Danger at the Summit

1000 yards to the summit...

The boys were moving swiftly up the mountain. Far faster than any normal level one warrior. With the matriarch on his back Kinta was still able to move with relative ease. He had one goal in mind and that was to make it up to the summit of the mountain. There they could take shelter. Tend to the matriarch and plan out there next movement. Zekith followed closely behind as they speed up the mountain. Keeping glued to Kinta to provide support if necessary.

800 yards to the summit...

"AAaaaaooooo!" Came a wild call from the direction of where they left Krom.

"Don't get distracted. Keep going, he'll be okay. We've got to hurry!" Kinta reassured while urging them to continue to move. Sweat was dripping down his face from the effort of carrying the matriarch. It was evident that he was mostly saying these things to himself. More than he was speaking to Zekith. But the words he said held true. They needed to move and quickly get to the summit. It was pitch black and they could hardly see. The air was a mixture of fresh breezes of flowers and vegetation coming from the north and a metallic bloody smell. A nauseating smell that they would catch whiffs coming from the south. I was a weird mix of putrid freshness. The boys did all they could from puking. The terrain was also becoming much steeper inadvertently causing then to become even slower.

700 yards to go...

Kinta who looks exhausted trips on a rock. But Zekith was there to lend a hand at the right time preventing a disaster. This sudden jerking movement caused aunt Pol to open her eyes. She was clearly still weak but she tried to speak anyway. "Thank you boys. You do not know..."

"Save you thanks aunt Pol. We are not out of the woods yet." Zekith cut her off.

The two boys continued to run. Even with the steeper terrain they were still moving quite fast. Boom! Something exploded lower down on the mountain. The power actually shuck the whole mountain. Not stopping to ponder what that could possibly be the boys simply looked at each other. Knowing what they felt and shock evident in both boys said "KROM!" His power was on a whole different level.

600 yards...

The boys just exited a dense patch of forest. Pat Pat Pat Pat. The sound of the boys foot steps were distinct and audible. Zekith noticed that something was off. Focusing on his hearing. He tried to distinguish the sounds that usually accompanied the outside. That when it donned on him. Nothing! I can't hear anything coming from the surrounding area. He know they were in danger and his thoughts began to race. "This is bad!" he suddenly blurted out. However he never stopped moving like one would expect.

"What's wrong?" both Kinta and aunt Pol said in unison.

"I can't hear anything. I'm not referring to us or me. We are perfectly fine. What I'm talking about is our surroundings. I can't hear any thing. No wind, no rustling from animals and no buzz or chirping from the insects. We are in Danger!" Zekith spoke quickly but never stopped running. Now that he mentioned it. Kinta and aunt Pol both noticed that the area was eerily quite.

500 yards...

Rounding a corner the three entered a gully with high walls on each side. Grr! snort. A puff of smoke was seen being expelled from nostrils. Filling the gully with a burnt rancid smell. This beast was blocking the path. This gully wasn't long about 400 yards from tip to tip. But, seeing what was block the path. The three of them quickly came to a stop. "What in the world is THAT?" Kinta shouted. Aunt Pol and Zekith both grabbed his mouth to keep him quite.

"Shhhh!" They both said in unison panic evident in their eyes.

1000 yards from the summit

Boom! Krom released a massive amount of energy. He began to laugh as he walked toward the on coming Dire Wolfs. "Okay, Who's first?" There where 25 of these Wolf Dire Monsters. Each roughly eight feet in height with 2 feet antlers. The snake like scales on there legs glowed purple with electricity. Which might complicate things a little. He thought as this pack of wolfs closed in on him. Instead of charging forward he jumped into the air. Coming down on the first monsters muzzle. Boom! The heat from his punch melted the closest four Dire Wolfs. As the fifth was smashed by his fist. "20 more." Krom landed smoothly showing that his strength wasn't just for show. "Boys I'll be there soon." Now he charged the monsters making short work of the group. After finishing he quickly made his way up the mountain. Something was bothering him. He couldn't put his finger on the feeling that he was experiencing but every bone in his body was screaming for him to return to the others. Not even bothering to collect the monster cores. He was moving with great speed swiftly moving up the mountain. 900, 800, 700 yards... "This took to much time. Something isn't right." He picked up his pace as a blazing tail formed behind Krom. His speed more than double as he shot up the mountain.

In the gully...

"What is that?" Kinta asked again. This time much quitter. Of course Zekith had no clue either. The monster in front of them was something he had never seen before. He had only heard stories and read books depicting them. If his guess was correct they were in big trouble. This monster could only be called a Profound Beast. A monster that cultivated and had intelligence. Its body was glowing with what looked like golden tattoos. These tattoos covered its body from head to toe. It looked like a giant 15 feet tall six legged Ram with the massive tail of a scorpion. This Profound Beast was very wide, muscular and low to the ground. The tail was armored but it was also covered those strange golden tattoos. the tip of the tail hung above the head occasionally dripping an acidic liquid. That sizzled the ground with every drop. This beast looked very powerful and compared to the three of them it was. They observed this Profound Beast just as it observed them. They were at the entrance and the beast as at the exit which was about 400 yards away. That distance didn't make them feel any safer.

"What are we going to do?" Kinta looked at Zekith. Who took a deep breath to calm down.

"From how I see things. We have three options. The first option is the safest and that is to wait. We wait for Krom. Once he comes we can come up with a plan. Option two is that we leave quietly and try to sneak into the natural formation behind this beast. And finally option three. This option is the most simple but also the most dangerous. We simply fight this thing. Kill it and walk into the natural formation after." Zekith's eyes gleamed gold and red a little.

Kinta saw the look in his eye and thought he lost his mind. "Then we wait. I have the matriarch in my hands. There's no way I can fight nor sneak around this thing without making noise. But that doesn't mean I'm staying in view let's hide."

This was a split second conversation. As soon as they saw this beast they formulated those options and chose the best. However, a Profound Beast has intelligence and quickly evaluated his pray. "AAAAaaaooooo!" The Ram hollered. Stomping it feet and breathing fire as puffs of smoke rose from its nose. Stomp! Stomp! This Profound Beast began charging.