Advent of Cataclysm.

"Only one chance," Kai huffed and took a step forward. 

"So, we're going in?" Ava whispered, leaning and almost falling when the ground suddenly shook beneath them again. "What about the demons?" 

"We don't have a choice," Kai retorted, looking at Andrew and Fritz when they caught up.

"Shadow has been trying to help, as shady as he is," He paused, seeing Andrew smirk at the pun. "My point is; even if i don't trust him, believeing that he wants me to survive is a given, at every turn he has warned me of a major event happening, that's why we've been able to escape disasters for over a month now." 

"So what's different about this one?" Andrew asked, hesitating when he saw the treeline on the hills leading to the mountain shaking and heard the noises of the creatures within them.

"He told me that unless we make the peak then we won't live through the rest of the day, so stop wasting time, follow me or die." 

"Absolutely," Ava clenched her fists in determination and began walking with him again. 

"Who's Shadow?" Fritz asked Andrew.

"You don't need to know that." He responded, adjusting his cracked glasses and walking ahead. "Kai said we go to the top or die so I'll follow him." 

"But, what if we follow and end up dead anyway?" Fritz countered with the doubt of a newcomer. 

"Then it would still be better than running off and dying on my own, I trust him, if you don't and want to follow anyway then you're better off just disappearing with everyone else, you aren't the first to doubt him and you won't be the last." Andrew clicked his tongue, seeing the man walking next to him again.

"You, guy, what's your name?" Kai asked, pulling Ava along to make sure she didn't lag behind and slow them down. 

"I'm Fritz Teufel," He answered loudly, then covered his mouth when he heard a roar in the distant foliage. 

"A foreigner," Ava glanced around at him. "I bet you got stranded here when the world went to shit, huh?" 

Save the chatter for after we're in the clear," Kai huffed, pulling her closer to his side and picking up the pace again. 

"Hrmm," Fritz frowned at the back of Kai's head. "I thought he'd be a little nicer but this guy's-" 

"In this mess with the rest of us, nice people are a thing of the past-" Andrew stumbled and held on to a tree when the mountain they were mounting violently shook. 

"Pay attention and keep going, Andrew," Kai called from ahead having not lost his footing and keeping Ava from losing hers. "And Watch out for rocks and the like," He raised his hand catching a head-sized boulder flying through the trees from hitting Ava and looking ahead again.

"Thankfully, the aftershock tremors are episodic, otherwise the mountains would have been torn down already," Kai thought, swatting away another small rock. 

"You left your weapons back in the field, Kai," Ava glanced behind them at the field which now looked like a small patch through the trees. 

"They are useless against a natural disaster, Ava, besides, they fell in the hole earlier." He answered, pausing and holding on to her when the ground began violently shaking again, this time causing the soil beneath them to rock and open as if the earth was breathing, shooting out pockets of air through the trees.

"What the hell?" Andrew ducked beneath a rock and took cover behind a tree when several more came flying at them. "What's going on?" 

"This mountain is a bad idea is what's going on!" Fritz snapped hiding behind a tree as well. "We could be walking right into a rockslide for all we know!" 

"Kai, you must keep going, there is no time left, push through!" The shadow in his head snapped, and without even thinking of a consequence, Kai scooped up Ava and raised his foot, stopping a rock from hitting them and sliding backwards from the transfer of kinetic energy. "Do not stop again, it is coming." Shadow warned him urgently.

"What's coming?" 

"Tsunami..." Andrew answered, he hadn't heard Kai's question because of the constant falling rocks and shaking trees, coupled with the ground making all manner of noises, but sure enough, roughly thirty minutes had passed since the initial quake that tossed all untethered and some sloppily tethered masses of land and objects into the air, he could see a shimmer on the horizon. "It's a tsunami!" He screamed out, pointing at it. 

"Should the sea be visible from here?" Ava gasped, seeing the shimmering onthe horizon as well. 

"Hurry to the peak!" Kai shouted above the noise and stepped onto the path again, spinning Ava like a doll and catching her on his back. "Hold on with everything you've got." 

"Yes," She answered, locking her hands and legs around him. "Go!" 

"Andrew!" Kai shouted on the top of his lungs, and the mentioned looked ahead, dodging a rock and then glancing again. He saw the look in Kai's eyes and understood exactly what it meant without another word uttered. 

"If I don't make it, then that's on me!" Andrew called back. "Ava takes priority..." He clenched his teeth and ran out into the path as well, ducking beneath another flying rock and slappping the ground, bursting into an upwards sprint and screaming on the top of his lungs. "Let's gooooo!!" 

"This guy..." Fritz stared at Kai at how he effortlessly dodged the falling rocks and trees, while running towards the peak with Ava on his back treating her weightlessly. 

"Come on!" Andrew screamed again, dodging more rocks as he charged upwards. "I can do this, I can do this, I am Andrew Spit, the one and only!!" Andrew continued to hype himself up, but then there came a clearing, and with the absence of trees the first thing that met him was a small rock crashing into the side of his face, breaking his glasses and causing his head to snap backwards. 

"Huaaaa!!" Andrew screamed again, weaving under a larger rock and bursting into a sprint once more after dramatically stomping to muster the courage and strength to face death in the face while simultaneously running and trying to escape from it. 

"You're crazy!" Fritz ducked under a boulder and leapt behind Andrew, placing his hand on his back and pushing him to run faster. "Watch your legs and protect your head, Andrew!" He instructed him, and excitedly, Andrew yelped when his speed suddenly doubled thanks to the man pushing him along. 

"We made it!" Ava huffed, holding on to Kai even after he had reached the peak and stood there staring at the massive wall of water raging across the horizon towards them. 

"This isn't high enough." Kai stared at the tsunami with dread.

This isn't something he could outrun or outswim, if he was caught in a tsunami his death was assured.

"Shadow, you said the highest, this is the highest, but this is far from high enough, if that's the face of the tsunami then the body behind it will be way higher, and its coming fast too!!" KaI ground his teeth in anger. "Can you actually help or not?!" 

"Calm down and take a look around, Kai Mora," Shadow instructed him. "There is no higher peak than this one, there is nowhere left to go but upwards, do you understand?" 

"Was this all so I could feel hopeless enough to call your name?" Kai asked, ready to punch himself for listening. 

"No, just do as I say, the one with the wolf is on his way, but he will not find you in this chaos unless he can see you from afar, help him find you before the waters arrive." 

"That's impossible, what the fuck are you taking me for?" 

"Just raise your hands," The shadow of the apocalypse instructed him calmly. "Raise them and close your eyes, and I will take care of the rest." 

"Fuck," Kai looked at Ava. "Hold on and don't let go, he warned her and then quickly raised his hands closing his eyes while the world around him fell apart. 

"Are you ready?" 

"Just do whatever you have to." Kai huffed, he could already feel the winds changing from the wall of water, he could taste the salty air on his lips, and smell the sea. 

"I, the Shadow of the Apocalypse, Tenzo, use this body as a channel to summon the flames of the nether, use his strength as your fuel, reach the stars, pierce the heavens, come forth, Infernus!" 

"What?" Kai opened his eyes, staring in shock when the pain he had long forgotten from his morning episodes suddenly surged through his body and flowed to his palms, first there was just heat, but then that heat exploded into actual flames, creating an eruption of fire that shot off into the sky like a mushroom cloud charring and burning the skin of his palm while Ava screamed and held on tightly to him when the two of them were blown off their feet. 

"We must do it again," Tenzo urged. 

"Will this work?" Kai asked, just as Andrew and Fritz emerged from the last treeline. 

"What the hell was that just now?!" Fritz asked shocked, watching Kai stand with Ava trying to hold on while supporting his balance now that she knew what was happening. 

"Come on!!" Kai steadied himself as he felt the heat surging through his body once more. 

"Come forth, Infernus!"