A/N: Opening the way to the outside at last.
Chapter 21: The Shattering
The Prime speaks, "We will journey deep into the savage's territory today. We are not to engage them in combat unless if provoked. Keep control of your desires all of you. The ones who use frost will protect the ones who use fire. We will carry these buckets of desire's embrace to where we're going to perform the shattering. They will help us if things go wrong. Let us depart."
I noticed that prey of the order carried buckets of desire's embrace. As soon as we stepped outside of the cavern. It was complete madness. I can see a lot of animals in the chasm. Not only prey, predators too. They were lined up to where the guards of Everlight are. Some of the animals had weapons of their own. I think there were about twenty thousand. All of them carrying what seemed to be essentials as if they aren't going to return. He must have gotten everyone or nearly everyone from all the marked settlements. I could see the remainder of our order some of them are at the front, some are at the back of the crowd.
We approach the guards with the Prime. The Prime speaks, "Tell the tyrant we're going to leave this place today. I expect him to honor our deal of peace. We will leave this place and not bother you again."
The guards step aside. I feel a breeze that increases how fast I can move. I feel as if I can move at three times the speed. We are going deeper into Everlight. We arrive at where the guards initially said the exit was in Everlight. Ten pillars of ice are raised around the wall forming a half circle. Other members of our order take two buckets of desire's embrace and put them on top of each pillar. All our order is right next to the pillars. The crowd is waiting behind us. The Prime leaps on to the middle pillar that obstructs part of the path towards the wall.
He calls for the two of us. We leap on to it as well. His markings glow and his wings are completely visible. The Prime speaks, "We will force the passage to the light open. Any savage that wants to join us to go to a better place is welcome. We will be going to a place where predators do not eat prey. Predators there will dine on insects instead eating prey will be forbidden. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde will guide us towards Zootopia." He clearly points out Judy and me to the massive crowd gathered here. "I don't care what the rest of you do, do not stop us." I think I saw Whitebreeze joining the crowd, some of the inhabitants of Everlight join the massive crowd. The inhabitants of Everlight point weapons towards us. I think there's about fifty thousand inhabitants in Everlight. I can see Lightbringer in the back. "Now, take your positions and let the shattering commence." The Prime leaps down from the pillar. His wings disappear too. I leap down too. Judy stays on the pillar however. Lightbringer flies forth from his position towards us.
One member of the order leaps on to each of the pillars. A massive fire elemental forms in the half circle. I see Kindleheart on a pillar beside Judy. Eight of them leave. A wolf remains on the pillar to the right. Judy stays in the middle They scatter in different directions. Their mates are carried by a predator that uses air. I can see Lasan being carried by a lion and they follow Kindleheart. The air users make their group move extremely fast.
Lightbringer lands in front of the Prime, "So, soon we will be free from your evil cult."
The Prime responds, "We won't care what you savages do once we move beyond the light. You have my word that we won't interfere with your activities anymore if you don't harm anyone under my protection."
The exchange between the two indicates that they aren't on friendly terms or close to and just barely tolerate each other. I feel like this is a disaster waiting to happen. Lightbringer then flies back towards Everlight's army.
Frostfang and Tom walk towards me. She says, "Isn't this exciting? Going to a better place? I wish I was able to use fire, all I can do right now is watch."
I reply, "Aren't you worried about what might happen? They're all pointing weapons at us."
"That's why we're here. To protect them. To make sure this succeeds."
Tom remarks, "Soon, you will lead us to Zootopia. This, is a time for celebration. Besides, the savages haven't violated the peace treaty yet."
Standing watch over the ones creating a giant fire elemental is all we do now. The eight that left come back with fire elementals leading them to the massive one in front of the wall. The fire elementals merge with the massive one, they leave again.
Everyone just watches this spectacle. The tension between the sides haven't decreased. Everlight is pointing weapons at us but we aren't taking any actions. An hour has passed the elemental grew even more. Now, three animals are standing on the pillars.
I can hear whispers of hope, whispers of peace from the crowd. This is a full display of the order's power. I guess they could have always left this place but simply chose not to because they've never found anything.
The next hour I can feel that Judy wants more power. I use the remote to give her some. As more time passes the elemental gets increasingly bigger. I can feel Judy's strain at controlling it. More and more animals take their place on the pillars. Judy wants more and more power which I give. I can see their wings even though they aren't jumping right now. All we've been doing is observing them waiting for time to pass. No one has attacked yet.
More time has passed, the elemental grows increasingly bigger. There's now eight animals standing on the pillars. I can feel Judy becoming exhausted but unwilling to give in. Now only two teams of animals going back and forth. There's one that uses fire. One that carries the mate of the one that uses fire and a fourth that simply carries a bucket of desire's embrace. The groups travel far and brings an elemental back each time which get added to the massive one. Everyone just stands behind the pillars and watch them.
I wish I can help Judy but I can't. I can feel her struggle in controlling it. There's now nine animals standing on the pillars, only one team brings elementals back and forth now. Kindleheart's wings are completely visible even when she's on the ground. Only her team is bringing elementals here. They take longer and longer to return. Judy wants even more power. I give her more. I can't sense Judy anymore. When I try to sense Judy, I feel the will of fire itself. It wants to be free. It doesn't want to be contained anymore. The elemental has grown massively compared to when we first started.
Lightbringer is now soaring above the elemental as if expecting something to happen soon. Now, I can feel the elemental somewhat breaking free. It grows bigger still. All I can do is watch. Kindleheart returns with another elemental. She takes her place on the pillars. There's no one fetching elementals anymore. They just stand there trying to contain the giant elemental.
Lasan asks me, "How are you feeling?"
I reply, "I can't feel Judy anymore. I think I can feel the elemental wanting to break free. I feel alone without being able to vaguely feel her thoughts after being used to it."
"I don't have wings. I had to be carried by someone today while I support Kindleheart in all this. It was rather undignified."
An hour passes. Nothing seems to happen. The elemental stops growing bigger because no one's adding more to it. I can feel as if it's about to break free. The elemental now creates a hammer from its body. It swings the hammer at the wall. A deafening sound is heard.
So much happens all at once. The wall is blown asunder. The elemental swings its hammer towards the ground emitting a wave of fire outwards. The animals on the pillars collapse, the elemental dissipates. I can sense Judy again. She feels exhausted. The way is open. I can see the destruction we caused. The forest is on fire and everything else was scorched. I move towards Judy. It was then we were betrayed. Lightning strikes down on us all, we protect ourselves by instinct. Lightning strikes down on the exhausted animals killing them. Lightbringer decrees, "Kill the cult. Now's our chance."
I felt her last thought – Protect.
A/N: Nothing is sacred in this story.
