Chapter 57: The First Crisis (3)
As Achilles and his father ran, they became more and more aware of the creeping heat that was slowly showing itself. As the weird liquid fire ran down the mountain, it quickly approached the running duo.
Perillees saw a cave a little farther away from them that was at a high point and most likely wouldn't be consumed by the liquid fire. He screamed out, pointing,"Achilles! Head to the cave there!"
Achilles couldn't hear his dad at this point because of how loud the battlefield had gotten, but he saw the cave entrance that his father had pointed out. He instantly knew what his dad wanted him to do and so the duo rushed towards it, not sparing a single breath or single step. At this moment their only hope was the cave, the liquid fire was approaching far too quickly!
As they neared the cave, a flaming boulder smashed a few feet in front of them, separating the two as they ran. Achilles knew the objective though and after another minute of frantic running, finally made it to the cave.
He turned and didn't see his dad anywhere around him! Achilles quickly searched the area they just came from and what he saw put a horrible feeling in his heart. His dad was trapped! The liquid fire had somehow surrounded him and he didn't have a way to escape the encirclement!
Achilles screamed out,"DAD!" and without even considering the consequences ran to him once more. Perillees was panicking as he looked for any way to escape the liquid fire encirclement. When he saw his son run over, despite the danger, his worry and fear rose tremendously!
Achilles grabbed a large broken tree husk and then giving a mighty roar picked up the 800 pound husk! "RAHHH!!" He screamed out as his arms struggled to hold up the massive weight of the tree. Achilles then ran as hard as he possibly could towards Perillees.
When Achilles was close enough, he jumped onto a burning rock and used it as a springboard to then jump clean over the liquid fire! As he landed, he was longer able to hold the husk and was forced to drop it in front of Perillees.
Perillees screamed,"WHY WOULD YOU COME BACK!! YOU F***ING IDIOT!!"
Achilles quickly turned and grabbed the wood husk and turned to throw it onto the liquid fire. The liquid fire immediately tried to start eating the husk and Achilles screamed back,"JUMP!!"
Perilles didn't waste any time and ran towards the husk, with Achilles running directly behind him. Perilles landed on the husk and as he landed, the husk was almost immediately swallowed whole by the liquid fire! Before it consumed his legs, he jumped quickly to the other side.
Perillees screamed,"ACHILLES!"
The piece that was safe for him to land on was getting smaller and smaller as he jumped. As Achilles landed on the remaining husk, it completely sank, catching his back hooves and ankles.
Achilles was going fast though, and his momentum carried his massive weight through the rest of the jump as he barely cleared the liquid fire ring that had surrounded him. "AAGGH!!" he screamed in intense pain as the liquid fire had completely melted and destroyed his back to legs.
Perilless yelled out,"GODS NO! Achilles!"
Achilles tried to stand up, but couldn't because his back hind legs were completely non-functional. Perillees let out an impassioned roar of his own as he summoned all his strength at this moment. He picked up his son's beaten and heavy body and ran as quickly as he could towards the cave.
When he reached it, he turned and saw that the liquid fire was not bothered by its height as it climbed the outside wall, slowly creeping up towards the cave! Perillees didn't have any other option at the moment and so he quickly turned and ran into the deepest part of the cave.
When he reached the end of the cave, he saw a small family of Giant Hornet Snakes. However, maybe realizing the situation everyone was in, neither side even attempted to attack each other. The Hornet Snakes buzzed in extreme nervousness as the heat within the cave continued to rise.
Then Perillees saw it, he saw his doom. The liquid fire had started to fill the cave and was slowly creeping its way towards them.
Perillees lost all of his hope in this moment as his eyes started to water. He looked down as his son writhed in agony from the pain from losing his legs. He bent down and put his hand on his sons shoulder, and said,"Son, I'm sorry."
Achilles was taken away from his immense pain for a moment and as he saw his fathers crying face, he realized that there was no longer any hope. Achilles looked down towards the entrance of the cave and could clearly see the bubbling liquid fire slowly approaching them.
As Achilles felt his death looming, he also felt something else just underneath that feeling. When he looked at the fire, he felt an odd connection to it. In his mind, it felt like he could just reach out and touch it, and he would be fine. Achilles shook his head as he realized that his legs had just been destroyed by this same fire.
However, as the liquid fire got closer and closer, this feeling continued to grow. Achilles could feel the connection growing, as he started to "feel" the heat with more than just his body. To him it felt like he could feel the heat pumping within his veins.
As he stared at the liquid fire, a light seemed to appear out of nowhere within his mind. Achilles was very confused at what was going on and approached the flickering light within his mind, which he didn't even know he could do in the first place.
As he reached out and touched the light, information and power surged into him, resulting in a tangible orange light to appear around him.
Suddenly a flaming rock crashed in front of the cave, sending a large wave of liquid like a wave at them. Perillees screamed out,"NO!"
Achilles opened his eyes once more, conviction burning in his now golden amber eyes!
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