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Alone on the mountain top, Qwyfyx watched the setting sun. He was deliberating on how he could get to the distant volcanoes when he felt a curious trembling. At first, he wasn't sure whether he was imagining it or not. A second tremor sent stones rattling down the slope and birds panicking into the air. Then, with a sound like thunder, the ground beneath his feet seemed to come to life. Terrified, Qwyfyx watched as great lava-spewing vents opened in the
earth. Searing sheets of fire incinerated forests with a deafening roar. Flowing rivers of molten rock oozed across the land and evaporated the oceans in great clouds of hissing steam.
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Beneath him, the mountain split asunder and he fell through the scorching air towards an enormous pit of boiling lava. Sulphurous fumes stung his eyes and nostrils and he heard his crystal ball explode in the heat. Then he remembered something the Astrologer had said about fire and the ring. Feverishly, he took the ring from the bag and it slid effortlessly onto his finger. To his great relief, he was surrounded by cool, silent blackness. Then there was a terrible crunch... another one... a thump and, sliding to a halt, Qwyfyx painfully opened his eyes. He was back in the corridor of doors. The three on the right were quite blank now. The three on the left, however, were decorated with various esoteric symbols set in parquetry panels. Emboldened by his adventures, carpet bag in hand, Qwyfyx gripped the handle of the first one and entered the sanctum of the Physicist. 
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