Moga Liberty Chronicles 21: A Mountain of Blazes

The Blazing Mountain approached our boat, making a fiery presence on the horizon. It was immense, and it could be seen from the sea. That was how large it was.

Our boat finally reached the harbor after what seemed like an age. The ground was soft, but not liquid or solid either one, and it had a squishiness to it uncharacteristic of a volcanic area. We picked up our supplies from the ship and tied it to the harbor, to ride it only when we finally got the Gems brandished in the Flame of Dragons.

The Mountain now loomed ahead, and already we walked among stalagmites left from ages ago. The ground was now acidic and hard, with pebbles everywhere. A cave stood with its mouth agape about a meter ahead; we proceeded with caution into the damp and groggy natural cavern.

There was little in the cave save for the sloshing strange sounds of Giggi squirming around in the cavern walls. These places were always harboring great amounts of unimaginably disgusting monsters, from Gigginox and Ghastolace to Slidrome and Shellectriserpent. We toddled slowly in the cavern, trying to get through fast and safely, but sadly failing both items on that agenda, for by the time we saw light, we had several cuts and bruises from falling down and tripping over the blade and hammer like stalactites and stalagmites, and the few monster attacks we had weren't helping either.

The light began to show throughout the cavern, showing us what we had been through thus far...

Jonathan was scarred from many a heated battle. Blazescale had the least wounds and scars, though there were a fair few. Tayler still had her beautiful look, though she had a long scar on her from god-knew-where. Nina was the worst, however. The red letters cut deeply into her legs still shown brightly, and was ever a reminder of Anobon's hatred and psychosis. Chishiki had broken his shoulder in battle, but had not shown it; in the beautiful light of the cave entrance, we saw the wound. I had many scars as well; I had scars from many years of dragon and monster hunting, and from the battles I had been involved in.