Guardian: The Awakening

The Tainted Red Stone

-Yunlan-

They mentally prepare themselves for the fight of their lives, as they walked toward the entrance of the mountain, which was nothing more a thin fissure in the volcanic stone. They stood in front of it, as a gale of heated wind greet them.

"Lord Yunlan, please allow me to protect your minds from the tainted air and atmosphere. It will make the fight easier." Guo asked for Yunlan's permission, which was unnecessary, because the Water Prince will never refuse Guo's help.

So, the young Sage, worked in putting spiritual protections in each of their minds, like he did once before, connecting them, just to be on the safer side. Next, Chu tide them all with his golden strings and they walked in a single line, practically pasting themselves to the wall so they could keep forward and when the narrow path finally ended to a big cliff and a huge round hole that glowed crimson red and orange.

As they looked below their sudden cliff and into the hole, they only manage to see red and black mist, making it impossible for any of them to see what lie at the bottom, although they could sense the red stone somewhere down.

"Okay... leave this mist to me, you guys prepare to attack." Lin said as he moved his hands to command the air inside the volcano, making the mist move in a spiral up to release it out of the volcano's mouth above their heads. It was then when they have a clear image of what lies deep down and even Yunlan swallow hard at the sight.

Deep down there was a strong shine of red, where the stone was, but above it, there were hundreds of black and red tentacles moving protectively over it. They knew what those things could do, as it had already wounded and kill one of their own. A single touch could scorch the skin, not to mention set it on fire in a very short period of time.

"Damn it, why those things again? I rather had the Furies." Chu asked, although it was just a way to venter his worry, because in his mind, that image of Guo falling down, along with Shen Wei, Zhu and Xue was still quite fresh in his mind, the same way it had engraved in the minds of all others.

"So this is its true form... no wonder we could do so little back then..." Guo said.

"It was so... so horrible..." Zhu whisper, as her hand tremble, remembering Xue's death, but Da Qing rubbed her back to calm her down.

"This thing had tainted our land for long enough... but how do we destroy it? It's so deep down and we practically don't have a place to fight it with no rocks in between. Even if Da Qing create earth platforms for us to stand, those things will come at us from all sides. Should I try some lightnings?" Wang asked.

"Not now. We descend a bit more... Shen Wei, can your new shield hold those things?" Yunlan asked.

"It should, but honestly I can't say for how long." Wei said a bit concerned.

"What about your golden threads Chu?" Zhao asked next.

"The same as Shen Wei... don't know for how long they can resist those tainted things." Chu admitted.

"What about a big attack, like your light beam or something, to take it in one go?" Sang asked.

"It will not work, the stone had a shield of its own. I can sense it." Guo told them.

"Okay, let's get closer first. Qing, prepare a way down... then we see how to approach this." Da Qing put his hands over the volcanic floor and pull out from the walls several thick pillars all around the hole, making a circle at the middle, then from the border of each one he created an even thicker platform that united all the pillars in the very center.

"Isn't that a bit too further down? It's kind of a long drop if we jump from here." Sang said.

"Seriously, aren't you a Water Master? Can't you cushion your own fall with it?" Wang asked with incredulity, making Yunlan smile.