The Four Maidens: Part 1

The dark corridor that Henry marched through continued to give him dread, each step feeling like one step closer to an inevitable demise. He didn't know how it was going to happen, whether by giant monster, pitfall, snakes, or spiky walls of death, but all he saw in the darkness was everything ready to kill him. Why the heck did he want to go with all the other boys, anyway?! Sure, they were all the male company he could get in his town, but that didn't mean he had to follow them to the center of the Earth! Come to think of it, the cave seemed to become warmer with each small distance he took. As mortally frightened as the boy was, the warmth did comfort him a bit. Actually, the further he went, Henry could swear he saw the smallest bit of light. Going further in, he was surprised to see there was indeed a light at the end of the tunnel.

Picking up his speed, Henry ran towards the light without anymore fear of potential deathtraps. The light became clearer as mere contrast became a clear image of a new room. Said room resembled the one from before in that it greatly resembled a cathedral and was illuminated by an internal light source. However, instead of the glowing crystals from before, it stood lit by a large collection of flaming torches, along with a great bonfire in the center with a ring of jewelry surrounding it. Now, being young, Henry was always one to be distracted by such alluring sights, which he was for a moment, but his track of mind became grim once more after seeing that there were no other exits. In his sadness, the boy simply curled into a ball and began to cry on the floor.

"Oh, you got to be kidding me!" a female voice rang, nearly giving Henry a heart attack.

"Wh-who's there?!" the boy cried out, once again regaining his mortal terror. "Please don't hurt me!"

"I'm not going to hurt you, idiot," the voice said in a lower voice. "Still, this is the best I get? This is who will continue my legacy? Some whiny little boy?!"

"Lega-what?" Henry had never heard of the word, much less understand its meaning. He felt like responding to the 'whiny little boy' part, but he figured it'd be best to just keep his mouth shut right now.

The voice appeared to sigh. "Okay, this may take some time to explain, especially to a stupid kid like you. Just stay calm and look at the giant fire."

"Okay..." 

Looking at the center flame, the five year old saw it explode into a towering inferno, heating up the entire room in the process. Henry would normally be running away, but the wall of flame was just to beautiful to look away from, with colors he couldn't have even imagine presented themselves to him. The inferno then began to condense in a single ball that began to expand into an almost human shape. To the boy's great surprise, the body-shaped mass of fire began to fold in on itself until the fire seemed like nothing more than fiery red hair on the body of a mannequin of ember. Said figurative mannequin then quickly grew distinct humanlike traits, like limbs, appendages, and, most notable of all, a face. Once the new body was formed, there now seemed to be a small girl, probably only ten years of age, hovering above the boy in a black cloak that contrasted with her flaming hair that crackled over her intense face. The girl's face looked mad enough to be steaming without being made of fire.

"Y-you're...you're..." Henry stammered. "You're a girl!"

"I'm a goddess, idiot!" the flame girl yelled. "Of course I'm a girl! Why else would you be at the temple?"

"Temp-what?"

She covered her face, frustrated. "Dear gods, this is who I end up with?" she grumbled to herself before clearing her voice. "Do you know what that rock is for?"

"No," he admitted. "I just found it, then we found this place, then we saw some tunnels, then this started being shiny, then I went to the tunnel, then it closed, then I came here, and now I'm here with you and the rock."

"You're just a fountain of information, aren't you?" The girl descended from her midair hover to get a better look at the boy. "Listen, long story short, I'm the goddess of flame Celosia and that is my spirit stone."

"You're a girl god thing?!" Henry blurted.

"I'm choosing to ignore that. Point is, that rock's supposed to make whoever finds it my ideal maiden. That means you, unfortunately. Any other questions?"

"Yes, uh...what?" All of a sudden, the stone that Henry had dropped on the floor began to set on fire in a blaze that began to envelope not only itself, but also managed to extend to the boy himself. He began to scream, obviously not wanting to be set on fire, but his screams began to falter once he noticed that they were not burning, only warming. Once he seemed to calm down, Henry noticed the flames begin to warm his entire body, causing a feeling of serenity he had never really felt before. For the briefest moment, he felt as if all of his problems had merely slipped away. Even his legs felt even more flexible than ever, as if the his little buddy between them was no longer a problem. In fact, he couldn't even feel it anymore. Wait...

"Gah!" Henry screamed as the fire subsided, leaving a small girl with flaming red hair and deep purple eyes grabbing her legs where a boy he same age was once standing. "I'm a girl! What?! Why am I a-?!" She crashed down on her legs, crying. "What did you do?!"

"You actually brought this upon yourself," Celosia said, a little sympathetic of the new girl. "Though, unless my memory's become a little fuzzy after the past few hundred years, the changes aren't done yet."