Moving again, I looked left and right for the rock.

Last time, we had gone through a clear path that led directly to the hole in the volcano. Close to the hole, there was a funny-looking rock. It looked like it had a raised eyebrow, looking all serious like it was judging you for wanting to go in a volcano. Theodore and I were taking turns making that face, so I remembered it very well, but I couldn't find it anywhere.

Instead of panicking, I closed my eyes and let the strange feeling that felt like an itch that couldn't be scratched guide me. When I opened my eyes again, I knew how to get inside.

Following the feeling, I found a big opening at the side of the volcano. It wasn't the same opening as the first time I was here. It was bigger and had many pointy rocks at its ends like it was saying to stay away from it.

'Am I really going inside here?'

With a gulp, I stepped inside.

Suddenly, everything turned very hot. Winter was closing, and we wore warm clothes but it felt as if taking all my clothes off wouldn't be enough, every breath I took making my throat fell funny, like I was breathing close to the fireplace.

The cave was also different. When I entered, it was orange-red, just like the volcano, but the deeper I went, the more it changed. First to brown and then later on black, together with what Papa called 'molten veins', the cool red-yellow things in the walls. At the end of the path, the cave opened up, revealing a giant empty space with a single big bridge that led to another pathway.

In the expanse of the bridge, I felt so small, like an ant, my sides stretching and stretching as if there was no end to them. On the towering walls waterfalls of lava scanned the area, bringing some light to this dark place and the ceiling was full of very pointy rocks, but I don't remember how Papa called them.

Halfway across the bridge, a wave of tremble reached from the room ahead.

I fell on all four, and just as I was about to stand back up again, one of the pointy rocks fell close to me, only a few meters away from the bridge, down below. Crawling to the edge of the bridge, I watched as it got smaller and smaller until it couldn't be seen anymore, hidden completely in a lava sea that didn't look like it had a beginning or an end.

'Yikes! It looks so cool but I don't want to think what will happen if I fall… Ah! Now I'm thinking about it! Stop Lyon! Stop!'

Quickly crossing the rest of the bridge, the thought was left behind, but just as I stepped into the next room, another tremble came, and with it, the calling became stronger, almost like a voice.

I held my pendant tightly.

In this new area, there were even more molten veins, not only on the walls, but on the ground as well, and they were bigger than before. There were rivers of lava too, although not as big as the river in the forest. Faintly, I could hear beasts far into the distance, their cries, howls, or whatever the sounds they were making, echoing in the walls.

'At least it's not shaking any—' Just as I had that thought, it trembled again, but it was much stronger and felt much closer. Then, high-pitched sounds came, and in the distance, hundreds of flying creatures could be seen, reaching closer.

Quickly hiding behind a big rock, I peeked at the flying beasts that looked like bats, but they were much bigger and much scarier than what the book showed.

"Batstriders!" I said out loud, remembering the beast Papa described in the story earlier.

My hands flew to my mouth as I curled back like a ball behind the rock. Shakily looking up, no Batstrider came to attack me. Some did see me, but their eyes didn't show anything behind them, and they quickly continued flying away.

I frowned in confusion.

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'Why does everyone act weird today? First the village, then Papa and now the beast? What is going on?’

The further I went, the more the path opened, revealing different tunnel-like openings to its sides. Peeking into them, some had quint beasts inside, others had nothing other than lava and very few of them were empty. The only thing they had the same was more openings that led into other places. However, none of them were the ones that gave me that feeling, so I quickly passed them after looking at what they had inside.

Soon, the trembles became stronger and came faster, but I was starting to get used to it. It could only happen so many times before it stops being scary. From the side of my eye, a white light shined from one small hole, but before I could see what was it, the light vanished. From what little I saw, it wasn't like the quint lights, but it got me interested.

Inside the room, beasts were running everywhere in panic, or at least that's what I thought was happening because it was so dark I couldn’t see. Then, from somewhere deeper into the room, the shine appeared again, and a moment later a fire appeared, but it wasn't red. It was white — no, more white than white, the whitest thing I've ever seen, and it looked so beautiful it was scary. So very scary. It spread like a wave and every beast in the room cried in fear, but not in pain, because they didn't have time to do so before they got eaten by the flames. By the time I took and let out a breath, nothing was left in the room.

I fell back, shocked. On one hand, was the scene I just saw, but on the other, something else; what that could be, I wasn't sure. All I knew was that I was close to what I came here for.

Taking a few steps back, just to be sure that the white fire wouldn't reach from the hole, I turned to my previous path.

Not too long after, the holes stopped, and the hallway opened up into a big empty cave. It would have been weird to see all this area empty, but with everything that was happening today, it wasn't.

This room was different from the rest I've been so far. In the end, there wasn't another path leading somewhere else. There were many more tunnel-like paths similar to what I came from, but at the end was only a giant wall.

I knew there was something behind it because I could feel it. What I came here for was just behind that wall.

I scratched my chin just like how Papa did his beard.

'There has to be a way inside, but where? Am I on the wrong side?'

Walking parallel to the wall, I searched for the entrance. Minutes passed, but the wall remained unchanged. If not for the shifting rocks around me, I might have thought I wasn't moving at all.

Then, from the side of my eye, I saw an entrance to another room.

Even from my bad spot, it was hard to miss. A very big—gigantic opening reaching as high as the ceiling was there, and inside it another, even bigger room. From where I was, I couldn't see the top of it as it climbed higher and higher, the black color turning back to orange-red.

Suddenly, a tremble shook the cave again, this one much more powerful than all the others together, pointy rocks falling from the ceiling.

A few meters ahead of me, one of these rocks landed and smashed into the wall, creating a scar where a low light reached from the room inside.

When the trembling stopped, I looked closer. The rock hit the wall hard enough to open it up and connect the two rooms. The idea of going through this scar entered my mind; though if it was my own or what was calling for me from the other side, I couldn't tell. I would have listened to it as well, but the gap didn't look big enough for me to fit in without hurting myself so I didn't do it.

As I passed the small hole, from one of the tunnels leading to this area, tens of beasts entered, and behind them, a familiar-looking shine and fire raced to catch them.

My eyes widened, and before I could take a breath, there were no beasts left. The white flames didn't stop there, however, and continued filling the rest of the area. My head spun back and forth between the crack on the wall and the raging flames.

Closing my eyes, I went into the crack, letting the feeling guide me inside the other room.

'Please be big enough! Please be big enough!

Slowly moving sideways, I first moved my hands to touch the area, before slowly taking the next step. There were many pointy rocks, but somehow I managed to find and avoid them without hurting myself.

I opened my eyes again only after there was no rock to touch with my hand. My mouth dropped at the sight. The cave, if it can be called that, was even bigger than the previous area.

'What is bigger than gigantic?'

It looked so small from the outside, while on the inside it was like half the village, and the ceiling, there was none. It kept going up and up and up and at the end opened, revealing the stars of the night.

So much space, and yet it was all empty.

Well... there was one more thing with me inside...

Close to me was a big- bigger than home- pile of dead beasts. At the bottom of the pile was a giant snake-like beast with two legs and two wings. It was so big that one of its eyes alone was bigger than me, and from then on, the pile was full of smaller beasts. I saw many Batstiders, Emberfang, and so many other beasts I didn't know, all stacked on top of one another climbing high as if the pile was trying to reach the sky.

I held my tummy, feeling like my food was going to come out any moment now. I wanted to stop looking at the disgusting mountain of corpses and forget it, never to come back.

But I couldn't.

What was calling for me, what I came here for, was coming from inside that pile.