Chapter 19: Flaming Force

We finally met up with the Hamilton that had appeared in mine and Helen's visions back in Jora and Mora, and almost as soon as we met up with him, we reunited him and his sister, Alice, with their mother which turned out to be Lacey. Now we're on our way to Vora, whose volcano has just recently erupted and decimated the town. We are on our way there to check for survivors. We used the Oora Gem to warp close enough to the town. As we rounded the mountain range separating Mora and Vora, we saw the town of Vora was almost completely buried in hard lava rock.

"I don't think we'll gonna find any survivors here," Stan said.

"This is just terrible," Hamilton said.

"We should've come here when we had the chance," I said.

"You just had to go in alphabetical order, didn't ya'?" Matt yelled.

"Hey, I thought it was a fun idea at the time," I responded.

"Well, is it fun now?"

"You two stop it!" Andrew yelled. "If there are any survivors, they would've gone to the neighboring towns. Come on, let's head to Bora and see if we can figure something out."

"What happen to looking at the positive side, Matt?" Marina asked him as we were walking.

"I do get mad when lives are at stake," he answered. "I yelled at Stephan earlier in Mora when our Gems were stolen."

In the town of Bora, we saw more people there than the last time. There were people staying in the now completed Bora Building. Jennifer wanted to check with her family and we agreed. When we knocked on the door, a tall woman wearing an apron answered the door.

"Can I help you?" she asked.

"Um, I'm Jennifer and... are my parents here?"

"Oh, you're the Jennifer your parents talk about," she said. "Hey, Butch! Jill! Your daughter's back!" We saw Jennifer's parents come to the door and give her a hug. They invited us inside, though it was a little cramped with thirteen more people in the house than last time.

"We're so glad to see you safe, Jennifer," Butch said. "We thought something had happened."

"Many of the survivors from Vora came to this town and we gave them a place to stay," Jill said. "Those that we couldn't fit into the house, we let them stay in the Building."

"I'm Erica," the woman said. "Your parents gave me a place to stay after the eruption."

"Well, pleased to meet you, Erica," Jennifer greeted. "And I'm pleased to see the people safe."

"Forgive me for cutting the reunion short," Andrew said. "But we are in a hurry. Erica, do you know if your town's Gem is safe?" Erica looked down.

"Vora... gave his life to keep the people safe," Erica said. "The monsters that caused the eruption took the Gem in the chaos and killed Vora doing it."

"I... I see," Andrew said. "I'm sorry to hear that,"

"I'm sorry, too," Erica said. "He was my protector, but I should've tried harder to protect him."

"So, Exitilus has yet another Gem," Jennifer said.

"Are the creatures still at the volcano?" Kyra asked.

"As far as I know, yes," Erica answered.

"Then that's what we're doing!" Madi yelled. "Let's go to the volcano and get rid of them before they cause another eruption!"

"Your loud voice makes my ears ring!" Stan griped. "But I agree we should get rid of the monsters."

"Yes, we will," Andrew stood up from the couch.

"Hold on a second!" Erica yelled as she got up and went to a back room. She returned holding a large club. "Okay, I'm ready."

"That's a... big weapon," Alice said.

"It's what I use to cook with, my meat cleaver, so to speak. But I also use it to chop down bad guys,"

"Monster Blood Steak," Madi joked. Some of us nearly threw up at that comment.

"Don't worry, I clean it regularly," Erica said.

"And how regularly is that?" Lacey asked.

"As long as she's helping us defeat the enemy, I won't mind," Andrew said holding out his hand. "Welcome aboard." Erica shook his hand.

"Okay, let's go club the jerks that caused this problem," Erica turned to Butch and Jill. "Thank you so much for letting me stay here, guys."

"We loved having you here," Butch said.

"You're welcome to come back and cook for us anytime you want to," Jill joked. "Heh heh, I will. Well, shall we get going?"

Upon returning to Vora, we were greeted by Fire infused enemies. Each of their attacks left a burn mark on our skin. The trail to the volcano is what the enemies used to come down, but we can use it to go up. The closer we got to the top, the hotter it became. "Oh, wait a second, I forgot to give you guys something," Erica said. We turned to her and she pulled out a large suit of armor.

"Gotta love hammerspace," Chris said.

"This is Fire Armor," Erica said. "Wear it and you won't suffer from heat damage."

"Like a Varia Suit?" Andrew asked.

"Kind of, except it won't give you a gun blaster and you won't survive in lava,"

"It will when I wear it," Daniel said. "But I don't think it'll fit me."

"It's too small for me," Stan and Matt said.

"Looks like it'll fit me and Andrew just fine," Hamilton said. "You got anymore?"

"All the rest were damaged in the lava eruption," Erica said. "My coat has a magical fire-resistant property, though, so I can go in with you."

"Convenient," Hamilton said. "I'll go with you. Lava creatures tend to be strong, so you'll need some strong backup."

"You calling me weak?" Erica said.

"Er, no... I just meant we'd have a better chance having two strong people go in," Hamilton said.

"Very well, here," Erica gave him the suit and he put it on. Erica went in the volcano first and, just before Hamilton jumped in, Helen grabbed his hand.

"Be careful, okay?" she asked.

"Um... okay," Hamilton said and he climbed down.

"Okay, let's get this over with!" Erica said as she landed on the surface of the volcano. Thanks to the Fire Armor and Erica's coat, they could not feel the heat coming through the volcano, but there was plenty of lava left over from the eruption. There's no telling how deep it was, so one wrong step could result in certain death. Climbing on ledges and defeating fire enemies was difficult on their own. A number of times, they had to climb down to reach the lower levels, but Hamilton's fear of heights got to him every time. Erica had to drag him down to get him to come along. The further down they got, the hotter it became and the stronger the enemies were. They had to go down five levels before reaching a room with only a single puddle of lava. The ground started rumbling and the puddle gradually grew bigger and bigger until they had to leave the room. Then they realized the lava was coming up everywhere! Erica and Hamilton quickly ran up the volcano while the lava was moving, and it was moving faster and faster with each second! Climbing and running as fast as they can, they escaped the volcano where we were waiting.

"What's going on?" Andrew asked.

"Volcano's erupting again!" Erica yelled. "Move!" Lava shot out of the volcano in spurts and a large lava eel came out of the volcano and dived to attack us. "That's the creature that did this!"

"Marina! Kyra! Blast that thing out of the sky!" Marina shot out a water burst and Kyra shot out ice shards. Everyone else with a ranged attack shot at the creature as well. The monster was quick and easily dodged our attacks. Daniel continued to lead the creature and shot it nearly every time, though. The creature shot out meteors from its mouth and caused the ground to rumble each time one landed. It dove down to us hoping to get a better shot. We tried to attack it physically as it dove past, but our weapons just went right through it. This creature was entirely made of lava, so our weapons will do nothing. When it went back into the air, it continued shooting meteors at us. Hamilton had stepped in just the wrong place that a meteor was quickly coming at him. Helen ran to him and dived at him, pushing him out of the way while the meteor hit her!

"Helen!" Hamilton yelled out as he ran up to the meteor and tried to lift it then tried chopping it. The creature was still shooting out more meteors and Hamilton had to step away from Helen. The creature dived at us once again, but Kyra and Marina were ready for it. They shot out their magic several times as the eel dodged each one, but they got lucky at one point, one blast hit it right in the head and went straight through it! The creature crashed with a loud bang into the side of the volcano. Stan and Matt helped Hamilton and Erica roll the meteor of off Helen. She was knocked unconscious and you could see many burned and bruised portions of her body.

"Alice! Get over here!" Hamilton yelled out. Alice came and used her staff to heal Helen. The bruises were vanishing, but the burn marks were still there. Helen groaned as Hamilton tried to pick her up. "We need to get her to an Inn!" Hamilton ran out of town and toward Bora and we followed.

"A good night's sleep will heal her wounds," Andrew said as Hamilton put Helen on the bed. Alice offered to heal her once more, but Hamilton said that would be redundant seeing as they are in the inn.

"Ha...Ham..." Helen muttered.

"She wants ham?" Stan joked and Sobie slapped him.

"This is not the time for that, Stan!" Sobie said.

"I think she wants to talk to you Hamilton," Andrew said. "Come on, everyone. Let's let her rest." Everyone but Hamilton left the room.

"Helen?" Hamilton asked.

"Yes... honey..." Helen muttered reaching for his hand.

"Honey?" Hamilton repeated. "I think you're getting a bit delusional. You should rest."

"Denise..." Helen said.

"...How about you rest for now? I'll talk to you in the morning," Hamilton said as he moved her hand and left the room. I ran into him in the hallway.

"How is she?" I asked him.

"She's your cousin, right?" I nodded. "Well, she's in a pretty terrible state. She called me honey and said something about a Denise. Heh, she must've been dreaming." I just looked down. "Hey, she'll be all right. Andrew said all she needs to do is sleep and the inn will heal her."

"Yeah..." I said. I opened the door a bit to check on her.

"...She's pretty cute when she's sleeping, isn't she?" Hamilton said.

"What?" I answered.

"Heh, nothing. Just thinking out loud. Well, good night, Stephan." Hamilton walked off toward his room. I looked back at Helen, nodded, and then closed the door.

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