As Max and Rayn being teleported away from Shine Coast they are continually falling almost endlessly. They almost felt bored but they were still feeling the momentum of the fall with in the portal.
"Max you summon portals?!" Rayn asked
"First of all no. And second how does portal magic even work!?"
As they keep falling, eventually there was an end through the portal as they landed on the ground groaning a bit in pain.
"Never thought falling through a portal would keep the momentum of us falling"
"Please Rayn... don't do the math"
Both of them lying on the ground still groaning in pain they took a few minutes before they got back onto their footing. Rayn stretching his back, while looking around the area seeing a familiar ground where they once stood before with their friends.
"Hey Max where are we?"
As they suddenly notice a cave towards their right "are we at the Crystal Caverns?"
"Aw great that means we are back where you've got your crystal arm... why are we here exactly?" as Rayn lay back on the ground in annoyance. Then suddenly Max crystal arm began to glow again but has less frequent flickers of light
"Hey Max is there danger near" Rayn noticing Max's arm
"No it normally has a more frequent flickering. It's mostly just one flicker at a time"
Then Max's arm suddenly reach out forward and pieces of crystals flowing out of Max's arm as two crystal beings began to take their form, it was Shard and Glim "oh, that's just perfect. It's those two who terrorized us and Carm two days ago."
"We deeply apologize for our actions as that our king requested us to bring you here"
"You brought Max here what about me?!"
"It was a miscalculation and wrong place, wrong time as the earthlings would say. Kid" Glim said proudly
"How old are these crystals beings?"
"Rayn, last I've heard Orlov is at least over a millennial no doubt they are as well".
Then suddenly Max's arm begins to flicker brightly again "so it's time, follow us" Then the crystal brothers begin to walk into the Crystal Caverns as Max and Rayn soon to follow. The deeper they adventure into the caverns the more Max feels connected with the crystals but something doesn't feel right.
"Hey Max are you okay?"
"I'm not sure every time I look at a crystal. I see... or hear words coming into my mind not only that I could also see many areas"
As Max is having trouble trying to adjust his eyes "you can see many areas at once? That new"
"Master Max the words you hear, that's called crystal sight. It's one of the many abilities we the Crystellions have" then the Glim finishes his brother's sentence
"It allows us to act as another pair of eyes. But for a homo sapiens like you two it maybe ruff on your eyes, so be careful"
"Great now you tell me" Max then accidentally bumps his head as he groans in annoyance. Then he holds onto Rayn's shoulder as they adventure even further into the Caverns, until the brothers suddenly stopped after reaching an opened area within the caverns
"Hey what's going on, why did we stop moving?" Max trying to see where they were but couldn't
"We're here" as the brothers ready their weapons "hey Rayn do you see what's going on?"
Rayn nods and tries to look through Shard and Glim, as he witness odd creatures eating minerals "perhaps its best for you not to look." Shard quickly quiet the two.
"Shush you two, those are the predators of our kind. Auro-amity"
"Auro what now?"
"They are nasty winged beast, beaks sharp enough to pierce any rocks as they swallow every mineral piece by piece with precise accuracy"
"So it's basically a woodpecker" Shard and Glim looked at each other "what's a woodpecker?" the crystal brothers say together As they look at Rayn.
"Well it's one of the bird species that live among our planet here on earth"
"You have a vile winged beast living among you?!"
"Would it hurt that I have a pet bird named Catholic?" Shard and Glim were shocked in awe and nearly in silence.
"Did I say too much" an awkward silence then occurred but then they heard footsteps behind them. Max and Rayn quickly looked behind them and to their surprise it was Carmlien.
"Carm, what are you doing here... how did you get here?" They asked,
"When you both suddenly disappeared from the portal. I had to act fast. Lensfer and Sarah are outside the Caverns"
"Wait Sarah is here?!" To Max's surprise
"Hey can you focus on another thing we need to get those birdbrain out of the caverns" Shard asked demandingly.
Then as they suddenly look back they notice that the Auro-amity were gone. "Oh this is not good" Glim said scared
"Stand your ground everyone don't give them a blind spot"
"Hey Max why are those crystal beings who attacked us yesterday are here. Also what are we watching for?!"
"We advise you both to get into cover Auro-amity only care for minerals you humans are safe for now!"
"Then what about Max he has crystals on his body?!"
"I'm still blinded... kind of".
Then they all begin to hear more footsteps everywhere as they all know the Auro-amity are near hear their talons scraping onto nearby rocks crystals breaking left and right, Shard, and Glim ready and formed their weapons from their arms. Max tries to form his weapon but could due to his troubles with the crystal sight, and Carmlien and Rayn quick hide behind a large rock. Then suddenly an Auro-amity charges towards them "get ready brother."
"Ready as I'll ever be"
"Can some tell me where is it"
as the Auro-amity strikes it beak towards Shard but he quickly reacted and gets a hold of the Auro-amity's beak "now brother!" Glim swinging a huge hammer he launches the Auro-amity a few distances away from them,
"Did you guys hit any Auro-amity I still can see but I can hear"
"Master Max if you want to help you need to regain focus. Try to concentrate"
"Concentrate?! How can I concentrate if these Auro-amity are flocking all around us!?"
Then suddenly with Max's arm flickering again, Max doesn't notice in time as he was then flung across away from Shard and Glim only a few miles away.
"Master Max!" Shard and Glim tried to go to Max's aid but were surrounded by two more Auro-amity as another Auro-amity is walking towards Max.
"Max!" Carmlien and Rayn seeing what is about to happen to Max, Carmlien yelling out his name and tries to aid Max but is stopped by Rayn. "Rayn what are you doing?!"
"Shard and Glim told us to hide and I ain't ready to lose my life anytime soon"
"I thought you were Max's best friend are you really going to leave him a bird food"
"Your right. Don't worry Max! We're coming". As Carmlien and Rayn are heading towards Max ready to aid him, they were immediately confronted by one of the Auro-amity and begins to observe them. Rayn and Carmlien slowly moving backwards and tries to find a blind spot as they move left to right from the sight of the Auro-amity.
"Hey Carm, since these Auro-amity are kind of like birds. Do you think they also have the instinct of any bird species"
"I don't know you're the expert here" Rayn then brings out a handful of bird seeds and raises his hand towards the Auro-amity. "he-here mister or misses Auro may you like to try some bird seeds" waiting for the Auro-amity to respond to Rayn's request. Surprisingly it reacts quickly eating the seeds off from Rayn's hand.
"Hey check it out I'm okay" as Ray chuckled a bit as he sees how normal the Auro-amity is using instincts and treating Rayns offering with gratitude. Rayn goes in close to touch the Auro-amity feeling it's soft yet rigged feathers.
"Hey Carm, maybe this is the perfect opportunity to help Max" "right". As Carmlien is running aid Max, Shard and Glim are struggling fighting two Auro-amity as their crystals are slowly breaking, but still valiant in battle. "Max quick try this amethyst" Carmlien placing the amethyst onto Max's palm as he was abuot to crush it he hears another voice. Warning do not use, confused but trusted the voice. he drops the crystal with the confusion of Carmlien as he then started to get up on his own though hurt. As he opened his eyes and tries to focused.
"Max what happened why did you take it?" she asked
"Sorry Carm, but I can't spare you the details we're in a heated battle."
Suddenly Max was charged at from the same Auro-amity who rammed at him before, causing Max to be flung once again. But this time he was prepared bracing for the impact as he lands onto his feet. Carmlien looking back to where Rayn was keeping the Auro-amity busy, but to her shock to see Rayn has tamed one of the Auro-amity.
"Rayn what are you doing?" Carmlien quickly ran towards Rayn trying to see what was he doing, but before that the Auro-amity he was keeping company suddenly turned their eyes sharp the moment they put their eyes onto Carmlien looking at her ferociously. Rayn quickly tried to calm it down, but the feathers on the Auro-amity pushes him away. As Carmlien and the Auro-amity looked at each other Carmlien notice that the Auro-amity is only interested in the crystals packed in her bag, quickly she takes out a piece of crystal "go fetch!" Carmlien throws the crystal from her left and the Auro-amity went where the crystal she threw and quickly uses the opportunity to head back to Rayn.
"Hey Rayn are you okay"
"Yes I'm alright, but didn't you see how kind she was"
"wait that's a girl how did you know"
"the markings, I think the males have sharp beaks with a black streak. while the female have longer feathers as their beaks don't have the same black streak as the males." Rayn obviously being a bird nerd.
"Rayn we don't need a lecture, we need to get out of here" as they were trying to get away a crystal had dropped before them and they look up to witness the Auro-amity standing in front of them again "um hello?" The Auro-amity then roared as it charges towards them, Rayn and Carmlien started to runaway.
Meanwhile Max feeling bruised, and tries to get up despite being injured and witness everyone getting terrorized by the Auro-amity. Shard and Glim now struggling to get their footing as there being repeatedly attacked by the Auro-amity, Carmlien and Rayn are running for their lives as another Auro-amity is chasing after them "Carm! Rayn!" Max attempts to run towards them in effort to help his friends but another Auro-amity stops him in his tracks "I don't have time for this". Max feeling frustrated slams his fist onto the ground, and suddenly large crystal spike appeared hitting the Auro-amity and launching it away from Max, he looks at his crystal arm in shock and confusion.
The other Auro-amity that was terrorizing Carmlien and Rayn witness another Auro-amity defeated by Max and roars as it charges after him, Max sees this and looks at his arm one more time and slams his fist again onto the ground and more crystals from the surface, trapping the Auro-amity within the crystals.
"Thanks Max, that's was too close" as Rayn was losing his breath and gasping for air. Max and Carmlien smile at Rayn being comedic, but Max then focuses his attention on assisting the crystal brothers "since I used my fist. What if I stomp" with a lift of his right leg Max slams his foot as hard as he can then more crystals appear once again trapping the Auro-amity and saving the crystal brothers from further harm. As the dust settles between the conflict with Auro-amity defeated, everyone begin to walk towards Max as they want to congratulate him, but as they get closer to Max, they witness Max coughing falling to his knees eventually coughing a bit of blood, see the blood on top onto his hand he eventually passed out his friends quickly going to aid they tried to help Max as he is now unconscious and his arm glowing brightly once again.
(End of chapter 12)