Elemental Cats
Chapter 14 Aftermath

Since Toz was the only one awake he kept a watch out, which was easy since the one direction enemies could come from was the cave entrance. Since the mountains were surrounded and filled with heaps of wild beasts waiting around for leaders and partners to return, it wasn't completely safe for everyone to fall asleep, even if Nil had set up some traps around the entrance.

The beasts' cries could be heard all the time, although only weakly inside the cave. Sometimes an especially aggressive roar or a tragic death cry could be heard from somewhere in the mountains. The egg's existence had lured countless beasts to gather in a single spot. Before the egg had been snatched by Toz, all the beasts had been too focused on the treasure, but now that it was gone and basically all the leaders were still stuck in the pit, the gathered beasts had turned into headless chickens. They didn't know if they should stay, go home, or try to assist in some way.

In the middle of all this indecisiveness and roving natural and unnatural enemies came into contact and seeds of conflict sprouted. Although none of the largest groups, like the deer herd or the wolf pack had taken significant action several of the smaller groups, like a pack of hyenas had gone wild and started hunting weaker beasts crazily. A large Flame Tipped Eagle had begun preying on smaller birds and animals. Several more predators, that usually stayed quiet in fear of the stronger ones, down in the pit had begun settling grudges and starting new ones as well.

The first few days had been nothing more than the occasional tussle but as only a couple of beasts capable of flying or adept at climbing had made it out of the pit after those days, the aggressive behavior escalated and the unease in most beasts grew.

More and more beasts left, the ones that stayed behind were the fearless ones and those that hoped for their leader to return safely, either in desperate need or due to confidence in their strength.

However, many groups were bound to be disappointed. The situation down in the hole was even worse than on the surface. The panic of never being able to get back up had completely settled within all the beings still left down there. Not to mention the lack of food. The lack of food especially had covered the ground in streams of blood, almost competing with the still flowing lava streams, all over the floor.

Since none of the third level beasts were capable of flight or good enough at climbing to make it up the straight wall all of them were stuck. Well except one, the deer that had first gone after the support wolf had succumbed to it's injuries combined with a sneak attack from a lizard that had made it's move in the chaos that followed Toz's disappearance. After attacking the deer it quickly climbed up the wall and the two remaining deer could only cry out in anger.

The deer dying set off a chain of fights that resulted in only a minority of the gathered beasts surviving. From the original several dozen only fifteen were left. Although there was no way up yet, a few beasts had begun cooperating to create a simple stairway by carving away parts of the wall, but since they were small and mad it their size it wouldn't fit everyone.

Another thing that none of the beasts had yet to notice was the changing lava flow. Previously it had all flowed to the pedestal and the egg before returning deep underground through a hole inside the pedestal. After the egg was removed there was nothing left to control the streams of lava, and instead of flowing to the pedestal in an orderly manner the streams began to overflow.

The flow had been slow enough that no one noticed it, until there were a decreasing amount of places left to stand. Although the heat wouldn't necessarily kill the third level beasts if they got stuck in the lava as it cools off they would starve to death.

The hound, in a stroke of ingenuity had begun to sweep the lava to one side before siphoning of the heat so it hardened enough to stand on. The mammoth, upon noticing began to help. Even if the hound had stopped it from reaching the orb immediate dangers should be solved before settling grudges. And considering it's size it wouldn't be able to move enough lava by itself, to both stand after it cooled and to avoid drowning in it.

With the mammoths large body frame moving around frantically it was impossible for the other beasts to not notice and they also began either helping or doing it in their own corner if they were confident. Among the beasts that helped the hound and mammoth was a big and red bear with similar problems as the mammoth, it was too big for it's own good. The mammoth looked a little disgruntled at helping another beast, but it didn't slow down in the slightest. The hound on the other hand had hardly looked up after it began working.

Gradually a pile of cooled off molten rock had grown large enough to climb on top of in a corner of the pit. And of few of the cockier beasts had been trapped in growing prisons of lava. With the pile's size it had become difficult to make it higher and a few beasts had taken it upon themselves to further built upwards, using the lava the beasts down below sent up.

It all looked like smooth process, and that they would make it out of the pit as long as they continued working efficiently. And it was a smooth process until an anxious boar shoveled the lava a little too intensely, pushing it's tusks down into the ground, bursting the spring wide open.

Although the tiny hole in the ground was made from a type of rock with enough heat resistance to withstand actual magma from the depths of the earth, it's resistance against physical attacks proved lacking, as evidenced by the increasing amounts of lava pushing up into the pit.

Thankfully it had happened on the opposite side of the pit from the hound's and mammoth's work which gave them enough time to react. But having enough time to react and having a way to react were two completely different things.

The mammoth panicked as it used all of it's six legs to push the magma before using it's trunk to throw it up as fast as possible. The mammoth wasn't the only one working extra hard, all of them were. A few of the lone beasts also realized they wouldn't be able to do it alone and mover over to both help and get helped.

The first lava burst seemed to have set off a chain reaction as one spring after another opened and increased the lava flow even further. Even if the immediate pressure relaxed a few seconds after all eight springs opened up the overflow was still faster than the beast's working to build a ramp up to the surface.

Eventually the lava covered the floor and the beasts had to stand on the ramp itself when shoveling lava upwards.

The heat had started growing intense enough for most beasts to suffer and the weakest ones were the furthest up, responsible for building upwards.

As the beasts built next to the wall they had to go to the side and build a spiral around the pit to get upwards. But if they just put loose lava at the edge, to continue sideways, without being careful, and siphoning the heat away instantly, it could roll over and they wouldn't get anywhere. It happened several times, inducing more panic into the already panicky animals.

The distance between the top of the ramp and the bottom decreased as the lava continued surging without end, seemingly wanting to fill up the pit, erasing any evidence of what had happened down there. Thankfully as the distance decreased the need to shovel lava for a long distance lessened and the building got more effective, even if it was getting hotter and hotter inside the pit.

When just about all the beasts could barely fit on the existing ramp the pace of building equaled the pace at which the lava flowed. If the lava had continued catching up to them the first to go, to make more space for the rest would have been, after a unanimous vote, the boar responsible for setting of the lava springs. If it wasn't for it working itself to the bone currently it would have already been tossed into the pool of lava. And after they got out probably no one would stop the hot-headed mammoth from targeting it.

With a good pace going and with efficient teamwork the beasts continued making their way up the pit and eventually they got close enough that a few of them could try jumping and climbing their way out. A leopard was about to try when it felt a scorching gaze on itself as soon as it stopped scooping lava. The mammoth as unagile as it was didn't want everyone else to leave it and was prepared to make sure the others stayed behind and helped out. With it's size and the reach of it's trunk it could reach and interfere as soon as anyone tried to jump.

Since everyone would get out unhurt if they just continued, they didn't even consider trying after seeing the leopard almost jump and the mammoth's reaction.

Despite everything that had happened and most of the beasts entering the hole dying, thanks to ingenuity and teamwork a lot of them had made their way out of the hole. Some wanted to go looking for friends, family and whatever as soon as they touched the surface, other had come to the mountains alone and wanted nothing more than to immediately leave.