Arz ran like the world was exploding around him.

  And it sort of was.

  The ramps spiraled down the cylindrical tunnel like threads on a screw, but the volcano was a bit different than Arz remembered it. Some cracks had formed in the stone walls and viscous lava dripped down, burning along the stone and solidifying in clumps that blocked the path. They had to slow down to move around them, while avoiding touching any of it. It was impossible to tell quite how hot it was.

  “I hate this,” Khoribin said through clenched teeth. The smell was overpowering and the heat made it difficult to breathe.

  But Arz’s heart was pumping in a way that made him excited. He was having fun.

  “Faster! Onward!” He jumped over a little stream of lava that covered the path, and landed on the descending ramp. His feet almost slipped out from under him, but he steadied himself and continued.

  Far below, the lake of lava heaved. A few spires of lava exploded out, reaching even as high as Arz. He shied away from the ledge until the lava dropped back below the ramp.

  “Here he comes,” Arz said.

  The other three hesitantly looked over the edge. Arz swore Isilhorn was about to die just from looking. The young guard’s face betrayed his incredible fear. Was it from the wyrm or the height?

  An ear-splitting roar echoed up the cylinder. Arz stopped and fell to his knees so he could look over the ledge without worrying about toppling. The Emperor surged from the lake. Its face burst through the lava, and all Arz could see of it through the bright molten liquid was its gaping mouth and obsidian teeth. Each tooth was bigger than Arz and likely sharper than anything else in existence.

  “That’s the Emperor?” Khoribin asked, shouting.

  “I want to leave!” Isilhorn backed away from the ledge as he shouted.

  “We’re trespassing in his home. I would recommend trespassing faster!” Arz stood back up and started running.

  Orikori was the only one who didn’t hesitate to follow. Khoribin grabbed hold of Isilhorn and dragged the younger guard along. The ramp quaked under their feet, forcing Arz to the wall. He pressed one hand against it to keep steady while his other hand was outstretched, helping him balance the other direction.

  Something exploded, and within a second, the monstrous form of the Emperor appeared in the corner of Arz’s eye. The lava wyrm had jumped out of the lake and had somehow reached above the peak of the volcano. Arz flattened himself to the outer wall. The others took his cue and did the same.

  Lava trailed off the wyrm as it sailed in the air, turning to dive back into the lava. Its scaled, segmented body seemed to go on forever. It was the most Arz had ever seen of the wyrm, and it was at least three times bigger than he had suspected.

  “I didn’t know he could jump,” Arz said, needing to shout for the others to hear over the rumbling.

  The Emperor roared again, causing the bones in Arz to shake. His head immediately hurt as his whole skull vibrated.

  As the Emperor reached the lava again, a huge splash was sent just as high, passing far over the mouth of the cylinder. Arz covered his head and cowered as lava rained from above.

  He sat that way for a whole minute before peeking out. None had landed on him, and the other three were safe. Though, they weren’t happy.

  “Ready?” Arz asked.

  “Hurry up!” Isilhorn started running first, passing Arz immediately.

  “Wait,” Arz shouted. He ran after, but the young guard was in better shape.

  They came to the first fork. The left path stayed at the same elevation and wrapped around the cylinder, while the right path turned and led farther down.

  “Right!” Arz hoped Isilhorn was actually listening.

  The guard took the right path and slowed as it passed under the left path, giving them a little bit of cover.

  “This is insane,” Isilhorn said breathlessly.

  “Worse than robots?”

  Isilhorn nodded.

  “Oh.” Arz shrugged. “Worse than the Storm Beast?”

  “I don’t know anymore!”

  “All the same to me.”

  Khoribin and Orikori arrived and caught their breaths.

  “You’re too calm,” Isilhorn said.

  “People usually call me annoying.” Arz grinned. “See there?” He pointed over the ledge at a hole in the wall. It hardly looked big enough to fit through, though Arz knew it was. “The red oil cave.”

  “Is every volcano this dangerous?” Khoribin asked.

  “No, definitely not. When red oil is sold, it’s usually coming from Vraedora. They harvest it in mines all around the volcano they live on. Most Drops of Heaven too, I think.”

  The Emperor roared again, causing dust to rain on them from the path above.

  “We should keep going before he decides he wants to eat us,” Arz said.

  Isilhorn’s jaw dropped, but Arz turned and ran away before the guard could protest. Arz looked over the ledge as he ran and spotted part of the Emperor as he swam through the lava. Only small parts were visible through the bright molten liquid. A little piece of its tail, a segment of scales, or a single glowing eye.

  Another roar shook the whole volcano. Arz could feel his bones vibrating. He ran as fast as he could, but his backpack bounced around and constantly threatened to throw him off balance.

  Lava splashed loudly below and the light cast from the lake briefly vanished.

  “What happened?” Khoribin shouted.

  Arz gritted his teeth. The red oil cave was only a dozen feet above the surface of the lake. Too close to enter safely when the Emperor was agitated. And the Emperor was certainly agitated.

  An elongated face, almost like a snake's, appeared on Arz’s right. It tracked him with glowing yellow eyes as steam hissed from thin nostrils. The Emperor opened his mouth. His obsidian teeth glowed as lava seeped out between them, dripping down his lips. Another roar erupted from the wyrm, throwing Arz against the far wall. He hit the rock and rolled down the ramp. His head swam, his ears rang.

  Arz looked up at the wyrm with wonder, even as it towered above him. Nowhere else on Earth had someone seen such an incredible, dangerous creature. Even the frogs of Jumtha couldn’t compare to the absolute terror of the Emperor.

  The back of the Emperor’s throat glowed blue.

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  “Fuck.” Arz scrambled to his feet. His ears still rang, so he couldn’t be quite sure how loud he was. “Run away!”

  He looked over his shoulder as he ran down. The other three were higher up the ramp. While the Emperor followed Arz, the others were safer. Even with the danger, he was going to keep going to the cave. He needed red oil.

  “I’ll meet you at the top!” Arz waved at them as he ran. The blue glow from the Emperor colored Arz and the whole wall around him in a hue murderous heat.

  It seemed like the others wouldn’t listen. Like they would head down to the cave out of some sense of duty. Arz hoped that wasn’t true. If they continued downward, they would be obliterated.

  Arz felt the heat rapidly growing. He cast one quick glance at the Emperor. The glow in the back of his throat turned to a bonfire of blue flames leaping over his tongue.

  “Here we go,” Arz said as he pulled an invisibility potion out. He immediately popped the cork and dumped it on himself. His arms disappeared, and he hoped his backpack had as well. He could not see his pockets or the vial, so he let it drop off the ledge where it would quickly melt in the lava below.

  The Emperor unleashed his fire breath, which flashed brightly before narrowing into a concentrated blast of blue fire that looked almost like the AZ gun’s beam, but continuous. It immediately decimated the ramp and wall, turning all the stone into molten rock that ran down to the lake of lava.

  Arz grinned to himself as he ran. If the Emperor had seen him, he would have been beyond dead. There wouldn’t have been remains to recover. Arz stopped at the mouth of the cave and looked up, trying to see through the haze of heat and the smoke that rose out of the lava. Orikori, Isilhorn, and Khoribin were running up the ramp. They cast looks down, but Arz had no way to tell them he was safe. They couldn’t see him and he didn’t want to draw any attention by shouting.

  The Emperor finished his attack and seemed to hover and study his handiwork for a few seconds. Lava dripped down the wall in thick, slow moving globs. Arz had no way back up.

  He’d figure it out.

  The Emperor slowly descended back down until he was fully submerged in the lava once again.

  Arz ducked into the cave and ran his hands along the walls. He immediately regretted it, pulling his hand back from the burning surface.

  “I should know better.”

  He followed a path deeper into the volcano that wound around the Emperor’s lake. Once he was below the surface of the lava, Arz stopped and watched the wall. Red oil came from little cracks and dripped down the stone. It was possible to collect it in pools at the bottom, but eventually it would soak into the stone and be recycled. Harvesting it before it ran down also eliminated any impurities.

  A drop formed out of a crack, holding onto the rock with surface tension. Arz ran over and tried to fish out a container, but he couldn’t see anything.

  “Where is Orikori when I need him?” Arz asked. His voice, even quiet, echoed in the narrow cave. “I need to test how long this lasts for.”

  Arz stalked farther into the cave. He wouldn’t be able to do any harvesting until he was visible again. The last time he had been to Parikus, he had explored the same cave. There was nothing of note deeper in. Eventually, it narrowed until there was nothing left to explore. That was fine with Arz. He just needed to pace and think.

  “The path out is unusable. My friends are at the top of the volcano and probably think I’m dead. There is a giant wyrm with anger issues between this cave and the now melted ramp. I could easily escape with a return portal, but that would leave the other three stranded. While I am confident in their abilities, it feels incredibly rude to leave them weeks away from home.”

  Arz scratched his neck. He paced back up to where he first found red oil emerging. More had gathered and it started running down the rock. There were little pools in other spots, so there was more than enough to harvest. Impurities were only minor inconveniences in red oil.

  “If I could open a portal to the top of the volcano, I could then use a return portal to bring us all back to Bralincote. If it were that easy, we wouldn’t have taken the coach here to begin with. What am I missing? Am I an idiot?”

  He held up his hands, which were still invisible. “Possibly.”

  “A return portal mostly uses ingredients not found on Earth. Well, water is found on Earth. But most portals don’t relate to any ingredient from that place. Or else it would be nearly impossible to travel anywhere.”

  Arz’s hands abruptly appeared. “Finally.” He grabbed a big container and held it under the dripping red oil. It was a bit anticlimactic as the oil slowly dripped down.

  “If there was a way to manipulate the Storm Tree leaves to focus on a specific point, it would force the portal to appear somewhere other than its normal location. Each planet seems to have one central portal location, but it does seem possible to open ones elsewhere. If the tower was suddenly gone, would a portal appear far up in the air or would it appear near the ground?”

  More red oil poured from the crack and Arz finished filling the container. He fit it into his pack and filled up a few dozen vials. Once there were no empty containers left, he took out a return potion and made sure his sparkstones were ready in his jacket pocket.

  “An ingredient uniquely related to this place.” Arz looked around. The rocks were not unique. The red oil was not unique. Was the lava?

  Probably not. But perhaps having the Emperor live in it created something unique.

  Arz took out a second return potion. If his idea worked, he wanted to prepare a second as well.

  He stopped at the mouth of the cave and took a deep, sulfur-scented breath. It was going to be difficult to breathe. Well, more difficult. The heat would sear his nose and lungs. And still, Arz was planning to run straight at the lava. The ramp continued down until it disappeared into the molten lake, so he wouldn’t have to jump any gaps or dodge any giant wyrms. Hopefully.

  Would the glass vials even survive from the heat? Probably not, but Arz had to try. They were the strongest glass one could buy. Arz had made sure to buy as many as he could.

  He would need to tell Jaralath to keep purchasing them. Or develop even stronger ones.

  Arz ducked out into the volcano. A quick glance up confirmed that the other three had escaped. There was no sign of them that he could see from his position. He inched forward until he could see into the lake.

  No sign of the Emperor.

  Arz sprinted to his left, running down the ramp. It hardly took any time to reach the bottom where bubbling lava splashed onto the rock.

  “How do I do this?” he muttered.

  His original thought was to scoop it like he could if he was filling a vial with water. There were numerous problems with that. First, he would pour out most of the return potion during the scooping. Second, it was impossible to scoop like that without touching the surface. With water, that was fine. Water didn’t melt Arz’s fingers off. Lava would.

  “Are you awake?” Arz asked loudly. “I could use some help.” Arz squatted on the ramp, high enough that lava wouldn’t splash on him if the Emperor woke up. “Did you wear yourself out trying to melt me?”

  There was a long, uncertain silence. Molten rock continued bubbling and popping in an almost rhythmic chorus.

  “Hello!” Arz stomped a foot on the ramp.

  A growl came from under the surface. The lava rippled out like water in a pond.

  “Uh oh.”

  The Emperor exploded out, throwing lava in all directions. Most of it landed on the path above Arz, so he didn’t need to dodge much. But the surface splashed around with the sudden disturbance. A clump of lava hit the ramp and slowly dripped back down, moving viscously.

  Arz popped a cork and gathered as much lava as he could into the return potion. He hurriedly did it for the next and placed the extra one in his belt pocket. Better to keep lava outside his backpack in case it exploded.

  The Emperor lowered itself until his eyes could glare directly at Arz, who waved.

  “Thank you!”

  Arz threw a sparkstone at his feet. He showed complete confidence, but in reality, he had no idea if it would work. He shook the return potion, mixing the lava in with the shimmering purple liquid. The whole thing glowed brightly.

  The Emperor’s mouth glowed blue even before he opened it. He wasn’t going to let Arz escape this time. At least, not as easily.

  “See you later.” Arz nodded to the wyrm as he poured the potion onto the cloud of sparks. A fire-rimmed portal ripped open right in front of him. Blue light bathed the area and the heat increased, even hotter than the lava nearby.

  Arz didn’t have a chance to admire the new appearance of the portal. Instead he dove right through and hit the ground chest-first. He coughed, fighting for breath, as he rolled over.

  “Arz?” Khoribin asked.

  The three of them were standing a few dozen feet away.

  Arz had appeared right at the top of the volcano.

  He wheezed, sucking in a breath. “Run!”

  The best Arz could manage was to roll to the side. He crawled on the ground, hauling himself as far from the portal as he could.

  A blast of blue fire erupted from the portal. It colored the whole area as the beam shot into the sky, splitting clouds until it vanished beyond the horizon. The portal closed, cutting the beam off. Arz could still hear the Emperor breathing fire below.

  He slipped his backpack off and sprawled onto the ground. The air was so clear and cool. It smelled like dirt, which was not a smell he thought he would miss.

  “Master,” Orikori said. The scribe squatted at his side with his notebook out. “How did you do it?”

  “Later, Orikori.” Arz let his eyes close. He could feel blisters forming all over his skin. “I need a bath.”

  “We didn’t know if you lived,” Isilhorn said.

  “I thought you’d find a way.” Khoribin took Arz’s arm and dragged him to his feet. “Bring us home. You’ve earned some rest.”

  Arz lazily handed Orikori a normal return potion and a sparkstone. “You got this.” He closed his eyes and leaned on Khoribin. It was exaggerated, but he was exhausted.

  The scribe opened a portal back to Arz’s study, and Khoribin carried Arz home.