Well, now that I have access to both LMB archives, I've taken it upon myself to post the rest of this story (or as much of it is available on the archives), picking up where it left off here. I really want to bring back a lot of stories from the Chima community that have been left behind on the archives, so my schedule will be to post one "re-release" and one new story at a time now; so in other words, this story alongside "Quest Book 3", another re-post alongside my next new Chima story, etc.
I'll also be fixing the formatting of this story, since I noticed Epic had been doing that, but these stories will otherwise remain exactly the same. And of course, in case anyone new to this topic sees this, this story is by Epic, NOT by me. "I mean," said Laval, getting up from the table to stretch, "Loradus's story mentions a mind-controlling flower--which would have sounded crazy a couple days ago. But now it's too real..." He shuddered, staring at the table. "Somehow, everything else has to fit..." "I have it!" I said. Laval and Eris both whipped their heads around, expectant expressions on their faces; Ewar wrenched Razar's talons away from his pouch and said, "I'm listening!" (Razar crossed his arms and pouted.) "I have given it much thought," I began, "And I believe I have figured out how the temple was overtaken." I swallowed. "Someone--let us call him Loradus--found his way into the temple. Then he used sorcery to cause the passageways to shift at random. That done, he created a passageway to the flower field, gathered up several flowers, and waited until dark before starting to use them...on the lions." There was a pause. "But...why?" said Ewar. "If this is Loradus we're dealing with, why would he want to control the lions?" "No," I returned as a horrible thought struck me. I closed my eye. "Not just the lions. This is only the beginning." "Yes, well." Ewar now appeared worried. "Why would he want control of all the tribes in Chima?" And try though I might, I could not think of an answer to his query. Neither, it seemed, could anyone else, for Laval, Eris, and Razar all looked puzzled as well. We sat like this for quite some time, each with our own thoughts. I watched the dust swirl in the ray of sunlight coming through the window. Something was nagging at the back of my mind, something I knew to be important, but it would not let itself be known. I squinted at the sunbeam. Sunbeam. That was it. I was about to speak up when I realized that Laval had already started talking.
"Hey, Rizzo. According to you, where did the flower field come from?" Laval looked me in the eye. Yet another question I could not answer. I shook my head. "That I don't know. However, we do know that Loradus is somehow behind recent events." I raised a talon. "Does anyone know what to do about this?" Everyone was silent for a moment. Then Laval snorted. "Seems like you do," he said. "If you're gonna say something, then say it." "I'll second that," said Razar. I pounded the table for silence. "If you must know," said I, "I think we should attempt to make sense of the message that led us to Loradus's story." I allowed my words time to sink in, then peered at everyone in turn--Ewar, Razar, Eris, and Laval--Searching faces for signs of recognition. Eris was the first to speak up. "Oh! That's right," she said. "The message you said was carved into a wall by Chi. I know it mentioned Emerot, but can you tell us the whole thing?" The others nodded their heads in agreement. I sighed and looked down. "The complete message, as I remember it, was 'You shall need Emerot, as it needs you' or something of the sort." I could sense that the others were all staring at me, though I was looking straight down and the carpeted floor filled my vision. "You know," said Ewar quietly, "I didn't know the Chi could give warnings or advice in carved messages before today. And now I've heard of it happening more than once. Why"-- he broke off, then tried again. "Why d'you think the Chi gave messages to you and Loradus about Emerot?" I opened my beak, but words would not come. After several awkward attempts, I managed, "What are you trying to say?" Ewar shrugged. "Just wondering. It might be important." "I am certain it would be," I said. "Now, let us try to work out what the message means."
"You shall need Emerot..." muttered Ewar. "It's a bunch of nonsense to me," said Razar, taking out pouches and laying coins on the tabletop to count them. "Why would you need Mount Cavora?" The answer was ridiculously simple; nevertheless, I would not have guessed it was the answer to our problem had Razar not mentioned it. I had been too focused on how it related to the rest of the message. The others (excepting Razar) appeared to have come to the same conclusion as I, for their heads lifted and their eyes widened. Razar drew his coins back towards himself nervously. "What did I say?" "The Chi falls," said Laval. "Something about them..." That didn't seem exactly right to me. I tilted my head. "Eris, can you fetch an outdated encyclopedia?" "I'll do my best," she returned, and disappeared amongst the shelves. Laval was running through several interpretations of the message (all of which fit, though none of which made any sense) when a book as thick as my arm was long slammed down next to him. Laval stopped and stared at it. "Now," said Eris, "What did you wanna look up?" I got up from my chair and made my way over to the book. "I could be wrong," I said as I flipped through the first five hundred pages, "But I believe the answer lies in...let me see...Aha!" I pointed to a paragraph labeled "Anti-Chi". Eris stepped forwards and read through it. "Yeah, this is it!" said she with barely contained excitement. Ewar came over to read relevant portions. "Anti-Chi is a flower that can be used to control minds.... It is created when trying to return Chi to the pool from which it came.... The only known way to counteract its powers, or the effects of its powers, is to harness the energies of the Chi fountain, which can be found inside Mount Cavora."
The silence after Ewar spoke these words was as deafening as any shout. All of us stood where we were, staring, dumbfounded. Finally, Laval found his voice. "So, we know a way to stop Loradus. Inside Mount Cavora. How does that work out...?" His eyes appeared to glow red from the strain of thinking...or was it because he was slipping into a flower trance? Instantaneously, I snatched Laval's Valious from his back and shouted, "Someone! Hold him down!" Flinging the Valious away (it thudded into a bookshelf and stuck there), I leaped onto Laval's shoulders and brought him to the ground. "Help!" I cried, as Laval attempted to pry my claws from about his arm. "He is acting under the control of the Anti-Chi! Restrain him until the spell passes!" At these words, the others stopped staring blankly and assisted me in holding Laval. He struggled beneath our grip, almost breaking free several times. "Laval!" said Eris after a while. "Stop this! Remember"-- "Don't try to force your memories onto me," said Laval in an uncharacteristically deep voice. "I know who I am." He closed his eyes and ceased to struggle. "I carry a message. Be sure you remember it." "What's the message?" said Ewar. A hint of a smile appeared at the corners of Laval's mouth. "'I await you at your destination.'" And with that, he jerked out of our grasp and flung us into the nearest bookshelf, which began to tip over. I pulled myself painfully from the ground and attempted to hold it in place to stop the other bookshelves from toppling. With a growl, I righted the shelf and turned to find Laval looking at his hands, his eyes golden, not red. Eris, Ewar, and Razar were already stumbling towards him, bringing up a chair. I sat on the floor and caught my breath.
Laval looked as if he were coming off of a moon-long illness: he shuddered and coughed, his eyes shifting about wildly. "Wha--what just happened?" I stood up and strode over to him. "You came under Loradus's spell, as it were," I said. Ewar squinted at the encyclopedia. "There's something I don't get," he said. "You"--he indicated Laval, Eris, Razar, and I--"described the lions at the temple as acting under the flower's control all the time. Well, Laval sniffed the flower, so why does he only show signs of it occasionally?" I shrugged. "Perhaps the encyclopedia has an answer." Eris comforted Laval while Ewar walked over to the encyclopedia. "Oh," said he. "It says here that memory of strong emotions interferes with Anti-Chi's effectiveness." Ewar looked up. "How does that help?" "Well," said I, "When Laval was first affected by the Anti-Chi, I must have said something to him that triggered strong emotion, and partially broke the spell." I sighed with frustration. What had I said to Laval last night? It might be useful to know; but it had faded completely from my mind as if I had said it hundreds of nights ago. "Hey," said Laval. "Did I say anything while I was... Y'know..." He widened his eyes. "Oh, yeah, you did," said Eris, grimacing (from the memory of his words, I assumed). "You were giving us a message. It was something like"-- "It was more of the same threats we got from Lagravis," Razar interrupted. "Really, nothing much." Eris glared at him. "The message was, 'I await you at your destination.'" Laval sat back and winced. "Destination?" said he. "Where would that be?" "Ah," I said, "Most probably Mount Cavora. After all, we need to heal the lions: they are the protectors and distributors of the Chi. If they refuse to distribute it, all would be lost. Also, Loradus seems to want control of all tribes in Chima, and we can do nothing to stop him without the powers of the Chi fountain. I believe we should organize an expedition to the Mount Cavora."
This was met with blank stares. "But that's impossible," said Laval bluntly. "I think what he's trying to say," said Ewar, waving both me and Laval silent, "Is that a few have tried to get to Mount Cavora, but all have failed. Some say that Mount Cavora is higher in the sky than the sun." I nodded politely. "I respect your words. However, I do not expect to get there by flying." Razar narrowed his eyes until they were yellow slits. "He knows something he's not telling us," said he. "I assure you," I said, "That I have told you all I know. And yet..." I glanced at the encyclopedia. Ewar slapped his forehead. "Of course!" He walked over and looked through the enormous book, searching for, presumably, Mount Cavora. He halted on one page, ran a talon over the different paragraphs, and looked up. "It's not here," he said. "Mount Cavora's not in here." "Are you sure?" Eris walked over to stand beside him. After a long while, during which she carefully scanned the page Ewar had stopped on (and several of the pages that came before and after), Eris announced, "Ewar's right. It's not here." Having realized the truth, I said, "That is because you went about it the wrong way. Look up 'Emerot'." Eris stared at me for a moment, then asking Ewar to step aside, she started flipping through the pages. Rawzom and the seven other ravens stepped out from the shelves then. "What are you doing now?!" said Rawzom. "Reading some other ancient volume?" He shook his head, as if not seeing the point of such a thing. "Here it is!" said Eris, her feathers soiled by dust (disturbed by rapid page flipping). "'Emerot'. It tells where to find an old hermit, who, I guess, knows a way to Mount Cavora. Oh, this part is important too: 'One animal from each of the following tribes is needed to unlock Emerot's gateway.'" "Now," said I, "Let us propose this expedition to Ewald, shall we?" Everyone nodded their approval (even Rawzom, who looked dreadfully confused), then we left the library.
Due to my limp, I soon fell to the back of the group as we marched through the corridors, headed for Ewald's room. Laval deliberately slowed his pace to fall into step beside me. "So," said he, "D'you really think we'd find Loradus inside Mount Cavora if we could get there?" I considered this. "I am uncertain," I said. After all, why would Loradus want to meet us in Mount Cavora? Despite the constant threats from mind-controlled lions, it seemed unlikely that we would face Loradus. Laval looked at me, frowning. "You're keeping something from us, aren't you? Seems like you're always being secretive." When I turned away and did not respond, he rejoined the main group in a huff. I sighed. Constantly during the time I was around Laval, I had to remind myself that we were on different sides of a war. It became tiresome to feel like I was being shunned because of which tribe I belonged to. Also, it seemed as if the other ravens had lost their respect for me ever since I sought aid from Laval and Eris. Did I truly belong anywhere now? "Here we are," said Eris from the front of the party. "Remember, be polite, and let me and Laval do the talking. He'll probably say no, because, well..." Trailing off, she knocked on (presumably) Ewald's door thrice. There was a barely audible, "Come in," and Eris pushed the door open. The room was sparsely furnished (as most rooms were), having only a few mats on the floor to sit on. The walls were bare stonework, with no windows. Ewald was sitting on one of the mats and eyeing us rather suspiciously. "What do you want?" he asked. Eris stepped to the front, pulling Laval along with her. "Well, you see, we were at the lion temple last night..." She then went on to recount everything that had happened at the lion temple, allowing Laval to tell about events that had transpired while she was not in our company.
Ewald listened attentively as Eris summed up Loradus's story and our interpretations of it. "So," said Ewald, "You think an age-old, make-believe lion took control of the entire lion tribe and destroyed their temple, and that you can stop him from doing other such things by traveling to Mount Cavora?" Eris winced, but nodded all the same. She began speaking again, "We found a way to"-- Ewald shook his head and sighed loudly. "I hope this is one of your jokes," he said. "As usual, it's not very funny." "The story of Loradus," said Eris firmly, "Is not a fairytale. It actually happened." "That story was created to stop young ones from taking Chi before they were ready." Ewald glared through half-closed eyes. "There is no Loradus." I shuddered slightly as his gaze passed over me. Was I imagining it, or were Ewald's eyes truly glowing red, as if he was being controlled by.... "The real danger here is the ravens you've brought in with you," he continued. "Why--?" "They're being much more helpful than you say! More helpful than you, anyway!!" Eris now looked very angry. Gulping, I looked around at the others, who were edging back towards the door almost involuntarily. Ewald slowly got to his feet. "You will address me with respect," said he. Eris looked at the floor. "Yes, sir." Ewald smiled and settled back down. Eris then looked back at us with equal measures of desperation and confusion. And in that moment Ewald sprang forwards with a scream that seemed to suck all the air out of the room. Almost too late, Eris sidestepped, and Ewald fell to the floor. But he was up again before one could blink, and he threw himself upon Laval. Both went down, kicking and beating the other. While everyone stared in horror, I ran for the door and heaved it open, then urged them outside. One by one they rushed out of the room, until only Laval (and Ewald) was left.
Ewald was indeed controlled by the Anti-Chi, for as I re-entered to retrieve Laval from his grasp, I could not help but notice his blazing scarlet eyes. Laval looked terrified, and seemed to be doing all he could simply to keep Ewald's talons away from his face. Thinking quickly, I turned and ran backwards at Ewald, sweeping my wings. When I felt the tips of my feathers brush against his face, I stopped and leaned back as far as I dared. Blinded by my wings, Ewald released Laval (who scooted away across the floor) and groped around, one of my wings in each set of talons and slowly, forcibly pulling apart. "Laval!" I shouted, not able to contain my voice. "Make use of your blade!" Through a haze of pain, I saw Laval stand up shakily and draw his Valious. He then staggered over and dealt Ewald several blows on the head with the flat of the blade. Ewald loosened his grip slightly, allowing me to pull away. But Laval continued to hit Ewald until he collapsed to the floor, unconscious. Laval and I stood for a moment, breathing heavily. Then Laval made for the doorway. I followed, pausing once to glance back at Ewald. It would probably be best if our party departed the castle before he awoke. We would also have to warn the other eagles of his condition. Sighing, I barred the door from the outside and rejoined the group. "That went well," said Razar when he saw me. I shook my head at him, an action that caused pain, thus I stopped quickly. "So, what should we do now?" asked Ewar. No one answered. Eventually, though, Eris spoke up. "We should probably bring our plans to Equila. He can take command of the tribe, and organize a party of travelers to Mount Cavora." Everyone agreed to this, and as we set off down the corridors, Laval said, "One more thing: who could've slipped Ewald the Anti-Chi?"
We were no nearer to answering Laval's question when we came upon Equila, strolling through the corridors. I instantly stepped up to him. "First and foremost," I began, "We must know if"--Laval dug his elbow into my stomach and shoved, causing me to stumble backwards into the other ravens. They gave me rather dirty looks whilst Eris informed Equila of all the recent (unusual) events. Again, she finished by telling what we discovered in our studies of Mount Cavora. Equila raised an eyebrow. "That's not all you wanted to tell me, is it?" said he. "Oh--" said Eris, "No, that's not all of it. We went to Ewald to put together a traveling party to Mount Cavora, but he went...kind of crazy. Laval thinks he might be controlled by the Anti-Chi. Did anyone visit him before us?" Equila now appeared slightly uncomfortable. "Well, about an hour ago, some hooded figure said he had an appointment with our tribe leader, so..." He trailed off. "Can you describe what the hooded guy looked like?" asked Laval. "I'm sorry, I've told you all I can," said Equila. "Did you come to tell me that I'm to be the tribe leader now, with Ewald unable?" Eris nodded. "Yeah, and we want you to help put together our traveling party." "Ah." Equila defocused his gaze. "So this is your purpose? To make it to Mount Cavora?" "What of it?" said Laval quietly. "There are some," said Equila, "Who would not think it wise." He paused and looked over every one of us. Laval, Eris, Ewar and I held our breath (The ravens counted their coins). Finally Equila made up his mind. "I give this journey my blessing," he said. "You can also decide for yourselves the members of your traveling group. But please remember the risk you're taking..." "I understand," said Eris. "When would we leave?" "You get to decide that, too," said Equila. "Now, being our tribe leader, I have things to do." And he turned about and walked away.
We spent the night at the castle, and in the morning, Eris called us all to the library. As soon as everyone arrived, she brought us to a table with the titanic encyclopedia on it. "This," said Eris, "has the map with the ground route to Mount Cavora's--gatekeeper." She paused, rereading the section ere continuing. "It also says which six tribes are needed to 'unlock the gateway': lion,"--Of course--"crocodile, eagle, raven, gorilla, and wolf." Ewar raised his talons. "I have a question," said he. "Who's going to carry the encyclopedia?" Eris smiled. "I had Eglor copy the pages we need last night. That book's not leaving the library. Now, we'll need at least one representative from each of those six tribes to travel with us, which means"-- "We need to pay the crocodiles, gorillas and wolves a visit," I finished for her. I did not like the idea, but it was completely necessary that we followed through with it. "Let's decide," said Eris, "Which of us will go." "I'm definitely going," said Laval. Nobody argued. "I'll go," said Ewar, looking at the ceiling. Razar held out his hook. "I will join you for a bargain price of five gold coins per"-- "I shall join you," I said, "For the message from the Chi tells me to, and I would not dare to ignore it." Razar narrowed his eyes into angry slits, but walked over to join the growing party of travelers just the same. "What about you, Eris?" said Laval. "Are you coming?" Eris sighed. "I thought that was assumed"-- "Ah, assumptions," said I. "Dangerous things"-- "Well, are you?" Laval cut me off impatiently. "Yes," said Eris. "Why else d'you think I left Equila in charge?" Now Rawzom and the seven other ravens stood across from us, looking rather uncomfortable. "Err.... Are we dismissed then?" said Rawzom. "Only if you don't want to go to the Chi fountain with us," said Eris. At these words, Rawzom made for the door (the seven ravens following) and said, "We'll find our way out, don't worry about us..." The door slammed behind them.
