The group of young male tamers began climbing up the bottom part of the large hill. They had encountered one more spirit on the way that had been unable to be tamed. Jasper had let Hitch and Cory handle it with relative ease.
As they began climbing the bottom-most boulders, conversation popped up. "Jasper, if you don't mind me asking, how'd you end up at this clan. It's clear now the hype around you is real." Cory asked carefully.
Jasper glanced at him. "You don't need to tiptoe around me. We're groupmates now, and I'm in till the end. As for how I got here? Do you guys know someone named Arya? Her older sister is the vice captain." Jasper probed.
Looks of realization came across their faces as they all turned to him. "What!"
"The vice captain's little sister?!"
"What about her?" They all said at once.
Jasper nodded. "I heard they're respected, but I met her and her team while first starting my journey. She offered to help heal an injury I sustained while running from an Ethereal spirit not far from my city. After hearing there was an Ethereal so close, they took it out. Then she asked me how the son of the Lord ended up being a solo.
I told them I've been disowned, and she talked about how she thought clans would still want me because of my upbringing. Then this man named Brackton said something about how she should check with the higher-ups. The original plan was to see if an allied clan wanted me, but it'd be a waste if this clan wanted a necrotic tamer. I'm lucky." Jasper finally finished. He grunted as he pulled himself up a boulder.
Cory was the first to respond. "Brackton? I recognize that name but can't place it." Cory put a finger to his chin.
Hitch looked back at Jasper as he adeptly climbed. "How was it traveling with one of the most elite young teams out there?" He asked.
Jasper smiled and grabbed Hitch's hand. The smaller boy pulled Jasper up easily. "It was good. They're all cool. Some of them didn't like me. I hope to see them again." Jasper reminisced.
Oliver let out an exhausted sigh as he pulled himself up higher. His arms and legs weren't handling the climb well. "We should prioritize the weekly challenge," Oliver muttered as he wiped sweat off his forehead. Jasper nodded and looked higher up the mountain.
They'd only scaled half of it so far, but were starting to see other tamers in battles with spirits that stayed close to the energy-dense mountain. Jasper guessed that the hibernating spirit that created the earth's dense energy zone is deep below the mountain. They were close to a team of 8 that was battling a weaker Chrysalis spirit. "I want to duel this team. Are you guys good with this?" Jasper asked.
They were just able to defeat the spirit as the four boys approached. "We challenge you to a duel for the Chrysalis spirit core," Jasper shouted.
Their heads turned with a sour expression. One of them walked forward while one of theirs removed a weapon from the spirit's corpse. "We want a 2 on 2. No spirits." Their leader said. Jasper nodded in agreement and stepped forward. He pulled his sword from his back and shrugged his shoulder. One of the group mates stepped forward with a spear.
Jasper had the lower ground, while his opponent also had a spear. This time, there was no official starting moment. Both tamers crept forward with their eyes trained on each other. Jasper could tell the other tamer would take a defensive position. He'd do the same if he had high ground.
So Jasper decided to use his only ranged option, his earth spell. His tongue slipped out of his mouth in focus as he repeatedly sent projectiles of boulders at his opponent. It took more energy to turn the hard stone into a projectile than dirt.
But the volleyball-sized stones forced the tamer to abandon the boulder he stood on. Jasper took this as a moment to get on level ground by strafing toward the side the tamer hopped away from. On level ground, this tamer stood no chance against Jasper.
After his third sword swing, the boy admitted defeat. Jasper backed up but made sure not to let them start with a height advantage. Their reaction to the loss was mild annoyance. It looked like some of them had already mentally thrown away the core. Another tamer stepped forward and battled Jasper.
They were stronger than the other tamer, but Jasper wasn't messing around. The group soon started climbing up the mountain as they lost to Jasper. Jasper wiped a little sweat from his forehead and tucked his weapons away. He walked up to the Chrysalis spirit and inspected. It was a decently large ram-like spirit.
Jasper cut it open and retrieved the core quickly. His group watched him curiously. It was starting to settle in that they weren't just prey anymore. "Hey…" Jasper muttered as he looked up the mountain. "Where'd those people go? They couldn't have left our sight that quickly." Jasper commented.
He jumped up to a boulder and started to pull himself up. But as he did, the boulder began sinking into the mountain. It was barely noticeable at first, but the next moment, there was air beneath Jasper. A cold shiver went up his spine as he free-fell 10 or so feet into the mountain.
The light shining through the hole he fell through was snuffed out by a boulder filling it in. Jasper could just barely hear his group's concerned shouts before the boulder cut off all sound. Darkness. It was all he could see.
He was close to panicking, but there was no immediate threat. He steadied his breathing and began going blindly through his bag. After a minute, his hand closed around a flashlight. Finally, he could see his surroundings. Boulders and boulders created the walls of the small cave corridor he was in.
He stood and began to walk toward the end of the hall, which had no exit. He was stuck in a single hallway inside boulders. His brain began to work on what was happening here. The boulder had been moved quickly and dropped Jasper inside.
He heard the scraping of stone against stone when he fell in. His ears twitched as he caught a distant sound. More stone scraping. He moved to the side of the hallway that was closest and tried to find which boulder it was behind. As he pressed his ear against each boulder, he frowned. The scraping stopped in this area.
Something was capable of moving around boulders easily. A minute or two later, the scrapping returned, but it was close. One of the boulders at the end of his hallway was being moved. Jasper didn't get too close but watched from the other end. The right wall fell back, and then a couple of seconds later, the scraping stopped.
Jasper heard little growls coming from the space in the wall. A few seconds later, a lizard spirit walked through. It saw Jasper and seemed hesitant. It was a weaker Pygmy spirit. Not all spirits are immediately aggressive, though many are. Jasper walked forward with his hands up. The spirit scampered back into the corridor it came from.
As Jasper approached the hole in the wall, he began to understand a little more. The corridor the spirit had come from was an L shape and was similarly walled in by boulders. This odd underground cave system was created by boulders.
Jasper knew the scraping was boulders being moved, subsequently opening up areas and creating an entirely new and untrackable maze. He considered attacking the neutral spirit, but decided against it. He walked toward the other side of the L just in case the boulders cut him off from his original corridor.
There was more to learn about what's happening around him first. He stood quietly listening for sounds around him. The scraping had stopped, or he couldn't hear it anymore. His biggest worry was whether any of his group mates got pulled in here. Right now, he only has one person to worry about.
He was snapped out of his thoughts as a boulder was being moved near him. He jumped as he realized a boulder was cutting him off from the neutral spirit. He sprinted forward in the darkness, his flashlight swinging wildly. His chest was sucked in as he slid between the two boulders. The lizard spirit freaked out as Jasper appeared only 20 feet from it.
The boulder settled against Jasper's back. He tried to give the spirit comfort, but failed as it bounced off the walls. It shot mud at Jasper. He avoided most of it and held his hands up in surrender. Whatever was moving the boulders around wanted them to meet.
It was all still speculation, but he didn't think fighting this spirit had merit. It slowly calmed down over the course of a minute. It ended up curling up into a corner and staring at Jasper cautiously. Jasper tilted his head as he heard boulders beyond their walls move. "What the hell is going on?" He muttered.