IV. The Adventures of Sinbad

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We soon found out why it was getting hotter as we went downhill.

We were looking in on a giant room filled with thick, red lava in the middle of a pit. There wasn't too much space to stand; most of the room was the fiery pit. I spent so much time looking around at the lack of foot space that it took me a moment to realize-

"The Erazor Djinn!" Shahra yelled, making me look around wildly.

"Wha-?" I muttered when I saw him about ten feet above the lava. "What's he doing here?"

"He's calling more spirits!" Shahra said, pointing to the weird magical field that had appeared around him. The Erazor Djinn was indeed chanting some weird incantation or something.

"Hey, Ugly!" I called, but he didn't move. I thought he didn't hear me, but then again, he seemed to know where we were at every moment. He probably knew that we were there and was just ignoring me.

"Come forth from the fiery depths of Jahannam, ye condemned by Iblis!" the Erazor Djinn said, raising his arms high into the air. His voice seemed really intense.

"What's Jannam?" I blinked. "And wasn't Iblis like a... very bad thing? It sounds bad."

"Sonic!" Shahra was pointing to the center of the lava, which seemed to be moving. The ground began to rumble very slightly, too.

"Iz Afrit!" the Erazor Djinn yelled, giving the thing rising from the lava its introduction. A massive golumn-like thing was emerging from it, and Shahra pulled me away from the pit in case the rumbling ground decided to give away.

"That thing is...!" I murmured, too amazed at its massive size to do nothing more than stare at it. It stared straight back at us, and didn't seem too motivated to do anything other than that.

"It's called an Ifrit, Sonic!" Shahra told me. "It's a Djinn that controls fire!"

"Well, we certainly got the environment right, didn't we?" I commented, taking another step back. I had forgotten Mr. Ugly was there until he spoke again.

"I have already carved up half of the pages that make up this world," the Erazor Djinn announced.

"Well, you seem to be doing fine on your own." I replied. "Why do you need this guy? If you really need a wing-man, I saw quite a few spirits on our way here."

The Erazor Djinn smiled, like he actually thought my joke was funny. "I've decided to let the Ifrit burn the remaining pages! Blue rat, have you collected the seven world rings for me yet?"

"I am not a rat!" I shouted, folding my arms. "You do know what a hedgehog looks like, right? You know, a hedge-hog?"

He paused for a minute. "Hedgehog, rat... you filthy vermin are all the same anyway..."

His smile grew even wider, and it looked like it didn't fit on his face. "In any case, you had better hurry it up! I'm growing impatient!"

Suddenly, the world began to spin, and before I knew it, I was on the ground. I heard a whooshing sound, and dread filled me. I looked down, and to my horror, the flame was smaller than ever. "Hey!" I shouted, leaning on Shahra as she helped me up.

"With only half the flame left, only half of your life force remains!" the Erazor Djinn explained, a slight malicious laugh in his voice.

"Get back here!" I shouted, but he disappeared before I could say anything else to him. I pushed Shahra out of the way, running toward the spot the Erazor Djinn had been, but the ifrit rose to its full height and roared. The earlier dizziness was dissipating, but I felt slightly sluggish. I looked from Shahra to the ifrit, seeing the sympathy on Shahra's face and... just seeing the ifrit's. I jumped up and spin dashed at the ifrit multiple times, landing on the ground where I had been. "That..." I stared at the ifrit, waiting for something to happen, but it just stayed in the lava like it was a hot spring as opposed to a killing liquid. "Did nothing."

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