Just then, Bobby felt his phone vibrate. He took it out to see what messages had come his way. Once he saw it was from Narvy, he clicked it and read it thoroughly. "We found the castle in the Moonlands, the people in the two castles are brothers who turned on each other, they plan on heating one half of the world and freezing the other, just so they can battle it out," read Bobby, muttering loud enough for the others to hear. "Hey Beth, the other group already found the information, should we still go to the crater?" called Edward. "If Ezhar's right, we're three quarters of the way there, we might as well complete the drive," she explained. "I agree, I'd like to see this weird place for myself," expressed Bobby.
Eventually, thirty minutes passed. The base parked in the middle of the rocky sand terrain, and everyone got out. Bobby, Hannah, Edward, Beth and Ezhar looked down and saw a tremendous sight. They were standing right at the edge of a wide, deep crater. It was treasured with an ornate building at the bottom. A large clean brick castle with numerous stained-glass windows. Unknown to them, the castle in The Moonlands looked identical to it. But this castle was a dark burgundy with fiery orange windows.
"How are we going to get down?" questioned Bobby. Without thinking about much, Edward jumped off the ledge and landed in the crater. The area in which the castle lay was quite deep. But the ledge transitioned from a hard angle to a walkable slope halfway through. Upon watching Edward's descend, Bobby, Hannah, Beth and Ezhar followed him.
Once everyone reached the bottom, they got a true sense of how imposing the castle really was. Even though it loomed over everything near it, Bobby still walked over the doors and opened them confidently. Or rather, he would have if they weren't sealed shut. He investigated the doors for a few seconds, thinking of ways to pry them open. "Where's Narvy when you need him," he muttered without realising he said it out loud.
After fiddling with the doors for a bit longer, Ezhar approached them with a new idea. He reached his arm out without touching anything and appeared to be deeply concentrating. "What are you doing?" asked Bobby. "There should be a candle in here," promised Ezhar. None of them could see it, but a tiny flame had just flown off a candle. It rammed straight into the doors from the other side, burning a small part of the large wooden mass. The door handle and mechanism were still intact. Ezhar stuck his arm through the burnt hole and unlocked the doors from the other side. Without wasting any time, everyone passed through them.
The castle interior was very similar to what everyone expected. Long burgundy hallways protruded in all directions, orange lanterns provided the light, while fancy candlesticks provided the heat. Ezhars actions were made obvious by the fact one random candle was not holding a flame. All of a sudden, he stopped walking and dropped into a state of meditation. "There is lots of fire in one of these rooms." "It's all being altered and toyed with," he claimed. "So?" urged Edward. "The man must be doing his fire spells now". 'If we take the right corridor and enter the room we should be able to find him," theorized Ezhar. Nobody had a better idea, so they all followed him through the muggy hallway.
Once they got to the room, Ezhar was proven to be right. The room was very wide and contained an ornate gold and red throne, surrounded by large stained glass windows. The Fire Emperor was not sitting on it. Instead, he was standing in the open space, conjuring a massive fireball with his staff, abstracting it and examining its features. He looked very similar to his brother in several ways, with the black hair and thirty years of age. While his robes were structured identically to his brothers, the outer tunic was dark red while the undershirt was orange. On top of that, his robes were sleeveless and seemed to be made of very light materials. His hands were bare and instead of wearing thick boots he wore black leather sandals. Upon noticing his surprise visitors he paused his magic.
"I didn't ask for intruders today," he deadpanned. "We know what you're up to," revealed Bobby. "We're not going to let you turn half of the world into an oven," he added with determination. The Fire Emperor didn't panic, he didn't understand the weight of the situation yet. "Some of our friends are in The Moonlands, they've already met your brother." gloated Edward. At that moment, The Fire Emperor raced out of the room, launching the fireball at The Braw Agents before doing so. Fortunately, Ezhar caught it mid-air before it could burn anyone.
In a much smaller room, The Fire Emperor frantically dashed in and grabbed a nearby telephone. He immediately contacted his brother and started a conversation. "Hello, three teenagers showed up at my castle and they said they were going to interfere with our plan, did this happen to you?" he demanded. "Yes, but don't worry, I locked up my group, if you do the same to your lot we should be fine," instructed The Ice Emperor over the phone.
Once that was done, The Fire Emperor casually walked back into the throne room. A giant fireball still hovered between him and The Braw Agents. Suspecting they were in trouble, Bobby opened the door near him and allowed everyone to leave the same way they got in. All of a sudden, the fireball moved. It flung right towards The Braw Agents, so quickly that Ezhar didn't have time to respond and control it. All he could do was duck down with everyone else and avoid getting burnt.
"YOU ARE NOT LEAVING THAT EASILY!" howled The Fire Emperor. He immediately chased The Braw Agents through the steamy hallways of the castle. During his run, he magically created more fireballs with his staff, launching them at his fleeing targets. Fortunately, Ezhar was there to prevent the group from their scorching demise. The Fire Emperor took note of this and approached him. After some research and a brief tackle fight, he successfully ripped the necklace off him and threw it out of his reach. "Did you think I, The Fire Emperor, wouldn't know what a heatfinder is," he snarled.
Ezhar immediately tried to retrieve it, but a tall ring of flames grew from the carpet and surrounded it. "Just let me hold you captive, it will make things easier for all of us," begged The Fire Emperor. "I beg to differ," replied Edward nonchalantly. He got down and quickly sunk his hand into the blazing barricade, intending to grab the heat finder. Once he got ahold of it, he instantly pulled back. After returning it to Ezhar, everyone made a run for it. The Fire Emperor scowled and dashed after them.
Bobby, Hannah, Edward, Beth and Ezhar smashed through the castle doors as they made it outside. They hoped it would be smooth sailing to the base, but they were quickly proven wrong. Out of nowhere, the edges and walls of the crater burst into a raging wildfire. Shortly after, The Fire Emperor came by. "You might as well give up," he taunted. Ezhar didn't listen to the advice. Instead, he ordered a couple of flames to shuffle away, creating a clear path for the Braw Agents. "Go, I'll hold him back," he instructed. In a matter of seconds, Bobby, Hannah, Edward and Beth frantically ran up the crater and jumped into the base. Ezhar followed not long after, allowing his path to dissolve as he got to the top.
As soon as Ezhar reached the base, everyone felt relieved he didn't stay back for an unnecessarily long time. "COME ON BETH, GO!" panicked Hannah. "Of course, I just need to start the engine," explained Beth, no calmer.
With no time to waste, Beth did the thing she claimed she would do. Afterwards, she slammed her foot on the acceleration pedal and zoomed off into the horizon. A large puff of sand fogged their former parking spot. Due to her prior career as a nurse, Beth wouldn't usually do something so reckless. But since she was in the middle of a barren desert, so she saw no issue with her actions.
After the sand cloud vanished, The Fire Emperor's view of the horizon became clear once more. The base had already driven off, but there was a shrinking object traveling on the sandy terrain. Figuring that it wasn't too late, he enacted one more attack as a last resort. He held his staff high and began a magic spell. All of the fire surrounding the crater rose from the ground and swirled into the open air. Seconds later, a colossal ball of fire hovered above the castle, it was almost like having a second sun. With all of his might and strength, he magically shot it towards the spec.
Meanwhile, Beth was driving away from the crater as quickly as she could. The Braw Agents sat calmly without any knowledge of what was following them. Ezhar was not as relaxed, he could sense a giant blazing threat racing towards the Base. He reached his arm out and attempted to control it. "There's more fire near us isn't there?" asked Hannah. "Yes, something's chasing us at the same speed," answered Ezhar. "Then throw it elsewhere," proposed Hannah. "I'm trying, but I've never manipulated a flame this big before," grunted Ezhar. For the first time, he appeared to be struggling with his abilities. Not understanding the intensity of the situation, Hannah casually looked out the window. What she saw completely caught her off guard. "WHAT," she uncontrollably screamed in terror. "BETH, TURN OVER, NOW!" she spat.
Upon hearing the panic filled instruction, Beth instantly made a forty-five-degree turn, hoping they would dodge the fireball's impact. Eventually, the soaring ball of flames lost momentum and collapsed onto the ground, creating an open fire. To the extreme delight of everyone, the base didn't get caught in the crossfire.
"Are you all okay?" asked Beth in a worried tone. Everyone confirmed that they were unaffected by the bumpy ride. "Edward, can I see your hands," demanded Beth. "Sure, nothing happened to them," he commented nonchalantly while showing their unharmed appearance. "Good, they seem to be alright," she sighed in relief. "Never stick your hands into an open fire again," she ordered seriously. "I only did that because Ezhar needed his necklace back," replied Edward defensively. "I get that, but I need to make sure you're aware of safety procedures," instructed Beth. "If they start hurting, I've got some cream that can treat them," she offered.
"So, what do we do now?" asked Hannah, referring to Bobby. "I'm not sure." "My plan was to have at least one group go to a castle and stop the emperors before they could get things ready for their fight." "But that's clearly not going to happen now," he explained. "Does anyone have an idea or plan?" he encouraged the others.
At that moment, Hannah, Edward and Beth immediately started brainstorming ideas. Their minds swimming in the neuron filled pool of possibilities. But alas, nobody knew everything about the two emperors and how much progress they had made on the scheme. "Don't worry, we'll figure something out," claimed Bobby, breaking the silence. He took his mind off the situation for a while, instead thinking about the other group. He hoped they had an easier time leaving their castle.
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