The First Crisis (4)

Achilles opened his eyes once more, conviction burning in his now golden amber eyes!

As the wave of liquid fire rushed towards him and the others his eyebrows furrowed and his focus increased. Time seemed to slow as the wave got closer and closer. Achilles felt the energy within the liquid fire as it coiled underneath the surface of the heat, he felt the vibrations of the liquid fire as it grew and expanded its area of destruction.

Most importantly, Achilles could feel the direction and the intent within the liquid fire. It was like the fire energy had a mind of its own, and was dedicated to wiping out everyone in this cave. To him this energy felt all-consuming, like there was no way to stop it.

Suddenly, Achilles raised his hand and shouted,"Stop!"

The liquid fire seemed to pause for a nano second but then continued its wave of destruction. The orange energy around Achilles grew a little bit and Achilles screamed out once more,"STOP!"

Once more the liquid fire paused, this time for half a second, but alas it still kept coming!

Perillees began to pray, and clasped his shoulders with both his hands as was praying custom, and fervently began praying,"Dear gods, please do not let us die here! I need your help, please. Please do not forsake us in our hour of need, I beg of thee!"

As Perrillees continued to pray, Achilles continued attempting his own fix. Achilles, narrowed his brow and pumping this newfound energy as hard as he could, screamed out,"I COMMAND YOU TO STOP!"

This time, the liquid fire completely stopped in its tracks. Yet, Achilles could not let his focus wane for even half a second, as he had to continuously output his new power to keep the liquid fire at bay.

Perillees, astonished, yelled out,"MY BOY! ARE YOU DOING THAT?! HOW ARE YOU STOPPING THE LIQUID FIRE?!"

Achilles started to bleed from his nose, and he struggled out,"New… power…. Gods… fair.."

Perilles quickly dug in his sack and pulled out a root of a certain plant. He stuffed it into the mouth of Achilles and quickly said,"Whatever you do, don't lose focus, this plant is a pain reliever, so just focus on keeping the fire at bay!"

Achilles struggled to nod his head but managed to do so.

After a minute of pure struggle, another rock suddenly slammed directly into the mouth of the cave, completely blocking the exit and sending another wave of liquid fire with renewed vigor straight at them!

"CRASH! BOOM!"

Perilles eyes widened and screamed out,"WHY?! OH GODS WHY?!"

Achilles had to take several steps back as the liquid fire grew to an extremely hard to control state. Achilles coughed up blood and his eyes started to leak blood as well. Achilles didn't give in however and continued to push his stop command onto the liquid.

Achilles roared out,"I WILL NOT DIE HERE TODAY!!!"

Achilles started to bleed from his eyes, nose, ears, and mouth but instead of retreating, he took a step forwards! Perilles yelled to him,"SON! BE CAREFUL!"

Achilles took another step forwards, and the liquid fire seemed to retreat by half a step. Achilles' eyes shone with madness and anger at this moment. He took another step forward and yelled,"RETREAT!"

The liquid fire fell back by another foot. Achilles took another step.

Then another.

And another.

Soon, Achilles had retreated the liquid fire all the way back to the entrance of the cave, and then he yelled out,"BEGONE!!"

The liquid fire hardened almost instantaneously and turned into a hardened, black, and hot rock wall that covered the entrance to the cave. The entrance still had some open air pockets to the outside, which Achilles figured he could dig out from, not knowing he inadvertently saved his oxygen supply.

After the wall hardened and the danger was no longer present, Achilles collapsed in exhaustion. His father came over and gave him the biggest horse hug (bear hug) he gave, while frantically screaming,"You did it! You did it! The gods have answered our prayers! I can't believe you did it!"

Achilles smiled and stammered out,"F- fath- father…"

Perillees started to cry unrestrained and replied,"yes, my son! What do you need, what can I give you?!"

Achilles smiled weakly and said,"I.. Am.. ok.. Just … tired.." and then promptly passed out. His father smiled and cradled his son's head in his arms like a newborn child.

Perillees stroked his hair on the young boy's head as he quietly spoke,"No matter what, you have the heart of true warrior within you, and nobody can take that away from you, always remember this my son.."

Pp

Pooh, Baloo and 3 of the previous councilors all could be seen floating silently above the tree line with serious expressions plastered on their faces.

As the effect slowly lost effect, the group was lowered back down to ground level. When they were back on the ground, Pooh turned to Baloo and asked,"So? What is your take on the distant smoke coming from the mountain?"

Baloo gulped and said,"I'm not awakened, but I can tell that anyone near that mountain is most certainly dead now. I cannot even properly feel earthly energy like you and the younger generation can, yet every instinct in my body is screaming at me to run away when I look at that mountain!"

Pooh nodded his head and said,"So it's not just an awakener's feeling. At least the danger is universal and not specific to only awakeners, as that could weaken us quite heavily."

Baloo suddenly had a thought and said with furrowed brows,"There is a high likelihood that the beasts that flee that area will head north to a colder climate, so we should alert the scouts and warriors of the situation."

Pooh stroked his chin fur as he thought out the problem. A crisis of huge proportions had descended in the south and now all those monsters will head north! A new crisis for the bear tribe had appeared!

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