Dragon Fire and the Volcano of Madness
Far beyond the deserts of the Marble Kingdom stood the terrifying Firefang Mountains, a jagged range of black volcanic rock where rivers of lava glowed beneath the ground like burning snakes.
At the very top of the tallest volcano lived the wildest marble anyone had ever known.
His name was Dragon Fire.
Dragon Fire was completely unpredictable.
His marble shell blazed with swirling flames of red, orange, gold, and deep black. Tiny sparks flew from him whenever he became excited, which was often. Sometimes smoke curled from his surface when he laughed too hard.
And Dragon Fire laughed constantly.
Nobody knew whether he was a hero, a troublemaker, or simply completely bonkers.
One moment he might rescue villagers from danger.
The next he might accidentally set fire to an entire cabbage market because somebody insulted his dancing.
One scorching afternoon, Jack Mitchell and Bernard the talking dog were relaxing beside the river at Bablock Hythe when the ground suddenly trembled violently.
BOOOOOM!
A fiery explosion burst high into the sky far beyond the horizon.
Lenny looked through his telescope and nearly fell backwards.
“The Firefang Volcano is erupting!”
A flaming fireball suddenly shot across the sky and crashed into the riverbank beside them.
Out rolled Dragon Fire himself.
His eyes were wide with excitement.
“BEST DAY EVER!” he shouted.
Smoke blasted from his ears.
“You caused the eruption?” gasped Imogen.
“Well…” Dragon Fire admitted awkwardly. “I may have been experimenting with lava fireworks.”
Bernard slowly backed away.
“I already don’t trust this situation.”
Dragon Fire explained that deep inside Firefang Volcano lived the legendary Flame Crystal, an ancient stone that kept the volcano stable. Unfortunately, during his “super-mega-ultra-exploding lava rocket celebration,” the crystal had cracked.
Now the entire mountain was becoming dangerously unstable.
“If the volcano explodes completely,” warned Lenny, “half the Marble Kingdom could be covered in lava!”
Dragon Fire grinned nervously.
“Minor problem.”
Within hours the team raced toward Firefang Mountains aboard Lenny’s reinforced magma crawler, a giant heatproof vehicle with steel tracks and cooling fans.
As they climbed higher into the mountains, lava burst from cracks in the rocks while giant flaming boulders rolled down the slopes.
Suddenly something enormous appeared through the smoke.
A Lava Dragon.
The creature towered above them with glowing molten eyes and wings made entirely of fire.
Dragon Fire waved happily.
“Oh good. Kevin’s awake.”
“KEVIN?” shouted Jack.
The Lava Dragon roared so loudly the mountains shook.
Apparently Kevin was not happy.
“He guards the Flame Crystal,” explained Dragon Fire. “And I may have accidentally exploded his cave.”
“You exploded a dragon’s cave?” Bernard cried.
“It was only partly exploded!”
Kevin blasted flames toward the magma crawler, forcing the team to leap clear as the vehicle skidded sideways near a river of lava.
The volcano rumbled again.
Huge cracks spread across the mountain.
“We’re running out of time!” shouted Imogen.
Deep inside the volcano chamber they finally found the Flame Crystal floating above a lake of molten lava. Large pieces had broken away, causing dangerous energy waves to blast through the volcano walls.
Dragon Fire suddenly became serious for the first time.
“I caused this,” he admitted quietly. “I’ll fix it.”
Jack helped Dragon Fire climb across dangerous stone bridges while Kevin the Lava Dragon circled overhead growling suspiciously.
Using special cooling crystals invented by Lenny, the team carefully repaired the broken Flame Crystal piece by piece while Imogen used her glowing powers to stabilise the chamber.
But just as the final crystal shard was lifted into place—
CRAAAAAACK!
The stone bridge beneath Dragon Fire collapsed.
He slipped toward the lava.
Jack grabbed his arm just in time.
For one terrifying moment both of them dangled above the molten lake.
Then Kevin swooped down and caught them both on his enormous fiery back.
The Lava Dragon blasted a huge stream of fire directly into the repaired Flame Crystal.
The crystal suddenly exploded with brilliant golden light.
WHOOSHHHH!
The volcano instantly calmed.
The lava slowed.
The mountain stopped shaking.
Outside, the skies cleared as smoke drifted harmlessly into the air.
Dragon Fire laughed loudly with relief.
“That,” he announced proudly, “was EXTREMELY exciting.”
Bernard stared at him.
“You nearly destroyed an entire mountain.”
Dragon Fire nodded happily.
“Yes. But we fixed it!”
Before the team left, Kevin allowed Dragon Fire to ride on his back across the glowing volcano skies while fireworks exploded harmlessly above the mountains.
Jack smiled as Dragon Fire zoomed through the smoke laughing wildly.
Completely crazy.
But somehow…
completely brilliant too.