Chương 4: Episode 2: Welcome to Scarletsville

The ground didn't welcome us. We hit hard, hard enough that the impact rattled through my skull and knocked the air clean out of my chest. Dirt exploded upward. Gravel scraped my cheek. Heat followed immediately, thick and suffocating, like the land itself had leaned down to remind me I didn't belong here. I lay there for a second longer than I should've. My body refused to cooperate. Every muscle burned. My lungs clawed for air like they were trying to escape my ribs.

When I finally groaned, it sounded pathetic, even to me. Slowly, I pushed myself up. The world tilted. I squeezed my eyes shut, waited for the spinning to calm, then opened them again. Red stone surrounded us on all sides, towering canyon walls, sharp and uneven, like the jagged remains of something that had been torn apart. Above, the sky churned in shades of burnt orange and dirty brown. Clouds drifted lazily across a sun that looked tired of shining here. The heat lived here.

I staggered toward the edge of the canyon, boots sliding in loose dust. One wrong step and… My stomach dropped. Far below, molten rivers cut through the canyon floor, glowing and bubbling as they crawled through the rock. Lava hissed and popped, lighting the shadows with a violent orange pulse. The earth was furious.

"…Where… where the hell are we?" I whispered. The heat shimmered around me, warping the air. And 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, 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 like they might blink back and explain this nightmare. And then it hit me. The prophecy. Dark Don. The scroll. Everything collided in my head at once, heavy and unavoidable.

"Celestial's Fight," I murmured. Five sets of eyes turned to me. Blank. Confused. Before I could explain, a sharp metallic scrape sliced through the canyon. Every instinct screamed. We froze. Olsen's posture shifted instantly, casual gone.

"That's… not natural," he said quietly.

"Stay sharp. And, uh, maybe don't trip into the lava." Prince leaned forward, grin stretching way too wide.

"Or, or we jump in and see if lava is actually warm chocolate pudding. Science." Demaurion's tail lashed once.

"Prince," he growled, "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," he said flatly, "are asking for it." Before I could react, Demaurion lunged. He grabbed Archie by the neck and yanked him off the ground.

"O-oh… oh oh 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.

"STAY STILL." With a sharp shove, Archie stumbled sideways, barely catching himself before slipping in the dust. He swung back weakly, more reflex than threat. Demaurion caught his arm mid-swing like it was nothing.

"Fucking Flamenite audacity," he muttered. He hoisted Archie up for half a second, just long enough to make the point, then slammed him onto the ground. Dust puffed up. Archie groaned, sprawled out, wings twitching, smoke curling from his nostrils.

"…Fine," he wheezed.

"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," he said coldly, "if you stopped testing me, we'd survive this canyon in one piece." Archie sat up slowly, rubbing his shoulder, smirk creeping back despite everything.

"Yeah… noted." I shot them both a look.

"Can we focus on not getting roasted alive instead of wrestling?" This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. Demaurion huffed, Archie muttered something under his breath. Somewhere behind me, Prince was absolutely laughing. I turned back toward the cliff and stared into the lava again. And once more, clarity crashed into me. Prophecy. Dark Don. The scroll.

"Celestial's Fight," I whispered. Nobody answered. The valley went silent. Then… SKRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAPE. The sound ripped across the cliffs. It sounded like a sword dragging across the bones of the world itself. Every head snapped toward the noise. The mountains trembled. Dust rolled down the cliff faces. Even the lava rivers bubbling through the valley seemed to hesitate. Then a massive shadow emerged from behind a jagged rock formation. THOOM. THOOM. THOOM. Each footstep shook the ground.

King Scar stepped into view. The Flamenite Warlord. His armor looked forged from dried blood and volcanic steel. Deep cracks glowed 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. It wasn't molten. It was something far worse. The metal itself looked angry. Heat waves twisted reality around it. The air screamed. Nobody moved. Nobody breathed.

Nobody blinked. Because every instinct in my body was screaming the exact same thing. Run.

"Do you see that mark?" Archie whispered. His voice cracked.

"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 tilted downward. Looking 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. Instantly, all of us jumped into action. 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. Straight at Scar. Scar caught him by the neck. Then slammed him into the ground hard enough to shake the entire canyon. BOOM! Dust exploded outward.

"DAMN!" Olsen shouted.

"WHY IS HE HOLDING ONTO MY NECK THAT HARD?!" Scar hurled him across the battlefield. Olsen smashed through a structure, tore through a wall, and rolled across the dirt. Prince's head snapped toward Olsen. Then toward Scar. Blue lightning crackled to life around his body.

"YOU NEVER MESS WITH THE BIG GUY!" CRACK-BOOM! Prince exploded forward at breakneck speed, lightning streaking behind him. He leaped. Big mistake. Scar swatted him out of the air like a fly. Prince nearly flew off the edge of the canyon before tumbling across the ground. He caught himself, staggered upright, and wiped blood from his mouth.

"Damn… he really does hit that hard." BOOM! Archie's flaming foot slammed into Scar's chest. The explosion roared through the canyon and finally forced Scar back a step. Olsen got back up and immediately fired a barrage of earth pellets. The stone projectiles whistled through the air and hammered against Scar's armor. CLANG! CLANG! CLANG! The impacts forced him to stumble.

"RIGHT THERE!" I launched into the sky, celestial energy blazing around my fists. Scar twisted. The second I reached him, his flaming sword drove into my gut. BOOOOM! The explosion launched me across the canyon. I hit the ground. Rolled. Bounced. Rolled again. Meanwhile, Demaurion fired a blast of water directly at Scar's sword. Steam burst into the air. 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. Demaurion barely leaped out of the way as the flames swept beneath him. He flipped through the air and landed on a boulder before firing 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. 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 as layers of rock wrapped 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. Blood even 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. Archie ignited both hands with blazing fire. We all reeled back our fists. Then charged at the same time.

"FINISHING BLOW!!!" Scar turned. And we all punched him at once. Which was something we were about to regret. BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM! 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.

The lava bubbled violently as Scar's distant screaming echoed through it. The rest of the guys joined me. For a moment, none of us said anything. We just stared 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."

"Well," I said, "guess we keep moving." The heat was relentless, but the wind had finally died down to a bearable breeze. We dragged our bodies across Scarletsville, passing by red spires of rock while the sun tortured us with its insane heat. The clouds were in sheets of smoke, the sky was on fire. While trudging, we stepped foot in a village. We all stopped. My eyes shot around the place of what they called "a Kingdom". We saw multiple Flamenites wandering around, holding baskets of orange fruit.

Some women and little girls wore red or orange robes, the men never wore anything for their upper-bodies but wore ragged baggy pants in crimson. Thankfully nobody recognized me. Houses of large red and orange rocks with swirly patterns were visible in the area. There were at least hundreds of them in the village. There were two muscular men with phoenix wings, holding a red glass of lava. Sipping it altogether, they fist bumped. Flamenite lemur kids ran around, playing with a molten ball.

They hopped from different spires, throwing the molten ball at each other to catch it. This is the Scarletsville Kingdom. Far ahead was towering, looming. It was red and shining with every fragment of metal as its tip pierced the sky. With many towers collided with it, Flamenite dragons flew around it holding fiery spears and flaming armor. That was King Scars castle. This town was very busy, and they don't know that I was the one that dropped their king into lava and killed him. We continued traveling.

Passing molten rivers that gushed with glowing lava, sauntering through the Crimson Canyons. Wide canyons where the Flamenite felines. Flamenite Lions, Tigers, and Leopards roared at us while we walked. Archie warned us that they were pretty rude. And trust me, I would've slapped the fire out of all of those creatures if they repeated those actions. The valley was flat and cracked beneath our feet, barren and broken. Massive red mountains loomed, rugged and streaked with veins of molten lava.

The river we crossed was nothing but blackened, coal-covered rocks sliding beneath our shoes. The whole place was a surreal mix of devastation and haunting beauty, frozen in perpetual ruin. As the sun dipped below the horizon, shadows stretched long across the land. The fiery sky faded to darkness, and the first stars blinked awake—distant memories scattered across the night. The crescent moon hung low, casting an eerie silver glow over the desolation.

Night swallowed everything, bringing a silence so thick it felt like the earth itself was holding its breath.

"I'm starting to think this place is even scarier when the sun's gone," Archie muttered, breaking the quiet. Squinting into the darkness, he added, "It's late, and I'm beat. How about we find a spot to crash? We can push on fresh tomorrow and tackle the next part of the prophecy." I nodded slowly.

"Sounds good. Rest first, then move on." Olsen, always thinking ahead, spotted a small cave nestled into a rocky hillside. Perfect shelter. The cave was pitch black, darker than the night outside. Everyone shifted into their magical beast forms, taking up spots in the cool shadows. I sat at the entrance, folding my wings like a blanket around me. From here, the sky stretched endlessly—a canvas of twinkling stars. The crescent moon hung like a silent guardian, bathing the world in soft silver light.

Olsen, now a massive Rockslide Ankylosaurus, lay on his belly, filling much of the cave's floor. He turned his head toward me, a thoughtful smirk playing on his lips.

"You ever notice how Scarletsville looks kinda beautiful at night, but during the day… it's a whole different story?"

"Yeah," I replied.

"Like two different worlds. We'll probably find out why tomorrow." I leaned back, wrapping my wings tighter around myself. My tail curled around my waist, warmth radiating as I nestled into the folds. One last glance at the moonlit sky… then sleep took me.