Jamie broke off in mid conversation as he heard Eve's voice, and his eyes trained towards the black hole in the mound of lava rock, straining his eyes, trying to see something. A sound of cracking could be heard from inside, as something broke inside, and thuds of something hit the ground.
"Eve?"
"Hold on."
Eve came out of the dark hole, in the hollow mound of black lava rock with a green container in her jaws. As she approached Jamie, with her tails wagging, Jamie's eyes lit up, and Emily started walking towards Jamie. Eve placed the container lightly at Jamie's feet, and he bent over to pick it up.
"Quickly. Hurry up."
"Patience Eve."
As Jamie was about to undo the latch of the green, glittering container, Blackwing, who was hovering lazily in the air high above them, sent an image to Jamie through the bond, of three humans approaching their location.
"Blackwing can see three humans approaching our location."
Emily frowned. "Put that container away. We can look at it afterwards, when we are somewhere safe."
"Why?"
"Just as a precaution. Occasionally, some people do end up robbing others, or trying to rob others, if they think they can get away with it."
"That happens? Aren't they afraid that they will be caught and punished afterwards?"
"In some people's minds, the risk is worth the reward."
Jamie eyes widened, and he dropped his black bag from his back to the ground of crusted lava rock as Emily asked "Where are they?"
Jamie pointed his right thumb behind them as he put the container away in his black bag with slightly shaky hands, where a large hill of lava rock was blocking their view. As Jamie put his bag back on his back, Emily looked around him, pointing forwards towards a massive mound in front of them.
"Let's stand on the hill. We can get a view of the land to see if there are areas around here untouched."
"Okay. But what about the people behind us?"
"If their just minding their business they won't bother us. Just get Blackwing to notify us if they head towards us."
They stated walking forwards the black mound.
"Blackwing, let me know if the humans start moving towards us."
"Okay."
"Eve, be prepared to fight if they rush towards us."
"Sure."
As they approached the black mound, Jamie strained his ears, and his mystical sense, for any energy fluctuations behind him, and any sounds of running or anything rapidly approaching him, trying to still his pounding heart, and shaking hands. He glanced at Emily, and noticed that her eyes were narrowed, and she was rubbing her fingers together, while Scott looked tense.
Eventually, they reached the top of the mound, and Jamie let out a slight sigh of relief as Emily pointed towards the right, to an area that was covered with small mounds that looked relatively untouched. As they walked down the large, black mound, towards the right, Jamie could not help but ask.
"How common is it for humans to get attacked by other humans?"
"I know it happens, I just don't know how often. I ended up getting robbed on one occasion in a portal back in Slaka, when I was exploring a forest with Tim. We had to flee while tossing our bags away in the opposite direction and hide in a clump of bushes for half an hour before we could escape.
"Did you get your bag back?"
"No. We didn't get a picture of the people who did it, so there's no way to track them. Luckily enough, there wasn't anything valuable in there." At that, Emily paused in thought. "I suppose that the is why the government is so harsh on the humans that are caught looting and killing other humans in portals. Did you know, some guy named Ralph got fined five hundred and thousand mystic credits for robbing a bag?"
Jamie's eyes widened. "Damn. Where did you here about this?"
"In the situation room. I spent some time there talking to people while you were cooped up in your room. Is there anyone around us?"
Jamie's eyes glazed briefly as he sent a transmission to Blackwing.
"Are any humans around us."
"No."
"Blackwing can't see anyone."
"Good. Let's check out the container Eve found when we reached our next location."
>>>>>>>
Jamie, Emily,. Scott and Eve stood around in a circle, on a flat piece of black land surrounded by mounds. Jamie checked once again with Blackwing to see if no one was nearby, and once he received Blackwing's response he undid the latch, and opened the container. Inside, was four wide vials sitting inside the container, crammed together. Jamie placed the open green container on the ground, and picked one of the vials up. Inside it, a clear, transparent white liquid could be seen, swishing about as the vial shook as he lifted it up.
"Damn. I don't know whether this is a good thing or bad thing."
"Try opening it up. Let's see how our beasts react to it's smell."
Jamie shot Emily a dubious glance, and slowly twisted the lid clockwise. Feeling nothing happening, he put more force into it, but felt it tighten slightly. Grimacing, he started to twist the slide anticlockwise, gripping the vial as tightly as possible wit his right hand while he tried to unscrew it with his left had. It took Jamie a couple of times before he felt it start to loosen.
"Hurry up!! Your taking forever!"
Jamie paused and sent a transmission to Eve. "Would you like to do this?"
Eve snickered as she held up her front right paw. "No hands remember."
Jamie rolled his eyes, and his eyes darted back to the vial in his hand. As his eyes darted to the vial, he saw Emily barely stifling a yawn. Jamie blushed in embarrassment, and continued to try to open the vial.
After a few more attempts, the lid to the vial loosened, and Jamie felt the lid shift significantly. Shaking his left hand briefly, he went about opening the lid, keeping his eyes on the container. When he unscrewed the lid, an aromatic smell drifted in the air, and a massive wave of energy could be felt from the tiny vial in his hands with his mystical sense, giving him the feeling of something primal, of something that encompasses everything. Emily eye's widened, Eve sniffed towards the vial, and Scott took a couple of steps forward, with both beasts eyes on the vial in Jamie's hands. Jamie quickly screwed the lid back on the vial while taking a couple of steps backwards.
"Eve, what do you feel about this?"
Eve went forwards and started sniffing the container on the ground. "The energy feels remarkably like my own. I believe that it wouldn't harm me if I were to ingest it."
Jamie's eyes widened and he looked at the clear vial in his hands, swishing it about, and seeing the liquid move about in his hands. That was....interesting. That would have to mean the Gredidine, or at least whoever these use to belong to, knew about Eve's energy type, and the way it had felt to his senses...
Jamie's glanced at Emily's whose eyes were glazed. When her eyes cleared, she looked at Jamie and said.
"According to Scott, the energy type in the vial is remarkably pure and compatible with his own. He believes it would give him a good boost of energy if he were to take it, allowing him to increase his stage."
Jamie smiled. "Awesome. But before anyone takes it, I need to have it appraised."
With that, Jamie put the vial away into the container, and put it away into his bag. He looked around the area, as Scott walked around a small mound. Jamie looked around, straining his Mystic Sense, trying to sense any energy fluctuations that seemed out of place in the general environment. All he picked up on was a large cluster burning fire type energy in the small mound Scott was circling around, barely noticeable in the current environment saturated with fire type energy.
"Eve, do you sense anything?"
"Besides the mound Scott is looking at? Nothing."
Jamie sighed, and looked at watched Scott, as after he started sniffing around the mound, he started digging into it. Emily rolled her eyes and looked at Jamie.
"Your luck has so far been better then mine, yet your sighing."
Jamie shrugged. "I don't quite know what the liquid in the vials do yet. I need to have them evaluated before I can use them."
"How awful. I'll tell you what....." Emily started grinning. "How about we can trade. Everything I have found so far for those vials."
Jamie immediately shook his head. "No thanks."
Scott broke into the mound as Emily remarked. "Pity."
PLEASE READ AUTHORS NOTE IN FULL. SKIP IF YOU HAVE NOT READ CHAPTER 55 AUTHORS NOTE.