Chapter 30
Finding the Gate
"Here, stop!" Daren said; Hiei stopped on a dime, of course, but the poor werewolf was flung forward a few yards by the momentum. He dusted himself off, grumbling and then slapped his forehead, "Damn it all! I had forgotten it was high tide! The mountain the Gate is on is underwater now!"
"You'd better start swimming; the tetsujin won't hold him off for long." Hiei said, drawing his sword.
"Neither will you, but anything is better than nothing." Daren said, casting a spell over himself to allow him to breath underwater. "Good luck, Hiei."
"Are you still here?" he barked and took a stance towards to entrance to the cove to wait. The sorcerer leapt into the water with the Rod and swam downward. He cast another spell to make him very heavy and sank quickly to the bottom. Standing in the billowing sand, he cast a light and walked forward into a cave. The dark tunnel led him forward for several meters before opening into a large chamber; a monstrous cavern that supported the whole island, and in the middle was a small mountain the Gate rested on. He saw the water around him rippling in the heat of an underwater vent. He squinted in confusion; there had been no vents here before, why was there heat now?
He continued, casting yet another spell to protect his body from the heat. He saw an orange glow coming up from the floor. Burning red flashes glowed from the floor. A ravine had opened in the ocean floor, allowing molten rock to cool. Removing the spell that increased his weight, he swam over the ravine and went on to the Gate of Horn. A wrought iron frame, leading to no real physical place, stood from the ground on two mounds of lighter stone than that of the cave. The doors them selves were shimmering designs of silver set into the iron, which were shaped like partially folded wings, raven wings, the wings of the dream god's thousands of little brothers and sisters. The beauty of this monument was immortalized against the wear of time and elements. These doors hung open, missing the key component that made dreams flow naturally. On each door was half of a lock that, when put together with the Rod, held the doors closed.
Daren pulled the doors together again, and as he put them together again, the two halves of the lock came together. He set the Rod vertically into the lock but it didn't fit; the wings on the Rod did not align with the inset of the Gate that was formed around the key. Even though he was standing next to an underwater vent, he felt his blood suddenly go cold.
He had the wrong Rod
Kurama turned off the road and up a mountainside. "A-are we-e the-e-ere ye-et?" Yusuke asked, jerking around in response to the unpaved path.
"If my suspicions are correct, the Gate is at the top of this mountain; luckily its isn't very tall." Kurama answered. When they reached the top, his jaw dropped.
"No way," Yusuke said. The Gate, nearly identical to its counterpart, stood on the other side of a crater, which was hissing with gases and a liquid that made him want to puke at the smell. "This volcano appears active; and those gases could kill you if you inhaled them," Kurama said warily.
"How can we get to it if it's all the way over there? The path doesn't lead to it."
"I don't know, Yusuke. For once, I haven't got a clue."
"So what if there isn't a path?" Kuwabara said, "Lets just push our way through the plants and trees and stuff. Animals can do it, why can't we?"
"Because you could fall off a cliff, dumb ass!" Yusuke said. "We have to figure out a way to get across with out killing ourselves. Kurama, do you have any fire proof plants or something?"
Kurama ran his hand through his hair in a worrisome manner, but he was really checking his inventory. "I do have a small flower that produces enough oxygen at once to sustain a person. I have used it before when toxic gases or fumes became a problem. Although the life of this flower is short lived when it begins to produce oxygen, which is shortly before it naturally seeds and then dies." The seed he pulled from his hair was like a perfect pearl.
"So which one of us gets to cross the lava pit? This ain't Donkey Kong, guys; you only have one life."
"Not me!" Kuwabara said.
"Perhaps it would be best for me to go. I can grow more of these when the flower seeds and dies, but you two cannot." Kurama said.
"Hop to it then," Yusuke said, handing him the Rod, "We'll be here when you come back."
"Wish me luck," the redhead replied, filling the seed with his energy. A silvery green sprout erupted from the shell and flowered; a blossom not unlike a calla lily emerged, set with two other spear-shaped petals on either side of the main blossom like wings. It almost glowed with its own light from the golden filament. "Dude, that's really beautiful…" Kuwabara couldn't keep himself from saying. Kurama took a moment to tie his hair up to keep it from catching fire or getting in the way, and stepped onto the edge of the crater. He pressed the flower to his face. 'Here goes everything.'