The ground didn’t welcome us.
We hit hard—hard enough to rattle my skull and knock the air clean out of my chest. Dirt exploded. Gravel scraped my cheek. Heat followed immediately, thick and suffocating, wrapping around me like a warning.
I lay there a second longer than I should have.
My body flat-out refused to move. Every muscle burned, and my lungs clawed for air like they were trying to break out of my ribs. When I finally groaned, it sounded pathetic even to my own ears.
Slowly, I pushed myself up.
The world tilted. I squeezed my eyes shut, waited for the spinning to calm, then looked around.
Towering red canyon walls surrounded us, sharp and jagged. Above, the sky churned in shades of burnt orange and dirty brown, drifting over a pale, exhausted sun.
I staggered toward the edge of the canyon, boots sliding in loose dust.
Far below, molten rivers cut through the floor, glowing and bubbling as they crawled through the rock. Lava popped and hissed, lighting the shadows with a violent orange pulse.
“…Where the hell are we?” I whispered.
The heat shimmered around me, warping the air. Then it clicked.
Dark Don.
That smug, lunar menace had tossed us here like we were nothing more than debris.
Groans sounded behind me.
Olsen pushed himself upright, his hoodie stained with ash and dirt. He followed my gaze over the edge, went quiet for a beat, then huffed a shaky laugh.
“Bro…” he said slowly, “…we might actually be in hell.”
Prince popped up next, way too fast, arms flailing as he spun in a circle.
“VOLCANO?! ARE WE LIVING ON A GIANT COOKIE OF LAVA?!”
Demaurion rose last, shoulders tense, smoke faintly curling from his nostrils as he took everything in.
“WHY,” he snarled, “DOES THIS LOOK LIKE SATAN’S BACKYARD?”
Archie snapped his wings open, feathers glowing faintly as irritation sparked in his eyes.
“It’s Scarletsville, not Satan-ville, grumpy.”
I didn’t join in. I sank down near the cliff’s edge, knees drawn up, staring into the molten rivers below. The prophecy, Dark Don, the scroll—everything collided in my head at once, heavy and unavoidable.
Before I could process any of it, a sharp metallic scrape sliced through the canyon.
Every instinct screamed. We froze.
Olsen’s posture shifted instantly, casual gone. “That’s… not natural. Stay sharp. And maybe don’t trip into the lava.”
Prince leaned forward, a grin stretching way too wide. “Or we jump in and see if lava is actually warm chocolate pudding. Science.”
Demaurion’s tail lashed once. “Prince, shut your ass up before I throw you in myself.”
Archie laughed, wings twitching. “Oh, I’d pay to see that.”
Demaurion turned slowly. “You are asking for it.”
Before I could react, Demaurion lunged, grabbing Archie by the neck and yanking him off the ground.
“O-oh… okay… OKAY!” Archie yelped, wings flailing wildly.
“QUIT SQUIRMING!” Demaurion snapped. “LOCK IN, FIERY BITCH.”
“D-Dem, c’mon! It’s a joke!” Archie gasped, trying and failing to twist free.
With a sharp shove, Archie stumbled sideways, barely catching himself before slipping in the dust. He swung back weakly, more reflex than threat, but Demaurion caught his arm mid-swing like it was nothing.
“Fucking Flamenite audacity,” he muttered.
He hoisted Archie up just long enough to make the point, then slammed him onto the ground.
Dust puffed up. Archie groaned, sprawled out, smoke curling from his nostrils. “…Fine. Fine. I give up.”
I rushed over, hands raised. “HEY, cut it out! Both of you! This is not the time!”
Demaurion straightened, breathing heavy, then finally loosened his grip. “Maybe if you stopped testing me, we’d survive this canyon in one piece.”
Archie sat up slowly, rubbing his shoulder, a smirk creeping back despite everything. “Yeah… noted.”
“Can we focus on not getting roasted alive instead of wrestling?” I shot them both a look.
Demaurion huffed, Archie muttered something under his breath, and somewhere behind me, Prince was quietly cracking up.
Then, a harsh scrape ripped across the cliffs, sounding like a blade dragging across the bones of the world itself.
Every head snapped toward the noise. The mountains trembled as dust rolled down the rock faces, and even the lava rivers seemed to hesitate.
A massive shadow emerged from behind a jagged rock formation, each footstep shaking the ground as King Scar stepped into view.
The Flamenite Warlord. His armor looked forged from dried blood and volcanic steel, with deep glowing cracks across the metal like magma trapped beneath the surface. His tattered cape dragged behind him, smoldering as if fire itself feared touching it. A gigantic sword rested on his shoulder—the blade wasn’t burning or molten, it was something far worse. The metal itself looked angry, heat waves twisting reality around it while the air screamed.
Nobody moved, nobody breathed, and nobody blinked, because every instinct in my body was screaming the exact same thing: run.
“Do you see that mark?” Archie whispered, his voice cracking.
“I see it,” Olsen muttered. “I hate it.”
“Also hate it,” Demaurion agreed.
Prince nodded rapidly. “Yep. Hate everything about this.”
Scar stopped slowly, his helmet tilting downward to look at us. “Get out of this barren wasteland or else…” He scraped the sword against a nearby rock. “…somebody’s gonna lose their head.”
We all turned and blinked at each other, not saying a word as the red fog drifted past us. Until one of us decided not to shut up.
“Sooooo, anybody tryna die today?” Prince asked, glancing at King Scar every other second. “I’m not.”
“I’m not either, bro,” we all said in sync, glancing at King Scar while waiting for him to actually do something.
I slowly pointed a finger at him. “Are you… supposed to do something?”
“Well, YEAH!” shouted Scar, his sword igniting with flames. “Not until you guys do something first!”
“So what are we supposed to do?” Archie asked, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, you’re the monster. You’re supposed to attack us first, right? Since you’re all big and scary and stuff. Heh heh…”
“But—” Olsen stepped forward before Scar could answer. “How about we make this an actual fair fight? You let us win, then you fall on the ground and cry like a little baby while we kick your ass.” He turned toward us with a grin. “How does that sound?”
We all threw our fists into the air. “SOUNDS GREAT!”
It was all sunshine and rainbows until King Scar actually charged. His sword erupted with fire as he swung, and instantly, all of us jumped into action as energy ignited around every one of us.
I dropped low, one hand touching the ground and my other fist pulled behind me as I stared up at King Scar, my expression finally serious. “OH HE’S REALLY TRYING!”
Olsen launched himself straight into the air right at Scar, but Scar caught him by the neck and slammed him into the ground hard enough to shake the entire canyon as dust exploded outward.
“DAMN!” Olsen shouted. “WHY IS HE HOLDING ONTO MY NECK THAT HARD?!”
Scar hurled him across the battlefield, where Olsen smashed through a structure, tore through a wall, and rolled across the dirt.
Prince’s head snapped toward Olsen, then toward Scar, as blue lightning crackled to life around his body. “YOU NEVER MESS WITH THE BIG GUY!”
Prince exploded forward at breakneck speed with lightning streaking behind him. He leaped—big mistake—and Scar swatted him out of the air like a fly. Prince nearly flew off the edge of the canyon before tumbling across the ground, catching himself, staggering upright, and wiping blood from his mouth.
“Damn… he really does hit that hard.”
Archie’s flaming foot slammed into Scar’s chest, the explosion roaring through the canyon and finally forcing Scar back a step. Olsen got back up and immediately fired a barrage of earth pellets that whistled through the air and hammered against Scar’s armor, the impacts forcing him to stumble.
“RIGHT THERE!”
I launched into the sky, celestial energy blazing around my fists. Scar twisted, and the second I reached him, his flaming sword drove into my gut. The explosion launched me across the canyon as I hit the ground, rolled, bounced, and rolled again.
Meanwhile, Demaurion fired a blast of water directly at Scar’s sword as steam burst into the air and the flames weakened for a second. Demaurion smirked. “Huh. I’m pretty impressed with myself today—”
“WOAHHHHHHH!” A torrent of fire erupted from Scar’s sword, and Demaurion barely leaped out of the way as the flames swept beneath him. He flipped through the air, landed on a boulder, and fired a concentrated blast of high-pressure water straight at Scar’s face.
“GLALBOBLOBLAOBLAOBLBOABLBLADDA!!!” King Scar roared as water flooded directly into his mouth.
I blasted in from behind while Prince flickered beside me in a burst of lightning. “Wanna hit him at the same time?”
Archie flew alongside us. “I’M GONNA DO A BIG BOOM BOOM!”
Olsen sprinted forward too, layers of rock wrapping around his fists and forearms. “OH THIS IS GONNA HURT!”
I pointed toward Demaurion. “DEMAURION! KEEP BLASTING HIM WITH WATER!”
“GOT IT!”
The water pressure intensified until blood started spraying from the corners of Scar’s mouth. I charged celestial energy into my fist, Olsen tightened his rocky gauntlets, Prince packed his fists with hundreds of volts of electricity, and Archie ignited both hands with blazing fire. We all reeled back our fists and charged at the same time.
“FINISHING BLOW!!!”
Scar turned and we all punched him at once—which was something we were about to regret.
The explosion swallowed the battlefield. We threw our arms over our faces and crouched low as hurricane-force winds blasted through the canyon. When the smoke cleared, Scar shot through the air and dropped straight into the lava ocean below.
PLOP!
Honestly, it was a pretty satisfying plop.
I slowly walked toward the edge of the canyon and looked down as the lava bubbled violently with Scar’s distant screaming echoing through it. The rest of the guys joined me, and for a moment, none of us said anything, just staring at each other like we hadn’t accidentally killed the King of the Flamenites.
A grin spread across my face. “Eh,” I said with a shrug. “We’ll be alright.”
The wind had died down to a breeze, but heat still radiated off the ground as we dragged our feet through Scarletsville. Red rock spires stood under a sky blanketed in gray smoke and orange light.
The path opened up into a village.
Flamenites navigated the dirt roads, carrying baskets piled with bright orange fruit. Women and girls wore loose red robes, while shirtless men moved through the crowds in ragged crimson pants. Hundreds of dome-shaped houses built from swirly red and orange stone stretched out across the settlement.
Two muscular men with phoenix wings stood near a doorway, clinking glass cups filled with glowing lava before taking a drink. Near the rocky outcrops, lemur kids leaped between spires, tossing a hot molten ball back and forth through the air.
Ahead, a spired fortress cut through the smoke, its metallic walls catching the glare of the sky. Flamenite dragons in flaming armor circled the high towers, fiery spears in hand.
We kept moving past the settlement and into the Crimson Canyons, where the dirt gave way to cracked lava beds. Wide canyon walls echoed with the growls of Flamenite lions and tigers lounging on the ledges above. A few snarled down at us as we passed.
Archie glanced up, muttering under his breath, while I kept my eyes straight ahead and my hands in my pockets.
The valley floor flattened out into dry, broken rock. Blackened coal slid under our boots as we crossed a dry riverbed, the jagged mountains on either side streaked with red veins of slow-moving magma.
The sun dropped behind the peak, dragging long shadows across the valley floor until the orange glow turned to dark blue. Stars picked through the dark, and a pale crescent moon lit the edges of the rocks.
“I’m starting to think this place is even scarier when the sun’s gone,” Archie muttered. He squinted into the dark, rubbing his neck. “It’s late, and I’m beat. How about we find a spot to crash? We can push on fresh tomorrow.”
I nodded. “Sounds good. Rest first.”
Olsen pointed toward a dark opening cut into the side of a rocky hill.
Inside, the shadows were black enough to hide the walls. The others shifted into their beast forms, their heavy shapes settling into the cool dirt. Olsen broadened into a heavy, armored Ankylosaurus, taking up most of the floor space as he settled on his belly.
I sat near the entrance, pulling my wings around my shoulders like a coat. The valley outside laid quiet under the silver light.
Olsen turned his thick head toward the entrance. “You ever notice how Scarletsville looks alright at night, but during the day it’s completely ruined?”
“Yeah,” I said, resting my back against the cave wall. “We’ll probably find out why tomorrow.”
I wrapped my wings tighter, curling my tail around my waist to trap the heat. I looked out at the moon one last time, closed my eyes, and let sleep take over.