Screams of fear rang into the air as all of Baltil was in a panic. The city was hit hard when the dragon Zao emerged from his prison and began causing chaos. The dwarves were arranging an emergency evacuation until they could put up proper fortifications. Meanwhile, a young girl no more than fifteen years old was climbing further into the mountains. She was dressed from neck to toe in a special heat resistant leather armor, enchanted by some of the mages from the city. The enchantment on her armor wouldn't last forever and if she fell into lava, well it wouldn't do her any good. Her blonde hair was tied up in a bun while a sword and many daggers remained sheathed on her belt. On her back was a pack with only a few essentials for such a journey. She wanted to be light and not have to worry about too many heavy things in the boiling prison. 

There were only two reasons why she was there. To harvest mana and to save two mages that had gotten themselves trapped. Back in the city there had been a request for someone, anyone to go and help two mages that had been down there for a long time. But the people were too busy evacuating and the soldiers had to prepare to defend the city. Few people were available to answer the cry for help. So when Dala promised to go save them, the families of the mages had no other choice than to accept. Nobody else was offering and if they didn't hurry, something horrible could happen to the mages. 

Staring at the descending cliff before her, she pondered for a moment. Was she really able to do this? She was one girl, going up against who knows what. Flickers of fear lingered in her mind as she looked at the path. Deciding not to waste anymore time, she brought out a grappling hook and rope from her bag, using it to climb down the cliff and deciding to leave it there when she needed to get back up. Jumping the to the ground, Dala began to walk to the temple. The building was easy to spot, with its massive size one could hardly ignore the place. 

The massive doors of the temple were already open and standing in front of the doors was a giant lava golem. The creature had been keeping warm by the temple and was making sure no other creature could enter or leave the temple. Not out of any loyalty to Zao, mind you. Rather it simply wanted to keep all the warmth to itself. Dala eyed it from a distance, trying to think of what her next move should be. A sword would be useless against such a creature. The stone exterior with the lava running through its body would destroy her weapon within seconds. There was a bright red magical crystal in the chest of the golem. An idea formed in her mind, but she would need two people for that. If only she had the sense to bring someone with her…

"Gods, I wished I thought this through." She muttered to herself. 

Simone and Lewis had agreed that the best chance they had to help was with Zao. With Simone being a night phoenix, and their resonance, it would be the safest best, and something that they could handle in the event something went wrong. Still, even with their natural resistances, the heat was something else. The primal dragon was not around, luckily, but there were beasts about that had taken a liking to the intense heat.

The assassin had brought a loose fitting garb, leaving his winter gear back at the entrance to the caverns. Strapped to almost every part of his body were a variety of daggers, though he was slowly starting to regret keeping them so close to his person. The metal was heating up, and it was not comfortable even with the resistances he got from Simone.

Lewis knocked an arrow out of caution as they looked down from the perch. Simone was next to him, her eyes scouting the area per usual. It was random, but she looked over to him with a sly smile.

““You know, dear…there’s one fatal flaw to your plan,” she said.

“Which is?” the assassin asked, not taking his eyes off of the area.

“Lucas is smarter than Rex.” Simone had him dead to rights. They had left their children alone during these times, and at the age they were, well…things were bound to happen.

Lewis took a deep breath. “Yeah, I know…but who else did I really have?

His wife merely giggled at the thought, and put her eyes back to work. “Oh. Is that Dala?” she asked, pointing it out in her mind to Lewis.

“It is,” he replied. “Let’s move. No way we can leave her alone.” The two of them worked in tandem, and found themselves behind the young teen within a few moments.

“Dala,” Lewis called out. “What possessed you to come out here?” He gave her his usual dead stare, but there was a hint of concern in his voice. This was no place for her, even if she could take care of herself.

He had a hundred reasons not to stay in Baltil, especially after the eruption of a dormant volcano that ended up releasing an ancient dragon. But he wasn't going to pack up and leave after he had come all this way. Raizel had made the trip back to Parvpora to gather materials for his projects in Sularia when everything went up in flames. The path to the boiling caldera was surrounded by searing heat, but he preferred the heat over the biting cold. He had grown up in Zets'Ki, a place not too far from the dwarven city, and he hated Glaciem the most out of all the seasons. Glaciem meant a daily struggle against the bitter winds, keeping the fire burning in the fireplace, gathering enough wood, and hoping that you wouldn't be buried alive by the snow. It meant trying to stretch what food you had stored up during Venti, hoping it would last until Terra melted the ice away. The bubbling lava and scalding steam reminded him of the flames of the forge–the one thing that had been his ticket away from this continent. He wasn't going to let anything–much less a dragon–force him out of what he had worked so hard to get.

Raizel had already been present when the sounds of others came down towards the volcanic prison. He wasn't here to harvest mana or act as a rescue search party; he was here to harvest the parts of rare elemental creatures that had emerged thanks to the return of Zao. Golem cores were one of them. The crystals had strong elemental properties and were more stable than condensed mana, making them ideal enchantment materials. Even small ones could fetch a hefty price among mages and alchemists. Rappelling down with a grappling hook, he singled out his target. A lone lava golem, with its core clearly visible. Armed with whip and warhammer in hand, he would need to take care in avoiding seriously damaging the crystal while separating it from the elemental body. All he had on was a set of light leather armor and a protection spell, but he had done this before.

"Alright, let's make this quick. I might be able to sell it for a couple hundred silver if it stays in one piece." While the other three were occupied, a young man with copper-brown hair charged at the lava golem. Flicking his wrist, streaks of green hellfire lashed at its body with a loud crack! "How's it feel being burnt for the first time in your life?" The artificer taunted the elemental being, daring it to make a move. And since it was hellfire that was setting it alight, the burning wouldn't stop until one of them was dead.

Dala didn't even have the chance to attack before Simone and Lewis were at her side. She looked up in surprise, not expecting them to be here. Lewis normally had business and Simone was usually with the kids. The fact that they were here at all showed the world's chaos. Lewis gave her a death stare as he asked her what on Revaliir gave her the idea to come out to one of the prisons. 

"There was a reward for finding two missing mages." She said simply, "And the world's gone to shit, so I figured helping out might be a good idea."

Dala was vague with her reasonings at best. The truth of the matter was that people were in need of help, so here she was trying to help. There wasn't a reward for finding two missing mages but the teenager believed if she told them that, they would scold her for being naïve or trying to be a hero. She genuinely wanted to help these people and took the job simply because they needed someone to take it. When there was people in need, Dala did everything in her power to help. Even if it meant going through tones of trouble and chaos to do so. 

"What about you guys? Came here to fight dragons?" The girl asked with a smirk, "Or did someone get kidnapped again?"

Simone and Lewis always got themselves into trouble, one way or another. Simone typically got kidnapped, Lewis goes to rescue her, or some other member of the family got kidnapped. At this point Dala was considering getting them a compass that would just point towards each family member for their inevitable kidnapping. But with everything that was going on, the girl had a feeling it wasn't just kidnapping this time.

From the corner of her eye, she spotted a stranger charging at the lava golem. The crack of the whip pierced the air and Dala turned towards the sound. As Raizel taunted the beast and the golem attempted to pull away, another creature crawled out of the lava and charged towards the stranger from behind. The monster was a fire lizard the size of a small horse with razor sharp teeth.

"Look out!"

Dala bolted towards the lizard with her sword drawn and plunged her sword into its side, stopping it from taking a bite out of Raizel. Unlike the lava golem, the fire lizard was made of flesh and bone. It screeched in pain, spinning around towards Dala who was already holding a nevermelting icicle from her bag. The lizard snapped its jaws at her, attempting to catch one of her arms. But the girl was too clever to be caught by such and attack. She jammed the creature's throat with the nevermelting icicle and used her sword to cut off its head.

The lizard's headless body wandered around for a few second before falling to the ground. Dala picked up the severed head and retrieved her icicle. Then she began searching the lizard body for useful items. She took the teeth, eyes, claws, and stuffed a few organs in a couple of bottles before shoving all these items into her endless purple bag. For her, this was normal. For anybody watching, she would look like a barbarian. Her eyes turned towards the stranger and what remained of the lava golem. 

"Hey, be careful that lizard almost got you. You know, if we were in Raorik's temple that would have been a frost bite." She said her pun and was clearly proud of it, "Get it?" 

Simone and Lewis had gotten Dala’s attention. It showed that she had good training as she didn’t instantly strike out at them, despite the two making their approach fairly stealthily. It had been some time since Lewis had seen Dala, and it showed. The assassin smirked, “You went and got taller…”

Her reasoning for being here was loose at best, but Lewis wasn’t going to really question it. The fact was, the world was in absolute chaos right now; the last thing that would be happening is a reward for missing mages. No, this was something else. “Fight a dragon? Not my favorite option. Here to help where we can. Not like we have much of a choice…island is half frozen at this point and if we don’t do something, it’s only going to get worse.” There was genuine worry in his tone.

“And watch your sass,” Lewis snapped back. “Unless you don’t want to get rescued when it’s your turn.” That may or may not have been a joke, but it was nearly impossible to tell coming from the assassin. He returned his focus to the temple, where a brave soul had decided to face the lava golem head on. Good for him, but not a priority. Of course, Dala thought otherwise.

The girl leapt into action, leaving Lewis rolling his eyes as she darted headfirst into danger. Simone merely smiled, and the two followed suit, if only to keep her safe. Dala’s moves were impressive, and it showed just how much she had truly grown since Lewis had seen her last. Her skills were getting there, and her quick thinking and use of a non-traditional weapon were impressive. But, as usual, her lack of experience was showing.

“Less talking,” Lewis said as he knocked several arrows and loosed them, piercing more of the lizards as they leapt out of the lava. They weren’t kill shots, but enough to leave them in shock at the sudden pain. Simone took it upon herself to finish them off, though, using the blood dagger. “You had no reason to help, and needlessly put yourself in danger… They accepted the risks when they took on the golem.” Speaking of, Lewis turned his attention to see how well that was faring.

While someone was distracting the fire lizard, Raizel wasted no time in taking a swing at the lava golem with his Baltil warhammer. He aimed below the golem's core, and the enchantment he had placed on the weapon triggered the moment it made contact. Magic flared as there was an explosion, blasting away its lower half in tandem with the swing. The rest of it collapsed to the floor, and he quickly used his whip to pull the core away from the molten mass. The artificer didn't bat an eye when he saw the girl take her pickings from her kill. He would've done the same in her situation. When she chastised him for leaving himself open and cracked wise, his face had a wry smile. "Ha ha, very funny." He did appreciate the pun, as bad as it was. "Lucky for us, we won't have to go hunting for salamanders when they crawl out of the woodwork." Salamanders were very valuable from head to tail. Most of it was anything except the flesh, but there were always those oddballs who had a taste for the exotic and strange. "With the top of this mountain now gone, more of them will be crawling around the caldera."

He noted the pair who appeared to be on familiar terms with the hooded blonde girl. One looked and acted the part of an assassin, while the woman–he couldn't tell. The core in his hand started to get hot, and he remembered he still had one last step to perform. Taking out a paper with runes arranged in a circular fashion, he wrapped it around the core crystal of the lava golem to stop it from reforming. Putting his prize away into his bag, he took out some powder and retraced some symbols on his armor. The protective effects were renewed for a little longer. "Good luck finding those two alive in this boiling cauldron." He remarked, having overheard snippets of the girl's conversation. "You can at least try to reclaim their corpses before the dragon comes back to roost." Since there were salamanders about, Raizel was working under the assumption that Zao wasn't nearby. Smaller predators would usually hide when a larger one was present, so if they were hunting they likely assumed they were safe.

Even with his experience the artificer knew better than to take on more than one enemy at a time. Part of him was disappointed when the duo finished off several more salamanders lurking around. Salamander hide and bile were valuable items that sold for a pretty penny, but he refused to take kills that weren't his. In his line of work you learned not to be too greedy–or else you'd be dead. Feeling sweat run down his face, he wiped his brow and took a quick gulp from his canteen. It was about time he started heading back. His canteen was already light and he wasn't going to venture deeper on his own. "Thanks for the help, but I won't push my luck any more than I already have. One of these cores is good enough for a day's haul." He eyed the three wondering if they were planning to hang around after they found the mages. But they already knew each other, so there was no reason for him to join them.

"Sorry about my sass." She said, "But I doubt anybody will waste time on kidnapping me. I'd probably just get stabbed."

The girl knew she wasn't particularly valuable, or at least in comparison to the people she kept around her. Lewis was a highly professional assassin, Simone was the only midnight phoenix left, all of their children had some level of magical talent, and most everybody else had something useful about them to keep alive. Dala was just a girl with a sword and a brain, which she thought was amazing but if she looked at it from a money-making perspective, not really ransom worthy. Lewis joined the battle against the fire lizards and managed to defeat them with the assistance of Simone. He then turned to her and gave her some advice. 

"Understood." Dala said with a serious look in her eyes. 

When it came to Lewis' criticisms, she always took it seriously. There was a deep respect for the assassin that had grown ever since she met him. She saw him as a strong but stealthy fighter who used intelligence and strategy as a weapon. He was one of the few people she wanted to be on the same level with. When she turned to see how the stranger was doing, she found a dead golem and a satisfied look on the stranger's face. He also laughed at her bad pun, which she appreciated. But as soon as he came it seemed he was ready to turn back. 

"Well, good luck with whatever you're doing." The young girl said to the artificer, "I suppose we will have to work on the mana and finding the mages on our own. Its a shame though, I was really hoping I'd be able to gather some of those golden fire crystals things. But I guess we have enough on our plates." 

The golden fire crystals, one of the things the mages were going after along with gathering information about the dragons. These were incredibly rare gems that costed even the wealthiest of families fortunes. They only grew in the hottest of volcanoes and under very specific conditions, hence why they were so rare. The temple was said to have clusters of them growing ever since the dragon had been imprisoned there. People would die to get their hands on such beautiful crystals. 

Dala, turning away from the artificer looked to Simone and Lewis with a look that screamed, see what I did there? She began to approach the temple doors carefully, keeping her eyes wary for any monsters or other threats. The dragon was supposed to be far away and their only threats at the moment should be golems or lizards. It was possible other things would pop up, but that was why she was moving cautiously. 

The man who had gone after the golem seemed to handle himself well, and as he dispatched the enemy, seemed more interested in keeping the core than destroying it. In the long run, it didn’t matter to Lewis, as the value of such a thing was lost on him. Instead, he focused his attention back to Dala, giving her a half smile in approval. Lewis wasn’t one to really give compliments, but in his own way could acknowledge that the girl had come a long way, and held much more potential than even she knew. Lord Raith had probably seen it as well, but whether they had discussed it or not in the past was something between him and Dala.

If there was a talent that Dala possessed that was beyond Lewis, it was her talent in reading someone for what was valuable to them, and using that to her advantage. It seemed that she wanted the adventurer to join them, and while Lewis would rather not work with a stranger under normal circumstances, it couldn’t hurt to have an extra hand along in case things got dicey. At the absolute worst, Lewis would feel little guilt in tripping the man up if it meant saving Dala or Simone from a primal dragon.

Whether or not he took the bait, Dala seemed eager to move forward, and moved to the doors. With a silent signal, Simone took position behind Dala, and Lewis moved forward. Being up front was not his strong suit, but if it came between him and Dala, he could handle a surprise attack. He strapped the bow to his back, and pushed the stone doors open, his hands sizzling at the heat coming off of them. Even with the resistances that he had from Simone, it still hurt, and he winced.

“Be ready for anything,” he said as the doors opened. Immediately, he drew his bow and proceeded forward. His eyes darted left and right, but nothing came at them. The interior of the temple itself was hot, as to be expected. There were pillars in each of the four corners, fortified with some kind of magic. Impossibly large metal links were attached to each of these pillars, almost double the size of Lewis. Near the center, the four chains would have met had not each of them a broken link from where Zao had freed himself.

“I really hope we don’t run into him,” Lewis muttered.

If only he had started walking sooner–then he wouldn't have caught what the girl said. Unlike the pale-haired assassin, Raizel knew exactly what she meant when she mentioned those crystals. Golden fire crystals were both rare and incredibly valuable for two main reasons: their brilliant, intense coloration and their strong elemental affinity. Just socketing one into a spoon would make it worth more than an entire set of solid lacriamium armor. And one crystal alone would leave him set for a year if sold. Reagents and materials for enchantment weren't cheap. Letting out a sigh, he regretted not bringing more water. Just one crystal, he thought to himself. Even a splinter would do to make this risk all worth it. "On second thought…I'll hang around a little longer." Switching to his Baltian war hammer, he then pulled out a small locket that had been tucked under his clothes. Opening it, a small wisp of blue fire came out. It took the shape of a flame sprite, bobbing up and down as it levitated. "Nuri, please look around to see if there are any golden fire crystals nearby the edge of the caldera." The wisp nodded, then flew off. With Nuri on the lookout, he could save time and cut down on how long he stayed in this sweltering heat.

Taking up the rear of the group, the artificer watched as they entered Zao's former prison. The inside of the massive structure was stifling and it was hard to see since the walls were made of igneous stone. The pillars that held the massive chains had dwarven script carved into their sides, likely the old forge god's handiwork. What drew the artificer's attention were the dragon's former bonds. He approached the chains, wondering what sort of material had been used to create them. They were radiating powerful energy, but apparently that hadn't been enough to keep the dragon sealed forever. Maybe it wouldn't hurt to take a sample? No one would mind if he scraped off a sliver, right? He set down his warhammer to pull out a few chisels to collect a few chips. If he was lucky enough to come back here a second time, he'd copy down the runes to see what the dwarves could make of them. 

Even if he wasn't alone, the artificer knew the group and he were only traveling together due to a common interest. They had no reason to help him and vice versa. As he started to scrape into the surface of the ancient chains, the small blue wisp flew in. "That was quick. Did you find the–" Nuri whispered something to its master's ear as its flames flickered about, agitated. "Big lizard, it running inside!" Alarmed, he tried to calm the tiny elemental down. "What 'big lizard'? Does it have wings or not?" The sound of hissing came from behind as a reptilian creature the size of a carriage slinked in. It looked like a larger version of the salamanders which had been killed outside, but when it saw the four–it flared out a mane of frills and gave a hissing screech. It was blocking the way out; this wasn't good. "I should've borrowed an ice or water-infused relic…" Raizel muttered as he quickly got to his feet. The dragon wasn't here yet, if they killed this one off quick they'd at least have a way out to run.

Satisfied with Raizel's choice to join them, Dala watched as Lewis began to head for the doors. When he pushed them open, the sound of sizzling reached her ears. The overwhelming heat pouring from the temple made Dala grateful her leather armor had been enchanted to protect against the heat. She still was sweating like a pig but at least overheating would take a little longer than normal. The inside of the temple was massive, large enough to hold a primordial dragon for thousands of years. Chunks of the wall were on the floor, showing the damage when the dragon escaped. Golden fire crystals grew in the corners and edges of the room, like a looming infestation. Her sword was drawn and caution was ruling her choices as she stepped further into the temple.

In each corner there was a pillar fortified with a strange magic while massive chains were attached to all of them. The chains were bigger than Dala and made her jaw drop. She knew that the dragons were big, but had no idea they were this big. A part of her wanted to flee and run far away from the temple but she bit her tongue and continued onwards, knowing she had a mission to complete, whether these mages were alive or not. She spotted a body near the pillar in the back and carefully made her way over. The body was no more than a lump of burnt flesh and bones, the only thing intact was a silver ring given to him by his lover. The teenager carefully pulled the ring off and quickly cleaned it of all burnt flesh. Her nose wrinkled at the disgusting smell, although it had been dulled from time. 

"Well that's one down." She muttered. 

From the corner of her eye she spotted a cluster of golden fire crystals. The beautiful gem was golden with a bright red part in the middle that looked strangely like a flame. It was as if someone froze fire in the crystals but everybody knew that was impossible. Dala didn't have the tools to mine it from the wall, but she was able to take a decent sized crystal that had been cut from the original cluster, probably when the dragon escaped. She knew that Raizel would need this and she was determined to not let him go home empty handed. If they made it out alive and he didn't have a crystal, she would give him hers. As for Lewis and Simone, she couldn't really help with the mana collecting as her own magical abilities still refused to function. 

Focusing on the mages, she searched around the temple for the body or presence of the last mage. A strange pile of rocks in the corner near one of the other pillars caught her attention. Her sword was drawn and she was prepared for lizards or something else. She approached the area, only to discover it wasn't a pile of rocks but a hole that had been blocked with rocks. After moving a few rocks, she realized there was a person inside, clutching to an amulet. She moved a few more rocks and dragged the person out. Dala moved her fingers to his neck and checked for a pulse, surprised to find the mage was still alive. He had used up the rest of his mana to keep himself alive and cool while hiding in this boiling place. Reaching into her satchel, she pulled out the mana potion for the stranger and shoved it into his mouth, forcing him to drink the liquid. Once the liquid was gone, she slapped him across the face, waking him up. The man was terrified and looked around, confused as to why he was alive and why he felt stronger. 

"Come on, we don't have all day." An impatient Dala said.

"No. I-I can't go out there. I saw what they did to my friend." The mage stuttered. 

"Do you really want to die?!" She asked with irritation. 

"Better to die in the hole than being burned out here. I know which is less painful!"

Cowards, the one type of person Dala had little patience for. The girl had a mission and that was to get everybody out alive, regardless of how those people felt. Half of her was tempted to just tie him up and drag him out of the temple. The other half was tempted to just leave him there since he was so determined to die. But at the end of the day, the teenager knew that either of those would just make the situation worse than it needed to be. She needed some way to get this man on his feet and out of the temple, something that would motivate him to do so of his own choosing. 

"You promised her, didn't you?" Dala asked, taking a seat next to the mage, "Your little sister."

When she took on the mission, it was from the mages' families. They were the only ones desperate enough to try to get the mages back, the only ones who truly cared about their wellbeing. The mission from this mage was given to her by a lovely woman with one other child. Dala knew very little about the child but she did know one thing about adults, they always made unkept promises for children. That was a universal truth. 

"How did you…" He let out a sigh, "I did promise her. I promised to take her to one of those beautiful gardens when we had enough money….but…"

"Then lets get you back home so you can uphold that promise." Dala said, "Unless you want to leave your mother and sister all on their own…"

With that last biting sentence, motivation flared in the mage's eyes as he pushed himself to stand. Sometimes a good guilt trip was all that took people to do what was needed.  Dala hopped up and gave him a pat on the back before turning towards the others and the entrance. The sound of a fierce hissing came from the doorway and a giant lizard, the size of a carriage blocked their exit. Dala looked at the mage then began shoving him back into the hole. 

"Get back in the hole!" She demanded. 

"But you told me-"

"I swear to the gods," Dala grabbed him by the collar of his shirt, "If you leave that hole before I tell you to, I will give you far more pain than your friend would ever imagine. I will make burning feel like a pleasure in comparison. Now GET IN THE HOLE DUMBASS!"

She shoved him back into the hole then rushed over to the others, keeping a fair distance between her and the fire lizard. The mage was too weak to help, even with that mana potion and she didn't want him to die or injure himself. The idea of dragging a half dead mage back to town didn't appeal to her. At least he could walk now and she was determined to keep it that way. As for the fire lizard, she knew a blast of fire would cause her significant damage. For once in her life, Dala avoided charging into battle and instead looked to Simone and Lewis, knowing they could deal with fire better than anybody else. 

"Wanna take the first attack?" She asked with a smirk.