The volcanic smelting cavern situated deep beneath the central peak of the third outer island possessed an atmosphere that closely resembled the lowest depths of a fiery purgatory. Here, thousands of feet below the surface of the churning ocean, the raw, unbridled fury of subterranean magma violently intersected with highly pressurized deep-sea thermal vents. The resulting environment was a crucible of unimaginable thermal heat dispersion and crushing physical pressure.
