There is a legend told in the land of Dark Gully, of a chalice carved from two huge perfect rubies. The stones were carved into two bowls designed to fit together almost seamlessly, like two halves of a seed pod. When together they form The Heart Of Hadra, The Fire God.
For centuries they adorned the altar of the god's main temple, carved into the side of the Southland's greatest volcano. The two halves of the Heart each held an offering. One held fresh, cold spring water. The other held fresh, hot blood. One the blood of the land, the other the blood of those who dwell on the land. Blood to heat, water to cool, both for balance.
As long as the Heart glowed on the altar, the land was fruitful. The farmland was rich with ancient volcanic soil and the inhabitants lived well.
That was until the thieves came. The Heart had been so long safe upon the Altar of Hadra that no one ever thought of it being stolen. But it was.
An enraged Hadra spewed forth magma from long dormant volcanoes and scorched the once fertile earth. Crops were lost, rivers diverted, lakes disappeared in clouds of steam or became pools of acid. Famine and disease ravaged the land. The Southland became a poisonous desert of steaming rock and seeping lava. Only the wind moves across the land now. It amuses itself by carving bizzare sculptures of rock and dead trees. What life still clings there live in small caves and rock crevices. Even the landscape seems to crouch and cringe in an attempt to escape the fire, the wind, the very anger of Hadra.
So what happened to the stolen Heart? No one knows for sure. There are those who know where the Water Heart is but not how to get hold of it. Besides, it needs the Blood Heart before it is powerful in the intent of its creation.
But what of the Blood Heart? It never left the Southland. The first manifestation of Hadra's rage determined its fate.
As the thieves climbed over the mountains, the mountains awoke with a mighty roar. They shook violently and spewed forth the rage of Hadra. The thief carrying the Blood Heart was thrown down. As he tried to scamble to his feet, the earth opened beneath him and he slid into the magma-filled crevice.
He and the Heart lie not far below the surface of the earth. Of course this was centuries ago, and the wind has been working on the rock for a long time. Who knows what one could find on the mountainsides now? Or who will find it?