The Volcano's Heart

48 hidden weapons. Insanely powerful and gifted to the planet K'Torah by someone unknown. Other planar? Perhaps a powerful entity. Of course, the weapons given were found easily. Such a technologically magically advanced society made everything easy to conquer via engineering or magical means. They took the gifts, and tore them apart, harvesting the magic from the powers and putting them together, combining the 48 into 12 and putting them under drastic protection. A single mistake on the journey to obtain these weapons could easily lead to immediate death.

"Well, that's what the rumors say," a gruff, deep voice mutters from the darkness.

“Well, that’s what the rumors say,” A young voice shattered the silence and darkness simultaneously. He slings his arm up onto the red rock of the volcano he’s been climbing for the past couple of hours. Reaching a small landing, he stands and breathes for a moment, cracking his back and pulling off his large tan cowboy hat, using it to fan himself a little.

“Rumors and legends always exist for a reason,” he smiled to the dry desert surrounding the lonely red mountain. He pulled a map out of his hip bag. This was the place. There was a mouth to a cave open wide before him.

He sat in the cool sun for a few minutes. His legs warmed by the ground beneath him. The world’s dual moons stared at one another from across the blue sky. He snatched a canteen and chugged the cool contents down the rest of the way. This was the second location he’d hit today. The other luckily only having been around 50 sects away from this place. The history book he’d read said the old race that once lived here had placed a lot of value and love into their natural elements. This volcano was the largest on the continent. It was near 775 million years old. The residents of the planet having long left for they found some kind of peace in the universe, or so philosophers guessed. That made this place sort of special, but not special enough for many people to notice it. He closed his now empty canteen and threw it down the side of the cliff. He wiped his mouth as and took proud steps towards the cave mouth, grabbing a collapsible spear from his hilt and expanding it to full size. As he walked into the small tunnel leading into the mountain, the rock quickly changing from its vibrant red to a black that absorbed all the heat and light within the cavern. It was boiling. Cody could feel his boots sticking to the rocks. A red-hot glow from far within lit his way deep into the mountain, sweat beading on his brow and falling down his skin. He walked slowly, but fast enough to not get stuck to the ground. Suddenly, the mountain rumbled and the ground split beneath him, causing a scream to escape from the back of his throat as he fell deep into the mountain.

The fall lasted much longer than Cody expected. He was sliding on stone, and had to constantly be on guard to not run into random spike or stalagmite coming up from nowhere and splattering himself on it. So many remains and random skulls decorated the tunnel. Somewhere below red-hot lava glowed, lighting just enough for him to maneuver. A stalagmite came up almost too fast, and he had to use his spear to push away, shattering its wood pole as he did.

After too long and an uncountable amount of feet down, Cody saw a brighter light and the ground flattening out. A small creek of lava was right at the base of the slide. He prepared to jump, but as the ceiling opened up, he saw the landing was only about five feet across and then ended. The bright red light was coming from there, so he made a couple assumptions and snatched the grappling gun off his belt and shot it into the ceiling just as the momentum he'd built up flung him over the edge when he jumped over the lava creek. In a quick motion he attached the opposite end of the wire to his belt buckle and the cord snapped taught, sending him flying over the edge of the landing, but with a pivot point latched into the stone, The rocks here were carved into sharp spikes, protruding randomly from the stone. There were large enough gaps that hitting the wall with his shoulder side would put him between some them. He hit the dark stone hard, but managed to avoid getting impaled. There were quite a few skeleton parts here too. His vision blurred at the pain, but his wire held him tight.

Cody took a deep breath and then hung for a moment, taking in the room. Directly below him was a lake of boiling lava. The landing he’d launched from was actually the beginning of a pathway that curved around the inside of the mountain, leading down and about halfway around the inner circumference of the chamber, and into more dark rock across the room. The heat of the room was so intense his clothes were soaked with sweat. He managed to crawl up the wire and onto the solid rock. He took a breath and almost choked on the hot air in his throat. He pulled the bandana around his neck up over his nose and continued down the path. Some carvings had been made into the rock, but he only gave them quick glances.

About three quarters the way around a piece of the ground compressed under his foot and the room shuddered. “Shit,” He spat out, beginning to run towards the second doorway. Lava had begun seeping over the walkway from the lake. He picked up his speed, using his momentum to leap onto the wall and take the few steps he needed to propel himself forwards into the doorway, that had a set of stairs leading upwards within. The lava continued rising as he leapt off the sinking rock, diving towards the stairs and slamming against the rock, his foot dangling and dipping into the lava, causing a yelp to escape his lips as he reeled in pain, scrambling up the smooth steps. The lava stopped rising around the seventh step, but Cody sat at the top of the landing, a hand pressed against his chest as he breathed hard. The air was still hot, but not as suffocating now so it was easier for his lungs to properly pull it in. His ribcage hurt with every breath. He looked at his foot that thankfully only had a small burn as it had mostly been protected by his boots.

After resting for a few minutes and calming his breathing, Cody looked around, and saw three other staircases, all leading down. He coughed and let out a grunt of annoyance, managing to pull himself up to randomly select one and lurch down it. Reaching the bottom, he saw a completely dark room. It was pure black. The heat wasn’t nearly as bad, but there didn’t appear to be anything here. He stumbled forward a little, trying to get a better look when it lit up with fire on either side, burning a perfectly straight path to a pedestal.

Cody’s brow furrowed and he looked around, the room was a perfect circle, the path heading towards the center where a small island was made to hold a weapon stand that stood proud with nothing inside. His head swung from side to side, analyzing every crack and crevice in the walls.

Despite the background commotion of the bar, the bounty hunter sitting across the table could here every word that old man said, "I've heard of K'Torah. The peoples there had conquered feats that have not been beat in centuries. Nobody knows how, but their entire society strangely disappeared. The only thing left is a hallow shell of a planet."

"I'm going there."

"But why?"

"I'm curious. I've stocked up enough from my trophy hunting, and I'll be able to actually get some big scores after I get one of those blessed weapons," the calm young man had a glint of mischievousness in his eyes and a smirk pulling at his lips.

"It's a suicide mission. You know that. You're just starting out; you can't throw everything away for a legend."

"Legends exist for a reason."

Cody’s eyes found a slight discrepancy in some of the rocks. He ran to the far edge of the circle, pulling out his grappling hook from his belt, and connecting a new wire to it before launching the hook towards the stone. It disappeared behind a ledge and latched onto something. He gave the gun a good tug before tying it to the weapon holster. He hoped that whoever had gotten it had enjoyed every second of the likely cursed blade.

He climbed with great distress up the wire and into this second cave. Inside was what looked a decorative assortment of bones and blades of fighters who’d made it this far into the volcano. Random fabrics and materials with emblems laid strewn about and in shreds. Destroyed bones gave the almost black stone a white layer over it. Cody muttered “What the fuck,” and looked back out over the room. The border of fire protected a dragon’s skeleton from his view on his initial take of the room. A beautiful sword lay underneath its head, the blade shattered. A smirk pulled onto his face and he let out a chuckle, rubbing his temples with his thumb and forefinger, “Someone else did the hard job for me,” he giggled to himself before a different thought crossed his mind and his head whipped up and looked further into what used to be the dragon’s layer.

The small cave had a stone partition from the front to the back. Cody walked with great anxiety to the back opening, peering into the second half of the dragon’s home. There were less bodies and corpses and instead metal and gold back here. Loot of the hundreds to thousands of adventurers that had passed through this mountain trying to steal its treasure. He looked around, pressing gently against the entire perimeter of the room. Digging through mounds of gold. There had to be something to indicate what he was looking for.

“Don’t get your hopes up, Cody. It’ll just disappoint you.”

He glanced over at his partner who lay on his bed, her eyes burning into his as he buttoned up his shirt, “I have to try. I haven’t spent the past three years looking into K’Torah, researching its history and lore to just not go and try to find something!”

“What if you don’t come back?”

“So what? I set my mind to this, and I will do it. This, the thrill seeker, is a part of who I am. If you don’t like it, you don’t have to be here.”

“It’s not the thrill. You act like you still have something to prove. You don’t anymore, you’ve proved yourself in who you are, and I want to be here with you, Cody.”

His eyes met hers again, and they were brimming with tears. His burned in frustration and pain, “I’m not proving myself. I’m being true to what I want and who I’ve been my whole life, despite being told otherwise.”

Her face scrunched up in sadness and she let out a small breath, a tear falling from the corner of her eye, “Cody, please. You don’t need to die for some score. You don’t even know if the legends are true. You could be risking your life for nothing!”

He grabbed his bag off the floor of the apartment’s bedroom, “This is more than a score. Legends exist for a reason. Goodbye, Esme.”

He saw lines of some sort under the gold, and began following it, pushing the metals out of the way. It outlined a dragon’s head. After clearing away the clutter from inside the outline, Cody stared at the eye of the dragon, slowly knelt down to it and pressed the perfect circle. It pushed down a couple of inches into the stone the grind of stone moving against stone rang throughout the cave.

He looked up and saw a small opening on the left wall of where he’d walked in. He approached and saw an incredibly thin walkway leading to another central island, but on this one sat a small tube, and the pedestal was poorly carved. A grin worked its way onto his lips as he scoped out the room, checking for any kind of traps other than the obvious one.

Taking his grappling gun and switching out the end to a grabber instead of a grapple, Cody smirked, pointed and shot it at the tube, pulling it from the pedestal. Immediately, the thin path collapsed into the lava below, the platform quickly also crumbling as Cody retracted his hook.

He disconnected the odd tube from his tool, inspecting the swirling designs all over it. It was beautiful. He felt the surface for some kind of trigger, but not finding and dents or textures different. His brow furrowed in confusion, but a scorching heat against his toes made him come back to reality. Around him, lava was beginning to stream down the walls, the hot liquid being only a few inches in front of him.

“Shit,” he said as he leapt back into the first half of the dragon’s lair. Lava was seeping out of the stone here too, but not nearly as bad. It was beginning to flow from the back to the front, and Cody started running. He shimmied back over the dragon’s corpse and ring of fire around the first lavish pedestal.

This room was also beginning to fill with molten rock. He swore again, landing on the center circle and dashing back towards the staircases, standing atop the four he looked down each. The one he came from was still drowned in lava. The path behind him beginning to fill. The final two both looking too calm. He chose the one straight across from the entrance path, skipping four steps at a time as he ran. The tunnel curved about for a couple hundred feet before opening up into a large room. Lava was coming through the ceiling here too. Cody’s eyes scanned around, looking for some sort of exit. There were some handholds going up the side of the room that led to another small tunnel that was far from the flooding lava. He ran and jumped, skipping the first couple steps and scrambling up the rock. His fingers bloodied quickly, but adrenaline kept him from feeling the pain as he pulled himself into the smaller tunnel.

He had to duck as he ran through. It got darker and darker as he ran. The red light behind him intensifying behind him as he moved deeper into the burrow.

“Please, please, please, let this be a way out,” he whispered to himself as his vision was almost completely gone and he was running in pure darkness, the only light faintly behind him. He ran into a hard surface and landed hard on his back, and he coughed, some blood splattering on the ground next to him and he took a ragged breath before struggling to stand up once again. He felt the surface in front of him. It felt like completely smooth rock.

“No. No, no no!” He mumbled, punching the wall, bloodying his fist, “NO! NO!”

A pulse of energy from his side confused him as he sobbed. He stopped his attack of the stone and felt his belt for the tube. It was pulsing in his palm, a soft golden energy. His eyes widened as the energy got brighter and brighter, eventually forcing him to close his eyes. The tube got much heavier, and his hand gripped something much larger than before.

Once the light died down, he looked at what was in his hand. It glowed a golden aura. A perfectly made glaive rested in his palm. He could see the wall now. He took the new blade in both hands and smashed into the stone. It broke through easily, shattering the stone. More rested behind it. With this newfound weapon, Cody tunneled outwards, not knowing where he was heading but knowing that away from lava was a better choice than going back.

After what felt like an eternity, another hit brought new light to his eyes. He swung thrice more before making an opening big enough for him to crawl out. He looked around. He stood on the surface once again. The volcano a couple hundred feet behind him. A deep breath filled his lungs with the dry, fresh air. It may have torn at the back of his throat, but it was better than the sweltering heat of the inside of the mountain. He stopped to really inspect the weapon. It was more beautiful than he could have imagined. Perfect designs painted onto the metal. The power he felt radiating from it. It was a perfect weapon, and it was all his.

He looked back to the mountain. It looked no different. No one would know he’d been here. Again, a smirk made its way onto his face as he let out an exhausted chuckle, shaking his head as he began walking towards his transport speeder that could bring him back to his ship at the other location he’d checked today. A sigh escaped from him, one of content and exhaustion.

~

A clean man walked across the bar, an old friend of his sitting at the counter. It had been years since they'd seen one another, and the friend was much his elder. He looked worse, and a new cane sat at his side. An old, stained mug on the counter in front of him. It was half empty of the foul ichor that sat within. The floor creaked underneath the weight of the younger man, who stared at his seated friend with a cocky smirk on his mouth.

The old man turned and his eyes widened. "H-how? Nobody ever goes there and survives!"

The younger man's smirk turned into an insane grin, "I got what I went looking for."

The old man's eyes fell to the weapon the hunter had at his side. It was not the one he'd carried before. It was old, older than anything he'd seen by centuries. The perfect curves decorating the shiny deep red metal almost seemed to flicker with magical energy. He was speechless. It was the most beautiful weapon he'd ever seen.

"It was good to see you again, Barty, but I'll be off now, I've got some things to do," the hunter said, the excitement in his voice again replaced with a calm demeanor, any emotion erased in a moment.