One day, in the vast desert of Arabia, Sinbad and his caravan were traveling; it was that time again. Sinbad was Islamic, you see, so he needed to follow the five pillars of Islam. This adventure he was on, the Hajj, was the act of pilgrimage to Mecca.

On the way, they were ambushed by desert raiders! They took everything, not allowing the travelers to keep anything but their basic clothing. As their captors were leading Sinbad and his crew, they whipped them in order to force the pace faster.

Finally, after what felt to the group like hours of sandblasting winds, the caravan came upon a large hole in the dunes. This was not a simple child-dug hole; It must have been twenty feet in diameter and seemed to be an endless circular pipe, surging into the earth.

Then Sinbad was shoved into the hole, along with the rest of his companions, and plummeted into the enveloping darkness. Down they fell, and fell, and fell, until their upturned stomachs could stand no more. Then… they stopped. Sinbad felt the strong, rock ground beneath his feet. Suddenly, a fiery voice boomed and the chamber they were trapped in began to glow. The voice started chanting rhythmic tunes and the adventurers began to feel dizzy and tired. The room was fading away from existence and there was nothing but a small light in the distance, if only they could get closer…

Just then, a huge phoenix burst in through the walls and scooped up the men. It then flew out of the fissure it created and soared through an underground paradise, with rivers and forests and cities, until it reached a stalactite-encrusted ceiling and careened on through. The bird emerged into brilliant rays of golden sunlight and glided over the metropolis that was Mecca. It swooped down, dropping the group of travelers off on top of the giant obsidian cube that was the Kaaba, thus completing the pilgrimage.

This was the last ever seen of the miraculously perfect underground civilization, but that is another story.