5: Rise of Powers

The pressure took hold of Max, as the lava reptile approached him dangerously. His zigzag movement advanced faster, gaining speed on the lava humanoid and leaving it behind him.

Max had to act, and soon. His protective shield began to fade, as if at that moment, his battery had run out and was beginning to discharge, asking for rest.

The warrior would have to take up another defense strategy very soon if he wanted to survive.

Max focused all of his energy on the ring again, and then, when his shield disappeared and Max saw the reptile's strong fangs emerge from his mouth and prepare to bite him, his body began to levitate in the air gently.

Little by little, Max rose to the sky, leaving below the important creatures that tried to reach him, and it was impossible for them to catch him. That was when he knew exactly what to do; When the reptilian creature finished approaching him, remaining just centimeters away, about to grab him with its fine and sharp teeth, Max rose into the air, now he was flying just like the guardians did, Well, sometime in their training, they told him that since the ring he wore is so powerful, it would be possible for him to obtain unimaginable powers, and that is where he was experiencing it.

“Perfect, Max. You have it mastered. Well done,” Lyra said proudly.

The other guardians smiled as they saw Max achieve what he had always longed to do; fly.

"He got it! Finally, he got it! Now, he is already a true Atería warrior,” Aldrich observed enthusiastically.

Then, from Max's body, a flash of imposing dark-colored light reemerged from within him. The flash of light covered Max's entire body, turning him into a being of light, and with a powerful scream, Max released all that power from his body until he hit the beasts that were watching him from the ground.

The beasts disappeared, burned with the power of flashes of light as if fire had been launched from a flare. The beasts turned to ashes, and a gentle blizzard of wind carried them away without leaving any trace.

For now, both Max and the guards came down from the air, placing their feet on the ground. Max recovered his energy, his strength, because that last power has caused such an impressive drop in energy that he believed he would end up weak and lying on the ground. But what Max didn't know was that Lyra, with her magic, had helped him recover with just a breath of air.

“Max! You've finally done it, my friend. Congratulations, walk, let's go get a drink to celebrate,” Aldrich suggested, approaching Max, hugging him by the shoulders and leaving with him without waiting for the other guardians to walk beside him.

Max and the guardians walked to the temple, without any hurry, without thinking that they were walking on the earth of a plot that was burning under their feet.

They walked there just as they were walking on common ground.

“Hey, I'm starving. Is it possible that we make a deer meat roast?” Max suggested.

The guards laughed at him as if he had told a good joke.

“You get hungry after every workout, Max,” Celen observed amusingly.

“Well, Celen, it is more than obvious that in each training session, Max uses up a lot of energy, and he has to recover it somehow, and he won't just do it by sleeping,” Lyra responded.

“That's right,” Max confirmed.

On their long way back from the training field where they were, they came across a deer that was feeding on a live, shiny and abundant grass. They could have arrived at the temple in a couple of minutes with just a snap of their fingers, the guardians and Max would have been transported from one place to the other. However, they had preferred to walk, a good walk from time to time is a good idea to relax and it didn't hurt anyone, the only thing it caused was that the way back was longer.

Max's attention was drawn to the innocent deer, as his guts rumbled inside his stomach, his eyes turned completely black, his breathing became agitated, and his teeth became the best weapon for hunting him.

“Okay, okay, I don't want to see this… But go ahead, Max, show us how good you are at hunting,” Aldrich announced with a little disgust at Max's idea of hunting. That is the only warrior superpower that Aldrich couldn't stand from his apprentice.

Without thinking, Max disappeared from the sight of the guardians, leaving them to observe everything from his location. Everyone stood still, and remained silent, as these were key points that would help Max successfully hunt the deer.

Max took refuge in one of the highest crowns of one of the trees, the deer did not seem to have noticed his presence because he continued to eat grass as if he were only keeping it in place. Then, when he was the least thought about it, Max lunged at the deer from the height where he was, the deer screamed as it fell to the ground, and Max planted his fangs in the poor animal's neck.

The warrior drank all the blood of the deer, and when the animal died, the boy wiped his mouth with his tongue, stood up, and his eyes, his teeth, and his behavior returned to normal.

“Hugh, that's disgusting,” Aldrich observed. Despite being a guardian, his bravery is only effective for certain types of situations, but he is weak to blood.

“And so you are one of us, Aldrich?” Telón asked mockingly.

“Make fun all you want, Curtain. But you have always known that I am very weak when it comes to matters of blood. I have a phobia of it, and it's something I can't control,” Aldrich responded seriously.

Max appeared again next to the guards, with the body of the dead deer carried on top of his shoulders. He was still cleaning his teeth from the blood with his tongue.

“Max, please don't do that. “It’s disgusting,” Aldrich said, speaking angrily to Max.

"That? What do you mean not to do this?”

Max ran his tongue over his teeth again, showing that action to his guardian, Aldrich backed away, and although it wasn't fun for him, it was fun for Max and the guardians, and they decided to play with it until they finally arrived to the temple.