“I am Jode,” I say then point at Oaky, “This Oaky,” I point at Rock, “This is Rock Hard.” I point at Falls and say, “And finally this is forms under the Falls. We are here on a quest a man called Balthazar sent us on to get rid of two curses.”

“Why is Balthazar not with you?” it asks.

“Because he died,” I say.

“You lie. He cannot die,” it returns.

“He chose to die to correct the harm that has been happening.” I say. I don't know why I am stating it that way but that is what came to mind.

“Is it that time already? We have not deciphered the inscription yet,” it says.

“I'm sorry, I don't understand,” I say.

“He asked us to decipher the tomb's inscription. He never told us that others would come,” it says.

“Balthazar was here?” I ask, “How long ago.”

“You have no need for that information. Follow us for the trial,” it says.

“Trial? What trial?” I ask beginning to get worried.

“The intruder trial. All intruders must be tried to see if they are a danger,” it says.

“Um, I figure by looking at us you could see we are not dangerous,” I say.

“That is not for me to decide.”

“One question, where is the trial? Would it kill a fleshy like me? Oops that's two, sorry I can't count,” I say.

The creature jiggles and sounds like a gurgling mud pit, “By the rolling boulder tribe it can't be. In the beginning there was light, in the end there was?” it asks.

“I don't know why but I want to say, a bald rolling bowling ball,” I say.

The creature shakes while holding its stomach. The gurgle is loud and bubbly. The other two magma men look at the larger one strangely, then look at each other.

The larger one stops shaking and gurgling then puts down his hands. “I don't believe you could do it. No human has ever accomplished it. I am impressed. Please follow us to the tomb,” it says and turns into a boulder and rolls back where it came.

I shrug and follow. We walk for several minutes when I start to feel my mouth and throat grow dry and scratchy. “Um excuse me,” I yell, “We need to stop and drink.”

The boulders stop. I reach in and get a water bag and pass it around. We all take a small drink and I start to put it in my pouch.

“Take a good drink,” the boulder-magma man says. “There is a fresh water source not too far away.”

I shrug and take a good drink and hand it to Oaky, “How do we know you are not lying,” Falls says.

“You don't knome. But unlike your snobbish race humans give trust,” it says.

“Snobbish?” Falls asks as I put the bag in the belt after they get a good drink.

“What would you call a race that looks down on other races?” it asks.

“We do not look down on other races,” Falls returns defiantly.

“Maybe not you but you do not speak for all,” it says and rolls off.

I shrug and follow. I glance back and see Falls stepping a little harder than usual. I wanted to ask the boulder what he meant, but I didn't feel like yelling.

I notice after a few more minutes we are heading for a cave.

‘Hawk can you hear me?’ I ask in my head.

‘Yes.’ I hear Hawk in my head.

‘Did they come out of this cave?’

‘No.’

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I wonder what all this is about. Why would Balthazar come to this dimension and talk to these people? Why would he have them try and decipher something I'm sure he could have done himself. Was he just trying to keep them busy or could there be another reason.

As we enter the cave I feel a cool breeze waif up. The three boulders roll up to the Magma-man form. The farther we enter the cooler it gets. I'm trying to figure why it is getting colder the lower we go.

“Why is it getting cooler?” I ask.

“It is the magic from the tomb,” it says.

“I thought it was about a two day walk from here,” I say.

“For you it is. But the magic seeps through all the connecting tunnels. Only a few of us can get close to it. It is slowly sucking the heat out of the planet.”

“Can I ask you your name?”

“Grug the Flattener, but you can call me Grug,” he says.

“Okay Grug, do you know when the tomb was made?” I ask.

“No one knows. It has always been there, but it just started to suck the heat a little while ago.”

“It started after Balthazar came to visit?”

“No of course not. Before he showed up. He came to help, but he could not decipher the writing.”

We walk into a large cave. I hear what sounds like dripping water. As we continue in I see a pool in the center with large drops of water falling from the roof of the cave.

Grug stops next to the pool, “This water is pure. You can refill here.”

“That can't be,” Falls interjects. “It is flowing through the rock. It will have too many minerals in it to be pure.”

Grug turns around quickly. Much quicker then I would expect. “What do you know slave driver. Your kind have not been here since the revolution. How dare you question my word. If it was not for your companions you would be tried and imprisoned,” he yells. I can feel his words bounce off the walls. I see a flame shoot out of his eyes as he finishes.

“Whoa hold on here. What have I missed Grug, Falls is always like that. She is Rock's adviser, it is her job to question everything. Yeah she can get on your nerves sometimes, but that is no reason to imprison her. Hell if that were the case just about every human would be there,” I say.

“Jode you do not know what these slave drivers did,” Grug says with pain.

“No I don't, but Falls did not do it herself. I may be wrong but I think she has never been here,” I say.

“No I have not,” Falls says shaky.

“Please help us understand. We cannot help each other if there is so much animosity between you two.”

“Sorry Jode, but old hatreds die hard. Knome's use to be on this planet and forced us to do their bidding.

This continued till the earth men finally rebelled. I was the leader of many brave warriors. I watched many of my comrades explode in the war. We lost half of our population before we drove them away.

Knome will not die, but we can. They kill us because we refused to be their slaves. They had the power to move rock itself, but forced us to do it for them,” he says and I see long droplets fall from his eyes and sizzle on the ground.

“Why would knomes do that?” Falls asks. “We were slaves of the mountain giants. Only the most hearty were able to escape them. We asked the shadow people for help to free our people. I was the first free knome formed after the revolution,” she says and I see tears fall to her chin and vanish.

“Um this is confusing,” I say, “How can knomes be masters and slaves both?”

"They can't, she lies,” Grug says.

“Falls is many things, but not a liar, that I know of. Plus she is an awful actress, so I know the tears are real and genuine.”

“I may be of assistance,” Sesney says.

Grug jumps, “Who's that?”

“Your people call me Ghost in the rock, but I am the rare solid kind,” Sesney says.

“Oh,” Grug says and calms down, “I trust you. Only a ghost can reveal the truth.”

“I can only see it, not reveal it,” Sesney says.

“Does it matter what it is called?” Grug asks.

“No not really. I have been checking up on this dimension. It is one of the hardest to get info on. My kind tends to avoid it. There are some races here that can harm us.

The knomes that lived here are not the same as the knomes Falls is from. The knome that enslaved you are on another planet far away from here.

Falls doesn’t have knowledge of what happened here. She is as much a victim as you are Grug. Just as your people are hot tempered from slavery, Falls people are cold due to theirs. At least that is how I gather it.”

“But she is shiny. She is of the controlling class,” Grug says.

“She is shinny because of me, I gave her the gold. Before that she was clay,” I say then after a few seconds say, “Hold on I thought knomes can only use metal with a dragon tear.”

“We can't,” Falls says.

“You lie,” Grug says.

“No she isn't Grug,” Sesney says, “Her race of knomes can only form from soft earth materials. The knomes you know can only form from metals. Falls show him how you can separate and reform your arm.”

“Why?” Falls asks.

“Please Falls, just humor him,” I say.

“Okay,” Falls says. I watch as her arm falls off. The gold liquifies and looks more like water then solid gold. She reaches down and absorbs the gold and I watch as her arm slowly reforms.

“How? That is not possible. Shiny stone does not liquify,” Grug says.

“I agree,” I say.

“That is why we need a dragon tear. The magic in the tear liquifies the metal. Without it our essence is forced to sleep in the hard metal,” She says.

“I do not understand,” Grug says, “How can this be?”

“Falls is from a different plane of existence than here. We are brought here in a floating city,” I say.

“You mean the white city?” Grug asks excitedly.

“Not the one Balthore lived in. This is a smaller city.” I say.

“Is it really whiter than the hottest fire?” he asks.

“I don't know. I have never seen the hottest fire.”

“Can I see it?”