After an hour or so, Zach finally finished cleaning up Shams Cavern, there were a lot of golden scales laying around and snakeskin. As well as what seemed like bones from a rat.
That's when Zach suddenly felt something vibration in his plaid shirt pocket. He reached into it to that the compass had started glowing a bright red color. The arrow started to move around in circles until it landed on the fire symbol.
Brann's Cavern.
Once he was done he, looked for Shams. She was sitting at the edge of the cave facing the ocean view. She moved her hands around and her wings started glowing. The sun's rays moved to different parts of the cave, brightening up the place.
"Hey Shams," I finished
She stopped what she was doing to pay attention to Zach. "Ya?"
"I- I finished cleaning Everything".
"Oh, thank you, Zach! Where are you heading now?
"Brann's cavern"
Shams Flinched a little. Zach started to head towards the Stairs until Shams grabbed his arm.
"Uhm... just one quick word of advice be very careful-"
"Ya I'll be careful with the stair-"
"Not the stairs!- Be careful in Brann's cavern... it's a bit dangerous... you're not resistant to fire."
"Wait what?"
"Just be careful..."
"OK...?"
Confused, Zach didn't question it or anything and, carefully, walked down to Brann's cavern.
As he followed the compass, he found himself going deeper and deeper into the Mountain. You couldn't see the sunlight anymore... only the light from the lava. That's when he made it to Brann's cavern.
If you would even call it that...
It was this big ledge will a big lava pool and weird red, blue, purple, and crimson-colored trees around. There was fire everywhere. There was also a lavafall that went down to a bigger lava lake. There was also a cave hiding in the ledge.
Stone stairs soon appeared from the mountain that lead into that cavern.
Zach hugged the wall and started to go downstairs, still thinking good things.
"Mom's peach pie... Aunt Willow's Oatmeal cookies... Playing fetch with Max..... Uhm... what else... Uhm... OOF?!?!"
Zach stumbled and fell onto the floor near the lava lake, missing it by just a few inches. The heat hit his face.
"Oof!.. I have to pay attention where I step..." he grunted while getting up, "There are some flaws to this technic... sigh..."
Zach looked around. He couldn't see Brann anywhere. He walked carefully around the edge, on one side was lava, the other a fall... one falls move and that would be the end. Once He made it to where there was safer ground, away from any edge, he kept looking for Brann.
"Hello!" Zach shouted, "Anyone here!... You called for me?!"
No answer.
OINK!
A small grunt sound came from behind Zach. Quickly, he turned, looked down, and saw... a pig... at least, what he thought was a pig. It had red splotches all over him, it had a long tusk and had red eyes.
"Oh," said Zach, trying to sound as casual and calm as possible, "Hello there. Are you another Animal guide?"
The pig snorted and shuck its head up and down.
"So you must know where he is."
The pig started nodding. It then gave an evil-looking Smirk which kind of freaked Zach out a little bit. But before he could question it...
SQUEAL!!!!!!
The pig let out a squeal, letting smoke and ashes out of its mouth.
"AAAAHHH!!!!" Zach screamed, as he suddenly lost vision.
He couldn't see anything around him, only thick red fog. When it almost completely cleared away he was met face-to-face with a fist, one punch and he fell to the ground.
OOF!
"augh...." he grunted as he lifted himself, with a black eye.
He lifted himself. From the mist... he could See Brann, looking down on him.
"Hi there!" he said with an evil smile, "How 'bout you and I have a TALK... FRIEND"
Before Zach could say anything Brann grabbed him by his shirt color and dragged him to the ledge, Hanging him over the ledge, but his feet were still touched ledge. Zach grabbed Brann's tight begging not to be dropped.
"Let me make one thing clear with you human," Brann growled, "I don't like you. AT ALL. Obi might be the leader and I have to listen to what she says, but her rules don't apply in MY PLACE!"
Gulp
"Now," he said, "Let me state the rules, of which there are only two. Number one: Don't go snooping around or touching any of my things, if I find out you were... I will kill you."
"You can't do that..." Zach gagged, "You're.... not supposed to.... kill me... Obi- I mean, Obina said so..."
"That's true," he replied, "We're supposed to keep you alive... then again... Obi never mentioned in WHAT CONDITION to keep you alive in..." He continued to the second rule "And Number Two: You try to hurt any of my friends... you die. Especially ShinRin, you go as far as to lay ONE finger on her..."
He let go of Zach's shirt color almost dropping him, but grabbed him again. Zach's heart dropped and felt like his life just flashed before him.
"I will make sure that burning coal will feel like ice compared to YOU. Do I make myself clear?"
He pulled Zach closer to his face. His wings and eyes glowed a hot burning and boiling red. A small fire sparked and a flame was on Zach's shirt.
"I said. Do I Make Myself... CLEAR!?!?!"
"YES!!!!" Zach cried out, "JUST PLEASE LET ME GO!!!!"
He pulled Zach back and he collapsed onto the floor. Zach felt like he couldn't breathe, he quickly shook off the flame on his shirt until it was gone.
"Oh, and one more thing," Brann continued, "If you tell Obi, or anyone else of what just happened... well... remember..... Obi never mentioned WHAT condition we should keep you."
Zach shook his head, not saying a word.
"Good," he said, "Glad we're both on the same page.
He walked over to the edge of the Lava fall.
"Anyways, clean Bucky's stable will ya."
Brann let himself fall, descending into the small cavern.
Zach lay down on the ground, thinking about what just happened...
Garbage... waste... worm... useless...!
"sigh... Just when I thought I was freed from one bully," Zach said, "I come across
The Village, Headman's house...
"How long until you go into the Mountain?" the Headman asked Hitch, "And does it take long?"
"It does when you ask stupid questions and don't stop," Hitch responded.
His group snickered and giggled a bit.
HMPH
"But in all seriousness," Hitch continued, "It doesn't take long. Especially if it's a place I'd been before. Last time I was here I thought I had gotten rid of all those Demons And their retched Queen... but some survived... I have been considering making new armor-"
The door flung open and William Gladsvil ran in.
"HEADSMAN! SIR!" he panicked.
"Sigh... what now William...?"
"Sir... Sorry to interrupt but.... my son... he's in the Northern Mountain..."
The Headsman, Hitch, and his group turned. All seemed to take interest.
"The Night of the Earthquake," William continued, "He went there with his cousin and.... they found something there..."
"What did they find?!" asked Hitch.
William gave him a look and looked back at the Headsman. "There were some Rogues there... Devin, my nephew, he said that they captured him and Zach took his place.... and now he's in that Damn Mountain with Rogues.... "
The Headman sighed.
"Don't worry William," He comforted, "... Hitch here is gonna go investigate the Mountain... he'll find those Rogues and bring back your son... What's his name?"
"Zachary Marshal Gladsvil".
"Hitch will help and bring him in one piece, right Hitch?"
"Of course sir," Hitch answered.
"Alright... Thank you..."
William walked out the door.
Your fault... You did this... Horrible Monster...
Words Echoed in his head as walked out of the Headman's Office.
"HAHA!" A girl from Hitch's gang laughed, "Marshal? Really? No wonder that Kid ran away! HA!"
"I would be caught dead with a name like that," laughed one of the men.
"Aside from all that," Hitch interrupted, "We did get some help from old William".
"How so?" asked the Headsman.
"The boy switched places with His cousin, with the "Rogues" they met... also known as the Draconics. The cousin had a face-to-face interaction with them, he knows how many there must be. Do you by any chance know the cousin?"
"Well... I don't know his name. But I do know he's Willow's Kid. Willow is William's little sister..."
"You tell us where to find her and we'll question the kid".
"What about William's kid? Do you think he's in the Mountain with the Draconics".
"Of course he is," Hitch spat, " But not the way you think he is... he's probably collecting dust and moss as a stone statue..."
The Northern Mountain...
Zach finished cleaning Bucky's area. The compass shacked again. he looked at it, it was light blue, and pointed at the water symbol.
Vatten's cavern.
Which meant one thing... he had to go back up those retched stairs.
Zach finally managed to make it to Vatten's cavern, carefully and without tripping. He looked around, he saw a couple of waterfalls around a small area. I walked up the staircase and saw this pound above. It looked a bit like ShinRin's cavern, only this one had more water... A LOT more water.
He walked around the drier area, which was hard without stepping onto small puddles of water. He looked at the water, you couldn't even see the bottom, there was a bunch of seaweed and coral. Some fish and other creatures Zach had never seen before.
"Uhm... Hello?" Zach called out, "Anyone home?"
SPIT!
SPLASH!
Some water splashed out.
"Ah!" Zach complained, "What the-?"
He looked at the water and saw a weird amphibian-looking creature he had never seen before. It was purple with blue, its skin looked like a frog's skin, and it had four legs, a long tail, and orange fins on its face.
"Eeeep!(NEW FRIEND)" it yelped.
Right next to it, another creature popped out, that shared the same colors.
"Purrrrr!(Who is he?)" it purred.
"What are these things?" Zach wondered.
"They're axolotls," said a voice answer from above.
Zach looked up and saw Vatten, he was on a small ledge next to the waterfall with a book in his hand.
"Oh," Zach said, "Never heard of them".
"They're a kind of amphibian, they're the last of their type and they're my animal guides, Corey and Bubbles," he ended.
"I see..." I mumbled, "Anyway... you called me?"
Vatten looked away from his book, and looked down at him, "Ya it was- hey what happened to your face?"
Zach put his hand on his eye.
"Oh, this...? I... Uhm... I slipped and fell," he lied.
"Against what? Someone's fist?... Never mind that, All I need you to do is to get glow berries from ShinRin's cavern and bring them here. That's Corey and Bubble's favorite snack".
"EEEEPPPP!!! Eeeeep! Eeeep! (Hopefully, you don't forget this time! You've been saying that over and over again)" Corey Squeaked.
"Yeeep...(No pressure)" squealed Bubbles.
" sigh Is like I'm being attacked by two old ladies...." Vatten mumbled. He turned to Zach, "Just get them as soon as you can".
And so.... that's how Zach's days in the Northern Mountain began.
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