Book 3: The Love of Fire & Rain

Chapter 6: Ombric and Phonx

Inferno and Atlanta's second born three and a half-year-old son Ombric was walking along through the hallways of the Palace of Atlantis busy looking for his family. After his mommy had finished reading to him from his favorite books on healing herbs in the Garden, she had to leave for something important. She told him to go and find his daddy and big brother in the lava pools down in the Palace Spa and that if he got lost to ask one of the servants for help. He went looking for them, but he got lost; he is only three and a half.

There were no servants down this hall and he walked up to a lone door with a fire symbol on it his daddy's symbol and went inside thinking his daddy might be inside.

His little turquoise eyes widened behind his large half-moon glasses. He saw a large granite stone desk and a dragon skin chair, there were bookshelves filled with books on lava surfing, fire twirling and fire breathing, and coal walking; most of the books came from his father spending time spent in Hawaii. There was a free flowing lava wall fountain and a large fireplace big enough for his father to sit in and to be able to be surrounded by the fire to meditate. There were also instruments from Japan and Hawaii, the Japanese Koto, Shamisen, and Hawaiian Mandolin were his mommy's favorite instruments that daddy would play. This was his daddy's study and Ombric knew that should be in here and he was just about to leave when something caught his eyes and his ears. He heard a strangled sickly screech.

He turned around and his eyes widened when he saw a large bird sitting on a hanging perch with a tray beneath it beside his daddy's desk. The birdie must be his daddy's pet but it looked horrible the poor creature was missing all but one of its bright red-orange and yellow feathers, and it looked like it was on its deathbed! Ombric was always told that he would be the next healer one day and he wanted to be just like his mommy. He knew that his mommy wouldn't just leave his daddy's pet birdy here to die so he tried to help it.

The birdie started to cough horribly and squawking, and when Ombric reached out to touch it the birdie just stared at him then plucked out the final tail feather, and before Ombric could even blink the birdie caught fire and turned into a pile of ash! Ombric stared at the pile of ash on the tray in horror when suddenly he heard two voices. The first voice was of his daddy running down the halls with his six-year-old brother Lavario.

"I think he just got lost daddy."

Lavario was the calm one in this situation with a flaming hair in the shade of a cool calm yellowish orange unlike his father who was now franticly shouting with a bright red flaming hair color.

"Ombric! Ombric Where Are You?"

Inferno was frantic now after Atlanta came to him asking him where Ombric was while he was busy teaching Lavario how to bend lava to his will in his version of a Spa. When he told her that he had no idea Atlanta went ballistic with fear and started screaming like a crazy woman asking the palace guards to search every inch of Atlantis for her missing second born son! It took some time for Inferno to finally calm her down and after that he and Lavario were searching the castle ever since. Now Inferno was getting very worried.

"OMBRIC!"

Ombric started to cry when he heard his daddy yelling his name. He thought he would be in trouble and Inferno heard him crying and stormed down the hall with Lavario and into his study only to find Ombric crying over by the ashtray. Inferno knew what happened before Ombric even told him. Lavario spoke with a kind smile.

"There you are we've been looking everywhere for you!"

That was when Lavario saw Ombric's tears and said in concern as his flaming hair had faint hints of blue.

"Hey you okay?"

"Lavario allow me."

Inferno bent down on his knees in front of his small son and said.