Dunst Till Dawn

The Quest for The 13 Hollows Part 5

They could feel the heat emanating from the 30 ft humanoid giant made of pure fire. They could hear the stomping of its footsteps right behind them, as it chased them down. The light from its burning body was a constant reminder to Jack, Dawn, their group of mercenaries, and their Mason guide, that it was still there. Other than the light from those burning flames, and the light before them, that was made by The Mason to lead their way, the cave was dark.

What exactly the monstrous giant being was, was unknown. Being that they were within Mt Etna, it was possible that it was the Roman god Vulcan himself. Jack doubted that though. He theorized that it was probably what was left of a race of beings known as the Eldjotnar. A type of Jotnar. Primordial beings made of the forces of nature. They were often thought of as gods. And Jack theorized that it may have been one of them that was the one known as Vulcan. Or that maybe this Eldjotnar, may have been one of Vulcan's descendants. 

Their Mason escort opened up a portal for them. Moments before the giant could catch up and crush them all. He was the same Mason that had opened up a pocket dimension to store the giant cauldron within. The giant black cauldron that was way too big for any of them to carry. For it was closer to the size of a house, than it was to a human sized cauldron.  

But it wasn't escaping from the 30 ft giant made of fire that was the most trying part of retrieving the Cauldron of Dynwch. Not for Dawn at least. No, that would come after they had retrieved it. After everyone was thought to be safely back at their homes. That was when she had lost her brother; again. 

That started when her brother came into the room acting all excited and jovial. "What's a Grecian erns sis?" He asked with a mischievous smile on his face.

It seemed a rather strange question. They dealt with relics all the time; the answer seemed obvious. "You mean an ern from Greece?" She asked uncertainly, for it seemed too obvious of an answer.

"About one drachma per day." He told her, and then he chuckled. 

She rolled her eyes.

He smiled. "Seriously though, we were hired for a job to find these Grecian erns. He threw down some pictures of the erns that they were searching for. It wasn't just one, but a bunch. They really didn't look ancient at all. Clearly fakes. 

"They were stolen from our client." Her brother continued. "He has hired us to retrieve them for him." 

She studied the pictures of the erns. "Why though? These are just regular run of the mill erns."

"It doesn't matter sis. We were hired for a job. We were paid for it. That is all that matters."

Jack knew of course that it wasn't really about the erns. He did his research, as he always did. He knew that the people that he was working for were drug runners. And he assumed that that was the real reason everyone really wanted these erns. There were likely drugs baked within them. 

"We'll get some of our researchers to work on it." His sister told him, trying to be reasonable.

He shook his head. "It could be dangerous sis; we should do this ourselves."

Dawn couldn't even believe what her brother was suggesting. "We are kind of busy right now, Jack. Remember the Hollows. The whole fate of the world being at stake thing. I think that might be a little bit more important at the moment, don't you?"

"That's not our fight sis!" He stated irritably. "That's between the Masons and Morgan. We are not even being paid for it!"

"So what? You're suggesting that we just walk away? Just let Morgan get the items that she's looking for?" She stated in a accusatory manor, as if it were the most ridiculous thing that she had ever heard.