Slowly moving closer to the pile, the feeling—calling drew me to its center. The massive snake-like beast was full of giant diamond-shaped scales that overlapped together as if they were a puzzle, with a few of them protruding outwards as if they were ledges for me to grab onto and climb up the beast’s body.

Upon touching onto the beast’s skin, the disgusting feeling left, replaced by a cool softness. Suddenly, the calling intensified, and a pulse resonated through my hand.

Climbing up the snakelike body, I found myself face to face with the grotesque remains of other creatures tangled above it. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel the urge to vomit. Quite the opposite, actually. I was getting excited.

Without wasting time, I began digging through the beasts, either pushing them to the side, or throwing them behind me without giving them any thought. The deeper I reached, the more excited and impatient I became, my thoughts running wild.

’Why are these so many beasts here? Where did they come from? What’s hiding inside? It’s been so long, Am I close?’

By now, I was completely surrounded by corpses, the beasts seemingly endless, accompanied by these strange orbs. Every second or third beast I dug through, I would find one of those small shiny balls. Most of them were red, but there were also orange, yellow, and black ones. I could swear they reminded me of something Papa told me, or was it something he gave me? I couldn’t remember, not that it mattered. The only thing that did matter was reaching the center of the pile.

Throwing a very red one out of the way, I shook my hands off all these red sticky stuff. The closer I reached to the center, the more the temperature increased, and the more the beasts changed. Not only were they even more disfigured, but the heat made them melt into my fingers. What was worse, wherever I touched, more of the weird red watery stuff would gather, burning hot. It felt as if I put my hands deep into hot water and kept increasing the heat!

’Come on, come on, a little more!’

I could feel it. With every beast I passed through, the calling was getting stronger—louder.

I went faster. Instead of throwing the beasts behind me, simply pushing them to the side to move through the gaps.

Suddenly, I lost my footing, and the bodies gave way.

In the spun of a second, the endless beasts had turned into a giant slide for me to flow through. After a small amount of time, I saw an opening to what looked like the center of all this, but just as I was about to fall inside it, my shirt was caught by a beast’s horn and teared up, leaving a part of it behind.

The center was a lot bigger than I thought, having enough room to fit many of me comfortably. It was like a den with the bodies put in a way to keep it warm inside, as if being inside a volcano wasn’t warm enough.

Other than me, there was one more thing here.

Right in the middle, something was wrapped in multiple layers of a single giant white feather. I didn’t need a feeling to know that this was the reason I came here, but the feeling was there and greater than ever.

My hands reached for the wrapped thing that was only a little bigger than my palms. It was so small and precious and so…

Carefully, I took off the feather. As I did, lights started glowing behind it, and the whole den lit in red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple, like a rainbow! Inside the feather, a shiny rock was revealed, changing colors when looked from different angles.

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It was so… beautiful. I thought Quint was pretty, and after awakening, everything was shinier and brighter and magical, but this… this rock was the most magical thing ever!

As I looked, I was drawn closer, a Lyon of different colors reflected — one with half a face red, and another with half his face blue.

I gasped, only now noticing I had been holding my breath. Slowly, I reached and touched the rock. Something warm came all over my body and I felt many pulses—thumps coming from the rock. Suddenly, I heard a very low, barely noticeable whisper.

“Take me.”

My eyes widened.

That was my own voice.

The longer I held the rock, the warmer it got. At first, it was just a little warm, but now it felt like a hot potato, getting hotter and hotter, however, I didn’t let go. I couldn’t let go. It became so hot, it hurt, pain reaching from my hands to the rest of my body.

I tightened my hands in response.

It became hard to breathe, feeling as if my body was on fire. I screamed in pain, unable to hold it in any longer, and yet, my hands remained still, white marking-like lines quickly climbing up my arms, dropping me to my knees.

“Stop! Stop! Make it stop!” I yelled as the markings spread deeper to my body towards the tattoo.

When it touched my tattoo, my pendant flashed before my eyes, and darkness snuffed out the light from the hole. Only the rock and the while markings on my body remained lit, but it was only for a moment before fading into complete darkness. Suddenly, everything trembled and in the blink of an eye, the darkness shrunk back into my pendant, the makeshift ceiling of dead beasts bursting open in a massive explosion, revealing the night sky.

Falling back, I pounded heavily and wiped the sweat off my forehead, the pain all over my body calming. After taking a moment to see the stars, I stood up, my breathing returning to normal.

I turned for the scar in the wall from which I had come from and remembered the white flames eating away the beasts. With the rock the only thing on my mind, I had forgotten everything that had happened before. From the gigantic door, low trembles came, and the same shine that appeared every time before the white flames ate away everything on their path was getting closer.

I gasped and looked around. On the opposite side from the crack I had come through, there was another one.

Holding the rock tight, I ran towards it.

The light inside it was dim, but the air felt cool. Peeking out, everything was dark, but an empty path was clear, leading somewhere else in the volcano.

Then another tremble shook the ground.

I glanced back at the glow near the big door one last time, the shine just outside the giant opening. I turned back, and with a gulp, I entered the crack.

‘Whatever is here will never be as scary as the white flames.’

Surprisingly, the crack was much bigger than the one I had entered the last room. It was dark, much darker than anywhere else I’ve been so far, but it wasn’t hard to cross. The rocks were smooth and the further I went on, the cooler it became. In the distance, a dim light guided me, and I was led to an open area where the cave opened up into multiple pathways.

Kraa-aww!

Suddenly, a thunderous cry echoed in the walls, and in the next moment, everything trembled violently. Behind me, the scar lit in the white light and more cracks began to form around it.

Kraa-aww! Kraa-aww! Rumble! Crack!

The entire volcano shook. The walls, the ground, the ceiling—everything started to crack, lava veins growing bigger in the gaps.

’I-I have to get out of here!’

In this catastrophe, I could only try to escape, but where? I didn’t know the place. I’d barely been two times here!

Dust rose and debris fell as everything around me crumbled to ruin. The walls were pealing away, giving room for lava to flow, reducing my options for which path to take. Taking a quick glance around me, through the falling rocks, some familiar crystals were shining a path close to me. Before my eyes could even widen, I was already reaching for it.

‘It’s the same path we took last month!’

I was sure of it, because I would never forget the shiny crystals on the walls, which meant that soon enough…

‘Yes! The rock!’

I would see the funny-looking rock in the distance!

Another cry rang out, louder than the last, and the destruction around me intensified. Dust thickened in the air, my vision growing hazy as lava burst from the surrounding walls, with rocks and crystals hurtling in every direction.

Behind me, a wave of lava crept closer, while ahead, a newly formed maze of burning rocks blocked my path.

Dodging the searing stones, I raced against the advancing lava toward the exit. Just as I caught a glimpse of the funny expression on the rock's surface, it suddenly lit in a blinding white light from above.

Kraa-aww!

Another cry echoed, this one tearing through to the outside, triggering even more chaos. With a violent tremor, the white light vanished as the exit collapsed.