After watching Mandy's dog dig in the backyard for a few seconds, Daniel wasted no time storming out of his room and knocking on Jonathan's door across the hall.

"Yes? What's going on?" Jonathan answered.

"Mandy is out in the backyard with her dog. Could you make sure they make it inside immediately?" Daniel said.

"Did you need to talk to her or something?"

"No. They are just by the lake, and I want them to not be there this late at night. You've been working closely with her, and I think it's best if you approach her. And also tell her not to let her dog get too close to the lake."

"Why? Is everything all right?" Jonathan studied Daniel's face.

"I don't know what he smells out there, but he's digging into my land. I don't want my land to be damaged, that's all!" Daniel said in an angry whisper.

Jonathan thought the conversation was strange, but he didn't let any confused facial expressions bleed through. "Sure, I'll talk to Mandy. No problem."

Going out to the backyard, Jonathan walked near the lake where Mandy and Coco were. Daniel watched from his bedroom, wishing Jonathan had moved quicker.

"Hey, Mandy, I don't mean to scare you in the middle of the night, but it's me, Jonathan."

Mandy spun around. "Oh, hey Jonathan, what's going on?"

"I was told we must respect the land and that Daniel doesn't want any holes dug up."

"Oh! I understand. Sorry about that, Coco doesn't usually do this, and he listens to me really well, so I thought it was weird that he was so focused on digging into this--"

"Yes, that's all very interesting, but please, can you get your dog to stop now?"

"Sorry!" Mandy turned back around and picked up her dog. She inspected the hole in the ground but saw nothing except dirt. "I wonder what he was digging for?"

"You know how dogs can be, sometimes they just get hung up on something and won't let it go. Sorry about coming out here. You're not in trouble or anything, I just know that Daniel is very protective of his land. He even told me to make sure your dog didn't go digging around everywhere."

"I understand. I'm sorry about that. It won't happen again." Mandy brought Coco back to the house and slept for the night.

The following morning, Daniel woke up before anyone else. He walked down to the same spot he had seen Coco and Mandy about 6 hours before. Staring down at the hole Coco dug up, Daniel noticed a piece of white bone at the center. The dog managed to remove a lot of dirt in a little bit of time. Using his arcane magic, Daniel waved his hand, and the soil magically assembled over the hole, even placing the patch of grass back on top.

Daniel sighed. This is going to be a long few months, he thought.

***

Jonathan had to leave the island to return to Attleton at the end of the week while the rest stayed.

At the arrival of spring, Daniel had lined up his disciples and had them all aim their hands at a target 30 yards away. They were instructed to shoot a bolt of iox, to charge it as long as they could, and then shoot it off. Everyone in the training camp unleashed their iox bolt, flying through the air and hitting the wooden target in the center of the rings, causing the wood to completely disintegrate.

Daniel watched his students, smiling from ear to ear. "This is splendid! Bravo, everyone, we have achieved the goal we set out to do. Congratulations, we can finally move on to our next mission.

Then came the beginning of spring break for Attleton. Jonathan had left campus and went to Daniel's property on the unknown island. Genevieve took him there by boat, and she waited in the cabin until Jonathan returned with the rest of the group.

As Jonathan arrived at Daniel's property, everyone was in the living room, waiting to go.

"Splendid!" Daniel beamed. "Jonathan, it's been a while, I hope the school year has been going well for you, yes?"

"Yeah, it hasn't been that bad," Jonathan said.

"Wonderful. Now that we have our final member here, we can finally embark on the mission we've so patiently been awaiting. Congratulations to all of you for making it this far and for being quite good at learning the iox ability. I would say let's do a quick demonstration for Jonathan, but trust me when I say they are ready to go."

"Ready to do what exactly? You said you would explain more once Jonathan arrived," Elijah said.

"Yeah, we're not going into battle or anything, are we?" Patrick said.

"No. I wouldn't ask you to do that. But hypothetically, if I did, would you enter into battle with me against someone who was trying to stop your goal of a life of luxury and wealth?" Daniel asked.

The group looked at each other and back at Daniel.

"Yes," Patrick said, and everyone else paused but nodded.

"Well, don't worry, we don't have to go into battle." Daniel snickered. "We will have a mercenary do that for us if everything goes according to plan. I just need seven people to shoot an iox bolt into a stone cauldron. It's as simple as that. But as you've seen, it's a lengthy process to acquire the iox ability. We've been training 6 days a week for 6 months, training a full day. And just now, we have finally reached a point where we can make this happen. Is everyone ready? It will be a bit of a journey. We are going to a place our society hasn't mapped out. No boats dock there. These are places that I alone discovered and explored. I would love to tell you where we're going, but I don't even know how to explain it. Is that fair?"

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

"You mentioned a while ago that it has to do with mythology. Is this a fabled mythological land?" Patrick asked.

"Excellent question. I like to think it is, but no one can really confirm that can they? No one is alive from that time." Daniel shrugged but smirked.

"Well, what are we waiting for? We can talk on the boat if we need to. I'm ready to go and see something else for once!" Patrick said.

"Yeah, I've been feeling a little cooped up. Let's move!" Elliot said.

"Marvelous!" Daniel shouted. "Mandy will be staying here, but don't worry, we won't be gone too long. The house staff will still be here too. Without further deliberation, let's go." Everyone grabbed their belongings, left the mansion, and went to the small dock at the island's edge.

They boarded the boat, and Daniel went to the sails, where Genevieve steered the ship and instructed her where to go.

"And don't be alarmed if we run into rough waters," Daniel said.

"You mean rough waves, right?" Genevieve said.

"No. I trust you'll do fine if that happens, Jonathan says you're one of the best sailors going out of Port Harbor, and I've seen you sail before, so I'm not worried about it. I'm talking about if something else happens." Daniel's lip curled up. "Jonathan and I can take care of any external factors."

Genevieve feigned a smile. "Okay, if you say so." Holding her palms forward, she shot her wind stream to the sails, and the boat surged forward. Everyone else sat in the cabin, talking amongst each other.

Jonathan gazed out the cabin window for the entire trip, not talking with anyone.

Daniel took a seat across from Jonathan at his booth. "What's going on with you?"

"What do you mean?"

Daniel's lips flattened, annoyed. "All right, have it your way. I'll just leave you alone then."

Going to the front of the cabin where no one else was, Daniel stood alone and watched the ship break through waves. The waves grew more assertive, shaking up the vessel with each crash.

A few hours passed, and some people fell asleep, but Daniel fixed his eyes on the sky.

"Okay, everyone! I want you all to wake up! We're going outside!" Daniel announced.

Everyone in the cabin opened their eyes and stood up.

"Why? What's going on?" Patrick asked.

"Just follow me!" Daniel rushed out of the room towards the tip of the boat. His followers came behind, and he pointed at the sky to the hellions flying around in a circle over the ship.

"I really would have appreciated a warning!" Genevieve hollered over the crashing waves. But she maintained a steady wind stream from her palms to the sails.

Jonathan ran beside his girlfriend. "I'm so sorry this happened, I had no idea what to expect. But I won't let anything happen to you, I promise."

Genevieve gave him a nervous smile. "Nothing we haven't dealt with before, right?"

Jonathan nodded and kissed her cheek.

The hellions came swooping down, screeching as they landed on the boat. Four of them instantly made it on deck.

"This is excellent practice, everyone, shoot an iox bolt while you can!" Daniel instructed.

"So we are going into battle with you, huh!" Elijah screamed.

"This isn't a battle, This is about survival!" Daniel shouted back. "Defend yourself!"

Patrick held his hand out and shot off an iox bolt. It struck a hellion, it shrieked and collapsed.

"Atta boy Patrick! You see? It's nothing to be afraid of!" Daniel shouted.

A hellion landed next to Genevieve, and Jonathan immediately blasted the hellion away but watched his pupils on the deck struggle to keep up with the consistent flow of hellions landing aboard.

"Jonathan! Shouldn't you be helping them out?" Genevieve said.

"Daniel won't let it get out of hand," Jonathan said.

"Come on, everyone!" Daniel hollered as a dozen hellions flew onto the boat.

Elliot finally focused and shot off another iox bolt, and Hawthorne struck another too. The rest of them could shoot off an iox bolt, but it wasn't enough, the hellions kept landing on the boat, far outnumbering the rest.

"There's too many! We need time to recharge!" Patrick hollered.

The hellions marched forward, forcing the group back to the cabin wall.

"I'm getting out of here!" Elijah said, sprinting inside the cabin.

"Damn it, Daniel! Do something!" Jonathan yelled as he kept shooting iox bolts one by one. Jonathan didn't need time to recharge, but at the pace, he was going compared to the invasion of the hellions, it wasn't enough to stave off the attack.

Daniel snickered as his disciples tried sneaking back inside the cabin. The crowd of hellions bared their fangs, saliva oozed down their sharp teeth, and they snarled as they approached.

Daniel stretched out his hands, sculpting a sphere with his index fingers and thumbs as if reaching out to harness the fabric of the universe. With an inhale that summoned the depths of his being, an ethereal silver sheen sprang to life on his palms. Suddenly, from the crucible of his hands erupted, a cataclysmic beam of raw, silver energy.

The piercing surge spewed like an untamed celestial tempest, slicing through the air with an unwavering intensity that mimicked the ferocity of a rampaging waterfall. Streaking from left to right across the ship's bow, the beam became a relentless predator in the dark expanse, a searing lighthouse beacon reimagined as a vengeful weapon.

But this beacon didn't just guide – it obliterated. It cut a swath through the onslaught, vaporizing every malignant hellion daring to stand in its wake. The beam's unsparing light acted as both judge and executioner, reducing each vile monster to nothingness. In the span of heartbeats, the ship stood in stark contrast to the chaos it had been plunged into moments ago, now completely void of the beastly horde.

The hellions circling above the boat had flown away until they were no longer in sight.

Daniel turned around with his arms stretched wide. "You see? It wasn't a big deal! I had it all under control the entire time. You can come out of the cabin, we should relish this small victory."

"Relish in this small victory?" Elijah whispered to Patrick and Richmond. "He's a madman! Did he really just push it as far as he could before one of us got seriously hurt? I honestly think we could have died just now!"

"I'm just amazed at what he did. I've never seen any magic like that before my life," Patrick said, and everyone in the cabin nodded except for Elijah. They walked out and joined back with Daniel.

"You see? I didn't want any of you to run into battle with me because it wasn't a battle. If things ever get tough like that, you can just stay by my side and rely on me because that was a walk in the park. However..." Daniel lifted his hand up and tried forming a bolt in his hand, but it kept fizzling out. "I need to recharge after releasing an attack like that. Is everyone fine?"

Everyone paused but nodded.

"Wonderful. That's all I care about. Even though the hellions came and got out of hand, it's no big deal. It was all taken care of." Daniel observed all the exhausted and frightened faces. "Why don't we all get some sleep? By the time the sun rises, we should arrive on our island. Great job tonight."

They all raised an eyebrow at Daniel but turned around and entered the cabin. Getting ready to sleep on the cots provided.

Jonathan stood next to Genevieve and narrowed his eyes at Daniel. "You gave us a needless scare, you know?"

"Relax. Everything turned out fine. We should just forget the whole thing ever happened if you can't see its success." Daniel waved at him. "Good night."

"Good night," Jonathan muttered. Jonathan stayed up the whole night, standing next to Genevieve as she continued to sail and steer the ship. Jonathan kept delivering her coffee after coffee until the sun greeted the world with its initial shine of the day.