Chapter 10
The Flaming pit of Lava
"You think he's unconscious?"
"No…he's dead, mutt."
"WHAT!"
"Seto…"
"What?"
"YAMI! WAKE UP! YOU'RE NOT DEAD YET!"
Yami felt himself being violently shaken awake. Groaning, he slowly opened his eyes…and was face to face with Joey. "AUGH!" Yami cried, pushing him back.
"I knew he wasn't dead!" Joey said, proudly.
"I was kidding…" Seto murmured, holding back a smirk.
"WHAT?"
Joey went over to fight with Seto who merely opened an eye to look at the shorter man. Serenity sighed and shook her head. She smiled at Yami and said, "You were out for quite a bit. You had us all a little scared."
"Sorry," Yami said bashfully and turned to look behind him. Anzu was shaking slightly.
"Anzu, are you okay?" he asked.
Anzu stared at him and then laughed, "Of course. I was just worried."
Yami felt himself grow warm in the face. She was worried about him? A flash of light interrupted his thoughts on the matter before he could explore it further. He turned. It was Fatima.
"Hello my friends! You have recovered the second stone!" Fatima said, clapping her hands softly.
"Yes, we have. Here you go," Mai said, handing Fatima the amethyst.
Fatima held it in her hand and sighed, slouching ever so slightly. She straightened up and said, "Well done. Veata's stone is safe. Did you merge with your guide?"
Mai nodded. "Excellent. Everything is running smoothly. Good luck. Your goal is to go inside that volcano," she said pointing northward.
Yami hadn't even noticed it, which was hard to believe. The volcano loomed ahead, glowing a red aura. Black smoke billowed from the top and lava spurted out. Yami shivered. He wasn't cold. Was he…afraid?
"Good luck," she said again and vanished.
"Great," Joey sighed, "We get out of one adventure and then thrown into another one!"
"Are we there yet?"
"No."
"How 'bout now?"
"Mutt. Please, shut up."
There was a pause.
"How 'bout now?"
"YOU IMBECILE!" said Seto, turning towards Joey who took a step back, "WE'RE NOT THERE YET BECAUSE WE HAVE NO IDEA WHERE WE'RE GOING!"
"Seto, we do know where we're going. We have to find a tunnel into the volcano," said Yami.
Seto glared at Yami. "Yes. I'm sure there is some random tunnel into a volcano."
Yami growled. "If Fatima said there is, there is! We need to find it!"
"Whatever."
Anzu looked over at Yami. Why was he so tense? Not that Seto was helping or anything. He had been acting like this since Fatima showed them where they had to go next. She hoped he was okay.
They had been walking for over 6 hours. They were walking around the volcano, trying to find the tunnel Fatima spoke of. Anzu held back a groan. She wasn't used to walking this much. She was about to ask if they were there yet. She gasped.
The tunnel!
"Look! Over there!" Serenity said, pointing in front of them.
The tunnel was about half a mile away. Reddish, orange glow emitted form the depths of the tunnel and as the six got closer, intense heat waves washed over them. Anzu coughed. The air was thick with smoke and ash. She couldn't wait to get away from this place.
The tunnel's entryway was quite magnificent. Intricate designs and symbols were around the opening, making no sense to Yami. At the top of the tunnel was the head of the gargoyle with blood red eyes. Yami heard Mai grumbling about the heat.
Yami looked around. Joey and Seto had thrown their cloaks off and rolled about the sleeves of their tunics. The girls had gotten rid of their heavy clothing as well and Mai had the courtesy of shortening their dresses so they were like her skirt. They had rolled up their sleeves as well. They were all sweating from the heat.
Yami wasn't sweating.
"Well, let's go in," Joey said.
No one moved. Yami saw the unsure faces (well, Seto had a straight face) and turned back to the tunnel.
Yami took the first step in. Anzu, Joey, Mai, Serenity, and then Seto followed him in.
Wow, Serenity thought, so this is what the inside of a volcano looks like.Serenity thought, .
The tunnel walls were hot molten rock. Lava poured in from crevices and made rivers on both sides of the rock path the group was walking on. They had to walk in a single file line because the path was so thin.
Serenity didn't feel safe at all. It was like walking across a rickety old bridge.
They had been walking for a few minutes. The scenery had changed much. The occasional magma bubble and gust of smoke was all that attacked. No giant spiders, no strange creatures that blew her mind.
I wonder who would think of putting a snake, lion and bird together, Serenity thought.
As she pondered this thought, Joey was listening hard to the noises around them. The noise of the lava river, bubbles bursting, crumbling rock…wait what?
Joey turned and shouted, "LOOK OUT!"
The rock beneath them began to shake. Anzu screamed. The rock was crumbling around her. She broke away on her on slab of rock and drifted away. "YAMI, HELP!"
"ANZU!" Yami shouted, reaching his hand out to her. He then felt the ground crumble beneath him as well, and he floated away in the opposite direction.
"Mai! Joey!" Serenity cried. The two drifted away on the same rock, leaving Serenity with Seto.
Serenity shrieked. The ground was falling away. As she was about to float away, without a second thought, Seto grabbed her wrist. "Hold on," he said gruffly, and began trying to pull her back over.
Almost there, he thought and then felt her wrist slip away. He watched her drift away and then felt himself moving towards her. They all floated away, each a few feet away from the other. Well, everyone except Yami. "YAMI!" Anzu cried, realizing he hadn't come with them.
Yami stared hopelessly after them. He watched them turn a corner. They were gone. Yami stood for a few more moments. He was alone.
"We need to get back to Yami!" Anzu said, turning to look at the others.
Why hadn't Yami's piece of rock follow the others? Was it the current? The lave flow? Also, why didn't Joey use his magic?
"Anzu, to answer your first question, it had to be the current. There is no other way," Seto said.
"And to answer your other, my magic is not working. The last time it worked was when I was flicking stones outside the volcano. It stopped working when we got in," Joey said, looking miserable.
"Same with me Hun," Mai said sadly, before Anzu could ask.
"Then how are we going to get Yami back here?"
There was no answer. Anzu fell into a heap on her rock and began to weep quietly. "This day keeps getting better and better," said Seto sarcastically, with a twinge of panic.
"Huh?" Anzu asked, and turned.
Doomed. They were all doomed.
They were heading straight for…for a…lava fall.
Yami knew they were in danger.
He didn't know how, he just did. He also knew that he had to help them. Fast. But how? He thought, and angrily hit the rock beneath him. He stopped.
Was that chirping?
He turned towards his left and watched the lava. The spot he was looking at began to bubble and churn. Then it began to spin clockwise, creating a whirlpool of lava. There was a rush of air and flames shot out of the pit. Yami couldn't breathe.
The most beautiful creature he had ever seen had come out. Its plumage was flaming fire red. It's eyes so white hot he felt like he was on fire just looking at them. Its tail was thin at the beginning and grew steadily longer until it could circle the bird three times. The end was white flames, the start of it a dull red. It's golden beak opened and the bird cried out.
The cry was like nothing he had ever heard before. It was like hundreds of Crishan's finest orchestra's playing at once in the same tune, or the call of a flock birds shrieking all at once. The bird stopped.
Yami seemed to know it would help him, or at least he thought it would. The bird cried out again and flew right through Yami. It disappeared with him.
Yami cried out and fell to his knees (he had gotten up before). His magic never felt like this. It was raw power and it was painful. As Yami's eyes began to grow crimson he decided that it was okay that it hurt. It felt right.
Anzu watched the lava fall come closer. She didn't cry out. She was too frightened.
This was it.
She continued to watch it and slowly began shaking. She told herself to stop. She did. She felt like throwing up. She held it in. She wanted to scream at the top of her lungs.
Anzu screamed as she went over, she held on to the rock as she fell. Her screams were mixed with Serenity's and Mai's and the cries of Joey and Seto. She braced herself for the burning hotness.
The rock stopped. She slammed into it, still holding on. She slowly opened her eyes.
She was still in the volcano. She was still on the rock. She wasn't falling. She was hanging in midair. Well, not exactly. A column of lava was holding up Anzu's rock. I'm okay! We're okay! She thought, as she turned to look at the others who were cheering (except Seto who looked relieved).
"Anzu! Are you okay?"
"YAMI!" Anzu cried.
Yami stood on his own column of lava, surrounded in ruby red light. He smiled at her and a bridge of lava led the way to Anzu's column. Yami ran over.
Without a second thought, Anzu threw her arms around his neck and hugged him. Yami's eyes widened. "Oh, Yami! I'm so happy you're okay!" Anzu said.
Yami hugged her back.
"I don't want to break this love fest up or anything," Seto said sarcastically," but your stone is behind you."
Anzu blushed and pulled herself away. Yami turned. The lava fall was parting like a curtain. When it stopped, in the center was a ruby. Yami felt himself moving towards it. He looked around. Joey was moving the rock towards it.
When Yami got there and reached out. The rock flew into his hands. "Yes!" he heard Serenity say," We found it! The third stone!"
Blue fire shot of the lava and surrounded them. When the flames went down, they were gone.
That was pretty long. I hope you like it! Please review! More next time!
-Em