The "paranoia-inducing air" was not an exaggeration.
Ten minutes into the descent, Quynh Nhu stopped dead in her tracks.
"Did you guys hear that?" she whispered, her eyes darting nervously into the shadows.
"Hear what?" Pham Tuan asked, his deep voice a low rumble.
"It sounded like... a whisper," she said, clutching her rifle tighter. "It said my milk tea back at the base was plotting against me."
Minerva's voice chirped from Mei's shoulder drone. "My analysis indicates that your beverage holds no ill will towards you, Quynh Nhu. You are experiencing the initial effects of the airborne neurotoxins. I recommend increasing your suit's oxygen filtration."
"My suit is fine!" Quynh Nhu snapped back. "And my milk tea is definitely giving me the silent treatment. I can feel it."
Lin Ming sighed. This was going to be a long trip. "Everyone, focus. Mei, lead the way."
Mei, who seemed largely unaffected by the toxic air thanks to a custom-made rebreather she had cobbled together, took point. She navigated the winding tunnels with an expert's confidence, her datapad held out like a lantern. Gary trotted beside her, his three heads sniffing the strange, hot air with curiosity. He seemed to enjoy the heat.
The caverns were a geological nightmare. The passages twisted and turned at impossible angles. The yellow, explosive crystals Mei had warned them about grew in jagged clusters on the walls, pulsing with a faint, sickly light. The heat intensified with every step, turning the tunnels into a natural convection oven.
"So," Quynh Nhu said, trying to distract herself from her paranoid beverage theories. "Mei, you lived in that fortress your whole life. What was it like? Did you guys have TV? Please tell me you had TV."
Mei navigated around a large fissure that was venting steam. "We had no contact with the outside world. No TV, no internet. We had a library, salvaged from the old world. I read every book in it three times. We grew our own food in hydroponic bays, recycled our water, and trained to fight. Every day was about survival."
"And Gary?" Pham Tuan asked, his eyes fixed on the three-headed badger. "How did you end up... with him?"
"Vex brought him here as a pup," Mei explained. "A trophy from some conquered world. He thought a fearsome beast would be a good guard dog. But he didn't understand him. He tried to break him, to beat him into submission." A sad look crossed her face. "I was just a kid, assigned to clean his pen. I didn't try to train him. I just... talked to him. And I snuck him extra food. Turns out, the fastest way to a three-headed-space-badger's heart is through his three stomachs."
Gary, hearing his name, let out a happy yuff from his middle head and nudged Mei's hand.
It was a simple story, but it spoke volumes about her character. In a world defined by violence and despair, she had chosen kindness.
"The temperature is rising rapidly," Minerva's voice cut in, analytical and calm. "We are approaching a significant geothermal source. And I am detecting a life form ahead. A large one."
The team tensed. They had reached the first guardian.
They rounded a corner and entered a massive, circular chamber. The air here was clear of the paranoia-inducing toxins, but it was blisteringly hot. In the center of the chamber was a pool of bubbling, molten rock.
And rising from that pool was the "Child of Flame."
It wasn't a dragon. It wasn't a demon. It was a salamander. A salamander the size of a city bus. Its skin was made of cooling magma, cracked and glowing with an internal, cherry-red heat. Its eyes were pure, white-hot flames.
It rose from the lava pool, its immense head turning to fix its fiery gaze upon them.
"Okay," Quynh Nhu whispered, her paranoia forgotten and replaced with sheer, unadulterated awe. "That is a very, very big lizard."
The giant salamander opened its mouth, but it didn't roar. A voice, ancient and resonant, echoed directly in their minds, a form of telepathic communication.
Lin Ming stepped forward. He felt no malice from the creature, only an immense, ancient weariness.
"We are seekers," Lin Ming projected back, his own mental fortitude making the communication easy. "We have come for the First Flame."
The salamander's fiery eyes narrowed.
"Then test us," Lin Ming replied calmly.
The creature seemed to consider this. Its gaze shifted from Lin Ming to the rest of the team. It looked at Pham Tuan's diamond-hard aura, at Quynh Nhu's focused sniper's stance, at Mei's sharp, analytical eyes.
Then its gaze fell on Gary.
All three of Gary's heads were staring at the lava pool with intense interest. Not with fear, but with... hunger. The rightmost head was actually drooling a little.
The salamander's telepathic voice held a note of confusion.
Gary let out an excited bark. He clearly thought the giant lava lizard looked like a delicious, oversized hot dog.
The salamander seemed so taken aback by this that it completely forgot about its solemn, ancient guardian duties.
It opened its colossal mouth. A torrent of liquid fire, brighter than the sun, spewed forth, not at Lin Ming, but engulfing the entire chamber.
It wasn't an attack meant to kill. It was a trial by fire.
Quynh Nhu and Mei ducked behind Pham Tuan, who stood his ground like a mountain, his Earth Qi flaring to life, creating a shimmering shield that deflected the worst of the heat.
Lin Ming didn't move. He didn't shield himself.
He simply stood there, hands clasped behind his back, and let the fire wash over him.
He had bathed in a volcano before. This was like a warm bath in comparison. The essence of Fire, a power he already partially understood, swirled around him, testing him, tasting his Qi. It found no resistance, no fear. Only a calm, welcoming acceptance.
The torrent of fire ceased.
The giant salamander stared at Lin Ming, a new emotion in its fiery eyes: respect.
It then looked at Gary, who was panting happily, having enjoyed the brief, intense heat wave.
With that, the colossal creature sank back into the lava pool, disappearing beneath the molten rock without a ripple.
The path forward was clear.
"See?" Quynh Nhu said, poking her head out from behind Pham Tuan. "Easy. All we had to do was stand there and not melt."
"That was the easy part?" Pham Tuan asked nervously. "What's the hard part?"
Lin Ming looked deeper into the tunnel, where the heat was even more intense, the air shimmering with power.
"The hard part," he said, "is meeting the guardian that isn't impressed by a hungry badger."