Sunday 26/9/2060, Location: 43.43853, 142.659, Time 22:48

While they browsed the piles of stones and nuggets of metal, they discussed the next leg of the journey.

"So, thanks to Tads for the recon, we know we're probably going to end up in a fight. Or, at least, a situation where a fight is likely. So based on that, what time of day do we want to get there? Because it seems to me, that while we can fight at night, so can they, and natural critters might be better at it than us." Kai glanced around at the others, then lowered his gaze back to the sizeable chunk of chalcopyrite sitting in front of him.

"I would suggest we avoid arriving at or about dawn and dusk. It will rob us of our spirit support and protection for a while, and there's a chance that the spirits may require hard bargaining that will leave me somewhat fatigued. Better for me to have had chance to rest a while first, and still have some time until we cross either threshold."

"That's a fair point, Tads, but that cuts both ways too." Aswon turned to face Kai. "If we lose our spirits, so does anyone we're facing, and that may be more of an advantage to us than them. A lot of it depends on the situation, of course, but it's worth bearing in mind."

"The journey is about three hours to the volcano, roughly thirteen hundred klicks." Hunter was eyeing up some of the mineral lumps as well, looking at the unusual formations laid out over the table. "From there we can head north-west to Zebra Base, about six hundred and eighty-five kilometres away. That leaves us landing on fumes, but we can make it. Otherwise we head east, about eight hundred and fifty clicks, to the Battle Barge. We can't make that on one tank, so we need to set down somewhere to do at least a partial refuel somewhere along the way, but there's no doubling back on ourselves, so that gets my vote."

"I've been wondering about that. Can't we get a hose or a long tube or something, to go from the barrels into the fuel pipe on the outside, so we don't need to do it ourselves?" Tads had barely asked the question when they heard Marius start to speak.

"Nein. It won't work like that. There are all kinds of reasons, and the physics is quite involved, but the short version is that the fuel is kept in a pressurised environment and balanced between the tanks to keep us stable in flight. Mid-air refuelling is actually quite difficult and complicated. So it might sound superficially like a good idea, but the engineering challenges to make it happen are actually quite tough."

"Oh, oh well, never mind then. But still, once we're away from the volcano, I'm sure we can find somewhere to set down and do the refuelling."

"Provided that we get away from the volcano without too much trouble." Aswon cautioned. "I'd rather we get to within a hundred kilometres of the target site and find somewhere to set down, and then refuel, all the way to the top. If we do run into trouble then, we've got a full fuel load and don't need to worry about increased usage in combat flying. If we are in trouble, I don't think anyone would rather Marius had additional things to worry about."

"That seems like a better idea. When we're back in the bird, can you look at scouting out a place for us, Hunter?" Kai looked over to Hunter, who nodded in agreement and made a small notation on his commlink. "Is there anything else we need to worry about?"

"Yes. Well, not to worry about, but to take into account. We should rely on Marius and the craft itself for stealth, and not use a spell or spirits to conceal us. Tads saw at least one Shapeshifter. We know Yakut is defended by spirits and other magical creatures. We should rely on more mundane means to hide, rather than magic as in this particular case that's likely to have the reverse effect of making us easier to spot. That's going to be hard work on Marius as he's shouldering most of the burden, with maybe Hunter helping a bit on the electronics side. That's the other reason I think we should fuel up sooner rather than later…"

Nobody argued with the logic, and they fell silent for a moment and continued to examine the items laid out. It was Tads that broke the silence, pointing at several large nodules of gold laying together in a clump.

"All of this stuff is pretty good – excellent quality and magically intact. And cheaper than I've seen elsewhere. But, I'm thinking we should get the gold while we can. It's the key ingredient in orichalcum, and if we can pick some up cheap, and hold onto it, we've got a good start next time we're back at the ranch. If we can get the other ingredients, even at normal price, we can look at making a lot of money from this with the investment of a month or two of work. Or, maybe we can get on behalf of Aslik and see if he wants to do some enchanting, and pay us in finished product. If we're not going for the gold to do some enchanting in the future, then instead we should go with the gems."

"Why?" Kai asked. His voice wasn't challenging, and it looked like he wanted to hear her reasoning.

"Because they have ornamental use as well as magical, and are widely desired for that reason. But also individually they're worth less, and are more affordable, so it's easier to sell them off piecemeal to people we meet on our travels. It's a lot more likely that someone might have a few hundred Nuyen in cash or trade goods for a ruby or sapphire, than it is to have ten thousand Nuyen for a kilo of gold that needs to be melted down and cast. I mean, we could sell the gold in smaller lumps, but it's harder to work with in small volumes in some cases, and you lose proportionally more in the casting trying to get to a usable product. And if we do sell off small chunks, we destroy the value to someone who DOES want it for magical use, as they won't have enough for their purposes in all likelihood."

"Maybe we could contact Germaine, or Aslik, or even Ludmilla – and advise them that we have an opportunity to purchase cheap supplies, and see if they're interested in an investment opportunity?" Kai suggested.

"If there was anyone, I think Aslik – Germaine seems to be more focussed on antiques, and from what we've seen of Ludmilla she has a focus on poisons and toxins. Aslik seems to be the one more likely to be interested in enchanting materials. But with his situation, I'm not sure he'll have the ready cash to invest." Aswon seemed to have affirm grasp on the situation.

"What about Nadia?" Tads asked. "She had a bunch of cash I think, from the last time we were there. For upgrading the ranch. If she's not spent it, we could get that paid into a bank to get at here?"

"Well, it is our money, I suppose. But I've no idea what she was going to do with it. Do you, Kai?"

"She had a big list of upgrades and improvements, Aswon. To be honest, I didn't pay that much attention – it all looked reasonable, and she's got a good feel for the logistics side of things, so I pretty much left her to it."

"If we are struggling for cash this much, I have fifteen thousand put by, on my personal account. Provided that it is returned when we sell the items, you may use it." Marius offered. "I can call Nadia and ask what the situation is regarding the money allocated to her if you wish?"

"Please, Marius, yes. Has anyone else got anything squirrelled away we can make use of short term?"

"I have another five thousand I think, like Marius," Aswon offered.

"So we've got twenty we can use for short term flips of goods, plus whatever we can get from Nadia? Ok, that at least is a reasonable budget…"

"Kai – I've just spoken with Nadia. The money you gave her is gone – in fact I think she wants some more… but I told her we would discuss on our return."

Kai nodded, then headed over towards Kanai for some negotiations. He talked with him for a minute, then turned and headed back to the rest of the group.

"Ok, I've got two deals hashed out. The first is for approximately two kilos of the unrefined gold, a selection of eight of the precious gems – a mix of ruby, sapphire and emeralds, four of the chunks of silver ore all in exchange for twenty thousand. By my quick calculation, we should be able to sell them for a good three to five thousand profit if we wanted to. The second offer is for the gold, only half the amount of gems and none of the silver for the same cash… but he will take us down to the island to introduce us to the spirits that live there and allow him to harvest this lot. So we'd cover our costs selling this stuff I think, but get the introduction for free. What do we think?"

They discussed for barely a minute, as most of the team were at least curious about what was on the island and where the materials had come from. Marius was the only one disinterested, and announced that regardless he was going to stay on the tilt-wing, and get some rest as they were likely to be heading out early morning to arrive at the target site for dawn, hoping to catch the enemy before they had called any fresh spirits for the new day. Tads suggested that they also offer to create some food and water if they couldn't do any themselves. It might not have a great value, but it would help sweeten the deal…

Kanai crossed the room towards them when Kai turned, and nodded approval when Kai said they'd take the introduction. He pulled out a cred-reader, equally battered and jury-rigged as Chiaki's up in the control room, and took payment, waiting while Hunter ran back to the tilt-wing to get the cred chip from Marius. When he'd confirmed payment, he parcelled up the goods and handed them over to Kai, then ushered them out of the room, leaving all of his supplies on display.

The team were waiting outside in the narrow corridor, and watched as he pulled the door closed behind him, then spotted that there didn't appear to be anything beyond the very basic electronic lock on the door – and that looked to be battered to the point of being non-functional. Surely he wasn't going to leave the room effectively unlocked with tens of thousands of Nuyen worth of magical supplies just lying around inside?

They got their answer a moment later when he raised his hands and placed them at shoulder height – one on the door frame and one on the door. Muttering under his breath, he concentrated and the metal under his hands started to glow, a dull red at first, before brightening and rising in colour through red into orange. Metal from one element flowed into the other, effectively welding the door closed securely behind him. Tads watched carefully as he channelled mana into the spell, watching how he manipulated it and controlled the backlash, dumping the energy back into the air around him safely. He might not have the same level of expertise as herself or Shimazu overall, but he was a competent and powerful spellcaster, and seemed to be very adept with transforming and manipulating physical matter. She suspected he'd throw a pretty mean fireball, and made a mental note not to allow the situation to deteriorate to the point where that might become an option.

"Interesting spell. Don't you have to worry about the metal becoming brittle and warped over time?"

"It does, but there's plenty more rooms to use…"

Kanai led the way down the rig, descending to the lower levels via a twisting and complex route through nearly identical passageways and stairwells. A glance at the slight smile on Hunter's face told them all that he had their route mapped out with precision in his internal systems, the sensors and systems feeding back telemetry and GPS co-ordinates to his spatial recogniser system and generating a 3d map of the rig, detailing their route accurately and clearly.

They climbed down a ladder into a metal stairwell that curved round tightly on itself, descending down into the darkness with only the occasional bulkhead light casting meagre illumination. After four flights of stairs, they came across a heavy duty doorway set into one wall, a locking wheel controlling a number of heavy latches and bolts on all four sides. Spinning the wheel anti-clockwise, the mechanism groaned slightly and then relented, cogs turning and driving a ratchet, pulling each of the locking bolts out of the way. With a heave, Kanai swung the door open, revealing that they'd descended into one of the legs of the oil rig, and were now about twenty five metres above the surface of the water.

Below them lay the dark shape of the island, black waves crashing upon the sharp stones and rocks below, while a vague texture in the blackness showed where ocean gave way to beach, and beach to jungle.

"If you'll follow me, the spirits will help us down." He called out loudly, addressing the air outside of the structure in some weird dialect of Japanese for a moment, before stepping out of the doorway into thin air. Instead of plummeting down to the thrashing water below, he descended smoothly towards the beach, walking as if down a glass slope. Aswon took a breath, then stepped out behind him, feeling some invisible force pressing up under his feet with each step as he descended towards the island.

"I caught a couple of the words there – I think it's a very old regional variation of Japanese. Maybe from the Heian period – but I can't be sure without hearing more." Shimazu murmured, his throat microphone transmitting his observations to the rest of the team. "May be a magical variation, or just an old incantation that has magical overtones."

One by one the rest of the team took the step out, trusting to whatever spirits were using their powers or spells to control their descent. Tads bought up the rear, ready with her levitate spell – just in case. It wasn't that she distrusted who or whatever was doing this…but she didn't want to take any chances, and it was in her nature to look after others.

Once they'd landed on the beach and taken a minute for their vision to adjust, they could make out a little more detail. The oil rig was a vast metal monstrosity behind them, rising up and looking far more imposing than it should. It was nowhere near as massive as the volcano that lay to the other side of them, but perhaps because it was a made thing, constructed by the hands of thousands of workers and towed out to sea in defiance of nature it seemed to be almost larger than life.

The jungle lay like a belt gathered around the waist of the volcano, a thick band that separated the rocky slopes above from the shoreline below, dense growths of trees with a thick canopy and a chaotic growth of branches, flowers, tubes, roots and grasses in a chaotic mixture underneath. Rising above them they could see the volcano more by the stars it occluded rather than by the starlight – but then they could also see why the place was referred to as 'Twin Peaks'. At some point in the past there must have been some cataclysmic explosion, sending a massive part of the volcano exploding outwards – and perhaps explaining the rocky debris scattered all over the beach, but leaving the ruptured cone with two huge spires of rock thrusting up and into the sky.

"Come, this way. I will show you the tunnel that leads to the chambers inside." Kanai lead the way into the jungle, following a trail only wide enough to let them walk in single file. A hundred metres in from the beach they came to a small clearing on a gentle slope. Above them one of the shoulders of the volcano rose up near vertical for a score of metres before sloping away, and in the face of the jagged cliff was a large tunnel, nearly three metres in diameter. It was rounded and evenly shaped, but without a smooth and consistent finish – not the product of man-made tunnelling.

"Lava tube, I think." Tads said quietly as she examined the hole leading into the face. "I've seen a few in my travels. When the volcano was active, sometimes pressure builds up and forces a stream of super-heated magma through cracks or fault lines in the rock, and they carve out these tunnels. Sometimes they can be kilometres long, before they emerge and boil out, normally into the sea. But they're normally strong and stable."

"Indeed. Travel down the tunnel and at each of the chambers, proceed onwards. Where there is a choice, always turn towards the brighter light. You are expected now, so I will let you continue, and meet you back on the platform later." Kanai took a step back, clearing the way so that the team could enter.

"Just a minute," Kai called out, stopping Aswon who had started to climb into the tunnel. "Just sending a message to Marius…" He fired off a quick text message: 'The door code is 4422 just in case we don't come back.' He didn't wait for a response, but nodded to Aswon to continue, and took his place in the middle of the group as they filed into the tube.

The tubes were mostly smooth, enough so that walking down them was not particularly difficult, though they exercised caution as there were patches of slippery stone where watercourses had penetrated the tunnels, and occasional pits or holes formed by some ancient event. A few times they came across chambers where two lava tubes had intersected, forming a cavern ranging from a few metres across to ones large enough to hold the tilt-wing, supported by pillars of rock or crystalline growths that spanned from floor to ceiling. In each, though, they found an exit that appeared to have a perceptible glow, a faint light source reflected down the length of the tunnel that made it marginally brighter than the others.

After twenty minutes of walking and scrambling down the tubes they noticed that the air was warmer and drier, and the light ahead of them seemed to grow in intensity, now actually lighting the way somewhat.

"We're just over half a kilometre underground, and perhaps fifty metres down from the beach. I lost GPS lock a good while back – way too much rock overhead, but the inertial systems are doing fine." Hunter told them. "Also, all that light ahead, is way down the bottom end of the visible light spectrum, and extends into the infra-red wavelengths too."

They continued onwards, the light, heat and dryness rapidly rising. The tube they were in had been slowly curving to the right, but now swung back to the left, and as they rounded the bend they saw a portal that looked almost like it was ablaze in front of them. Cautiously Aswon advanced down the last few metres, edging out into the vast chamber beyond the tunnel. He felt his mouth dry as the hot desiccated air robbed the moisture from his body and his vision wavered as the roiling air distorted the image of the far side of the chamber.

One by one they emerged onto the rocky shelf, looking around them in amazement. Pools of molten lava bubbled away to either side, while spits of rock threaded their way across the chamber in a crazy spiderweb. A flow of lava fell from a tunnel high above to the left, cascading downwards in a flurry of yellow and red to splash into a deeper pool that dominated the back corner of the space, a hundred metres away from them.

"WHO DARES ENTER THESE HALLOWED HALLS!" The voice was deep, rumbling around the chamber and making the rocks resonate beneath their feet. There was no visible source of the voice, and Aswon flicked into astral space to see what he could spot. The whole chamber glowed brightly, streams of mana flowing from pool to pool, and the entire chamber rippled with barely suppressed energy. He got the strong impression of elemental magic, principally fire and earth, and placed a mental bet on what they were going to see shortly.

"My name is Kai, and I lead this team. We are known as the New Fish!" He took a step forwards, his brows furrowing as even that small step bought him closer to the baking heat of the lava.

"WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Kai was about to speak, then paused a moment. It wasn't just a simple question, he sensed.

"We are traders, people who travel from place to place, carrying things for people, buying and selling. We wish to speak to the master of this place, about making some money."

"SO, THAT IS WHAT YOU WANT? MONEY?" The voice was just as loud, but held a slight edge of derision, a touch of scorn.

"Well, yes, and no. I'm in it for the adventure mainly – but I do like money. It makes things possible. But most of them like money…." He gestured to the rest of the team, spread out on either side of him. His statement was met with a chorus of angry or disgruntled noises as they turned towards him and raised their voices in dissent.

"If we liked money that much, Kai, we'd insist that you actually paid us. Especially those employed as mercenaries, you know!" Aswon called out to Kai, before he turned his attention to the chamber as a whole. "We like many things, and seek many things. Telesma for instance, magical knowledge. History. And we have curiosity. So when the mage up on the oil rig offered to introduce us to you, that's what we wanted."

"And money!" Kai added. "That as well. But they're right. We all have individual wants and wishes. While we're not driven by money, it is a useful thing to help us survive, prosper and grow. But we don't want it for its own sake."

There was a laugh, a deep rumbling noises that reverberated throughout the cavern. A ripple appeared in the deep pool of lava at the far side of the cavern, and a burning form emerged from the mass of magma. Vaguely humanoid, it rose and rose, extruding and growing out of the surface until it stood four metres tall, thicker than a troll. Covered in cracking and ever-shifting lava, it glowed with power, shifting features turned towards them and then it flowed across the surface of the chamber towards them. It stopped five metres away, and the team had to brace against the wave of heat that radiated from it. The face was hard to make out, the shifting lava flow turning a nose into a chin before it slid off towards the torso, while a new nose formed in its place. The only constant was two bright specks of brilliant white puncturing the eye sockets, focussed upon them.

"Hello there. And what do we call you?" Kai asked. The laugh cut off abruptly, leaving only the crackle of the lava behind.

"Names have power, even the names given lightly. Choose a name, but choose respectfully."

"I'll call you Forge then, if I may?" The lava being nodded to Kai. "We have answered your question, would you answer the same? What is it you want, and how can we help you?"

"We help the people outside. They guard our island, and ensure we are left alone. We give them things, that they use to repair the metal beast. They bring us stories and tales from the outside world. We DO like stories…"

"I so need to introduce you to someone. I suspect you wouldn't want to travel, much like them – but you have some things in common." She wondered if the Quoll would be happy to venture down here, into another spirit's domain – or if the 'Forge' would want to wander on the Quoll's volcano in return.

"But is there anything that YOU want? Just you. For you?"

"Of course. There is something we all want. The spark of life, the wisdom of years, the taste of hope and despair. For that, we could trade. We have no money, but we have shiny rocks – that you can exchange for money. So we are told, at least."

"I accept!" Kai took another half step forward, wincing again as the heat level rose again.

"Kai! Are you sure?" Kai nodded at Tads firmly. "Then let me try to help you. There are rites and rituals that can make the transfer easier, more fruitful. I can attempt one, to help you. He nodded to her again, and she prepared herself by sitting cross-legged on the hot stone floor, then starting to sway and chant, calling on Elk and the spirits to form a link between Kai and Forge. As she dropped into the astral realm, she could see the whisps of Kai's essence dancing in an ethereal wind, being pulled and toyed with, fluttering towards the bright form of Forge. She assessed the spirit, trying to gauge its power and threat, just in case… it seemed to be a little less powerful than she was, though how much advantage it might gain from being in its own home she couldn't say. For a brief moment, she thought she spied something deep in Kai's essence, a tiny fragment of purple crystal – but then it was gone…

Forge raised its arms, and the astral wind intensified, plucking and pulling at Kai's soul, peeling tiny parts of his being away from him and absorbing them into the structure of its own body. As it did so it studied Kai intently, savouring the flavour of the emotions and experience, relishing the memories of deeds done, of life lived.

"Tell me your tale, wanderer…"

"Well, we first met under some poor circumstances. You see, we were captured by some people called Chechens, and locked in cages, out in the pouring rain, up at the top of a mountain…" Kai told of their meeting, and their escape, appropriating the truck and fleeing down the mountain, of how they found the village and gorge, and saw the warlord driving back up the narrow road. He'd just got to the part where the warlord drove through Tads' illusion and plummeted to his death when the elemental let loose a mighty roar, backing away and growing in size at an alarming rate. The body bulged and surged, rising up to become five metres tall at least, and at least three wide. Yellow flames surged across the body, licking at the edges of the molten plates and the face took on an angry expression, the white pinpoint eyes growing in size until they were big enough to swallow his fist whole.

"HARBINGER! SOWER OF DOOM AND DESTRUCTION! WHY DO YOU SEEK OUR DESTRUCTION?"

Around the cave other elementals burst forth from the lava pools, rising up swiftly and striding across the landscape to encompass them in a shallow arc. None were as big as Forge, but each was a spirit as powerful as Tads could summon on her own, and each burned with fiery wrath. A terrible grating sound behind them made Aswon and Hunter glance back, and they saw a pair of mighty earth elementals grinding out of the walls, blocking the tunnel behind them with their bodies and smashing their fists together with barely constrained rage.

The team had gone from a six to one advantage to being on even terms – but each of the creatures they faced was likely as powerful as any one of them, and they had the advantage of home territory.

"Kai – this is NOT a fight we will win." Aswon spoke quickly, letting everyone else know the odds as well as the boss as he quickly assensed each of the spirits. Each one seemed to grow and become more fell as they called upon the power of the cavern, absorbing the elemental magic that abounded.

"We don't seek your destruction at all – until a few hours ago, we had no idea you existed. I don't think we really want to bring destruction to anyone. We ARE traders, and don't fight unless we have to. But we try to do more good in the world than bad. Sometimes we're a little chaotic, sure… but we try to make things better."

"Then what are you doing to have such fate woven around you? The strands of destiny are knotted within you, all is turmoil and destruction. Tell me of your purpose, or you will not leave this chamber alive!"

"Honestly, I don't know. I don't know what we're doing that could have such an effect. I mean, we're doing several jobs at the moment. We're taking a package to Seattle to deliver, but that's just a computer chip, I think. And ummmm, we're dropping some tokens off for a game of hide and seek. What else, guys?" Kai looked around, genuine confusion on his face.

"We encountered the ghosts from an ancient Japanese army, guarding a sacred battle site?" Shimazu offered. "They were hostile, until I revealed which Clan I belonged to?"

"NO! You must tell us! You WILL tell us!" The elemental raised its arms, and a pulse of fire erupted from each fist, radiating heat and blinding light around them.

"Now you just listen here!" Aswon stepped in front of Kai, spear held in his hand but an angry, accusatory finger pointed at Forge. His voice was thick with anger, and he seemed oblivious to the danger he faced. "He's right – we are a bit chaotic, and most of the time we don't have a plan. But we are GOOD people. We have a code. And that doesn't involve hurting people just because. We saved a family from some murdering fuckers in the Mafia. We rescued a young girl from an abusive family member. We stopped a bunch of rapist slavers kidnapping another young girl and got her back to her family. We took down another murderous fucker after they tried to rape someone else. Well, he did…" Aswon swung his hand round to point at Hunter, who had bought his assault rifle up into a ready position – for all the good it would probably do him.

"We have killed people, sure – but they were bad people, doing bad things. They were people that wanted to hurt others, or steal, or rape, or pillage. We're not them. When we first got together we discussed what we would do, we have a CODE. There are things we won't do, that we all agreed to. And we haven't! Not once! But do you know what we have agreed to do? Do you?" The finger had returned to shake itself under the nose of Forge, who had stopped and was staring down at Aswon. Tall as the tribesman was, he didn't even come up to groin height on the massive magma elemental, but Aswon's rage made him appear larger somehow. "We have found an ancient horror, an unspeakable beast from somewhere I don't even want to think about. And we've agreed to destroy it. Because it's bad. Not because of treasure, or money, or glory. But because it's wrong. It stands against everything we stand for. And it's entirely likely that some of us may die. But we're going to do it anyway. So don't you be coming over here telling us we're the merchants of doom or some other crap. I'm not having it!"

Forge lowered a hand towards Aswon's face, pointing a finger back towards him. The flames still wreathed the massive fist, and the heat coming off was almost unbearable. Aswon refused to back down though, not moving a millimetre. He stared up at Forge, his dark eyes locked with the globes of bright white, refusing to budge. The tip of his nose started to blister, the skin cracking and burning as the heat ripped away the moisture. Still he refused to move, just tightening the grip on his spear and being ready to carry out what was probably a futile attack. Behind him, Hunter had his rifle trained on another elemental, ready to fire. Tads had her shielding up and over the party, ready to launch an attack on the first spirit that made a move, while Shimazu stood quietly, just the tips of his fingers resting on the hilt of his sword, eyes closed to almost slits, waiting for the perfect moment.

"We genuinely do not understand what has upset you. We're not doing anything that we know will cause destruction, nothing that you speak of anyway. But we mean you no harm, on that you have my word." A moment passed, and then another, with nothing but the crackling of lava and grinding of stones sounding in the cavern. The team held their positions, not wanting to attack, but ready to defend themselves if necessary. Their resolution was firm, and Forge looked from one to another, tasting the sincerity that radiated out from them – and their stubbornness. Another moment passed, and they took a step backwards, then another, shrinking in size back to their original form.

"The task you are on, will bring great destruction. I have seen it. You must tell us what you are doing."

"I still don't know what task you mean. I can't see what we're doing for any of the jobs we're on that could cause this."

"I see the land awakening in pain, great rifts opening, schisms of power. The tearing asunder of so much. All across the land, volcanos waking and making the world tremble, bringing forth fire in uncontrolled bursts of outrage. Why?"

"Oh… oh I have a horrible suspicion." Aswon shook his head, taking a step back from Forge, then glancing around to Hunter. "Do you have the bag with you? Yes? Ok, can you show one of the tokens?" Hunter paused for a moment, then carefully took one hand off the rifle and reached into his inner pocket, fumbling with the pouch one handed until he could locate a token and hold it aloft. "Do you feel anything from this? Is this related?" He listened to the answering hiss from Forge, and had his answer.

"What are they? Why do you carry them?"

"Well, we were given a job. A job that we pretty much felt we could not turn down – on account of the two beings that gave it to us almost certainly being Great Dragons that could destroy us in a moment. They're engaged in some kind of competition. We were given a month, from one new moon to another, to travel around and place these tokens at certain volcanoes. Not this one!" He added quickly. "No, not this one – the closest one is hundreds of kilometres away. But we have to place them, so the agents of the two dragons can hunt them and each other, to determine who the victor is."

"So you are doing this task for money? To be paid? Not because you understand it or will gain from it?"

"No. Well, as I said, I don't think we could have turned it down and lived. But yes, we are going to get paid money to do this, and it doesn't seem to hurt anyone or harm anyone directly or indirectly. At least not that we know about. Despite how we may act sometimes we are professionals."

"I will consider." Forge shrank, lowering itself quickly into the lava pool and disappearing under the surface. The other elementals backed off slightly, watching them closely and standing guard, fire elementals to the front and the earth elementals to the rear, blocking their estate.

They waited – what else was there to do? Aswon tried to examine the end of his nose, but just made himself go cross-eyed in his efforts to examine the blistering wound, while the others shifted around uneasily under the watchful eyes of the elementals. Five minutes passed, and just as Kai was about to try and negotiate with one of the elementals, the pool of lava started to bubble again, before Forge rose from the molten depths.

"I have considered. Our bargain stands. Choose the form of your payment."

"Err. Gold? Is gold available? Gold's good, right?" He looked over his shoulder at Tads, then back at Forge. "Yep. I'd love some gold please!"

The lake bubbled again and a globbet of molten rock erupted from the surface, arcing through the air to land between himself and Aswon. As it hit, the rock cracked open, releasing a gout of steam as it broke into two halves. As the halves rolled over from side to side, a glint of metal shone from inside, a lustrous deep golden colour.

"Thank you," Kai said. "As you've kept to the bargain, I have an offer for you. You obviously are concerned about these events, this work that we do. When we are done, would you like us to return and tell you the tale of what happened, whether it be good or bad? We will do this if you ask, without payment."

Aswon was reaching down to examine the gold when Hunter grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him back sharply.

"What is it with you and touching molten stuff? Let it cool!"

"You may return. We will listen to your tale." Forge replied, ignoring the interplay between Aswon and Hunter.

"Excuse me, Forge? I have two questions? And I'm prepared to pay for one of them," she gestured with a hand between Kai and Forge, indicating what kind of payment she meant, "if need be. Will you hear them?" The elemental nodded at her, and she licked her lips – or tried to. The intense heat just meant her dry tongue scraped over her lips, leaving her feeling uncomfortable for a different reason.

"Aswon was correct. We have found a horrific creature, a demon from another plane. And we have vowed to defeat it. But we know it is a powerful foe, and we could use help to fight it. Can we gain your aid? Or do you have knowledge that would help us?"

"We will not help. But I can tell you that your weapon, and his weapon… they will aid you." It gestured at Shimazu, then turned towards Aswon, staring at the spear for a moment. "Not so much this one. It is better suited…to other targets."

"Ok, thank you. The second question is – am I permitted to use my magic to levitate that rock when we leave here, if it's still too hot for us to carry?"

"Yes. That is a good idea. You should go now, quickly. We have preparations to make, events to plan for." Forge backed away, and started to recede into the pool. As it did so, the other fire elementals also faded back to where they'd came from, and the two earth elementals behind them unblocked the tunnel. One of them turned and faded away, disappearing from the physical realm, but the other stayed there, at the entrance to the tunnel. It moved one massive arm downwards, and one upwards, pulling them apart until they were widely spread. As the arms reached full extension, the space between them flickered and wobbled, before turning into a swirling maelstrom of colour forming a funnel that led…away somewhere.

"Go…through….here…." The voice sounded like old and heavy, boulders rubbing together to create an approximation of speech. The words were ponderous and weighty, and brooked no argument. Despite this, Aswon held up his hand quickly, stopping the others from moving.

"Oh no, no, no no. Where does it go?"

"Back…to….the…metal…beast…" Aswon frowned – he'd heard stories of powerful spirits that could open gateways to the metaplanes. Knew that some people sought them out as a way to gain hidden knowledge or arcane power. But they were also dangerous – entering without a mage or shaman that could guide you back would lead you to your death if the spirit closed the portal behind you – or so it was rumoured. Certainly people had disappeared, never to be seen again. But they were, as far as he knew, also not shortcuts from one place to another, granting instant movement between two places…

"I will go first." He didn't wait for arguments, but a quick glance at Tads and an equally swift nod from her told him she at least understood the situation. He plunged into the tunnel and felt a moment of disorientation, before stumbling forward another step and almost going sprawling on the slanted deck of the oil rig. A moment later he did go sprawling as Shimazu fell through the other side of the portal and ran into him. One by one the others appeared, and when the last of them was through, the second earth elemental slowly closed its arms, compressing the vortex or funnel down until it was a tiny point of swirling light that vanished with a pop. The elemental faded away too, and this time they managed to flick into astral space fast enough to watch it leave, flying away as Tads would do when she went scouting.

"That was odd… and I thought impossible. But…" Aswon shrugged… it clearly was possible, or was something else entirely. Either way it was something to think on later.

They examined the two halves of the rock clump that lay gently steaming now, floating a few handspans from the deck. Hunter gave a low whistle as he eyed up the metal and made a quick calculation.

"Based on the size of the stuff we got earlier from Kanai, I reckon we've got a good seven or eight kilos there. That should help with the cash flow!"

"It's good stuff as well, like the others. Magically pure… in fact it's got a thread of elemental power flowing through it. Making something like a spell focus for a fireball wand should be really easy with something like that!" Tads peered at the gold nuggets that lay inside the cracked shell, studying the mana that was associated with the physical form.

"Well, let's go find somewhere we can put them down, and let them cool without setting fire to something. When that's done, Tads, you need to go find their storeroom and make some stuff for their larder. Hunter, you're with me – I think we need to get an inventory of the things we need to help these people out and keep the rig running properly. I have a feeling we're going to be back here, and we need these people on our side."

The team headed back up through the rig, Hunter guiding them quickly once he found a junction and stairwell he recognised, leading them back to the control room. Chiaki didn't seem surprised when Kai asked for a list of supplies and components she was in need of, and settled down with him, producing a long list of parts that she had run out of or was very low on. He was somewhat surprised that none of the list included a finished product – all of it was constituent parts or building materials, rather than replacement units.

Tads found a parts locker up on the helipad that was half full of water and gently lowered the rock into it, sending the water into a frothing mass as the rock and gold were quenched. Steam filled the air, but soon enough the rock was cool enough to hold, and Aswon was able to transfer them to the tilt-wing, leaving Vadim and Tads to go and find the kitchen area and start to conjure up food and clean water to leave behind them.

When they were all done, the team settled down to wait, Aswon standing watch while the rest of the team settled down to get four or five hours sleep in preparation for their pre-dawn takeoff.

At three fifty-five Marius jolted awake from the alarm he'd set, and stretched out in the cockpit, working out the kinks from his back. A quick glance through the sensors told him that everyone was on board, and he activated the port side starter, watching as the engine rumbled into life. Behind him people stirred at the noise, the team starting to get up and get ready for flight. The noise continued to rise as the starboard engine caught, and just after four in the morning, they lifted off from the slanted platform, turning gently to face north and accelerating towards the next volcano.