“Yeah hold on,” I say and imagine the wormhole window looking on the castle. A window appears with a perfect framed castle. I turn the window around to show Grug.

“Oh so pretty. Balthazar could never show us it before. He says and falls backward.

He catches himself by putting his hand on the edge of the pool. His oversized fingers hit the water and I hear a sizzle. He hollers and yanks his hand up. He holds his hand in front of him.

I watch as it solidifies to a dark gray. Then it follows down his hand and into his arm. It stops just before his shoulder, “I am finished,” he says.

“Why?” I ask.

“Our lava pit has solidified. I will never have use of this arm again,” he bellows.

“I can help,” Falls says.

Grug glares at Falls, “Never knome,” he says.

“Grug relax. She is not the slave driver. She really wants to help. You have others here that can bowl her over if you think she is hurting you,” I say.

He looks back and forth between me and Falls. After several glances back and forth he says, “Okay, but any sign of deceit and you all are wafer stones.”

“Agreed,” I say.

“Are you fresh lava or seasoned lava?” Falls asks.

“Seasoned now, but once was fresh,” he says.

“Would you like to be all fresh?” she asks.

“Yes,” he says very slowly.

“This will take a moment as I agitate the rocks. I do not know if you feel, but it will feel tingly if you can,” she says.

She focuses her attention on Grug. After a second Grug begins to shake slightly and I hear the gurgle again. “That tickles,” he says.

'It can not be avoided,” Falls says harshly.

“Okay, I like it.”

By then I can see his form begin to turn a darker red. First his torso begins to bubble and it spreads out slowly from his center.

When it reaches all parts of him, I see him slowly reform into a more closer semblance of a human. Falls stops staring, but Grug continues to reform. When he is done he looks like a fresh lava flow and even his face looks like a young man in structure.

“Thank you Falls, I have not felt this spry for a long time,” Grug says in a clear voice. He sounds more human but with a slight gurgle.

“Can we sir?” one of the others asks.

“That is up to falls,” Grug says.

“Please,” they ask together.

“I can, but you just have to touch Grug. He now has an internal heat source. You will have to take in some material from the ground Grug. I would say about a handful of raw stones once a day. If you do not keep it up the heat source will stop,” Falls says.

“What if I heat others?” Grug asks.

“That will not affect the heat source. It requires new material to keep it fueled,” She says.

Grug puts his hands on the other two earth-men and I watch them go molten like Grug. Each earth-men shiver when they are done. Grug turns to me and says, “You have blessed us again. I have called a transport for our use. It will be here shortly.”

“Thank you,” I say. I reach in to get the water pouch and fill it. “Falls can you check the water to ease your gold head?” I ask.

“Yes and I have already checked. It is pure, but I do not know how,” Falls answers.

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“It flows through bedrock. All the minerals are absorbed by the stone,” Grug says.

“That's odd. Where I come from bedrock doesn't do that,” I say.

Grug looks at me strangely, “You sleep on stone?”

“No,” I say with a chuckle, “Bedrock on earth in my world is the hardest stone. I think it is the stone that is the oldest,” I say.

“Oh strange” Grug says.

“Have you gotten anywhere on the hieroglyphs?” I ask.

“The what?” Grug asks.

“Deciphered the writing,” I return.

“Oh no. We have looked in all our texts, but there is nothing like them.”

“Do you have anything from the knomes that use to be here?”

“Never, we eradicated everything to do with them,” he returns angrily.

“I can understand your hatred, but did it even occur to you that something of theirs would be handy to have. Like their writing to decipher the tomb?”

He looks at me sternly then confused, “No.”

“Another thing you could have learned from their stuff is how to defend from them if they ever return.”

Grug's shoulders slump down, “Oh.”

“Sir,” one of the other earth-men say.

“Yes Bam,” Grug says.

“My uncle has kept a few things from the slavers. He says they may come in use,” Bam says.

Grug looks at Bam, “I thought all Slaver items were melted.”

“There are a few of the elders that saved some items to learn their magic,” Bam says.

“Do you think we could talk to a few of them?” I ask.

“Of course. I am interested myself now. Maybe Forms under the Falls can help decipher some information.” he says.

“I would find it very interesting to see how an alternate knome race worked. Perhaps they may have some information on how we all formed. That is still a mystery,” Falls says.

“Our slavers told us that the gods formed then from the original matter of earth. That is why they say we should worship them,” Grug say.

“Nonsense. Even knomes can't withstand the primordial earth. By the time the earth cooled enough for a knome to form, the earth would have recycled itself several times,” she says disgusted.

“Really. The knomes could withstand most of our attacks,” Grug says.

“Even your race could not survive the primordial earth. It was too violent. As soon as you formed the earth would shift and destroy the bindings in your structure.

I will admit that any knome of metal could withstand most temperatures. But even tempered metal constructed by magic has its limits. Judging by your structure and temperature I would say if two of you both attacked at once with full temperatures, it would only take a very short time to break the magic bond,” she says matter of fact.

“Why are you willing to give us the means to destroy you?” Grug asks, confused.

“Because someone in your race already knows how to do it. I have sensed many resonances. I deduce that this area was a battle area.

And several of your race have sacrificed themselves to destroy a few knomes,” she says.

“You know this how?” Grug asks.

“Simply by feeling the earth. You should be able to do it too. I am only guessing here, but by what I have sensed between your race and mine there really is very little difference between us. You should be able to use the same magic as we do,” she says.

“Oh my god,” I blurt, “This sounds like humans, dragons, and felines,” I say.

“I do not understand. What is a feline?” Grug asks.

"Felines are another race indicative to my world. Hard to explain what they are. But a long time in our past the humans and dragons strip them of their magic for fear they would get too powerful. Basically the other knomes feared that earth-men would learn magic and overthrow them,” I say.

“Really?” Grug asks in a daze.

“Let me put it to a test,” Falls says, “Grug all you need to do is put your essence into the rock and listen to what it tells you,” She says.

Grug looks at the ground for some time then asks, “What is lava stone?”

“It is a type of earth,” Falls says, “Just keep listening and asking in your essence. Earth will provide,” she says.

As we stand waiting for Grug a sheet of rock floats to us and stops. After what feels like twenty minutes Grug looks at Falls, “She tells me so much. Can I do what she says?”

“Earth will only tell you what you are capable of. Judging by your size I will guess you can do more than I can.”

“I don't understand you little knome. I wanted to destroy you, but you are willing to show us powers we never had, why?” Grug asks.

“My people were slaves just as you were. We suffered many indignities. I will never be a contributor to any more. Besides you can't destroy a knome. You simply put us to sleep. I am guessing, but it should be the same for your race,” She says.

“We cannot reform like you,” Grug says.

“Yes you can, you just need a higher source of heat. Take your fallen to where you are forged and add as much of their body to the forge. The earth will take care of the rest.”

Grug stands very still while I hear a low grumble emanating from him. After several minutes he says,” I have told the others and we shall find out if you are correct little knome.”

Grug then steps on the floating plate. The other two follow him on. “Step on the transport and we will go to our city. We will find the ones with the old knome relics and see if Forms under the Falls can help.”