2. Cinis

Pits of fire scorch around me, rocky trails spiraling around rivers and lakes of lava. They lead everywhere and nowhere at once. Above me, vast torrents of lava columns run from the infinite abyss toward an indiscernible ceiling. The spatters of lava that spill downward from the torrents refresh me, giving me strength.

I hunger.

For what, I'm not certain.

I'd love to rip my fiery arms into something delicious, prying its essence from its body and devouring it whole, but there have been fewer stragglers lately.

The goblins have mostly retreated into their deep caverns, and the jewel ogres are celebrating in the eastern realm.

And lately they haven't been satisfying to me, anyway.

For the past several cycles, I've craved something I couldn't articulate, and it's driven me toward the end of my wits. No soul has fulfilled this craving, and the gems and minerals I've pried free from the walls have all tasted dull

I feel as if I'm evolving beyond my own home, toward something I cannot fathom. And that terrifies me.

I hover across the vast expanse, my flames pelting the ground and propelling me upward with a roar. I analyze everything around me, smelling the air while closing my eyes.

The darkness is comforting and centers me.

There are the usual smells of soot and sulfur that stimulate my senses. The sounds of flames and magma, jetting and flowing outward, echo through the infinite caverns.

But in the distance, I smell something new.

It reeks of iron but is curiously more volatile.

But how to reach it?

An adjacent cliff beckons me. I might not quite reach the source of the smell, but it will get me close.

The world grows smaller beneath me as I drive my arms forward then pull myself up, freeing and planting myself at intermediate intervals.

I can feel the smell growing closer as I near the top of this cliff, but it's still far away from me. I will need to move much higher to get to it.

As I pry myself free from the minerals, then bring myself up to level ground, something immediately catches my attention as my stomach gurgles.

"What have we here?"

The erratic screeching is only slightly more obvious than the sound of burrowing nearby. A small gray creature climbs out of the ground's surface, peeking around out of the rocky surface to search for nearby creatures.

His pointed ears perk up in search of disturbances, his black, narrow eyes scanning the perimeter.

Goblins don't normally separate from their kind. They're stronger in groups, far more adept at handling their unsuspecting victims when they can overwhelm them with their presence. One goblin by itself is not a threat.

A single, solitary goblin is rarely satisfying to devour. I hunger in both conventional and unconventional ways, and I can already tell this won't please me. But sometimes a little bit is enough.

"I suppose you'll do."

He turns to me, hearing my words that echo in his mind. Curiously, he perks up his snout, clearly not aware of my capabilities. I've ripped the life free from many of my kind, and I will probably kill many more.

"Won't put up much of a fight though. Pity."

I careen forward, propelled by jets of flame, then lift him into the air without physically touching him. He is hardly a strain for my mind, his small body almost weightless in my grasp.

He cannot hide his confusion as I stretch my fiery arms toward his suspended form, my mind balancing him in the air above me. Reaching for my hovering foe, I first char his flesh, then rip his chest cavity open with my flames.

Brightly, his soul shines white against blackened and burnt skin, the only contribution of value from his meager existence. I pull it free.

The goblin falls to the ground, lifeless.

He flops against the rocky surface before tumbling downward off of the cliff toward the distant chasm, where the remainder of his flesh will surely rip and char from his body in the lava pits. That's assuming he doesn't land on a rock below and splatter himself.

Gripping the soul I've pried free from his core, I can already taste the darkness that envelops it. I open my fiery maw, devouring the goblin's essence.

As I suspected, it does almost nothing for me. This goblin's vices are little more than a snack for me, his energy almost negligible against the sum of my being.

"Now what were you looking for?"

I suspect it might be the same thing I am. That strong scent of iron is triggering senses I didn't know I had, alluring me toward an unknown destination.

Hovering forward once more, I reach one of the taller cliffs and stare up toward the bright red infinite ceiling. If my senses are accurate, this should lead me where I need to be.

Once more, I drive my arm into the wall, shattering it in place, before pushing my other arm higher up, scaling upward toward the foreign scent that so strangely entices me. I can feel parts of the wall melting against my grip, becoming almost molten as I climb.

I survey the area for signs of other prey but find nothing that satisfies me.

Once I've ascended this cliff face, pulling myself upward, I notice remnants of the structures I've been seeing more frequently lately. The rocks have been pulled up from the ground and hollowed out, little holes in the rock revealing smaller entrances.

Beside the rock structures are pieces of metal in various shapes, bound to rock and a material I'm unfamiliar with. Touching the material causes it to smoke and catch fire, leaving only the strangely shaped metal in my grasp.

"Fascinating."

I study the forms of the structures, then drive my arms into the ground, pummeling it until I have a freestanding resource to mold and shape. Using my mind, I lift up the loose rock, trying to reshape it to more suitably mimic my model.

I'm not even sure what I'm creating, but it fascinates me, the iron smell closer than ever but still temporarily set aside.

Eventually, I have created a primitive recreation of the structures around me, and I theorize about their purpose.

Perhaps some creature took joy in its creation?

But the creatures like me, the only beings I know to be capable of creation, would not waste time with such frivolities.

I hover through the hole in the structure and note that it reminds me of the burrows goblins create, where they take shelter and gather their food sources.

Then it dawns on me.

"Somebody built this to take shelter."

But from what? This investigation only yields more questions. Not only have I still not identified the source of the iron smell, but I also have no idea who created these structures.

I resolve to follow the scent, understanding that I won't find the answers to my questions here. One thing I can safely conclude is that something has intruded upon my domain. In my long existence, I'm certain I would have noticed these abnormalities before.

The scent leads me toward a cavern across a bridge. But before I can cross the bridge, I note the scent of ash growing closer, as though moving toward me.

I steady myself, preparing to fight.

A bright conflagration catches my eyes, almost blinding against the shadowed walls. It stretches out, dropping before me with a powerful quake, its serpentine form dwarfing my own.

"I have no issues with you," I say to the creature, letting my words echo in its mind. "Please allow me passage."

But something is twisting its senses, driving it to act savagely and without thought.

It drives its tail forward, swinging flames in my direction. Quickly, I dodge out of the way, not keen on letting it throw me into the pits below.

I'm sure I could survive the impact, but it would bring me farther away from my objective.

The serpent retrieves its tail, staring into me with its seven yellow amorphous eyes.

It flings itself at me again, but this time, I'm ready. As its tail flies in my direction, I grip it with my fiery arms.

The beast wails in confusion, the sheer volume of its cry sending parts of the nearby wall tumbling into the abyss.

"You could make a fine meal," I admit.

I begin prying the tail loose from the serpent's body, ripping the creature in half with my mind. The strain is admittedly more profound with such a sizable being. Eventually the fiery skin falls to the floor of the bridge, a bright, glowing orb revealing itself.

As I lift the orb with my mind, it echoes distress to me. There are lights surrounding the creature's soul that aren't its own, influences that tampered with its existence.

Something was controlling the serpent for its own means.

"Curiouser and curiouser," I say aloud.

I breach the entrance of the cavern, detecting the iron scent all around me, filling the room. And I behold creatures, the likes of which I've never seen.

They are lifeless all around me, their white and pink flesh covered in materials I'm unfamiliar with. I touch one of the creatures, and the material burns easily. They leak a black, or perhaps red, fluid, which I now understand to be the source of the scent. I try bringing the fluid to my mouth, and it tastes foul and unpleasant.

"Still no answers."

They are all gathered around the circular cave. In the cavern's center is a bright glowing round light, which seems to be drawing power from their energy.

Moving forward to study it yields no discernible answers. I move my fiery arm through the light, and my arm disappears, before I pull it back through.

I have a strange sense of foreboding in this room.

Deciding that my questions will never be answered and that no creature can provide the closure I need, I settle on leaving the room.

That's when the light starts to grow and expand, pulsating in space.

I move to get away from the light, rushing forward toward the cavern entrance, but I'm too late.

My senses are overcome by white light, and I feel an unfamiliar sensation overcoming my body.

This doesn't feel like home anymore.