The diamond skin peeled away from the dog standing in front of them, violent flames and a screaming howl floated through the air and wrapped up the children before the dying animal as they retreated backwards to the edge of the cave's small platform. The leader threw up his hands and his veins pulsed, a bright blue sphere leaked from his fingernails and the heat from the animal's collapse seemed to dissapear from inside of the blue field he had projected.

The group was composed delicately of three boys of strange and radical difference, one an American teenager with a constant smile on his face, tugging his red baseball cap back down over his bushy black hair as the scene calmed and reformed into a dry, desolate subterranean magma source. Red light emanating from the hot liquid rock warmly spilled out over the face of the second boy, the Russian with the thick glasses, his innocent demeanor was obvious by the concerned look on his face, his naivety and strange sensibility made clear by his green lounge suit and strange hair style, a blond bowl cut wavering over his eyes.

The third bot ventured out from the blue protection and approached the collapsed animal he had just helped to defeat. His clam nature pervaded the cave and the animal glared up at his handsome Asian face, giving away to the peace his smile suggested was awaiting it when it departed from the cave. It grinned wolfishly, letting its massive head crash back into the ground as it lost its grip on life, the Asian boy pulled his sparse hair back and retied his ponytail, letting his hands hit his clothed on the way down to his side, knocking a small amount of ash from the uniform he was wearing.

There was a girl too, she was nearly as innocent as the Russian boy, but in her concerned expression you could almost understand the adult quality she had acquired as she kept her company among the three boys. Her pink outfit had long grown to become rags, but she still maintained her essence of girlish charm, taking care to scrub away a spot of blood from the edge of her skirt, her hands glowing gently as she nudged the fabric. She stood and gravitated to the American boy, she herself from the united states, as the other two boys spread out to investigate the cave entrance behind the deceased animal.

She reached out to grab the hand of her partner but reconsidered and brought it back to herself as he turned and smiled at her, though wordless most of the time his presence spoke all that she would ever really need to know. She smiled back and nodded, letting her body sway and sat down on the dirty cave floor, the radiant heat from the lava flow beneath them warming her legs up and restoring a little bit of her strength, "I think the next location must be pretty close, I can feel a lot of memories in this place," she spoke carefully but slipped as she finished her statement, letting out a little sigh of discontentment.

The American boy turned his body to her and squinted a little at her as she recovered and her smile returned, "Paula, you feeling okay?" he squatted down and leaned froward on his feet, getting a better look at her as she responded, "I was just thinking that this is it, huh?"

"This is it?" he looked a little puzzled but caught on a second later, "Oh, this is the last sound I need to collect, yeah," He swung his backpack over his shoulder and it brushed across the loose topsoil and skidded to a halt.

He pulled back the yellow slip covering the bag's contents and located a small stone with this wandering fingertips, he removed it carefully and held it up to examine it in the red light. The complex surface glimmered magically and the other two boys turned back from the passageway leading to the next cave segment as a familiar song played sweetly in their minds, ending just before it seemed complete. He smiled through the stone at the girl, "Its almost done, yep."

She grinned and blew a tuft of hair out her eyes, he was too cheerful to get depressed around. She held out her hand and he pulled her up off the ground, leading her towards the other boys who both gave the American a brief nod. They were all ready to face the next room together.

The heat from the room swirled about madly as they crawled over a crumbling rock wall into the sanctuary, a great mound of shining diamonds continually melted away and reformed in the center of the area, a spurt of volcanic water shot up from the peak of the gem stone spire and an array of heated light scattered across their faces. The American stepped forward and a simple set of notes played out in the air, materializing in the form of a strange image before his face, his body language gave away his sense of glee and the image sunk through him.

He turned towards them, his bright smile and open hand revealed that his precious stone had shattered in his grip, he relayed his experience to them, "I've got it," He let the stone fragments fall from his hand and he pressed it to his chest. His eyes wavered a bit, and he blinked lazily, his eyes barely reopening as he sunk to his knees. The other three children stepped forward as he began to fall forward and caught him by the shoulders, he laughed softly, "I'm okay, don't worry, I feel great," his energy audibly drained from his mouth as he spoke.

"C'mon," the Russian boy lifted the American up onto his feet and pulled his friends arm around his shoulder, walking him from the area slowly. He carefully set him over the rocky barrier the barred them from the previous cave and jumped down to lead him again over the uneven path. The other two children followed at a distance, a puzzled look impressed into their weak smiles, this was really like the American boy to make them worried.

The girl shook her head slowly, her blond hair crashing down over her eyes, then she turned to the Asian boy as he stared at her strange behavior, nearly asking him how he felt about the completion of the sweet song and their journey's together when the Russian boy cried out from around the darkness covering their path. They rushed forward haphazardly into the previous cave. A small boy was standing before them, his hands clenched and his eyes contorted furiously.

The Asian boy stepped forward and growled an inquisition, "Who are you?"

A meek reply came from behind them, "Picky," the girl stepped forward towards the cave wall and peered around a pillar of jagged stone to find the American boy crumpled over himself, facing away from her.

The Russian boy lay at his feet, a deep cut running over his shoulder and neck, the deep crimson of his blood seemed eerily black against the red light emitted from the rest of the cave. She sunk back, fear overwhelming her senses and tears welling up against her gentle eyes.

The Asian boy peered over his shoulder and his face collapsed downwards into a serious frown, he turned back, disgusted and grabbed the small child by the shoulders. His hands slipped over the tense muscles and they tore away from the small boy's bones. An electric pulse shot up from the gaping wounds on the child's shoulder and a legion of steel wires caught up around the tearing flash and around the Asian boy's hands. He stepped away and the wire components covering his hands bit into his skin sharply, grating over his knuckles and into his brittle finger bones.

The girl was approaching a hysterical breakdown, sliding over the sharp rock wall and slowly shifting her weigh downwards. A voice pressed into he thoughts, clearing away all of her concerns and forcing her to listen to it, "Paula, I'm sorry it ended up this way, I'm going to take everyone to a better place now."

She concentrated on replying to the voice, "A better place? Ness, is that you?" She dug into the wall with her fingers and pulled herself up, rushing back towards her American friend.

He turned towards her as she crashed around the corner, his face was torn open around his eye, a shining metal fragment pushed up through his cheek with its sharp edge digging into his eyelid and releasing his blood down across his chin and cheek. He managed to smile as she collapsed over the Russian and struggled to get her arms around his waist, "No, please don't die Ness," she begged the American, tears gushing from the edges of her eyes.

A warm light pieced her back and shoulder and she threw back her head to catch a glimpse of his skin slowly glowing white, his would began to fill with light and the room was spread over with a white radiance. It grew to cover the American boy and the girl clinging desperately to him, over the collapsed Russian boy and and through the back of the struggling Asian boy and the crumbling child who was sprouting grotesque metallic spines from within his small body. The whole cave was caught up in light and for a moment everyone was full of the warm feeling it produced.