Volcanic Confusion

Across the sea they landed on a large island, or what once was an island, before the land was covered in magma, leaving a crust over the whole land. Large ogres and snakes with large wings had made the island their home, most likely having flooded out of the dungeon. They hacked and slashed their way through, finding the ogres easier than the flying snakes that could breath fire and where much harder to hit because of there movements, but still, they didn't have any trouble when it came to dealing damage, their last battles really boosting their levels up and making them overly ready for this dungeon.

They made their way through the wastelands all the way to the base of the volcano, where two statues of one of the heroes stood at the entrance to this dungeon. As they took steps inside, they could tell this was once a building made inside of the volcano but it had been swallowed by the lava and land as well. Leaving stones sticking from the wall, they hoped that it didn't damage their chances of being able to get through, swallowing up part of any puzzle that may be inside. Another step would sound sparks from under their feet as they all jumped forward and Razah falling back, a burst of fire shot from the floor and as they fell forward they heard more of the sounds, not sure if it was because of their steps or it was on a timer they started rushing but the fire caught up with them, burning and pushing them backwards. Razah started timing it and shouted out.

"Go." Each time they were meant to move, and would tell them to stop when the puzzle was going to shoot up in front of them. Once through they waited for Razah who got through unscathed and then moved forward, finding the opening to the main room, it was one large area, a floor that spiraled around the outside and a look down would reveal the rest of the dungeon, fire shooting from the walls and floor, magma rocks spitting from lava pits and monsters all through out. A large pit of flames and evil, on the walls there were random dragon heads that spit fire when one would pass in front of them, these were the easiest things to get past as they made their way down, the floor that burst out flames was much harder, as it was impossible for them to tell when and where they would pop up. It got in their way most times while they were fighting the monsters on the way down.

When they got half way down the path ended with a bridge that crossed over to the other side, where the winding turned the other way and once they were at the bottom they found a ground full of lava with small jump points that they could use to cross from island to island. All of them just going through the motions, trying to get farther, deeper into the dungeon where the boss would be, but as they finally got to the center of the bottom they found nothing but crusted floor.

"Something doesn't seem right about this dungeon guys." Vixen looked around, there was no more path forward, they had went all the way down and found nothing.

"What if the Legion already got to it?" Razah first to pose the question that was on all of their minds.

"Do you really think they would do that, break pattern because we bested them once?" Art was skeptical of them having beat them here and finished the boss off, but it could make sense, they had a lot of time while they were dealing with the other dungeons, the monster and Trinity. A sigh fell over the group as they looked up, they could see the hole at the top of the volcano, such a long walk back to the exit, they thought. They started their long walk back up, having to climb up small cliffs they jumped down and dodging all the fires again.

As they got to the top they noticed a stone slab on the wall with writing on it, something they hadn't noticed before. They decided to stop and take a look at it, having to pull bits of dry magma off of it to see it clearly.

"Watch your step and find your patients so that you may meet the dragons face to face."

They read it over and over again and looked at each other, that is when Fenix snapped his fingers.

"So they didn't beat us here, I thought it was odd that the transporter wasn't activated at the bottom. It had been bugging me ever seen we started on our way back up, we have never had to simply walk out of a dungeon like this." He then looked back and pointed to the dragon head that spit fire when they crossed it, "Well, those are the dragons he is speaking of, but how are we to look them in the eye." The group gathered around the first dragon head, watching it closely without going in front of it, looking in its mouth to see if there was a switch and watching its eyes, nothing about it seemed unusual.

Art jumped in front of it and looked it in the eye for a moment before the fire came towards him, Meekle and Vixen having to pull him out of the way.

"Its not that simple, you can't just jump out there like that." Vixen shook her head and punched him in the arm for scaring her like that. Fenix examined the head over and over from each side before he looked across, it was almost aligned with the dragon that was across the way from them. He gave it a push and it started sliding across the wall, the group wondering just what Fenix had figured out as they watched him.

"Come on." He said as he ran past it and down towards the one across from them, it was a bit to low so he tried moving it up, shockingly it moved and once the eyes met they started to glow, steam puffed out of its mouth and the fire stopped shooting out at them.

"So we have to make the dragons look at one another, be eye to eye?" Meekle said, as if he was questioning his own words as he said it.

"Exactly, it seems they are on some swivels but I can't see any, so it is either very high technology, or magic. If its technology I can't begin to explain how advanced they were so long ago, they would have been miles ahead of even our world in terms of technology." He continued talking like this for a while, while the others continued trying to align the heads of the dragons, over and over. It seemed they had to get it spot on to make it work so they split up, each of them trying to shift the heads until they met one another and the eyes would light up. This was one of the easiest of puzzles they had come to and yet they had spent more time in this dungeon than they had in any of the others.

They only had trouble with one, it seemed as though it didn't fit in to any of the others, no matter how they moved it, this was because it matched with one of the heads that was already being used. Fenix finally figured out that they had to shift three heads so they all matched up together, this was a frustrating process that they spent some time trying to get just right. But as they finally got it to fit right all the eyes lit up and a chine sounded, announcing they completed the puzzle.

It was then met with a rattling and shaking from under them, the area they once stood in was filling with lava. All of them to close to the bottom to get up to the top before the lava reached them, they all started running for it but it was catching up with them quicker than even they expected. Art looked over to the lava and saw that the platforms they were on at the bottom were still floating on top of the lava and he jumped to one, in hopes that would save him. When he landed it rocked a bit but stood strong as he called out to the others, letting them know to jump as well.

The lava led them all the way to the top of the volcano, just below the crater there was a large area that they couldn't see before and wrapped around the inside of it was a large king snake that hissed at them. Uncoiling from the wall and dipping down into the lava only to pop its head up, making large magma rocks fly all around them. They were sitting ducks on this island, only small stepping stones for them to walk on.

The battle started with the King Snake spitting venom at them, the whole group getting poisoned all at once. Meekle started by dropping a curse on the boss, lowering its defense for a while, Vixen was the first to start shooting quickly, aiming for the face of the monster before it started spitting fire, all of them forced to jump to the small floating stones, trying to balance while the snakes tail came up and started lashing at them. Fenix went for it and transformed to his Ifrit form, but being the same element he could only do minor damage and if he hit it with flames the boss gained health, he had to give up on the form quickly because of this and was hit back by the tail. Art grabbed him out of the air and they landed on the island again.

"Guess we need to find some other way to fight this guy huh." Art summoned his swords but it only did so much, all his sword sticking out of the boss, its body expanded for a moment and then rapidly shrank back down, making all the swords and arrows that were in it shoot out around the area, many of the swords falling into the lava. All of them thinking how easy this would be if they had the space to move around, but they couldn't even climb its smooth skin that dipped straight into the lava.

The King Snake fell back into the lava and swirled around before shooting up, its jaws wide as the form of the area changed, the island they were on and the stepping stones all moved so they couldn't get use to their surrounding. Its tail came from behind and wrapped up Meekle, Tophuu and Art quickly and started squeezing them. They hadn't even taken half its health yet, not with the added heal it got from Fenix attack, but they didn't stop, they kept attacking with what they could, even with all the distance they had to make up for, Art's mana dropping quick as he had to use all his magic just to be able to hit the boss.

The tail smacked back and forth at the wall, making rocks fall and crumble, it gave them more ground to work with, that which stayed up but it also broke apart the island they were using to stand on as well as damaged anyone it hit. Meekle was trying to buff everyone with his curses, as always he was acting as the support when his true power was in cursing the boss, this dawned on him, that he could help more if he looked more into cursing the enemy rather than his own team. He went through his spells and found something he hadn't tried before.

"Time Stop." The King Snake froze, its body stuck in the motion and staying there. Then Razah spoke up, she hadn't cast one spell this whole time, as if she was waiting for something.

"Ultimate skill, Goddess Dweller, Isis." A light took over Razah and brightly colored feathers formed, red, green and black filling up and stretching out from her arms to make wings, she was dawned in the clothing of the gods, beautiful red robes lined with gold. Her hair flowed long and she rose up into the air, her eyes glowing as she became one with the goddess. A U shaped crown rested just above her head, floating, with what looked like a sun rotating inside of it. Power flowed off of her, seeping into the air in waves of golden light as she batted her wings at the time frozen boss, feathers flew from her, hundreds of them hitting into the boss and exploding.

Her hands then came together as a ball of energy formed in her hands the sun that swirled in her crown turned blue. Electricity crackled around the ball of energy as it turned a deep blue color, it then shot forth with intense power striking the boss as its health drained lower and lower. Meekle's curse finally wearing off of it, it tried to escape the beam but Razah followed it, till its health was less than twenty percent and she floated back down to where she was standing before, the wings fading and a burst of light shot from her, when it was gone she was back to normal. She wasn't able to take it out in one shot as she hoped and now the beast was angered, its final phase started as wings burst forth from it and it flew out the crater of the volcano, the lava rising up to start the end of this battle.

The lava crusted over, giving them freedom of movement as the King Snake was now flying through the air over them. He swooped in and slashed at them with its wings, causing large gusts of wing to blow them about if they were able to dodge the wing attack. They all started healing up, trying to figure out just how to ground the beast, that's when Vixen realized she hadn't trapped the area, she thought of the man, but she wanted more, she didn't want any surprises so she thought of the Legion themselves, the smoke that followed the man, the dead scent they all brought with them where ever they went and she set a large trap right in the middle, it covered over a large area.

All of them understanding but wishing she used the rest of her magic to help them ground the boss as well, still she shot at the boss, her and Razah the only ones able to damage it, sadly it took way to much magic to do Razah's ultimate skill again and her mana potion didn't give her that much. That's when Tophuu finally summoned Cerberus, he was unable to do anything in the volcano but now they had a bit more freedom. Cerberus appeared and jumped into the sky, grabbing the King Snake in its mouths and pulling it down towards the others, the ground shaking as they both fell and it mowed at the boss.

The rest rushed in, doing any and every attack they could think off, Art using what little of his magic he had left to do skill after skill, feeling like he was back at a low level and fighting how he did in the first few dungeons. The boss tossed around and latched onto Cerberus, biting at its neck while its tail wrapped around and protected it as well as swung around at the group, it seemed this one didn't want to go down so easy. It finally got free and flew hire into the air, acid rain shot down from its mouth in a down pour at them as they tried to dodge it all. Now to high to do anything but hope that it came down, Razah was the only one who could continue her attacks but with how low her mana was she could only do her most basic of magic on it.

Art had another one of his crazy ideas, and he knew that Tophuu was the one who would play along as they climbed up Cerberus, the beast leaped into the air and Tophuu and Art both jumped, Arts foot in Tophuu's hand as he pushed off, doing a double jump and finding himself just high enough to attack, he summoned all the swords he could, totaling five and slashed at the boss again and again before he came falling down along with the boss, it was almost done, Meekle turned to his demon form and Fenix turned to his lion form as they rushed it and clawed it as it fell, not giving it a chance to hit the floor as they ripped at its life and Vixen shot the last few arrows they had, it was just enough to take the boss down.

Art hit the floor hard, his health falling as Razah shoved a potion into his mouth, forcing him to drink it so his health would stop falling. It ended up keeping him at half health, even with a high-potion, but he was alive and the boss had fallen apart. Right on time, as the boss fell the green smoke came forth, this time many Legion men screaming, as the smoke cleared they were all in a sink hole, their bodies falling under the hard earth.

"I figured you'd try and one up us by bringing more members." Vixen said with a cocky grin. The Legion man glared, his nose flaring in anger. He burst out, using a tone of magic to do so, Tophuu had already grabbed the relic piece.

"Give it here boy." The man said, his eyes glowing a bright green, his hand out, pulling Tophuu towards him.

"Guys, a lil help." He said as he tried to pull away from the guy, Fenix and Art first to rush in. The man had used so much power to get out of the trap quick he wasn't left with a lot of options, but they were weak as well. They pulled at Tophuu as he tried harder and harder to get away from the mans magical grasp.

"It will be mine." His teeth bared, Art responded by baring his teeth and growling at the man mockingly. They just barely were able to pull Tophuu out of his grasp and they all rushed to the blue transport circle, leaping in before the man could attack. When they stepped through they were at the entrance of the volcano and rushed down the island and into the water, not waiting for the Whale Dragon to get there but were soon picked up by him and they dove deep into the ocean to get away.

All of them took a deep breath, thinking how close that was, that they could have lost it all right there because they felt like the one upped the man. The Whale Dragon took them far, all the way to the Island of Mana, it took over a day for it to get there, keeping low to the ocean so they couldn't be found.

"Do you think we should name him? Her? Does anyone know the Whale Dragons typing." Tophuu asked as he questioned why they hadn't named it.

"Why not something that fits both? Like Hope?" Meekle trying to help, agreeing that they should name it.

"You really shouldn't name things Meekle, Hope is more of a girls name." Vixen taunted at him.

"Why not something like Vaikuntha? It means saviour." Fenix looked around at everyone and smiles went all around, even the Whale Dragon sounded off, giving his approval of the name.

Soon they approached Mana and got off, finding their way to the Inn to rest, it wasn't really easy to sleep inside of Vaikuntha, so they hadn't gotten much rest other than sitting around and talking about things, about how close they are to the end, only one dungeon left and they had all but one of the seals so far. That definitely put the odds in their favor and got them all very happy to see how far they had come, at first simply running for their lives and now they were standing tall heading into the end. They spoke on what they would do after getting the last relic.

"So what should we do about the Legion once we have all of these, they wont just go away." Art hit the bed hard hoping someone would have an answer.

"The obvious thing, we will find their base and take them out, they wont be able to hurt anyone if we stop them first." Vixen giving the straight forward answer, all of them knowing it would come to that.

"Well at least we will have the relics, we can just train till we are ready after that right?" Tophuu giving a good idea but it just wouldn't work that way.

"No, we will have a target on our backs, they will be hunting us pretty hard, so we will have to be careful." Razah knew that is how it would be, she didn't hide her fears of the thought of being hunted like that forever.

"That's why we have to take them down, we don't want to run forever." Art lifted his head up and looked at her and the others, they all gave a nod. They knew what they would have to do and they were ready for it.