Eyes of the Salamander (Chapter 1)

A large castle stands hidden inside a dense fog on the base of volcanic rock as it reaches up, its crown a sharp point attached to a segmented blocked body decorated with golden triangles. A lady in a red robe stands out on a balcony in the center of the body of the castle looking out over an island of ash as well crashing waves from the ocean it sits on. The lady wears a gold mask that covers half her beauty while hiding the other which showcases a probing round red eye. In addition to the artificial half of her face the lady in reds right arm is covered up to the elbow in the same-colored garment or red while the rest of it extends out as a rigid lifeless gold arm. The lady opens up the right hand on her lifeless golden arm which when fully extended appears as a clawed talon. Then five glass spectacles pop out the back of her hand from hidden compartments, four from her knuckles as well one in the middle.

The glass eye at the back center of the lady's hand begins to form an image of two figures walking along the main colonnade in the ruins outside Igniton. When the image in the mirrored glass begins to enlarge by the lady's right red eye as it widens the view the two figures on screen enlarge as well. They appear juxtaposed from one another in both height and form as a tall man with reddish brown hair alongside a short anthropomorphic frog man wearing a sleuthing cap.

The false red eye behind the lady's golden mask glows as the glass eye above the middle one on the back of her hand begins to form an image as well. The second image is of herself standing in the ruins further down the colonnade where the two figures are headed towards.

"Hefestos!", the lady calls out as her false red eye activates yet another of her glass spectacles on the back of her hand.

A man with dark hair that lies mostly away from his burnt scalp as well protruding forehead with a most repugnant mask of a face covered in red boils with his left eye forced shut as the reddish skin draping over it appears on the mirror closest to the thumb on the lady's right taloned hand.

"My, mistress, Armatura! Do you not see them?", Hefestos asked

"Of course I see them! I am scrying three images at once, you, my doppelganger as well them. Very little escapes my attention in the ruins as long as my Avery of birds flock there.", Armatura arrogantly remarks

From behind Hefestos in a steaming mechanical dungeon of a room are lined up eerily on a back wall three headless duplicate bodies of Armatura as well a large mechanical looking black spider on a platform. Hefestos remarks to Armatura who's face is on a large glass screen in the center with four other mirrored screens connected around the center one like a larger version of the ones on the back of her gold taloned hand," Should I send for the Black Mongrel to escort them back to Titan Tower?"

"No, it appears that they know too much already. I have come to far to care for the interlopers' livelihood; they have sealed their fate by coming to the ruins just as the witch Styx had done. No, let Barbaros have them to use as cannon fodder against Ynz creature.", Armatura stated firmly

"As you wish...", Hephestos complied just as the transmission was abruptly ended by Armatura.

"...though I fear these two disappearances will bring about more than even you are prepared to bargain with at this stage.", Hephestos said to himself as machinery hummed behind him.

"Look ahead, my friend, do you see it!", Plodok told Malcome who was walking alongside him down the ruined path in the Mines of Morgoth.

To confirm what Plodok was referring to Malcome replied, "Yes, a figure just as narrow from this distance as that entranceway here which Hanson led us out from."

Plodok remarked," That may be an exaggeration but for you I can see your point when you had to use your magically imbued right hand to widen the crevasse enough for you to climb out of it."

"Yes...", Malcome began as he griped his right hand with the other," I did not want to as the witches of fire warned not to tax the power implanted within, but I had to make my way here to this desolate ruined place."

"Is your hand in pain?", a concerned Plodok asked his friend.

"No, it just pulsates as a heart beating warm to the touch.", Malcome says feeling his right hand with the other as if drawing strength from it.

Suddenly the flutter of many tiny wings sounded over the two heroes' heads!

The pair came to a halt, watching what seemed like a hundred tiny birds congregate towards the figure far ahead of them.

The heroes then see the birds obscure the figure far ahead as they futter all around her, the sounds of there almost metallic cries reverberating back to them.

Then a loud voice began to sing, it was a woman's voice amongst the birds own voices wailing away up far ahead coming from the figure which now began to sway, to and frow.

The women's wail invited a chill up the spines of both heroes as they both looked at each other before continuing on.

The singing voices of both the woman and her birds grew louder as the heroes drew closer.

The when the heroes could make out the form of the woman wailing upon a platform of ruin above both heroes her motion as well as singing stopped.

The birds around the woman all settled down either on the woman or pieces of ruin about before the sounds of marching feet were heard closing in on the heroes.

"Welcome brave souls!", the woman cried from atop her perch.

Immediately, Plodok recognized the woman as the one they had met in the Desert of Fire outside the Tail of the Salamander.

"Is this where you are hiding Prince Trace?", Plodok asked accusingly.

Malcome clutching his right hand yelled, "She's not real!"

"You are not the clever one...", the woman said before homing in with her right concealed eye behind a golden mask half covering her face.

The women in red then screamed, "Your hand...I see the power of Braum pulsating within your right hand!"

"So, the Witches of Fire cast the enchantment of Brahms Gauntlet seeking to turn the tide of Fortuna in their favor!", the woman howled before pointed her golden arm with its clawed finger pointing towards the sound of the marching feet.

As the marching stopped the woman shouts down at the heroes," I will be the only one to receive the gold left behind as the tide recedes! Then in turn I will destroy the Witches of Fire as I bring the most massive wave of vengeance upon not only them but Igniton itself!"

"As this world burns!", the woman shrieks in terror

"Your mad!", Malcome tells not the women before her but the one pulling the strings elsewhere as he knows this one is but a mannequin.

"Armatura! That's who is really directing things from behind this robotic scarecrow!", Plodok reasons

"You are correct my foolish little frog! Though you will never reveal my secret to anyone else! No, both of you will join your lost friends down in the vault of Ynz the Worlock!", the voice of the real Armatura declares while animating her duplicate to point towards the steps leading downward with her gold taloned finger.

"Let us be brave together my friend.", Malcome says as both he and Plodok proceed towards the steps not fully knowing what awaits them.

The leader of his band of warriors Barbaros scoffs upon seeing the two heroes descend the ruined steps towards him," Make a corridor for these two fools to follow into! Directly towards there doom!"

Upon their leader's command his warriors line up across from one another leaving a space for the heroes to walk down towards a large hole in the side of a slag of mountain under a ruined building. The warriors then hold their long scabbards barring the path forward before the heroes.

Barbaros full of hubris tells the heroes, "I will give you a choice, either battle us for your freedom here and now or face the creature inside that cavern! The choice is yours!"

"I would rather knock the stuffing out of that sack you call a belly.", Malcome cooly tells Barbaros who stands confidently stroking his black bear while leaning on his large, spiked club.

"What say you, yay if you have the guts or nay if you do not as I suspect?", Macolme tells Barbaros whose face begins to turn red right before he hits him with all the might he can muster in his right fist!

Barbaros lets out a loud "Ooof!" before he crumbles to the ground after Malcome's fist drives all the air from his overblown body!

Barbaros tries to command his warriors to attack the heroes but instead finds he is barely able to breathe gasps instead as Malcome motions his right hand for the path forward to be unbarred.

As the warriors some even smiling upon seeing Barbaros humiliated in the way he was lift up their halberds in order to let the heroes threw.

As the heroes stand before the hole leading into the vault one of the warriors tells them," May Brahm grant you victory against the Gem-Eyed creature within! For all our sakes."

The very sobering sentiment of even a perceived enemy tells Malcome that not everyone Armatura thinks she has as a puppet on strings truly is. Malcome would have to take advantage of this later on if he was able to survive first against the Warlocks creature.

Malcome then told Plodok while focusing all his remaining might into his right hand, "Well, there really is no turning back now. Is there?"

"No, there is not my brave friend.", Plodok told Malcome as he oddly took out his pipe to long pipe.

So, with fist and pipe the two heroes bravely entered inside the cave.