Gormiti Art book

[GORM-MAY DAY 15] Alone

Coal ,as I said in a previous post, grows up to be a trustworthy and strategically smart leader to the west fire tribe. But how did he do that at such a young age?

Here's the thing, Coal was forced to live alone and start this entire war-neutral fire tribe when he was just 18.

Let's go back a hit. After an "accident" where Cinder died while Coal was still very young, the boy was forced to live with Magmion and stayed on Gorm most of the time barely visiting Earth and only when needed. With a lot of training from his father and Armageddon (aka the only other person who knew of his existence back then, who was also something like a teacher to him) Coal managed to climb up the ranks and managed to be become a leader to a small number of soldiers.

However Coal had a good nature and never cared for hurting anybody, much to everyone's shock. And especially Obscurio's.

Obscurio wasn't fond of how well mannered and happy-go-lucky Coal was and never trusted him unless one of his generals was with him. He had a bad feeling about the boy.

But eventually Coal managed to grab the attention of the soldiers who were tired from the war, scarred. The ones who lost everything. And he became their own beackon of hope. Coal saw the effects of the war first hand and he couldn't stand around and see his people being rid of their chance to live a peaceful life. Sure it was damn near impossible for a fire gormiti, since all they have known and were created for was war. But Coal believed otherwise. And he was going to prove it.

He stood up to Obscurio, and demanded that the soldiers who wish not to participate in the war anymore, can drop out of their positions and actually live their own lives. Everyone thought Coal would be banished for speaking up to His great authority..

But Obscurio had other plans. You see suspicions arose day after day, and Coal was starting to resemble his father even more. Obscurio was near sure of their father-son relationship. And he knew just how to punish Coal.

He forced the boy, barely 18, to fight off any scout, soldier, troop or even general he chose for him. If he survived he would be banned from the volcano but he would be allowed to create his own community with his own followers (who were gradually growing in numbers, because many gormiti were tired of this seemingly never ending war). Coal's training paid off and he managed to fend for himself long enough until the final round. Obscurio however said that for the last round it had to be a battle to the death. And you guessed it, the opponent was Magmion. His own father.

So in order to save his tribe from the war, and from endless exhaustion and misery he had to kill his father in combat.

It was a long battle were both sides tried to delay the inevitable. Until Magmion decided it was time to end it and he purposefully sabotaged his own death. He knew that Coal was going to be a good leader and he would certainly make changes around this tribe.

After the fight, Coal immediately left the volcano trying to hide his tears and went to a nearby cliff. Whenever he wanted to be alone he would always go there.

Armageddon, the one general he didn't have to fight consoled him. He had pledged his obedience to Obscurio, but he had faith that Coal was doing the right thing. He tried to help the boy accept his father's recent death. After many hours of conversation and support from his mentor, Coal decided he couldn't let his grief get the better of him and that his tribesmen needed him. Now more than ever. The time for sadness had to wait.

This was the last conversation the two gormiti had, before parting their own ways (since from now on they were considered "enemies" by Obscurio).