by Eric Vall
It was true.
“We’ll be landing soon,” Erin’s voice echoed over the tiny communicator system. “Make yourselves ready. We don’t know when we’ll be able to come back here.”
“She makes it sound like we’re going to our dooms,” I snorted as I buckled myself back into a seat. Then I looked out the window but didn’t recognize any of the land nearby. It was strange how I had been to so many new places in just the last year, but there was still an entire world to see and learn about.
We landed a few short minutes later about four hundred meters from the edge of a small wooded area, and I started to get the idea there were woods everywhere. Half of these little places didn’t even have names on a world map. We would need something more focused on the region itself. Maybe it wouldn’t have been a bad idea to pick up a few of those to really familiarize myself with the terrain of Mistral.
With a full out war upon us, it might be beneficial.
I grabbed my gear and double checked all of my crystals before I hopped off the airship ramp into the grassy field below. Grass crunched beneath my feet as sunset painted the sky a brilliant shade of orange that reminded me of Erin’s hair, and I waited for everyone else as they exited the ship.
“Ready to go?” I asked.
Everyone nodded, and I looked over all of my teammates just to triple check they did indeed have everything they needed. I had my daggers, Varleth had both of his swords, and Erin, well, Erin had her lips and probably a couple of crystals in her pouch in case she needed to mooch some mana from me. Not that I minded of course. An excuse to kiss Erin was an excuse to kiss Erin I wasn’t going to pass up, even in present company.
Without anymore delay, Erin locked up the ship, and we were on our way to procure the last cipher.
The walk to the base of the volcano was uneventful, but now that we were out of the ship, I could definitely feel the difference in temperature. Sweat started to trail along my spine, and my breathing became shorter as I panted. We were still a long way out, too.
“How long have we been walking?” I asked as I tried to sound like I wasn’t complaining. Sure, I was used to working in the heat, but this was a whole new level of hot. There was a stark difference between the afternoon sun blazing on your back and walking into what was essentially a mountain of hot death stew.
“Fifteen seconds,” Varleth answered snarkily.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” I swore. I didn’t even wait for a response before I went through my monsters and pulled out four nearly identical looking crystals. Then I smashed them all to the ground in front of me.
Four speed slugs emerged, and they squelched and mucked up the grass with their slimy bodies.
I picked one up and put it on my back before I did the same with the other three and attached them to my comrades.
“What the hell, summoner?” Varleth grunted with a clearly disgruntled scrunch to his features.
“You’ll thank me when we reach the summit,” I told him, and I took off through the open field without a second thought or any hesitation. I wasn’t a fan of being in the heat, but it was a necessary evil for this mission, and I wanted to get the cipher and meet at the rendezvous point sooner rather than later.
I zoomed through the trees and left my partners in cipher hunting behind. I only stopped at the edge of the mountain as I said I would, and then I stood gaping as I looked up at the top.
Seconds later, I was joined by my friends, who all took a moment to appreciate that we were literally standing on an active volcano. There was no real activity, though, no lava pouring from the top or billowing smoke.
Not yet, anyway.
It looked like any other stereotypical mountain to the naked eye, but it was still a sight to behold, especially in the dark of night. The sky looked peaceful, and I kind of hated that we were about to disrupt it.
“This is it,” Erin said with a smile on her face. She put her hands on her hips and looked at Ashla expectantly. “Ready?”
“Of course.” Ashla smirked, and I thought they had been talking about the trek up the side of the volcano. Judging by the shocked expression on Ashla’s face as Erin cupped the back of her neck and kissed her full on the lips, she had thought the same.
I watched without shame as Ashla and Erin’s tongues collided, and I saw the quick spark of magic between them as Erin copied Ashla’s ice abilities. Their kiss, however, lasted for a few seconds longer, and I swallowed thickly when their eyes met mine as they pulled apart.
They glanced back at one another and bit their lips in an incredibly sexy way that made me want to drop this mission entirely and take them both back onto the airship.
Or hell, we could do it right here. I didn’t mind an audience.
“We should do that with him next time,” Ashla purred as she stroked her fingers along Erin’s chin.
Erin giggled and locked eyes with me as she leaned into Ashla’s touch. “I think he’d like that.”
Yes. Yes I would.
“Helloooo?” Varleth said from behind me, and I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, I’m still here.”
“You could go somewhere else,” I suggested as I tried to think of anything unattractive to keep myself from having an awkward boner in the middle of nowhere.
“Nah,” Varleth drawled casually. “Remember the mission?”
“Ugh. Yeah. Race you to the top?” I turned around and winked at Varleth. Yes, a race would take my mind off this arousal, and Varleth was never one to back down from a challenge, especially from me.
“Always down to kick your ass,” he snickered as he started to shake his long legs.
“Erin, count us down,” I said excitedly with a grin. No way was I going to let Varleth win, even if he did deserve a bit of a break. I was glad he was slowly coming around. What he and Braden went through when they were trapped in the Narufey was no joke, and I didn’t envy either of them in the slightest. They were dealing with it though, I supposed. I just hoped they weren’t burying it down so much that it came back in a bad way later.
“Shouldn’t we take this a little more seriously?” she asked.
“Erin,” Varleth drawled, “we’re about to disrupt a volcano that may or may not affect the ecosystem and destroy everything around it to get a piece of a stone with some weird written language on it that might be the key to saving or destroying the world anyway.”
Erin was quiet for a moment, then shrugged. “And?”
“And we’re going to race up a volcano so we don’t feel so bad about it,” he ended.
I almost erupted myself, but with laughter. I knew this was a serious mission, and time was a factor, but if we couldn’t have a little fun, then what was the point? Besides, there had been so much bad shit going around that we needed a good laugh. We needed something fun, not grinding and life threatening.
“Oh, fine,” Erin caved, and Ashla stood beside her with her arms crossed.
“I’ll put ten coins on Gryff making it to the top first,” she told Erin.
“I’ll take that bet.” Erin smirked as she raised her arm.
“You’re going down,” I told Varleth with a cocky grin.
“In your dreams.” Varleth glanced at me with a wink, and we both snickered at our antics.
“Ready, set, go!” Erin screamed, and Varleth and I took off with the speed slugs still attached to our backs.
As we raced up the steep slope, the night wind was harsh on our faces, and I couldn’t stop laughing. It was as though the adrenaline had taken full control of me as I pushed my legs to their limit. Even with the slug attached to me, I felt the weight of the climb on my chest. I panted even harder than I had before we started the race, but I didn’t let it get me down.
Varleth seemed to be having the same issue. I didn’t call him out on it, though. Being tied up for two months would have that effect on anyone. I was more impressed that he was still able to keep up with me at all, though I guess I shouldn’t have been. He’d proved himself time and time ag
ain in battle and as a friend.
One foot in front of the other, we continued our trek up the side of the volcano. There was still quite a bit of distance to go, and I was already feeling the burn in my legs. Maybe this wasn’t such a great idea.
Still, I continued to laugh.
“What’s so damn funny?” Varleth asked, obviously out of breath.
“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. “It just feels good to laugh.”
Varleth was quiet again for a second before I heard him start to chuckle, too. Before I knew it, we were both laughing hysterically as we leapt over rocks and crevasses and nearly collided into one another on the bumpy terrain. It was so silly, this notion, but it was needed, so very much needed.
About halfway up the side of the volcano, Varleth slowed to a stop and hunched over with his hands on his knees.
I skidded to a stop when I saw and did a quick about face.
“What’s up?” I questioned as I tried to catch my breath between my laughter. When he didn’t answer me immediately, I put my hand on his shoulder. “Varleth?”
“I give up,” he laughed loudly, and I unnecessarily shushed him.
“What’s wrong?” Ashla asked as she jogged up beside us, Erin in tow. They were significantly less winded than either of us, but they had also leisurely walked with slugs on their backs instead of sprinting up the volcano.
Varleth was still laughing as he tried to catch his breath.
“You win,” he managed. “I can’t keep up with you in this condition.”
I grinned with my victory but squeezed his shoulder reassuringly.
“You were neck and neck with me the whole time, friend,” I told him. “That’s something to be proud of. You’ll kick my ass next time, right?”
“You’re damn right I will.” He nodded and playfully swatted my hand away.
We both turned and headed back up the mountain as I heard Erin hand her ten coins over to Ashla.
Our speed slugs were still attached, so we walked at a pace that was still inhumanly fast without exerting ourselves anymore than we had. It eventually got to a point where we had to stop hiking and begin the real climbing. One false move, and we would plummet to our deaths. Not exactly my idea of fun, though I suppose there were some thrill seekers out there who lived for this sort of adventure.
The laughter and the giggles stopped, and the focus shifted back toward the mission at hand. What exactly did one do to prepare to climb a volcano? I didn’t think there was anything one could do, but I swore to the Maker if I made it off this damn hot rock, I would invent something that would better assist just in case such a situation ever arose again.
For now, we used gloves to help keep our hands cool, and we took our time as we found our footing and good leverage to pull ourselves up.
A few tiny pebbles fell across the back of my hand, and I saw Erin’s foot slip above me. She gasped, but she quickly latched back on and found something to stabilize herself.
“You okay?” I asked, though I thought my heart might have leapt out of my chest.
“I’m fine,” she assured, as though she hadn’t nearly fallen into me and brought us both back down the volcano. She grunted as she pulled herself up a few more feet.
“There has to be a better way to do this,” I griped.
“Can’t we just use one of your monsters and fly up?” Varleth asked as he pushed off with his foot to reach a crag just slightly out of his normal reach.
“Genius. Why didn’t I think of that?” I gritted out. “Because it defeats the purpose of keeping a low profile.”
“Says the one who insisted they race halfway up the volcano,” Ashla huffed.
“Alright, I get it,” I groaned. “No more races.”
“We’re nearly there, aren’t we?” Erin asked. “I can’t see the top anymore.”
“Well, you’ll know when you reach the top,” Varleth answered.
We kept to ourselves after that to keep focused on the task at hand, which was trying not to die. My hands started to cramp, and my legs burned even more than they had before. It was bad enough that I seriously considered using the ice bomb Doc gave me to help cool them down. The heat was only getting worse the closer we got to the top, too, which wasn’t surprising in the slightest. It was merely another unfortunate obstacle, on top of many other obstacles, to conquer.
It was agonizing, but I needed to keep going. There were bigger things happening in Mistral than my burning calves and seizing thighs. I just had to look on the bright side of this. If any of the girls saw my legs after this, they would be instantly aroused.
As pleasant as that thought was, I pushed it aside, at least for now. That was a fantasy I might indulge in later, though.
Finally, we made it to the top. I would have celebrated beyond draping myself over the edge like a wet towel and letting my limbs relax, but then came the realization that the climb was the easy part.
As my teammates all panted and followed suit in relaxing for a second, we looked into the depths of the volcano. I’d definitely not recommend staying up here for an extended period of time, but if you were desperate to sweat out a fever, this was the place to come and do it. The steam would have helped with congestion, too.
Dear Maker, I was delirious.
I laughed ironically as I looked into the volcano, which didn’t look all that menacing, save for the bubbling lava waiting at the bottom. There were a few rocky platforms on the inside of it, almost like stairs, only they weren’t connected.
But they led right down to the cipher, which was on the very last platform surrounded by a white light that shined through the thick, dark grey smoke, much like the one we found in the Shadowscape when we fell into the palace. It sat upon a small pedestal, or it least that was what it looked like from up here. It was hard to tell beyond the light.
At least we had found it easily enough.
“So, how do we get down there?” I asked as I wiped my forehead with the back of my glove.
“I thought you had a plan?” Varleth teased as he recalled my statement to Gawain earlier.
“Hey, you wanna find out how hot that lava is for me?” I shot back at him.
“Not nearly as hot as I am right now, I assure you,” he sniped back.
I chuckled. “Touché.”
“Neither one of you are helping,” Erin sighed.
Varleth and I bit our tongues so we didn’t laugh at being scolded like the little shits we were.
I looked back into the volcano and examined what our options might be. We didn’t exactly have the means of rappelling into it, which would have been ideal, as it was also an easy way back up. Almasy’s earth elemental magic might have been a good option for this after all, which was probably why Sleet sent him on this particular mission in the first place, and I should have taken that into consideration.
On the contrary, though, there was also a reason why he couldn’t do it the first time he and Arwyn were here, and that was because his particular skill set would have caused more harm than good. They recognized that and chose safety over the cipher. Had I been with him, I would have made the same call. We could do this without completely reconstructing the inside of the volcano, though.
I knew we could.
There needed to be a bridge of some kind, or a ramp. A ramp would have been steep, but it was better than leaping from platform to platform. The question was, how did we make a bridge?
I looked at my friends to see the wheels turning in their heads as well. We were all thinking hard on the best solution to this problem.
When my eyes landed on Ashla, though, an idea struck me.
“Ashla, we could try sliding someone down to the cipher the way you sent us over that ice bridge to the rift in Balvaan,” I suggested.
Everyone stopped to look at me, and Ashla seemed to ponder the idea for a moment before nodding.
“It could work,” she admitted, “though whoever went down would have to be quick. Ice might be effective aga
inst lava and fire, but it also melts. Its strength is its own weakness.”
“That’s a pretty steep drop though,” Varleth commented. “Even with a solid surface beneath your feet, you’re just creating a more slippery road. Your momentum will probably send you right over the edge of that last platform, and then what will you do?”
“Why do you suck the adventure out of everything?” I narrowed my eyes as I questioned him. He was right, of course, but I wasn’t going to admit that.
“You’re right,” he jokingly conceded. “I’ll pull up a snack and watch you rocket straight into the one thing you were trying to avoid.”
“Are you two always like this?” Erin asked with a hint of amusement in her tone.
“Usually,” we answered at the same time.
I grinned. “We used to hate each other.”
“I told you, I never hated you,” Varleth argued.
“Okay, well, while the two of you fight like you’ve been married for twenty years, let’s keep thinking about getting to the cipher, shall we?” Erin shook her head, but I could see in her eyes that she still found our banter humorous.
“What about a slide?” I blurted out after a short beat. “We could slide from platform to platform, that way we keep the momentum to a minimum while still making progress.”
“That’s not a bad idea,” Varleth nodded, “but how would you get back out?”
I grimaced. “Yeah, still working on that one.”
“Well, what about ice platforms?” Varleth suggested. “If someone went down there via slide, couldn’t Erin or Ashla use ice magic to create stairs to get you back out?”
I considered his words, then nodded. That might actually work. We’d still have to be quick, but it was the only idea we had, so we were going to make it work.
“Okay, I’m going down,” I said as I wiped my brow with the back of my glove again. Then I gathered my strength again and gained my footing enough to stand on the edge of the volcano. As long as I didn’t look directly down, I wouldn’t fall. I just had to keep my balance.
“I’m coming with you.” Ashla climbed up as well and materialized her giant axe into her hands.
