Chapter Text
“This looks like a good place to set up camp for the night.” Felix said, and he was right. There were cliff sides in two of the four directions surrounding the area, as well as an overhang providing shelter from wind and making it more difficult to be ambushed. “Alright, I'll go pick up some firewood.” Eva responded. “I'll go with you, Eva. It can be dangerous to head off alone, especially at this time.” Jenna said before briefly looking slightly up at the sky, where the sun was beginning to set, bathing the area in orange light. Eva nodded her head. “Okay. I mean, all of you are the adults here, after all…” She said. “Alone?! What are we then, chopped liver?!” The two Djinn had unset themselves from Eva and were sitting on her shoulders, while Cliff was the one who spoke. “Cliff seriously, are you just incapable of showing anybody respect?!” Droplet asked the Venus Djinni in frustration. “Eva has my respect! Why else would I be traveling with her if she didn't?” Cliff responded. “THAT ISN'T WHAT I MEANT AND YOU KNOW IT!!” Droplet yelled at Cliff. “STOP IT. RESET YOURSELVES TO ME, RIGHT NOW.” Eva told them firmly. The two Djinn looked at her. “But–” “RIGHT. NOW.”
The Djinn had stopped speaking, and then set themselves back onto Eva. Eva sighed in relief before she looked back at Jenna. “Sorry about that, Jenna. I'm ready to go now.” She told her. Felix, Sheba, and Piers had been trying to put up the tents while listening to a story from Kraden.
Jenna looked at Eva and nodded. “Before we go, there is something I'd like to ask you about.” Jenna said to Eva. “Oh?” She responded. “Yes, about your Djinn. I wasn't aware that non-Adepts could have them set… I was wondering how you learned that, and how it affects non-Adepts.” Jenna said. “Oh ho, I must say, I'm very interested in that as well!” Jenna and Eva turned to see that Kraden had spoken, and they also saw Felix, Sheba, and Piers had turned their attention to them as well. Eva's eyes lit up and she smiled wide before she began explaining. “Well, I first figured out that non-Adepts can have Djinn set almost as soon as I befriended Droplet a few years ago, since Djinn set themselves onto whoever's befriended them almost immediately. As for how it affects us, we gain the ability to sense when Psynergy is being casted! And not only that, we also gain access to some incredibly weak Psynergy of our own! Note I say incredibly weak. With Droplet and Cliff both set to me, I have access to the Growth Psynergy, but all I can do is make a little tiny sprout grow out of the ground and that's the limit.” Eva said.
“That was quite a bit of information.” Piers said. “Yes, but it was very interesting, no?” Kraden responded. “Yes, it was. I hadn't even thought to research the Djinn’s effects on non-Adepts, I hadn't even thought they could be set to non-Adepts…” Sheba said. “Yes, it was very interesting, but now we need to finish getting the campsite set up.” Felix said. “Ah! Right! We need to get firewood!” Eva said. Jenna nodded. “I'll go hunting for dinner, then.” Sheba said. “I guess that leaves me, Piers, and Kraden here then.” Felix said. “Guess so.” Eva responded. “Jenna, Sheba, Eva. Stay safe.” Felix told them. The three nodded their heads before going off in different directions.
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Jenna had called upon the powers of her Mars Djinni Spark to give her and Eva a better light source for gathering firewood, and it stayed very close by to Jenna’s side, so it was very noticeable when it had stopped moving along with her and Eva. Jenna turned her head to look at it. “Is something wrong, Spark?” She asked. Spark looked over at Jenna before turning back the direction it was originally facing. “There's another Mars Djinni over there.” It said. Eva whipped her head up from the ground where she was crouching to pick up sticks. “There is?!” She asked. “Yep. I figured you'd be interested, so that's why I pointed it out.” Spark said.
Eva stood up from the ground holding a few sticks, and looked closer in the direction Spark was facing. It didn't take her very long to locate the other Mars Djinni. “Right there…” Eva said in a quiet, focused tone of voice. “Eva?” Eva whipped her head around to look at Jenna, with a slightly confused expression. “We're supposed to be gathering firewood, remember?” Jenna asked Eva. “O-Oh, right…” Eva said sadly with her head looking down. Jenna let out a very quiet sigh, and smiled as she remembered her own team's misadventures of befriending the Djinn. “But, I suppose we can take a short detour.” She told Eva. Eva whipped her head up to look at Jenna, with her eyes lit up and a big smile on her face. “Thank you, Jenna!” She said. Jenna nodded her head and smiled slightly. “You're welcome, Eva. Now let's go catch ourselves a Mars Djinni.” She said.
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Sheba walked silently and unnaturally quickly through the foliage of the forest, her golden staff accented by pink and purple strapped to her back. The Lachesis’ Rule, as it's formally called. When hunting, one would normally bring a bow and arrows with them, but Sheba is admittedly not great with them. She tried once, and… It didn't really turn out all that well. The Lachesis' Rule, however, she's a master of. What else could one expect when she's been using it since she acquired it thirty years ago on her quest?
Sheba was snapped out of her thoughts when she heard rustling in the foliage ahead of her, making her stop dead in her tracks. She slowly and silently pulled the Lachesis' Rule from its place on her back before walking forward, equally as slowly and silently. She crouched down behind a bush and stared at the area in front of her, looking and listening intently. A single deer was grazing. Sheba had always felt bad for the animals, but it was just the way things had to be. People had to be able to eat. Sheba raised the Lachesis' Rule, and prepared to cast Ray on the deer. Since it wasn't a monster, she didn't have to cast high strength Psynergy on it in order to kill it.
Just as Sheba was about to unleash her Psynergy, her eyes wandered over to another pair of eyes on the opposite side of the area, that were light purple. As Sheba stared at the figure opposite to her, she saw that they also seemed to be trying to hunt the deer. They were crouched as well, but had an arrow notched in a bow as opposed to Sheba holding her staff. Due to the light from the sun beginning to fade, it was difficult to make out much else about the figure, though they seemed to have platinum blonde hair. The figure’s gaze met Sheba's, and the two stayed like that for a moment.
She didn't understand why, but she was seized by a sudden desire to know what the figure was thinking. She felt her Mind Read Psynergy activate, and she was encircled by the familiar Psynergetic waves. She learned that the figure was a boy, and his name was Jovi. Before she could learn anything else, she felt a jolt as he shut her out of his mind. They continued staring at one other, Jovi’s bow lowered and his eyes wide, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. In a flash, he got up and ran away, making the foliage rustle in his wake.
Sheba stood up, a bit alarmed, and reached her hand out while she spoke. “Wait–” But it was too late, it seemed like he was already long gone, and all that the combined noises of Jovi's running and Sheba's reaction did was scare off the deer they had both been trying to hunt. Sheba lowered her hand down to her side, and then shook her head. Now she would have to find something else to hunt for dinner… And what's up with Jovi? Who is he? Where is he from? Why did he run from Sheba? Sheba shook her head again, trying to clear her thoughts. She could worry about that later. Right now, she needed to hunt something so that her team could have dinner. She strapped the Lachesis' Rule onto her back again, and set off.
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“Oh dear…” Jenna said. Eva was panting from chasing the Mars Djinni around a rock. Around and around they went until Eva was out of breath… “Are you okay, Eva?” Jenna asked her. “I'm… I'm… Fine. I knew… This wasn't… going… To be… Easy.” Eva responded in between her large gasps for air. “Hmm… The Halt Psynergy would've been helpful here…” Jenna said. “Halt Psynergy?” Eva asked. “Yes, it's a type of Psynergy that's accessed via an item. An item that Ivan is currently in possession of.” Jenna answered. “Oh. Okay.” Eva said. After a couple more minutes, Eva fully stood back up. “Okay, I'm ready to try again.” She said. “Are… Are you sure?” Jenna asked, concerned.
Eva turned to look at Jenna and nodded. “I have an idea.” Eva turned to look at the area around the Mars Djinni before she continued speaking. “Y’see how there's a Cliff face behind the rock? And y’see the area around it?” Eva asked. “...Yes?” Jenna answered. “Well, my plan here is for Cliff and Droplet to block off the left side, you to block off the right side, and once I get the Djinni in front of the cliff we find a way to break the rock, scaring the Djinni into running to the only place it can go, the cliff. Only problem I can think of is how do we break the rock…” Eva said. “You can leave that one to me.” Jenna told Eva with a smile. Eva smiled back and nodded. “Alright! Now then, Droplet, Cliff, you know what to do.” Eva said. Cliff and Droplet unset themselves from Eva, hopped onto the ground, and took up their positions on the left side. Jenna and Eva looked at each other and nodded before going to their respective areas.
Once Jenna was in place, it was time for Eva to get the Mars Djinni into place. She slowly circled around the rock, the Mars Djinni always staying the same distance away as it circled the rock as well, until the Mars Djinni was standing with the cliff face to its back. It wasn't long before the rock exploded due to Jenna's casting of the Burst Psynergy, scaring the Mars Djinni just as Eva had believed it would. When it tried to run to either side, it was blocked by Jenna, Cliff, and Droplet, forcing it to run to the cliff, with Eva slowly chasing it. She prematurely placed one of her hands on the handle of one of the Powder Blades, assuming that the Mars Djinni would fight now that it was cornered.
She was right, as the Mars Djinni tried to tackle her almost right away. She dodged out of the way and drew both Powder Blades in preparation. “So ya wanna fight, eh?” She said with a smile on her face. “Well then, a fight’s what you're gonna get!” She said before she charged at the Djinni.
Jenna watched as they fought. She would've helped Eva, but not only was she still technically stopping the Djinni from running away, with how confident Eva was blocking, dodging, and attacking the Mars Djinni, she felt like Eva knew exactly what she was doing, and Jenna was worried that she might throw off Eva’s plan if she tried to help.
One of the Powder Blades hit the Djinni, soon followed by the other one, releasing a small cloud of dust onto the Djinni, making it harder for it to land attacks and dodge. Eva immediately took advantage of this, and let out a few small flurries of blows before the Mars Djinni retaliated by attempting to cast Flare, in which Eva quickly jumped backwards to avoid it. The continuous fast back and forth blows went on a while longer, before both combatants were breathing heavily. In the short amount of time that they both rested before continuing, Droplet rushed forward to set itself to Eva, and the mist that lingered for a moment was a telltale sign of it being put on standby.
Eva and the Mars Djinni continued dodging and landing blows on the other, until the Mars Djinni paused for just a second, giving Eva enough time to summon Mercury, dousing the Mars Djinni in water in order to win the battle.
Eva and the Mars Djinni stood still for a bit, catching their breath, while Cliff and Jenna watched and Droplet was recovering from the Mercury summon it had just done. The Mars Djinni got up from the ground and stared up at Eva. “That was the most fun I've had in AGES!!” The Mars Djinni exclaimed to Eva. Jenna let out a small sigh of relief, and then walked over to Eva, while Cliff rushed over to Eva and hopped back onto her shoulder. “You're SO GOOD with those swords, and the way you got me to fight you and-and you're a NON-ADEPT too?! I never would've guessed it!! Not many non-Adepts can go toe-to-toe with one of us Djinn!!” The Mars Djinni said. Eva laughed. “You're so energetic! I think we'll get along really well!” She told the Mars Djinni. She crouched down to be on eye level with the Djinni. “So, what's your name, then?” She asked the Mars Djinni. “I'm Smolder!! If ya need to FULL POWER your way through an enemies defense, then I'm your Djinni!!” Smolder replied.
“Oh Iris it's another one that's going to be reckless as hell.” Droplet had finished recovering just in time to hear Smolder’s introduction, and was sitting on Eva's other shoulder. Jenna started laughing at Droplet’s reaction. Eva and the Djinn looked at her, and slowly Eva began smiling, and it wasn't long before they were all laughing.
After they had calmed down from their laughter, Eva held Smolder in her hands in front of her, smiling at it. “Welcome to the team, Smolder!” She told it. “Glad to be here!!” Smolder responded before it set itself to Eva. “Alright, Eva, back to gathering firewood now. We don't have much more time before it gets dark.” Jenna told Eva. “Oh wait that's right we did come out here to find firewood.” Eva said. She had completely forgotten that was why they were here in the first place. Jenna laughed, once again reminded of when her and her teammates would act similarly when they found a Djinni. “Welp, let's go get some firewood!” Eva said enthusiastically. Jenna smiled and nodded her head, before the two began collecting branches.