-The Summoned-

Hash'en Pass

The Light Plane: Sol Yin pass.

    An unidentifiable green substance dripped from the insectile head of the monstrosity as it stopped, temporarily blinded by the sudden light outside of the cave. Jamie sprang to her feet and instantly loosed her short sword, striking at this thing which resembled a giant praying mantis. It cried out and jumped backward, spraying a vile green fluid from its injured foreleg. Jamie rushed forward again, intent on severing the thing's legs, but this time it was prepared. As Jamie charged it, it dodged to one side and struck a crushing blow. Jamie made a muffled 'oof' and fell to the ground, unmoving. The mantis wasted no time in moving past Jamie and focusing on Elayna. Asa, at first stunned by the sudden appearance of the giant insect, now began to move. Taking his staff in both hands and swinging it viciously, Asa hit the bug with all his strength. The bug squealed again, and turned to face its new menace. Asa backed up, quickly coming to the conclusion that he was no match for this thing- he could have summoned something, but at the rate the mantis was approaching, he would be sawed in half by the time he managed to raise the staff. Still, he had to try. The mantis closed while Asa was just beginning to intone the neccessary words. Raising its uninjured foreleg (and sending a jolt of pain through its injured leg but oh well, it's prey would be dead, wouldn't it?) it swiped in what should have been a deadly arc toward the prone Asa. At the last moment, though, its arm was deflected away by an unseen force. Confused, it swiped again, hoping to decapitate this person who was fast annoying it. Again, its arm was deflected, sending another wave of pain through it.
    Asa, who had no idea why he wasn't dead at the moment, was not about to give up his opportunity. Shouting the word of command he had been striving for earler, he took a step away from the mantis. The ground between the two caved in, as though there had been a sinkhole where Asa was standing only a moment before. An earth elemental clamored up the newly-created ravine and attacked the mantis, who was too confused at this new development to do much more than fight back in self-defense. After a few savagely violent attacks from both parties, the mantis collapsed, and breathed one final time before the elemental smashed its head in. Standing in shock from all of this, Asa still managed to utter the neccessary words to release the elemental. Turning slowly, it walked back to the ravine, where it turned to the dust that had formed it, neatly filling in the hole. His vision doubling as he fell to his knees, a wave of fatigue nearly overcame him. As his sight cleared, he saw Elayna leaning over the fallen Jamie. Using his staff as support, he got to his feet and walked to the two. Elayna, her eyes closed and her hands resting on both sides of Jamie's head, was whispering a flurry of words in a language that Asa did not understand.
    Jamie's eyes fluttered open. "What happened?!" She demanded, springing to her feet and then falling back down as her injuries made themselves painfully apparent.
    "Relax, Jamie, relax. It's gone." Asa said.
    Jamie ignored him and looked at Elayna concernedly. "Elayna, are you all right?"
    Elayna nodded silently, the strain of having used her magic evident on her face. "I'm okay." she whispered, apparently having regained her composure somewhen during the battle. She looked to Asa. "You're okay too."
    Asa merely nodded, wondering why the child was telling him this- it would not occur to him that she had used her magic to protect him for a while.
    "Well, under the circumstances, I think that we'll call a rest." Jamie said, and then proceeded to pass out.

    Two hours later, the sun began to slip below the horizon. Jamie was sleeping a natural sleep at this point, and Asa was attempting to keep the fire burning. If worse came to worse, he could just summon a Fire elemental- that would keep the fire going nicely. But Asa did not want to have to do that, mainly because he had already summoned one thing today, and if he tried something else, he would probably pass out and therefore not be able to control the thing. So, he kept adding firewood and hoped that it would keep burning.
    With almost no noise at all, Elayna walked into view. Her cheeks were stained from tears and she took a seat across from Asa, looking into the fire. With no emotion whatsoever, she said "Jamie's going to be okay."
    Asa sat silently, not knowing what to say. Luck was with him, as Elayna continued talking.
    "I found the heart of that thing...." Elayna said, her face contorting with disgust. "I- I used a spell on it... a useless spell, I thought until now." She continued to stare into the fire. "It told me where that bug came from, and who sent it." At this point, she looked up and directly into Asa's eyes. "Do you know who Norax is?"
    Asa shivered, and while he thought it was from the mention of Norax, another part of him knew it was because of the intensity of Elayna's stare. Internally debating what he had to say, he managed "Yes... Norax is the reason that I'm on this journey. I've been summoned by him." Elayna seemed to accept this explanation, and turned her attention back to the fire.

    That morning, Jamie was the first to rise. Waking everyone else, she motioned them all together so that she could talk.
    "Okay everyone, I know it might not sound like the best of ideas, but we're still going into that pass. Now, before anyone can object," she glared at Asa, who had no intention of objecting, and continued, "Elayna says that thing was summoned, and normally nothing lives in the pass, so it's probably safe to take. Now let's move, we've lost enough time already."
    The three silently broke camp and moved into the cave. Jamie was in the lead, followed by Elayna, leaving a nervous and slightly claustophobic Asa to follow behind and make sure nothing was behind them. They traveled in this manner for a while, and presently they entered a large open space. Jamie called a halt, much to the relief of everyone else.
    "Okay, we're about halfway through. We'll rest here for a few minutes and then move on." Jamie announced, and then took a seat on a rather large rock. Elayna just sat down on the floor, staring back at the way they came in, and Asa walked around the room.
    The room was huge, even when compared to the passage that had lead them here. The walls, strangely smooth, continued upward until they were lost in the gloom. The floor was absolutely barren except for the rocks (one of which Jamie had made her home) which were placed in even intervals around the room. In the center of the room was a small pedestal, carved out of rock, containing runes that Asa couldn't understand. On the pedestal was a small blue gem that seemed to glow with its own light, instead of that of the flickering torches. As Asa approached it, Jamie laughed.
    "Sure Asa, go take that gem. And, of course, it never occured to you to wonder why that gem's there. You never said to yourself, 'Asa, why wouldn't such a valuable gem be lining the pockets of some thief intead of still being here?' did you?" Jamie mocked him.
    Asa just looked back. "No, it didn't." he said, trying not to sound sheepish.
    "Well, don't. It's booby trapped. The pedestal's rigged to zap anyone who comes too close to that thing. I know." she grinned and resumed her relaxation on the rock. Asa turned from the gem and began to look down the other two tunnels that led from the room. As though to be helpful, Jamie decided to enlighten Asa on where the tunnels led. "That one you're in front of right now is the rest of Sol Yin pass. That other one-" here she paused as though in thought. "that other one is Hash-en pass, and we don't go into there."
    "Why not?"
    Jamie sighed, again irritated at the general lack of knowledge Asa demonstrated. An adventurer indeed, she thought. "The people who existed in this mountain..." she paused, thinking about the best way to phrase her statment. "they were not human. I don't know what they were, but, it is said that they were another race." She waved her hand, as though to dismiss the idea. "I don't really believe the story, but that is how it goes. These people, they awoke something deep inside the earth, and it nearly destroyed them all. They used that gem there" she gestured vaguely "to seal away whatever it was that was there. Supposedly, it couldn't leave the pass, and died there. I, however,"she slipped off of the rock and came to her feet. "think its a bunch of superstitious nonsense. Now, that's about all of the storytelling I'm doing today. We should move on."
    The entire party picked up their torches and packs and began to move off in the same formation as earler. Before Asa could follow them into the tunnel, however, a gust of wind blew his torch out, leaving him in pitch blackness. He stood a moment, not knowing what to do, and immediately before he was going to call out to Jamie, he spotted torchlight to his left. Hurrying to catch up, he ran heedlessly down the tunnel, eventually reaching the source of the light. He entered a small room lined with torches and containing only one other exit. In the center of this room was a pale woman, dressed in a flowing white gown which matched her snowy hair. Kneeling in the dirt and looking down, she did not see Asa enter. Her small frame shuddered as tears streamed down her pale face, landing on the dirt below. Asa stopped and gasped suddenly, which sent her immediately to her feet, looking at him with fear.
    "My name is Thalla." she said softly, her voice causing Asa to relax unconsciously. "And I need your help."

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