LUNA: The Invisible Princess
Chapter 26: The Fire Stone

[Third Person POV]

"Perhaps you have something good to tell me, Urduja?" said Prince Luvian as he summoned Urduja, the priestess whom he ordered, to replace out how to awaken the two unconscious princesses.

Urduja laughed. "I keep my promise, dear Prince. And I will never disappoint you," she said, making the prince grinned.

"Excellent, Urduja. Now tell me what you know." the prince said, eager to know what the priestess would say.

"The stones of life are what we needed to awaken the two princesses. The other party already assigned two young men to replace the stones of life. And we must precede them, dear Prince." the prince's fists clenched tightly.

Urduja left after telling the prince all the information he needed to know. Prince Luvian immediately summoned Agatha, his right hand. He commanded her to call their trusted warrior to do the mission.

“Greetings, Prince Luvian.”

Prince Luvian cleared his throat and said, "Raven, Neo, Leo, Kasim, and Hilda—your mission is to replace the stones of life. You need to get them as soon as possible. We have to get ahead of them in getting the stones. And I hope you won't let me down. You know what will happen when you fail." The group smirked and nodded.

"We will not disappoint you, Prince Luvian. We will do everything to get the stones of life. Shall we fail our mission? You may take our lives." said Raven with determination, which made Luvian smirk. He liked servants like them.

"Good. Now go before the other party overtakes you." the prince ordered and the five warriors paid their respects before leaving the throne room.

The Prince smirked deviously.

"We’re almost there, father. Just be patient and you will wake up soon." he laughed menacingly and a bolt of strong lightning flashed and roared in the sky that startled the people of Evilandia. And they knew their prince did it. They just hid in their houses for fear of being struck by the lightning.

Meanwhile, Joaquin and Bryle travel to the Algori mountain where a volcano is located.

"What do the stones look like, Joaquin?" Bryle asked, still thinking about the appearance of the stones. Joaquin just shrugged and walked quietly up the mountain. Bryle let out a sigh when he didn't get an answer, so he also kept quiet.

After two hours of traveling, they halted when they felt an unexpected presence. They immediately prepared and looked around.

They gasped when five creatures surrounded them. A half-human and half-demon. They have scary faces and even horns. Eyes are bloody red, but some of them have dark green eyes. They are from Evilandia. Joaquin and Bryle wonder what these creatures wanted for them. This was the first time they had seen Evilandians since they were in hiding and they never went to their Kingdom.

"Surrender us the stones of life you hold if you don't want to die..." Kasim said in a sinister voice to the two young men.

It was only then that Joaquin and Bryle realized their purpose. They will not let them get the stones of life, even if it will cost their lives.

"You won't get the stones from us!" said Joaquin and prepared for the attack. While Bryle was preparing as well.

"Then, face your death!" Raven said and released dark power in his hand while grinning menacingly.

Joaquin swiftly dodge the enemy's attack and released fire to counter them, which the enemy evaded quickly, too. They exchange attacks, blows after blows.

Meanwhile, Bryle was fighting with Kasim. Bryle controlled the dead wood and threw them at Kasim.

Neo, Leo, and Hilda just smirked while looking at the fight. Raven and Kasim didn’t let them fight because they outnumbered the other party. And they look complacent enough that Kasim and Raven will defeat them.

The two parties continued to exchange powerful attacks.

Joaquin was sent flying when Raven managed to wound him in a surprise attack. His right arm was hit, and it was bleeding profusely. He was shocked to see the blood flowing. Raven smirked, causing Joaquin's whole being to shake with anger. What he despised the most was when someone tried to hurt him badly. His vision turned dark upon seeing his blood.

Joaquin was so pissed off. The wind suddenly blew harshly and Joaquin’s whole body burned with fire. His hair turned red, as well as his eyes. His entire being ignited in so much anger.

The enemies felt threatened. This is the first time they see a magic-user super strength causing them to weaken with so much pressure they felt. Neo, Leo, and Hilda approached their two friends. Though feeling a little bit of fear, they tried resisting the pressure. They would rather die now fighting than have their prince punish them later. They would not want to experience Prince Luvian’s disappointment and cruelty.

Joaquin smirked when he saw the fear on the enemy’s faces. Bryle shook his head and rested in the shade of a tree, and watched what would happen next. He knew at this point he couldn't stop his friend from killing the enemy. Joaquin was beyond angry and he didn't want to get in between them. Joaquin loses control when someone provokes him, especially if someone tries to wound him because he loves his perfect skin so much.

Joaquin suddenly moves in a flash and attacks the five enemies all at once. They prepared for Joaquin's potential attack. But they couldn’t counter an attack because Joaquin moved swiftly like a flash of lightning. They couldn’t predict Joaquin’s move, causing them to stagger slightly. It shocked Neo when a hard blow hit him in the abdomen, causing him to kneel and cough up blood.

"Neo!" Hilda immediately attended to him while their other friends were already exchanging attacks with Joaquin, but they couldn't keep up with his speed because he was appearing and disappearing at the same time.

"H-Hilda... r-run away... save y-yourself..." Neo coughed more blood. Hilda shook her head and looked at Joaquin angrily for hurting Neo.

"No! We will return to the kingdom together and in one piece," she said and quickly pulled Neo away and then laid him down in a safe place. "I'll be back, Neo, and just stay here..." Neo couldn't reply as Hilda quickly ran away toward the others. He could do nothing but grieve with the pain in his stomach. Joaquin punched him hard, causing him to not be able to stand. The impact is too strong. He cursed under his breath.

Hilda angrily attacked Joaquin, too, and ignited a black fire that Joaquin quickly avoided. They exchanged attacks and Joaquin was sent flying away when the other three also attacked him at the same time. He almost hit his body on a tree, but he recovered quickly and returned the powerful attack, causing the enemies to fall back and was also sent flying away.

But Neo's eyes widened when he saw his friend Leo slammed onto a sharp branch of a tree. Leo gasped in shock and blood oozed from his mouth. He couldn’t move because his stomach pierce through the sharp branches and now he was gasping for breath and on the verge of dying. Raven, Kasim, and Hilda were shocked by what they saw. They immediately approached their friend and attended to him in a panic.

"No, no, no, don't close your eyes, Leo," Hilda said in a panic. Fear and anger were clear on her face because they might lose a member and a friend.

"Leo, please don't die..." Kasim cried. Leo just smiled at them weakly while struggling to breathe and, little by little, he stopped breathing.

"N-Nooo!" Raven shouted and was now fuming in rage. The wind picked up and blew harshly and then leaves and branches of the trees flew away in every direction. A whirlwind formed, and it charged furiously towards Joaquin. Bryle and Joaquin were alarmed. They immediately summoned a shield to defend themselves from the enemy's attack.

"Joaquin! Go to the volcano and get the fire stone! I'll take care of them!" Bryle said while thinking of a counterattack. Joaquin nodded and followed his friend's idea. In a few minutes, he reached the top of the volcano. He looked down and saw boiling lava underneath. He wonders how to replace the fire stone.

"Fire Dragon! I summon you!" Joaquin uttered and suddenly his fire dragon guardian came out. It's huge and blazing on fire. Joaquin ordered his dragon to breathe fire into the boiling lava. The fire dragon immediately obeyed his master and flew higher with Joaquin standing at the back. And then they plunged into the volcano and the fire dragon breathed fire. The lava ignited by a blazing fire caused the entire mountain to shake tremendously.

The sudden earthquake affects Raven, and he loses control of his air tornado. Bryle smirked and immediately created an earth tornado as a counterattack. It was strong and all the trees and things all over the place were turned to pieces upon the raging of the earth tornado. Neo winced in pain and fortunately, Hilda helped him hide in a safer place. It almost blew them away from the strong force of the wind caused by the two tornadoes that erupted. Raven's nose bleeds nonstop while controlling his air tornado. Bryle's earth tornado is too strong, but he still fights so hard.

But they didn’t expect another air tornado that was much bigger than Ravens and the air tornado was mixed with lightning. Fear slowly crept into their soul about what was happening at the moment while trying to withstand the intense pressure. They didn’t think that they were fighting strong magic users. They could no longer withstand the tornadoes and were swept away. As lightning struck them, they were dizzy as their bodies swirled around inside the tornado and screamed excruciatingly. Their body weakened and couldn’t fight back anymore and then they lost consciousness.

When the tornadoes disappeared, Bryle gasped and fell to the ground because he felt exhausted. It was as if his energy had been drained. He doesn’t know where the enemies went, but the important thing was that they had disappeared away from them. When he looked up, he saw a huge fire dragon flying over the erupting volcano. He let Joaquin take the fire stone because the heat of the burning lava did not affect him.

However, Joaquin moved away when suddenly a huge flying creature came up from the lava. He ordered his fire dragon to fly away from the volcano. Suddenly, a roar echoed from the volcano, which startled them.

A gigantic fire dragon came up with blazing eyes. It growled and glared at Joaquin and his fire dragon. The gigantic fire dragon attacks them with breathing, an ample amount of fire. Joaquin’s fire dragon also breathed fire to counter the attack, and it exploded. Clouds of smoke erupted.

"Woah!" Bryle exclaimed and gasped at the scene above. A fire dragon versus fire dragon!

Bryle decided to help Joaquin, so he rushed toward the volcano. The ground is still shaking, but he paid no mind. He saw a small tunnel, so he went inside. It was so dark inside, so he summoned fireflies to have some light. When he came out of the tunnel, he was surprised to see the burning lava. But something caught his attention. A glowing object is at the very center of the volcano.

"The fire stone!" Bryle blurted out in awe. But how is he going to get it? Right now, he was sweating and almost suffocated from the intense heat.

Using telepathy, he spoke to Joaquin.

‘Joaquin! I've seen the fire stone!’

‘Huh? Where?’

‘Go down here. I’m inside the volcano. Enter through the small tunnel!’

‘Copy. Wait for me.’

Joaquin immediately jumped to the lower ground and left his fire dragon to fight the other gigantic fire dragon alone. That gigantic fire dragon is the guardian of Mountain Algori.

Joaquin quickly enters a small tunnel. He lit a small fire on his finger to see the way because it was so dark. The pathway is very narrow and hot. He shook his head upon remembering Bryle. He knew Bryle was almost toast in the heat by now, so he must hurry. A little while later, he spotted Bryle staring at the lava.

"Bryle!"

"Joaquin! The fire stone is in the middle of the Lava!" Bryle exclaimed while gasping for air and already drenched in sweat. Joaquin looked at where Bryle pointed and saw a glowing object at the center of the volcano. He looked up and saw the fire dragon still fighting his fire dragon guardian. But even though Joaquin's power is fire, he could still feel the intense heat.

"Bryle, get out of here and just wait for me outside. I won’t watch you die from too much heat." Bryle nodded without protest because he couldn’t stand the heat any longer. He immediately ran away while struggling to breathe. He can’t wait to breathe some fresh air.

Joaquin released strong energy and ignited his entire body. The fire dragon felt his powerful aura and roared, causing the earth to shake again. Bryle grips the tree as the ground is still shaking.

Joaquin tried to get the fire stone but the fire dragon suddenly attacked him with a raging fireball, causing him to fly away and slam his back on the hot wall. He immediately got up and stared sharply at the fire dragon. However, he grinned when he remembered something. He immediately created a huge water ball and threw them at the fire dragon, causing it to growl loudly. Suddenly, the earth shook again and this time; the ground cracked, causing the lava to flow out furiously.

"Sh*t!" Joaquin cursed out loud.

Bryle saw the raging lava flowing out from the volcano. He was worried when his gaze caught the town below.

Bryle immediately creates an earth wall to stop the lava flow. He made it higher and higher and then he built more earth walls. He sighed in relief when he successfully stopped the lava.

Meanwhile, Joaquin attacks the fire dragon with a water ball continuously. And the fire dragon growled furiously while also breathing fire nonstop, too. Joaquin took advantage of the situation while the fire dragon blindly breathed fire in every direction. He set his body ablaze and stooped to the center where the fire stone was.

The fire stone glowed, and he immediately took it. The fire stone floated in his palm and a magic circle appeared. Joaquin screamed at the sudden bursts of energy coming from the firestone. The fire dragon roared when he felt the loss of the fire stone he was protecting all this time.

When the strong energy disappeared, he was shocked when the fire stone entered inside him through his palm.

"What happened?" he said in shock and looked at his palm like he saw a ghost.

But he was on high alert when suddenly the earth shook again, and the lava boiled. He could see the intense heat radiating from the boiling lava. Joaquin immediately flew up in a flash and was met by his fire dragon guardian. He was almost caught when the volcano erupted. However, something bizarre happened when the boiling lava and the gigantic fire dragon suddenly vanished like it never existed at all.

The volcano looks deserted because of the loss of its lava. He was saddened by what he saw, but he had no choice. He only did it for the princesses of their world. A sacrifice must be done to save the world.

Bryle greeted him when he landed on the ground.

"Did you get the fire stone?" Bryle asked. Joaquin just nodded at him.

They wasted no time and continued on their journey to the second stone.