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raisedlikeaphoenix · 1 year ago

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Raised like a Phoenix - Chapter 5: I May Fail But I Have to Try

Tormak studied the many altars put up in honor of the fallen in the middle of town. As people passed by, going up to the many booths set up, eating the street food offered, and dancing to the music. Occasionally placing an offering of their own.

Flowers decorated the altars in all sorts of colors, a few even held items that belonged to the long gone owners. All of them would have a painting or picture of some kind featuring the one it was dedicated to. He even saw one or two hand drawn by a child.

In the center of it all were eight gravestones, each one dedicated to the eight fallen heroes.

“Dad, I need to tell you something.”

Tormak turned to see his daughter, with the Legend Beast behind her along with someone wearing a cloak.

“Whose that?” He pointed towards the stranger, whose crimson eyes stared back.

Li’Ella gave a nervous chuckle. “Okay. Dad. I’m gonna get everyone's attention. But I just want to say. This is going to fix everything.”

A smile. A genuine smile that Tormak hadn’t seen in a while blessed her face. He couldn’t help but give her one in return at the sight of how happy she looked.

“Alright. But what exactly are you planning?”

“You’ll see.” She called behind her as she roared to get everyone's attention.

Music stopped.

People turned towards the lioness.

She stood up on a nearby bench, the cloak stranger standing beside it.

All eyes were on them.

She cleared her throat.

“As you all know, I constantly return to our old home to retrieve things that were lost. Things that many thought they would never see again. I do this because I want those memories to stay alive. I want people to know what they had and who we lost. But today, I bring something that will not just to remind people of the past-”

A nervous looking Flinx walked up beside Tormak, as the panther stared in confusion.

“- but inspire hope for a brand new future. Today, upon the tenth anniversary of the loss of our loved ones, I bring you home one of our own. I bring you the FireWings-”

The stranger began removing the cloak.

“-And with them: Laval!”

Many gasped at the sight of the long dead lion. A few fainted. One screamed. Tormak stared in awe at the sight, eying the fire chi in his harness.

Laval waved. “Hey, everyone. I’m back. Heh, heh.”

A meeting with each leader of each tribe wasn’t something Laval wanted to do at the moment but it's not like he could say no.

Each Legend Beast had also come along with their respective tribal leader, but not before giving Laval their respective greeting by hugging him, playing with his mane with beaks, and even getting a playful nibble from the Crocodile Beast.

They all stood in an exact replica of phoenix’s old temple, right down to the flowing lava, fire chi glowing in something that looked kinda like a bowl.

Almost all the leaders he knew were still alive and well, just old and wearing warmer clothing. He couldn’t help but cast a glance at Crominus and Crunket, who stared at the lion in disbelief. Maybe they’re thinking the same thing Li’Ella did. If I can come back, so can Cragger.

The thought made him wonder what his sister, Crooler, must be up to, as she was not present during the meeting (nor was Lavertus).

He did, however, see the new Wolf and Raven leaders: Windra (who had a master poker face), Razcal (who looked super worried), and Flinx. But no Fluminox. Which meant-

Oh.

Oh no.

He instantly felt bad for the little guy as he could relate, since he literally just found out that his own Dad died about an hour ago. Has it only been a few hours, it felt like it's been weeks!

Crominus broke the silence when Tormak and Li’Ella shut the doors.

“How can we find the others?!” Straight to point, huh? Not that Laval mind.

Li’Ella stepped up. “I’m not sure. Honestly, it was pure luck that I even came across Laval. Perhaps they’re hidden behind puzzles and traps like before, that's why I hadn’t seen them on my trips.”

Ewald nodded. “Perhaps our resident Panther can summon the map again. It could be of help.”

But Tormak shook his head. “Ever since the collapse of Cavora I haven’t been able to. Even if I could, I doubt they’ll be in the same place as before.”

“Well… I was at the Lion Temple. So maybe the others will be where they called home to.” Laval suggested.

Windra grunted in agreement.

“But we gots to keep it on the down low. We don’t want those bummer dudes to figure out our plan.” Grumlo reminded the group.

Razcal thought for a second before saying, “What if the Hunters discover our plan and head out to destroy the Fire wings or even…” He trailed off but the lion knew what he was going to say and shook at the thought.

“They won't be able to destroy the firewings and perhaps they will protect their users.” Tormak mentioned.

Always a skeptic, Ewald couldn’t help but ask, “And what if they aren’t at their respective homeland? Where will we look then?”

He’s right. They could very well be in a trophy room of their own. Laval was only there because Sir Bucky had intentionally put him up on display for the world to see. But he couldn’t help but have this gut feeling…

“I don’t know why but I feel this… pull… towards them… I bet they’d feel it if they… were awake.” He didn’t want to say dead , he can’t bring himself to say it.

Rhigor and Bezar nodded in agreement.

“Well, if that's all we got I’ll take it. But a physical map would be nice.” Ewald said in a tired voice.

“Uh… I’ll figure it out. But for now I was wondering what the Crawl-”

“Sorry we’re late!”

The group turned to see the very leaders of the Crawlers: Spinlyn (who donned a spider spun robe and a gold tooth), Braptor (who flew around in an oversized gray sweater that was kinda cute), and Scorm (who wore a brown skirt, sweater, scarf, and gold helmet and whose face was covered by a clipboard.)

Spinlyn and Braptor stopped in their place, eyes wide as they stared at someone they assumed was a corpse for years. While Scorm continued walking forward, clipboard in hand. “I don’t know what you all want but we’re busy trying to figure out this mysterious fog stuff and also something to do with speedors getting stuck in…” He finally looked up from his clipboard as he walked right up to Laval.

Then he screamed.

“Hey, Scorm.” Laval said, as the scorpion continued screaming.

“You!”

“Me.”

“Dead!?”

“Was.”

“How?!”

“Chi.”

“Whaaaaaaaaa!” Scorm the Scorpion King, the one who crippled Cavora and kidnapped all the Legend Beasts, ran out of the room screaming.

Laval watched the little guy go, then turned towards the Spider and Bat tribe leaders.

“So how have you guys been?”

“Good thing the beavers make a ton of empty houses for fun.” Li’Ella said as he opened the door to Laval’s new home. It was quite big, the architecture quite similar to something the lion’s would build which gave Laval a lot of conflicted feelings.

“Soooooooo… Where’s Lavertus?” Laval couldn’t help but ask since he hadn’t seen him at the festival or during the meeting.

“He’s out collecting some stuff. I’ll message him. Though maybe I’ll say, ‘hey you should come back there's something you should see’ and not ‘your dead nephews back,’ you know?”

Laval chuckled despite himself. “Well, I’ll leave you to… uh… or do you want to talk about anything? I know today has been a lot.” Li’Ella asked.

The lion sighed. “Well… it’s hard to start where to… start… I guess. I just think I need to… think? UGH! I just don’t know. I don’t know!” He threw up his hands, as he gave Li’Ella a bewildered look.

The lioness sympathized with her fellow tribemate. “Well, do you want to talk about it?” She asked again.

The two stared at each other for a bit, Laval studying the whites of Li’Ella’s eyes. Something he doesn’t have anymore.

“I guess I just feel… helpless… after everything I failed. I failed to save my friends, my family, my tribe, Chima, Cavora, and…”

His Uncle, his best friend, his Dad…

“So many people… gone… because of me…”

Li’Ella cupped Laval’s face as he gave him a sad smile.

“I know it’s hard. We all felt like we had a role in its downfall but we now all get a chance to be a part of its rise.”

Laval touched her right hand as a tear fell from his eye.

“And what if I fail again?” He mumbled, as Li’Ella whipped his tears away.

“It’s better you fail after you’ve tried again, then to just give up.”

Laval looked out the window facing towards Chima. It felt so weird to not see Cavora floating up in the air like it always does. It was apparently still alive so that was good. But it still felt off to see it wasn’t the same as before.

Kinda like him in a way. Still alive, but not the same as before. He ran his hand through his mane and-

His crown.

It was gone! Was it destroyed or lost on the way here?

He ran to a nearby mirror in a bathroom to see and… woah. He really didn’t get a good look of himself until now. It was hard to believe he was still alive, still a functioning person with how he looks. Black eyes, deep gashes, a missing arm. Maybe this is how the Hunters felt when they were revived. The thought almost makes him feel bad for them.

Almost.

He steps away from the mirror and plops on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“...”

…

“Dad…”

…

“I’m sorry I failed…”

…

“You’d probably say something smart or whatever just to give me hope.”

…

“But I’m scared Dad. The whole tribe is gone, you're gone! Everything is different. I’m different!”

…