CHAPTER 7
GODDESS OF THE FLAMES
The group had decided that traveling at night was too dangerous and decided to find camp for the night. Diego and Shira had already fell asleep. The possum twins were hanging upside down by their tails, sleeping peacefully. Diego was doing the same thing. Shira was sleeping on the ground next to the tree where the other three were sleeping on. Brooke was in the tree as well in her sleep meditation mode. Manny and Ellie were still awake, sitting next to each other by the fire.
Ellie sighed, placing her head on Manny's shoulder. She noticed this and quickly moved away. "Sorry."
"That's okay," Manny said. He sighed. "Remember the good old days?"
"Which good old days?"
"You know. Yesterday and last week. Back when the trees went up and down and the ground stayed under our feet."
Ellie smiled. "Yeah, those were the good old days. Possums were possums and sabers were sabers." She sighed. "Well, we better get some sleep."
"Sounds good."
"Tomorrow's the day the vultures said that we're all gonna die."
"Don't give up hope, Ellie. I know we can get through this. As long as we stick together, everything will be fine." Manny placed his trunk on Ellie's. "I promise."
Ellie blushed. It was the second time that night Manny placed his trunk on Ellie's. She wasn't sure why, but she actually...liked it. She sighed peacefully. "Well, we better go to bed. Tomorrow's another day."
"It sure is." Soon they were fast asleep as the fire was slowly dying down.
It was somewhere in the middle of the night. Brooke was sound asleep in her meditation mode when all of a sudden, small sloths came out of nowhere and removed Brooke out of the tree, placing her on a wooden carrying platform. They started leading her on the trail in the forest. They didn't notice that she had woken up, bewildered by what was going on.
"Wait a minute," Brooke said, "What in the world is going on?" She looked to see that the tiny sloths were leading her to a statue of her head. They were even able to make her head using leaves and hay. There was even a wooden tiara placed on the head. She gasped in delight. "Now that's what I call respect." She was placed on the ground, where a tiny blue sloth placed a tiara on her head. "Oh, how nice of you! You all must love me. I must ask who the decorator is. This is simply incredible."
The tiny blue sloth walked up to Brooke and handed her two stones. "Goddess of Fire."
"Goddess of Fire? Well, it's about time somebody appreciated my true potential." Brooke held the two stones up in the air. "Let there be fire!" Brooke scraped the two stones together, placing sparks on some vines that lit up around the head statue of Brooke's. The tiny sloths were gazing wonderfully at it, loving the lights that were placed all over the place. They dragged Brooke over to her own throne chair as they say her down in it. She smiled as the tiny sloths carried her up a small hill. Brooke was amazed with everything that was going on. "Oh, if only the others could see me now." It was only a second when she saw a pool of lava right in front of her. "This is either really good or really bad." Brooke looked to see that they were planning to throw her in the lava pool. She had to convince them that it was all a mistake. "No, no, no. I am Goddess of Fire. Why are you trying to destroy Goddess of Fire."
The blue sloth walked up to Brooke. "A thousand years bad juju for killing Goddess of Fire. Super heated rocks from Earth's core is surging to the crust, melting ice built up over thousands of years."
"You all are a very advanced race, darlings, but together, we can look for a solution."
"We have one - sacrifice the Goddess of Fire."
"Well, that's not very advanced."
"Worth a shot."
The tiny sloths held Brooke up in the air, ready to throw her in the lava. Brooke had much fear in her. "No! NO! AAAHHHH!"
A shaking sound could be heard from around the giant head statue of Brooke started crumbling to the ground. The blue sloth gasped. "Bad juju!" All the tiny sloths started running away into the forest, dropping Brooke on the ground and leaving her alone. She looked to see all the destruction that was caused. Looking to see the crack of dawn coming upon her, Brooke ran off, making her way back to the others before they woke up to see that she was gone.
Meanwhile, the sun had awaken and the remaining group members were still asleep. Water could be seen surrounding them. Shira was the first one to wake up and noticed the water on the ground. She gasped. "Water? Oh, no. Guys, get up!" Shira didn't notice that her hip slammed into the tree, causing the two possums and Diego to jolt awake and fall out of the tree.
Diego shook his head. "What the heck just happened?"
"Sorry. Didn't mean for my hip to get in the way."
"Where did all this water come from?"
"Crash, I thought I told you not to drink anything before bed," Eddie said.
"I didn't do this," Crash said, "At least not all of it."
"What happened?" Diego asked.
"We overslept," Shira said, "Come on. We need to get a move on." The female saber went over to wake the two mammoths. "Manny, Ellie. Wake up. We need to start heading out towards the boat."
"What?" Ellie asked groggily.
"Okay, I'm up," Manny said, waking up. When he did, he looked to see that Ellie was lying on him like a pillow. "AAAHHHH!"
"AAAAHHHH!"
"Why are you screaming?"
"Why are you screaming?"
"You were sleeping on me like a pillow."
"You were sleeping on me like a pillow."
Shira cleared her throat. "Are you guys done?"
"Yes," both the mammoths said.
"Well, let's go. We don't have all day."
"What if we're the last creatures left alive?" Crash asked.
"We'll have to repopulate the Earth," Eddie said.
"That's actually not a bad idea considering that there's three females in the group."
Everyone looked to see Brooke running to the group. "Hello. Good morning, everyone. Oh, what a night I had. You'll never guess what happened to me."
"Were you sleepwalking?" Ellie asked.
"No, no, no, Ellie dear. I was kidnapped by a tribe of mini sloths."
"That was my second guess," Manny said.
"And they worshiped me," Brooke said, "Sure, they tried to throw me in a pool of lava, but they worshiped me."
"You were dreaming," Shira said, "Come on. The water's rising faster than we're moving."
"I'm telling you. I was kidnapped. I was worshiped. Why won't you believe me? Guys!" Brooke knew that nobody would believe her. "Fine."
Everybody started making their way on the path. Who knows how long they had until the flood came? Brooke was starting to slow down because she was beginning to grow tired. Shira groaned. "Brooke, hurry up! Move faster!"
"Can we slow down a little?" Brooke asked, "I'm dying here." Manny laughed, making the female sloth give him a look. "It was a figure of speech."
"I know it was," Manny said, "I thought it was funny."
They passed through a part of a trail where the vultures were staring at the group. Shira had a creeped out look on her face. "They're just sitting there watching us."
"I wish I knew what they were thinking," Brooke said.
The male vulture stared down at the group, smirking at them.
Food, glorious food…we're anxious to try it
Three banquets a day, our favorite diet!
Just picture a mammoth steak, fried, roasted or stewed
Oh, food, wonderful food, marvelous food, glorious food!
Food, glorious food,
Poached possum served flambé,
Broth made from a sloth,
Or a saber-tooth souffle,
Why should we be fated to,
Do nothing but brood,
On food, magical food, wonderful food, marvelous food?,
Food, glorious food,
Flesh picked off the dead ones,
Rank, rotten, or chewed,
Soon, we'll be the fed ones!
Just thinking of putrid meat
Puts us in a mood for
Food, glorious food, marvelous food, fabulous food, beautiful food,
Magical food,
Glorious food!
They all slid down a steep hill as they were trying to run away. The next thing they knew was that they were all hanging on a tree branch.
Shira looked at Brooke. "There. Now you know what they were thinking." Once she said that, they all fell off the branch, crashing on the ground. The day just keeps getting weirder and weirder for the group of mammals.
WELL, HERE IT IS. ANOTHER CHAPTER TO MY BRILLIANT ICE AGE STORY. ONLY A COUPLE OF MORE CHAPTERS TO GO.
WELL, CATCH YOU ON THE FLIP SIDE.
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