Zackory - a fateful touch (Vol. 2) ✅

Chapter 20

After they traveled back to Los Angeles, a long flight took place again. They landed at the airport of Hilo, Hawaii's largest city, after just over five hours. There they stayed in another motel.

The next morning they drove with a rental car to their destination 33 miles away – the volcano Kilauea. They parked at the visitor center and from there walked the Kilauea Iki Trail, which led directly to the volcano.

In a suitable, quiet place, Lucan turned into an eagle, and flew under a camouflage spell with Zack to the active crater of the volcano – the crater Halema'uma'u. At the moment, tourists weren't allowed to go near the crater because the volcano was active again.

From a distance, the two saw the active lava lake in the crater, from which white vapors of water, carbon dioxide and sulfur dioxide rose. The last one was fatal for humans in large quantities. However, this didn't apply to demons. Lucan drew a spell circle around the crater, as he had done in Chichén Iztá.

The eastern part of the lake was solidified on the surface, with the active surface lava being limited to the western side. Nevertheless, small lava outlets occasionally appeared along the eastern edge of the lake. The western lake towered several yards above its base, dammed by a dike of solidified lava. Lava coming out of the west fissure entered the lake at a small inlet. A large overflow broke through the northern dike and flowed along the northern edge of the lake towards the east.

Golden threads and black stones could be seen around the lake – Pele's hair and tears. The closer they got to the lake, the hotter it became. In some places the lava reached a temperature of up to 570°C.

Lucan picked up a few of the black stones and looked at them. "They actually look like tears. Now the question arises as to where the entrance is. I hope we don't have to go through this lava lake."

Zack looked thoughtful. In front of them stretched a large area of scattered rocks, scree and Pele's hair and tears. It was rather unlikely that the entrance was in the lake, as usually no living creature could cross it. The entrance had to be accessible to everyone, as it had been until now.

Lucan threw the stones to the ground and looked around.

"Do that again," Zack said.

The demon looked at him confused. He took a handful of the black stones and threw them on the ground. And why did he have to do that again? Then he saw it. Oh. How did Zack notice that? The stones had wandered.

Zack pushed some of the golden tufts to the side. "Lucan, the stones are not arbitrarily distributed, they form a path."

Lucan looked at the ground and realized he was right. The stones formed a line. "Is this a path?" he asked his companion.

"Probably. If we follow this, we may get to the entrance. The only question is in which direction." Zack sighed. "Lucan, you go east; I will take the opposite direction."

Lucan nodded, then they set off. They followed the path of Pele's tears. The path meandered through the entire crater. A few times their paths crossed. Zack's path ended abruptly in nothingness. He looked around. There was nothing here. He placed his backpack on the spot that marked the end and looked around for Lucan. This was a good 50 yard away. He had also stopped. Had he also reached the end?

Lucan had reached the end of his path. There the path formed a loop. Did that mean that this was the end? He got down on his knees and pushed Pele's hair aside. Then he recognized a pattern that formed Pele's tears. It reminded him of a magical circle. It had to be here. He got up again and waved at Zack.

Zack had stacked three large stones on the spot where he had stopped so that they could find them again. When he arrived at Lucan's spot, he marveled at the structure of stones with a diameter of about two meters. "This has to be it. There was nothing at my path, just a dead end," Zack said, getting down on his knees. With his fingertips he touched the structure. He felt magic pulsating under his fingers. "No doubt, this is the entrance. We just have to open it."