Kay blew out a long sigh. “Please, yes. This is so awkward. I can’t believe you found out.”
“Sorry.”
“No. It was a good thing,” Kay took another deep breath. “Now it’s out in the open and we can both be responsible adults about it. It’s cool, right?”
“Totally cool,” Jackson agreed.
“Cool, cool,” Kay said. “Well, I’d hate to break this up on an awkward note, but I really need to get to sleep. Good night” She stood up and made her way over to her tent.
“Night,” Jackson said, allowing himself to sit alone with his thoughts for —
“Wait,” Kay said, still standing over her tent. “How did that even come up? Why would she feel the need to even bring that up?”
“Uh…”
A smile crossed Kay’s face. “Jackson, do you have a thing for Fiona?”
“I…”
“Wait, what happened on the island?”
“Well —”
“No, on second thought, don’t tell me what happened on the island. But something happened, right? I wasn’t imagining you two being weird when you guys got back.”
Jackson just shook his head. “No, but she seemed weirded out by the two of us and didn’t want to go any further.”
“Well, don’t feel the need to stop because of me. Even if I were interested, I’m leaving, remember? Besides, I think you two would make a cute couple — assuming you don’t kill each other first.”
Before Jackson could reply, Kay ducked inside the tent. Jackson crawled in his own, but suddenly felt wide awake. For a long time after, he stared through the netting at the bugs flying all around. He felt relieved, but at the same time, he almost felt like a part of him hadn’t been freed, but snuffed out.
The next morning didn’t improve his mood at all. When he woke up, he found his tent flap slightly unzipped, which opened the floodgates for tons of bugs buzzing inside the netting all over him.
“Did somebody unzip my net last night?” he asked the group while trying to scratch an extremely itchy bite right in the middle of his back. Whatever had happened, he was now covered in dozens of irritating welts that were driving him crazy.
Fiona and Kay shared a glance then shook their heads. Vega looked equally puzzled. “The last thing I wanted to do last night was subject myself to those nasty little things,” he said. “Sloan, Heath, were you two trying to sneak into Jackson’s tent last night?”
“Why would we do that?” Sloan said, a genuine confused expression on her face.
“Well, just thought I’d ask,” Vega said, turning back to Jackson. “Maybe you left it open by mistake?”
Jackson could have sworn he zipped it up all the way, but it didn’t seem like much use pushing the subject, though. Either someone had opened his tent for whatever reason and refused to own up to it or maybe some trouble-making Djinn had done it. He knew that Sycovas apparently roamed the island as well, and they were by nature, a curious breed known for their mischief and dexterous fingers. Regardless of what it was, nothing changed the fact that they had a lot of work ahead of them that day. As far as Jackson could tell, all his belongings were accounted for, as were his Djinn, so it really didn’t matter, at the end of the day.
After a quick breakfast of nutri-bars, they gathered up their daypacks and headed for the base of Mount Ahina. Rather than being weighed down with all their gear, Vega suggested they carry only the essentials and then pick up the rest on their way back down to the beach. It was just about the most sensible thing he’d said the whole trip and proved to be an excellent idea as soon as they started hiking.
Mount Ahina looked even more imposing and threatening from the foot of the volcano. Aside from a few determined and stupid plants clinging here and there in the cracks, the entire mountain was nothing but pale gray stone studded with obsidian shards and long, winding lines of lava rock long gone cold. If possible, the air became even thicker, hotter, and definitely nastier to breathe in when they entered the shroud of haze from the smoke and ash Ahina belched out.
Without a detailed map, all they could do was climb the mountainside until they found a cave cutting into the side of the volcano. Hopefully, Vega explained, that would lead them far enough into Ahina’s interior to find a Trollava. The Djinn didn’t like to venture too close to the surface where the air grew colder and less sulfurous. When Kay asked about the possibility of poisonous gasses, Vega passed them all a collapsible breathing apparatus.
“Sloan is running an air quality monitor on her holo, so if the air starts to get nasty, we’ll have plenty of warning,” Vega said with a wink that did little to satisfy Jackson. “Ahina isn’t active enough that she should off-gas anything suddenly. That’s good news because if that happened, we’d be dead before we knew what hit us.” Vega must have finally caught on to the looks of concern passing between Jackson, Fiona, and Kay because he added another line. “Don’t worry — this is science! I’m good at science.”
“I have a hard time trusting anyone who says ‘I’m good at science,’” Kay muttered to Jackson when Vega turned and started hiking again.
It was another full hour before they finally uncovered one of the volcano’s vents in the side of the mountain. An internal clock counted down in Jackson’s head — they were down to less than a day to pull this off before they would be forced to turn back for the Bronze League Championship. When they found the tunnel surrounded by a slope of bare rock, Jackson wanted to rush right in. Luckily, Kay snagged him long enough for Sloan to take a reading on the air.
“It’s good,” she said to Vega after a quick scan. “It would be a good idea to have our masks at the ready, but the air’s not dangerous here.” She led the way, with Vega and the rest crowding in behind her.
The first section of the tunnel was dark — the afternoon light hadn’t dipped down far enough to the west to provide light, and the volcano’s interior was too far away for the lava to improve visibility. They made their way forward with headlamps and lights projected out of their holos. The air somehow became even more uncomfortably hot and smelled strongly of sulfur, but Sloan gave no indication they were in any danger.
“So…maybe this is a bad time to ask, but what do I actually even do with this stuff when we find it?” Jackson asked Vega. The tunnel had gone on at a slight decline and proved to be a much longer walk than Jackson had anticipated.
“Asena will need to release the compounds with an Elemental attack,” Vega said, “Probably a Fire Bark would be best. It essentially acts as a trail back into her Elemental glands, opening her up for the necessary transformation — or lack thereof, in this case,” Vega gave an awkward laugh. “However, if I were you, I would wait to do so. We have no idea how exactly this is going to work or if she’ll be in a vulnerable state afterward.”
Jackson’s stomach sank — Asena was on the verge of leveling up already. If any mistakes happened before the Everore effect could be placed…
“He’s right, Jackson,” Kay said, clearly seeing the apprehensive look on his face. “We don’t know what kind of adverse effects the Everore might have. It’s too dangerous to do it here without the proper equipment to react if something goes wrong.”
If something goes wrong. Jackson realized he hadn’t spent enough time thinking of the consequences. What if in trying to help Asena, he ended up hurting her? Nobody knew what exactly the Everore would do — it wasn’t like there was a list of past tamers and Lyotes who’d used the method they could ask.
“Oh no,” Kay said. “Now I’ve got you worried about that, don’t I?”
“Ha!” Fiona said. “If I were you I’d be less worried about that and more worried about the volcano —”
Before she could finish, the ground beneath them rumbled so hard they had to press against the tunnel walls to stay standing. A blast of hot air burst from somewhere in the volcano’s interior, accompanied by what sounded like a rockslide mixed with some kind of Djinn’s roar. It was a full five seconds before the
vent died down and the rumblings and roars ceased.
Everyone instinctively pulled the masks to their faces and had their eyes glued to Sloan’s holo-watch, which indicated no dangerous gases.
“Well…” Vega said in between breaths. “I think we’ve found our Trollava.”
“You sure we want to head toward the sound?” For the first time on the expedition, Heath looked unsure of himself. His Smilaguar cowered at his feet, even more hesitant to proceed.
“What do you mean am I sure?” Vega said. “What am I paying you for if you run away at the first little sound?”
Heath shot Sloan a look, as if seeking support. She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Do you want me to take point or are you going to suck it up?”
Emboldened (or shamed) by the disdain of his colleagues, Heath swallowed hard and pushed on ahead.
Jackson didn’t say anything, but he felt almost as nervous and as tense. Had that roar really just been a Trollava? It had felt like an earthquake — or the volcano starting to erupt.
He forced himself to get a grip. The volcano had been dormant hundreds of years according to Black. There’s be no reason to expect it would choose now to erupt. And as far as the Djinn went, and he had seen models of Trollava on his holo-watch. They were dangerous Djinn, true, but nothing that their group couldn’t handle if they worked together.
The heat increased as they made their way deeper into the volcano but the light naturally increased as well. Trickles of sweat ran down Jackson’s back and soaked the brim of his hat. He wiped the beading perspiration from his face and took another pull from his filtered water bottle. It was hot.
Another roar sounded, this time unaccompanied by the tremors and blast of hot air. The reverberating noise sounded like more Djinn had joined in. On the plus side, it seemed to bat down any concerns of an eruption, but what was waiting for them deeper into the tunnel? One Trollava was one thing…but a whole group of them? Weren’t these things supposed to be solitary?
All at once, the tunnel in front of Heath spread open and glowed with a dull crimson light. They found themselves in a large cavern, surrounded by columns of naturally-formed rock and terraces of cooled lava that made the whole area looked like it had been molded out of black clay.
On the other side of the cavern, the glow increased and flecks of magma popped and bubbled up from some area far below. Sloan lifted her respirator on and indicated that the others should do the same. Jackson pulled the mask over his face and all at once the heat was even more stifling when filtered through the respirator, even if it blocked most of the nasty sulphur smell.
“What do we do now?” he asked Vega, voice muffled behind the mask.
“The Djinncyclopedia says they like to congregate in areas like this to feed on the magma and the rock,” Vega said. “Let’s spread around a little bit but stay close enough so that we can help one another out if attacked.”
They started walking in a loose line about ten yards apart but had only made it a few steps out into the cavern when an ear-splitting roar shattered the stifling air. The ground rumbled and Jackson and the rest pitched to the floor. It lasted only a few seconds, but by the time Jackson staggered back to his feet, the air had grown noticeably hotter and smokier. He was drenched in sweat from head to toe and his respirator chafed his damp face.
“What in the hell was that?” he asked Vega in a muffled voice.
Before the researcher could answer, however, a blast of magma surged up from the far end of the cavern. The light of the molten rock illuminated three hulking Djinn. The Trollava had found them.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Except the middle Djinn definitely wasn’t a Trollava. The Trollavas on either side of it were about as tall as humans, but bulkier and seemingly carved from chunks of cooled lava. By contrast, the middle Djinn stood almost twice their height and had a huge round head the size of a car tire. Its arms were as thick as Jackson’s entire body and ended in one clubbed fist of ore and another of serrated obsidian. Jackson raised a shaking hand to scan the new arrival with his holo-watch.
Djinn: Volcanogre
Element: Fire
Volcanogre is Fire-Elemental Elite-Form Djinn. While Trollavas tend to be rather solitary creatures, Volcanogres have an uncanny ability to unite them against common enemies. As such, more often than not, it’s common to find Volcanogres in the company of their lesser-evolved brethren. Volcanogres are also exceptionally territorial, so if you are noticed by one, it’s key to either run or prepare to fight immediately.
“When you said these were solitary Djinn, I figured there weren’t exceptions or you’d have mentioned them,” Fiona said. “So what in the literal hell we’re in is this?”
Vega looked at a loss. “Clearly, I was wrong.”
Jackson swiped on his holo-watch and saw while the Trollavas were comparable at around Level 20 apiece, the Volcanogre was at a solid Level 30 — well above anyone else in their party.
Djinn: Volcanogre
Element: Fire
Level: 30
HP (Hit Points): 510 (estimate)
Djinn: Trollava
Element: Fire
Level: 20
HP (Hit Points): 250 (estimate)
Djinn: Trollava
Element: Fire
Level: 20
HP (Hit Points): 275 (estimate)
“Well, we’ve certainly gone from the frying pan into the fire, so to speak,” Vega said. He started backing away, placing the others between him and the trio of the Trollavas and Volcanogre. “Why don’t I, ah, just let the rest of you lovely tamers —”
The Volcanogre bellowed and charged. Each lumbering step it took shook the ground and covered several yards per bound. For a brief moment, Jackson froze in complete terror. He’d never faced a Djinn so large and — well, dangerous really didn’t quite do it justice. A second later, a flash of light from his right brought him back to focus and instinct took over.
“Let’s go, team!” Fiona shouted. She’d been the one who released her Djinn first, and both Rebel and Sabrina burst from their rings. Heath and Sloan’s Djinn — a Smilaguar, a flying Avialcon, an armored Earth-Elemental Floraceros, and a rambunctious Fire-Elemental ape Malanzee — joined in as well and all six charged toward the Volcanogre and its two Trollava minions. Jackson had never seen a Malanzee in person before and stared in awe for a moment as it landed a few hits on a Trollava, its fists exploding with every punch. Heath may have been a bit of a joke, but Sloan seemed to be the real deal with her Djinn.
“Time to adjust our strategy. We should all focus our attack on one,” Fiona said. “And only shift our attention to dodge or block from an outside Djinn.”
“Trollava on the left first?” Heath said.
Without answering, all six Djinn began their focused attacks on the Trollava to their left.
“Get back, Kay!” Jackson shouted over his shoulder. Sunshine was Kay’s only Djinn and hadn’t been raised to battle. In fact, Kay had been worried enough to keep the Fenkit in stasis most of the trip for fear of him being attacked by a wild Djinn.
Jackson held up his right fist and sent Scrappy into the fray with the others, starting things off with a Mini-Twister that helped keep the other two Djinn distracted from the Trollava. He raised his left hand instinctively, and then stopped himself. Unless things got really bad, he couldn’t use Asena for the fight — she was too close to passing her evolutionary window, and he didn’t want to risk the Everore being rendered inert.
“Jackson!” Fiona said, bringing him back to reality. “We need your new Djinn, remember?”
“Right,” Jackson said. “Go, Triton!”
The newly-caught Aquestria burst forth in a bolt of blue light just behind the other tamed Djinn. Heath, Sloan, and Fiona were doing a decent job holding the Trollavas and Volcanogre back along with Scrappy, but without an Elemental advantage, and the higher levels of the opposing Djinn, they had their hands full. Half the team — Heath’s Smilaguar, Fiona’s Rebel
and Sabrina — were either weak or neutral to the Fire-Elementals. Like it or not, Triton was going to be literally baptized by fire for his first battle.
This had been a part of their plan since the previous night. To use the Water-Elemental attacks in conjunction with the other Djinn.
Jackson let go of Scrappy’s mental connection and focused all of his attention on the Aquestria. Materializing in the dark, in a hot, fire-filled cavern surrounded by fighting Djinn sent Triton into sensory overload. Aside from the natural confusion and fear that came from being a newly-tamed Djinn, the Aquestria was completely out of his figurative and literal element. Jackson gritted his teeth, his head pounding with the effort it took just to keep the Aquestria from bolting and trampling them.
“You’ve got to get that thing under control!” Fiona shouted over the tumult. “We need a little Elemental advantage here!”
“Working. On. It.” Jackson managed to spit out. Whether it was the heat or the strain of the mental connection, his vision started to spin and his stomach twisted in sickly knots. He could sense the Aquestria’s confusion at the dark cave echoing with explosions and the strange Djinn all around him. The natural reactions were so overwhelming that it was all Jackson could do it keep the connection going. And then an idea popped into his head.
“Lights!” Jackson shouted back to Vega and Kay. “Turn on your holo-watch lights and your headlamps!”
Jackson bore down and continued to maintain control of the mental bucks of the Aquestria. A couple of seconds later, a burst of light filled the area of the battle. Just the added light calmed the Aquestria down enough for Jackson to keep it under control.
“Come on!” Fiona said over her shoulder at Jackson. “We’re getting our butts kicked here!”
Djinn Tamer - The Complete Bronze League Trilogy Page 73