Chapter 41: Lava Rules

Chapter 41: Chapter 41: Lava Rules

The jet couldn’t land.

There was no clear ground. No open field. Just buildings, antennas, tangled power lines, and a thin gray haze rising from somewhere ahead.

"Drop point in 60 seconds," the pilot said. "Rear ramp opening now."

The back of the cabin shuddered and split. A roaring wind tore through the plane. Karl stood up from the front seat, stretched, and strolled down the aisle like he was heading to a picnic.

"Anyone afraid of heights?" he called.

Nobody answered.

"Good. Because we’re not parachuting."

"We’re not?" a boy squeaked.

"We’ve got a ride."

He stepped to the edge of the ramp, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled.

The sound cut through the wind like a knife.

A moment later, something enormous swooped out of the clouds.

It was an owl.

A massive one, wider than the jet’s wings, with thick, mottled gray feathers and huge golden eyes. It glided alongside the plane, silent and smooth, and let out a low, soft hoot that Jared felt in his ribs. It matched the jet’s speed perfectly, beating its wings once, twice, hovering a few feet from the ramp.

Jared stared.

’An owl.’

His heart gave a hard, painful thump.

"Everybody on," Karl said. "Hold on tight and don’t look down."

One by one, the rookies shuffled to the edge and jumped onto the owl’s back, gasping, laughing, clinging to feathers as thick as ropes. Zoey went in the third group. Jared went last.

The wind roared in his ears. The city spun beneath them. He lay flat against the bird’s back, eyes narrowed, studying every detail.

’Owl patterns.’

He looked at the feathers. The pattern of gray and silver. The curve of the beak. The slight tilt of the head. He’d stared into those golden eyes in the dark, in the frozen forest, for a few terrible seconds, and the memory was burned into his mind.

’That’s it. That’s the one.’

His pulse hammered.

’I could grab it. I could.....’

[Rex.]

’What?’

[Look closer.]

He looked.

The feathers were the wrong shade. A shade too light, a touch too blue. The eyes were rounder. The wings were broader, the body stockier. It was an owl, yes, and a large one, and a very similar one. But it wasn’t the same owl. It was a different one.

’Oh.’

He had gotten happy for no reason at all. His chest, which had been fluttering with something like hope, went flat and cold.

[It’s a different owl,]

’I can see that.’

[You looked a little excited there. For a second.]

’I know.’

They landed 2 minutes later in a narrow courtyard between a pair of buildings. The owl settled onto the cracked pavement with a soft, heavy thud, and the rookies slid off its back, staggering, laughing in shaky relief.

Jared stood a little apart, scanning the owl.

’Could he have multiple owl beasts?’

It was possible. Beast masters carried more than one gem. Plenty of them had matching sets, beasts of the same family, same species, same type. A man could own a dozen owls.

’Or does this prove the other one was Julius’s?’

He watched the owl’s master step forward.

Jared frowned.

’I thought Julius was busy.’

[He finished early,]

[Convenient.]

’It’s more than convenient.’

Karl had wandered over, rubbing his neck. "Julius wrapped up his raid ahead of schedule," he said, to no one in particular. "He’ll be hanging around as backup. Don’t mind him."

Don’t mind him. Jared almost laughed.

The courtyard opened onto a wide, empty square. And in the center of the square, hovering a few feet above the broken pavement, was a gate.

It was bigger than Jared had expected. A tall, glowing oval, twice the height of a man, its edges rippling with deep red light.

A pulsing mana gate.

Everyone went quiet.

The reason the jet couldn’t come down was obvious now. The gate sat in the middle of a ring of skyscrapers, tight and crowded, no room for a landing pad. A

Jared walked to the edge of the fence and stared up.

"That’s it," Zoey whispered, behind him.

"That’s it."

"It’s huge."

"It’s an A rank, probably."

"How do you know?"

"I don’t."

A hand landed on his shoulder.

Jared flinched.

Julius was standing next to him. He hadn’t made a sound. He was smiling, softly, pleasantly, but his eyes were sharp, bright, and cold, fixed on Jared’s face with a strange, unreadable intensity. He said nothing. He just leaned in slightly and spoke in a low, quiet voice.

"We’re waiting on you, leader."

Jared’s skin prickled.

He turned his head. Ten rookies stood in a half circle behind him. Zoey. The broad shouldered boy. The girl with the ponytail. The quiet one with the glasses. They were all looking at him. Not at Karl. Not at Julius. Him. Eyes wide, waiting, expecting.

’Great.’

He sighed.

He shrugged off Julius’s hand, squared his shoulders, and stepped through the gate.

* * *

The world on the other side was on fire.

Heat hit him like a wall. It slammed into his chest, his face, his lungs, and for a moment he couldn’t breathe. A thick, orange glow filled the air.

The ground beneath his boots was black rock, rough and jagged, cracked with glowing veins. Smoke rolled across the sky in heavy, oily clouds. The air tasted like ash.

They had just arrived in an active volcano.

He was standing on a narrow stone ledge, jutting from the wall of a gigantic crater. Far below, a lake of molten lava churned and bubbled, bright as a sunset, throwing sparks into the air. And it was rising. He could see it. A steady, creeping tide of fire, climbing the walls inch by inch, already halfway up the cliff.

Magma was rising toward the ledge where the gate itself stood.

’Wow.’

He took a careful step back from the edge.

’We’re lucky the gate wasn’t straight up vertical.’

If the ledge had been steeper, if they’d come through at the wrong angle, most of them would have tumbled straight into the pit. A single misstep. A single slip. Gone.

[Don’t think about that,] the system said.

’I’m wont.’

[ Yet you’re thinking about it very loudly.]

One by one, the others stepped through the gate behind him.

Zoey came last of the rookies. She stopped beside him, gazing down into the crater, her face lit orange.

"What’s the plan?" she asked.

Jared didn’t answer.

He turned and looked at her. It wasn’t a friendly look. It was strict, flat, and stern, a captain’s look, a look he’d never given her before. Her mouth opened, then closed. She looked away.

’Not now. Not here.’

He turned back to the crater and pulled a gem from his pouch. He just swung it, hard, against the rock wall beside him.

Crack.

Green light flared.

The SwampGorilla rose out of the glow, huge and calm, vines dripping. It looked around the ledge, glanced at the lava, and let out a low, unimpressed grunt.

[That was stupid,] the system said.

’What?’

[Dropping your gem. Hitting it on the wall. In a volcano. Think about it. If you’d tripped, even slightly, if the gem had bounced out of your hand and rolled, it would have fallen straight into the lava. You’d have lost the beast. Permanently.]

’It didn’t trip.’

[But it could have.]

’But It didn’t.’

[I’m just saying. It’s remarkably stupid.]

Jared opened his mouth to reply.

Just then, someone behind him threw a gem.

It was the quiet boy with the big glasses. He’d fumbled it. He’d been trying to follow Jared’s example, and in his nerves, he’d flung the stone too hard. It hit the ledge, bounced once, twice, and went skidding across the black rock, tumbling toward the edge, straight toward the glowing lava.

"No!" the boy yelped.

"Quick, turn it!" Jared shouted.

The gem was already in motion. It was too late to catch it. But it had hit the ground. That was all it needed. The summon command was live.

"Now!" Jared yelled. "Summon it now!"

The boy shrieked. The gem flashed.

A shape burst out of it, a squat, stubby, red shelled crab the size of a small car, its claws snapping wildly. It landed on the very lip of the ledge. Its legs scrabbled against the rock. It teetered.

And then it fell.

It went over the edge without a sound. The crab dropped into the glowing pit, claws flailing, shell glinting, and vanished into the lava with a soft, wet hiss. A small puff of steam rose. Then nothing.

There was a moment of silence.

The boy stood frozen, hands pressed to his mouth, eyes wide.

’Presumably dead.’

Jared turned to say sorry, to say anything. He opened his mouth. He started to speak.

Then he saw who was standing behind the boy.

Julius.

He was leaning casually against the rock wall, arms folded, a small, crooked smile playing across his lips. He hadn’t helped. He hadn’t flinched. He had simply watched, calm and amused, as a rookie’s beast burned alive. His eyes met Jared’s across the ledge.

"Oh, please," Julius said. "Lead us."

His voice was light. Almost lazy.

"More leading," he said. "Less questioning."

Jared’s jaw tightened.

[Rex,] the system whispered. [Don’t.]

He took a breath. He let it out.

He turned his back on Julius.

"Let’s find this gate’s core," he said.

He’d done his research. It hadn’t been much, a few quiet minutes with the system while the others ate breakfast. But he’d learned the basics. Gates couldn’t be shut by force or fire or wishing. They could only be neutralized by destroying their cores. Every gate had one, a heart, hidden deep inside.

And most cores were guarded.

Not by the usual beasts. Not by the weak ones, the swarms and the scavengers. They were protected by something stronger, bigger, meaner. A boss. A single, towering guardian, always at the center, always the toughest creature in the gate.

[You did do your homework,]

’You did help, even if only a little.’

[I did. So I guess all glory to me.]

’Thanks.’

[Don’t let it go to your head.]

’ I say Don’t let it go to your head.’

A sound drifted up from below.

It was a faint, rhythmic scraping, followed by a low chorus of snarls and hisses. Jared tilted his head. Far beneath them, down a winding stairway of black stone that curved along the crater wall, shapes were moving. Dozens of them. Small and quick, glowing faintly orange in the lava light.

The lesser beasts. They were below, on the lower stairs.

’Okay.’

Jared turned to face the others.

Eleven faces looked back at him. Ten rookies, pale and sweating. One captain, slouched against the cliff. One backup, smiling.

"Okay, guys," he said. "Let’s begin."

He closed his eyes, reached into the bond, and felt the SwampGorilla’s quiet strength rise to meet him.

He fused.