//------------------------------// // Chapter 41 // Story: Six wishes for six elements // by Malcolm Merlyn //------------------------------// "Here we are and... I think I've been watching too much Lord of the Rings recently... but does that look like Mount Doom?" Slade asked as he looked at the huge mountain ahead of him.* "What's that?" Armin asked as his eyes were glued upon the massive peek, the hundreds of dragons were visible even from distance. "Never mind." Slade said replied as he pulled out his binoculars. "Damn... well... unless anyone wants to be human barbeque, I don't think the main entrance is a viable option." "Thanks Captain Obvious. Tell us something we don't know." "You're a captain, I am a colonel." Slade shot back as he took a look again. "Hmm... did sunbutt mention some ancient volcano civilization again?" "She did... why?" Jim asked. "I think I just found our way in." Slade said as his tactical vision picked up a structure. A structure that no dragon could have possibly even built. "Sanya, Armin let's go." "Hold on a second..." Steve began. "I am going with you." "What? Think we're going to have too much fun without you?" "I don't trust you." Steve said as his eyes narrowed down. His words yesterday about "leaving" people behind really came into mind right about here. "I am going with you." "Alright then. If you it's about what I said yesterday, then two things. It applies to you... and that if anything happens to you... I'll miss ya." Well. "For about... 3 seconds." "Go to hell Slade." "I feel like that's where I am headed." Slade said as he took one look at the mountain. "And now... this show is on the road." Raynor said as he monitored his companions progress from afar. "You guys in?" "A few "minor" difficulties..." Steve said as he pulled Armin up from a fatal drop. "But... we're good and... wow... that..." "Okay... I really think I've been watching too much "Lord of the Rings..." Slade said again as he looked at the massive entrance, large (marble?) carvings decorated the entrance though the many millennia have taken their toll upon the once great pieces of art as they weathered away over the many centuries. It seemed this part of the mountain was safe from the daily volcanic eruptions no matter how it erupted. Strange. But no one really would or wanted to argue with that, if this place was really safe, then let's hope it stayed that way as the four of them entered the entrance which overlooked a large... room? Room huh? More like city. "Wow..." Armin began as he looked below at the wonder... a civilization that had built itself within the belly of the largest volcano in Equestria. "Truly is a marvel eh?" Slade said as he activated his tactical vision. From what he could get, the locals would have used the sources of lava for both as an energy source, a light source and probably at some point, a mine that would erupt into specific areas that would miss the city, yet leave plenty of metals, jewelry and other precious materials for the picking. "From what I can gather..." The assassin continued, there is an entrance that leads below. "Down these stares of course. Let's go." The four proceeded downward, into the massive city through the long winding stairs. For a place that's been abandoned for thousands of years, it looked pretty intact to say the truth. A true miracle that the volcano hasn't consumed the magnificent wonder of a city yet. As the stairs went down, more hints of former civilization could be taken at. Tools, jewelry, a broken lava lamp (Smart.), a skeleton. Wait... a skeleton? Steve looked down at the thing, the bones... they... They were human. Slade's tactical vision and a quick scan from his "smartphone" would confirm that. Wow... humans here? Thousands of years ago? Truly a wonder then. Cap looked at the skull a final time before proceeding on. It reminded him of someone he knew... the only difference was, he had the strange... strange feeling that someone wasn't really dead despite what had happened. Cut off one head, two more shall grow to take it's place. As they progressed on, the buildings were more easy to see. In spite of the thousands of years of wear and tear, they still looked fine. Perhaps as well as one of the houses Armin would see within the walls that hadn't been ransacked by titans. Though as there became more buildings, there would be more skeletons. More death... more ruin... more signs of that life... had an end. That all things... good or bad. Had an end. "I don't like this." Steve said as they passed a large pile of thousand year corpses. "I don't like this." "To be or not to be!" Slade said as he held up a skull. "That is the question!" Laughing to himself, the heavily armored man threw it back into the pile he got it from, giving the Captain a hefty slap on the back. "Just some bones Cap, they're not going to hurt you." "Yeah... yeah... just makes me uneasy. Besides... reminds me of someone I used to know." "I get you. There's a lot of things that make me uneasy because of someone I met." (Anything that has anything to do with Jericho or Rose, or happens to be green arrows, red arrows, bats, robins, robots, rings (the powered type), maces, whips,... let's just say he's had beef with a ton of people... somehow... he still hadn't been shot, shot with arrows, been crushed into a bloody pulp, incarcerated at some space police prision... etc.) "But that aside... let's get a move I want to get done with this and be home by dinner." "Hopefully... we WON'T be dinner." Armin said. "The dragons..." "Yeah... yeah... they won't even know us there once we turn them into lizard steaks." As the group moved on... no one seemed to have noticed the skeletons had begun to move... jitter... and stir. And then... one got up. And another... and another... and another...