Sapphire had done a lot of daring things in her life. Climbing crevices to observe other dragons, stealing the bones of a Arehvae (The scariest thing in her entire living career), breaking into the classified section of the library, and taming Tanzanite. Even entering her own house was one of the most daring things she could possibly do, and she had done it multiple times.

But none of them compared to what she was doing now.

Sure, the Arehvae could have killed her with one flick of its talons. The immediate danger was terrifying, the adrenaline pumping through her veins had been real. The Elders could have banished her for looking at classified information. She could have fallen off of crevices. Tanzanite’s mother could have eaten her. The problems she had with her family were sometimes life threatening, involving so much sorrow and hurt that she could never bring herself to utter a single word about it, even to her friends. Especially to her friends. But she could easily escape them and forget about them.

But willingly jumping into a pit of lava? That was a whole new level of danger. The LavaDragon had put some sort of spell on all of them that made them completely immune to lava. Sapphire could feel the head rippling off of her skin, but it never harmed her at all.

For the first few minutes, Sapphire had to close her eyes against the brightness of the lava. She kept hold of Tanzanite’s neck. The LavaDragon had instructed them to trust their dragons—apparently, they could swim through the lava, following the obsidian dragon. Tanzanite and Sapphire had been speculating that it was some sort of enchantment.

All of the sudden, the blinding light dimmed. Sapphire blinked and let her eyes adjust to the orange glow.

She found herself in a large area filled with lava. It looked like they were inside the volcano. Below them, the lava continued deeper and deeper. Sapphire had no idea how deep it could possibly go, but luckily that was not where they were headed.

The LavaDragon led them into the middle of the volcano, where Sapphire could make out the outlines of many LavaDragons swimming around a large structure, bigger than the Creed Under the Mountain’s headquarters. As they got closer, Sapphire could make out more details: Four spikes like horns curving to uphold a large orb, several archways at the base of the structure, and large chains connected to it that spread out and up towards the mouth of the volcano. Everything was made of obsidian and some other metal that Sapphire couldn’t identify in the low lighting, even after rubbing her glasses. Diamonds, maybe?

The LavaDragon looked over her shoulder and gestured for them to speed up. She flicked her webbed tail and shot forwards in the lava using her wings.

As they passed by, several LavaDragons stared at them apprehensively. They all had the same appearance and scale pattern, but their eyes and horn varied greatly.

The LavaDragon disappeared into one of the dark archways, and everyone followed. Sapphire was the last to go through, and stepped into an oxygen-filled space. She was relieved to be out of the heat, even if it didn’t hurt her at all. Based on everyone else’s expressions, they felt the same way.

“Follow me,” their guide said. Her voice had a slight gravel-like sound in it, like two boulders were softly scraping together while she was speaking. Sapphire was really good at deciphering dragon, because she’d had a little practice with Tanzanite beforehand.

As they walked down the dark hall, lanterns flickered to life at their sides, flames burning brightly and reflecting off the obsidian-diamond mix of metal. It created a cozy glow, and illuminated designs in the palace walls that Sapphire hadn’t noticed before. She saw several related to two LavaDragon monarchs holding a bright orange ball while other LavaDragons bowed before them. She also saw a volcanic eruption, surrounded by written blessings on the wall. Another showed the same monarchs in the first picture building the palace, surrounded by three baby dragonets. In each one, the dragons were smiling happily.

They passed a painting of two LavaDragons, a king and a queen, surrounded by three dragonets. Each one wore crowns, although the dragonets’ crowns were smaller than the king’s and the queen’s. It was incredibly detailed, even showing the loving, kind look of the queen, and the playful, fatherly look of the king. The king had one wing around his wife and one wing around several of his dragonets. They were all supporting a fiery, orange ball.

“The Court will explain it to you,” the LavaDragon asserted at their questioning glances. They continued to wind through many more passageways. Many servants could be seen cleaning, bringing messages, or doing other tasks. A few more important LavaDragons speed by on occasion, most carrying a book or a scroll and wearing at least one piece of jewelry.

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After many twists and turns, they reached a set of double doors inscribed with a coat of arms: two dragons twisted around a yellow sphere. They were guarded by two LavaDragon soldiers wearing helmets of obsidian and holding spears made of the same substance.

The guards exchanged no words, but opened the door for them. Inside, a large throne room could be seen, lit well by lanterns and torches settled on alcoves along the wall. The golden light reflected off of the black dome ceiling. Sapphire suspected that they were in the top of the large black sphere she had seen from outside.

There were five thrones, two large ones and three smaller ones. Each of them was occupied by a LavaDragon. Around the thrones were seven smaller chairs, also occupied. All eyes followed them into the room.

Sapphire guessed that the two bigger thrones were for the king and queen, while the three slightly smaller ones were for their dragonets. The seven chairs were probably their council of advisors.

“Oh, hi!” a LavaDragon that had been sitting on one of the thrones stood up and ran over to where Sapphire and her friends were standing. She wore a small crown of obsidian with three spikes, the middle one being the largest. She grinned at all of them and beckoned them to the center of the room. “We were expecting you! The Soul was right! You’re really pretty, by the way,” she added jubilantly, pointing her tail at Tanzanite and Erinite.

Sapphire was quite taken aback, but soon found herself grinning as well. The pure joy of this LavaDragon was undeniably contagious.

“Welcome to the LavaDragon Kingdom,” the king said, spreading his wings. “I am King Ignatius, and this is my wife, Queen Ash.” He shot the LavaDragon princess a slightly stern look, and she sat down, her tail flicking from right to left. “You no doubt have many questions, all of which we will answer. Please, ask us anything.”

“What are the drawings on the wall?” Turquoise asked. “We saw them on the way here.”

“That is the history of our tribe,” Queen Ash answered. “About a thousand years ago, LavaDragons used to live in what is now part of the StealthDragon territory, in the center of the continent. We had wealth, power and peace established with every other tribe.

“However, a tyrant named Zaerux—the first of the StealthDragon race, and the first queen of the dragons—posed a threat to the perfect peace that we had worked hard to build. LavaDragons began looking for a safe haven for our tribe, before we were taken over.

“Later that year, a new king and queen inherited the throne, King Obsidian and Queen Agate. They saw the volcanos, our source of food and life energy. They wondered what was inside of them. So, they did the impossible—and dove straight into the volcano, aiming to swim down to the bottom.

“The entire LavaDragon kingdom thought that they had died. After four days, they were ready to select a new king. But then the monarchs returned, bringing with them the very center of our kingdom now—the Soul.”

“The Soul, or the Center, is a great source of magic that dragonkind had never seen before,” the King said, picking up on the story. “We still do not know the full extent of its power as of this day. It gives us light, and it allows us to have visitors such as yourselves,” he gestured to Sapphire and her friends. “It also allowed us to build a palace here, in the Grand Volcano. It gives us powers, such as slight mind control and power over the lava. We have lived down here ever since that dragon threatened our tribe.”

“Zaerux,” Sapphire whispered. She wondered if her friends were gathering all of this information. Judging from their expressions, they were only having slight difficulties.

“Um, er, you don’t, um, happen to know if Zaerux might be…still alive?” Turquoise asked in rough Dragon, grinning uncomfortably. “Like, perhaps, still influencing the StealthDragons or something? Just a thought.”

“Preposterous,” one of the councilors said. “Zaerux is dead. If she were still alive…” every LavaDragon in the throne room shuddered. “It’s just not possible. No one can live for a thousand years.”

There was a murmur of agreement throughout the room.

“Oh, yeah? Then how do you explain the StealthDragon army living in the hollowed-out mountain that just happens to be in the same mountain range you’re living in?” Turquoise challenged. Her face had drastically changed in the course of a few seconds, and was filled with indignation. Alex tried to pull her back, but she shook him off and strode forwards, arms folded in front of her chest. “These StealthDragons also happen to live with entirely different rules from the rest of the tribe. Awfully suspicious, isn’t it? One might say they were being controlled.”

There was a collective gasp around the room.

“How?” One councilor growled. “We would have known of this! The girl lies!”

“No,” Alex said, walking up to be next to his sister. “We were all there. Excuse my sister for her rude behavior, but what she says is true.”

The king glanced around at all of their expressions. “You appear truly, convinced of this,” he noted. “I will send someone to investigate this later, perhaps. But what is it that brought you here, to us? Who told you that we even exist?”

Right before Turquoise and Alex answered, there was a commotion from outside. A LavaDragon servant burst into the room, panting and covered in lava, which was dribbling onto the floor and cooling into obsidian. All eyes of the court turned to him.

“I am deeply sorry, Your Majesties,” he wheezed, bowing deeply. “But the StealthDragons are invading!”