The Lands of Ralosia & Ranuulo (Books 1-3)

Weld Mountain Chapter 4- Red Orb

~Chapter 4- Red Orb~

         The Masked boy flew deftly through the caverns while Aero followed as closely as possible. He absentmindedly placed his hand on a bright orange pillar of the cave and it quickly heated up. Aero pulled his hand away with a yelp, shaking and blowing on it as a way to cool it off.

         The Masked boy flew upwards through an opening in the caverns. If Aero were an ordinary child, the chase would've ended there. He launched himself into the opening with a jump and used all of his limbs to brace himself against the walls of the vertical cavern. He dug his hands into the cave walls, taking care to avoid any hot spots. Aero climbed until he got out of the vertical area, but once he had, the Masked boy was gone.

         Aero had to move fast and find the orb first. He wiped the sweat off his forehead and continued looking.

         Aero traveled through a dimmer portion of the caverns. Magma wasn't as prevalent in this area, and Aero kept using very weak Focus Bursts to illuminate the way. But down the way, he could see light, no doubt more flowing lava.

         When Aero turned the corner, he saw no lava but instead a tiny red orb floating in the air. He found it! But across from him was the Masked One. They came upon it at the same time.

         "We really need to stop meeting like this Aero," The Masked Boy remarked.

         "Yeah. We really should," Aero stared harshly back, "I'm taking this one, unless you want to give back the one you stole from Oopa's village."

         The Masked Boy chuckled, "I hoped you'd learn by now how this will go.  You can't beat me. Besides, I need that orb more than they do."

         "Why?"

         The Masked One paused for a moment, "It'll help me return to those I care about."

         Aero stared at the green-eyed boy for a moment. What could it possibly be for? But he stole from Oopa's village before, whatever it was for, it couldn't be good.

         Aero readied himself, "Either way, I'm taking that orb."

         The Masked Child shrugged his shoulders. He aggressively pointed his finger and a purple beam of light erupted from it. But Aero was ready for him this time. He dodged the light and headed for the orb.

         The boy flew to the orb and wrapped his hand around it. Aero struck his side with a chop, and he dropped it on the ground. Unlike their previous encounters, this blow actually seemed to hurt him.

         Now angry, the Masked boy turned to Aero. He threw several punches which Aero dodged with ease; he seemed slower this time. No, his reaction time had simply improved. Chief Theo's training was serving Aero well.

         Aero saw an opening in the Masked One's defense and threw a powerful uppercut into his stomach. The boy reeled back while clutching his gut painfully. He looked at his eyes; they were full of shock and frustration.

         The Masked One pointed his finger again and fired another Focus Beam which struck Aero directly on the chin. He winced but remained on his feet. Months ago, that strike would've certainly knocked him over. It took him a long time, but he finally became strong enough to face him.

         The expression in the Masked boy's eyes turned to fear. His eyes darted to the red orb lying on the ground and back to Aero. He punched the air with both hands, and a bright purple light burst from him, knocking Aero back.

         When he got to his feet, the Masked One flew away from him through the caverns, the red orb in his hand. Aero charged after him.

         Aero gave chase through the cavernous halls until he came to an area where lava was flowing over the entirety of the ground. A river of lava that the Masked One was flying over. He was going to get away.

         The floor was covered with lava, but the walls weren't. Aero backed up and charged into a sprint, jumping towards the wall and running along it. When he felt as if he was about to fall, he kicked off it as hard as he could and launched himself towards the Masked boy.

         He jumped onto the Masked One's back, and the boy's flight became erratic.

         "What're you doing!?" The Masked boy shouted. The two nearly fell into the lava, but the boy stopped himself and continued flying forward.

         Aero clawed at the boy's pockets for the orb, "Hand it over!"

         "You're crazy!"

         They flew over the lava river until they came to solid ground, and struggled with each other over the orb in mid-air. Aero gripped his mask, and the boy struck him. He pried the mask off the boy and fell to the ground with it.

         Aero took a quick look at the mask. It was even more eerie looking up close. He felt something moving around the back of it. He looked at the backside of the mask, and saw wriggling tendrils around the sides of it. Was the mask... alive?

         "Give it back!" The boy shouted.

         Aero gripped the mask, held it over the lava river, and looked at the boy.

         He hadn't seen his face before. He had long brown hair that appeared not to have been cut properly, a pale face, and bags under his green eyes. As if he had never gotten a proper night of sleep in his life.

         "Don't drop it!" The boy uttered. He seemed desperate. "Please!"

         "I'll give you back the mask if you give me that orb," Aero said calmly.

         The boy dug through his pockets for the red orb and tossed it to Aero, "There! Now give it back!"

         Aero pocketed the orb before tossing the mask back to him. He promptly put the mask back on, the tendrils seemed to wrap around his face, and he pulled his hood over his head.

         For a moment, the two stared silently at one another. The Masked One let out a sigh, "Keep your stupid orb, I'll find another one!"

         With that, the boy levitated into the air and flew through the caverns, quickly disappearing from sight. The more Aero saw of the kid, the less he understood.

         He found what he came there for, now Aero just needed to find the others.