The hole in the ground was pitch black, like I was staring straight into the heart of the abyss itself. I was honestly mortified just looking at it. However, I remembered that Gaia was down there, reminding myself that I had to do this. "The entrance to Gaia's hiding place has been opened, my lord, I will come retrieve you." Volt said telepathically.
With that, my vision went back to normal as I pinched the bridge of my nose. It did not hurt, but it certainly was overwhelming, and very sudden of him to do that. I sighed, he really could not have warned me in advance huh? I looked left to see Aurora with a super concerned look on her face. I flashed her a smile, letting her know I was alright. "What was that?" She asked.
"Volt connected his vision with mine, I saw through his eyes." I explained casually, which left her vexed. It was amusing to see her confusion. "The fissure is open, Volt is coming to get us." Aurora was suddenly on alert. She whipped out her phone and quickly scrolled through the news. Her eyes widened seeing many news reports saying the same thing.
"Okay…how do we get out of here?" It was a question I knew needed to be answered, however it was one I had no answer to. We sat there thinking for about a solid minute. "Okay, I thought of something. Tell them we have to go get some medication for you in the airport because of motion sickness. You were already about to faint, it works. Just pretend to act sick and then we leave. " Aurora was as devious and cunning as ever. I smiled at her in agreement.
We put the plan into motion. I slung my arm around her shoulder, having her support me, and I used my hand to cover my mouth, looking down. Aurora pushed open the door with all her might and ran outside. I could the gaze of our parents falling on us. "Kaler needs some medication, we are going to the airport to find some." She said in a hurry, guiding me to the stairs.
"Uh…Okay. I'll provide an escort for y-" Aurora's father tried to offer, but Aurora interrupted him.
"It'll be ok, let me handle him." Aurora insisted. I could hear them reluctantly agree. She brought me to the stairs, back into the open runway wear the deafening roaring of planes taking off filled the air every few minutes. We ensured that we were somewhere that no one could easily see. Hiding under one of the entrance tunnels to the airplanes. Once we were out of sight, I willed the gauntlets to appear. This time, I intended to obliterate anyone who stood in my way.
I reached my hand to the sky. Clouds gathered, thunder crackled, lightning flashed like a firework display, lighting up the dreary stormy sky. I wrapped my arm around Aurora, she seem to be caught off guard by it. "We are going to me this fast. The next thing you see might be us in the fissure, don't be too surprised. You might feel a little uncomfortable." Aurora nodded with conviction. "Are you sure you still want to come?" I asked her. In truth, I am not thrilled that she wanted to come, but it was difficult to convince this person once she had her mind set on something.
"Of course." She said without hesitation, an with seemingly no fear. I chuckled, It as the expected answer. I tightened my grip on her. Lightning fell from the sky. To others it looked like those boarding the airplane were about to get electrocuted. I could hear the collective screaming of people. Like a miracle, the lightning bolt bent around the boarding tube, coming to me instead. I could imagine the relief and confusion coming from the people inside.
In an instant, I was in the sky, riding on Volt, with Aurora in my hands. Time went back to normal, Aurora realised that I was carrying her like a baby and it looked like she was embarrassed. However, she shoved her face into my chest before I could see her adorable expression. I snickered a little, then commanded Volt to get moving. "Volt, let's leave."
With a flap of his 4 wings, we took off like a jet, producing a sonic boom as we sped to the fissure. Aurora could not help but be in awe as we flew freely amongst the clouds. It was fun to watch her be amazed. It was also like my third time riding Volt, so I am not fully over the fear of going so quickly in the sky, meanwhile, Aurora seemed to be perfectly comfortable. I could see her laughing and smiling the whole way as we flew. I should take her flying again sometime.
After only about half a minute, we were now above the fissure it seemed to have grown bigger. The earth around it was trembling with immense force. Buildings collapsed and curdled. It was a good thing that the streets seemed deserted. News helicopters from too many stations to enumerate were gathered in the sky, just below us. The dark storm clouds shrouded our presence. It was almost time. Time to save Gaia.
"Volt, get us down." I said. With my power, I made two masks, in the form of dragon heads. I gave one to Aurora, it fit her perfectly and conformed to her face. I put mine on. The horns at the forehead area started to glow yellow, like my gauntlets. They were made of transparent crystals. Once the masks were on, a bright light flashed as Volt roared. In an instant we went spiralling down at lightning speed, crashing into the giant orifice like hole.
Thunder crackled and sparks flew as we reached the bottom of what seemed to be an abyss. There was only a little light filtering from the surface above. Aurora and I dismounted Volt, I helped Aurora down, holding her shivering hand. Volt remained at my side, his tail coming and wrapping around Aurora and I like a cocoon. I put a hand to his head, petting him. Volt's body started glowing like a lamp, providing enough light to see the treacherous cavern ahead of us.
There was only one way to go, it was wide open, the size of 3 houses stacked on top of each other. We had no choice. We courageously took steps forward, weary, and on guard. The atmosphere in the enormous tunnel was eerie, it seemed like people have been here for a mining operation before, but there was no one to be found. We sat scatter pieces of rubble lying every where. There was also some abandoned drills and mining equipment. What happened here?
We kept walking forward, ever-cautious, with Volt by our side. We said nothing, our lips as tense as our bodies. Finally, we heard the faint "clink" like metal hitting against crystals. We hastened our pace, breaking into a full sprint. However, I controlled my speed so Aurora could keep up.
We finally reached the end of the massive tunnel, to an even more massive chamber. My eyes widened and my breathing paused for a second. It looked familiar. This was similar to the cave of Origin, where I received the gauntlets. It was a large open cave with crystals everywhere, all of different colours. However, instead of a central platform and pedestal, it was a singular, crystalline cocoon like object. Looking at the sheer size of it was intimidating. It could probabaly fill up 5 soccer fields put together.
"Look!" Aurora exclaimed and pointed at the base of the cocoon. There were several men using drills and lasers. They seemed to be trying to take the crystals.
"I assume that it Gaia's resting place?" I asked Volt. The dragon nodded obediently. "Clink!" That sound resonated within the cave. I heard it and turned to the cocoon. I was horrified to see that part of the crystalline cocoon had fallen off. It was a extremely miniscule fragment, probably only about 1 out 10000 of the cocoon, but I was still angered. At that moment, the cave shook violently, and the ground felt like it was trying to shake us off. We braced ourselves and nearly felt, having Volt catch us quickly. My heart started breaking and tears fell from my eyes. I heard her…
"I hear her, Gaia. She is in pain. That's what is causing the earthquakes." I said, still in pain on Gaia's behalf. "We have to do something. NOW!" I was in a massive hurry. They were hurting Gaia, this has to end. Everyone nodded in agreement.
Without hesitation, I raised my hand and sent a beam of electricity for the miners. The beam chained between the and they all fell to the ground almost instantly. I mounted Volt with Aurora behind me and told him to fly to the cocoon. However, before we could leave, 3 men wearing red and black body armour and skull like masks blocked out way. They had jet packs on. The one in the centre seemed to be the ring leader. He wore a cloak that covered almost everything except for the lower part of his legs. He had a hood that covered the top half of his face and wielded two guns.
"I will assume you did that, punk. Sorry, this mine is off limits to high-schoolers." He said in an ominously deep voice. Wraith Corps…of course… "I am Captain Axios, 9th of the 10 Reapers of Wraith Corps, and you, are dead meat."