For The Greater Good-World 1: A Corrupted Cove || World//Zero ||

28. Rolling Boulders

From up ahead, Brutus ran from the growing crowd, straight into the cave. Alec slowed down so he wouldn't accidentally trip, and grabbed hold of Danny who almost fell flat on his face after getting his foot caught in a rock sticking out from the ground. He assisted the mage down into the cave, where everyone else cautiously followed. The few mages that were in the group lit their hands with glowing green auras, and they wandered behind Elliot at the front who was tailing his boarwolf. Brutus slowed down now, though kept his nose to the ground and he sniffed out the scent of the missing mentor and Kai. The sounds of people's pets jabbering quietly echoed throughout the cave, and Brutus gave a low growl in response. Like owner like pet, Brutus was just as annoyed as Elliot when it came to noise. But Brutus ignored it and kept going. 

There was a light at the end of the tunnel, and everyone rejoiced, relieved that they didn't have to be in the dark cave any longer. Aris was so exhilarated, in fact, that she ran in front of everyone else, desperate to get to the light. The older mentor called out to her, holding out his hand in attempts of grabbing her. "Stop!" he shouted, but she continued to run. 

"Aris, be careful!" Mindy called out. 

The sound of her voice seemed to make Aris slow down, but she continued reaching toward the cave's exit. Alec slowed down his pace when he heard a loud rumbling outside, and the floor shook. Tiny stones from above fell down as well, and his heart hammered against his chest. He then heard Celeste coo loudly, and Symphony, alarmed, pushed past everybody and headed right toward the blonde swordmaster. "Aris!" she yelled. "Aris, stop!" 

"Why?" the swordmaster shot back. "We're getting out of--" 

Before she could step out of the cave, Symphony grabbed hold of the back of her collar and pulled her back, just in time as a large boulder rolled past the opening. It was moving exceptionally fast, and when Alec got closer, he peered over to see that it fell over a cliff. A faint splash was heard slightly afterward. Alec widened her eyes in shock. Everyone gathered together, and Mindy stroded over to Aris and shook her by the shoulders. 

"Don't do that ever again!" she exclaimed at her. "You could've gotten killed!" 

"Ya, but I didn't," Aris smartly remarked. 

"Because this mage saved you," Mindy pointed out, glaring at her. 

The older mentor gently moved them aside before standing next to symphony, looking up at yet another hill. Alec did as well, and saw the Dire on the top of it, looking down at the group with glowing purple eyes. He watched in horror as it stood back on its hind legs before slamming its front hooves against the ground, shaking the entire hillside. A massive rock slid down in front of it, and at first, Alec thought that it was crushed. But he quickly took back his thought when the boulder was pushed down the hill by the Dire's long horns. 

"How are we supposed to get up there?" Danny asked warily. 

"Yeah! Without being crushed!" Aris added. 

Symphony stood there watching the boarwolf as it continued to pace back and forth at the top of the mountain, puffing smoke out of its pink nostrils. Meanwhile Alec looked around for something that they could do. Surely they couldn't just run up the hill. The boulders would only flatten them on the spot. There had to be a way for some kind of blockage. But what? Trees certainly wouldn't survive those massive boulders. 

Maybe he had to look at it from another angle. Perhaps they didn't need something to hold back the boulders, but...somewhere to avoid them. 

Scanning his eyes around, he caught sight of what looked to be an opening in the hillside, a place that the boulder wouldn't be able to get them. He tugged at the older mentor's sleeve and then pointed toward that opening. "Would that work?"