Razor reached the dig sight a little after 1am. Looking up at the sky, he could see the crescent moon overhead, slowly waxing toward half. It would be almost two more weeks before it was full. Not sure if there was any significance in that or not, he slowly made his way past the Enforcer barriers and into the sinkhole, picking his way carefully through the rubble.
The dream the previous night had been so real and vivid, that he felt as if he really had already been there and found the amulet. When he was near to the spot where he found it in the dream, he hesitated, looking around as sweat dripped down from under his mask, expecting to see Star's ghost appear somewhere nearby. He never saw any sign of her though, and continued forward. Kneeling down in the exact place he had in the dream, even the smallest detail of the rubble and debris being the same, he soon found the amulet.
Razor hesitated at picking it up, remembering the burning fire within his veins, and feel of his pounding heart. Very timidly, he reached down and touched the amulet. It was cold, and there was no glow to it at all. Slowly, he picked it up. When nothing happened, he breathed a sigh of relief and put it in his pocket, then got up and quickly headed back out of the ruined crater.
When he returned to the hanger, he parked the cyclotron just as it had been before he had taken it, changing back out of his flight suit and heading back upstairs to his room. He hid the amulet under some books in his night stand, then laid down to go to sleep, though stared off at the wall for many long minutes before even daring to close his eyes.
.
Jake now found himself standing in a dark, barren, volcanic landscape. There was no sky, as it was completely hidden by a low, thick layer of black volcanic ash and smoke. The hard stone landscape was dotted in numerous cracks and fissures, within which bubbled streams and pools of molten lava, spewing poisonous gas into the air. The thick ash-laden cloud reflected the fiery glow of the lava, bathing the land in and eerie deep red glow. It was impossible to tell if it was day or night, if there even was a sun at all in this Hellish world. Jake knew that there was only one place he could possibly be. The demon realm of Malfeas.
A short distance in front of him, Star's ghostly form once again took shape. Jake put his ears back feeling a deep pain in his heart at seeing her like that. "I have the amulet, Star. Tell me what to do."
"A summoning spell. You have to call me back to the mortal world."
"I don't know how. Do I need to have Elena do it?"
"Elena will never do it. She still try to take the amulet and destroy it. She believes that it is purely evil."
"Is it?"
"To an extent. It was created by the Demon Lord to summon and control vast hoards of lesser demons onto the mortal plane."
"Your father?"
Star sighed and looked down sadly, her ears back. "Yes..."
"But how can I make it summon you back?"
"I'm half demon, Jake. It will work, but to summon one specific target, the summoner must have intimate knowledge of the demon they wish to call. You know me better than any other mortal."
"I... I don't know if I can..."
Star suddenly hissed, as if in pain. She then staggered back, nearly falling to the ground, her form wavering, beginning to fade. Jake gasped in surprise and fear. "Star?! What's wrong?!"
"I'm weak... I'm loosing strength... You're the only one who can free me from this prison, Jake. If you do not, then I will be trapped here for all eternity. But it must be you. I cannot make you do it, and if you are not fully willing, then it will not work at all. I'm sorry, my Love, but my fate must now rest in your paws. The full moon, Jake. Please... you're the only one..."
Her form wavered, then disappeared. She was gone.
"Star? Star!"
.
"Star..."
Jake continued to call her name as he tossed restlessly in his sleep. When he eventually woke up, he simply laid there for a long while, his eyes damp with unshed tears as he thought back on the dream. He was sure now that these were no mere nightmares, but instead were somehow being controlled by Star, just as the very first ones had been those several months ago.
Throughout the rest of the day he was even more quiet and withdrawn than usual. Chance was beginning to get very worried, but knew that there really wasn't much that he could do. Elena was also concerned for her friend, but just as she had to learn to cope with Star's loss, she knew that time was the only thing that could help Jake now.
When Jake when back to sleep that night, his dreams continued again almost as soon as he had closed his eyes. He once again was taken back to the demon world of Malfeas...
.
Jake again stood in Malfeas, the stench of sulfur and brimstone stinging his eyes and burning his throat. In the eerie red glow, Star's form again took shape before him.
"Please, Star. I want to help you, but I don't know what to do."
"The ritual must take place during the night of the full moon. You must draw a pentagram made of chalk..."
"The pentagram is a demonic symbol though. Is that how it summons demons?"
"No. It is not in any way demonic or evil. The pentagram is the perfect shape. The angles and lines are all the exact same, and the form can be repeated within itself to the exactly angle and length for eternity. It is a symbol of focus, calling upon magical energy and focusing it through the caster, enhancing the power to weave spells into being."
"Okay... So then what?"
"There are certain herbs and items you will need. All but one of them are stored within one of the hidden compartments in my bike. The items have to be placed in a specific order at each point of the pentagram, then the words to the spell spoken, with full mental and emotional focus put into the spell and the components."
Star went on to explain what Jake would need and how to go about casting the spell. She also told him the access code that would allow him to bypass the scanner to open the hidden compartments of her bike where the items were hidden.
.
It would be another 9 days until the full moon. Jake was able to gain access to the components hidden within Star's bike, which Elena had retrieved from where it, and her own, were hidden while they were in the temple. There was one component that Star didn't have though, so Jake had to track it down during the times he was able to get away from Elena and Chance.
As per Star, he never said anything of his dreams of her, or the ritual, to Chance or Elena at all, since Star believed they would try to stop him out of fear that something could go wrong. Jake also feared that something could go wrong, but he was determined that if there was a way to free his lover from that hellish world, he would do whatever it took to do so.
When the night of the full moon finally came, he waited until the others were in bed asleep, then pulled out the bag from under his bed where he kept the items. Taking out the chalk, he carefully drew the pentagram symbol on the wood floor of his room. Kneeling down in front of it, then he began to arrange the items and herbs exactly as Star had told him too, using only the three candles for light.
Once he was satisfied that the arrangement was exactly correct, he set the amulet down in the center of the pentagram, on top of the herb that he had been told to place there. Closing his eyes, he began to softly chant the words, using the same strange language Star had used in the temple. He didn't know what the words meant, but each night in his dreams Star had taught him how to say them, working with him until he had every syllable and sound perfect.
As he began the spell, the talisman began to flow a deep red, filling the room with the eerie light. The pentagram then also began to glow, and a strong wind began to pick up and swirl throughout the tiny bedroom. Jake didn't stop his chanting though, determined to see this through as the glow grew even brighter, the wind whipping around him at such force that it blew about his books and papers, making it hard for him to even breathe. He started to grow dizzy and his body began to feel very hot, as if his blood were boiling inside his veins. The dizziness and heat got worse as the wind and glow increased, until all he could hear was it howling inside his ears, all he could see being the red light. Then suddenly there was a bright flash from the talisman, and everything went black. Jake slipped fully into unconsciousness.