The Death's Game

46. Game of Lava World

As soon as they crossed the door, Mint didn't even bother with their surroundings, which was a beautiful land of fire and lava, because the key she had chosen was in the shape of a flame.

The land was a mesmerizing blend of fiery terrain and fantastical elements. The ground itself was made of shimmering, molten rock that flowed like rivers of liquid fire, creating intricate patterns of reds, oranges, and golds. Towering volcanoes rose like majestic sentinels, their plumes of smoke and ash trailing into the sky.

In this magical realm, life had adapted to the fiery environment in astounding ways. They encountered trees with leaves that resembled flames, their branches crackling softly as they swayed. The fauna consisted of creatures with fiery coats, scales, or feathers that emitted a warm glow. Firebirds with wings that left trails of sparks behind them filled the skies, while elusive salamanders made of living ember scuttled through the landscape.

Flowing gracefully through the terrain were rivers of molten fire, casting a warm and ethereal glow upon the land. The gentle sounds of crackling flames provided a soothing backdrop to the landscape's vibrant energy. The realm was dotted with majestic volcanoes, each a symbol of both destruction and creation. Their peaks disappeared into the heavens, wreathed in plumes of smoke and ash that painted the sky with a dramatic palette of dark and fiery hues. Sometimes, these volcanoes erupted with displays of pyrotechnic splendor, casting showers of sparks and molten rock high into the air.

Ryder knew this place very well, and so did Mint, and both of them had their different, yet the same memory of being here, or rather in the crystal caverns, which were beneath the surface of the land lay and seemed to pulse with a radiant inner light.

A beautiful caverns, nestled within the land, with their walls reflecting the dancing flames and casting a kaleidoscope of colors that illuminated the hidden depths with an otherworldly radiance.

"You've chose this place on purpose?"

"What?" Mint frowned, not understanding what Ryder meant. "Wait, did Death told you-" she sighed and didn't finish the sentence.

"Everybody knew you two had a romance," he replied, looking around.

"Not everybody knew here. You know about the other meeting points too?"

Ryder didn't answer the question. Mint wouldn't like the answer.

"Better it be coming to the end," he said, making her equally angry.

"Shut up," she growled, kicking a stone lying on the ground. "It's all Percy's fault anyway."

Ryder laughed at her words. "For you, everything is Percy's fault. All problems in the universe are Percy's fault."

Mint looked at him with a serious gaze in her gaze. "Aren't they? It's all started when Death agreed on giving Percy a second chance. She should've stayed dead the first time she died."

"Except, she wasn't dead after that accident."

"She was dying in that stupid coma." Mint kicked another stone, clearly angry about the things that happened in the past. "She came back and thus became a problem with all those side effects."

"There can be always side effects. What do you expect of those who will come back after The Game? That it will be all fine? They didn't die in the exact same second."

Mint huffed, "Percy gained the ability so see the other side, to see demons, to see the supernatural part of the world. That's not some side effect, that's a fracture."

Ryder shook his head. "Maybe it's a fracture since you tried to kill her through the help of some lower-class demons, making her a demon slayer, also known in Hell, thanks to you. And the reason of why you wanted her dead was also stupid."