Life's field remained unscathed and undamaged by the effects of the battle between Amelia and Sucrose. "Thump," a sound echoed through space, surrounding the two of them as Sucrose's body swatted the soil underneath. Amelia had emerged from the security of her iced barrier and stood tall over her adversary, panting as heavy as her exhausted body could. She tried to muster her words but struggled to catch her breath. "Sucrose," she said infirmly, "are you okay?" Hesitantly, the fallen child had struggled to stand with her weakened and injured legs. Sucrose whispered, "I-" before she had begun to fall over from her inability to stand. A quick dash. A swift blur of light. Amelia had quickly rushed to the side of her once dangerous foe, catching her from the fall. "It's okay," Amelia whispered, "I got you." After saying this, Sucrose looked up at Amelia and caught her gaze, thanking her while the two of them shared a laugh.
Softly, Sucrose slid from within Amelia's embrace, starting to stand independently of the latter. The two of them hadn't realized that their wounds were healing at an expedited rate, simply due to the nature of their abilities; they were beginning to feel better by the second. Amelia could hear the swishing of grass-blades hitting feet; Carter and Noah were running over and congratulating her on her victory. Apollo and Death had shortly followed behind the two boys, also congratulating her on her completion of Death's trial. "Congr-", Apollo tried to muster. His sentence had been cut by a dusty cough that was rather low in volume, so only Amelia had noticed it along with the dark circles resting beneath his eyes. To her, Apollo had resembled someone who was either sleep deprived or was ill; he didn't look as if he was in his best health, but she did not want to bring up the topic to the god, in hopes of not being disrespectful. Nodding her head to him, she muttered, "thank you," before attempting to dust off the soil and ice on her shoulders.
This celebration, however, is soon interrupted when a sickly man had raced towards them. The man stopped in front of the group, panting heavily in an attempt to catch his breath. "Apollo", he exclaimed, "The Council wishes to speak with you and Lady Death; it is a meeting of great importance, a Centre Level Threat if you will!" Death's eyes began to widen while concern radiated across her face. Apollo and Death exchanged glances before telling their visitors -Amelia, Carter, and Noah- that they would shortly return. "We must go," Death said. "Yes", Apollo declared while agreeing with Death, "We have some important matters to administrate so your trial will have to be suspended momentarily, Noah." The two of them soon hurried off, following the lead of the man who had approached them earlier.
Noah and Sucrose caught the eyes of each other with worried expressions as well. It was apparent that those two - Noah and Sucrose - knew something that the rest of the group didn't know, however, Amelia quickly noticed the faces of her colleagues. Intrigued, she assumed that their expressions had something to do with the "Centere Level Threat" and was moved to ask them about it. "Hey, guys," Amelia asked, "What's the worry?" Sucrose grit her teeth at the thought of explaining such a matter to Amelia, considering she didn't want to frighten the girl or give her worry. "Well you see," Sucrose started, "A Centere Level Threat or CTL means one of two things: Either one of the Deities has turned on their allies or-." Noah chimed in, finishing her sentence. "The very existence of the universe is in danger." Pursing her lips, Amelia thought to herself momentarily, trying to recall if she had seen any odd behavior from Apollo or her mother. Seconds pass before she remembers that Apollo had dark circles beneath his eyes as if he was tired, but he was behaving as normal. This was a rather unusual trait that Apollo had taken on considering Amelia didn't remember Apollo ever saying that gods got tired or needed rest. She then looks around at the group, catching each of their gazes consecutively, before moving to the next. "You guys," she asked, "you don't think Apollo or Death would turn on their allies right?" The group stood there for a few seconds, pondering if they had noticed any uncommon behavior recently from the gods. "I'm not sure, actually," Noah answered. "Yeah, I don't recall any strange acts, but then again I can't recall with absolute certainty." Sucrose added.
"Then that's it," Amelia shouted, "We should follow them to see if we can spot anything," A sudden rush of anxiety and worry had hit Sucrose, she stood in front of Amelia as she began to waltz forward. "Are you crazy," Sucrose exclaimed, "The direction they were headed, it looked like the council of deities' hall; we aren't allowed in there!" Amelia looked at the girl with a nonchalant smile, " don't worry," she added. "I'm sure they'll allow me since I am Apollo's student, after all." After saying this, Amelia ran past sucrose and towards the hall of the council. Feeling as if they had no choice, the others followed quickly behind her.
As amelia approached the hall, she noticed two people standing amongst the threshold of the entrance, two men in fact; she was almost positive that they were deities as well. A swift glance. One of the men had turned their head in her direction because of the noise amelia had been making, but she had quickly dove behind some foliage nearby, only to find that her comrades were also hiding behind those same bushes. Amelia asked, "There are guards here?!" Facepalming herself, Sucrose looked at Amelia before stating, "Well, you didn't think they'd leave the hall unguarded, did you? Long ago, bandits used to break in with intentions of assassinating the deities, so ever since then, they've been guarded."
"Well," Amelia started, "You can just go talk to them and convince them to allow us in." Sucrose closed her eyes, turning around to where her back faced amelia. " I can't do that," Sucrose began, "because this is where our little journey ends."