"Do all the Gods keep their toys in temples like this?"

"What do you mean?"

"I think that's good. Now move that block," Feat pointed to another stone cube, "Over there." He pointed attain, this time to a cluster of similar cubes across the room. "That should do it, I think." Reel nodded, and jogged over to push the block as directed. Just looking at him, you could tell he was the stronger of the two, so naturally the duty of pushing the cubes fell on him.

"This is what, the third temple we've been to since I started following you around?" Feat continued, "And all of them are like this. Test your worth with a couple of puzzles, at least one involving these push-blocks, then a fight against a giant monster or something."

"It's a pretty common design," Reel agreed.

"Obviously. It doesn't' seem too secure, either. I mean, we get through easily enough. The fights can be troublesome, but nothing we can't handle."

"Think of it like a closet," Reel advised as he continued to push, "What's the point of hiding your really useful stuff behind a lock even you can't open? You'd never get to use it. This way, it's mostly Gods, Heroes, and people who really need it that can get to it, which is really the point of these things's existences, anyway."

"If you say so," Feat said, hearing the block click into place. The cluster glowed brightly for a moment, then dimmed somewhat and sank into the floor. Feat dropped from the rim around the pit and walked over to his friend.

"You're really good at these things," Reel said as the two headed for the now-unlocked door. Feat suppressed a blush and shrugged.

"I suppose," was all he said. Feat moved towards the door slowly, letting Reel lead. In addition of being the older of the two, Reel was the unofficial leader and decision maker. Though unlike most party leaders, Reel carried no sword, but looking at him one could see a powerful physique, and if one paid attention, as Feat had a habit of doing, a grace in his movements that suggested an extensive background in the martial arts. That wasn't to day that Reel couldn't use a sword if he wanted to. When they fought magical constructs or something immune to conventional attacks, Reel's sister, Nathi, would 'send' her sword to him, and he would use it to end the battle quickly. Feat wasn't sure how it worked, though Reel had tried to explain it using words like 'teleport' and 'alternate universe,' concepts Feat couldn't understand. The last couple of months had been full of new and confusing experiences for Feat; this thing with Reel's sister was only one of many.

Reel reached the double-doors. The doors were made of stone, like everything else in these temples, and ground open at his touch. Feat and Reel both cursed at what they found.

"You're early!" the woman said, genuinely surprised, and perhaps a little annoyed. "I was just finishing off the guardian," she said, gesturing to the creature's charred remains. "I had been hoping it would revive and take care of you guys, but I guess that's not happening."

Feat watched the woman closely; last they had met, she had stopped mid-sentence to attack and surprised them, and Feat wanted to be ready this time. He couldn't help but admire her at the same time; with red hair and a nice body, she was rather hot if you forgot the fact that she was essentially a zombie. Feat blinked and smiled inwardly at his unintentional pun.

"Out of our way, Tiera," Reel growled. Obviously, he would never forget, no matter how alive she looked.

"You know better than to expect that to work, Reel," Tiera said with small, laugh. "Besides, if anything, you're in my way."

"She kinda has a point, Reel," Feat muttered.

"Whatever!" Reel said, annoyed, "Let's just kill her and get this over with!"

"That doesn't seem to stick," Feat said, remembering the sizable explosion Tiera had left behind the last time.

"You're welcome to try," Tiera said, shaking her head, "but frankly, I'd prefer that you just gave up."

"Not an option," Reel confirmed. All of their visions blurred for a moment, and the battle had begun.

Reel glanced around the room, trying to formulate a strategy. He and Feat were still in the doorway, and while Feat had already gotten his staff out his weapon, a thumb-thick staff as tall as he was, Feat wasn't good enough with it to cover the both of them. The room was round, and there were no pillars to take cover behind. In fact, the only form of cover in the room at all was from the corpse of the temple guardian Tiera had dispatched. Hopefully, that thing wouldn't revive as they fought; it would not be on his side.

Feat struck first. Because his pants had no pockets, his inventory had to be accessed through the small of his back. He preferred it this way, since it was easier to pull surprises out in this manner. This one was one he had prepared earlier, a throwing knife, spelled to detonate into a shower of light and noise when it hit its target. He threw, and though his aim wasn't the best, still managed to bury the knife into her shoulder. It exploded, sending spiraling sparks and obnoxious squeals through the room, and into Tiera's inhuman body. Fire roared from the wound, the shell around her internal flame pierced for a moment, filling the room with heat. The inferno left nothing of Feat’s knife, and in a moment the wound closed itself, and one could no longer tell she had just been hurt.

Reel began to move out of the doorway, looking for a better angle to attack from. A cyan glow, like a clear sky, enveloped his hands-his weapon, his emotions brought out of his mind and given form. He didn’t take his eyes off Tiera as he moved, but even then wasn’t really prepared for her attack.

She simply raised her right arm in his direction, and the flesh opened, or unwrapped, and fire poured out of the limb. This was her preferred method of offense, but every time the heat and the light and the roar of the flame startled him again, and he leapt out of the way, every time the same way. But this was precisely what Tiera had planned, and her other arm opened, and even as he cleared the first assault he was bathed in a second, though to his credit he did not cry out in pain nor fear. Rather, he gave reprisal; even as the fire engulfed him, twin spheres of blue emerged from the flame, striking Tiera, one in the forehead, the other in the jaw, each one like a punch, causing her to stumble backwards and reform her arms to regain her balance. She wasn’t prepared for another blow to send her forwards.

Reel pushed himself off the wall and reformed the power around his hands. He had fared far better than the guardian-his clothes weren’t even singed. He allowed himself a small inward smile at the success of his strategy. Of the two of them, Reel was the most vulnerable to magic like Tiera's, and so was a prime target. But Tiera had placed too much focus on him, and didn’t even notice Feat until he was on top of her, pushing her off the guardian’s corpse with a flurry of blows from his staff. Feat had no fear of fire, nor of her; he had spent his entire life making fire dance.

Tiera let Feat have the pile of blackened rubble that had once been a guardian, but had no intention of allowing him to get away with attacking her when she wasn’t looking. She raised both of her arms again and let the flame within flow freely. Once again she heard no screams, and half-braced herself for another counterattack. But the counter never came. Instead, her fire seemed to simply stop, or rather, to flare off to the sides, as if it had struck a wall and could not continue in the straight path it normally would. Then she saw: the boy’s staff spun rapidly in a perfect circle, guided by his quick hands and reinforced by his mana, creating a shield, or a barrier that her fire could not penetrate. But judging by it’s nature it wouldn’t be too hard to get around. Before she could adjust her attack accordingly, she had to cut off her attack entirely and almost throw herself backwards to prevent Reel’s boot from meeting her head. Her efforts were nearly in vain, when he hooked his foot back and almost clipped her forehead. She moved even farther back, though Reel didn’t press his attack.

“Two rounds into battle,” Feat mocked from his position on the guardian’s body, “And we’ve already got her on the defensive.”

“Well, we do outnumber her,” Reel said, though he was as surprised as Feat.

“That generally doesn’t help,” Feat argued, reaching behind his back for something. He held up a small coin, copper, it looked like, and unmarked. “Catch,” he instructed, and lobbed it into the air in Tiera's direction, and she eyed it cautiously, remembering his knife. At the height of its arc, the coin exploded into a bright sphere of light, blinding in its brilliance. She cried out in surprise and anger at this trickery, and lashed out with both arms, sweeping with fire the areas she knew her foes to be. But it didn’t seem to matter; even as her sight returned she saw Reel, barreling through the fire as if it weren’t there, arms raised and hands clasped, the cyan color she had come to recognize as his unique power wrapped tight around them. She couldn’t get away in time.

Reel’s clasped hands struck her, pushing her head down and into his raised and expecting knee. Tiera fell to the ground, but managed to push herself to her feet. She was hurting, but not yet defeated. Not nearly.

Reel on the other hand stumbled away and fell against a wall, and it was only by sheer force of will that he did not slide down to rest on the ground. He gasped and panted for breath, and it felt he couldn’t get enough air no matter how much he inhaled or how quickly he exhaled to make room for more. Feat dashed to his side, and began chanting the only healing spell available to him, though he had to know it would be ineffective. It was meant for the minor burns and injuries he would often have growing up, not for injuries one gets from throwing oneself into an inferno. Twice. But Feat was insistent on trying, so Reel didn’t stop him, and the cool magic soothed some of the pain anyway. As the spell took effect, Feat spun around to place himself between Reel and Tiera, apparently also determined to prevent further injury to Reel. Reel promised himself to thank Feat later.

Tiera was on her feet again by now, and unleashed her fury now onto Feat, whose spinning staff met the storm of fire just as before, leaving both himself and Reel unharmed. Reel reprimanded himself silently, first for his own foolishness in his tactics against Tiera, and then for causing Feat to put himself into danger like this. Feat, as skilled in evasion and avoiding injury as he was, couldn’t keep such tactics up for long, and especially while guarding someone else. That was Reel’s job, to take the heavy blows and divert attacks from his companion. But then, these blows weren’t the usual physical ones he could brush off so well; these were magical. While Reel had no distinct weaknesses, per say, magic was his greatest vulnerability, able to bypass his defenses and strike him directly. Reel reached into his pocket, into his inventory, and pulled out a small, decorated vial. He took the top off and let it drop to the ground and brought the vial up to his lips and began to let the liquid within slide into his mouth and down his throat. Halfway through he had to stop to breathe, as he was still desperate for air, but it was less urgent now, it seemed. He drank the rest, and embraced the cool feeling of a Heal spell in liquid form. Adding to this, Feat turned around and quickly cast his own healing magic, and finally Reel felt himself well enough to stand up on his own again.

“I think that’s enough,” Reel told his companion.

“How’s your HP?” Feat asked, turning to face Tiera's next attack, his staff already separating them.

“A little over half,” Reel said, and prepared to step out from behind Feat’s protection.

“Drink another,” Feat said as Tiera's fire lanced at him.

“We don’t have many left,” Reel argued, “I want to conserve-“

“Drink another!” Feat yelled over the roar of the fire even as he blocked it. Reel paused. He didn’t think he had ever heard Feat be so forceful, or even so much as raise his voice, not about anything. “Please!” his partner added, almost desperately this time. Reel nodded finally, and pulled out another vial.

“Now?” Feat asked as Tiera's attack subsided.

“Nearly full,” Reel replied, tossing the second, emptied vial to the side. Feat reached into his inventory at the small of his back.

“Then let’s get back on the offensive,” he said, and threw a second knife at Tiera. Like the first, this one was also brimming with violent, albeit colorful, magic and would release it all upon contact. Also like the second, this one struck, this time sliding into her stomach before exploding. Reel and Feat dashed in opposite directions to avoid the burst of flame from the wound, separating the pair once again.

Tiera once again turned her attention to Reel, and, being careful to keep an eye on Feat, unleashed another onslaught of fire onto the Hero. Not wanting a repeat of last time, Reel instead threw himself in the opposite direction, returning now to the same position he had stayed in to heal, and threw another burst of power at her hand, knocking it away, preventing her from chasing him down with her fire.

Feat was once again on top of her, though this time she was more prepared, and managed to parry or simply avoid the worst blows before her own attack. She opened her mouth wide, and, perhaps in imitation or tribute to the hundreds of monsters, beasts and dragons for whom this was their primary means of offense, exhaled a burst of fire that Feat was unprepared to block. The flame swallowed him as it had Reel before him, and he stepped back, throwing his arms up to protect himself, more out of instinct than necessity.

A Hammerblow interrupted Tiera's attack, one that, with Tiera unbalanced and unable to defend herself, Reel followed up with a series of strikes, their power enhanced by the familiar shade of blue that Tiera was beginning to hate.

“You okay?” Reel asked Feat.

“I’m fine,” Feat said confidently, “I got hit by worse back home? Like that constellation rocket.”

“You sure?” Reel asked again, somewhat surprised,.

“I’ve been working with fire all my life,” Feat explained, “Making fire dance is something I used to live for.” As if to prove his point, he lunged at Tiera again, forcing her even further back. Arrogantly, she again opened her mouth, hoping to catch him in another exhalation of flame. Feat saw the tactic coming, however, and pivoted around and out of the way of the attack and swung his staff again, striking her again before she could even begin.

Tiera stumbled again, but quickly regained her balance and thrust her arms out, one at each of her opponents. Again, they unwrapped into a stream of fire, and managed to catch both of them by surprise. Feat did manage to defend himself, but Reel, having no way to block the fire was caught again and he winced and cursed himself for letting his guard down yet again. Even so, he had enough presence of mind to counterattack. He formed a sphere of power, about the size of his head, between his two hands, and, when Tiera's flames had died down for the moment, thrust forward, driving the sphere into her gut, knocking her off her feet and halfway across the room.

Feat glanced at Reel, and, remembering their situation not five minutes ago, ran to his side and cast another healing spell on him. Reel thanked him, and looked back at Tiera and cursed. He threw Feat forwards and to the ground, and himself backwards where he once again met a wall. Feat looked up and saw the reason for his friend’s alarm; two rivers of fire reached over and around him, coming in from different angles and meeting where he and Reel had just been. It would have been unlikely that either could dodge because of the sheer size of the rivers, Feat knew he wouldn’t have been able to block both, and they probably wouldn’t be able to recover if they had both been hit. The ball of fire where the two rivers met shifted, and spilled out onto Reel, who by this time was getting quite tired of getting fried.

Tiera's attack dispersed, and Reel was already emptying another vial of its contents. With his free hand, Reel gestured for Feat to go ahead and attack, to which Feat nodded and climbed to his feet. He was beginning to become annoyed.

Feat charged again, swinging his staff with more ferocity than Tiera could recall him displaying yet. He was beginning to grow a strong dislike of Tiera, though she had done relatively little to him, and in fact seemed to be avoiding it. But no, that had to be his imagination; Reel was just the easier target.

“Can we just end this already?!” he yelled as he delivered his final strike.

“If you’d just die,” Tiera offered, “We’d be done already.” She unleashed her fire, this time aiming at Feat’s legs and sweeping upwards, catching him unprepared. Feat cursed and stumbled back, which was fortunate, as it allowed Reel the room to Hammerblow Tiera again.

“We’re out of healing items,” Reel reported as Feat regained his balance.

“Better end this now, then,” Feat uttered, and began concentrating. Half a dozen sparks of light appeared around him, flashing and spinning for several seconds, before firing off one by one with a shriek, slamming into Tiera and leaving a trail of colored sparks and streaks behind them. Across Tiera's face and body, small cracks began to form, from which came out small tongues of flame or orange-red light. One ran across her hand, and she swore loudly when she saw it. All three of them knew that this meant she was nearly defeated. She glared at them accusingly.

“I’ll make you regret this later,” she promised. The cracks grew wider, and the flames peaking out of them taller.

“What’s she doing?” Feat wondered aloud, as more and more cracks began to form.

“A self-destru-” Reel began to offer, before he was proven right when Tiera's shell of a body vanished entirely, and the entirety of her unhindered fire rushed to meet him. Feat’s staff clattered to the ground, and he threw himself around Reel, trying to cover as much of his larger friend that he could, his back to the oncoming inferno. Reel’s eyes widened as he realized what his friend was trying to do, but it was too late to do anything. And then for a long moment, heat and light and fire filled the world.

When Reel’s vision cleared again, when the battle ended, Feat was still holding on to him, though limply and wearily.

“You okay?” Reel asked, not even sure if his friend was awake.

“Yeah...” Feat said weakly, “Yeah... I’m okay.” Feat was smiling, though he didn’t really know why. Well, yes he did. He was kinda glad Reel couldn’t see.

“That was stupid,” Reel said, shifting Feat to his side, so that they could walk and Feat could still lean on him. “I was nearly at full HP. I probably could’ve taken that fine.”

“Liar,” Feat said as they moved slowly forward, “You’re barely at half.”

“It was still stupid,” Reel said, annoyed. “Thanks, though.”

“Consider it repayment,” Feat instructed, “For when we met.”

Reel stopped at the doorway, pausing for a couple reasons. One was to give Feat a moment’s rest; after the stunt he pulled, Reel was surprised he could move at all. As it was, Reel was very nearly dragging his teammate, and figured he would be carrying Feat soon.

The second reason was to examine the door more closely. Oftentimes, Gods would leave traps or something protecting their prizes, as a sort of last chance to fend off any thieves. Of course, since most of the people after their prizes were Heroes sent by them, these traps could end up being counterproductive. So, to make sure that the Heroes they invested so much time and energy into didn’t get killed by falling rocks or something stupid like that, the Gods liked to put up warnings in the form of carvings and paintings. Because many Heroic parties ended up with someone interested in old carvings and paintings, be they artists or bards or archeologists, this strategy tended to work out fine.

The door didn’t look to offer any real warnings about anything. There was lots of gold and other valuable-looking metals and stones scattered about, but none in any obvious formation that would indicate a trap. There was a large profile of a human head in the center, flat and silver and plain, but Reel figured it was more likely to by the symbol of the God to whom this temple belonged than a warning of any kind.

“Hey Feat,” Reel said, “Why don’t you use that healing spell?”

“No MP,” Feat murmured sleepily. “Used it all up for that…” he didn’t finish his sentence.

Reel sighed and lifted his free hand to the cold, stone door, causing it to slowly grind open at his touch.

“Uh-oh,” Reel said, half-dragging Feat through the door.

“Wha-oh?” Feat wondered and looked up. To either side of the door the two came through floated a ball of fire, balls that, though they were as tall as Reel, only managed to illuminate an area of about ten feet in any direction. The rest of the room was veiled in darkness, save for one small point in the very far distance, a small point of light Feat could barely make out. The two of them stood on a stone path that continued past the twin fire’s light, into the darkness, a path that couldn’t have been more than five feet wide, that dropped off into still, opaque water on either side.

“I can’t make it,” Feat said, reluctantly pushing himself off Reel and back into the doorframe. He fell against it and slid down to a sitting position. “I’ll just wait here.”

Reel was silent for a long moment, but finally nodded. He turned down the path, and started running. His foot landed outside the light’s reach.

It started with a shriek, like that of a hawk, or a demon, and Reel could see it in his mind, with wings to block out the sun and a beak to rip him in half and a shadow to rot what it fell on, and he could see it in his eyes ahead of him, reaching for him with talons like swords, and he dove under it and rolled to his feet and kept running.

Two balls of fire erupted at the edges of the path as he passed, but Reel didn’t dare stop.

Something broke the water’s surface, and even over his breath and the echo of his boots on the stone floor he could hear it like thunder. Tentacles silently rose out of the water around him, black and invisible, reaching for him with hands that were human if not for the extra fingers. One grasped his shoulder, but he broke free, and another clung to his thigh, but they were not powerful enough to hold him, not someone as strong and fast as Reel was, and he had never been as fast as he was at this moment. Finally one grasped his ankle, and this one was not like the others, with a grip more than firm enough to hold him, tripping him. He feel flat on his face, but did not let the pain distract him, as more and more of these tentacle hands grabbed onto him, to drag him down into the dark, still water, where he was just as likely to freeze to death as drown, the water so cold. He tried to crawl forward, but could not break free, the hands’ collective grip so strong. He reached out, helplessly, as if to find something to hold on to.

Two balls of fire erupted at the edges of the path, and the hands shot back into the dark water, as if the light terrified them. Reel leapt to his feet and began running again.

It was a barking this time. A barking and panting and slobbering, as if Death had released all of His hounds to take down Reel, and as if doing so was the only thing on their minds, bringing him down and tearing him apart. He could almost feel their breath, as if only inches separated him from their teeth, inches separating him from something worse than death. He was beginning to grow tired, but didn’t allow himself to slow down.

Two balls of fire erupted at the edges of the path, and the barking quieted, but did not stop. The light was only a small reprieve, not safety, and Reel kept running.

He could make his goal out now, an altar, illuminated by a bright white light from above, an island in a sea of black. He could make something else out too, now, a shadow between him and the altar, almost human, but the proportions were wrong and the limbs bent in odd directions. Reel thought he could make out sharp edges on its body.

Reel ran at the thing, the almost-human monster, and quickly changed direction to try to go around it, but it barred his way and grabbed hold of him, cutting through his clothing and into his skin with hard, cold hands. He winced and put his foot between them, and pushed off of the creature’s torso, throwing Reel back and out of the thing’s grip. It was his first step back, and he immediately regretted it when he felt something rise out of the ground behind him. He ran again, with renewed vigor, and evaded the bladed creature’s hands. The creature did not give up there, and gave chase, easily keeping pace with Reel, and it reached out to take hold of him again but only left a long, shallow cut into his back before Reel reached the altar and there was no more room to run and he spun around to face the creature and there was nothing to face.

Reel stood there for a long time, gasping, panting for breath. He was bleeding a little, and sweating a lot, and shaking where he stood, and his heart was trying to escape his chest, and his lungs were on fire, but he was alive. He simply stood for several minutes, making sure he knew that.

He turned and looked to the altar again, to the relic some God had gone through all the trouble to hide here, that Tiera had been sent after. On the altar sat a small, plain vase, the kind with a large bottom and a long, flared neck. He could hold it easily in one hand, but picked it up with two, just in case it was really fragile. He turned it over in his hands, looking for any sort of design or pattern that might give some hint to it’s purpose or function, but found nothing but the smooth, white stone the vase was made of. Finally, he gave up and slid it into his pocket.

He turned back to look down the path.

There was nothing there. All of the torches were still active, giving light to the small area they could. There was nothing there. He had gone through the trial already, so there was nothing there.

He didn’t stop running until he had reached the corpse of the guardian Tiera had defeated.

“Sorry about that, Feat,” Reel apologized between breaths, “I just didn’t want to… Feat?” Feat hadn’t moved since Reel had left him. He was sitting in the doorway in the exact same position, and Reel had needed to jump over him to get through. But now he wasn’t even responding, which worried Reel a little. He walked over to his friend, and knelt down at his side. He listened closely for the sound of Feat’s breathing, and let himself sigh with relief when he heard it. Reel wondered if he would be able to walk if he could wake Feat up. The Hero spent the next few minutes poking and prodding his friend, but didn’t get any reaction from him and finally gave up. Reel shook his head, annoyed now, and hoped that the puzzles hadn’t reset or something; he didn’t remember how to do any of them, and with Feat out of action, redoing them all could take hours.

Reel pulled his friend up onto his back, to carry him out piggyback, and was surprised at how much effort that took. All that running for his life must’ve taken more out of him than he thought. He carried his friend out slowly, more because Reel himself was too tired to move quickly than anything else, so it took a while for him to emerge from the subterranean temple and into daylight again, though by now the daylight was beginning to fade and night had nearly arrived.

Reel reached into his pocket again, this time pulling out a small, translucent prism, within the center of which was trapped a ball of water. He let it drop onto the ground, shattering the prism and releasing the water. The water quickly spread, covering a circular area on the ground about ten feet in diameter, creating a large spell matrix as it went. Small, red sigils and runes gathered at Reel’s feet, marking him for the spell. Reel fell into the water, bringing Feat with him, and the water vanished, leaving nothing but the shards of the prism to show they had ever been there.

“So I fell asleep?” Feat asked. The two had just left the inn that Reel had gotten them to before he, too collapsed, and were headed over to the city’s main street, where they hoped to stock up on supplies and such.

“Yeah,” Reel replied, “I had to carry you on my back all the way here.”

“Wow.” Feat said quietly. He would’ve liked to be awake to appreciate that. “Thanks.”

“I couldn’t figure out what the thing did, though,” Reel said, pulling the vase from his inventory, “I mean, look at it! No designs, no patterns, nothing to give any indication that it does anything at all!”

“Lemme see it,” Feat said, taking it from Reel. “Well, what about this?” Feat asked, showing Reel a blue dot near the rim. “I mean, it doesn’t say anything, but it’s something.”

“Wait, that wasn’t there before,” Reel said, taking it back. The dot vanished as Feat let go of it. “Um.” Was all Reel could muster.

“Yeah. Um.” Feat agreed, and took the vase back. Again, the blue dot appeared near the vase’s rim. “I guess it... reacts with me? Or something…?”

“But why you and not me?” Reel wondered, “What makes us different to it?”

“A good number, I’d say,” Feat said, “You’re older. You’re a Hero.”

“If I’m a Hero, so are you, Feat.”

“I’m a sixteenth elf. I can use magic.”

“I’m totally human, and I can use my emotions to fight.”

“You’re a way better fighter in general.”

“I don’t think the Gods would make something that works on that criteria.”

“You never know.”

“Well,” Reel said, “I don’t think we’re gonna get anywhere like this. Let’s just hold onto the vase, and we’ll probably know what to do with it when the time comes.”

“Sounds like a plan.”

“Now let’s see what we can do about replacing those potions I used up…”