28 028| Magma

The sunrise comes as if it had missed the sky and want nothing more than to warm up those blues to a radiant gold. Along with the rising sun, is the people of Sacchi, ready to start a new day. Back in the kingdom of Pureheart is Quartz, smiling with ecstasy and happiness after being given an opportunity to have a day off as proposed by the princess's orders after his help back in Carlsen Forest.

And what could be better than to spend the day back in the forest with the maiden he fell in love with? The question is, has the maiden fall in love with him as well? With his falcon and a stallion, they gallop back to the field of flowers. Quartz could already hear the maiden's melody from afar, the usual in these kinds of mornings.

Playing her ocarina, Virgo becomes shock, after hearing a familiar tone. She looks back, seeing the young man and his Piccolo, giving a smile to her face. She then continues to play with her ocarina, hopping and skipping around Quartz. Their music combined, forming a beautiful melody. Through this, Virgo has learned to trust the young man more often than before.

"Are you free for the whole morning?" Virgo questions, placing back her ocarina to her pocket.

"Why yes, I am." He replies happily.

"Then why don't you come with me to the city of Dos? It's only five kilometres from where we are. Dos is one of the three capitals of Sacchi, and I've heard it sits on top of a volcano." Virgo delineates.

"And what are you planning to do there?"

"Oh it's nothing big, but perhaps you could help me obtain a stone known as the Sapphire. It does not wield powers or whatsoever but according to the locals, the Sapphire is one of the rarest stones in Sacchi and I, myself, love to collect stones." Virgo asks a favor with a bit of timidity. Hearing her words, the young man gladly concurred and decided to help the maiden.

The city of Dos lies in the direction, parallel to the sun. Riding a horse, the three of them proceed to the city in order to help the maiden acquire something valuable known as the Sapphire. A rare stone, Igneous to be exact. It was forged under the flames of the volcano of Dos. Brittle as gold, however, valuable as diamonds. No one can find the Sapphire except in the city of Dos.

Upon arrival, Quartz's eyes are in shock. The city has the looks of a medieval town wherein houses are made out of either wood or brick, roofs are covered in wheat, and chimneys are as tall as a refrigerator. The people look snobbish, the type of people Quartz wouldn't want to talk to. There are also some creatures such as the famous Scavenger Piglins and hunters.

There are also elves, creatures as tall as people but with long ears. For Quartz, Dos seems like a headquarter for lucre for everything his eyes could see was nothing but barters, trades, and some of them even seemed like criminals. The city is quite frightening indeed.

"Just... don't keep eye contact at them." Virgo murmurs, trying to comfort Quartz's uncomfortable feeling. Even after hearing the words of the maiden, Quartz did not respond, only choking his saliva heavily.

"Watch it!" A civilian scum with the looks of a drunk man, yells at them when the horse accidentally hits his leg. He then continues his walk, nearly causing an argument.

"Are you sure this is the capital of Sacchi?" Quartz queries in a soft voice.

"Well, that is what is written in books of old. I guess it has drastically changed since the unity's downfall."

The horse continues to gallop, trying to produce the slightest of sounds. After seeing a group of mad civilians throwing stones and bottles to a nearby tree, Quartz decides to halt the stallion for a moment to see what kind of commotion is going on. The people seem intense, angry, and infuriated as if a protest was happening.

"Is there anything wrong?" Quartz queries to one of the civilians.

"Magmorites, their here again." The civilian replies, and begins to throw rocks at the tree.

Somehow curious about the creature, Quartz decides to tie the stallion with a lead in order not to be stolen by anyone while he and the maiden are gone. They circle the city, only to surpass the crowd of mad people. To the tree they went, only to see a stone man with small gaps on his body filled with boiling lava. He has the scent of granite and Lahar. The man is calmly reading his book, not minding the crowd throwing stones at him. The tree serves as his shield.

"Hello there." The man tilts his head to Quartz and Virgo, seemingly peaceful and friendly.

"Are you what they call you? A Magmorite?" Virgo questions.

"Oh, yes I am. My name is Maximus by the way. Oh, don't worry at the crowd, I'm used to it. You see, Magmorites have a high reputation for being wicked stone beings who wreck villages with the spew of a lava from our mouths. Not all of us are wicked however, just like me, my only purpose here was to read books and enjoy the remaining life I have.

Magmorites only have a life span of twenty, and I'm already seventeen years old, living me with three years left. Sigh, I guess I have to find a new place to read my book." Maximus introduces. His smile suddenly turns into a frown afterward as he stands and slowly walks away from the city. Quartz quickly halts him, to ask another question.

"Wait Maximus. Do you know where we could find the so-called Sapphire?"

"Oh, you're here to find the stone? Haha, since the two of you seem friendly, sure. I'll gladly show you its location. Follow me." Maximus smiles, offering to lend a helping hand.

"Are we to trust a stone man sire?" Endeavor whispers to his ear.

"He seems friendly," Quartz responds, playing with the chin of his falcon.

Maximus, the Magmorite, leads the two of them to a nearby mine. The mine is open to the public, that's if, you could bear the smell and heat of the lava. The mines are a passageway to the depths of the volcano. For a Magmorite like Maximus, the heat of the mine is tolerable after all, their species are made of magma.

For Quartz and Virgo however, the heat suffocates them slowly as they reach the deeper parts of the mines. Inside the mines, a galore of hot oozing mud could be seen, lava spewing out of nowhere like geysers, and stalactites randomly falling from the ceilings of the mine. This is a place where only the toughest could survive.

"Over there!" Maximus points to a sapphire, hanging near a stalactite. The problem is, the stalactite is hanging above the lava.

"Can you reach it for us?" Quartz pleads for he does not want to become a pile of burned bones when something terribly goes wrong.

"Sorry mate, I'm too heavy and short." He excuses.

"Sire, allow me to help." Endeavor volunteers.

The falcon then glides to the stalactite and with its beak, it grabs the sapphire and returns back to the young man's shoulder. Seeing the sapphire, her eyes sparkled and her hands could not wait but to get hold of it. Suddenly from the other entrance of the mines, the voice of two Piglins echoes throughout. They were asking something to the guard of the entrance.

"Have you seen this girl in the portrait?" One of the Piglin queries.

Quartz and Maximus did not pay attention, however, for Virgo, the echo seems like a nearby trouble.

"Quartz we have to leave quickly." Virgo starts to panic inside, trying her best not to show it to the young man. Seconds pass, and Virgo starts to hear the footsteps of Piglins arriving closer to them. She bids and pleads to Maximus, whispering to his ears, "Speak none of this to the two Piglins, please." She then grabs Quartz's hand and dashes back to the surface of Sacchi.

"Um... ok then." Maximum replies, watching Virgo and Quartz run away.

"Hey, you! You're a Magmorite. Tell me, have you seen a gi-"

"No... No, I haven't. Actually, I'm all alone here, having my lava bath. Magmorites need a smooth skin as well." Maximus quickly interrupts, thinking of an excuse to fool the Piglins.

Back with Virgo and Quartz, Virgo controls the horse this time. The stallion gallops as far away from the city as possible.

"What's all the rush?" Quartz decides to query, confused about Virgo's strange and peculiar actions.

"Nothing much. Hold the Sapphire tightly. We have to proceed to the city of Uno next." Virgo responds in a worried manner, looking back to the city to see if someone or something is following them. She then speeds up the pace of the stallion, heading to the north they go.