### 125

You drag yourself to your feet and look with mounting dread at the nightmarish landscape into which you have fallen. A blazing vista meets your gaze, a burning dead world of volcanic magma, boiling lava pools, and shifting islets of cinder and ash. The smoky orange sky is lit frequently by geysers of yellow flame which shoot forth from vents in the uncertain ground, and a hellish temperature conspires with a toxic atmosphere to overwhelm your senses.

Your initial feelings of dread suddenly deepen when memories of this dark domain come flooding back to haunt your consciousness. You have been here once before, four years previously, when your brave actions in defence of the Kai Monastery resulted in a mortal combat upon this evil domain, against Vaxagore, the leader of Naar’s dragon army. You had wished then never to return to this terrible place, but fate—it seems—has decreed otherwise.

You are aware that your Platinum Amulet is affording you protection from the searing heat and poisons of this realm. However, your Kai senses tell you that a fire-storm is brewing in the skies above and you fear that the powers of the amulet will not be sufficient to save you when this storm breaks. Anxiously you scan the bleak horizon in search of anything that may provide shelter from the coming storm. The only feature which promises to provide cover is the cone of a seemingly dormant volcano several miles away on the distant horizon.

If you possess Kai-alchemy and have attained the Kai rank of Grand Crown or higher, turn to 245.

If you possess Telegnosis and have attained the Kai rank of Sun Lord or higher, turn to 165.

If you possess Grand Huntmastery and have attained the rank of Kai Grand Guardian or higher, turn to 230.

If you do not possess any of these skills, or if you have yet to attain the required level of Kai Mastery, turn to 144.