Episode 2: Chapter 11: Cavern

Chapter 11 of Episode 2 of War of Seasons

            Lord Tenebris slowly stepped off the airship as it touched down near the top of the mountain.  While the scans showed that the Relic was hidden somewhere in the mountain, it didn’t show where or how to enter where it was hidden or where specifically within the mountain that it lay be it near the peak or the base.  The soldiers that could be spared on the airship without being noticed by the enemy spread out and began scanning the area, trying to find spikes in energy that would potentially lead them to the Relic.  They scanned the area further and further, but still nothing that could truly point to where the Relic is.

            “Keep searching” Lord Tenebris said looking back towards the main battle.  “We may not have long before they notice what we are trying to do.”

            “Going as fast as we can my lord” one of the soldiers said as he continued to scan the area.  “Everything says that the Relic is here, but we still can’t find concrete about where it’s hidden.”
            “Perhaps we are looking only at the surface.  It is entirely possible that there is a chamber hidden within this mountain which hides the Relic.”

            “What would you have us do my lord?”

            “Start searching for a way deeper into the mountain.  The more we search the more it becomes apparent that this Relic is hidden from plain sight.  If I’m right, by heading deeper inside we may find a stronger reading.  But while searching, begin planting charges.  If we can’t find a natural way in, we will create our own entrance.  The charges shall be our absolute last resort.  Because if the enemy didn’t already know we were here, then the explosions will certainly alert them to our actions.  Set the charges commander, but only activate them upon my signal or any sign that the enemy is heading our way.”

            “Yes my lord.”  Lord Tenebris then walked away and resumed searching for a way in as well.
            “We are so close” he said clenching his fist.  “I refuse to let anything, or anybody stop me now.”

 

 

 

 

 

            Team BEAT and Team GASH all quickly leapt off the airship, letting the pilot fly away from the mountain before the Order realized that they were there.  They stood at the base of the mountain, looking upwards and not sure how to proceed.

            “Why couldn’t we have landed close to the top again?”  Arri asked with a slight worry that they were going to have to climb the entire mountain.

            “Can’t risk the Order realizing that we’re here” Bovia said as she pulled out a pair of binoculars.  “We’re still far enough down that I don’t think the Order is going to notice us.”

            “So what’s the plan boss?” Ember asked cracking her knuckles.

            “I say we should call the fleet and let them know that the Order is here” Terra said as she picked up some strong rocks.  “Then we could blast the Order right off the mountain while we easily pick up the Relic for ourselves.”

            “Not a good idea” Bovia said as she zoomed in on some activity further up the mountain.  “Looks like they’re setting some form of charges on the mountain itself.  I think they plan on blowing a hole in the side of this place.”

            “So if the fleet moves in to attack,” Gray said scratching his chin, “then they blow a hole in the side of the mountain, and they could still potentially get away with the Relic before we even get a chance to even look at it.”

            “Obviously can’t let that happen” Aurora said rolling her neck.  “Should we go introduce ourselves?”
            “No,” Sora said running his hand through his hair, “that might just cause them to detonate the bombs anyways.  We need to find the Relic before they do.”

            “Well clearly they’re doing such a great job at finding it” Hera said yawning.

            “Say,” Arri said leaning over towards Hera, “your new best friend in your head wouldn’t know anything about where to look, now would she?”

            “One second” Hera said as she fell silent.  A moment later, she groaned and turned back to the group.  “Salem doesn’t know diddly squat.  It’s just like Ozpin told us: the gods didn’t exactly give the two of them a map and drew a big giant X on where to go exactly.  And Ozpin found them so long ago for all we know this whole mountain range could have been underwater.”

            “We need to think about this logically then” Bovia said as she walked over to a nearby stream.  “The Relic of Life and its powers are still a bit of a mystery in regard to what it can do and how it works.  But if we are going by the namesake, perhaps all we have to do is follow the trail of life.”
            “Hate to break it to you fearless leader,” Terra said with a scoff, “but this whole mountain is teeming with life.”

            “Exactly.  This mountain in particular is teeming with life.  Sure, some of the other mountains have life on them, but none of them to the level that this singular mountain contains.  And there’s one element that feeds all life worldwide.”  Bovia then dipped her hand into the water of the stream.  “I haven’t honestly felt water like this in my entire life.”
            “It’s water Bovia” Ember said tilting her head.  “Unless it’s magic water I don’t think it’s all that special.”

            “I’m serious!  Most water has elements of dirt and grime and pollution along with the water itself.  But this water is smoother than anything that I have ever felt in my entire life.  Is it possible that the Relic of Life itself is providing all the water that feeds the life for this mountain?”

            “If that’s the case,” Gray said as he joined Bovia in feeling the water, “then how do we trace it back?  If the Relic is providing all life on this mountain, then does that mean all the trees and plants have roots leading back to the Relic?”

            “Maybe it’s not that complex.  Most life be it on a mountain or anywhere in Remnant, it all starts with water.  So, it may be possible that the Relic is pumping out water from inside the mountain like a spring, which in turn is supplying the mountain with an endless supply of water.  And since this water is from the Relic, then perhaps if we follow the water, we can find the Relic!”

            “That’s probably the best theory to go off of at this point” Arri said as she put her hands behind her back.  “So how do we make sure that the Order doesn’t get all up in our faces?”

            “I think I might have an idea for that” Bovia said with a smile.

 

 

 

 

 

            Miles leapt up onto the top level of the Order’s warship, and sliced into the ship, hoping that he managed to cause something to malfunction somewhere in the ship’s electronics.  Seconds later, the warship began to wobble a little bit, as one of the engines started sputtering in and out of power.  Miles smiled and ran over to join the rest of his friends who were dealing with the remaining Order soldiers on the warship who weren’t running back inside to board their evacuation airships.

            “This is really easy” Ty said as he fired a bunch of rockets at the command deck of the warship.

            “Not time to celebrate yet” Natalie said as she and Ruby started taking shots at the airships leaving the warship.  “We haven’t won until we have the Relic heading back to Jacob to heal him up.”

            “True enough” Brooklyn said as she returned her weapon to bracelet form.  “And we aren’t going to do that if we stay here.”  With that, everybody leapt off the side of the warship and landed perfectly on friendly airships that were waiting for them.

            “All right,” Christy said as she regained her bearings.  “Everybody make it back okay?”

            “All good here” Evan said as he called in over the radio from another airship.  “But it doesn’t look like the Order is taking the hint and bailing out of here.”

            “The Relic is up for grabs” Pyrrha said as she reloaded her rifle.  “They aren’t going to back away from a prize like that so easily.”

            “Well then we’ll just have to keep showing them what happens when they mess with us!” Yang said as she reloaded her gauntlets in a flashy manner.

            “Hello?”  Bovia’s voice cut in through the radio with a bit of static.

            “Hello?” Christy said as she tried to make out who was speaking on the other line.  “Who is this?”    

            “This is Bovia with Team Epsilon.  Listen to me, the Order is making a play for the Relic!”

            “We know” Ty said with an annoyed tone.  “We’ve been fighting them for the last while.”      

            “They’re distracting you over there!”  Everybody suddenly got super serious when they heard this.  “We’re over at a mountain range not far from the battle.  The Order dropped off a small group of soldiers around the mountain and they’ve been scouring the place for the Relic.  Don’t know if they’re going to find it soon or not.”

            “We’ll let Ironwood know right away!” Blake said moving towards the cockpit of her airship.  “We’ll swing the fleet around to give you air support.”
            “Hold off on that part!” Bovia yelled through the radio.  “The Order has set charges on the mountain.  If they see you coming, they’ll probably blow the whole thing!”

            “All right,” Ruby said as she reloaded her rifle, “that’s an issue.  You kids still need backup though!”

            “It’s not that many soldiers.  We’ve handled worse numbers.”

            “Better to not take any chances though.  We’ve all but won this battle in the sky, so we can send over support to drive the Order out and claim the Relic for ourselves.”

            “Backup wasn’t a part of my plan, but we can make it work” Bovia said clearly annoyed on the other end of the radio.  “The fleet doesn’t have to head our way, but tell Ironwood to position the fleet in a way that ensures the Order can’t send any form of backup to this mountain.  We’ll handle the soldiers already here.”

            “At the very least wait for us to get there” Natalie said growing more annoyed.  “There’s a better chance of survival if we have strength in numbers.”

            “We can’t risk the Order getting to the Relic first.  I have a plan to find the Relic.  Aurora, Ember and myself will be one team as we search for the Relic, while everybody else distracts the Order.  Once you arrive, help the main team on the mountain.  Make sure they think that’s where we all are and keep them from heading towards us and the Relic.”

            “Okay,” Miles said reloading the pistol chambers of his weapons.  “We’ll be there as soon as we can.  Be careful.”

            “As always” Bovia said before signing off.  With that, Ruby called Ironwood to fill him in on the plan, and almost instantaneously, Ironwood began shifting the fleet to ensure that no Order reinforcements would be able to reach the mountain.  As soon as they had their protection, the airships carrying the teams went full speed towards the mountain, hoping that the Order wouldn’t panic and immediately blow the charges on the side of the mountain.

 

 

 

            “Okay, they’re on their way now” Bovia said as she made sure that she was fully prepared.  “Everybody know their assignments?”  Everybody nodded their heads in agreement.

            “We got this Bovia” Terra said giving her leader a thumbs up.  “You guys go take care of business.”  Bovia smiled and braced herself as Aurora picked her up and ran alongside the creek leading to the top of the mountain.  After a split second, they reached the top.  Aurora put Bovia down and ran back down to grab Ember.  While Aurora was doing that, Bovia began to investigate the area around the source of the stream that they had just found.  She looked long and hard to try and see if she could find anything that would be a nearby cave or perhaps an opening that lead into the mountain, but she couldn’t find anything.  As she was looking, Aurora returned with Ember in tow.

            “Any luck Bovia?” Ember asked as she tried to regain her bearings.

            “Nothing yet.  There has to be something around here somewhere.”

            “Well while we’re thinking about it,” Aurora said as she tried to catch her breath, “could you possibly give me a refuel?  Running up and down that mountain took a lot of aura out of me.”

            “Yeah, no problem.”  Bovia then activated her Semblance to pull water out of the stream to help replenish Aurora’s Aura, but as she pulled the water out, she felt something.  A powerful push almost as she lifted the water out of the stream.  As if something was trying to fill the void where she took the water faster than normal water or streams.  She quickly healed up Aurora, then turned her attention back to the stream.  She lifted up the water, and found that where the water was flowing, there was a large cave that lead into the mountain.

            “Well that works” Ember said with a bit of a surprise in her voice.  Bovia then quickly made a water bubble with an air pocket that the three of them could all use.  After that, they walked into the stream and started fighting against the current through the cave.  After a few minutes of walking, they could see light at the end of the tunnel.

 

 

 

            Lord Tenebris was pacing back and forth, deep in thought.

            “There’s something we’re missing about all of this” he said as he punched a nearby rock.  “Something that seems obvious but at the same time,”

            “My lord!” one of the soldiers shouted from just down the mountain.  “We are under attack!”  Lord Tenebris quickly noticed a small group of warriors approaching his team.  He recognized them right away, and his rage grew.

            “The one who was never meant to exist and his fools?  What is the meaning of this?”  The children didn’t hear Lord Tenebris’ remarks, but rather took action and started beating up any Order soldiers that were in the vicinity.  Gray was slicing people left and right with his blades, Sora got some easy shots in on the enemy, Hera was stretching her arms to punch several soldiers with her powerful gauntlets, Terra kept tossing rocks at the enemy, and Arri was using her vines and other plant life to completely shut down the enemy.  However, Lord Tenebris noticed something.  As the enemy was charging forward, he noticed that the Atlas warships were starting to move in a way that would keep the Order from sending reinforcements.  He then started surveying the area, then noticed that one of the nearby streams was suddenly he noticed that all of a sudden, the water seemed to start becoming less than normal.  As if somebody had put a stopper in the flow of the stream and it was starting to dry up, only to have it seconds later be replenished by a new flow of water.  Lord Tenebris walked towards the stream and radioed the commander saying,

            “I think I may have found a way in.  Hold them off for as long as you can.  I’m going to claim the Relic.  Don’t blow the charges unless I give the order.  Don’t attempt to set off the charges if Atlas decides to attack, we are close to our goal.

 

 

 

            The airships continued to speed towards the mountain and fly towards the growing battle with the pilots laying down some cover fire to create space.  Once a perimeter was established, everybody prepared to leap out the side and join the battle with Teams BEAT and GASH.  However, one of the Order soldiers managed to get a few shots at one of the incoming airships, forcing the pilot to veer off and try again.  The pilot flew the airship around the side of the mountain, looking to set up for a longer return path than just doing a sharp turn.  However, in that moment, Miles looked out the side of the airship and noticed something.  Lord Tenebris standing by a stream, activating his aura burn, and walking straight into the water.  It took him a second to realize what had happened, but he quickly put two and two together.

            “Jaune!” Miles yelled, causing Jaune to jump a little bit.  “I need a quick Aura oomph!”

            “What for?” Jaune asked as he prepared to transfer some extra Aura to Miles.

            “No time!  Just do it!”  Jaune complied and gave Miles a small boost in his aura levels.  As soon as that was done, Miles leapt out of the side of the airship, landing perfectly in the middle of the water just downstream of the source.  He quickly moved forward and started moving water out of his way with his Semblance, creating a path deeper and deeper into the tunnel.

 

 

 

            The three girls kept moving forward, not sure of what to expect when they reached the light at the end of the tunnel.  As they emerged from the water, Bovia dropped the water sphere protecting them, and they took in the sight that lay before them.  It was a massive cavern with crystals adorning the side of the entire cave.  There was a single light that was trickling in from a crack at the top of the cavern, which perfectly hit one of the crystals, illuminating the entire room.  The light wasn’t blinding, just enough to light the space like a regular day.  The floor was a shallow lake, that only came up to their toes.  The water was perfectly clear, no mud or anything like that on the surface, just a simple smooth rock bottom.  And in the center was a small tiny island no bigger than a normal sized living room, and on that island was a luscious green tree with grass growing all around it.  Within the center of the tree however, sat the prize, the Relic of Life.  A silver rosary with a white crystal in the center.  It almost seemed as if the Relic was bonded with the tree itself.  The three of them stood there for a moment in awe, but quickly regained focus of their mission.  They made their way to the island, and stared long and hard at the Relic.

            “Does this seem right to you?” Aurora asked as they studied the tree.  “This Relic is clearly responsible for all the life that sustains this mountain.  If we take it away, who knows what will happen.”

            “We aren’t going to keep it forever” Ember said as she reached for it.  “Besides, this is necessary in order to save Jacob’s life and make sure that the Order doesn’t get their hands on it.”

            “I agree” Bovia said while Ember removed the Relic from the tree.  “We will return this to its rightful place once we have ensured victory.”  They turned to leave, but then from the tunnel that they entered from, steam started to rise.  They all drew their weapons, and prepared for what was coming.  Seconds later, Lord Tenebris emerged from the tunnel, the water still steaming as his Aura burn continued to push the water aside, even in the shallow lake.

            “I honestly didn’t expect you to figure out the riddle to the Relic of Life before we did” Tenebris said as he slowly drew his sword.  “However, you have expedited our search, and have given me exactly what I need.”

            “You skipped the part where you don’t actually have the Relic yet jerk” Bovia said as she got into an attack stance.  “And we won’t give it to you that easily.  We’ll die before letting you win”

            “Dear child,” Lord Tenebris said as he raised his sword over his head, “I have no plans of letting you live whatsoever.”  With that, he struck the ground with his sword, sending out a powerful shockwave, forcing the three of them to defend themselves against the attack.  The water sprayed up and glistened in the light.  In that moment, Lord Tenebris rushed forward and struck Aurora right in the gut with his sword.  Aurora’s aura took most of the hit, but it sent her flying across the room and into the cavern wall.  Ember reacted quickly and tried to strike Lord Tenebris, but he anticipated the attack and blocked it with his arm easily.  He then proceeded to activate his black Aura burn, forcing Ember and Bovia to leap backwards.  Bovia leapt up in the air, and used the weighted end of her kusarigama to attempt to hit Lord Tenebris at a distance.  But he simply grabbed the weight, and yanked it to the side causing Bovia to fly into the cavern wall as well.  Ember used her tonfas in blaster form and fired several rounds at Lord Tenebris, who managed to deflect and dodge them all with ease.  Ember realized that long rang wasn’t going to work, so she rushed forward and started engaging in close quarters combat, trying to land blows wherever she could.  However, Lord Tenebris matched her blow for blow.  Every single form that Ember tried to recall from her training was countered within one or two moves.  From there, Ember was starting to get a bit careless and reckless.  Her attacks more haphazard than calculated.  A few moments later, Tenebris saw an opening and exploited it with ease.  He allowed Ember to strike him in the shoulders with her weapons, but then hit Ember in the chest with a powerful thrust of his sword, sending her flying into the tree.  Ember struggled to regain her footing as Lord Tenebris slowly walked towards her.

            “How disappointing” he said as he dragged his sword through the water and on the stone.  “I believed that one of the most powerful students in Beacon’s history would have at least put up a better fight.  After all, HE named you after the true Ember, and trained you in her ways.  I had hoped for a chance to maybe see some strength or resolve from you pretender.  Perhaps I was wrong.”

            “It wouldn’t be the first time” a new voice cut in.  Slowly turning, Lord Tenebris saw Miles standing there having just emerged from the tunnel, both swords in his hands, ready for battle.

Author's Note

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Reviews

[Shep]

Go miles lets kick his asss into next week. An awesome story I was wondering when you have a new chapter posted for me to read. Love the detail and the pace. moving onto the next chapter. Please be kind and return the love.