It took a few days and a few heart-filled apologies to Kyuri's father before he would stop glaring at me. And a few more until he accepted. Siege was upset with me too, so as soon as we got back to the canteena, I offered to buy him his dinner. The man eats like a horse. Also when I get nervous, I realize I have a hard time shutting up..

Using the toxins we brought back from the Gigginox, I made new poison infused swords. Coming from experience, I knew that it would greatly help my future hunts if I could poison a few creatures, even just a little bit. "Hey, look at this flier!" Kyuri exclaimed with a mouthful of food, excitedly spitting pieces of meat and bread across the table, leaving Siege and I covering our faces. Holding up a piece of paper from the notice board near our table, she explained. "They're having a contest in the volcano! Apparently they use these.. 'Powder stone' things for the blacksmiths furnace." She held the flier closer to her face. "Money rewards will be given to the group who brings the best quality stones!" Slamming both hands on the table, startling Siege and I, she leaned toward us with mechanical determination. "We have to do this guys.. I've always wanted to go to the Volcano.." "Why would I go with you idiots." Siege said, not even looking up from his meal. "You two are worthless. That was a one time thing." "Oh come on. Please." peeped Kyuri, her intensity gone. "Besides, you're stuck with us forever. I almost died. You owe me this one." "Oh please! That's not a thing!" He barked. "Is too!" Kyuri smugly replied. "Now I need to go get some money from the pops, you two get ready!" Waving as she ran off, leaving me and Siege in her dust. "That's not a thing.. Is it?.." Siege turned to ask me. I just shrugged. "There's really no point in fighting it. You're stuck with us for life." I said. Siege just stood, dumbfounded looking at me. "Foooor liiiiiiifffffeeee~.." I repeated quietly.

The rules were simple; Bring the Powderstone, or stones, back to the designated safe area in the allowed time. Groups of two to four hunters allowed, and the stone worth the most money wins a reword. I was alright with this, we had been doing horribly dangerous missions lately, and this seemed more like a game than anything. There was even a sign in table. Kyuri, Siege, and myself were the last of five groups to sign up. How dangerous could carrying a bunch of stupid rocks be anyway?

Riding the Skyboat wasn't fun toward the volcano. Black smoke covered the skies and made it hard to breathe. Our pilot had goggles and a mask that helped him to breathe. It would have been nice if we ALL got one.. My anger was suddenly halted when we began our decent to the guilds volcano skydock. A part in the black clouds let me see the beautiful landscape. A lush green forest was our destination for landing. Tall trees reached up to meet us. An ocean swept from the west, and following the coast, met up to a large stone clearing. Getting closer to the smokey mountain, all trees and wildlife had been burned leaving a desolate area leading up to the base of the volcano. The ocean stuck the side of the dead, stony area causing steam to rise up into the skies. I could tell it was very hot leading up to the cave opening to enter the volcano. Using the guild-given map, I quickly scribbled the shortest and hopefully most effective route to the location of the Powderstones. "Here's the plan." Kyuri suddenly exclaimed with a clap, snapping me out of my deep thought. "We'll all split up and scramble for the stones as fast as we can. We'll all grab one and meet back at the finish. Get it? Got it? Good." "That's a horrible idea." Said Siege. "If we're all split up, then what will happen if another hunter tracks you down and attacks you, causing you to lose your stone? We need to stay together." "They cant attack you.. can they?" she asked. "It doesn't say you can in the rules.." "It also doesn't say you cant now does it." Siege added. "Hes right Kyuri." I said, surprisingly siding with Siege. "We should all stay together and maybe have one person without a stone to protect the others." Kyuri looked and her feet. "Yeah that idea is way better.." She mumbled kicking a small rock. "You two carry the stones, Ill cover you." Siege proclaimed. "I don't trust either of you with protecting me."

Stepping off the Skyboat to the guild camp, large bright red flags caught my attention. A few members of the guild stood next to a large gong behind two large posts with the flags dancing in the breeze on top. This was the start and the finish line. We were the last group to show up, so everybody was already on the starting line looking over their own preparations. As we got to our position, i also looked into my bag to make sure I was all set. We were told it would be super hot where we were going, but where we were standing felt fine. "Do you have something cold to sip on?" Kyuri asked me while digging though her own supplies. "No I dont. But its fine, its not as hot as i thought." I responded with a smile. Kyuri just looked at me with a shocked expression. "But what about when we get to the v-" "No, No. Let him figure it out on his own." Siege interrupted. "Groups, to their positions!" The guild announcer proclaimed from her stand with a large mallet in hand. "So we all know what we're doing right?" I asked. "Yeah yeah." Kyrui said, joining me at the starting line. "We all go together and you and I carry the thingies and big guy protects something blah blah blah." "More or less." Siege said standing next to me. "Keep up with me. Im not going to go slow just for you two."

"GO!" The guildette shouted, spinning around with large mallet in hand, she crashed the gong letting a loud metallic ring fill the air. Picking up my leg to make a speedy get away, I noticed something was wrong. I tried to lift my leg and only ended up falling flat on my face, leaving me in the dust of everyone. "Shane! What are you doing?!" Siege scolded. I was confused. I had no idea what happened.. Looking down at my boots, I noticed something. My feet were tied together with a loose fitting knot. Someone had sabotaged me. Looking up at the sprinting crowd, a pair of hunters caught my eye. They were laughing. Just as I cut my legs free and began to take off, I noticed Kyuri was on the ground too, with the same problem as me. With knife in hand, I ran up to her and cut her rope. They want to play dirty? Fine, Ill play dirty. "Siege! Kyuri! Follow me I have an idea!" Running along the path were many dead, or dying trees. We were getting much closer to the volcano now. Wow, it was getting kind of warm over here. Taking a different path, we had got just ahead of the large group. "Alright guys, follow my lead." I said overlooking a large hill to see the group clawing and fighting each other. "You guys have good balance right?" I added. They just looked at me confused. Taking a few steps back, I took aim at a dead tree hanging over the edge. "Oh no." Said Kyuri." "Oh yes." I replied with a smile. Running as fast as i could, I charged the tree. Leading my my shoulder and a jump, I tackled the tree toward the top and unhinged it from the ground. "Your guy is so stupid." Said Siege as he and Kyrui walked to the edge of the steep hill to see me riding the tree like a sled toward the path of the other hunters. "Im not doing that." "Speak for yourself!" She responded, face lit up like a Christmas tree. "THAT LOOKS AWESOME!" Then charging toward another tree she shouted, "HEAVE HO!" Following me with a dead tree toboggan.

I had aimed it just right, My tree had fallen right in the path of the other hunters, they were in a small gorge with very high stone walls, and I had wedged my ride right against both walls, making it almost impossible to pass. I had to jump off at the last second causing me to hit the wall in a seated position. Whew. Im glad the others didn't follow me. I would have never gotten out of the way in tim- My inner dialogue was interrupted by kyuri being thrown directly into me and knocking the wind out of me. Her tree had wedged right next to mine causing an inescapable roadblock. "Well hey there hott stuff." She said jokingly while still laying across my lap. "Come here often?" I couldn't respond. She hit me so hard and crushing me against the wall, i was amazed i hadn't blacked out. A sharp piercing scream caught our attention. As we looked for the source. Little did we know it was flying straight at us. Siege had decided to grow a pair and follow my lead. Flying through the air just as we had done, he landed on Kyuri, causing for even more impact to me. As we lay there in the dust and quiet, and with me barely holding onto consciousness, the silence was broken by Kyuri. "So. Dont care much for things like that huh" She asked Siege. "Shut up." He responded. "Oh I think we killed Shane by the way."

I had to be carried for a little while, as I regained my strength, I began to sweat. "There, hes up. Im done." Mumbled Siege as he threw me to the ground. We were inside the volcano now, and pools of lava collected on the edges of the cave. "You could have just set me down.." I said stumbling to my feet. "I know." He said. "That made me feel better though." Taking a look around, we realized this was the location of the powderstones. "What do they even look like?" Asked Kyrui. "They're large black oval stones that feel like they're on fire." Replied siege. "Like this" He added pointing to the far side of the cave. The wall was covered with large black oval stones lining the wall. walking up to them, Siege made a quick assessment to try to find the best ones. "Right here." He said, walking up to the wall. "Okay great," Kyuri said throwing her arms down to her sides. "They're in the wall. How are we supposed to get them out?" Siege took one stone in hand and pulled on it with all his might. Letting out a satisfying pop, the stone gave way releasing a hiss of steam. They were large indeed. Being about 3 feet from top to bottom "Here" he said setting in it my hands. Also very heavy. And he was right, it felt like the stones were on fire, causing me to move my hands to a cooler position. "I changed my mind." I said, sweat crawling from my forehead. "You carry this and ill cover you." "Grow up." Siege barked handing Kyuri her stone. "Just run back fast and you can put it down."

I liked that plan. Siege led the way while me and Kyrui followed behind. The weight and size of the hot stones made it difficult to walk. And because of the heat, i kept on re-positioning my hands. But the awkwardness of it all didnt keep me from trying to speed up. It was so unbelievably hot, it felt like the longer i would hold it, the more fierce the burns i would receive. While i was complaining to myself, I failed to notice the large crack in the ground. Kyrui and Siege stepped over it, but i tripped, causing me to fall down onto the powderstone. it bounced off the ground, and proceeded to roll into a pool of lava. "Why do you keep falling?" Siege Yelled. He was right.. This is just not my day.. "I'm sorry! Your'e doing a bad job of leading! I didn't see the massive crevasse on the ground!" I snapped, trying to defend myself. "Massive?!" Siege shouted. "ITS LIKE TWO INCHES ACROSS!" "Guys seriously." Kyuri said calmly. "I'm dying here. This thing is like, a thousand degrees." We turned to look at her sweat soaked face. "Shes right." Siege said, "Ill take her back to the line, you go fix your mistake." Before I could think of anything witty, they were gone, leaving me to turn and try to find a new stone alone.

As I grumbled to myself, I found myself looking at the wall lined with powderstones. I have no idea what a good one is, i thought to myself. I decided to go for the biggest one. Scanning the wall, i noticed something strange. There was a large crack in the ground where there wasnt before. As I stared at the fissure, a large rumble caused the crack to widen. The rumbling had gotten so fierce, I had to hold the wall to retain my balance. A brief pause in shaking was followed by a large crash as something crawled from the hole in the ground. A thick cloud of dust veiled the identity of the creature. But it was very large. Larger than anything i had seen before. Only seeing its shape from the dust, it turned to face me.

Why must everything I do end up threatening to kill me?..