11 Chaotic Escape
Dust and smoke clouded the place of impact while the few trees that remained were near horizontal and ablaze.
A massive chunk of flesh was shredded to cinders, the acrid smell of burnt flesh suffocated the surrounding.
Behind the burnt body lay two smaller bodies entangled together covered in snow and dirt.
As the ground continued to tremble from the stampede of beasts, one of the smaller bodies stirred.
A streak of blood trailed down the side of his head as his face was covered in dirt and soot.
Kai looked around in a stupor before snapping awake when he glanced down to see his mother lying unconscious.
It was so sudden, but the moment he noticed the flaming rock flying in their direction, he pulled Asha into a dive.
There was no time so all he could do was protectively wrap her in his arms and hope for the best.
From the barely recognizable charred flesh before him and the crater behind it, he surmised that the bear monster took the brunt of the impact which allowed for the two of them to survive by the skin of their teeth.
Kai breathed a heavy sigh of relief for having nearly escaped death again.
As he calmed down, he realized it was not time to be reminiscing and hurriedly shook Asha awake.
Holding her head in pain, she slowly gathered herself before being startled from noticing her son's head injury.
"Kai, you're hurt." She lamented as she gingerly touched the side of his head.
Kai held her hand and smiled back in reassurance. "It's just a scratch mom. We need to keep moving. It's not safe here."
Asha hesitated for a moment before nodding her head. As she tried to stand up, her legs wobbled and nearly fell if Kai didn't catch her.
"Ow, my leg." There was a bloody gash below her knee, probably caused by some flying debris from the impact.
Kai furrowed his brow but quickly came to a decision.
He took off his robe and kneeled down facing away from Asha. "Hurry, climb on my back."
"No son, just leave me behind. I'll only slow you down." Asha tried to reject as she knew a leg injury during this time of crisis would be deadly.
She didn't want to be the cause of more suffering for her son.
He is the strongest and cleverest person she had ever known so she knew he could go far.
But she was slow and weak so she would become a burden to her son. She didn't want to drag him down when he had a much better chance to survive on his own, no matter how much it pained her.
However, Kai was angered upon hearing his mother's ridiculous plea. "There's no way I'd leave you behind. If you choose to stay, then so will I."
Asha felt frustrated that Kai refused to save himself, but it was overshadowed by elation that her son unhesitatingly chose to remain with her even until the end.
"Fine, but you have to survive no matter what." She muttered as she climbed on his back, revealing an unconstrained smile belying her serious façade.
Kai stood up with her in piggyback and secured Asha using his fur robe. "You got that wrong mom. It's WE have to survive, no matter what."
"Mm, you're right." Despite the catastrophic event occurring, Asha was flooded with warmth as she tightened her hold on Kai as he started running.
At this point, the sky was completely veiled over by thick smog that transformed day into night.
It would have been even darker if not for the hundreds of streaks of flaming debris expelled from the erupting mountain.
It was like watching a cataclysmic meteor shower from the end of times.
It struck awe and fear to anyone who witnessed it.
However, Kai was too busy to admire the scenery. With his hands free, Kai could afford to advance more nimbly.
Hundreds, if not thousands of wild beasts were stampeding away, their frenzied charge causing immense chaos.
Kai had to stay focused to avoid being trampled by the larger beasts.
Fiery debris rained down from the sky. The ground trembled and explosions sounded as they impacted the surrounding.
Trees and other vegetation caught fire; a raging blaze spread each time the debris fell.
It was so sudden, but the surroundings already looked like a scene from hell.
Asha felt extremely nervous and vexed because all she could do was rely on her son to carry her.
As for Kai, he never stopped moving and under all the pressure, his senses and reflexes sharpened considerably.
He was so focused that he didn't even feel the weight of his mother as he kept fleeing and dodging.
He gradually made his way up the mountain, but his eyes widened in alarm when he watched as a massive rock collided into the peak of the mountain.
The collision rocked the peak causing a rockslide.
It started small but as it cascaded down, it grew into an overwhelming avalanche pulling along ice and boulders with it.
They were in a direct path of the avalanche and there was no time to escape.
Gritting his teeth, Kai scanned the area looking for cover, but couldn't spot anywhere suitable within sprinting distance.
As he was about to despair, he spotted a massive mammoth beast ahead of him.
It was even larger than the largest mammoth that was found on Earth.
Pressed for time and with no better solution, he sprinted with all his might toward that mammoth.
The uncontrollable roar of the approaching avalanche was extremely intimidating as he feared for the worst.
As he was about to reach the mammoth, another rock fell from the sky near him, forcing him to change directions.
Kai cursed as he grew even more anxious as the avalanche was about to hit them.
With adrenaline pumping through his veins, Kai sprinted with everything he had.
Just as the avalanche was about to reach them, Kai made one last desperate leap.
He grabbed onto the fur of the mammoth as he pulled himself up right when the avalanche collided.
An explosion of snow and ice blurred his vision as he felt the mammoth jerk to the side from the force of the collision.
He held on for dear life, sticking his body as close as he could to the back of the mammoth while Asha fiercely squeezed Kai afraid that she would be blown away.
Even the heavy mammoth couldn't remain still as it was pushed back despite trying to maintain its footing.
The tsunami of snow and ice washed away and buried all the beasts.
All they could hear was the deafening sound of the torrent of snow.
It drowned out everything else, even the explosion of falling rocks.
Kai felt helpless like desperately clinging onto a small boat in the middle of a raging storm.
He had no idea how long they drifted. He was just extremely thankful that he could still feel the warmth of his mother clinging to his back.
Once he couldn't feel anymore movement, he discovered that they were buried under the snow.
Luckily, they rode on top of the mammoth so only the minimal amount of snow was above them.
He started digging his way up and eventually poked his head out of the snow.
"Mom, are you alright." After reaching the surface, he was worried for his mother.
"Ughh… yeah, I'll be fine. Just some bruises I think." Asha weakly responded, still dazed from all the violent activity.
Kai heaved a sigh of relief as he couldn't stop internally praising himself for using his robe to tie his mother to him.
If he hadn't, she could have been lost forever due to the powerful avalanche.
As they were catching their breath alone among the empty field of snow, they noticed large cracks splintering down the erupting mountain.
The cracks grew longer and wider as they continued to split apart as they traveled down to the base of the mountain.
They watched in shock as the mountain was fracturing like a hatching egg.
The mountain itself seemed to swell as the cracks grew, threatening to explode.
"No way, the mountain is-" Asha commented as she tightened her grip on Kai.
As if on cue, the entire mountain burst apart, drowning out her words.
Millions of rock debris were sent flying as something erupted from within.
*ROOOAAAAR!!!*
The thunderous roar split the sky apart as Kai and Asha were forced to cover their ears as they were buffeted by the sound wave.
It was the scene of the end of the world as their bulging eyes were transfixed on the thing that emerged from the ruin.
It was gargantuan, even larger than the mammoth, with lustrous black scales that shimmered crimson from the glow of the erupting magma.
The rows of its razor-like teeth could crunch down on the hardest of ores as if they were soft flesh.
The thick, long claws it brandished could cleave an endless fissure into the earth.
Each flap of its massive, outstretched wings caused a hurricane that uprooted huge trees and boulders as if they were sand.
Its golden eyes with vertical slit pupils looked down on everything like a tyrannical overlord.
Even from such a large distance, Kai could feel the overbearing pressure stifling him so much that he couldn't breathe.
Asha felt bottomless despair overwhelm her senses until she was unable to bear it and passed out.
Kai audibly gulped before he could mutter in disbelief. "It's a fucking dragon."
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