THE SEVEN KINGDOMS (DISCONTINUED)

the fire kingdom

huuuuuuuuuuuge thanks to my boyfriend ( @shiningusum on twitter) FOR WRITING A MAJORITY OF THIS CHAPTER!! PLEASE FOLLOW HIM I LOVE HIM DEARLY

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Varian looked up from his map, then back down, then up again. Yep. This was the place.
He slid off Prometheus and looked ahead of him. This would be the first kingdom where he'd start his journey. He felt a slight anxious thrill grip at his chest. He was excited but nervous. What if he failed? What if he never even got as far as his mother did? What if--

"WATCH OUT!" A voice interrupted his thoughts.

"Huh? AH!" Varian shouted in surprise, narrowly dodging a stray firework shooting in his direction. He let out a sigh of relief before shouting again and dodging another firework for a second time.

The voice that had warned him belonged to a short boy with messy dark hair. He wore red clothing, with darker red pants and yellow outlines. "Sorry! Sorry sorry sorry! I didn't notice you there a-and I thought it was clear. This always happens--"

"WHOA KID, WATCH OUT!" Varian shouted and gripped the boy by the collar of his shirt, yanking him as a third stray firework whizzed past the two.

"Oh! Thanks! I'm Yong, by the way!" The kid talked casually as if nothing had happened. Varian didn't doubt him when he had said this was a regular occurrence.

"Varian. And this is my pal, Ruddiger." He said simply as he quickly showed the raccoon, looking back down at the map he had in his hands. "Uh..." He said aloud in thought.

Yong tried to look over the taller boy's shoulder. "Whatcha' lookin' for?"

"There should be a trial here... but it's not listed on the map. Not that I would expect it to be..."

"Oh! I know where that is!! Follow me!" The boy excitedly skipped forward and Varian cautiously followed the boy. Nor that he didn't trust him, just that he seemed to be very accident-prone. Varian himself was familiar with being so and he wasn't exactly interested in having that doubled.

Still, he followed the boy until they came to a lard red building, the entryway sheltered overhead which was held up by pillars that had dragons wrapped around them. It was certainly a magnificent sight to behold and Varian would take in the beauty of the architecture if he weren't so focused on beginning the trial. "So... how do we start?"

"Inside!" Yong grabbed Varian's hand and practically bounced into the building, dragging the alchemist behind him. Once they had entered, the doors behind them slammed shut and they were locked in. All that stood before them was a singular locked door. The rest of the room was barren. Varian sighed. He wasn't surprised. It was probably a puzzle. He knew Demanitus loved riddles.

"Okay so... What do we have here... Trap door? Some brick that's actually a button?" Varian wonders aloud.

"Oh! I got this!" Yong shot up, running his hand across the wall in search of anything brick that may be a button.

"Yong! Stop! What if you--" He stops when he hears a small click. He looks to Yong's feet to find sure enough, one of the tiles sunken in slightly. A trap tile. "LOOK OUT!" Varian shouts, and for a second time that day, saves Yong. He jumped into action, pushing the boy out of the way and holding the younger boys head down, ducking. A few arrows flew by at a whiskers length just barely skimming the top of Varian's head. He sighs, standing up again. "Okay... we'll just have to watch our step then."

Yong got up from where he was laying on the ground and looked down. "Heh... Sorry."

Varian couldn't help but roll his eyes in an annoyed manner. He stood up and looked around the area again. "Okay... there's gotta be something here..." He walked around the room, avoiding walking on any tiles he thought looked suspicious until he suddenly noticed something. "Look!"