The Jade Dragon: Chapter 9

After the two day trip from the Altar of the Rod of Crystallized Fire, I finally made it to the Shrine of Blazes.  As I got closer, the already scorching temperature went sky high.  I soon saw the reason.  There was a huge river of lava. It looked like there was a drawbridge, but it was locked up.  I was approaching, wondering what I was going to do, when I saw a stone with Ancient Alternion writing.  As I got closer, I heard a voice.

'If you are truly Ayren, place your hand on this stone.  Ayren's touch shall open the path to the power of Fire.'

The stone then started to glow a bright red.  I went over to it and place my hand on it.  The stone sank into the ground.  I then heard a loud noise and saw that the drawbridge was down and I could cross.  I went in and saw, well, lots and lots of fire, and even more magma.  As I made my way to the door to the second part of the Temple, I had to do something really strange.  Like with the Shrine of Lightning, this place also had traps.  When I stepped on certain stones, a wall of fire would spring up from open holes.  I then had to find a large bear-like monster and kill it.  The strange part was that the monster was always on fire.

Once I got rid of all of the fire blocking the path, I went into the second part of the Shrine.  The same thing happened again, but added to that was that some of the traps opened streams of lava.  Oddly, the fire this time was blue.  What was hard was stopping the lava streams.  I found out how when I stumbled and my shoulder smacked against a rock that was protruding out of the wall.  It sank in and the lava hardened and stopped flowing.

When I got to the third section of the Shrine, there was just lots of fire, all in different colors.  I had to kill many different monsters that were ablaze with different colored fire.  Once I got a quarter of the way to the door to the next part of the Shrine, I was suddenly surrounded by walls and four Dark Soldiers appeared and attacked.  Once the last one had died, the walls suddenly disappeared, as if nothing had happened.  That was more than a little weird.  Once I got half way the same thing happened again, except this time there were six Dark Soldiers that attacked.  After I got to the three quarters mark, there was a repeat, but with eight Dark Soldiers.  Once I reached the doorway, a gate shut in front of it and ten Dark Soldiers jumped out.  I won't deny that I didn't come out of that fight without a good number of cuts.  I was also so tired from the heat.

After I killed the last Dark Soldier, the doorway was opened.  I went through and found a small room with a magic fountain of pure cold water, a cloth to wash the sweat off my face, some magic healing ointment, and a bench.  I sat down on the bench and decided to take a lunch break.  I brought out my lunch, a wedge of cheese, milk, an apple, and wild cow steak, and ate.  When I was done, I rubbed the ointment on all of my injuries and they disappeared.  I refilled my two water skins and put them away.  Once I was completely refreshed, I packed up and continued on.  I wonder why that rest stop was there?  Well, I'm not complaining.  If I had to go any further in the condition I was in, I would die.

Once I left the rest stop, I went into the last room inside the Shrine.  I saw the Altar in the back.  Floating above the Altar was a glowing red sphere.  As I went towards the Altar, the door behind me was then blocked.  Then a giant bear with black fur, fire around its paws, and a barely visible red Gem beneath its chin dropped down.  The bear then spoke in Ancient Alternion.

"I am the Hell Bear, a General of the Dark Soldiers!" the bear yelled.  "You must obviously be Ayren, or you wouldn't be here!"

"That's right!" I yelled in Ancient Alternion.  "I am Ayren, the Warrior of White Light, and I am here to reclaim my powers of Fire that I laid to rest in the Shrine of Blazes!"

"I will kill you again Ayren!" the Hell Bear yelled.

It then charged at me.  I drew my sword and started attacking with all of my Lightning attacks.  But no matter where I attacked, the wound would heal instantly.  I was quickly losing energy and was in quite a bind.  Then, time seemed to stop and I heard a voice.

'The weak point Gem is under its chin!' the voice said.

Time then went back to normal.  I remembered that this happened when I was fighting the Hell Horse.  That time it had worked, so I could trust that this time was true too.  I then drew my bow and used the Lightning attack Voltaic Line, which charged the arrow with lightning, and aimed under its chin.  It hit the Gem and it shattered.  The Hell Bear then dissolved and left behind a pile of gold and some magic ointment.  I then picked that up and put the ointment in my lunch bag and the money in my coin purse.  After that, I went up to the Altar and heard a voice.

'Take back the powers of Fire that you laid to rest here.' the voice said.

The red sphere then shone brighter and became a gem, a ruby.  It then floated towards my neck.  There was a bright flash of light and, when it faded, the ruby was on the top left hole in my necklace.  I was surrounded by red light and I recalled all of the Fire attacks and spells that I, no, Ayren, had sealed away in this Shrine.  When the light faded, there was a circle of light on the right side of the Altar.  I also noticed that it was no longer hot.  I stepped into the circle and found myself outside the Shrine.  I noticed all the lava had hardened and all the fire was gone.  I checked my map and determined that the closest Shrine had to be the Shrine of Frost in the Snowflake Mountains.  I would definitely have to stop at Yukiton, the town closest to the Snowflake Mountains, to buy clothes that would protect me from the cold since the Snowflake Mountains are always plagued with never ending blizzards.  It would be a 4 day walk to get to Yukiton from here, so I would have to get going.  I put my map away and headed in the direction of Yukiton.

At that very same time, the Hell Dragon sensed the death of the Hell Bear.

'This proves it.' the Hell Dragon thought.  'Only Ayren's reincarnation could kill the Hell Generals.  Going by route, the next place he'll stop is Yukiton.  I shall go there and kill him myself.'

With that, the Hell Dragon left the Hell Palace and headed to Yukiton.  Although I wasn't aware of it, I was in deep trouble and very real danger...