There was the great beast; a massive, golden bird. It was a phoenix, an animal aligned with Mars, the element of Fire. It was said that they were able to be consumed by fire and return restored in both age and health; they were also said to be immortal.
This phoenix, with its glowing eyes and glistening feathers, was engaged in a battle with a young man; he stood several feet away facing the beast with his sword drawn. His sandaled feet stood firmly on the reddish-brown stone of the cavern in which he stood and his loose-fitting tunic was soaked with sweat and scorched as if by fire, as was parts of his exposed skin. The tips of his short, spiky red hair smoked as if singed.
The phoenix looked no better. Its feathers were ruffled, bent, and broken. Its eyes, though glowing, glowed only weakly. Like the man's tunic, the phoenix's body and feathers were also scorched and singed. The tips of some of its feathers were alight with flame.
The man dived aside as the phoenix unleashed a quick, well-aimed beam of Mars energy that took him by surprise. As he hit the ground he rolled and regained his footing. Jumping up, he unleashed his own beam of energy; the phoenix did not avoid it. The energy struck the golden bird squarely in the breast and sent it flying. A quick fluttering of its wings was all that was required to keep it from striking the cavern wall. Stopped midair and then it flew towards the man with a stream of fire lancing forth from its great golden beak.
It hovered in the air just before him as a steady stream of flame poured from its mouth, but he did not flinch. He raised one hand and the flame simply blazed past him as the phoenix poured its energy into an attempt to scorch him alive.
The bird saw how easily he deflected its attack and even more flame erupted from its mouth. He quickly and effortlessly pulled his arm back, allowing the flame to blaze closed to him. Then without batting an eye he thrust his hand forward and the fire changed course and instead enveloped the phoenix.
The great golden bird apparently did not realize it was, in fact, fueling the fire that was now consuming it as it continued to force more and more flame from its mouth. It was almost instantly completely consumer and in mere moments its body burned away to nothing but dust falling to the cavern floor.
The man fell to one knee, his energy nearly expended. He dropped his sword, and with one forearm he wiped the sweat from his forehead, cursing both the monsters and the heat of Magma Rock. He stood and then fumbled on the ground for his dropped pack, dug through it and pulled out a large jug of water; he cursed again when it felt empty.
Tired from both his journey and his battles, he sat on a nearby rock as he fumbled with the cork in the mouth of the jug. His hands failed him so he resorted to wrenching it out by his teeth; he was successful and spat the cork out into his hand. For a third time he cursed as he drained the last of his water.
"Flash," he said aloud. "Could you go fetch me some water, or at the very least cool me down a little. For a Mars Adept I am terribly hot."
There was a burst of white light and a creature, no larger than a small dog, appeared before him. This creature had orange fur and two spikes upon its head. It had no arms, but had two legs and a large, fluffy orange tail. Its bright blue eyes stared at the man intently.
"I could try to block the heat," it said in the man's head with a hint of irritation in its voice. "However, Van, I am a Mars djinn; you know, a spirit of fire. If you wanted some ice water to cool you down, perhaps you should have decided to travel with a Mercury djinn instead of me."
"Come now, Flash. You've been with me since I was a child. I would never get rid of you, no matter if you are currently useless or not," Van said, laughing. Flash was a djinn, an elemental spirit. He had been passed down through Van's family for generations; Van had inherited him from his grandfather.
Flash started glowing angrily.
"A little touchy are we not?" Van teased in response.
The glow subsided. "I am still recovering from that battle with the two lesser demons, shortly before we ran into that phoenix. I just hope we find the Mars Sanctum soon, or at least a Psynergy Stone, I am exhausted."
"Do not fear, Flash. I can feel that we are getting much closer. Mars Sanctum is not too far yet."
Flash cast him a doubtful (that is if djinn could appear doubtful, one could never really read a djinn's face) look and disappeared in another burst of light. Van could swear he heard a 'hmph' as the orange creature vanished.
Mars Sanctum, at the center of Magma Rock, was home to a great power. Hidden away for many centuries, it was long the goal of many Mars Adepts to find it and earn the power of the gods that was secreted away inside.
When he was a child, Van's grandmother used to tell him the stories of her travels and adventures. His favorite story was of how she fought her way through the winding maze of tunnels running through the mountain to find the Mars Sanctum at the center.
"I miss Gran," he said aloud as he thought of her.
He sat in silence for a moment, thinking about his grandparents. All of them had passed and he had loved all of them. Well, the ones he had known anyway. He had never known his father's father, but his father's mother, Gran, had been very dear to him. Though his mother's family lived a great distance away, he held them very close to his heart as well.
Regaining his focus, he replaced the cork in the jug and placed it in his pack once more. He stood up and fastened his pack to its place at his waist. He scooped his sword up from where he had dropped it and slid it back into the sheath.
He searched the cavern and found the doorway through which he had entered it. He decided to search in the opposite direction. As he made his way across the rocky floor, he noticed that there was now a hole in the bottom of his sandal and rocks were cutting into his foot. He cursed again.
After several minutes of searching and painful walking, he finally found a doorway which led into a dark corridor. Though he desired greatly to conserve the last of his dwindling energy he summoned a tiny flame to his hand and used it to find his way through the corridor. He walked for slowly on account of his foot and the need to tread carefully in the unfamiliar darkness. It was nearly twenty minutes until he saw light at the end of what seemed to be an endless corridor.
When he finally reached the light, he threw himself recklessly into it; he was too eager to leave the darkness behind him. When he stumbled through the doorway he found himself in another large cavern, though this one was easily double the size of the last one through which he had passed.
He extinguished the flame in his hand, glad to be able to once again try to conserve his energy. The cavern in which he now stood was lit by hundreds of torches burning on the rocky walls. How these torches continued burning or who put them there was anyone's guess, but Van was glad that they were there. He could, however, sense that there was some Psynergy behind the burning of these torches. He could feel the magical fire reaching to him, calling to him to touch it, to play with it. Every part of him wanted to touch the fire but he resisted and kept moving.
He stopped suddenly as he found he had nearly stepped over the edge of the ledge on which he stood. He jumped back, but peered over the edge carefully into what seemed to be nothing, but a deep, black abyss. He looked around and saw that the outcropping of rock on which he was ended abruptly without wrapping around to the other side of the cavern; he was at what was essentially a dead end.
He decided to follow the ledge to see where the other end led. It was not very long before he came to another dead end, but this time the dead end came in the form of a giant head carved out of stone. It had huge, vacant eyes carved into the stone and the clearly carved outline of a jaw and mouth. In the center of its forehead was a large violet stone.
Van cursed again.
Flash quietly reminded Van that his mother would not be happy with the fact that he was cursing so much, but Van ignored him.
He placed his hand on the side of the giant face and closed his eyes. He felt his legs start to shake as he fed nearly the last of his remaining energy into the head. There was a rumbling from deep inside the stone head and Van jumped back as the great stone mouth opened, allowing bright, hot magma to flow forth from it into the depths of the abyss.
Van stood and watched the magma flow for what seemed like an eternity. He could feel the heat emitting off of it and it made him all the more uncomfortable. He could not wait to leave this mountain and relish the fresh air.
After what nearly seemed like hours Van, who had long since sat down, jumped when he heard the sound of the great stone mouth snapping shut. He looked towards the chasm and saw that it was now a lake of molten lava.
"I'm not sure if this has actually improved things," he said aloud to Flash, himself, and anyone else who might care to listen.
He paced along the edge of the lava searching for a way across. He became excited when he saw the surfaces of several flat rocks sticking out of the lava. The rocks all appeared large enough for him to stand on and they were all far enough apart to traverse to the other side, but close enough minimize his chance of dying.
He approached the edge closest to the first rock. He studied for a moment, gauging the distance and his actual chance of making it across. He stepped back and then dashed towards the edge; he leapt gracefully across the space.
When his feet met rock his footing was uneven. He rocked back and forth on the rock before becoming stable. The rocks, he noticed, were not simply a slab of rock floating on the magma; these rocks were somehow anchored to something and, as a result, quite stable.
"Be careful," Flash warned sarcastically in his mind. "It would be quite unfortunate for us to have come all of this way, only for you to kill us by falling into the lava."
Van, quite used to the djinn's dry humor, thought nothing of it. "Well out of the two of us only I have anything to worry about dying. You, my friend, are not a mortal being; I am the only one here who should be concerned about dying.
Though Flash did not appear before him, Van could only imagine him grinning because he knew what Van said was true.
Van returned his thoughts to the task at hand. He quickly and deftly leapt over the gaps between the rocks across the fiery lake below him. He stopped when he reached the final rock. The distance between this and his destination seemed to be greater than all the times before.
He paced on the rock for a moment, gauging his changes. Then, deciding with reckless abandon, he dashed towards the edge and leapt from the rock. He slipped, however, and stumbled as his foot left the rock beneath it.
Panicking as he fell towards lava, he thrust his hand downward. He managed to summon some Psynergy from deep within and cast created a thermal updraft beneath him, sending him soaring into the air. As he descended he flipped and landed on his feet exactly where he wanted to be.
"Show off."