Beneath the Crystal: The Fireling Reign (SEQUEL)

Chapter 2: Visions

Ignus grunts as he once again falls flat on his face, trying to capture a wisp. The small dragonfly-like creature seemed to cackle in his face and continue to glide away with the beetroot. Kala laughs at Ignus's failed attempts at catching the scattering bug, yelling, "How do you expect to cross the Great Divide when you can't even capture a tinnie-wennie wisp?!"

Ignus huffs and stands back up with square shoulders. He hates how Kala doubts him so. He can do so much more than she thinks. "Shut up! I'll get your stupid root!" He shouts, glaring daggers at the wisp. It spits at Ignus before stuffing the root in its mouth and speeding over the fenced area surrounding Kala's small hut home of dirt and moulted lava. Ignus growls under his breath while rolling up the sleeves of his dark brown tunic. "That little--" He turns into a fireball and blasts through the fence, chasing after the sneaky wisp. Kala watches with her jaw dropped. She furrows her brows and stomps her foot, flames popping out of her clothes in annoyance.

"Ignus! You better fix my Mama's fence before she comes back from the surface! She'll have my head if she sees this!" She exclaims, running over to the broken fence and sighing deeply. "Great ..."

Ignus continues to speed through the village and past other firelings working at their markets. The wisp looks back at Ignus and shrieks, flying as fast he could. Ignus made it out of the village and unknowingly speeds out of the passageway. The wisp looks back at Ignus in alarm then back ahead, smashing right into a rock. The wisp dizzily falls to the ground and drops the root. Ignus grins and abruptly stops, his flames slowly dying down. He snatches the root from the wisp and grins. "Hah! Dumb wisp," He mumbles, stuffing the root in his satchel.

He turns back around and stops suddenly, realizing he's lost in the caves. "Uh ... where ... am I?" He questions. The wisp shakes its and glares daggers at Ignus before floating up and flying deeper into the caves. Ignus looks back at the wisp and laughs sheepishly. "H-Hey! Wait for me!" He calls out, following the wisp into the caves. The wisp continues to try and lose Ignus along the way, turning sharp corners and flying over large rocks, but Ignus always found a way to catch up.

The wisp travels through a large passageway that had lots of words beside it in the wall. Ignus reads over the writing. "Main Passage ... to where?" He asks, hesitantly following the wisp inside of it. He narrows his large eyes when a bright light shines on his face. He blinks away the light and gasps when he finds himself standing on the surface, looking out towards Thra. "The Outer Sphere ..." Ignus breathes out, smiling from ear to ear.

"I ... I made it to the surface!" He cheers, laughing giddily. He stops cheering when he hears talking from around the corner of the mountain. He hides back inside the passage and stares at the wisp that quickly hides in Ignus's satchel out of fear. He arches a brow at the wisp's weird behavior.

"Those gelfling are gonna get it one of these days," A deep male voice speaks.

"Darling, you know they don't mean to. They are just misguided," Kala's mother speaks.

"They know exactly what they're doing. Taking our crops, pushing us around, spreading false rumors! They want the All-Maudra to exterminate our kind!"

Ignus cowers away when he hears their footsteps come closer to the entrance of Mount Thranir. Questions start to run through his mind: Who are they? They have to be fireling, right? What are they doing outside of Mount Thranir's walls? It's not Scavenger Day today, is it?

"Well, if we are going to start a rebellion, you'll have to learn patience first, Tolli."

Tolli huffs tiredly. "Right ..."

The two couple walk into the passage and stop abruptly, carrying large baskets of fruits and plants. "Ignus?" The two firelings ask in surprise.

His eyebrows raise in surprise, realizing that they were relatives of Kala. "Kala's parents?"