by LK Kelley
In minutes, she knew that the entire back side of the cave would be eaten through by the monstrously hot lava, and fill the cave! Looking beyond the bars, she realized that the cave that she was in wasn't actually a cave, but it must be part of even more tubes that had been carved by lava as it flowed through it in the past! Lava tubes were what they were! For the Creator's sake! Gem's heart pounded hard within her chest, and not only the roar of the lava behind her met her ears, but the roar of her blood vibrated within her body as well! Terrified of what would happen to her, she felt her “fight or flight” instinct arrive – only it would be flight! She sure couldn't fight lava! What should she do? Only one answer.
“Oh, God! I have to get out of here!” she cried, and asked no one.
Her eyes danced around the cave in an effort to find something! Anything? Nothing! Not a fucking, damned thing she could use! Breathing as deeply as she dared, she looked at the bars, and realized that the bars were really made of iron, and the lava stream was headed for the bars. They would melt if she could just find a way to keep it away from her long enough to burn through some of them, she might have a chance. OK, maybe it would be a gamble, but it was either that, or sit there and liquefy painfully. Nope. That wasn't going to happen! Not with Jaxx and Lola waiting for her! She noted that there were some stones, or pillow lava, sitting around. Some of them were very small. She quickly gathered some up, and started lining it end to end to divert the tiny stream toward the bars door. It might not work, but she would die if she didn't try something. She had to get out of there – now!
She watched for a bit, and noted that the lava was very thick, and very slow. The rocks might hold for a short time, but not forever. In the meantime, though, it was becoming hotter and hotter with every second. Now what can I use? Again, she looked around. The lock! If she could just find something to burn the lock away, she could get out of there much faster! There had to be something she could use! Long and narrow would work! Just as she was about to give up, she noted a group of stones that were piled up toward the back of the cave, and rushed to them. They weren't rocks, but bones! Bones of one who had obviously died in the heat, but if the lava had killed them, there would be no bones. So, probably the person had just died from the massive heat. And, that would be her fate, too, if she didn't get the hell out of Dodge!
“Well, bones, you'll be gone in minutes right along with me if I don't do something now!”
Gem sank to her knees with her head in her hands. She wasn't going to get out of here. It was a death trap!
“Oh, Jaxx! I'm going to die in here! We will never have a chance to finish our bond; never experience making love, again; never will I have a chance to carry our child inside of me! Oh, Creator! What can I do? I have to get out of here! Please? Please give me a way out!” she cried out in her misery.
Thirsty...so thirsty! Her mouth was more parched than if she were in a desert! Just moments later, a calm descended over her, and she lifted her head. Well, if this was how she was going to die, then she sure as hell not going to embarrass herself, her mate, or her friends! She flopped down by the bones, and leaned her head back.
“Well, buddy. Soon, your bones, and mine will be turned to melting fluid, and you and I will become a part of this cave forever. Or, we'll be pushed down the tubes, and maybe out to the fresh air, and become part of the outside world,” she told them, and looked down.
Eyebrows frowning, she noticed a shiny object that was in the skeleton’s hand. She leaned over, and pried it out of the bone's hands, breaking several of them.
“Holy shit!” she exclaimed. It looked like a small piece of iron, but what was it?
Opening her hand, she looked at it. It was a key? A key? How in the hell did a key get into his hand? Her eyes darted to the lock, and back at the key. She jumped and fled toward the door just ahead of the lava, putting the key into the lock. Nothing happened. She kept trying, looking backward now and then to see how close the growing lava stream was to her. Damn! It was flowing faster! She had to do something! That's when an idea hit. As crazy as it sounded, she knew she was dead anyway, so she had nothing to lose. Turning to the lava, she looked at the cooling, crusted lava on the side of the stream. Hesitatingly, she slowly put the tip of the key into the top, and jerked it back out fast. The tip glowed, and began to melt. Gem ran to the door, and put the key into it. Bouncing up and down, she waited to see if the tip could burn the lock, keeping an eye on the fast approaching stream. In moments, the lock caught fire, and burned through it!
“Thank the Creator!” she murmured.
She pushed the door open, and darted out into the tubes. Gem refused to stop, even with the strange crackling and roar that raced behind her. She never even had a chance to wonder why she was running so fast that she could outrun the volcanic flow that raced behind her...and...it was approaching...fast! Coming to another intersection, Gem had only an instant to decide to go straight, right, or left. On impulse, she turned left, and ran for her life! The heat surrounding her was causing it hard to breathe, but she also remembered that she didn't need to breathe. She still didn't know why, but she deliberately stopped breathing. When she did so, Gem felt power flow into her legs allowing her to run even faster without air. She funneled as much of that power as she could into her body.
On and on she ran. Faster, faster, and still faster. Gem continually hit intersections, and her instinct had her go left one more time followed by straight the next. She let her instincts rule.
When her body felt a coolness ahead, she let her breath take over for a second. She smelled air! Fresh air! Behind her, the lava was still flowing. Although she couldn't see it behind her, she could smell the sulfur in that second she took to breathe. Gem ran toward the fresh air.
If Gem had looked to the right when she had turned left at the “T” junction, she might have glimpsed Imaerra just appearing. Imaerra had only missed Gem by seconds. She walked leisurely down to the cave where she had placed the girl. She stopped at the odd crackling sound that she had never before heard. Suddenly, a massive wave of heat hit Imaerra, and all she had was a split second to see a massive, ceiling to floor lava rushing toward her.
“What the hell?” she barely had time to say, only to be hit by said wall of lava, splashing and dividing into all three directions at the “T”. Her body was incinerated, before the lava ever reached her. She never even had time to be afraid, nor did she have time to scream! Any other left in th lava tubes had no chance in Hell of surviving.
Bursting into the open air, Gem chanced a deep breath while moving quickly out of the way of another tube she passed. Finally, coming to a stop, she began to pant. She'd made it! Nothing was going to stop her! She tilted her head up as she heard the gushing sound of the lava and the roar of flame and fire. Not stopping, it flowed toward a cliff, and in seconds was rushing over it. Gem sniffed. The fresh air was eliminated as quickly as it came. Now, it was almost impossible to breathe anything other than the sickening stench of sulfur, but a fresh, fragrant scent reached her nose. A fragrance of water and salt. Ocean?
Gem took a moment to look around her. There wasn't just one flow, but many! Other lava flows were scattered here and there. Much of the ground on which she stood was blackened by ancient lava flows, reminding her of the photos she had seen from Hawaii and Iceland – most recent, the scene in Thor: The Dark World. Other parts had tiny sprouts of greenery peeking through the lava. Apparently, it had been a while since the last flow. Gem didn’t stop to look at the scenery, but headed toward the smell of the ocean.
Dimly, she heard shouts and screams from everywhere around her. Turning her head, she saw that not only was she trying to avoid the lava, but now, there were guards running after her! And, they were far too close for her comfort! She quickly came to a dead stop. Where was she going to go? She was blocked by several, smaller lava streams on one side, and another about a mile away. She could see that other stream as well as the one that was just a few yards away from her. Luckily, it
wasn't large, so she didn't feel the entire heat. But, she just didn't have time to wonder how her eyes could be that good. As far as her speed, well, that would just have to wait, too. She could freak out later. Right now, she had to get away from the lava, and at the same time, away from her captors!
In seconds, she had to make her decision. Down, or up? Which way? Either way, she could smell the richness of water. Up. That's it! She'd go up the side of the mountain, and follow the smell of the ocean – the cool ocean! She was looking forward to getting wet! Turning she embraced her speed faster than before, and ran. Again, somewhere in the midst of everything, she wondered why she wasn't tired?
“Don't think, Gem. Just run!” a voice told her.
Gem didn't stop to analyze the voice. She ran. Another mountain in front of her, just looked as if it reached into the sky forever! Just when she thought she'd gotten to the top, another run over the rise only served to be a “false” top.
“Are you kidding me?” she muttered. “Damn it! Just where the hell was it written that there has to be a false top past the false top? Oh! Of course! In every freaking book ever written no matter what form it took!”,
Just how high was this damn thing anyway? Finally, she topped the last rise. She had a short time to survey her situation hearing shouts and yells that followed somewhere behind her. Crap! They were on her damn tail! Taking off again, Gem ran using her survival instincts. She had to get away, and just had to get back to her mate! She had allowed herself to dream about their life together. Growing close, having children, growing old. But, right now, if she didn't get away from the crazy loons behind her, those things would never be hers! What was it that her Father had told her when she was asking him what “freedom” really meant? She called up her memory from that day.
“Gem, not everything is set in stone. Life surprises us with both good and bad. But, sometimes, one has to fight for what they believe in, for what they want to keep, or even to just preserve it. And, it might very well be our lives. For our freedom is inborn inside of us even before we enter this world. Without that inborn desire for freedom, we are at the mercy of those who would put us in cages for their own twisted desires. And, many would pretend to promise those with weak minds that they, too, would gain great wealth and power with them, as long as the elite tell them what to do. Essentially, they turn them into slaves, before they even realize it!”
“I don't understand, Daddy,” she had asked him. “If it's ‘free’, then why must we fight to keep it? That doesn't make any sense. My teacher says that it's a flawed concept – Freedom. She said that man was never meant to be free. A few, but only a few, were meant to keep us 'safe', and to do so, we must work for them in exchange. It sounds reasonable, doesn’t it? I mean...it does to the rest of the kids.”
Her Father had snorted.
“Your teacher is wrong! Feedom is the most basic instinct that is in all of us, whether human or animal. Freedom, my little firefly, is never free. It never has been, and it will never be. Many have fought, been maimed, and even died for their families and our country to preserve the very freedoms that we take for granted and others abuse. Our “Constitution of the United States of America” gives us the precious freedom of speech to praise this country, while at the same time also gives those who disdain this country, that same right.”
Seeing her frown in confusion, her Father had continued.
“You see, some seek to destroy our freedom from some warped idea that they know better than anyone else. These are people desire to enslave and rule over the rest in the guise of mercy, because they think you and I have no mind of our own. And, even more, that we too ignorant to not know what is best for our own lives. But, it is that mindset that is flawed, Firefly. But, there’s more. They not only want to make decisions for us, but they seek to take our minds to a level of stupidity by taking away knowledge. With the removal of knowledge, we would just blindly follow them. Follow me.”
She had followed her Father into the living room where a huge mirror hung over the sofa. He pointed at it. She climbed onto the sofa so she could see in it.
“What do you see?” he had asked.
She had turned to him, then looked into the mirror.
“You and me, Daddy!”
“What else?”
“I don't understand,” she had told him.
“Look again.”
She shrugged, and looked again.
“I just see you and me,” she had repeated.
“Do you know what I see?”
She shook her head.
“I see a man with a beautiful daughter who can do, or be, anything she wants to be. I see myself as a man who can do, or be, whatever I want to be. There is no cage around us, and no one to tell us what we can, or cannot, do. We are free to be whatever we wish to be, do whatever we wish to do, go wherever we wish to go, and no one can stop us. Now, look again, and see a cage around us.”
“But, I don't get it. There is no cage?”
When he answered, the most amazingly, brilliant words came from his mouth – ones that she had never forgotten, which gave her the knowledge she needed. And, they were the words that she used in her report that had earned her a tongue-lashing from her teacher, calling her a “stupid girl”, as well as an “F” on her paper.
“Ah, my little firefly! A physical cage is not always needed. In fact, in many countries, especially in the past, the people lived in cages where none exist.”
“How can that be, Daddy? Why would they not fight for their freedom?”
“Fear, Gem. Fear and physical force. This is what is instilled into them, and the poverty in which they are forced to live. Always, and forever, one small group of elite people want all to be slaves under them. That fear is enough to keep them in a cage without bars, and subservient to others. Yes, there are cages with bars, but in the long run, there are far more cages without bars. And, that is why we have to fight off and on through the eons to keep our freedoms. It's so simple, I am still amazed at how so many willingly follow them these cages the same way as the children who followed the Pied Piper. These are people who fight to be in a cage through the promises of the elite. They mislead the masses by promising that they will be part of the ones who rule the others. Unfortunately, it is not until those freedoms are taken away, that they realize what they have done. By that time, it is almost an impossibility to get those freedoms back. Therefore, they will remain in captivity for years – even thousands of years – before, and if they are lucky, they rebel. Do you understand, now?” he had asked.
She had just thought she had understood her Dad. However, for the first time in her life, now Gem truly understood what her Father had meant. She had been in a physical cage below with bars, but now, if she didn't find a way to get away, she would be in a cage without bars. And, then, fear would keep her where she was. Nope! Not happening to her! That spurred her legs faster. Finally, she reached the top of the mountain coming to a surprising, and sudden stop, flailing her arms to keep her from falling over the edge of a great abyss!
Screams were heard by Eloran, and suddenly, their human guards were running down the hallway. Looking at each other, Quazer, mate to Imaerra, along with Eloran and Delinear suddenly felt a massive pain in their heads. As if a voice was suddenly silenced. It took them a few moments to determine that the screaming, which met their ears, was from one of their own.
“What the fuck?” Quazer gasped, holding his head, before he collapsed to his knees, and whispered, “Imaerra! NO!!!!”
“What has happened?” Delinear cried, almost falling to her knees in pain.
“S-she's gone!” he cried.
“Gone?” Eloran asked. “As in...?”
“Dead! She's fucking dead!”
“Impossible! We cannot die!”
“That's a bunch of bullshit! You know that’s a lie! We can be killed! When we came to this world, we discovered that the internal fluid of it could destroy us! It's not like on Onaerris! I feel nothing from m
y mate! NOTHING! Do you understand that you bastard? Do you understand what that means?”
Eloran stormed out the door, and grabbed the first person that ran past him.
“The girl! Where is she?” he demanded.
“Let me go! We'll all die if we stay here!” the pathetic, slave of a human said, struggling to get out of Eloran's hold.
“The girl! I will not ask again!”
The human looked up at him in terror, but he wasn't afraid of Eloran. His head turned to look behind him. Lava began to flow toward them.
“Let me go! We're going to die! Will you fucking let me go?” he screamed.
Eloran's eyes narrowed.
“Oh, have no fear. I'll be glad to let you go,” Eloran promised.
“Thank you, my lord!” he cried.
Eloran immediately broke his neck, and dropped him, as his own eyes widened at the lava flow gaining on them. He stuck his head in the door.
“The fucking volcano is erupting! We have to get out of here!”
Eloran ran followed by Delinear, who was dragging Quazer behind her.
“Will you come on? We have to get out of here!”
She pulled harder on Quazer's arm.
Quazer jerked his arm out of her grasp.
“NO! She is gone! I will not go with you! I cannot live without her, and you know it!”
He pushed Delinear forward. Delinear stopped for just a moment as their eyes met. Then, she shrugged, turned, and ran, following Eloran. Seconds later, the two heard the screams of Quazer, echoing as he was turned to liquid in the lava.
Delinear caught up with Eloran, and they darted out the door to the building where their headquarters had been for a while. Suddenly, a huge earthquake rocked the land beneath their feet, throwing them off balance, and they fell.
