Chapter 10 - Kalamon

They had no trouble entering Kalamon as there was no gate keeper, only a statue in the gate tower. What they saw in Kalamon however, shocked and disgusted them, the entire city had been turned to stone, including both people and homes. The castle was surrounded by 3 volcanoes, 2 that were dormant, the middle on the other hand was very much active, lava spurting out every five minuets.

The heat was worse than what is was in the desert but yet again Neraka ceased to feel it.

"I'm guessing the tiara is in that middle volcano as its still active" began Ewan "So should we go for the tiara or the guardian first?"

"The tiara!" demanded Siera "Toran nearly got killed last time because we didn't have the tiara yet"

Toran looked at Siera and smiled; Siera slightly blushed and then looked away.

"To the volcano it is" said Ewan

The climb up the volcano was exhausting seeing as it was the largest of the 3 volcanoes. When the finally reached the top, they began to search for the tiara but it was no where to be seen.

"Where is it!" shouted Neraka with much frustration. "We have looked everywhere!"

"Not everywhere" said Jaelie as she looked into the pool of lava beneath them.

"You've got to be kidding Jaelie" began Neraka as she too looked into the lava, "I can't swim in lava!"

"Yes you can" interrupted Toran "You are immune to heat as Siera is to low temperatures"

"How can you be sure?" asked Neraka nervously as she stood along the edge of the lava pool.

"There's only one way to know" said Siera as she snuck up behind Neraka who was obliviously looking at the lava. Before Neraka had time to react, Siera pushed her into the boiling hot molten lava. Neraka surfaced unharmed but with a very angry face.

"Don't you give me that face!" snapped Siera

"Just you wait till I get out of here!" yelled Neraka

Siera ignored Neraka's remark and went back to stand next to Toran who was fondly looking at her.

"Neraka hurry!" demanded Kiara "Go and get the tiara so we can get out of here!"

Neraka dived under the lava in search of her Tiara while the others waited patiently for her return.

They had been waiting only a short while when suddenly the volcano began to shake. The group steadied themselves so they wouldn't fall. A spiky object the came out of the lava, the companions soon realized it was the tail of a dragon. Spurts of lava began to shoot out from the lava pool, the group thinking that the volcano was about to erupt, began running down the side of the volcano with great speed. They were half way down when Kiara tripped on a rock and began tumbling down the volcano, knocking over Jaelie and Ewan as she went. Siera was about to be knocked over but Toran pulled her out of the way before any harm came to her. The three rolling companions landed at the base of the lava mountain with a slight thud.

"Kiara you clumsy oaf!" snapped Jaelie as she slowly sat up. Ewan stood up and grabbed Jaelie's hand to help her to her feet.

"That was the funniest thing I have ever seen!" cried Siera as her and Toran reached the bottom of the volcano. Both laughing.

"I'm glad you find it so amusing!" snapped Jaelie as she quickly summoned her shooting star and threw it at Siera causing it to slap her in the face.

"Oh it is on!" exclaimed Siera as she conjured a water ball and aimed it at Jaelie.

Ewan instantly put up a reflector shield to protect Jaelie from the on coming attack. The water ball rebounded off the shield and knocked poor Kiara back to the ground just as she had begun to stand up.

The ground shook one last time and a powerful dragon erupted from the volcano and soared the skies of Kalamon.

"Where's Neraka!" yelled Kiara as she got to her feet.

"Oh my god1" shouted Siera as she burst into laughter.

A loud cry for help the came from the sky. They looked up only to see Neraka clinging for her life to the dragon's tail.

"That explains why Siera is laughing" said Jaelie with a smile.

The dragon landed in front of the companions with a heavy thud, knocking Kiara off her feet once again. The dragon hastily flicked Neraka off his tail forcing her to crash into Kiara.

"Who disturbs my slumber!" roared the dragon

Neraka stood up.

"I am Neraka, princess of Kalamon! I have woken you to help me save Avalonia!"

"YOU DARE WAKEN ME!" shouted the dragon with much force "I AM FLAMEDRA, DRAGON OF FIRE! I CARE ONLY FOR MYSELF AND MY CITY! YOU HAVE TRESSPASSED ON MY LAND, BOW BEFORE ME!"

"Excuse me!" exclaimed Siera as she stepped forward to face the ill tempered dragon. "I am princess Siera! You bow before me!"

"No!" boomed a voice from above "It cannot be!" The voice seemed to surround them.

The looked up and saw a huge fire tornado rocketing towards them. The tornado landed before them, and through the smoke they saw the evil guardian of Kalamon.

"I am Thaegan, ruler of Kalamon" began the devil like guardian "How dare you trespass on my land! I know why you have come princess and I assure you, you will not defeat me"

"We have already defeated one guardian, you are next!" shouted Kiara in reply.

Thaegan laughed mockingly at Kiara and turned to Neraka.

"We shall see"

The dragon angry by Thaegans rude interruption, swiftly lifted his foot and stomped on the guardian, but when he lifted his foot there was nothing under it, only some red smoke that slowly floated up into the air.

"Fools!" snapped a voice from behind them. It was Thaegan, completely unharmed and furious. Thaegan caught Neraka off guard and quickly attacked before Neraka had a chance to defend herself. Neraka fell to the ground and the Tiara went flying and landed in the palm of Thaegans hand. Ember felt Neraka hit the ground and emerged from her locket only to find Thaegan holding the Tiara, She didn't think twice about charging into Thaegans skinny stomach. Ember hit Thaegan with much force sending the Tiara once more into the air. Ember quickly caught it and returned it to Neraka. Neraka placed the Tiara on her head and it began to glow a hot red. The companions stepped back as Neraka was engulfed by a huge ring of fire. The fire cleared and the companions looked at Neraka who was now wearing a long red and orange gown. Thaegan shrieked in anger as she stood up to look at the newly formed princess.

"You are in trouble now!" teased Jaelie

"Watch your tongue or I will remove it!" snapped Thaegan

"You will not live to get the chance" said Ewan with an arrogant smile "Neraka now!"

Rings of fire began to fly all around Neraka, and they quickly flew into her hands that were glowing red. In a matter of seconds, a powerful fire beam flew out of her hands and hit Thaegan in the chest. Thaegan let out a howl of pain and then turned to dust.

Neraka slowly sat down so she could try and catch her breath.

"You did well" said Toran as he approached the tied princess

"Can we stay here for the night?" asked Neraka still trying to catch her breath "I'm too tied to start moving to Qualinesti"

"Hell no!" snapped Siera "It's too hot here!"

"I will take you to the Avian River" interrupted the dragon

"Is that where your border ends?" asked Kiara

"No" replied the dragon "I just can't be bothered flying all the way to the Caves"

"What caves?" asked Jaelie

"The caves that you have to cross threw to get to Qualinesti" replied the Dragon

"Why can't you just take us the full way?" asked Siera

"Because I just want you out of my city!" snapped the dragon who clearly didn't like Siera.

"This is Neraka's city!" yelled Siera "You're just the guardian!"

"Keep this up and you shall walk the full way to Qualinesti!" roared the dragon.

Siera didn't reply.

The dragon lowed himself to the ground and waited for the trespassers to climb onto his back. Once all the companions were on the dragons back, he took off without warning.