The Fires of Pyrolzar

Synopsis
An ancient volcano lies dormant beneath Falador, and could end a few hundred lives in a few minutes. Zell takes advantage and blackmails Drauss, giving Drauss a very terrible decision to make. The world or Falador?

Plot
Falador

A man is sleeping by his bed. There had been small tremors all night. Sleep was impossible. He opened his eyes. He saw fire spit out of his drain. He ran over to it.

"What the hell? Is hell angry or something?"

But then he jumped back, as lava flew out, everywhere. The man stood on his bed to avoid it all. Then something appeared out of his sink.

It seemed to be more lava, but it was forming a shape. A humanoid one. Now it was fully formed. It looked like a mix of rocks and magma, but its head looked "organic", non-lava or rock. It was that of a spitting cobra.

"It's Zamorak!" the man cried.

But the creature spat lava "bullets" at him, before dissolving into the sink again.

Title sequence

"This man was found with scorch marks all over his body, and succumbed to his wounds. According to the anomometer, the anomaly was actually under Falador and is still there to this very second" Cratus speedily declared.

"And the sink has traces of plasma and... magma? This is strange" Drauss murmured.

"How we will get under the ground? We don't have any drilling machines at hand you know!"

"When there's a will, there's a way" Drauss replied calmly, as he started to dissect the sink. Minutes later, he managed to remove it and they discovered a tunnel of sorts.

"You first, Cratus. You'll need to expand the tunnel so I can fit"

"Were it so easy" Cratus mumbled, as he jumped down. He cut a section of the wall using an alien knife until the tunnel was big enough for a grown man to travel through. Drauss jumped down, and he hit a flat surface. He turned on a torch, as did Cratus, and they wandered the ancient tunnels.

Parallel Gielinor

"Drauss won't know what hit him! I am so devilishly evil!" Zell gloated to his soldiers, as he opened an anomaly to his enemy's world.

"How can you be so sure it will work?" one soldier questioned.

"Oh, I'm sure. You never question a god, for I am always right!" Zell snapped malignantly. They walked through the gateway and ended up in the underground tunnels.

"Set your guns to kill!" a commander said.

"Why weren't your guns set to kill anyway? We are at war! You don't stun your opponents!" Drauss jeered.

"Sorry sir, just protocol-"

"I care not for your protocol! Come on, I-" Zell stopped in mid sentence, as he gazed up in awe.

There was a massive volcano, looking like it was about to blow. Surrounding was magma/plasma-based lifeforms, who were oblivious to Zell's intrusion.

"I told you it would work! Now, time to set the trap..."

It was just Drauss and Cratus, all alone under the streets of Falador. They had heard rumours of a large mole in the area, but that was the least of their concerns.

"So Cratus, what is your opinion on this so called global warming?" Drauss inquired randomly.

There was an eerie silence.

"Cratus?" Drauss shouted, as he swiftly turned around and saw no one. He dived and ducked looking for his companion, and found only his fingers instead, hanging on for dear life. Drauss thought quickly and pulled him up.

"How could you not notice a freaking massive hole?"

"It is awfully dark in here, you know!"

"I smell sulphur. And it is getting a bit hot- hey, wait a minute..."

They both gazed down, and gasped in awe. There was an immense volcano, with streaks of lava flowing from the top.

"We have a possible cause of death for our victim."

"Highly unlikely!" Drayss snorted.

"A mini eruption, perhaps?"

"Think logically Cratus, even the smallest explosion would have blown the whole house down. Now, lt's take a look-see!" Drauss replied hastily, as he tied a rope to a nearby rock and threw it down the hole. They both slipped down and touched down on the searing rock.

"Ouch! Next time, I'd better look before I leap!" Drauss shouted, hopping about madly.

"Drauss, where did our pistols go?"

"Oh damn!" Drauss swore, as he realized he left their weapons on the surface.

"We really need them right now..." Cratus trailed off, as he started to back away. Several creatures of lava and rock were running at them, spitting hot lava. One projectile had made a hole in a nearby rock.

"Well, I think we have our cause of death now!" Drauss cried, as they were circled by the strange beings.

"Why did you kill that innocent man?" Cratus interrupted. The creatures hissed and roared unintelligibly.

"I think that's a yes-" Drauss said surprised, as the creatures scattered away. Then Drauss saw a worse evil coming out of the steam.

"Zell! I should have known you were behind this!" Drauss angrily shouted.

"How did you do it? If this volcano was always here, we would have known earlier!" Cratus added.

"Okay, I confess - I manipulated an anomaly so it could transport a massive volcano into your world. This volcano I found within your universe, on a distant world, which would explain the alien rock thingies!" Zell gloated.

"Did you send one to murder a citizen?"

"No, what are you talking about it?"

"Never mind. Time to call the troops-"

Zell crushed Drauss' commlink with his fist.

"I have come to torture you, make your life a living hell and stuff like that. Knowing you, you don't like the idea of innocent people dying for no good reason, so I have a choice for you to make. My men have set the charges for the volcano to explode, and Falador will be blown to kingdom come. Now, here is the twist - hundreds of other nuclear warheads have been hidden under the surface of Gielinor, and at the push of a button the whole world implodes!"

"But you'll die in the process! This is suicide, Zell!"

"Who said I will push the button? My henchman will when I'm safe at the other side of the anomaly. This is your decision, Drauss - you have the power to kill hundreds or kill billions. There is no alternative - except surrender you and Gielinor to me!"

"Death would be a better fate than life with you!" Drauss snarled, as he hurled a smoke grenade. In the ensuing confusion, he and Cratus managed to get to the rope and start to climb.

"Get them! Kill them! After that, blow this joint!" Zell barked, as he jogged through the anomaly. The soldiers aimed for Drauss' head, and it could be the end for him. Luckily, the soldiers had forgotten about the lava creatures.

Draus made it up the rope, and they dropped it. They sealed the hole and legged it.

"We need to order an evacuation now!" Drauss screeched.

"He was bluffing about the warheads, y'know"

"How did you figure that out?"

"I could tell from his body language. But he wasn't bluffing about the volcano!"

Drauss and Cratus reached the surface, and started telling the local guards and White Knights to spread word of the evacuation.

Meanwhile, back below the soldiers had been overpowered and slaughtered by the Pyrolzarians, but they weren't able to stop the detonation. The anomaly was still open, and the aliens rushed through it to Zell's workshop. As desperate creatures they were to save their home, they started pressing buttons everywhere. Soldiers appeared and shot madly, but their ammunition had no effect.

The Pyrolzarians leaped through the anomaly, sensing what would happen next. The room exploded, and Zell wailed in terror as he ran out. The Pyrolzarians started cheering, as the anomaly closed and the detonation was prevented.

Another anomaly opened up, and it was an enormous one. It sucked up the volcano and the aliens inside, and they were back home.

GDG Base

"The evacuation was a waste of time, as the eruption never happened. I wonder how those charges were stopped..." Cratus said.

"Well, there a lot of mysteries in this world alone. Maybe it was those creatures..."

"I doubt it. Did you file a reason for the murder?"

"I just assumed that it was scared, and never encountered a human before, not knowing if he was hostile or not. Sad, really."

"The volcano has gone, back to where it belongs, which is another mystery we can add to the long list of Gielinorian mysteries."

"Couldn't have said it better myself..."

Characters

 * Drauss
 * Cratus
 * Emperor Zell
 * Citizen
 * Pyrolzarians