Chapter -124: The Way to a Dream
Venturing out beyond the safety of the village, the two saw the skies getting darker and oranger as they headed out towards the volcano.
The ash ring floating around the top could be held responsible for this with all the volcanic soot it shed off into the air, which descended to the ground with a flicker of ember light inside.
The ground was cracked and any single misstep could've burned either of their feet on the magma spewing out.
At the base of the volcano was a magma moat that moved sluggishly around to the icy mountain and also all the way behind it.
If they decided to follow the moat further away from the village they would find more magma rivers branching out into a wasteland of ash covered grounds and withered, black wood trees, whose only color came from the tiny embers at the end of every branch.
It wasn't a huge surprise that Canofloe had its own equivalent to the Hypothermic Wilds. This one was known as the Heatstroke Wilds. And judging from the waves of heat in the air, it would live up to its name if either one of them dared to venture out there.
But the volcano was the main attraction, the peak that Sarajin would have to climb if he wanted to impress the Titan of Fire.
He craned his head back and could just barely make out the very top of it. And beyond the smoke smoldering out of the cone had to be the place those Titans were lounging out and enjoying themselves.
He felt like Magmankey was already leaning over the edge in eager anticipation of what he would do at this very moment.
He stood near the magma moat with Temporis at his side and the two of them looked down the side in sync. There were branching streams of lava trickling down the sides, some as wide as their fingers, others wider than their bodies.
And some of those streams bubbled over on the surface, dispersing drops of lava into the ground and causing a sizzling hissing sound that made Sarajin a little uneasy.
When they looked midway up the volcano they also saw geysers that occasionally coughed up small yellow-ish clouds.
There was a lot more visibility but at the cost of this place being far more hostile. Here, the element of fire was going to try it's best to choke the life out of any brave soul dumb enough to try and scale the monument of it's divine power. Either via smoke, or via heat exhaustion.
Sarajin felt two types of sweat drip down his face as he swallowed: One nervous, another born from the heat radiating off the side.
"This might be tough..." And he could have that little bit of confidence because he had Temporis by his side.
But as he looked at her with a smile he heard her let out a tiny and shrill whistle while remarking, "Whew, I don't know Sarajin, looking at it up close...This might be too much for you to handle."
She turned and remarked bluntly, "ESPECIALLY without your elements to shield ya."
Sarajin turned to her and explained, "Well that's why you're here, Bunny. I'll just try and get as far as I can right now and if I run into trouble, I know you'll hop to my rescue!"
Temporis turned and put her hands back with a comfortable lean, "See, it's easy to use nicknames in conversation."
She then waved her hand up slightly and remarked with a smile, "Yeah, I'll be there, you can rely on me."
"Thanks, Temporis!" Sarajin nodded his head firmly and then faced his volcanic nemesis with a look that exuded relaxed confidence.
He took a deep breath and then took a couple steps back.
"Once I cross this moat I won't be able to use a single element..." That meant ignoring every reflex he's developed over the course of his young life.
One more deep breath in and out and he hunched down slightly, throwing his arms out and then sprinting like a bird stretching its wings ready for take-off.
As he leaped over the moat he felt a warm updraft going underneath his poncho that carried him a couple inches higher than he was expecting.
He started falling towards a small lava crack and grit his teeth, swerving and forcing his fall towards the right on slightly safer ground.
He fell on his shoulder and after a couple rolls, landed on his back, staring into a seething hot sky. He couldn't waste time laying down and sprung right up, turning and giving Temporis a thumbs-up, which she flashed back.
He then let out a quick breath to settle his heart down and started to climb the volcano.
The bottom of his feet immediately started to feel the burn, reminding him of his first time on Aquamoria's shoreline.
Every time he had to hop over a lava stream this feeling was impressed on his nerves even harder than before.
"Ah ah...! Hot!" He bemoaned quietly, saving his breath for the climb.
He could move at his own pace, no longer dictated by the thickness of the snow. Which meant before he knew it he was already a few hundred feet closer to the top.
He glanced back over his shoulder and made sure Temporis was still visible down there. She waved to help emphasize her presence, and it left him with a tired sense of relief.
The heat was coming onto him relentlessly as the bubbles popped, spewing that hot air into his cheeks. The sweat was soaking into his clothes and dripping off his fingertips, but the ash ring, let alone the Titan's domain, was still far out of reach.
He suddenly stopped before reaching the sulfur geysers, gasping and feeling like he was going to collapse if he pushed his body any further.
"O-Ok, that's enough for now..." As he made the decision to turn around his heel broke the ground beneath him and sent it sliding down towards the lava river.
His heart skipped a beat but in the blink of an eye, he suddenly found himself down at the foot of the volcano staring up towards the sky on his back.
Temporis kneeled down beside him and remarked, "That was a close one! You feelin' alright?"
Sarajin struggled with lifting himself up with all his sweat weighing him down. With an exhaustive groan he rubbed the back of his head and remarked, "T-Thanks for the rescue, Temporis."
He sat and crossed his legs, glancing over at the volcano and noticing the exact spot his journey almost came to an end crumbling away even more...And he had only just gotten a third of the way up.
While he was drowning his gullet in cold water from his Conduit Form, Temporis asked him, "So what do you think?"
As he let out a heavy, refreshed gasp he turned to her and said, "It's too hot."
"Well duh, what else?" Temporis said, playfully slapping him on the shoulder.
"I-I think..." Sarajin rested his hands on the ground and leaned back, "If I could just run up the volcano, I might get farther...But my feet are barely able to handle how hot the ground is."
"Not to mention your stamina kind of sucks," Temporis said, putting it as lightly as she could, "You shouldn't try and tackle the volcano again today. I think anyways, I don't know, up to you."
Sarajin shook his head and remarked, "Maybe we should get some protection for my feet first."
"AND work on your stamina," Temporis said curtly, "Let's go over to Oreore and see if Cragbeard can hook you up with some boots."
Sarajin nodded in agreement and the two left Canofloe behind for now, with a heavy mood coming from Sarajin.
When they arrived at Oreore Johnathan definitely had a lot of questions about their clothes but a quick explanation...mostly removed his confusion.
He was able to get Sarajin a nice fitting pair of boots to handle high heats. They were a little heavy but that was the price to pay for its usefulness.
Then Temporis pushed Sarajin into exercising his body for the rest of the day, doing stuff like push-ups and lifting stones so he can help increase his stamina.
The following day they returned to Canofloe feeling a little more prepared for tackling the volcano.
"Alright, we got the boots and a little exercise," Temporis then thrust her finger at the volcano and declared, "Today, you're gonna reach the top and spank that monkey!"
"S-Spank?" Sarajin awkwardly grinned and raised his brows.
She then crossed her arms and shook her head, "You know what I mean. Before you take off, Sarajin, there's something I want to try out first."
"What's up?" He asked while turning towards her.
She extended her hand and wagged her fingers towards her, "Hold my hand."
He winced but with a nice big smile grabbed hold of her hand while saying, "S-Sure..."
He stared down at her hand in his and felt soothed by her touch. "Silky..." He thought, failing to notice Temporis touching her Drive and thus wound up shocked when everything around him but her and him lost their color.
"Whoa!" He shouted and then pulled away from her.
"Relax, I just stopped time." She said nonchalantly.
"...This is what it's like when time stops?" Sarajin felt a little disturbed by the lack of color and sound in anything but each other, as it made their voices sound weird too.
"So, do you feel any heat while time's stopped?" Temporis asked.
Sarajin nodded, "Yeah, it's still hot..."
"Aaaah, that's what I thought," Temporis slapped on her bracelet and shifted to her arms crossed in a single motion, "Temperature encompasses too much space to be rendered inert in the stopped time. Damn, I was thinking we could use that to give you a head start."
"So even your Time Stop has weaknesses?" Sarajin said in surprise, "Well...thanks for the thought, Bunny."
"Ah it's fine," Temporis put her hands behind her head and looked up at the volcano, "Let's just see how you manage this time."
Sarajin prepared himself for the climb with a nice running start. The extra weight on his feet counteracted the updraft and gave him a safer landing.
He then broke into a sprint up the volcano side. The boots were like hammers though and were putting dents into the ground, widening the lava streams.
He picked up on that quickly and slowed down to compensate. That's when he noticed he was sweating just as much as before, if not a little worse.
He kept walking until he made it to the sulfur geysers a second time, at which point he felt his body wasn't going to last much longer.
He turned around and waved down at Temporis to save him and she did with a quick use of her Drive. He then dropped his hands onto his knees and panted.
"It didn't work?" She wondered.
Sarajin shook his dripping head and she sighed, crossing his arms, "Shoot! Guess with the extra weight you'll tire out faster..."
Sarajin pulled his head up and dried his sweating chin on his sleeve, "S-So what do we do now?"
"Duh!" Temporis pumped her fists and flexed her biceps, "You need more exercise, buddy!"
"Ehhh?" Sarajin moaned, feeling a sense of dread building up...
Over the course of the next week Temporis put Sarajin to the test in Aquamoria and Oreore, using the daily activities there to build up some muscle and stamina and then sending him back to the volcano the next day.
But no matter how much sweat greased his body, Sarajin was only making progress in hurting his muscles.
At the end of this week-long routine he was left collapsed onto his back at the base of the volcano with his heart feeling like it wanted to break free.
Temporis loomed over him impatiently tapping her toes on the ground and wondering, "Still not enough? Well! We'll just keep going at it until-!"
"Stop!" Sarajin thrust his hand up at her face and then left only his pointer finger aimed at her, "I...I don't think more exercise is the solution..."
He forced himself onto his feet and while he was guzzling down water she asked, "Then what IS?"
Sarajin wiped his drenched chin and with a hardy gulp and a tired look in his eyes pointed at his face, "All the heat's going to my face...Making it difficult to breathe."
"Oh." Temporis dully noted.
"So...it doesn't matter how much I train my lungs if I can't use them properly."
"Yeeeeah, I guess that's true..." Temporis looked off to the side with her hands comfortably behind her head.
Sarajin then crossed his arms and with a plain gesture asked, "I wonder if putting a helmet on would work."
"Noooooo!" Temporis proclaimed, "It'll be like putting your brain in a cauldron!"
"That...doesn't sound fun."
"Bah, this monkey's rules suck!" Temporis shouted with her hands thrown into the air in frustration.
"But somebody has to have passed his Trial, right?" Sarajin suggested.
"I can't imagine how," Temporis groaned, "Let's just take the rest of the day off. I'll try and sneak another peek at my dad's books for ideas."
"And I'll get some rest..." Sarajin groaned.
"Yeeeah, probably a good idea." Temporis nodded.
So the two parted their separate ways back home, and returned to the outskirts of Canofloe the next day. Temporis was waltzing alongside Sarajin with her hands behind her head and a heavy sigh exiting her lips.
"Any luck?" Sarajin was hesitant to ask.
"Nope!" She popped out of her mouth, "Dad had his workplace locked up tight."
"Mmmm..." Sarajin hung his head in pondrance of their next move.
"We don't have to go if you're not up to it." Temporis remarked.
A quick raise of Sarajin's head and a familiar face motivated him to keep moving forward, "Justek!"
He was standing near the border of the village looking it over until he heard his name. He then looked over his shoulder and seemed refreshed and looking good as new.
With a small smile Justek turned all the way around and gestured his hand Sarajin's way, "Ah, there you are. Glad to see you're safe and sound, Sarajin."
Temporis caught up a few seconds later and scoffed, "What about me, four-eyes?!"
Justek closed his eyes and let out a long sigh, "Yes, I suppose you deserve some credit for keeping him safe, pixie."
Sarajin chuckled and grinned happily over how nothing had changed. He then patted Justek on the back a couple times while asking him, "So how are you feeling?"
Justek smiled and nudged his glasses up, "Still feeling a little tired but I should be fine."
"So that was your first time getting sick?" Temporis wondered.
"Yes," Justek then hastily and dismissively remarked, "And I endeavor to never experience that hell again, thank you very much."
He then crossed his arms and gestured at Sarajin, "So...What did I miss?"
After a rather uneventful recap of the last week, Justek was left bobbing his head and humming to himself, deep in thought.
"So there's been a roadblock in progress up until now..." He muttered.
Temporis turned her head and wondered, "How come you're just fine, four-eyes?"
Justek perked his head up and with a smug smirk told her, "Because I am part dragon. The cold may be my bane but I thrive here in the heat."
He then ruffled his smirk and asked her mockingly, "Jealous?"
Temporis put her hands behind her head and shrugged, "Oh wow you got one over on me, whatever will I do..."
"Mmm..." Justek wiggled his fingers into his palm for a bit before closing his fist and laying it at his side, turning to Sarajin with an inquiry of, "You mentioned something about a helmet though..."
"Yeah, I thought I could wear it to protect myself from the heat but Temporis said it would just make it worse."
Justek gestured his fingers out from his hip and bobbed his head, "No no, you're on the right path with your thinking, Sarajin."
"I am...?" Sarajin raised his brows.
"He is?" Temporis followed.
"Yes," Justek nodded, "We just need to take advantage of the resources available to us."
Sarajin crossed his arms but before he could think, Justek helped him out, "We should go to the Atelier. But first, we're going to need a helmet."
With a great deal of hesitation, Sarajin sighed and then glanced aside at Temporis to ask her, "Do you think you could get us a helmet without being caught?"
Temporis perked up energetically and shouted, "You betcha!"
And she went running straight into the village without stopping to think. Sarajin's eyes remained large as he then looked up at Justek with a smile, "It's good to have you back, buddy."
"Heh, I told you, sometimes I don't know how you'd survive without me," Justek said in a friendly way, "Go on ahead of me, Sarajin. There's something I must take care of real quick."
Sarajin nodded and then went on ahead to the Atelier, where he found Temporis leaning against the entrance while juggling a helmet in one hand.
She clamped onto it and chuckled, "Easy peasy!"
She then flung it over into his hands so she could put hers behind her head, "So where's four-eyes?"
"He said he had something to take care of."
A few seconds later Justek ran up to them carrying a black scale in his hand the size of his head, "Here, let's see if this works."
Sarajin was never going to forget what that scale belonged to anytime soon. He gestured at his friend in a worrying fashion and remarked, "Isn't that one of your scales?"
"Yes, it is, I tore it off my arm," Justek said with a nonchalant smile towards Sarajin's concerned face, "It stung a little but I'll recover quickly."
Justek passed the scale into Sarajin's free hand and Temporis commented, "That's pretty gnarly, not gonna lie...But what's the point?"
"If my theory is correct, if we put the helmet and my scale into the cauldron, it'll give the helmet the ability to completely nullify heat."
"That's great, Justek!" Sarajin proclaimed with his mouth agape in awe.
"Making up for lost time, eh four-eyes?" Temporis chuckled.
Justek nudged his glasses up and smirked, "Well, shall we?"
One quick trip into the Atelier later, and they came out of it with a scale covered black helmet. Sarajin then put it on and it felt rather comfy and...cool on the inside.
"Oh, wow!" Sarajin gasped.
"How is it?" Justek urged.
"I don't feel any heat at all!" Sarajin patted the sides of the helmet twice then hopped, thrusting his fist into the air excitedly, "With this on I'll easily be able to climb the volcano!"
"Whew..." Justek breathed a heavy sigh of relief, "I don't know what we would've done if it hadn't worked."
"Now all that's left is to do it!" Temporis smacked Sarajin lightly on the back and gave her encouragement, "Go on, Sarajin! Climb that volcano and show that jerk who's boss!"
With an elevated sense of joy in his heart, Sarajin and his two friends marched towards the volcano for another attempt to climb it.
He started off much in the same way as he had before but with even a little more weight tying him down.
Since he didn't have to worry about the heat though he took his time climbing the first third and saving all his energy for making it past the sulfur geysers.
The ground continued to break at his feet but all these attempts had conditioned him to jump the moment he felt any give way.
And eventually he made it further than he ever had before with just a little sweat holding him down. Once at the geysers he took a deep breath in and then held it, making a mad sprint between them.
The plumes of yellow gas were toxic and dangerous to even touch let alone breathe, as Justek forewarned. But with quick reflexes and a determination to not stop for anything, Sarajin crossed this deadly minefield of gases and was approaching the bottom of the ashen ring.
Only when he got this close did he realize just how big it was. Bigger than storm clouds, bigger than most of the volcano itself. It was its own entity, the last guardian between him and the Titan.
And it crackled, birthing to life new embers with every breath it took in from the volcanic maw.
Sarajin's heart raced as he ventured towards the ash. He closed his eyes and took one last breath in to push him all the way through to the other side.
The volcano's slope was nearing its peak and the pain in his legs was rough. But he thought that with enough perseverance he would come out on top.
"Temporis, Justek...I only made it this far because of you! Thank you...I won't let you down!"
But as he became consumed with ash and ember, his nose was forced to take in this gritty black cloud and his mouth was forced open with a cough.
As he struggled to inhale and exhale his ability to run rapidly diminished into a crawl, as he fell onto his hands and knees and started coughing uncontrollably.
"W-Why...?! The helmet should stop this...right?!" His throat was getting filled with hot ash and it burned worse than any food he's ever tasted.
Dizzying, losing consciousness by the second, he tried to stand up only for these many coughs to drag him back down.
"N-Not again...!" He groaned in agony.
Suddenly, he felt a hand grab hold of the front of his shirt, believing it to be Temporis'.
Instead he was wrenched right through the ash towards the peak by an extendable hand, forced face-to-face with the grinning, laughing Magmankey.
Sarajin was free to expel the ash from his body with a few coughs, with the Titan now staring him down, leaning off the edge of his little spring.
"Wooo hoo hoo hoo! Having a little trouble with the ash cloud are we?" Magmankey ruthlessly taunted him, "Bet it would help if you had some wind to blow it away!"
Sarajin tiredly raised a brow and murmured, "Y-You saved me...?"
Magmankey's eyes widened with a deep primal ferocity as he remarked, "I told you, you're my toy now. An eternity is a long time kid, so I don't intend to let you break until I've milked you for all you're worth."
Only his pupils shifted around to scan the scope of Sarajin's body, "Cl-ev-er boy...Too bad there's nothing in this world that can help you breathe within my divine ash! Ooh hoo hoo hoo!"
Magmankey then jerked him closer so their faces were pressed together and growled to him, "So what'll it be boy: Surrender, or torment?"
Sarajin grit his teeth and declared, "I-I'm never going to give up! Not until you learn your lesson!"
"Torment it is then," Magmankey stretched his arm out past the edge of the ashen ring and then declared heartily, "LET THE GAMES CONTINUE!"
He let go and sent Sarajin plummeting towards the bottom of the volcano. Tired from the ash exposure he couldn't reorganize himself in time to use a gust of wind for a soft landing.
Fortunately Justek was more than ready to jump and snatch him out of the sky, crashing back down near the moat.
"Are you alright?" Justek remarked.
"Y-Yeah..." Sarajin weakly stood up off his arms and wobbled over to Temporis, who looked more than a little frustrated with herself.
"Sorry, I lost track of you when you entered the ash," She said, putting her hands behind her head, "Did you make it to the top?"
Sarajin hung his head in shame and murmured, "The ash was too much. I couldn't breathe at all."
"Oh," Temporis replied in a limp tone, "Great. So we solved one problem and now another's come up."
Justek sighed and closed his eyes to think, "It almost feels like even if Sarajin succeeds, the Titan will still refuse to let him pass."
"Well that's a load of crap!" Temporis shouted, throwing her fists down and marching towards the edge of the moat, where she then cupped her hands around her mouth and screamed, "YOU HEAR THAT YA MONKEY?! YOUR RULES FUCKING BLOW!"
Within the blink of an eye a loud snap could be heard through the sky followed by one of Magmankey's fingers stretching all the way down and poking Temporis right into the ground on her back.
Sarajin and Justek stood there flabbergasted as said finger only playfully flicked her in the nose and retracted all the way back up to its owner.
Temporis covered her nose and groaned "OOOOW!" before standing back up and shaking her fist in the air with a few minor grumbles of hate.
Sarajin took his helmet off and turned sideways at the volcano, sighing, "I was close..."
Justek briefly put a hand on his shoulder and remarked, "We'll try again tomorrow. It'll be best if you don't take in too much ash."
Sarajin nodded in agreement and then turned to Temporis, "I can't believe he hit you."
"I can't believe it either, the dick!" Temporis finished rubbing her nose and then crossed her arms, "Not even my dad's ever hit me before..."
Temporis then swung her arm down and declared, "Sarajin, we're gonna beat this Trial no matter what it takes, ya got it?!"
"I know. I'll do better next time."
Except come the next day, and the days that followed, it was the same old, same old. He would try to climb the volcano only to keep being walled by the ash as thick as water.
He tried some different ways of tackling it like waiting to run until he got to the ash, but then he risked a lot moving among the sulfur geysers.
And if they tried to make it so Sarajin could breathe in that helmet they'd be removing his ability to survive the heat. But judging from the Titan's snide remarks there was no way to breathe while in the ash anyways.
This went on for another week until eventually...
Temporis and Justek stood at the base of the volcano, watching Sarajin in the middle of another attempt to climb it.
"Maybe this'll be a successful run." Temporis said with little confidence and her eyes shut.
Justek crossed his arms and sighed, then turned away and walked off a few paces.
"We've done all we can, and now we're powerless to do anything but stand by and watch until he succeeds."
She looked over her shoulder and commented, "It sucks, doesn't it?"
"Yes, yes it does..." Justek closed his eyes and took a moment to rub the moisture off his glasses.
"Huh?" Temporis suddenly flinched and turned all the way around, "I'm sensing another presence rapidly approaching..."
When Justek put his glasses back on it was just in time to watch a man on one of those ash horses blitz on by, the creature letting out an energetic neigh as it leaped over the moat and rapidly ascended the volcano in pursuit of Sarajin.
"Hey! That's the leader of Canofloe, Emberstache!" Temporis shouted.
Sarajin heard the clop of the horse's hooves and turned around right as Valflame made the beast swerve around, allowing him to extend his hand out and scoop him up from the stomach.
"Climbing this volcano by your lonesome...I almost envy the boldness of your youth." Valflame murmured as he put Sarajin onto the back of his horse.
Sarajin sat right up and shouted, "W-What are you doing?!"
"Saving your life!" Valflame declared, "Now hold on tight!"
Sarajin hesitantly grabbed the leader's backside as his horse neighed, flying over the moat and then rocketing towards the village, leaving trails of flame in the wake of it's hooves.
They made it to the front of the castle in record time, where the horse's pace settled down with a simple neigh on its behalf signaling when it had completely stopped.
Valflame then got off and turned to Sarajin, extending his hand with a weary look on his face. Sarajin grabbed hold of it with some hesitation and dropped to the ground.
The man then rubbed his horse's mane and it purred, nuzzling it's head against his face and giving him a gentle lick.
Sarajin then looked him in the eyes and wondered, "Why did you do that? I was trying to climb the volcano."
"Haaa..." Valflame put one hand on the hilt of his sword and remarked, "Honestly, I had assumed you were joking at the time. But then my men started to mention seeing someone on the side of the volcano and lo and behold, it wasn't a joke after all."
He was reprimanding him but there was an attempt to restrain his tone and remain polite throughout. With a long pause to sigh Valflame waved his hand off his sword and remarked, "But on further inspection I see you're more prepared than I had expected."
Sarajin took his helmet off and nodded, "It's thanks to my friends' help that I was even able to make it as far as I have."
"So you've made multiple attempts then," Valflame said, his eyes subtly alit in wonder, "...Does it really mean that much to you?"
Sarajin nodded again with firmer intent behind it, and Valflame responded in kind with abject confusion, "Why does it matter to you what happens to a bunch of people you've never met before? Kindness is a virtue, yes, but you must consider the weight of your own life too, Sarajin."
"...I don't like violence. Or seeing people die." Sarajin said, hanging his head.
"Yes, but people die and people fight. That is a normal part of life." Valflame admitted, sounding tired as he did.
Sarajin raised his head up and shouted, "But there has to be more to life than fighting and dying?!"
He then gave the man a mournful look as he whispered, "Don't you have a dream outside of defending your people, Valflame?"
"..." Valflame's eyes widened in silence, before then slowly sealing shut, his head turned aside as he let out a brief but poignant sigh.
He took his sword off his waist and put it atop his horse, crossing his arms and then leaning against them, his head craned back to look up at the sky.
"I had dreamed of being an artist when I was younger. I would have these deep and resonative thoughts and sought to etch them into stone with my flame," He raised his hand towards the sky, only to close his fist and press it against his chest near the heart, "But then my father lost his life to that monster, and I was forced to take the reins over our forces in his absence. Now...this art of mine only marks the graves of the fallen."
Sarajin kept his eyes on him as he walked in front of him, remarking in a sincere tone, "I saw the faces on those vases. They looked very life-like. Even though I never met the soldiers, I could feel you captured what made them unique."
Valflame hummed with a slightly perturbed look on his face.
Sarajin continued with a slight smile, "You can still follow your dream, Valflame. It doesn't have to be all about bloodshed and misery."
He curled a fist in front of his chest and gestured his hand out with a heartfelt plea, "And if we work together, we can make everyone's dream a reality. Not just yours."
"..." Valflame's lips quivered and he closed his eyes, pulling away from his horse with a somber remark of, "I'm sorry, Sarajin...But I can't just put my faith into mere words, no matter how beautiful they may sound."
He turned away and ruffled his hand through his horse's mane, guiding them along away from the castle.
Sarajin trembled, uttering "Why?" despondently as he swung his fist out against the nearby wall.
Valflame froze in place, hanging his head and giving it a light shake. He then turned to look at his horse, making a remark of, "Ashen Mares are as beautiful as they are fierce."
Sarajin looked up and as Valflame petted his friend, the horse nuzzled him back, making him laugh.
"But if you manage to gain it's respect, nothing can stand in your way...Not even the thickest of ash." Valflame smiled softly out of the corner of his face and then turned away, continuing to guide his horse.
Sarajin's eyes widened, his mouth an "O" before spreading out into a smile, raising his spirits higher.
"Sarajin!" Suddenly he heard Justek calling out his name and turned around to see him and Temporis running up to him.
Temporis looked in Valflame's departing direction and wondered, "What the heck did he want?"
"He was just worried about me," Sarajin said softly, "It's alright. We talked for a bit."
"Actually," Sarajin waved his hand out in confidence and said, "I think he gave me an idea on how to climb the volcano."
"Did he now?" Justek crossed his arms and wondered, "What is it?"
Sarajin pumped his fists up and remarked, "I'm going to need to tame a horse!"
Next Time: The Road to Power