"Hyperion, I told you to use the regular door," Glaycia says as she makes her way over to the ice wall. Placing her hand on it, she creates the outline of a door and opens it, allowing Hyperion to step inside.
"Sorry, this way is just easier," Hyperion says, his presence causing the temperature in the room to raise a few degrees, "Also, why didn't you tell me you were coming back, and bringing some guests along with you?"
Tossing the chained Captain Henry into the corner of the room, Hyperion makes his way over to Lucas and Kayla, "Hello, I am Hyperion, the Titan of Magma. You must be... Lucas, considering how much you resemble Arthur,"
"I am, and this is Kayla, my..." Lucas starts to say, but Kayla interrupts him by grabbing onto Lucas's arm.
"I am the princess of the Solar Palace, and also Lucas's future wife," Kayla says, causing Lucas to blush profusely as he tried to pull his arm away.
Smiling, Hyperion shakes both of their hands before turning to Sydra, "And you must be... Wait, you wouldn't happen to be the spirit of a Mythical Rank Tree, would you?"
Surprised by the sudden question, Sydra glances down at himself, "I am... But how could you tell?"
"Haha, I knew it!" Hyperion says proudly, grabbing Sydra by the shoulder, "I'm actually good friends with another Mythical Rank Tree, and there is something about you that reminds me of him,"
"Oh? Which one is your friend?" Sydra asks, "And is it possible that they live near here?"
If Sydra can get in touch with one of the other Mythical Rank Trees, then maybe he could figure out why he had to get to S-rank within five years. It would also be a good way for him to make some connections with someone already on the Arbre Council.
"It's Vulcan, the spirit of the Volcanic Ash Tree, and his tree is near here," Hyperion says "But he left a while ago, saying something about needing to get stronger for a coming battle,"
"That's too bad," Sydra says, "Anyway, my name is Sydra, and I'm the spirit of the Cloud Ascending Tree,"
After getting to know each other a bit better, the group began discussing what they should do with Captain Henry, who was still knocked out in the corner.
"I could keep him locked up here, until you find out how the situation at your palace is going," Glaycia says, her attention focused on Lucas.
"That might be for the best," Lucas says, glancing at the chains restraining Captin Henry, "I don't think we would be able to overpower him, should he escape,"
"In that case, I would be willing to take you three over the magma sea, and drop you off near the Thunder Nest," Hyperion says.
"That would help, but we would need some disguises in case anyone in that area knows what Lucas and Kayla look like," Sydra says, pulling several items out of his spatial pouch.
Walking across the room, Sydra hands Lucas an outfit covered in dirt before having Hyperion burn all of his hair off. Taking a step back, Sydra nods as he admires Lucas's change from a prince into a monk.
Turning to look at Kayla, Sydra begins reaching back into his pouch, but she hides begin Glaycia before he can pull anything out. "Stop! I won't look good as a monk,"
"Who said I was turning you into a monk?" Sydra asks, pulling out a purple cloth covered in red lines, "This is an emperor rank outfit worn by Depth Walkers, and has the ability of greatly increasing the agility of its wearers,"
Taking the cloth from Sydra, Kayla drapes it over her shoulders, and the cloth wraps securely around her body. Taking a step forward, Kayla moves through the room as if she was gliding across the ice, purple and red light swirling behind her.
"This is nice, almost as if was meant for me," Kayla says, looking down at the cloth in admiration, "But how does it change my appearance? I still have these yellow horns,"
Stepping forward, Sydra pulls the back of the cloth up and over Kayla's head, creating a hood that covered her horns. Although it didn't hide her face completely, the hood would still serve its purpose of keeping people from recognizing her.
"What about you? Are you going to hide?" Lucas asks, hoping that at least Sydra would share in his pain of being bald.
"Nope, I can travel among the shadows, and my face is also not well known, so I don't have to worry about people seeing me," Sydra says as he glances over at Hyperion and Glaycia, "I think we're ready to go now,"
"Wait! Weren't you curious about the Sky Vipers?" Glaycia asks as she pulls out a book bound in chains, causing Sydra to stop, "Arthur told me to give this to you if you helped his son escape, and since you did this is yours,"
Taking the book from Glaycia, Sydra attempt to open it, but the chains won't budge, "It seems that Arthur forgot to give you the key, but that's fine. I'll just have to ask him for it when I see him,"
Thanking Glaycia for helping them escape, Sydra and the others follow Hyperion outside, and to the edge of the Volcanic Isles. Waiting for them there was an ebony boat, floating on top of the magma sea.
Once they were all on the boat, Hyperion propelled it with the magma from the sea, "Ah, if only I was born the Titan of Water instead,"
The farther away from the Volcanic Isle the boat gets, the hotter the air becomes until it is too much for the group to handle. Seeing this, Hyperion creates a barrier over the boat that keeps the heat from invading too much.
"You three should use this time to increase your resistance to intense heat, as this magma is a bit special. The longer you stay near it, the faster your resistance grows, and you might even become immune to heat below this level," Hyperion says, letting just enough of the heat into the boat that it would help them.
"How should we do this? All I feel is my body being burned to a crisp," Lucas says, motioning towards his already bright red face.
"Try circulating your aura through your body, it should keep you from harm," Sydra says, the aura within his body in a constant flow.
Heeding his advice, Lucas and Kayla activate their aura, causing the red hue in their bodies to fade away. Continuing this for the next few hours, the group swiftly becomes accustomed to the heat before Hyperion lets a bit more of it in, and they repeat the process.
Along with his resistance to the heat rising, Sydra also feels both his water and magnetism auras raising to the A-rank, giving him a sense of accomplishment. Closing his eyes, Sydra feels the water molecules around his body vibrating, and the distance of his magnetic field growing.
Before he can test anything out, Sydra feels a tap on his shoulder, and when he opens his eyes he sees Hyperion pointing towards something in the distance. Turning his head, he sees a massive volcano, hundreds of times larger than the one before, with a tree sprouting out from the top of it.
"That's Vulcan's Tree, the Volcanic Ash Tree," Hyperion says as Sydra's eyes widen the farther he looks up.
The tree is an ashy white color, with veins of magma running through its trunk, and every branch extending from the tree has a magma cascading from its ends. At the very top of the tree is an obsidian palace, with people who look similar to Hyperion's smaller form living inside.
"I didn't know people lived there," Sydra says, watching as people use the magma veins to get from one part of the tree to another.
"Of course, Vulcan is the ruler of that palace, and he allows anyone with powers similar to his to live within," Hyperion says, "And even when he is gone, the tree still has its defenses,"
"It's too bad he isn't there right now, I would like to meet him," Sydra says as the boat continues past the Volcanic Ash Tree.
Another few hours pass by quickly, and the group finds themselves standing on a shore next to the magma sea. Waving goodbye as Hyperion heads back to Glaycia, Sydra pulls out the map piece of the continent they were on.
'It seems we are a day's journey away from Thunder Nest, and a month away from the palace, if we move by foot,' Sydra thinks as he puts the map back away. "Come on, we should go get some supplies before heading back to the Kingdom of Ivory,"
Getting to Thunder Nest takes the group a day and a half, as they had to stop for the night to sleep. However, as they got closer they noticed a faint electrical current flowing through the air, causing their hair to stand up. Of course, that didn't apply to Lucas, as he had no hair left.
"Is that it?" Kayla asks, pointing towards a mountain with the top missing. Instead, a massive metal nest was sitting there, surrounded by black clouds releasing bolts of lightning.
"I believe so," Lucas says, "I mean, it resembles the stories I've heard of this place,"
As the storm clouds struck the metal nest with bolts of lightning, one of them deviated from its path, landing a few feet in front of the group instead. In the place it had landed stood a young man, wearing what appeared to be an academy uniform.