Did You Hear That?

"Darling, look at these beautiful glittering stones. All seven of them are so pristine and happy. This means are children are doing great, right?" A deep and melodious voice questioned.

"Naturally, they are great. What else would they be?"

"Do you think those men will discover them? We did not have enough time to prepare..."

"Stop jinxing us. Everything is fine." A harsh voice commanded.

It was at this moment, that a slight cracking sound could be heard. Both the man and woman jerked their heads around in shock towards the seven glowing stones. The third one from the right was starting to dim and crack.

"Eden?"

"What's happening?!"

They continued observing day and night, however, the situation was not growing any better. Growing dimmer and dimmer, the stone was cracking apart at a breakneck pace.

"Who is it?! Who would dare injure my daughter like so?!" Growling out angrily, Elbianth could not avoid punching apart the wall. "Kalerea, we have to go and help her. At this rate, we will lose our daughter!"

"You know just as well as I do that we cannot escape here yet." Although her voice sounded indifferent, one could ascertain the weariness and worry that leaked in.

"Damn it all!" Breaking more things, the walls all fell victim to the man's temper. However, oddly enough, they all reappeared completely fine afterwards. The pieces of stone dissipated and the scene restored itself. Witnessing this occur, Elbianth's expression turned sour. Even his anger could not be expressed the way he wanted!

Thankfully, the dimming halted and the stone stopped cracking apart. However, the situation was not getting any better which mean Eden was still in a precarious state. Staring with red eyes, Elbianth felt an fury build up in himself that was uncontrollable. Useless, useless, useless! He was so useless. As a husband and father, he could not protect his wife or his precious children. Not too long ago, little seventh's stone also dimmed to a dangerous point. All his children were running into near-death situations, but all he was capable of doing was sit around and watch the stones while stuck in this hell-like place.

"When I leave this place, the first action I will carry out is rip off all their heads!" He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palm causing blood to drip.

*ROAR!*

A deafening roar escaped his mouth as the anger in his heart finally settled.

"Just sit down and work harder. We need to recuperate our full strength. The faster we do this, the faster we can assist the kids." Her lips hardening into a straight line, Kalerea also felt deeply frustrated in her heart. But if the strength was not there, what could the weak do other than complain?

...

Greyson shivered slightly as if he could detect a desperate roar in the background. Glancing around, Greyson tried finding the source.

"Did you hear that?" Both Greyson and Rosalie asked at the same time.

"Hear what?" The rest of the group looked at them oddly. The skies on the way to the Fire Altar were completely serene and silent. Confused, the siblings glanced at each other not sure what is was they heard.

"Nothing, must be our imagination." Sighing to himself, Greyson realized he was feeling slightly anxious.

"Well, on a more interesting note, we are almost in the Amian territory~," Cerul teased. Obviously flinching, the twins felt like lambs up for slaughter.

"Alright, Cerul, don't keep rubbing salt in the wound. You both, we will wait around the Fire Altar if we get through the test before you can regroup with us." Aeos spoke seriously.

"We get it. Honestly, she probably will not force us to do much. We will most likely have to just tolerate her dragging us around to eat and shop and look at things. She's not as pushy and arrogant as her exterior implies. The sole reason we reject her so strongly is that we do not feel anything for her romantically so we do not want to give her any other ideas." Fervis explained. Greyson looked up kind of surprised to hear the twin not complain about Afina. It made sense, though. From the limited amount of interaction they have had with Afina, she did not seem malicious just stubborn. Speaking of the Amians, a group of red lights were quickly approaching Cerul. They slowed down just in front of the group with Afina in the lead looking rather excited.

"You two! Come on!" Without waiting for an answer, Afina appeared next to the twins and grabbed both their arms to pull them away.

"Wait-," Fervis began. However, he was swiftly pulled away along with his brother.

"See you later~," Cerul joked.

"Let's go, Cerul. At the rate you are going, I wonder why we are travelling on you. Going this slow, aren't you tarnishing the Wind Dragon's reputation for speed?" Hayze surprisingly was the one who spoke out impatiently.

"Oh? Is that a challenge?"

"See it however you like." She shrugged.

"Well okay, hold onto something everyone."

"What?" Greyson was puzzled by the sudden warning. Cerul just snickered before shooting out with just a flap of his wings. Pushed back by the sheer force of the wind, Greyson rolled backwards before finally grabbing onto Cerul's tail. Catching his balance, Greyson promptly used his wind element to block out the wind force and slowly climb his way back to the rest of the group still seated on Cerul's back. All of them were using their mana to block the wind and stay seated.

"Essentially, this is a great training exercise for all of us. We have to continue sustaining our mana under these harsher conditions." Rosalie squeezed out for the rest of the group. All of them were gritting their teeth trying to stay still. Nodding in understanding, Greyson closed his eyes to concentrate as well. It was infinitely more challenging to keep his wind element active to help him allow the air current to flow smoothly past him. Instead of using the wind like a shield or buffer, he willed the wind to flow right by him. He realized in excitement that this practice allowed him to tap into the wind element even more. Almost as if...

"Greyson!" Rosalie gasped.

Snapping out of his reverie, Greyson turned to look at her with slight annoyance. Everyone knows what extremely bad manners it is to disrupt someone else's meditation.

"Don't look at me like that. Look at yourself!" Rolling her eyes, Rosalie paid no mind to his piercing glare. Taken aback, Greyson quickly looked down at himself only to realize, he could not see himself. Shocked, he looked around and lifted his hands in front of his face. He could feel he moved his arms but there were no hands in front of him. Giggling at Greyson's behavior, Rosalie summoned an ice mirror to allow him to see himself. Everywhere except his head was flowing along with the wind. It was like when he turned his arm into water except way more advanced than that stage. There was only one more step necessary before he could turn his whole body to be one with the wind. Such progress was a pleasant surprise for him. Breaking out into a smile, Greyson allowed himself to relax with the wind.

"Can you do that with your other elements?"

His curiosity piqued by his sister, Greyson tried to do it with water. However, he realized he did not make the same progress with the other elements. Although it was a shame, Greyson was not too disappointed. Each element was unique, and progress in one did not normally mean progress in another. Cerul had actually slowed down with impeccable timing, so Greyson could try out the other elements. It was not because he was aware of Greyson's situation, but that they had actually arrived at the Fire Altar. The rest of the group opened their eyes perceiving the change in the situation.

"We've arrived!" Cerul let them know.

Hearing the announcement, Greyson stopped exploring things and looked out in front of himself. Only at this point did he realize the sweltering heat around them. The terrain was covered in volcanoes and lava. At the center was the grandest mountain that clearly had a building carved into the rock. At the bottom of the mountain stood two imposing stone doors around the height of three men. Unlike the Earth Altar, there was no crowd surrounding the altar. It was comparatively uninhabited with only a couple magic beasts in the area waiting.

"Not many magic beasts can withstand the heat here. Even some fire element magic beasts cannot stay near here. The volcanoes here are all active and there is a constant flow of lava that could explode at certain points. If they get hit by the lava, they will get bad burns or could possibly die. We have to enter the Fire Altar right away." Aeos turned to inform Greyson.

"Wait, what are the levels of the Fire Altar like?"

"The first level test is universal for all the altars. They test your talent. The second level should be between Hell's Fire or the Lava Titan. Hell's Fire, you will have to resist fierce flames for a certain amount of time. Apparently, the time depends on the result of your talent test. It will recognize your limit, so it will actually be testing your endurance. The Lava Titan will normally be the same level and stage as you and the challenge is that you have to take out the Lava Titan's heart. The reason that it is strenuous is that the heart can move wherever within the Lava Titan's body or into the lava that the Titan lives in. Its elusiveness makes this challenge take a longer time usually because you have to come up with some sort of plan or trick. The third level will either be a battle between the other participant or a scavenger hunt type challenge. In the volcano, you have to find three fire crystals. Each crystal will be guarded by a fierce fire element magic beast. Subsequently, levels four through six are virtually exactly the same as the Earth Altar, except you need to fight the Fire Devils. Their defense is weaker than the Earth Beasts, but their attack is much fiercer. Their speed is also faster. No one knows what is on the seventh level."

The concluding sentence made Greyson pause. If he found the chance, he wanted to let Rosalie know first. After the earlier fight, however, he started to think about informing the entire group. They faced a real life-or-death situation, and none of them tried to leave or betray the others which inevitably increased his trust in his friends. Although he felt guilty, he did not tell anyone in the group yet what happened in the seventh level of the Fire Altar. When he initially entered, he expected to be kicked out right away. However, right before he was forced out, a key was given to him. While a deep voice echoed out, "collect all four and receive my greatest treasure." It all happened so quickly that Greyson could only conceal the key away beneath his shirt before his body shot out from the seventh level just like everyone else's. To this day, he still did not quite fathom what the key signified or what made him different from the others. He also suspected he might not be the only one who received this key, but the people before him did not tell anyone about this occurrence. The Black Phoenix was a legendary existence. Its greatest treasure would most definitely be powerful and rare. Let alone the Beast Empire, powers from all over the continent would covet this chance. This was why Greyson was so hesitant to tell others. Trust could not be so easily given, otherwise, he could only regret it once he is betrayed.

Unaware of Greyson's thoughts, the rest of the group prepared to enter the Fire Altar. Cerul dove down quickly before transforming into his human form and dropping everyone off right at the two-door entrance. Sensing their arrival, the two doors slowly creaked open on their own. Waves of heat buffeted their faces making their eyes squint in pain. Sweat starting to drip from their faces, they all slowly walked into the altar. This was the first time Greyson had experienced this type of unbearable warmth. Even with his affinity to fire, his body was sweating and uncomfortable. Dropped into a familiar grey space, Greyson also heard a familiar voice speak to him.

"Sit peacefully and meditate." That same deep, charming voice rang out.