The party of eight resumed their trek on the harsh rocks of this terrible mountain as they made haste towards the top. Their journey, however, wouldn't be so easy for the land of Pyrothos was infamous for it's happenings.
"Not trying to sulk, but it's been an hour you guys!", said Stephen as he gasped for air.
"Life's so tough for an imp WHO IS RESTING ON A TROLL'S SHOULDERS!", yelled Ann as she mocked Stephen.
"Hey, it's not my fault Gavin offered to carry me!", said Stephen back.
"Alright everyone, we have made it to this day's goal! So far things look jolly, but don't let the circumstances fool you. Let's camp here for the night, and tomorrow we resume.", said Emma as she laid down a few tents and a good chunk of food.
"Remember to replenish your enchantment before you sleep from the two of us.", said Anneliese before they all ate a mouthful and went to sleep.
The next morning shone bright, yet the smoke of this unforgiving mountain didn't let our heroes see the brink of day.
"Wake up! Wake up, now!", said Anneliese as she swung her staff gently across Stephen's face.
"Uhhh... It's morning, already?", asked a weak Stephen as he rubbed his eyes.
"Yes, it's morning, and you better get used to the morning being this dull and gloomy.", said Trent as he packed his items into his backpack.
"Hey, Trent, how's your prototype coming along?", asked Natasha as she eyed the nose of the big rifle poking from Trent's backpack.
"Well, it's still a little jammed, thanks to someone", Trent replied as he side eyed Stephen.
"I had no choice! It was either your stupid prototype or me that was to be broken that day!", Stephen said as he side eyed back at Trent.
"Stupid?! That thing saved your life from the Lushwshisper!", yelled Trent at Stephen.
"Calm down, both of you!", yelled Violet as she stepped inbetween. "We still have a whole day of trekking ahead of us, you guys can fight it out then. But for now we must depart, let's make best of this sunlight while it's there."
"She's right. Everybody, out, now!", said Emma in a commanding voice that drew out the likes of Stephen and Trent from battling each other.
The trek resumed for the second day, the company of eight kept strong afoot as they marched against the harsh incline. The rocks only became darker and the air more humid, every time they thought of relief another challenge would come along their path.
"Damn these rocks! It's as if we're walking on jagged steel!", yelled Stephen in frustration.
"These rocks have hardened over several years, it'll take a whole lot of force even to break a speck of 'em!", said Trent as he brushed his fingers across the floor.
"Force, you say?! Gavin's middle name is force!", yelled Gavin as he pulled out his sledge and smashed the floor with a thunderous blow that shook the whole company.
"That was wildly unnecessary!", said Emma as she yelled at Gavin.
"You may be right, but check this out!", said Gavin as he pulled out a piece of chipped rock from the ground. "Gavin has broken Pyrotho-", he only had begun celebrating when the smash was accompanied by a loud and tearing thud from beneath them.
"Fool of a Troll! What have you done?!", yelled Emma.
The earth beneath them shook and toppled as the rocks trembled in rage, terrible sounds of creaking and cracking were heard from close by as if the unforgiving earth was ready to punish them.
"What's happening?!", asked Trent as he struggled to keep himself on his feet.
"Tell us when you find out!", yelled Stephen as he tripped over and was tossed to and fro.
The raging only grew stronger and stronger until all the eight were smashed into the ground. The earth spat out sounds that horrified them all and made them. It took a while, but the rumbling finally stopped.
"I'm almost entirely certain that a mythic is going to spring out from somewhere.", said Stephen as he regained his balance and got back on his imp feet.
As the imp had thought, a loud sound was heard again, a sound known to many ears as the earth erupted and spat out many rocks.
Brakadoom! Went the rocks as they all smashed together and begun to assemble and mould. The lava pools nearby erupted out their lava which crawled into the crevices of the rocks and formed a hulking creature made of nothing but lava and rocks. The rocks moulded under the heat of the lava as a dense fog covered the lands and blocked any sight of the creature. When the smoke cleared, the creature came into sight. Truly horrible it was, a horrid animal with the body of a wolf, but with three heads. It was a foul creature made of the unbreakable rocks of Pyrothos.
"Trent!", yelled Violet as she was frightened by this angry beast.
"On it! Give me cover, and I shall provide you intel!", yelled Trent as he pulled out his book in his off hand, his pistol in the right and took shelter behind a large rock that faced a giant lava pool.
"Gavin, strike it down until we figure something out!", yelled Emma as her eyes purpled.
Gavin roared and raged as he pulled out his Crush and leaped high to strike the foul creature with a thunderous blow. Lightning struck as Gavin rained down on the terrible beast with his might and attempted to make contact with the middle head of this three headed dog! The creature however, noticed Gavin's weak attempts to slay a mythic and spat out a geyser of hot lava from all three of it's heads aimed directly at the Troll. Gavin had nowhere to run, he was mid-flight when the geyser caught him in the torso and sent him shooting upwards, only to land with a massive thud on the tough rocks of this mountain.
"Gavin!", yelled Emma as she ran towards his body. It was smoked by the flames and bruised badly by the fall, Emma began healing him as his wounds filled in.
"That's it! All of you, charge!", yelled Natasha as she formed a mace with her mist.
The remaining five jumped the wolf with their weapons in hand as they tried silencing this beast. Anneliese shot many pellets made of water and ice at the thing to quench it's fire, Ann shot a spree of arrows to crack the rocks, Stephen summoned a strong gust of wind to weather the stones while Violet and Natasha pounced with their weapons. The mythic, however, dashed forward, it's strong body easily withstood the pellets and the arrows. The wolf tore through the wind as it smashed its heads into Violet and Natasha, sending them far behind. Natasha got up and in a feat of rage sent out a barrage of arrows made of her mist in hopes to stun the creature long enough. The creature, however, stood strong without a sweat as it hurled a giant rock at Natasha using it's big heads. Natasha avoided the rock as it landed, jumping away from its path, but the rock broke upon smashing into the floor and one of the fragments caught Natasha in the head and threw her to the ground.
"That's it!", yelled Anneliese as she hurled a strong and hot geyser of boiling water at the thing. The creature countered with its plume of lava as both the streams crossed paths. The water and the lava collided, and a dense steam filled the place again. Nothing could be seen, our heroes were blinded as the humid fog covered the grounds. From the fog, however, they saw three bright orange lights, which quickly turned into blazing lava that hurled towards them again. It caught all five of them, and threw them back on the ground.
"Infernis!", yelled Trent from behind the rocks, though no-one was awake to hear him except Emma.
"Quick, Trent!", yelled Emma as she surrounded herself and Trent in a purple shield.
"This one will be very tough, Emma! It says here that the Infernis is a three-headed wolf made of the rocks of Pyrothos and it's lava. It was built by the creators to guard the gates to Pyrothos and prevent any stranger from entering these lands. There were only three of these ever made, two of which were slain.", read Trent out loud.
"I don't care! How must we defeat it?! Give me it's weakness!", yelled Emma as the creature began ramming it's head into the shield to tear it apart.
"It has none.", said Trent as he stammered.
"None?!", yelled Emma back at him. By now the creature had severely damaged the shield. It gave the shield another thunderous blow that shattered it into pieces, sending both of them flying.
"It's tough and it hits hard! The only way we can win is if we hit harder!", yelled Trent.
"That isn't helpful! Give me more!", yelled Emma as she formed another shield.
"It can also shoot molting hot lava from its three mouths, and can also hurl rocks from its tail!", said Trent as he closed the book and cocked his pistol. "That's all I have in this book!"
"Damn it!", uttered Emma.
The creature once again began smashing against the shield as it started cracking abruptly. The shield finally broke strength as it shattered once more. The two fell under the feet of the wolf which snarled above them.
"Do not ever forget me!", yelled a Troll voice from behind the Infernis as Gavin leapt high above and rained down on the mythic, striking all three faces with his Crush. He mercilessly beat the thing with his sledge until all three of it's heads shattered and broke off from its terrible body.
"Easy as that!", said the Troll as he wiped off chunks of stone from his sledge.
Just then, however, the severed neck gave out a vibrant orange glow as more lava begun flowing from the hollow cavity that was it's open neck. The lava formed itself into three heads which quickly hardened and became stones again. It was almost as if nothing had struck this beast.
"Uhhh... Sorry?", said Gavin as he hid his face with his sledge.
The beast roared loud and spat a geyser of hot lava again at the Troll. Gavin whirled his sledge at mach speeds and managed to throw off a lot of the lava, only burning a few of his fingertips (a trick he had borrowed from Dane the knight). This, however, was not enough to throw off the beast. The Infernis smashed Gavin's torso with its head and sent the Troll aback.
"We're next if we don't figure something out, Trent.", said Emma as she stood up weakly.
"We can't beat this without our major muscle, the Troll. We need him on full health, that shall be your job. Get the Troll and Stephen back to full health, until then I'll distract this thing.", said Trent as he got back his balance and pulled out his prototype from the bag.
"Are you sure you'll be able to handle this thing all on your own?", asked Emma, visibly worried.
"We don't have much of a choice now, do we?", asked Trent as he cocked the prototype and aimed it at the beast.
So the battle resumed, Emma stepped aside and ran towards the injured to help them recover. The Infernis aimed its mouth at Emma and prepared to launch a geyser at her, but just then a strong lead pellet hit it on the right head and pissed it off, it was fired from Trent's barely working prototype.
"You want a battle tri-head?! Bring it!", he yelled as he shot many pellets on the thing, being taken aback himself from the recoil.
The pellets did a little damage, but it didn't effect the thing much. It roared and shot a geyser of magma at Trent, who jumped out of the way and the geyser barely caught the sole of his shoes and the bottom tips of his trenchcoat. Trent raced behind a rock as another geyser of lava was whirled at him, the geyser hit the rock behind which Trent took cover, and the rock slowly started heating up. Trent stood above the rock and fired three shots, then took cover again. He kept doing this, trying to aim for the eyes, the neck or the nose. However, all the parts of this creature were equally tough and it didn't squeal once. The rock got unbearably hot and was about to explode into pieces at any point. The geysers stopped, and the thing charged at amazing speeds to the rock and rammed right through it, crushing it and blowing Trent's cover, knocking him to the ground. Trent crawled on the floor as he turned around with his back pressed against the floor as the three heads of this horrible creature glared at him, with droplets of lava falling on the ground from the edge of its lips. The creature opened its mouth and prepared to fire another stream, which would be the end of Trent. In a confused state, Trent didn't know what to do, he had only a seconds time and he just hurled the first thing he saw at the beast's head. He was holding a small packet of gunpowder which he was using to reload his pistol, he threw this packet right into the mouth of the center head. The gunpowder caught ignition and created a massive explosion in the mouth of the Infernis. Trent was caught in the explosion and the whole of his front was burnt to a black crisp. Not just this though, even the Infernis was damaged severely. The middle head exploded and the Infernis let out a strong cry. In just a matter of seconds, though, the head was reformed from hardened lava once again.
"Trent!", yelled Emma from behind as she had just finished healing Stephen.
"That's it! Now you've done me screw loose, you filthy lava-burpin' bastard!", yelled Stephen as he stood up on his feet and a flame of bright yellow ran through his eyes. "Retaw!", he yelled as a stream of shining, blue water left his fingertips and grew into a giant geyser that seeped into the rocks of the Infernis as its body steamed. The Infernis screeched and cried as it swung its head to and fro from the pain. Emma rushed towards Trent as she placed her palm on his forehead and tried healing him.
"Nnnn... No!", Trent said as he looked Emma in the eye.
"What?! Are you crazy?! You'll die!", she said as she continued healing.
"Nnn... They need you. Remember... Gun... Gunpowder.", Trent said before he passed out.
"Ugh! Trent!", said Emma as she couldn't get herself to stop healing him. She stopped after a while however, for she didn't have it in her to heal a crisped body back to Trent.
"You're going to fucking pay for this!", Emma yelled as she shot out a barrage of purple arrows at the thing, which staggered it barely. Gavin then caught the thing's tail from behind, his Troll legs firmly gripped the ground as he tossed the thing over his head and smashed it against a rock with his strength. A few rocks cracked and broke from its body when it crashed into the floor. Once again, however, lava seeped out from its crevices and hardened to repair its body. Emma then raced to reach Trent's backpack, where she rummaged for a while until she found a giant packet full of gunpowder.
"Trent mentioned this before he passed out!", she said as she tossed the packet to Gavin.
"What do we use this tiny thing for?", said Gavin as he scratched his head.
"Overload it! He wants us to overload the thing!", yelled Stephen as he ran towards Emma.
"That's right! We cant possibly quench it, all we have to do it overheat it!", said Emma as her eyes purpled.
The Infernis had gotten up by now, and it again roared a cry to intimidate the three.
"Make this quick, for the others won't have time if I don't heal them as soon as possible!", said Emma as she begun chanting spells.
The Infernis roared and tried ramming it's head into Gavin. Gavin faught back as he wrestled the three heads of the wolf while clasping onto the ground with his legs. The two were equally matched as they pushed each other with their might. The Infernis however, then begun glowing orange from jts mouth as it readied to shoot another geyser.
"Gavin, move, now!", said Emma as she finished her spell. Gavin jumped out of the way as the geyser let loose and aimed towards Stephen and Emma who were standing behind Gavin.
"You're not the only one who controls fire... bitch!", said Stephen as he held his ground. "Emalf!", he gave out a cry as dancing flames left his fingertips and hurled themselves at the thing. Emma too shot a strong eruption of blazing flames from her palms that combined with Stephen's fire. The two beams crossed streams as the temperature of their collision grew hotter and hotter. The Infernis kept spitting lava and was countered equally by the flames of the magic duo. Just then, Gavin reached his belt for the gunpowder packet which he hurled at the collision of the flames. The gunpowder collided with the flames and erupted into a strong explosion that shot all over the floor.
"Dleihs!", yelled Stephen as a yellow sphere surrounded her and Emma. The explosion caught the Infernis as it once again shattered its three heads and they all fell to the ground, leaving it's hollow neck exposed.
"Before it recovers, now!", yelled Emma as she once again sent a stream of fire into the thing's neck.
"Emalf!", said Stephen as he too, followed.
The flames again combined and entered the thing's body from its severed neck. The thing began to overheat, a similar thing that had happened with Trent and the rock. Its body began to glow a bright red as lava poured out from all ends and its body was about to erupt. The lava however, kept hardening as fast as it would melt. The thing couldn't recover, but it wouldn't die either.
"Nnn... Can't... For long...", said Stephen as his strength began to erode.
"G... Gavin!", yelled Emma as she signalled the Troll.
"Me? If I go near that, I'll die!", he said as he eyed the bright glow. "That's if I go near it!"
He then quickly pulled out the spear he had gotten from the kingdom and hurled it at the creature. The spear pierced the neck and came clean out of the torso. Just like a poked balloon, the thing's body broke strength and lava came pouring out from all ends. The Infernis finally melted and was reduced to a pool of lava from which it was once made.
"Brilliant!", yelled Stephen as he slowly let go of the flames and struggled to catch his breath.
Emma then turned around and rushed towards Trent's burnt body as she quickly begun healing him to the best she could. She grunted and struggled as the wounds on Trent's body began to fill in.
"It's that bad, huh?", said Stephen in concern as he spotted Emma struggle horribly. "Will he make it?"
"Nnn... Not sure yet. In the meanwhile, go towards my backpack, you'll find a blue potion, take it and feed it to the other's, the lava had burnt them really bad.", replied Emma as she resumed healing.
Stephen grabbed as many blue potions as he could and rushed towards the wounded to treat their wounds. He poured the potion into Anneliese's mouth as the wounds slowly filled in.
"I don't understand! Normally a burn wound wouldn't do anything to us, especially Anneliese! Why is she still unconscious?!", asked Stephen as he continued to cater to her wounds.
"It's this terrible dirt, this terrible air and this terrible place. Everything here is scorching hot, any wound will take mighty long to recover. This place is wretched.", replied Emma as rage was thrown across her eyes.
"How long until Trent is better?", asked Gavin as he sat beside Emma.
"I'll need the whole day. You both can have food, this will take a while.", said Emma as she stroked Trent's head gently.
The day became night and the night broke again to the sun. A full day had passed, Emma was barely awake as Trent's wounds were almost filled in. The others were awake but still recovering as they all made camp, hoping that Trent would rise soon. Violet, especially, was a little disturbed as she saw Trent lying unconscious for a whole day. Finally as fate would have it, Trent's wounds finally recovered as his eyes slowly blinked open.
"Trent!", Violet yelled as she ran towards him and hugged him.
"Nnn... Slowly... Ribs!", Trent replied as words barely left his mouth.
Violet chuckled as she didn't let go, the others joined her as they all snuggled in the heat of dawn.
"W-what happened?", asked Trent as he slowly woke up.
"Well we used your gunpowder idea, and the thing was toast!", said Stephen as he filled his chest.
"The credit goes to Gavin. He really delivered the final blow.", said Emma as she patted Gavin's head.
"And what was that?", asked Trent as he fixed his broken glasses,
"I threw the spear at the thing!", said the Troll proudly.
"Did you go back and collect it?", asked Trent, already knowing the answer.
"Blast!", yelled Gavin in exclamation as he sped to the molten body and saw the spear head sticking out. He pulled out the spear head with his Troll strength and kept it safely in his hands.
"The staff of this spear sadly has melted.", said Gavin as he polished the head of the spear with a cloth.
"The staff was a simple log, dear Gavin. The spearhead is unbreakable.", said Ann as she comforted the sulking Troll like a child who had broken his favourite toy.
"What you all did out there is truly remarkable!", said Trent as he weakly stood up and pulled out his book.
"What are you looking at the book for?", asked Violet.
"Well, so far we've been using this book to find out the weakness of our foes, but this time there wasn't one. However, as a team we figured out the only flaw in this unbeatable beast, I think we owe it to my mother to write this in the book, for if another eight embark on our journey, they would be one step ahead.", said Trent as he scribbled in the empty column.
"I love the sound of that! Though I doubt anyone will want to come back here.", said Violet.
"Once the gold is ours, the mythics can't stop us. Not only will we reclaim our lost wealth, we'll make all the captured places habitable again!", said Trent as he pushed the book in his backpack.
"I love the sound of that!", said Ann as she jumped in excitement.
"Great job, everyone! With the guardian of the gates gone, nothing stands in our way now! Let's resume this trek while there is day!", said Emma as a twinkle ran in her eye. "And Gavin, if you strike any rock one more time, the first person to strike you will be me."
"You don't have to be so harsh!", said Gavin as he rubbed the spearhead.
So the journey resumed, with nothing standing in their way the company of eight climbed the mountain again, hoping to reach its peak and collecting their long lost wealth.
