I couldn’t tell how long I swam between reality and the memories that threatened to overpower me. When I eventually pulled myself into the present though, I was shocked to find that I was being held in a warm embrace with someone murmuring gently and kindly that everything would be okay. 

My body stiffened and I awkwardly cleared my throat. The hand that had been tapping a steady rhythm on my back stopped. I inched away and looked up to see a woman in her thirties giving me a look so full of concern I was momentarily stunned. 

“Are you alright, sweetie? You were having a panic attack,” the woman explained while reaching out and gingerly taking my hands in hers. We were both wearing full-body heat-resistant suits so I couldn’t feel her warmth through the thin fabric, but the pressure of her fingers was reassuring in a way. 

“I’m sorry,” I apologized, briefly glad that I still had the film of mana covering my face since I was sure I’d gone bright red from embarrassment. 

“Oh, sweetie, don’t apologize. Everyone has something they’re scared of. And you ended up killing all of the monsters before anyone got majorly hurt, so really we should be thanking you,” the woman said with a bright smile.

I glanced past her to see that most of the clearing team seemed to be harvesting mana crystals from the dead hellhounds. My eyes searched out Helen who had just stood up from beside one of the monsters with a bloodied crystal in her hand. She flicked the crystal, sending some of the blood to the floor, before slipping it into her collection bag and walking towards me. 

“Did you get her calmed down, Ronnie?” Helen asked with an unreadable expression on her face. 

“She’s doing alright now, but don’t be so severe, Helen. Remember she’s only 14,” the woman called Ronnie said in a scolding tone that surprised me. Looking between the two, I realized that they shared the same eye color and nose which made me think they must be closely related. Helen rolled her eyes but her face did relax a little when she looked back at me. 

“I wasn’t aware your enhancement could be used to attack,” Helen remarked with a pointed look at the nearest hellhound that had been stabbed from the top of its head through its chest and pinned firmly into the ground by a spear of pale gold mana that still hadn’t disappeared. 

“I… have never done anything like that before,” I admitted hesitantly with a hoarse voice. Realizing how sore my throat was, I awkwardly fumbled into my bag for my water bottle and took two controlled swallows. 

One of Helen’s eyebrows quirked up and I could see the disbelief in her face. She eventually shrugged it off though and came to sit next to Ronnie. 

“I’m glad you only attacked the monsters in your panic,” Helen commented lightly and Ronnie immediately whipped her hand out to smack Helen’s shoulder. 

“Honestly, Helen, you don’t have an empathetic bone in your body!” Ronnie scolded with a deep scowl as Helen winced and grabbed her shoulder. 

“What?! It was a compliment!” Helen retorted with an affronted look. 

A surprised giggle bubbled up my throat at their bickering. Ronnie blinked over and gave me a wide grin while Helen let out a world-weary sigh. 

“Now look what you’ve done, Veronica. You’re undermining my authority as team leader,” Helen stated sourly and I blinked, realizing that Ronnie must be a nickname for Veronica as she was responding to both names. 

“That’s what sisters are for,” Veronica said while childishly sticking her tongue out at her. Helen narrowed her eyes at her sister but seeing such a normal interaction in the middle of this crazy situation was quite comforting. “What is the plan now that Teagen is feeling better though?

“Once all the mana crystals are collected we’ll have to go find the boss monster,” Helen replied with an unconcerned shrug. 

I couldn’t keep myself from shuddering slightly at the thought of encountering more hellhounds on our way to find the boss monster. Helen and Veronica looked at me with varying degrees of concern on their faces. 

“If you’re up for it, Teagen, I was hoping you’d come with us during the search. You don’t need to fight the devil dogs though. You can hang back until we find the boss, then I’d like you to create a shield nearby that we can bring our injured to if the battle is harder than I’m expecting.” 

I raised my head and gave a determined nod. “Now that I know what to expect I should be alright,” I replied while regulating my breath and getting my heartbeat under control. 

“Even so, I called you in as backup and to get us to the cavern. I’m not going to rely on a teenager to fight my battles for me, so just follow my orders and stay in the back. Got it?” Helen asked gruffly, but I could see the kindness hidden in her order. I couldn’t help but smile as I replied that I understood. 

To my relief, there were no large packs of hellhounds as we traveled deeper into the volcano. Helen’s team demonstrated a high level of teamwork whenever they came across a small group of hellhounds and dispatched them efficiently. 

I was surprised to find out that Veronica was the team’s Healer, although her brand of healing was closer to a transferrence power. She was able to absorb the injury of a team member and with her personal ability to heal insanely quickly, she could recover from the injury within minutes. Not surprisingly Helen didn’t like her to use her ability since it meant that Veronica would be in pain until she healed herself, but it was nice to have as a backup option if first aid wasn’t enough. 

When the scouting team returned with news that they’d found the boss monster I couldn’t help but let out a sigh of relief. As cowardly as it was, I didn’t want to spend another minute in this oven of a mountain filled with my mortal enemies. Although being surrounded by the corpses of hellhounds was beginning to desensitize me to the fear. As long as I didn’t see their red eyes I could handle it. And discovering that I could launch multiple mana spears at once was cool… Not that I wanted to figure that out from having a panic attack, but still.

I erected a thick mana dome, choosing to forgo the lattice design since I really didn’t want to see what was happening beyond its protective wall. Then I wrapped a ring of mana around everyone’s pinky finger. 

“If you get injured, just tap your pinky against the surface and a door will open for you,” I instructed them all. Helen tested it out to show everyone how it worked, then I wished them luck in the fight. 

They all turned away from my protective dome with determined looks on their faces. I was grateful that none of them called me out on my cowardice. While I remained safely inside my mana shield I tried to meditate, but my mental state was not great at the moment so I quickly gave up. Instead, I decided to experiment with my newfound attack power. 

Now that I wasn’t in a completely instinctual mindset, it was much more difficult to create multiple lances simultaneously. It’s amazing how focused you can become when you think you’re about to die, I thought to myself with chagrin as I dissolved most of the shaky lances I had created. 

I had gotten the hang of firing three lances at once by the time the team came back from successfully killing and looting the boss monster for its mana crystal, which was one of the biggest I had ever seen. Everyone seemed in high spirits, but there was a sense of urgency now that the boss monster had been defeated. 

From many past experiences, everyone now knew that after the boss monster was defeated you had to leave the dungeon within thirty minutes. If you didn’t then a wave of energy would surge from the center of the dungeon and sweep out anything in its path, essentially ejecting any foreign object from the dungeon. This was better than being stuck in the dungeon forever of course… but when the dungeon gate in question opened over a boiling sulfur pool that could peel the skin off our bodies from its heat, it was better to get out on our own terms. 

I was right beside Helen as she led us out of the volcano’s tunnel at a quick pace. We paused for a few minutes in the large cavern where I had killed the majority of the hellhound pack. Since this was the first time anyone had seen or heard of a hellhound (although Helen’s nickname of devil dog seemed to have stuck with the team) a few of the stronger team members ended up carrying one of the corpses between them so that the monster could be studied and classified for future reference. 

Feeling the need for added speed after the long walk back to the cave entrance, I shaped my mana into something similar to a large gondola with seats and handlebars for everyone to hold onto. Once everyone was situated I let out a deep breath and focused on keeping my mana gondola together as I urged it forward through the flowing lava. 

Surprisingly, the gondola didn’t just move, it glided as smoothly and quickly as if it was equipped with a jet engine. Some people actually let out shouts of exhilaration at the speed at which we were zooming through the slow-flowing lava and toward the gate entrance. Since my mana gondola could handle the heat of the lava just fine, I decided it’d be quicker for everyone if I just took them out of the dungeon together and across the sulfur pool. 

“Everyone hold on tight,” I called out behind me as I sent mana down my arms and into the sides of the gondola that rose to encase everyone so that the open gondola became more like a submarine. 

“I’ve never lifted this many people with mana before so when we go through the gate there might be a bit of a drop,” I warned my passengers with what I hoped was a soothing smile. A few of the team members clutched the bar in front of them so hard the fabric of their suits began to squeak, but nobody voiced any opposition to my plan. 

With a deep breath, I looked out the mostly transparent pane of mana in front of me that I had created to act like a window and slowly urged the speeding submarine to rise from the lava. For the first time ever, I felt a strain from directing my mana to move. 

The feeling was hard to describe. It was somewhere between a headache that originated somewhere behind my eyes as well as a heaviness that seemed to rest over my shoulders like I was physically trying to lift a weight above my head. It wasn’t a pleasant sensation, but it wasn’t to the point I could even call it pain. It was more of a heavy pressure than anything. 

I gritted my teeth and pushed through the strange sensation as I directed us through the gate opening. As soon as we were out of the gate I could feel the absence of mana in the air and suddenly the pressure that I had experienced in the dungeon became twice as harsh. Not expecting the drastic change, I lost concentration for a moment and we all plummeted down so swiftly that some of the team members that hadn’t been holding on actually lifted from their seats and hit their thighs against the bar in front of them. 

Before we crashed into the sulfur pool though I got used to the added pressure and slowed our descent. The submarine gently landed on top of the water, causing some major sloshing sounds, but my mana submarine remained on top of the water. With a sigh of relief, I felt the pressure leave me once we were floating on the water and I easily directed my mana to zoom across the pool to the waiting camp of EA agents and researchers. 

“We owe you big time, Teagen,” Helen said from beside me as I dissolved the top part of the submarine so everyone could step out onto dry land. “You’ve got an amazing ability.” 

I couldn’t help but agree with her, but I was still embarrassed at how horribly I’d reacted when coming face to face with the hellhounds, so I brushed aside her compliment quickly. Normally I would stay the night after clearing a dungeon, but I wanted to put this place far behind me and get back to California where I could curl up on my couch with a pint of ice cream and all the ramen I could eat. 

Saying my goodbyes in record time, I refused the EA agent's offer to drive me back to the airport and instead created my manaboard. I hopped onto it confidently and with a final wave to everyone there, shot into the sky. Seeing the sulfur pool from above was quite magnificent, but I didn’t linger as I turned in the direction of the airport and made my way home.