“It shouldn’t be too hard to outrun the lava when the volcano erupts,” E said. “And it’ll be even easier if we drive; let’s go.”

Stella grabbed onto the dwarf’s hair and pulled him back into the volcano cave before he could get very far. “No!” she said and smacked his forehead. “The lava won’t kill you. It’s the pyroclastic flow that comes with the eruption that will.”

“The what?” Vur and E asked at the same time, tilting their heads to the side. Vur’s awakening dispersed, starting from the top of his head.

Stella sighed and placed her hands on her hips before shaking her head as she hovered in the air above the duo. “It’s too much trouble to explain,” she said. “Think of it as an avalanche.” She pointed at Vur’s arm. “Deedee! Encase us in a diamond sphere—a big one, so we have plenty of air.”

The runes on Vur’s arm glowed and bathed their surroundings in a brown light. The rocks that the light touched shimmered and condensed, twisting into diamonds. E sucked in a breath and glared at Diamant, who had taken the form of a glowing rock floating above Vur’s head. “You can make diamonds this easily, but you charge us so much to buy them.”

The glowing rock shrugged, its whole body moving up and down. “Supply and demand,” he said. “I only make diamonds when we run out of stock.” A sphere of diamonds gradually took shape, surrounding the four individuals.

They sat in silence. “So,” Vur said. “Are there any other strong fire elementals to form contracts with?”

Diamant took the form of a person and shook his head. “Az was the strongest. His second-in-command might be close to evolving into a volcano elemental, but she should still be on the level of wildfire. It may take a while before another volcano elemental graces this world.” He sighed. “If only Az wasn’t so stubborn. You most likely would’ve been the strongest person on this continent if you could’ve contracted with him as well.”

“Vur’s already the strongest; it doesn’t matter,” Stella said. “We’ll catch that wildfire elemental and force her to be my sun.” She glanced around, the view of the world outside the diamond shell distorted and warped. “No kaboom? Where’s the eruption?”

“Odd. It should’ve gone off by now,” Diamant said and poked his head outside of the diamond shell. “Az—”

A massive explosion—that may or may not have caused a young dragon to drop an explosive ingredient into her cauldron—cut off the rest of Diamant’s words. A flood of ash, gravel, and powder blasted the side of the sphere, causing E to scream as the diamond rolled down the side of the volcano.

“We need seatbelts!” Stella cried out as she clung onto Vur’s head. The sphere spun the group so fast that they couldn’t stand or move from their spots, their bodies pressed to the sides. Diamant dispersed and returned to the runes in Vur’s arm as E curled up into a ball and whimpered. Up became down, and down became up over and over until the sphere hit a sloped outcrop and was shot into the air. “Dissolve the orb, Deedee!”

The diamond shell cracked before it shattered into thousands of pieces, the diamonds falling towards the ground. Stella’s eyes were crossed, and her arm didn’t move in a straight line when she tried to tug on Vur’s ear, but she managed to pat his head and say, “Fly, Vur. Fly!”

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Vur activated his awakening and spread his wings, soaring into the air. “So dizzy,” Vur said as he teetered and tottered in the air, his wings all flapping at different times.

“I can’t fly!” E shouted as he started falling towards the ground. The launching force from before could only keep him in the air for so long. “Save me!”

Vur snapped his head downwards and plummeted towards the falling dwarf. Vur stretched out an arm and grabbed E moments before the dwarf was about to fall into the flood of pyroclastic rocks. His wings flapped as he soared into the sky.

“Look!” Stella said and pointed towards the side. “Can you see them?”

Vur and E turned their heads. “I don’t see anything,” E said and squinted. “What are you pointing at? The house in the distance?”

“No, you dummy,” Stella said. “It’s—”

“Fire elementals,” Vur said, finishing the fairy’s sentence. “Are there any wildfire ones?” He glanced up at Stella, who narrowed her eyes at the floating motes of red light in the air.

Faint chattering sounds filled the air; though, it was hard to hear over the rumbling below. “What happened to Clan Master Az?”

“He exploded! Kaboom! Whoosh!” A mote of light sparkled and flashed, punctuating each word it spoke. “I’m number one now!”

“That one!” Stella said and pointed at the pulsing red light.

“Eep!” The motes of light squealed as Vur flew towards them, extending his hand. The especially shiny one yelped as Vur grabbed onto it and brought his hand towards his face, showing the elemental to Stella.

“Unhand me, creep!” the struggling elemental said as she consolidated her light into a small fireball.

“Hah! I told you fire elementals were fireballs, stupid Deedee,” Stella said and bobbed her head. “Contract with her, Vur.”

“Contract?” the fire elemental asked and stopped squirming. Her voice sounded incredulous. “With me? Really?”

“Do you want to?” Vur asked.

“Yes!” the elemental said, her flames brightening from orange to yellow. Her body dissolved into runes in Vur’s palm that crawled up his arms, snaking towards his shoulder.

“Don’t go to his head,” Stella said to the yellow runes. “Just stop at his collarbone. Right there, stop, stop!” The runes twitched and stopped in response. “Go back a little more.” The runes crept backwards. “Okay, perfect. Now form a sun.” Stella smiled and crossed her arms as the runes curled up like a snake, forming a yellow sun on Vur’s collarbone and shoulder.

“Gah!” the fire elemental shouted. “Is that a dragon!? I’ve fallen for a trap! Don’t eat me!”

Stella’s body turned into purple motes of light which entered Vur through his head. Her voice rang through his thoughts. Calm down. He’s friendly! You just have to give him belly rubs, like this.

Vur furrowed his brow as something inside of him tingled.

Now you try, Stella said.

L-like this? the elemental asked from inside his head. She whimpered. He’s scary.

You’ll get used to him, Stella said as a purple figure formed in the air in front of Vur’s face. She hugged his face and giggled. “There’s sunshine inside your heart now!”

Vur plucked her off and placed her on his head. He glanced at the yellow runes on his shoulder. “What’s your name?”

“Sheryl,” the wildfire elemental replied. “Who are you?”

“Vur.”

Diamant sighed. “Isn’t this something you should’ve asked before you made a contract with each other?”

Sheryl gasped. “Is that Diamant? Why are you contracted with my owner? Are the rumors about you giving up your clan true? How come you’re here?”

While Diamant and Sheryl chatted, E scratched his head and glanced at the ground below. Lava was flowing down from the volcano, crawling over the rocks that had spewed out earlier. The ash, dust, and stone still hadn’t settled, crawling along the ground. Black dots, people, were fleeing from the flood. “Everything’s a mess,” E muttered. “It’s a good thing we didn’t build any cities around Az’s volcano.”