Going towards the feldeath may have seemed like madness, but Hector had a good reason for giving it a try. That feldeath was floating there over the volcano for some reason. If he had to pick a place to search for hints regarding how to get back home, the volcano was it. The clock was ticking, after all. He just didn’t know how quickly.

Hector briefly recalled the battle he witnessed, previously, between a feldeath and a molten rock golem. That golem seemed to be a guard, and likely this feldeath here defeated whatever was guarding this volcano. So long as the feldeath didn’t have the ability to teleport Garovel here the way the Beast of Lorent might have, Hector wasn’t too worried. It wasn’t like the feldeath would capture his brain and freeze it. Right?

Then again, Hector still didn’t understand what would happen if his body was destroyed while he was in a realm other than Eleg. Hopefully, Garovel could just regrow him. Losing the Scarf would be tragic, but saving lives was more important. That’s why he ever used the Scarf to begin with.

Regardless, Hector would avoid actually attacking the feldeath. Garovel had explained that feldeaths view people like annoying bugs. Bite it, and it will chase you to the ends of the world. Survive its lethargic swat, and it will go back to whatever it was doing after you escape. If Hector really did find a way home in that volcano, the last thing he wanted to do was drag the feldeath to Eleg with him.

After closing about half the distance to the volcano, the feldeath turned to face his direction. At least, that’s how it seemed. The feldeath wasn’t very human-like. Had it seen him? Yes, it was suddenly racing towards Hector at a scary speed.

As planned, Hector banked right. He needed to lure it away from the volcano. As fast as the feldeath was moving, Hector sensed that it wasn’t going all out. Perhaps seeing Hector try to avoid it actually calmed it down, some. Some animals reached their top speed while chasing fleeing prey, and others didn’t bother. So long as the feldeath wasn’t pissed off, Hector hoped it would go just a bit easy on him.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

This situation had suddenly motivated Hector to work on his own top speed. He was already able to fly pretty quickly when up high where there were no obstructions, but a little more speed wouldn’t hurt here. He concentrated on the layers of iron coating the outside of his darker armor, trying to squeeze out just a bit more force. In the open air over the sea like this, he couldn’t be sure of his speed, but he was pretty sure he was going faster than ever before. Apparently, getting chased by a feldeath was a good way to work on your performance. He wouldn’t call this an emergence, but it was still a sudden improvement.

Glancing over his shoulder, the feldeath was just barely keeping pace. As Hector banked left in a gentle arc, the feldeath even started to fall slightly behind as the angle became less advantageous in its pursuit. Hector expected the feldeath to realize this and accelerate, but for whatever reason it didn’t. If things stayed as they were, Hector would arrive at the volcano with plenty of time to take a quick look around inside the caldera.

Fortunately, that’s exactly what happened. He descended into the caldera, caution thrown to the steamy wind. Noticing a pristine stone structure built into the wall, he approached while looking for any openings or moving parts. Not seeing any, he needed to decide what to do, quickly. Looking over his shoulder, the feldeath was arriving above the volcano. The bastard must have quickened its pace at the last moment.

>To try landing on the stone structure, go to Page 5.

>To fight his way out of the caldera, go to Page 7.