Playing with Fire

With my leg burnt because of the lava axe that Fire used on me, I walked down the revealed ramp with help of my friends while the criminal, in fear, walked further behind us... Very further behind, taking steps even slower than the injured me was taking.

When we were halfway through, I looked at the go at the bottom of the pit... Fire was looking directly at me and he smirked. Suddenly, he moved his hands, and the lava around the platform he was standing started to shape itself, forming creatures that looked like headless humans, but taller and with a stronger physique than any normal human.

We faced knights made out of water and wearing hard ice armor, creatures made out of purple fog, the fox alone faced a few enemies made by Earth... It was expected we would be facing enemies made either of literal fire or just lava, like those that fire summoned... I just hope my injury won't get in the way of fighting.

The fire creatures were slow to walk up the ramp, but they eventually reached us as we walked down. They might be unarmed, unlike the creatures we faced before, but just his magma fists should be already danger enough to face... The weakness was the same as the others, however, a crystal in their bodies.

Standing on my feet with a certain difficulty, I drew my blade to fight against the magma creatures and Jeffrey did the same. The magma creatures attacked first, charging and ramming against us, but as an immediate reaction, I jumped to the wall, and pulled Jeffrey and Beech with me, opening the way for the three creatures to pass right through.

"Watch out!", I shouted to the criminal that was further behind us, but it was far too late, he only had time to draw a dagger at the magma creature... When the blade was consumed by the creature, it stepped back and soon the dagger fell, melted.

The criminal had another blade with him and drew it as well and relentlessly attacked one of the magma creatures. The lava creature reacted by being aggressive, attacking the criminal first with a punch, but he was fast enough to skillfully dodge the magma fist and then get the knife stuck on the weakness of the creature. The crystal vanished in thin air and the magma creature was undone, with the magma falling on the floor and running down the ramp... The criminal was fast enough to save his second dagger, at least.

The other two creatures took their chances to attack him, trying to surround him and then toss their magma on the criminal, but quickly, I kicked a small rock on the ramp, hitting the back of one of the creatures. The rock was swallowed and the hit creature looked at me with anger and prepared to bull charge against me, just like how they first attempted to attack us.

I made my strategy first, moving close to the edge of the ramp and waiting, but when the time came, my leg stopped me from moving. But Beech was faster, charging against my leg and making me trip out of the way of the creature. The enemy just didn't have time to stop fast enough and fell to the bottom of the pit... But quickly started to move again, climbing up the ramp from the beginning once more.

I looked at the criminal, worried about his situation with dealing with that other creature, but Jeffrey seemed to have just taken care of this, getting his sword through the crystal, but soon after, the creature undone itself and fell all over the blade, melting it... Nodding at me, he gave me the sign that we were ready to move on, despite the fact he was now unarmed.

So, I continued down the ramp, limping with my leg in pain... I wish we had saved a little of that healing bread now. Eventually, we encountered the third of the magma creatures again... but it was different now, with a black crystal accompanying the red crystal, side by side. The criminal was the first to act, attacking the black crystal with his dagger, but the creature put his arm in the way and solidified it, getting the knife stuck.

Unable to pull it back, the criminal just walked away, surrendering his blade to the creature while the arm melted again and swallowed the blade, just like it did with the rock. The second blade was no more... and the criminal ran out of weapons, retreating a little in fear.

The magma creature, however, was still strong and had many tricks, throwing a magma ball at us and it almost hit the fox again, but this time I was the one who saved it, pulling Beech by the tail. Did the black crystal let him more dangerous? From where it came from anyway? I guess we should've destroyed his red crystal while we had the chance.

With everyone unarmed but me, it fell on my shoulders to defeat the creature... I guess it was only fair, I and the fox were the only ones who didn't face creatures all by ourselves. When the creature saw me putting myself between it and my friends, it stared with anger... While I planned my attack, quickly.

The creature didn't behave like two different ones, so the black crystal wasn't a fusion, it was just an addition... And with such conclusion, I could safely affirm that all that mattered was breaking the red crystal and so I aimed for it, moving for a quick single strike that I could easily pull back and avoid the magma.

The creature moved away, however, and dodged my attack... Then, it swung its arm through the air, letting his magma spill on me, but I crouched down quickly then took my chances to attack the crystal again.

He blocked my attack with his solidified arm again, but I didn't put much strength on my attack, so it was easy to pull my sword off before he could melt his arm again... It was at that moment I was given the chance, quickly attacking while he was still melting his arm down... The exposed black crystal was the only one in sight, however, so I went for it and, unlike most of the time, the crystal shattered to pieces.

Stepping back after the frail crystal broke, we both looked at each other, In immediate fury, it tried to attack me... I moved back, dodging, but he wasn't aiming for me, he punched my sword and swallowed it with its magma, I was unarmed now...

The crystals, however, were always fragile, given how they simply vanish in thin air... So I didn't need a weapon, I just needed to hit it, with anything and I rock on this ramp was all that I got, throwing it at the crystal of the creature before it could punch me. The moment the rock touched it, the crystal vanished... And the creature disappeared.

"Let's... Let's just continue, shall we?", I asked my friends and the criminal and they just nodded, walking down the ramp while I looked to the magma running down the ramp a little... My sword was fully swallowed and it really didn't survive to continue to accompany me...

When we reached the bottom of the ramp, we looked at the platform on which fire was standing... There was distance enough between the platform and the ramp that didn't allow us to jump over it..

"You passed the first test, Dagger. Congratulations... Now, the second and last test...", he said and suddenly a rock appeared in the magma surrounding the platform... Small for only one person to stand on.

Following the god's sign for me to proceed, I jumped on it... It was stable, and when I felt with no risk of losing my balance of anything of the kind, I looked back at the god again... He was wearing a deadly serious expression now.

"The next test is dangerous... It's a test of will. Your fire burns brightly... But only another fire can judge if it's strong... If your will is stronger than the special flames I set on you, then you passed the test. If not, then the fire will consume your body together with your weak will. Do you still wish to continue?", he asked and for a moment, I hesitated... But there wasn't much motive to stall. I made this far already and death was the last thing I was worried about during the whole journey...

"I will continue..."