A mother's love

Roland felt fearful of the lion. 

Cyrus calmed himself down, in a polite manner he asked, " I'm sorry if we have offended you in anyway but we don't want any trouble, so if you don't mind, we'll take our leave."

"Hmph" The lion snorted and blocked their path. The lion's mane started flickering with a dark light, the trees started to shake and the color of the area started to turn dark as well.

The darkness moved everywhere and engulfed all of them in a dark sphere. When the darkness touched Roland, he felt his body grow weaker and he started having doubtful and negative thoughts. 

Roland also noticed that he couldn't move a muscle but that didn't last long as a red light soon engulfed him, which seemed to help his body, he stopped having negative thoughts, it originated from Cyrus.

Cyrus released his red light but his sphere was smaller then the lion's, which was twice as big, so he released a transperate shield around them. The lion snorted and released a mighty roar, a shockwave was produced and it slammed onto them.

Cyrus's red sphere started having cracks in it, sweat could be seen dripping from his forhead. Roland started having a bad premonition, 'Damn it! Running seems impossible and this old master of mine might lose! Should I try negotiating?'

"Master, let's try and talk it out first!" Roland suggested. 

Roland felt glad that someone was fighting for him this much, so he didn't want his master to possibly die. "You might not be able to fight and protect me at the same time, maybe we can negotiate."

Cyrus looked at Roland, thought about it, released a sigh and tried to de-escalate the situation," Brother! Wait let's talk first. I'd like to know why this older brother is looking for this Innocent and naive child?"

Cyrus referred to the lion as on older brother to show his respect and indicate that he didn't want any trouble. He also referred to Roland as an innocent and naive child to hopefully clear up any misunderstanding the lion might have.

"Hmph, That's my problem, either you hand over the child or I'll kill you and take him myself!" The lion snorted, and increased the pressure, the cracks in the transperate shield started increasing at a rapid rate, Roland could see that Cyrus was under a lot of pressure.

"Unreasonable!" Cyrus shouted furiously and released more power.

*shatter*

Just then, the red sphere shattered as if it were glass. As soon as that happened, the lion disappeared from it's spot and appeared besides them. Roland felt a strong tail wrapping around his waist and pulling him.

Cyrus grabbed onto Roland but a lion paw appeared before his face, he blocked the attack but as a result was sent flying and crashing onto some small trees. This all happened in an instant.

Seeing this development plunged Rolands heart into fear, he frantically pleaded trying to befriend, "Sir! please let's talk about it, I'm sure we can come to some agreement and no one has to get hurt."

*Bang* 

Just then, multiple trees were uprooted and sent flying in different directions. Cyrus got up and was covered in a thick red light, in his hand a ring could be seen on his finger.

When the lion saw his ring, he frowned. Roland didn't know why, but when he saw that ring he felt that it wasn't simple. The lion opened his mouth and asked, "Who are you?" 

*Roar*

Just then, a thunderous roar came from within the mountain. The lion holding Roland thought for a sec, looked towards Cyrus and said, "Follow me! I'll explain later"

After saying those words the lion disappeared towards the mountain and into the cave. Cyrus grunted but ended up screaming and followed along.

Roland felt uncomfortable when he was taken against his will, again. He couldn't help clutching his fists, 'Power huh!'

Roland vision went from blurry to darkness and alternated between the two before it ended. It took a while but afterwards he found himself in a small medical-looking room. 

A beautiful woman with long hair laid in bed, she looked sickly and almost at deaths door but even with all that, one glance at her face was proof enough that she was beautiful.

Roland held his breadth for a sec, he felt bad for the beautiful woman. She seemed to be suffering and whatever was eating her, was very vicious.

On one side of the bed were a group of woman who looked down and depressed, they also had amazing hair. On the other side of the bed were a group of young adults/teens, boys and girls ranging in ages. The kids also looked sad and in grief.

Just then, the door opened from behind and Cyrus entered the room already prepared to fight. When the others saw him they got up and looked at him with hostility, even the kids.

Their eyes had tears but no shortage of hostility.

The lion who was holding onto Roland glowed with a bright light, when the light faded away, a tall handsome man who looked to be in his mid twenties was standing there, he also had large unkept hair.

'Why does everyone here have such amazing hair.' Roland thought.

"Are you causing problems again? Don't! *huff* the woman at deaths door struggled to say. One could tell that she was using all her strength to speak!

The man in his mid twenties released Roland and appeared besides the woman, his stoic expression showed some sadness, he touched her face and said, "Tori save your strength! Just try and get some rest"

"There's no use prolonging the inevitable, I can feel my life slowly fading away. I can't hold on any longer" the woman struggled to say. 

Hearing her words the room turned silent as the atmosphere got heavy. The woman struggled and said, "Where are my sisters and children?"

"We're here!"

The woman on the side said in unison, they got close and held the woman's hand, the woman looked to the group of women and said, "Farewell, my sisters. I've been beyond lucky to have know you, if not for you, I wouldn't be here." 

Hearing her words, the women broke out in tears but not a single whimper left their mouths. 

"And to you children, promise me that you'll listen to your father and not to be rebellious *huff*",the woman struggle to say as she took a deep breadth. She continued but this time she raised her voice, "Promise me, you'll look after each other! I want you guys to promise" 

"We promise!"

With tears in their eyes, all of them said in unison. Unlike the adults, the kids couldn't hold back their whimpers, some even cried out loud.

"Honey, I want to see Rori one last time, where is She?" The woman held the man's hand and asked, before she could finish, the man had disappeared. 

A Moments later, the man returned but this time he returned with a girl who had her hair cut on the sides, she resembled the woman on the bed, she was breathtakingly beautiful, so much so that Roland felt his heart beat faster.

The girl looked at the man and shouted, "Dad what are you doing, I was getting herbs for mom. These herbs can help he..."

Before she could even finish speaking, the man interrupted with a loud and commanding voice, "Enough! Go to your mother, now!"

"Rori, come here my child" the woman beckoned the girl. The girl already had tears in her eyes, the woman grabbed her hand and said, "My child, I want you to know that I love you with all my heart. I know that it will be hard but I want you to be strong for mommy, ok? Can you do that. Rori don't cry" 

The girl looked at her mother as tears gushed out of her eyes, she held onto her mother's hand and remembered her words.

Roland who was standing besides Cyrus, felt his bones going soft, and his heart turning hard and his throat going dry. 

'So this is what a mother's love looks like, how enviable'. , Roland thought as he walked up to the woman and reached out his hand to touch the metal collar around her wrist.

[Pure Fabric substance was found. Do you want to absorb and boot up the Chaos system?]