The Star bite pierced through thunder-laced clouds, its storm-slick hull glistening with embers. Violent winds howled past as the volcanic peak loomed—a jagged ring of black basalt crusted with red veins of lava. At its summit sat a giant bronze ring, half-sunken into volcanic rock. Faeluxe leaned forward at the console, eyes sharp. "That's no natural caldera. It's a forge-lid. Something's buried beneath."
My eyes narrowed. "Red-Cap's lair… right under the world's angriest mountain." Felicity's fingers glided along the edge of the viewing dome. "I sense decay. Something vast. Something... laughing." We landed like a celestial beast folding its wings. Stone cracked under its weight as anchor root tendrils shot into the scorched obsidian.
We disembarked— I, Marla, Faeluxe, Felicity, Snake Man, Hammer head—into sulfurous heat and choking air. I focused my Intent and circulated the tempest breath, letting loose a mini green twister to clear away the bad atmosphere and smoke. After the atmosphere cleared, before us lay a massive, rusted gate, twenty feet tall and carved with the warped sigil of Red-Cap's grinning visage.
I tasted the air. "No guards. No tripwires. Feels wrong." Hammer head cracked his knuckles. "Feels like a trap." I frowned. "Then Lets spring it." Deeper down we marched into the subterranean Vault. We pried open the gate and marched into winding tunnels that spiraled downward. Lava rivers ran through carved channels. The architecture was old. Finally, we reached a vast subterranean dome. Red-glass lanterns flickered. At the center lay a stone ring gate, half-opened, carved with runes of forbidden alchemy.
Guarding it—
A massive creature, squatting like a swollen cancer. A Colossal Insidious Malboro. It was at least twenty meters wide. Hundreds of tendrils lashed around it, each ending in a gibbering mouth that spoke in discordant voices: men, women, children, whispering, giggling, shrieking, coughing. Some wept, others recited poetry.
One just sobbed "Why do you reject my beauty?" over and over again. Its single massive eye remained shut. I whispered, "It knows about Marla." Felicity hissed.
"It's holding its eye closed to avoid being petrified."
Suddenly—
"My love," Marla said, her voice husky with pride, "Let me deliver you this gift." Her wings unfurled wide, her armor gleaming black with red glyphs, her three new Spectral serpents on her back all raised their maws sky-ward in agreement! She strode forward, hair of vipers writhing in anticipation. Finaly she came to a stop at the base of the Behemoth Malboro, the creatures massive eye slammed shut.
Marla Spoke, "Malboro Wake up! I will have you!" Marla extended one clawed hand and slashed a tentacle.
The Malboro's voices howled!
"SHE CUT US."
"SHE'S WICKED TOO."
"SHE LOVES THE WAR BOY."
"EAT HER."
Then—
BOOM!
An elephantine leg bloated and slug-like, smashed down from above, crushing Marla into the ground! Stone cracked! Lava hissed. Her body disappeared under the blow. Faeluxe screamed. Snake Man raised his serpent talismans. Felicity howled in rage. I froze with sudden dread, "MARLA!"
Felicity lunged forward—but I caught her by the Ankle.
"Wait—"
Silence.
All was still.
Then...
A crack.
Stone split.
A hand rose.
Clawed. Bleeding. Onyx-scaled.
We all gasped, "Shes Alive!" I whispered. Marla lay pinned beneath the massive, bloated limb of the Malboro. Stone cracked around her. Black ichor leaked from under the foot, her serpents hissed weakly, fangs dulled by the crushing pressure. My face was locked in a snarl.
Faeluxe whispered, "She's still alive. I can feel her qi—but it's fading."
Then—The Malboros eye began to open.
A vertical slit tore through the thick eyelid like a festering wound, revealing a massive violet iris, swirling with unnatural patterns. The pupil dilated. The hundred mouths on its tendrils stopped whispering. All spoke as one.
"I would parley."
The voice boomed, warbling as though filtered through centuries of rot and madness. It echoed like a dozen different speakers layered atop one another—man, woman, child, beast. I stepped forward, fists clenched, golden qi radiating from my aura. "Let her go."
"No," the Malboro replied. "She struck first. That incurs etiquette. She will not die… unless negotiations fail." Felicity bared her teeth, "You don't want to provoke what happens next."
The creatures mouths all chuckled wetly, sending tremors through the cavern.
"You are bold little dream-thieves.
Breaking through fire, treading into old vaults.
But I am no servant of Red-Cap."
My eyes narrowed.
"Then who do you serve?"
"The Breathless Court."
"The Eyes Beyond Light."
"Myself."
A hundred tendrils swayed like seaweed. The mouths began to murmur again—diplomatic phrases, scattered questions, invitations to bargain.
"You seek the gates."
"You seek the depths."
"You seek a tyrant's fall."
"What will you offer me for safe passage?"
Snake Man muttered to Hammer head, "That thing's been down here a long time. It knows." Hammer head growled low. "I say we burn it and take Marla back." I stood still, my chin raised, Spirit Man flaring faintly within me like a red phantom. I stared at the colossal eye. "Deny me… and I shall chew your gorgon to soup and rot your minds with halitosis eternal."
It giggled, the thousand mouths going slack jawed and twitchy. The eye glowed brighter.
My team all looked to me.