The jungle before us was on fire, waves of near-blindingly bright golden flame licking up and above the canopy, a vast conflagration centred at a point some distance from us. A towering vortex of light so intense that it seemed to bend as the air rippled and curved about it.

“So... fire-resistant fruit: Good idea. Definitely a good idea...”

“It’s a perfect circle, look. And the trees, while they are within the inferno, they do not char or actually burn.”

I glanced at the apprentice and back to the burning jungle, noting the edges; as she had said, it did seem to be a perfect circle.

“With deserved awe, this is the work of the phoenix Elder, there can be no other explanation. From what I know of phoenixes, they are able to choose whom they burn, or not?”

Riffa directed her question to Darina, who only nodded in answer, apprehension clear in her face.

“With determination, we must venture down there. It was fortuitous that we encountered Rainmaker, as without the Blazing Mangos, I do not know that you three could survive such an environment. I do not know that I could deny the will of an Elder, or sway the unnatural flames.”

“I agree; the fruit was a good idea.”

My mind was a little stuck at that point – while I had seen many, many incredible things since my arrival, I thought that this was perhaps the greatest show of power I had witnessed. The ring of fire was miles and miles across, and stretched far above the tree-tops, which were themselves hundreds of feet high.

I slapped myself lightly, trying to snap out of it; it helped a little. I tugged on my friends’ clothes and gestured ahead of us.

“We better get to it; the sooner we reach that,” I gestured at the flaming cyclone at the centre of the circle, “the sooner we can return the egg and hopefully turn... that... off.”

“Hunter’s right. We should go; we’ll reach the edge of perimeter in an hour or so, it’s mostly downhill from here.”

With only a glance between us as confirmation, we moved on, trudging down the slope. I was happy to be heading down again, and even happier that there seemed to be less humidity on this side of the mountain, but the heat was definitely rising. As it turned out, Riffa, Darina and I had to stop to consume one of our fruits before we even reached the burning wall that marked the edge of the Elder’s domain, as the temperature had kept climbing the closer we drew to it, drawing the sweat off us in thin wisps of steam. Reff, who was still fine at that point, opted not to take any chances and joined us in our mid-day repast.

Cutting into the huge mango, I noted the flesh inside seemed to change colour slightly as I watched, moving between the normal orange I had expected to red, and then yellow before transitioning back to orange before starting the whole thing over. The flesh tasted like you would expect a mango to taste, if it had a baby with a Carolina Reaper on steroids. As I chewed and swallowed the fruit, I could feel snot running out of my nose and tears running down my face as the spicy fruit seemed to eat into me, stinging my throat and stomach like drinking pure alcohol.

“This isn’t as good as the pineapple!”

My friends did not reply, busy as they were trying to quench the taste with water. Knowing that water would do little to help, and not actually having any, I refrained from the attempt, instead choosing to stoically stand waving air into my open mouth.

Five minutes or so later, the ordeal was over and I felt my body flush hot before rapidly cooling to the point that it was actually almost chilly. Slapping a cleansing pill to my chest to clear the snot and tears from my beard at least, I sighed in relief as I felt the accumulated grime of the day vanish; I had no idea where it all went, but I never wanted to visit.

“That... was not great. We should run, I really don’t want to have to eat another...”

“In hurried agreement, we should run, Hunter.”

“Agreement.”

“... Agreed!”

The last came from the red-eyed apprentice, who had not waited for a consensus and was already vanishing into the jungle ahead of us. Without speaking further, we set off after her, fearing the fruit more than the fire by that point.

*

***

*

It did not take us long to reach the edge of the inferno; even with the density of the jungle and the relative strength of the trees, the four of us tore through the underbrush, jumping where we had to. There were a couple of close calls with local wildlife, huge snakes snapping at our passing, and one very disgruntled looking jaguar with a strange green-purple sheen, but for the most part we made excellent progress.

When we finally arrived at the golden wall of flame, we did stop to marvel, unable to resist the urge. It was a clean line of fire stretching away from us to both sides and stretching high above, with not a single lick of flame escaping the circle.

“Darina, you can regenerate, you should go first.”

The apprentice glared at me, before glancing back at the burning forest.

“I think Reff should go first, he can manipulate heat.”

“... With cunning redirection, I would not want to deprive either of you of the honour.”

“While that would have been a good time for deception, Big Guy; you’re not fooling anyone.”

I grinned up at him, amused despite myself.

“With proud approval, I am glad that my brother did not choose to betray himself once more... he is also correct that we should not steal honour from our friends.”

“We, huh? Well, I guess I better accept this honour... fearless leader, here I come. Yup. Right now. Here I go. Reff, can you push me?”

Despite my very real reluctance to suffer through another mango, there was an atavistic fear welling up inside me at the prospect of stepping into a solid wall of fire. With a nod of understanding, Reff knelt down and placed his giant hand on my back and shoved.

I stumbled forward into the flame, my breath held as I anticipated pain, but it did not come. I could feel the air moving around me, gently caressing my skin as it flowed and eddied within the inferno. I did not have a great deal of time to appreciate the sensation, however, or the fact that I was not being burned to ash, as the moment I stepped through the barrier a crushing weight fell upon me, rage and loss like solid things crashing down and around me and forcing me to my knees, my breath coming in short gasps. I had felt something similar before, when Walker grew angry, but it had been a small thing compared to this, and it made me wonder whether my dark mentor had held back, even against an army hundreds-of-thousands strong.

As I knelt in burning dirt and undergrowth, I felt that weight, the spiritual pressure pressing in on my centre and a very real physical pain shot through me, like being kicked in the nuts, but across my entire torso before spreading, radiating out along my energy channels.

While the pain was incredible, I had been through worse and it did not seem to be killing me; the solid Core of Praxis within my centre appeared to be holding strong against the pressure of the Elder’s displeasure.

After a moment, I managed to climb back to my feet, breathing through the pain and defying the impulse to shrink away from the feelings assaulting my psyche. Turning slowly, I gestured to my friends that it seemed safe, so they joined me one by one, reluctance clear on their faces, having seen my own initial reaction.

Despite their greater stages of cultivation, my companions did not fare any better than I had when they entered into the flames, each of them falling to their own knees. Knowing it would take them some time to recover, I turned my attention to the environment; as we had though, the jungle was on fire, but did not seem to be burning. I had expected there to be noise, the roar of consumed and rushing air, the pop of wood, but other than the gentle breeze, it seemed to be much like forest outside. As I watched, I saw one of the giant mosquitos coming and slapped it to the ground, where it apparently reconsidered its plan of action and took off in the opposite direction, like a flying torch. I saw a squirrel – the first I had seen since our arrival – crouched on a nearby branch, staring at us even as soft golden flame flickered about it. After several seconds, it tilted its tiny head and vanished and a flash of light.

I heard the scrape of boots in the underbrush and I turned back to my friends to see Reff rising back this his feet, his hand on his pristine white stomach, rubbing absentmindedly.

“With careful understatement, that was unpleasant.”

“Yeah, it wasn’t fun. One out of five, would not recommend.”

“You’re still spouting nonsense, Hunter.”

Riffa and Darina rose together, one with a look of pain on her face that I thought had probably matched mine, and the other a look of pure, obstinate defiance. I will let you guess which was which.

“Somebody has to; it’s a difficult job, but it's gotta be done.”

“In frank confusion, I am not sure that is the case, Hunter.”

“Riffa, how can you say that? My nonsense is vital to the mission.”

“With continued confusion, perhaps our people use the world, ‘vital’, differently?”

“In hesitant explanation, I believe Hunter may be speaking in jest, sister.”

“Anything’s possible, guys; the world is wide and time is deep, or so I’m told.”

Darina snorted at that and I grinned at my friends again before wincing as the pain surged slightly. I saw similar reactions from each of us and I felt the sensation of the Elder’s territory change; the rage and loss were still there, but there were joined by a strange feeling of attention, as if we were being stared at. Looking around, I tried to spot whoever might be near, but I quickly realised that I was feeling the phoenixes attention. Much like my mentor, and Rainmaker, the Elder’s perception stretched much further than any normal mortal, I knew.

“Uh, hi, Elder... we come in peace?”

The attention sharpened and I had the strange urge to look behind me, like somebody’s head was just beside and behind my own. I shuddered and resisted the urge to rub my neck.

“With hurried suggestion, perhaps we should explain why we are here, Hunter?”

I looked at Reff and then at Darina, my eyebrows raised in question; she knew the most about the Elders in the Sha Forest so I wanted her go-ahead before mentioned the egg where the phoenix could... perceive us... I did not want an angry demigod crashing down on us when we were barely surviving its passive displeasure. Rather than answering my implied question, the diminutive apprentice instead bowed in the general direction of the conflagration’s centre before speaking, her voice respectful.

“Honoured Elder Flame Ever Dancing, we come in peace to return what was taken; my companions recovered your egg from those that stole it, at great personal risk and seek to return it to your side.”

When Darina first mentioned the return, the flames about us roared and spun, and for the first time I felt the heat of the flames through the cooling effects of the Blazing Mango. Yet as she continued, the fire about us stilled once, the heat vanishing. I felt the emotional gravity pressing down on us shift and change, first to incandescent rage before shifting to hope and white-hot elation; underneath the more positive emotions, however, I could feel a current of promise, that if we were attempting to deceive it, or if the egg was harmed, destruction would follow, and it would not be limited to us.

“Nice, Darina. That seems to have gone well, so... shall we? Or... do I just take it out?”

Denial danced through the feelings assailing us when I mentioned taking the egg out, so I left it where it was, assuming the Elder wanted us to bring it to them.

“Uh, looks like... they... want us to bring it to them? And I know this is a bad time, but is Elder... Flame Ever Dancing... a man or woman?”

“Neither, Hunter; phoenixes reproduce asexually, and yes, this was a bad time.”

I recalled Walker mentioned that only Elder’s produced eggs, but only once Darina reminded me. I winced at the chastisement, and in anticipation of the phoenix’s further displeasure, but I instead felt a note of amusement amid the other sensations, though it passed so quickly that that may well have been my own imagination.

“With careful interpretation, I believe Hunter is correct; the Honoured Elder appears to wish us to come to them.”

With a nod from Darina, we set out in search of the phoenix, still in pain, but less than before now that the source knew our intentions were pure; Walker had known when he was being lied to, so I hoped that the Elder did too, since I really wanted to make clear that it was the Risen Throne that had taken it, and not us...

And who knew, maybe if things went well, I would finish my quest, get the bonus and finally be able to make my purchase...