Peter felt his eyes droop in the soft orange light. He couldn't remember the last time he slept. Bucky was sitting on the far side looking out intensely for danger. Peter should be doing the same for his side. Groot paced and Wanda played with the red power of her hands. Sam had fallen back to sleep. Peter began breathing slowly as sleep took him softly.
He was awakened by a crackling sound in the distance and his spidey senses on fire. Fire. There was a fire. The Orange glow grew brighter to his left.
"Bucky! Bucky! There is a fire!" Peter yelped in fear. They were in a cave and could easily be surrounded. The others began stirring as Bucky jumped to his feet. "What do we do?"
"Wake everyone and grab anything you need. We have to run. This cave will kill us all," Bucky said waking up the group. Quill almost threw a fist before jumping up. T'challa immediately began grabbing the few things they had. Groot looked out in fear.
The hill above them and to the left was in flames. A slight wind whipped the heat towards them. Bucky yelled above the roar to run down the path. Groot led the way and Bucky fell last again. The heat was overwhelming. The sounds of crackling and smashing as the woods began to collapse was deafening. Smoke filled their lungs and they coughed in pain.
"Get low," Peter tried to yell. He had remembered some school assembly about escaping a house fire saying to get low. He crouched and ran and felt his lungs hurt less. Drax coughed loudly and sucked air behind him. He too crouched in an attempt to breathe.
The path curved and a tree leaning over it sparked to flames as flaming debris touched the tree. Groot stopped suddenly as the path became impassable. He looked back at Quill with wide eyes.
"Run straight! Go through the trees!" Bucky roared, banking on the fact that the path was curving downhill and they would find it again. Groot jumped over a bush and ran down the hill through the heavy brush. The others followed.
Wanda cried out as her clothing became stuck in a tree covered in spikes. She ripped out and continued down the hill. The path became filled with such nasty vegetation and soon everyone was covered in cuts and scratches from these trees. Peter's suit has small bloody spots, Bucky felt hair being ripped out, and Wanda's poor outfit was shredded. Finally they connected back to the path.
Mantis felt her lungs burn as they raced. She felt her step falter as the group pushed forward. She tripped on a small knarled tree branch loitering the path and landed on her knees. She gasped in fear. Drax quickly pulled her to her feet and continued onwards. Mantis ignored the soft bloody spots on both knees.
The path suddenly stopped. Reaching out in front of it was a pond. The pond bubbled ominously. There were what appeared to be stepping stones leading across the frothing green water. Sam grabbed a stick from the path and dipped it in the water and it dissolved. Peter gasped and Groot backed away from the edge.
"Look at this," T'challa said pointing to a large grey stone carved with words near the right side of the ended path. "I cannot read it."
"Let me try," Quill said grabbing a pair if glasses from his pocket.
"Seriously, man? What else do you have?" Bucky asked in exasperation. He seriously missed his guns.
"Do you want to talk or do you want to live?" Quill asked with raised eyebrows. Bucky raised his hands in defeat. "Okay it says,
To live,
To continue,
Brave the muck,
Walk the path,
Of the name,
Of the heart,
Of a dying star,
Home of a God killer,
Or perish."
There was a cracking sound as the stones in the pond were suddenly etched with letters.
"What the hell?" Sam said.
"Or perish? I don't want to die. Again," Peter said fearfully.
"What is the home of a God killer in the heart of a dying star?" Wanda asked. She snuck a look over her shoulder at the fire coming towards them. Luckily they had a few minutes but not long.
"Groot, you went with Thor to create that weapon. Did you make it?" Quill asked him. Groot nodded his head. "What was it called? I can't remember."
"I am Groot."
"Try to remember. We could die."
"I am Groot!"
"Try har-"
"Let me help," mantis said coming up to Groot and placing a hand on his arm. "I will calm your mind so you remember."
She closed her eyes as Groot tried to think. After what was only 30 seconds but felt like hours he had his answer. "I am Groot! I am Groot!" He said excitedly.
"Nidavellir. I have no idea how to spell that," Quill said in defeat.
"I do," T'challa said. "I learned about Norse mythology when Thor first came to earth. I'll write it down," He said grabbing a stick and writing it in the dirt path. "I cannot read the runes though."
"The glasses can," Quill said. "Tell me the letters one by one and I'll walk across the pond and everyone copy me."
Everyone looked at Bucky who had somehow become the leader of this group. "Okay, let's do it. We don't have long."
Quill looked at the first 2 stones. T'challa read the letter off and Quill stepped on the first rock lightly. Nothing happened. T'challa said the second letter. Quill stepped and nothing happened again. Groot stepped carefully on the first stone behind him. The others followed behind as they continued each letter.
There was a tense moment as Wanda almost lost her balance on a stone. Luckily Peter was able to catch her with his sticky hands before she touched the water. Her heart pounded painfully at the thought of what could have happened. She had to get back to earth, to Vision, to fix him.
"Okay, an i, no L," T'challa quickly correctly. Unfortunately Quill had already taken the step and the tip of his left foot touched the liquid. He gasped in pain at the burned skin. Quill jumped to the correct stone. "I'm very sorry," T'challa said flustered. He took a moment to calm himself. "Now an i."
"Are you sure?" Quill asked in skepticism.
"Yes, yes," T'challa said. Quill lightly touched the stone before putting he weight on it. "Final stone is r."
Quill stepped on it and then on the solid ground on the other side. He quickly sat on a nearby rock and removed his shoe. Black burns covered the tip of 3 of his toes. He hissed in pain. The others quickly joined him on solid ground.
"You're hurt," Sam said. "Maybe we can wrap it up?"
"No, the burns will stick. We need some kind of cream to prevent it from sticking first. We also need some pain meds," Bucky said. He had dealt with all kinds of injuries when working for hydra. "Do you have anything else?"
"No. That was it. Don't you think I would have used any medicine I might have?" Quill grimaced.
"Why don't we all share what we have?" Sam suggested. The others grabbed everything from their pockets. Wanda had $8.37 and chap stick. Peter had a cell phone with no signal plus dronie, who didn't work. Bucky had nothing. Sam had a crumpled receipt and a peppermint. Drax had nothing. Mantis had a tiny knife. T'challa also had a cell phone with no signal. Groot had some kind of video game. Where he kept it was a mystery to Bucky.
"Can we use this?" Bucky asked holding up the chap stick. Wanda nodded. "Rub this on your burns. Try and put a lot. Then we'll wrap them up," Bucky told Quill.
"I can remove some pain while you do that," Mantis offered. Quill simply nodded. She held his head as he worked. Soon his toes were wrapped in strips of his undershirt and he shoved his foot back in his shoe. Mantis made a face as she controlled his pain.
"Okay, let's go," he said removing her hands. He grimaced from pain.
"We can wait a minute to figure out a plan. Now that we can't burn to death," Sam said.
The group looked out behind them with 3 different paths to take.
"What now?" Peter asked Bucky with large puppy dog eyes.
