a deep breath, Kun'nuk'kles went on, searching for an opening he could use.
After fifteen more minutes of scouring the mountainside, he found a large cave entrance, where only the bottom was covered in lava. He waded through it. It was much like wading through deep mud, except with deep mud, you don't keep half expecting your legs to burst into flame. At least, not usually. Inside, it was a veritable maze of passages. Kun'nuk'kles simply kept going forward, wading through more lava, on the basis that Chaos Red was probably in the core of the volcano in any case.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, but was probably only about an hour, he emerged in a huge cavern. Looking up, he could see the ruddy sky; he had arrived. But Chaos Red was nowhere in sight. He took his staff from the sack tied around his neck, and at that very instant, a bulge appeared in the center of the room. The lava rose an inch or three temporarily, and then settled back down when Chaos Red had finally emerged.
It was hideous. It had a great claw, like a scorpion's, at the end of each of its forelimbs. Its hind limbs were insectoid, ending without ceremony, although scaled up to the sheer size. Its skin was covered by some sort of black plating, from which a red haze rose. It swung its head slowly to face Kun'nuk'kles, and snapped its mandibles. It then spoke, "I see that you have come, Wizard, into the sanctuary of Chaos Red… you wish to Bind me to the form of the gemstone that I know from so long ago, I trust?"
"That I have," Kun'nuk'kles acknowledged.
"Well, then, know this, and then prepare to fight: I am Chaos Red; I am Stamina!"
"Very well," he said, brandishing his staff. "Let's begin."
