Chapter 31: The battle begins!
The tribes were flying in the direction of the eastern part of the temples. The morale of many birds to fight was extremely high, and many noticed it from each other. Jasmine, however, saw that her brother Blu went from a high morale when the speeches were said to a down face when they got closer to Twelve Peaks.
"What's wrong, Blu?" Jasmine asked as she noticed the downright face of her younger brother.
Blu sighed and said: "It's just… when we fight these Emberwings, do we really have to take their lives?"
Both Thomas and Jasmine saw the uneasiness and worry on Blu's face, because he would have to take the lives of any Emberwing he might come across.
"Blu…" Jasmine began. "If you don't kill them, they'll kill you first."
"I know that." Blu said heavily.
"Did you feel any sort of empathy for this cockatoo named Nigel, when he hurt Jewel and made her break her wing?" Thomas asked.
"No, of course not, and I even sent him flying back with an extinguisher. After that… I heard a scream and saw some feathers going off of him. He got into one of the propellors of the plane and at that point, I thought he was gone." Blu said.
"And did you feel any remorse later about it?" Jasmine asked.
"Not in the slightest, because he couldn't hurt us anymore, at least that's what I thought after that, unbeknownst for a long time that he was still alive." Blu replied.
"And that's why you must take the lives of those Emberwings, Blu, because they intend to hurt everyone you love the most or hold dear." Sapphire said, now joining the conversation.
"Tell me, Sapphire." Blu started. "When you made your first kill, what did you feel?"
"Yeah, I also wish to know that, mom." Jewel said.
"I'm kinda interested too." Eduardo admitted.
Sapphire looked forward for a moment and said nothing, but eventually she broke the silence.
"When I took the life of that Emberwing, I felt something greater than shock, more powerful and frightful then fear. I cannot give a name to it." Sapphire said. "But after some moments of hardship and pain in my body, I eventually did something all birds must do in war against their enemies."
Blu: "And what's that?"
"Closing your heart." Sapphire said. "Close your heart to their suffering, close your heart to their anguish, close your heart to their feelings. For they will not feel for you."
Blu was thinking heavily, with thoughts and uneasiness racing through his mind and Jewel and Sapphire noticed this.
"Hey." Jewel said with comfort in her voice. "It's alright, honey, we're all in this together. We're going to experience the same things."
"Yes." Sapphire said. "And let me ask you something, Blu? Would you do anything for your wife and kids?"
"Anything." Blu said. "Make them happy, be with them and protect them at all costs."
"Even if that means taking the life of a bird or birds that want to take the lives of your wife and children?" Jasmine asked.
Blu thought deeply for a moment, but with a heavy sigh he said: "Yes."
"Exactly." Thomas said. "And since those Emberwings are birds who wish nothing but misery on others, we must all close our hearts to their anguish, for they do the same to us. Only difference is that they close it and take extreme pleasure in taking our lives. We must take theirs, however, solely to stay alive."
"Listen." Blu said heavily. "With Nigel, I had no choice at all."
"Neither do you now, little brother." Jasmine said. "It's not about the actions that you make, it's about for what you do them for. And remember this: true courage is not about knowing how to take a life, but knowing how one could be spared.
Blu thought about this with many thoughts racing through his mind.
"You're mainly a thinker, right, little brother? Well, that's something for you to think about." Thomas replied.
Blu was thinking a lot about what his sister had just said and looked at Jewel, who simply smiled, with Blu smiling back, although weakly.
The birds were approaching the temples. They came closer and closer to the ancient home of the Azul Clan.
On the top of the eastern temples, some Emberwings were perched on it, talking to each other. Some were even harnessing their fighting skills, by training with each other, although this training was to show who was the strongest and who was a weakling.
Then, on Peak 3, one Emberwing, who was literally rolling his eyes in boredom, looked to the west and saw something was coming. At first it was dull, but he could see that it was getting closer.
"Guys…" the Emberwing said, but they were too distracted with the training between the two Emberwings.
Many more moments passed by and the thing that that Emberwing was seeing, was getting much bigger and could see that its colors were red and blue.
"Guys!" The Emberwing demanded. "Stop your squabbling and get your butts over here!"
"What is it, José? One of the Emberwings said demandingly.
"Look!" José pointed his wing towards the blue and red colors.
"What the-" one of the Emberwings said.
They all knew that those blue and red spots were birds as they came closer and closer. There were about 75 Emberwings in total outside. The rest were still celebrating a specific ceremony, that is only celebrated by the Emberwings, in a deep and large hall of the Underpassage.
"Go to our leaders, go to Terrin. Sound the alarm!" José said.
A few Emberwings flew into Peak 3 and went down to the underpassage, but just the, the Azuls and the 3 other tribes came really close to Twelve Peaks.
"ÁFRAM, ÁSZULÆ!" Andor yelled.
"ÁFRAM, ÁSZULÆ!" The rest of the Azul Clan roared and then every spix and scarlet macaw started to scream as they now descended on the Emberwings at full speed.
"IT'S THE AZUL CLAN!" an Emberwing yelled in complete shock.
"How's that…" José said to himself in complete disbelief.
"And have they brought other spix macaws or am I dreaming?!" one Emberwing said out loud.
"And who are those others? Are those red macaws?!" another Emberwing yelled out.
"Doesn't matter, guys. Prepare for slaughtering them!" José yelled.
The Emberwings from the other temples then flew as fast as they could to their kin in the west, but it was too late…
"CHAAAAARGE!" Andor, Amalia, Willfried, Felipe, Mia, Arturo, Megeslav, Eduardo and Sapphire yelled.
And then, Andor was the first one to bump into an Emberwing, taking him a few meters towards the ground. The battle for Xlaxlan Twelve Peaks had begun.
More Azuls, spix and scarlets were charging in countless numbers at the few Emberwings that were on patrol, cornering them from all sides.
Although outnumbered, the Emberwings fought savagely and had pure intents of killing and destroying their foes.
Yet, despite all their efforts, they weren't able to kill any spix macaw, Azul or red macaw.
The Azuls and Mia's tribe fought with utter vengeance for what the Emberwings had done to them and many of the orange macaws began to fall.
Before anyone knew it, most of the Emberwings that were guarding the outside of Twelve Peaks, were lying motionless on the plaza.
"We'll hold them off!" José yelled to one of the remaining Emberwings. "Get to Terrin! Warn him!"
The lonely Emberwing did as he was commanded and was able to slip through many of the Azuls, spix and scarlet macaws, flying towards an entrance in peak 7, the central temple in the southern line.
Jewel noticed this and yelled: "Oh, no, you don't!"
"Jewel!" Blu yelled as he saw his wife flying after the lonely Emberwing, but she didn't hear him. Jewel flew into the temple right on the trail of the orange macaw with high speed and entered the temple's hall, which was lit by some torches and even some fireflies.
"Get back here!" she yelled as she eventually grabbed the Emberwing's back and they both fell to the ground.
Jewel's grip was loosened as they hit the ground and they both landed on a different spot.
The Emberwing didn't take this attack too well and was furious.
He launched himself at Jewel, screaming.
Jewel got up on her feet and braced herself for impact. Then, the Emberwing and Jewel started fighting. They clawed and punched each other with both their talons and wings alike.
Eventually, however, the Emberwing made a move with his right wing, in which he tackled Jewel on the ground and before Jewel could react, the Emberwing had his talons gripped to her neck.
Jewel struggled to get free and was gasping for air, but the Emberwing's grip only tightened. Jewel thought that this could be the end and let out a tear that she couldn't say goodbye to Blu, her kids, her mom, her father and all of her friends.
The Emberwing chuckled, but was unexpectedly tackled by an unseen force, which let him go of Jewel.
Jewel gasped for air and as she regained her senses, she saw that the Emberwing was fighting with her husband.
"Blu?!" Jewel yelled in complete shock.
After some fighting, Blu managed to tackle the Emberwing once more, pinned him to the ground and had his talon around the Emberwing's neck. This was the moment, Blu had to do something unthinkable, something that the Azuls, Mia's scarlets and even some spix of Eduardo and scarlets of Felipe did without second thought back outside.
"Blu, do it! Take the Emberwing's life!" Jewel yelled.
Blu hesitated, his eyes filled with doubt and fear. Did he really have to go this far? Is there another way?
As he looked at the Emberwing, the orange bird let out an evil smile and weakly said: "Oh, how weak. Looks like we have a feisty one (looks at Jewel) and a coward (looks back at Blu)."
"Don't you dare call my husband a coward, orange demon!" Jewel yelled.
"Oh." The Emberwing said evilly. "A couple huh? Well, it's a shame I couldn't play a little more with that wifey of yours, she would serve as a perfect toy to us."
But the Emberwing shouldn't have said that, as Blu's face then turned from a doubtful one to a furious one and tightened his grip around the Emberwing's neck.
"Don't you dare call my wife a toy." Blu said very darkly towards the orange macaw.
"Blu, don't allow your anger to get the better of you." Jewel pleaded.
Blu looked at Jewel and then, the words of his sister rushed back into his head from earlier: true courage is not about knowing how to take a life, but knowing how one could be spared.
He understood now what she meant as he looked at his wife, who was on the brink of death earlier.
With a swift jolt, Blu let out a loud groan and cracked the neck of the Emberwing.
Blu was gasping. He had just killed a bird.
Jewel noticed the frozen stance of her husband, ran towards him and hugged him tightly.
"Thank you, Blu. Without you, I would have been a goner." Jewel said.
Blu then noticed his wife was hugging him and he hugged her tightly, both birds happy that they survived this encounter with the Emberwing.
They looked at each other with love in their eyes, but then they heard the commotion from outside back. Both of them rushed towards the temple's exit.
Back outside the Emberwing numbers were dwindling immensely and before José knew it, he was the last survivor.
He was surrounded by all too familiar faces: Andor, Willfried, Amalia, Jasmine and Thomas.
"Looks like you all survived the flood like we did." José said with disgust in his voice.
They all looked angrily towards the Emberwing and then a voice came out of the large crowd of spix macaws, Azuls and scarlet macaws.
"And the Azuls aren't the only ones who survived a natural disaster, Emberwing!" The voice of Arturo yelled.
José looked to his left and saw 4 all too familiar faces: Megeslav, Arturo, Mia and most importantly, Sapphire.
José's eyes went from an angry one to one of pure shock as he saw Sapphire.
"No…" José said. "It cannot be…"
With a swift move, Sapphire grabbed her right talon on the Emberwing's neck.
"Yes, Emberwing, it is me, Sapphire." Sapphire said in a stern voice.
"H- how are you all still alive?" The Emberwing said with a struggling voice.
"Because fate allowed many of us to stay alive, alive enough to take you Emberwings and Terrin down. Once. And. For. ALL!" Sapphire replied as she jolted José's neck, taking the life of the Emberwing instantly.
Sapphire panted a bit, until Eduardo stepped to his wife and held her wing. She looked at her husband, who was smiling at her, his face assuring her that everything was going to be alright. Then, Blu and Jewel arrived at the place.
"Azuls! Spix macaws, Scarlets!" Andor yelled. "We must secure the temples at once! It would appear that most of the Emberwings are in the Underpassage! If we secure the temples, we can trap them there!"
"You heard him, everyone!" Felipe yelled. "Secure those temples!"
"Come on birds, put some back into it!" Eduardo yelled.
All the macaws did as they were commanded to do and flew into the 12 temples. Blu, Jewel, Bia, Carla, Tiago, Sapphire, Eduardo, Mimi, Roberto, Thomas, Jasmine, Amalia, Andor, Willfried, Mia, Arturo, Megeslav, Felipe, Henrik, Astrid, Bruno, Renaldo, Miguel, Skye, Rafael, Nico and Pedro all went to Peak 1, the biggest temple that stood in the center of the northern line of temples.
All the torches and fireflies still lit the temple from the inside and although the Emberwings had decorated the halls with their own decorations, much of the walls' engraved runic scripts had remained intact.
Andor, Amalia, Willfried, Thomas and Jasmine looked in wonder at every passage they came across. Eventually, they all reached a large chamber in the middle of the temple, with a large stone throne standing atop some stairs in the middle of the chamber.
"So this must be the Throne Room you told us about, right Thom and Jas?" Nico asked Thomas and Jasmine.
"Yes…" Both Jasmine and Thomas said with wonder in their voices, not taking their eyes off the stone throne.
Amalia, Andor and their children flew up the stairs and stopped before the throne, looking in wonder. On the throne's stone splat stood the engraved runes 'ᚨᛉᚢᛚ', which transliterates to 'Azul'.
Andor placed his right wing on the throne's stone seat.
"I remember this room… These walls… This throne…" Andor said, almost on the brink of tears as happy memories from old days.
He turned to his wife and his children, who were sharing smiles of happiness to him, even though his children had never been inside their ancient home.
He then turned towards Thomas and Jasmine, who too were on the brink of tears from all the happy memories.
"Do you remember, brother and sister?" Andor addressed his 2 adoptive siblings.
Andor (heavily emotional): "Do you remember how mom and dad used to watch over our people from this throne?"
"Yes, Andor… We remember…" Thomas said with much emotion in his voice.
"And how we used to play in these halls when we were just kids…" Jasmine said with wonder in her eyes.
"Yeah." Amalia said happily. "Like the so many hide-and-seeks we played in these temples, every time someone counting in this temple or even this very chamber."
Sapphire stepped forward and said: "And your children would also be able to do so, when we defeat the Emberwings."
"Sapphire is right." Eduardo said. "We must for now not let our good memories get a hold of us. We have an enemy to fight."
"You're both right." Willfried replied. "I will see how the others are doing in taking the other temples and see if no Emberwing comes from the tunnels."
And with that, Willfried took off as the rest stayed in the Throne room.
Roberto then approached Jasmine.
"Even though I'm not a fan of human things, I must admit that this is a very beautiful place, Jas." Roberto said. "Did you truly live here for 13 years?"
"Yep, and even during the war in the 13th year, this very temple we're now in was a place every Azul called his/her home." Jasmine replied.
Then, however, she sighed and heavily said: "If only mom and dad could be here at this moment."
Roberto noticed her sadness and put a wing of comfort around her back.
"Hey, Jas." Roberto said with compassion in his voice. "I may not have known your parents, but I fully believe that they will be very proud of you, Thomas and Blu far making it this far."
Jasmine smiled, looked directly into his eyes and asked: "Aw, you do?"
"Certainly." Roberto said.
Then Mia stepped in and said: "I too must admit this is a very beautiful place, it truly suits with the Azul Clan. However, the fact that they have desecrated these halls with their vile decorations, makes this place all too ominous."
"Once they are defeated, we will redecorate these halls once again to our former glory." Amalia said.
Then, after about 10 minutes, Willfried came back.
"Well, brother?" Amalia asked.
"We have secured the temples of Twelve Peaks!" Willfried exclaimed.
This news made every bird inside the throne room cheer victoriously, but it soon ended when a scarlet macaw from Mia's tribe and the Azul named Björn came into the room, panting heavily.
"What's going on?!" Tiago was the first to ask.
"Those Emberwings, they are attacking the birds from the tunnels that lead to the underground entrances of the southern temples!" the scarlet macaw yelled.
Everyone gasped.
"Is Terrin with them?" Arturo asked.
"No." Björn said. "But I saw Gobbla coming out of the hole, scaring away many birds, followed… by Skarsnik…"
Everyone gasped once again, but before someone could react, Megeslav dashed with high speed towards the exit of the chamber and yelled: "SKARSNIK!"
"MEG, WAIT!" Sapphire yelled as she held her right wing out, but Megeslav was already gone.
"AH, CURSES!" Sapphire yelled as she now also took off.
At that moment, everyone flew towards the exit of the temple, readying themselves for the next phase of the first battle. The first phase was just a small army that they could easily outnumber and although they would still outnumber all of the Emberwings, everyone knew that they weren't a force to mess with.
The first phase of the first battle may have gone easily, but now the real fight begins…
To be continued…