The Wrath of the Mountain

BAM! BAM! BAM!

"Your Highness? Are you there?" someone asked from the other side of Quetzal's room door, accompanied by the sound of knocking.

"Hmm, what...?" Quetzal grumbled, still half-asleep.

"Your Highness, if you don't respond, we will have to enter!"

"I'm fine... What is it?"

"Is everything alright? Has anything unusual happened recently?"

Luna, disturbed by the commotion, slowly woke up.

"What's happening?" she asked sleepily.

"I don't know..." Quetzal replied. "Is everything alright? Can we go back to sleep?"

"Oh, right, I apologize for interrupting your sleep."

With that, footsteps from the guard leaving could be heard.

"What time is it?" Luna asked.

"Well..." Quetzal glanced at a nightstand beside the bed with a clock on it. "It seems to be around five thirty..."

"Why did they wake us up so early?"

"I don't know... should we try to sleep?"

Luna was about to agree when she noticed something was missing.

"Where's Pagui?"

Quetzal sat up in bed and scanned the room for the bird, failing to find him.

"Strange, that usually doesn't happen..."

"He helped me sleep last night. His feathers are so soft..." Luna smiled at the memory of his kindness.

At that, Quetzal's expression turned worried; she pressed an Alteration stone on the same nightstand and got out of bed.

"What's wrong?" Luna noticed her friend's concern.

"Pagui always helped me sleep when I had trouble, and he always stayed with me until I woke up, so it's odd that he's not here."

"Maybe he's just out for a stroll."

"Maybe..." Her tone revealed she didn't believe that.

After a few seconds, the same voice that had woken them that morning returned and knocked on the door.

"How can I assist you, Your Highness?"

Quetzal opened the door slightly.

"Any news about Pagui? He's not here."

"Oh, no, Your Highness, but isn't that common?"

"Can you search for him?"

"Alright, we will look for him. We will inform you if anyone finds him."

The servant was about to leave the room for the second time when Luna called out to him.

"Wait! Has anything happened in Fordurn recently?"

She stood up and was walking toward the door, but Quetzal stepped in front of her.

"She wants to know about the Vigil."

"Oh, a small group from the Vigil was in Fordurn, but they only investigated the angel's disappearance and then left. Apparently, the angel was indeed kidnapped and is out of the kingdom, but the people are calm now, and Geoffrey has still retained his position as king."

"Alright, thank you." Quetzal suddenly closed the door.

"What was that about?"

"Sariel isn't here, remember? Your appearance has returned to normal now!"

Luna, still drowsy, needed a few seconds to process that information.

"Oh! That's true! I'm so sorry, I completely forgot..."

"It's alright. How about we have our breakfast now?"

"Okay."

After having breakfast, without Pagui showing up, both princesses went to Sariel's room and knocked on the door. However, they realized he wasn't there, so they decided to walk around the kingdom without him.

Luna had to keep her head down and her hood covering her face all the time to prevent people from seeing her eyes, and Quetzal always stayed in front of her to block the view of the civilians.

For some reason, there were more guards than usual patrolling the streets, especially in a region where there were only residences, which made Quetzal curious but not enough to investigate the cause.

This time, Quetzal took Luna to the foot of the mountain. Her intention was to climb the mountain to show the kingdom from the top, however she forgot that this day was not an ordinary one.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, a large crowd was forming around a kind of stage where Yaxun, her father, was standing.

"Ah, damn! I forgot that today was that day..."

"What day?"

"My dear people!" Yaxun began excitedly. "As you all know, today is a great day in the history of our kingdom!"

The king gestured exaggeratedly, and his words incited the people's spirits.

"Yes! Thirty-five years ago, on this very day, it was when we were almost destroyed by that cursed race!"

The people present shouted insults and terrible names about the angelic race with blind hatred.

"However, thanks to the sacred mountain, we were able to defeat them and expel them from our home!"

Once again, the people shouted.

As Yaxun spoke, the sun, which was still partially hidden by the mountain, slowly rose and was about to crown the mountain with its light and excellence.

The king was about to start a kind of ritual without explaining it, as there would be no need to explain something that the people knew very well how it worked. However, when he realized that Luna was present, a perverse smile appeared on his face.

"And as you well know, we have kept the bodies of those damned ones preserved until today, so that on this day the king, in this case, I, can eat their raw hearts to celebrate our victory and show how we humans can be more powerful than they!"

The crowd roared euphorically, with some uttering the most terrible words against the angelic race, while others thanked Kura or the mountain.

"Wait, what?!" Luna couldn't believe what she had just heard.

"I'm sorry about that, we better go awa-"

"AND HERE IT IS!" Yaxun raised a heart, completely dry and bloodless in the air, illuminated by the sun, which had finally climbed to the top of the mountain.

"This is the last one we have kept, so I will be sure to consume it slowly!"

The king approached the edge of the stage and showed the heart to the audience. Then he raised it once more.

"THEREFORE, IN HONOR OF THE ERUPTION THAT SAVED US, I WILL-"

BOOM!

A huge explosion interrupted the king. The sound was so loud that some people, who did not have so much physical resistance, had their eardrums perforated. Quetzal, Yaxun and Luna did not suffer the same.

Accompanied by this explosion, a violent tremor knocked everyone down, who were caught off guard by the sudden occurrence. The ground had vibrated so intensely that some holes appeared in the streets of the capital, and a large crack appeared under the stage where the king was.

Most closed their eyes in fear and fright at the sound, and when they opened them again, they witnessed a scene of terror and ruin.

Yaxun turned to look at the source of this sound, which came exactly from behind him.

And when he turned, he saw a scene he had witnessed before. However, the first time he saw it, his heart was filled with hope and joy, but this time, his soul sank into despair.

The mountain had exploded in a violent eruption.

A gigantic cloud of volcanic ash rose hundreds of meters high and completely swallowed the sun, plunging the entire kingdom into darkness. The cloud was so large that even the citizens of Fordurn would see that black and deadly mushroom later, as it spread over time.

Soon, that dark cloud would cool down, and the ashes would cover the entire kingdom, as well as the old kingdom of the forest. The ashes would petrify and kill any living thing, whether animal or plant, and would make the entire region a desert.

And as if it wasn't satisfied, the volcano began to spew lava torrentially. The fire descended from the top, as well as from other holes formed around the entire mountain, created by the pressure and tremor of the explosion, causing several rivers of death to advance towards the kingdom.

The people looked at that scene with terror in their faces.

At that moment, everyone felt betrayed by the mountain they had always venerated what was supposed to be a symbol of hope, and now it had just become a harbinger of death.

Despite the shock, Yaxun quickly recovered and soon issued numerous orders to reduce as much as possible the damage that would be caused.

"QUICK! THOSE WHO POSSESS THE WIND ELEMENT TRY TO BLOW A GALE AND PUSH THE ASHES AWAY! WHOEVER HAS WATER OR ICE MAGIC, TRY TO STOP THE LAVA! AS FOR THE OTHERS, EVACUATE THE KINGDOM NOW!"

With that, a general panic set in. Those who met the requirements acted quickly and did their best to push the ash cloud away or to slow the advance of the lava.

The good news was that the ashes were very conducive to being carried by the wind, so they began to move away. The bad news, however, was that the lava showed no signs of reducing its flow and would not be stopped so easily.

While all this was happening, people were running and trampling their unconscious compatriots as they fled.

At that moment, Luna remembered the panic that Sariel and Aegreon caused in the arena when people realized that the barrier would break, although it was not comparable to what was happening now.

She looked at the great cloud of ash and the lava approaching closer and closer, not knowing how to act. The eruption was so sudden that her survival instincts had not yet activated, so she just watched everything with admiration, as if it all weren't real.

"What are you doing?" Quetzal shouted, grabbing her arm. "Let's get out of here!"

Luna looked at Quetzal with a neutral expression, and finally realized the situation.

"What are we going to do?!" she asked desperately.

"We have to go as far away as possible! If the lava isn't stopped, it will burn not only the kingdom but also the entire forest!"

Luna hesitated, as her companions were still there.

"And what about the others?"

"Sariel..." Aegreon's voice suddenly sounded behind her.

She turned towards the Pillar and saw all her companions, except for one.

"Aegreon? Shiina and Raymond too?"

"Talk about bad luck, huh?" Shiina looked at the scene of chaos calmly.

"How could this happen? Right when we arrived..." Raymond was frustrated.

"We have no choice, let's go." Aegreon showed no empathy for the people.

"What?! You're a Pillar, do something!" Luna was indignant.

The Pillar looked at her with sorrow in his eyes. It was the first time she had seen that kind of expression in him.

"I would if I could, but my element won't help us at all..."

"But..."

Luna was hesitant and didn't want to simply abandon those people to their fate. She wanted to be able to do something to help, anything! However, she knew she was just useless and wouldn't be able to help, she would only get in the way, and all she could do was ask for help from a third party.

This reality would never change, she would always need to be protected by someone, as she had been since the moment Geoffrey adopted her and sacrificed his own sleep to keep her identity a secret. And this had repeated with Raymond protecting her twenty-four hours a day, with Aegreon saving her from the Vigil, and with Sariel saving her life twice.

"And what about Sariel?" she asked.

"Who do you think caused this?" The Pillar became irritated and pointed to the mountain. "Why would a dormant volcano erupt the morning after our arrival?"

"No! It couldn't have been him!"

"So where is he?" Shiina taunted.

Luna looked at the mountain, saying "no" repeatedly in her mind, refusing to believe that he, of all people, would do something like that.

"We'd better go soon..." Aegreon urged. "I'm sure his plan is to destroy the kingdom and kill you in the midst of this chaos. The longer we stay still, the greater the chances of him being invisible out there waiting for the right moment to kill you. Let's go!"

The Pillar grabbed the princess's arm and dragged her against her will.

At this point, the lava had already reached the first buildings and part of the kingdom was burning.

The only exception was the royal palace which, as it was surrounded by an artificial lake, managed to keep the lava away, even though it was located right at the foot of the mountain.

"Aegreon, wait! We can't abandon them! We have to do something!"

"This kingdom was condemned by Sariel, there is no salvation for these people."

"But..."

However, as they moved away, something miraculous happened. The flow of the lava reduced drastically, which allowed people to stop it and fight the fires. Shouts of celebration arose from the people's mouths, but Yaxun remained cautious.

"It's not time to celebrate yet! It might increase again!"

However, contrary to the king's words, something even more surprising happened.

The lava entered the mountain through the path it came out, as if the eruption was happening in reverse.

The lava flowed slowly into the mountain, and didn't leave it again. Even the heat seemed to have been sucked inside.

Without understanding anything that had happened, everyone, even Aegreon, looked at the mountain in surprise. It was at this moment that those with sharp eyes noticed a figure at the top of the volcano, walking calmly down.

That figure was none other than Sariel, who had a dirty appearance and was covered in ash.

As he descended, everyone looked at him without knowing how to react. The eruption had stopped just before his appearance, so it would be possible that the man they were seeing, alone, had stopped the fury of the mountain?

The traveler descended the volcano after walking for a few minutes and stood in front of Yaxun and the group.

"Sariel!" Luna approached him relieved, being stopped by Raymond who was deeply suspicious.

"Frankly... I've been gone for only a few hours, and when I return, I find this chaos..." he said in a bored tone while knocking the ashes off his clothes.

"What the hell did you do? You can fool them, but not me!" Aegreon was irritated.

"Well, I saved this kingdom from a disaster that YOU are unable to protect, and you still offend me? Well, I couldn't expect anything less from the Council..."

"You..."

"Enough of this, Aegreon!" Yaxun interrupted. "Sariel, were you the one who stopped the eruption?"

"Who else would it have been but me?"

The king remained silent and looked at the traveler with suspicion.

Meanwhile, the people looked at Sariel with admiration, the one who had saved their home and their families from the fire of the mountain.

However, for some reason, the guards remained vigilant and attentive to Sariel's movements.

"I need to talk to you in private," Yaxun said. "Now."

"Alright, I also have something to tell you, let's go."

"Very well, be careful with the mountain, everyone, better safe than sorry," the king advised.

With that, they both began to leave the place and headed towards the pyramid but were stopped by Quetzal.

"Father, have you seen Pagui anywhere?"

"Hmm, no..."

"He has disappeared since this morning, I'm worried that something has happened to him because of the eruption..."

"Hmm, if anyone sees Pagui anywhere, please inform me or my daughter! - the king said to the people."

Afterwards, he and Sariel left the place and went to the palace, abandoning the group.