Those That Tether

Chapter  9

I start to make my way up the huge pile of rocks I fell down with.
Thoughts continuously racing through my mind as I climb.
What can Gluttony actually do? What should I do? How are the guys going to feel about this?
Eventually I made it to the top, where I first fell from.
"Akil!!" I yell out.
"Hajime, you're ok!! Come here, quick!" A close voice screams out to my right.
Wait, that's Malik's voice. That means they're all together, good.

Not good. Not good at all.
When I get there, Malik and Yuda are tending to Akil, whose left arm had been shattered, and covered in blood.
"Akil-- the hell happened!!" I yell.
"When you fell, some debris came somewhere from the roof of the cave and fell right above us, when Akil, surprisingly, pushed me out of the way. Luckily only his arm got damaged. Could've been worse. A lot worse." Yuda explains.
"Hey... whaddya' mean... surprisingly?" Akil says clearly in pain.
"Akil, save some of your strength. Damn it! It's all my fault." Malik slams his fist against the rock that I assumed hit Akil.
"Don't blame... yourself... we couldn't have... known." Akil struggles to say.
"Well who else is to blame huh!! If I had been more cautious you wouldn't have gotten hurt. If I weren't so weak, we wouldn't be trapped in this stupid cave!" Malik exclaims out of frustration.
Wait, did he say trapped?
I looked swiftly to my left to see the entire opening to the cave had been blocked off by large rocks.
"You'll find a way." Akil says calmly.
I look back down at Akil and see his arm had been finished being tourniqueted by Yuda.
"Wait... you'll?" Malik asks.
"Yes... you guys can't take me with you..."
"And why the hell not!!" Malik's frustrations elevate to the point where it's visible on his barely visible face.
"Because... Master Gorean, he doesn't see us as living breathing things, he sees us as items to go retrieve his products, and when one of his items breaks... he has no need for it anymore. If Master Gorean sees me like this... he'll kill me as if I was just another bug in his path." Akil says with a look of complete horror on his face.
"He's right Malik... but Malik's right too Akil, what are we supposed to do, just leave you here to die." I say to Akil trying my best to not exelate the situation even higher.
"I agree with Hajime, I think our main goal right now is to at least find a way to get out of this cave, then we can figure out what we'll do about Akil." Yuda says.
We all nod our heads in synchronization.
However it's plainly obvious that it's up to me to find a path out of here. Akil's clearly in no position for the job, Malik's usual bright spirit is shattered, and Yuda, beneath all that cool and calm exterior I know what's going through his brain right now, blood. Akil's blood to be exact. Not a lot of people know this but, Yuda hates blood, the sight of it, the smell, the touch, everything about it he hates, ever since we were kids. So I know it took everything he had to fix up Akil's arm. So it's up to me now.
But how? What's the first thing I do? As far as I know, there is only one entrance and exit to the cave, and now it's completely filled with rocks.
No, I'm thinking too much. I just need to act.
I get up and walk a few feet away to the wall of boulders and rocks and put my hand on it. I start sidestepping and analyzing with my hand along the wall of rocks to see if I noticing something, anything.
Just then, a small beam of light passes past my eye.
Light. Sunlight!
That means that this wall of rock isn't as thick as we thought and with enough force it could be brought down. But what kinda force could bring it down?
Just then I remembered the cloak on my back.
"That's right, I'm a Tether user now." I whisper to myself.
The guys must've not noticed the cloak because of the lack of light in the cave, because of the rocks, and the situation with Akil doesn't help either.

I inhale deeply.
"It's worth a shot."
I ball my fist up and launch it full force at the wall where the beam of light was, but instead of destroying the wall my hand crushed into the wall, my fist exploded leaving a small blood mark on the rock wall.
But, for some reason it doesn't hurt as bad as I thought it would.
It stings yes, but... not hurts.
"Hajime, what are ya doin' over there!" Malik yells in my  direction.
I ignore him.
I need to concentrate, to think, how do I use this thing?
"I don't suppose you come with a instruction manual or anything do ya'?" I whisper to the cloak.
"Tch, I'm starting to sound a little like Malik."
Then something else that Malik said to me a long time ago, before the Purian attack, infiltrates my mind, "If ya' really want to do somethin', then you have to believe you can do it with your whole body, mind, and spirit. If you don't, well, it simply won't be done."
I close my eyes and continue thinking deeply.
My body, mind, and spirit huh?
Then suddenly, that line that the beast said to me, keeps replaying over and over in my head.
"Become Gluttonous. Become Gluttonous. Become Gluttonous."
So finally I say it, no, I scream it while cocking my hand back and spreading my feet apart.
"Become Gluttonous!"
In an instant, my hand has this weird feeling, as if it were being shrouded by a small cloud or heavy smoke. I look down to see my hand completely covered in that same dark and crimson Cloudy Vapor, that the beast was made of. Without a second thought or question I lunged my covered hand into the wall hoping it work.
Rather than crunching like before, my hand, my whole arm seemed to move through the wall like cardboard or better yet paper. Once I stopped and quickly yanked my hand out of the wall, the hole that my arm created grew instantly making a huge gouging hole in front of me. A hole big enough for all four of us to walk through.
At the moment, as the setting sunlight brazed over my face, warming it like a mother's embrace from the cold air of the cave, I was filled with various new emotions. Confidence, determination, pride,... hope.
I turn back around at the guys, looking sternly at their shocked faces, mouths wide open but unable to utter a word, eyes lifeless but simultaneously full of questions.
"Guys, I know what we should do now." I begin, "We're going to go back to the village and free the rest of the kids, and after that... I'm going to take Gorean down, whatever the cost."