Just a Normal Hike

It was a beautiful day on the island. Not a cloud in the sky, save for the ring around the top of Mt. Agon. At the trailhead, Lynn turned around to face Damos and Camellia. “And remember, if it’s too dangerous, we leave immediately, alright? Turn straight around and head back to the house.”

Damos and Camellia nodded in unison. “Yep.”

Every single person in the training grounds stopped what they were doing to watch as the three oceanites marched confidently towards the entrance to the trail. Some pointed and laughed, some shook their heads in disapproval, and a very select few looked on with hopeful interest.

To the trio, though, the only thing that mattered was the road ahead. Hearts ablaze, they looked at the sign above them marking the entrance and pushed past it, disappearing into the greenery of the forest, carrying the knowledge that Theio and his husband had imparted last night. They had some idea of what to expect, at first, but the higher they got, the more they would venture into the fog of the unknown.

Goodness, with only a day left to do it, I hope they’re prepared to push themselves. A climb up a volcano is no small feat, not to mention the fighting along the way.

For now, though, they treaded a well-worn path through the temperate woods. A dirt path, twisted with roots and embedded with rocks, caught their eye. The canopy above them let in plenty of sun, and the walk through the deciduous greenery in full bloom was downright pleasant. It reminded Camellia of the occasional birdwalk her mother used to take her on as a child to “look at all the little birdies.”

Remembering her mother, and her subsequent death, steeled Camellia’s resolve. She had to make it to the top. To find a way forward.

Thirty minutes in, they heard noise from ahead. All three manifested their magic, ready to fight. Around the bend, however, trotted three humans, worried expressions on their faces. They didn’t even bother greeting Camellia, instead rushing past her to get back to the training grounds. One of them carried a fourth person on their back. As they passed each other by, Camellia gasped as she saw the huge claw mark gash on his back.

They were rushing him to get medical attention.

Lynn looked at Camellia in concern. She offered no reply, instead redoubling her determination, and powering forward.

A few minutes later, they met the culprit. Scratching the side of a tree, growling, a huge bear blocked the path. A grizzly, by the looks of it. Camellia held her arms out to stop her friends. “We’ve seen guys like this before,” she whispered, staying as still as possible.

All three fell silent, somber. Though none of them said it aloud, the sight of the beast, just like the one that had ensnared Camellia at the beginning of the trial, reminded them of the precious moments before Phoebe’s death.

Camellia steadied her breath. “It’s just a bear. Damos, you distract it with some projections, and Lynn can dash in with a punch or three. Same deal as the trial.” The two nodded grimly in acknowledgement of the plan. Damos quietly prepared a few swordfish, and Lynn began charging her fist. “Whenever you’re ready, Damos,” Lynn whispered.

He nodded, and with a flourish, sent the projections out. As soon as he did, Lynn dashed in behind them, readying her arm. Camellia almost felt bad for the thing: immediately after being stabbed in the side by a bunch of sea creatures, it faced the full, unleashed power of Lynn. Her punch sent the bear flying before it even saw her. Slamming into a thick trunk of a tree, it fell over, dead.

“Perfect,” Camellia congratulated them. “Goddess, you two are nasty together.”

Damos offered Lynn a high five, which she reluctantly took.

They pressed on. The trail began to slope upwards, gently at first, then grew steeper over time. As they climbed, Camellia watched the environment around them slowly change from temperate forest to pure jungle. Thick foliage, growing ever denser with each step, began to block some of their sight along the path. Camellia pushed it aside with her wings. The heat grew, and with it, the thickness of the air they breathed. Humidity sapped their morale, soaking into their clothes.

Damos and Lynn, unaccustomed to such an environment, asked Camellia in a panic if something was wrong. She assured them that for people who lived above water, their bodies, too, would sweat deeply in the jungle. Such a physical reaction was natural — albeit deeply uncomfortable.

“We must be in the second stage that Theio mentioned, by now, right?” Lynn presumed.

Just as Camellia was about to comment on the lack of other contenders, another challenge slithered into view, stopping her dead in her tracks.

Blocking the trail ahead, a colossal snake coiled between two trees stared directly at them, fangs bared.

Damos whipped out his sword, pointing it at the snake. “Plan, Cammy?”

Petrified, Camellia didn’t reply. That thing was huge, way larger than any snake should ever be. Reptiles weren’t exactly Camellia’s favorite.

I’m with you, Camellia. They unsettle me, too.

Studying it carefully, Lynn commented, “It looks like an eel of some kind.”

It does, actually. Could we take it down in the same way?

Damos smiled devilishly. “Or a leviathan.”

“Don’t be so hasty, Damos,” Camellia cautioned. “It’s a snake, and they are quick.”

“Then let me handle it. I’m fast. You two keep it busy, and I’ll get behind it’s head and slice it up.

“Changing roles, huh? Alright.” Camellia took out her dagger, and gripped it in her hand. “My turn to lend my blade,” she said as she offered it to Damos. “Stick it in deep, and don’t let go. You’ll be able to hold on while it thrashes.”

With a grin, he accepted her knife. “Let’s do this.”

“Lynn, I can protect us both with my wings, if you can swipe at it with your claws. That should give Damos enough time to hop around,” Camellia mused.

She folded her arms. “Alright, but if you take a single hit from that thing, I’m turning us around immediately.” Lynn raised an eyebrow. “And I mean it.”

The plan now laid out, the only thing left was to put it to action. Camellia summoned her wings—

Whoa, they feel stronger. A lot stronger.

She flexed them back and forth. “Yeah, I can protect us both,” she proclaimed, extending them to full size.

Lynn tightened her gauntlets, and her spectral mantis claws misted into view. With a nod, she and Camellia began to approach the snake, while Damos snuck around the side. It watched them intently, flickering its tongue as they approached.

When they got close enough, Camellia shouted, “Hey!” and swung a wing at it. It jerked its head instantly, dodging the glancing blow.

Camellia then brought both wings forward, forming a feathered shield for Lynn to hide behind. Damos sprinted along the side of the trail up behind the serpent. It lashed out at Camellia, lunging for a bite, but she raised her wings in a block and focused all her magic power on fortification. Its head bounced off, and Lynn countered with a quick slash beneath the chin. It hissed angrily.

In a dance of death, Camellia and Lynn rallied against the monster. A swipe here, a blocked bash there. Camellia couldn’t speak reptil-ese, but she had a sense that it was getting angry. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Damos shimmying up the trunk of a tree. “Just a little more, Lynn. Stop attacking for a sec, make it hold still.”

The pair came to a standoff with it. The snake watched them, its slit pupils trained directly on Camellia. Damos reached a branch, and readied the dagger. He looked to Camellia for confirmation. She nodded.

He leapt off of the tree, landing on top of the snake’s diamond head with the dagger firmly jammed into its skull. It started to wildly flail about, hissing furiously.

“Whoa!” Damos cried out.

“Just like with the leviathan, Damos! Plunge your sword into its head!” Camellia ordered.

Damos readied his ghostly swordfish, and promptly sunk it squarely in the center of the snake’s giant skull. Instantly, the flailing stopped, and it went limp, falling to the ground — with Damos still riding it. “Ahh! No, wait!” He yelled, before it collapsed sideways, trapping him under a log of scaly flesh.

Rushing over, Lynn and Camellia frantically pushed the snake’s dead body off of Damos. “Are you okay?” Lynn asked.

Damos winked, giving a thumbs up. “Nothing compared to a leviathan.” Getting up off the muddy ground, he wiped the dirt away and snatched the dagger embedded in the monster. “Here, Cammy. Thanks for the assist.”

Camellia took the dagger, and punched him on the shoulder. “All you, man.”

He smiled, but then it faltered. Sadly, he said, “It feels weird fighting without Phoebe here.”

The buzzing of insects and chirping of jungle creatures filled their ears as Damos’ comment hung in the air.

“Yeah. It does,” Lynn said.

Morose, the three picked back up on the trail, stepping over the scaly green obstacle.

The incline steepened, progressing from moderate to truly difficult.

This is like a real, actual mountain. What the hell.

Camellia, you’re ascending a literal volcano at the center of an island. What did you expect?

Just as Camellia bemoaned the difficulty of the hike, the lush, thick jungle around them began to thin out, turning to evergreen pines and firs. Soon thereafter, plant life grew more and more sparse before disappearing entirely.

“I guess that’s the second part clear, then,” Lynn observed, looking back on the trail behind them.

Camellia joined her. From here, without the dense canopy of jungle blocking the view, she realized she could see all the way to Sylvios. The city seemed tiny in the distance, marking just how far the three had progressed through the morning and afternoon.

“Looks like the third part’s gonna be a lot worse,” Damos moaned.

Lynn and Camellia turned around. Pointing upwards, Damos caught his breath. “See?”

The view was clear, now. It would be a straight shot, right up the side of the mountain.

And directly into the caldera at the top.