Everglow: The Trials Of Agaron

40 - Hall of the Phoenix

"Quin!" Ko cried. Immediately any fear she had of the creature was jettisoned from her body as she scrambled down to her friend.

"Quin? Quin hello?"

She tapped at the carcan's cheek gently, a vain attempt to wake her up. Still nothing.

"C'mon Quin, say something, please!"

Immediately she felt an intense burning sensation rising in her gut. That feeling had once again returned to her hands.

"We have to go, please, wake up!" She begged.

Jumping up, she started grabbing rocks and throwing them aside. The wall of stone gazed back at her, stoic and unmoving, as if to say 'stop trying.'

But stop she would not. Her stomach began to ache and she could feel her eyes beginning to water as glimpses of Kori's fate began seeping back into her head.

She refused to lose another friend.

"Wake up!" She cried, to no avail.

Quin's body remained there. Silent and still.

She threw away more and more stone but it only served to allow the rocks on top of the ones she removed to fall down and take their places.

The zapher began pounding away at the dead creature in a futile attempt to move it. She knew full well that it was all in vain, but that didn't stop her from trying. She wasn't going to give up on Quin that easily.

A river of tears began to seep from her eyes and the intense feeling of nausea in her gut only strengthened.

"Wake up! Wake up please!"

Her words fell on deaf ears. The feeling inside her grew and grew into a burning cauldron of guilt and pain. She started screaming as she hit the creature, unleashing a side of herself she didn't even know existed. Over and over she hit it as if it was going to do something.

Then it did.

With her final punch Ko was thrown back by an intense shock wave that blasted through the cave. And immense blinding orange light erupted from the point at which she landed the blow on the creature. She tripped over her own tail and fell to the ground as a shower of stone and dust began raining down on top of her. She was so shaken by what just happened, she didn't even realise the fact her right hand was now glowing a bright orange.

The colour quickly faded but it wasn't like she was going to notice anyway. She was too busy trying to ignore the ringing in her ears. She scrunched up her face and held her left hand in front of her to try and block some of the dust.

After the debris had stopped falling, her eyes fluttered open and she became aware of the result of whatever the hell had just happened.

The dead creature had been pushed back at least a metre and a good portion of the rocks that had been surrounding it were now either split into pieces or simply turned to dust.

The burning sensation in her hands was more extreme now than ever, but was rapidly fading.

However all that was pushed to the back of her mind as she saw Quin's chest slowly rising and falling. Instantly she got to her knees and began checking her friend over, trying her best to wipe away some of the glowing blue blood that was seeping from her various wounds.

"Quin! Quin please wake up!" She begged. This time however, it seems like the carcan had heard her.

Quin's eyes slowly fluttered open, almost like an engine trying to start but sputtering out at the last moment.

Ko gently tapped her cheek again, which seemed to do it. Quin's eyes opened up.

"Thank the angels, I thought you were gone," Ko whimpered.