Dragons of Asgard 6 Chapter 2

As soon as we stepped into the world of fire, smoke filled my lungs, and the scent of sulfur overtook my senses.

The realm was still dark with the dawn of the new day, and there were a few stars visible through the smoke that hung overhead. Everything around was hazy, but as I took in my surroundings, I saw the cave just a quarter mile ahead of us.

“Come on,” I told my team of beautiful, fearsome women, and we all rushed toward the large volcano looking structure.

As we ran, my body began to sweat from the heat in the realm, and my breathing was more labored than usual from how incredibly humid and smoky it was.

“I don’t see any signs of a demon,” Kas said once we were close to the cave.

“What are the signs of a demon?” Asta asked innocently.

“Well, I don’t know,” Kas admitted, and she pursed her lips. “I just mean there’s nothing here to indicate there is one. I don’t see any skeletons or flames.”

“Skeletons of what?” Eira asked with a wry smile. “Do fire demons eat people?”

“I don’t know,” Kas huffed, and she threw her hands up in exasperation.

“I’m thinking the demon is inside the cave,” I said, and I looked at my team. “I know this is all happening very quickly, but we have to make sure we get the heart of Odin before the Elf King does. Are you all ready?”

“I’m ready.” Kas nodded.

“Let’s do it.” Eira grinned.

“Ready.” Asta smiled sweetly.

The dragons all nodded as well, and looks of determination came over their little reptilian faces.

I unsheathed my sword, and all my women followed suit. Then Svass blew out a little flame to light our way as we walked up to the cave entrance and stepped inside. It was even hotter inside the cave than it was outside, and the bottoms of my feet were sweaty and warm from the heat that came off the ground.

It smelled like burnt meat and sulfur, and the further we went into the cave, the harder my heart seemed to pound. After about ten minutes of walking, we hadn’t come across anything, but we were already so deep into the cave that we had nowhere to go whenever the fire demon appeared.

Odin said plenty of men had already died trying to get this stone, but I had faith in myself and my team. We’d taken on plenty of fearsome opponents and won, though I couldn’t say a fire demon was on the list of foes we’d defeated.

At least, not yet.

As we walked through the cave, I wiped the sweat off my brow and tried to keep up the pace while also being aware of everything going on around me.

I couldn’t sense any creatures nearby, but soon a bright orange-yellowish light appeared before us, and I knew we were getting close to something.

“Do you think that’s the demon?” Asta asked in a low voice behind me.

“I’m not sure,” I said. “But we need to be ready for anything.”

“How are we going to fight against a fire demon?” Kas whispered.

“We’ll probably need some of that magic of yours,” I told her.

“We’re on it,” Kas said, and then some excitement came into her voice. “Asta, you can cast rain, right?”

“Yes.” The elf girl nodded.

“That’s a good idea,” I agreed. “And it’s probably our best bet to take this thing down.”

“I’ll cast as much rain as I can,” Asta said as she bounced on her toes eagerly.

Blar was at my feet, and he continued ahead of me cautiously.

The yellow-orange glow grew larger and larger the farther we walked, and soon, I could see a large opening before us.

With my sword at the ready, I stepped through the small opening in the cave and nearly stumbled off a ledge and into a huge pool of magma in the center of the room.

“Shite,” I breathed as I took a step back.

“What is this?” Kas whispered behind me.

“I don’t know,” I said, and I looked around until I noticed a small chest on the other side of the room.

The only way to get to it was to travel along the narrow pathway that encircled the room. The center was just a large hole filled with magma, and one wrong step could send someone hurdling to their death.

“Is that magma?” Asta gasped. “I’ve never seen it in person before.”

“Yes.” I nodded and pointed across from us. “And I’m pretty sure the stone is over there.”

“Tiny chest on the other side of a lake of magma in a fire demon’s lair,” Eira said sarcastically. “Yup, that must be it.”

“Yes, this has to be the fire demon’s cave,” Kas agreed without seeming to notice the playful tone in Eira’s voice. “But where’s the demon, then?”

“Odin said there was one here,” I said as my eyes darted around the room warily. “So it’s got to be around here somewhere. Maybe it will only appear once we try to take the stone.”

“Unless the Elf King already defeated it,” Asta whispered, and she looked at me with beautiful yellow eyes full of concern.

“Let’s not think that way.” I shook my head. “I’m going to head over to the chest. You all stay here.”

“Not a chance,” Eira scoffed. “We’re not going to let you go alone.”

I knew it was dangerous, but I also knew my women were incredibly capable, and I couldn’t treat them like they weren’t. It was probably insulting of me to tell them to stay back, but with Kas's pregnancy, I didn’t want to put them in any unnecessarily risky situation.

Still, they were here with me, and I could use their help.

“Okay.” I nodded. “Eira, you go around the other side, Kas, Asta, and Preyna, you stay here. We need you to be able to cast rain as soon as you see the demon.”

“We’ll be ready,” Kas assured me with a hard nod.

I looked at Eira. “Let’s go.”

“I’m right beside you, husband,” the redhead said with a grin.

I stepped to the right and started to make my way along the small narrow path as Eira carefully went to the left.

The ground beneath my feet was only a foot or so wide, and the walls went upward at an angle so it was impossible to hold on to them, not that there were any rocks to hold onto in the first place. The wall was just one solid rock, so I had to stand facing the wall and shuffle along as carefully as possible.

I’d only made it about ten feet when a massive amount of heat slammed into my back, and it was immediately followed by a thunderous roar that filled the entire area and shook the walls around me. Dust and debris fell around my face and into my eyes, which I instinctively closed as I crouched down as low as I could.

“Rath!” Asta’s voice called out, and it was full of panic.

I knew the creature was right behind me, but right then, there wasn't much I could do. The heat at my back grew hotter, and I quickly thought of a plan. I grabbed my dagger from my hip and thrust it into the rock in front of me, then I used it as a pivot point and turned so my back was against the wall.

My jaw fell open as I took in the sight before me. A massive fire demon was protruding from the magma. It was so large its head nearly touched the ceiling of the strange cave, and its arms were long enough to reach all the way across. It had no legs, only arms, and a huge face with black eyes and a black mouth to match.

The creature let out a huge roar as it turned and swung its massive magma hand right at me.

“Fuck,” I cursed as I ducked down to avoid its hand.

The area above me lit up with coals where the magma scorched the rock, and more ash and debris fell onto my neck and shoulders, but the slight burn of the little falling rocks was overshadowed by the huge creature in front of me and the intense adrenaline rushing through my body.

I’d been up against plenty of strange opponents before, but never one that could literally kill me with one swing. If this bastard caught my head with that magma hand, I was absolutely done for.

I leaped to the right as the sonofabitch swatted at me again with the same poor aim. It may be deadly, but at least it wasn’t the smartest opponent. Or maybe it had a hard time controlling its body since it was made out of liquid rock. Either way, I was grateful it didn’t have the greatest aim.

“Over here, you dumb bastard!” Eira hollered when the creature attempted to swipe at me a third time, and the fire demon spun around to swing its arm out toward the redhead.

“Hey, you ugly sonofabitch!” I screamed once I was back on my feet.

The fire demon turned back to me, and its black eyes seemed confused. It looked from me to Eira, then back again. The poor thing clearly didn’t know which of us to go after now. It probably hadn’t had more than one opponent at a time before, and I was starting to realize it was even dumber than I originally thought.

Finally, the beast settled on me, and it swung its liquid hand out, but I was ready this time. I held up my sword, and my blade caught the demon where its wrist would be.

I knew it wouldn’t damage my blade because of the enchantment on it, but I hadn’t expected my sword would do absolutely nothing to the demon.

Magma flew off the creature’s hand, but instead of losing that limb, it regenerated a new one within seconds. Since it was in a pile of magma, it had a constant source to pull from, and that was when I realized we were in deep shite.

Suddenly, Blair appeared right above the demon with Inger, Uffe, Svass, and Elding. They all blasted the creature with their dragon fire, and I hoped since it wasn’t like normal flames it would do something, but that wasn’t the case. The fire seemed to just feed the demon, and with how hot the demon was, the dragons couldn’t claw it or use any other physical attack.

Then a rain cloud appeared above the fire demon. It was small, but it was there, and a slight sense of relief came over me as I watched it grow larger and larger.

Asta, Kas, and Preyna were all standing with their hands linked and mumbling in the old language, and silver, red, and gold sparkles swirled around the rain cloud as large drops poured down on top of the fire demon. Just as I’d suspected, the magma turned to rock wherever it was hit with the rain, and for a second, it seemed like the creature was unable to move its head and neck.

“That’s it!” I cheered. “We’re getting somewhere, now!”

Just when I thought the beast was going to be solidified by the rock, it shook itself off with one massive shudder like it was a dog shaking water off its back.

The rock broke off in pieces and slid off the demon to reveal a fresh layer of magma below.

“Fuck,” I cursed as the beast let out another thunderous roar that shook the entire cavern.

If the rain wasn’t going to stop it, then what would defeat this damn thing?

“Try snow!” I yelled, and the fire demon slashed at me once more, so I ducked down again.

Each time the creature sliced at me, it hit the wall behind me and caused it to melt away at my back. I had to be careful not to press my back to the wall, which was difficult considering the ledge I was on was barely wide enough to fit my feet.

Kas, Asta, and Preyna started to cast snow above the creature, but that wasn’t doing anything, either. I had no idea what was going to work against this thing, but there was only one way to find out.

“Give it all you’ve got!” I bellowed as I held my sword up and sliced at the magma creature whenever its hand swung past me.

Everyone attacked all at once. The dragons darted around the demon’s head and tried their best to do something to help. Inger swirled air and pushed it toward the creature in an attempt to cool it down, but that only seemed to fan the flames, so Kas, Asta, and Preyna went back to casting rain since it seemed to work better than the snow. Blar attempted to use his portal to transfer the fire demon somewhere else, but the creature was too big to fit, and when he tried to make the portal larger, the beast swatted at him and disturbed his concentration so he had to start all over. Uffe used his earth powers to pull chunks of rocks off the wall and hurl them at the creature, but the magma simply swallowed them.

It wasn’t until Elding used her lightning power that we really got somewhere. The first strike did nothing, but the second strike hit just where the women were casting rain, and instead of it turning into rock like it had before, with the added jolt of the lightning, it turned into glass.

“Holy shite,” I breathed.

I’d heard lightning hitting the beach during a storm could create glass, but I’d never seen it happen in real time, so I waited for a second to see what the creature would do.

The fire demon looked at his shoulder where the glass was and tried to pull it off, but it wasn’t budging. He tried to give his body a shake as he had done when the rain turned the outer layer of his body into rock, but again, the glass didn’t move.

“Do that again!” I hollered as the beast flailed its arms around in an attempt to free itself from the glass prison on its shoulder. “Elding, strike your lightning where the rain lands!”

The beautiful green dragon nodded at me, and the girls created an even larger rain cloud above the fire demon. The creature seemed to know we were up to something, so he began to flail his arms around randomly to swipe at Eira and me. The ex warband leader and myself were quick, though, and we managed to dodge his attacks.

I shuffled as fast as I could back toward the chest, and the demon turned to follow me just as I’d hoped. That was when Elding let out a huge lightning strike right at the beast’s head where the rain was coming down. The demon’s head and shoulders turned to glass, but its arms continued to swing around in a panic.

It was like a snake’s head continuing to bite even after it was removed from its body.

The demon’s arms flailing around caused even more chaos than its purposeful movements, and wherever it hit, the magma melted the rock until dust and debris fell all around me. Then the entire cavern seemed to shake as the creature panicked and slammed into the wall over and over again.

“Keep going!” I shouted. “Get its hands!”

I was busy ducking the fire demon’s magma hands and trying to dodge the falling debris, so I couldn’t see exactly what the girls were doing, but I noticed the rain cloud move over to one of the arms.

A second later, lightning struck, and the entire arm turned to glass.

The arm closest to me was completely immobilized, but the arm next to Eira still swung wildly. The fire demon swatted at Eira over and over, but the redhead leapt up into the air to avoid the attack.

Then Kas, Preyna, and Asta managed to get the rain cloud over to the arm nearest to Eira, and once it was covered in a good layer of rain and the magma began to turn to rock, Elding used her lightning powers to send a jolt through it.

The entire demon was made of glass at this point, but his arm landed next to Eira and blocked her path back to the entrance of the cave, so I quickly grabbed my sword and flipped it in my hand to hold it like a spear. Then I reared back and hurtled the blade through the air toward the center of the fire demon, and my sword landed square in the creature’s chest. With a loud sound, the glass cracked, and the crack fanned outward to the demon’s face and limbs. An intense crunching sound pierced my eardrums as the glass shattered into a million pieces, which fell into the magma, along with my sword.

A second later, Blar appeared on my shoulder, and I held my hand out for him. He breathed dragon fire into my hand, and the familiar weight of my sword hit my palm.

“Thanks, buddy.” I smiled at the little dragon and scratched under his chin, and then I looked around the large cavern. “Is everyone alright?”

“We’re good over here,” Kas called out.

“Eira?” Preyna asked. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine,” the redhead answered, and she stood up and blew a loose strand of hair out of her face. “That damn thing almost got me a couple of times, though.”

“Me, too,” I said. “It was quick.”

“We’re just lucky it was stupid,” she laughed.

“You noticed that, too, huh?” I chuckled.

“How could you not?” she scoffed. “We’re lucky we had Asta, Preyna, and Kas. The demon was dumb, but it was strong. If we didn't have a way to put out the magma, then we would have been completely overpowered.”

“It’s no wonder so many people died trying to get this stone,” I said. “Even with dragons, we were still at a disadvantage.”

“The fire demon was more trouble than I thought it was going to be,” Eira said with a shake of her head.

“Me too,” I admitted. “But it’s taken care of now.”

“Right.” She grinned. “Which means it’s time for us to see what’s in that damn chest over there.”

I smiled at Eira from across the pool of magma. “Let’s go.”

The redhead and I started to make our way to the chest, but then Asta called out to us.

“Wait, we’re coming, too!” she shouted, and the three women split up so Preyna and Kas went to the left behind Eira, and Asta came to the right after me.

Eira and I waited for them to get to us before we continued on. The ledge was incredibly small, but it seemed pretty sturdy, and it didn't give up at all as they made their way over to us, so I had confidence it would hold up. It also held up through the fire demon attack, so I supposed it was fairly sturdy.

Before we could reach the chest, Blar, Inger, Uffe, Svass, and Elding flew over the magma and landed on the ledge near the box to wait for us.

“You just had to remind us that you can fly, didn’t you?” I chuckled as I looked at the little dragons.

Blar smiled, nodded, and then gestured to the chest below him.

“I know, I know,” I said as I walked over to it. “We’re getting there.”

As soon as I was within reach, I quickly knelt down in front of the chest, but when I tried to open it, I realized it was locked.

“What’s wrong?” Asta asked.

“I can’t get it open.” I shook my head. “The fucking thing is locked.”

“Here, let me help,” Kas said, and she knelt down beside me.

“I can assist, too,” Preyna offered as she knelt down next to Kas.

The two women each put their hands on top of the chest and began to mumble in the old language, and after a few seconds, red and gold magical sparkles swirled all around them and encapsulated the chest in their hands. After a minute, the lock made a sort of clicking noise, and Kas and Preyna stopped muttering and removed their hands from the wooden box.

“It's unlocked,” Kas said, and her violet eyes landed on mine. “You can open it now.”

“Thank you.” I nodded, but my heart beat out of my chest as I carefully and slowly placed my hands on the wood. My palms grew sweaty, and the hinges creaked as I lifted the lid.

Once it was open, my mouth fell agape.

“Where is it?” Kas asked, and her voice was full of panic.

The box was completely fucking empty.