Jon Messenger
Xander Sirocco pushed the toes of his tennis shoes through the silt that had buried much of the street. The liquid mud clung to his shoes, and he shook them vigorously to remove the filth. Raising his head, he looked down the mud-covered road.
Most of the street was blocked by an avalanche of dirt that poured from the hilltop above the small town. Some of the smaller buildings had collapsed, leaving stone and wooden debris jutting from the banks of dirt. Other houses stood, but the force of the mudslide had shattered windows and filled the buildings’ interiors.
Walking gingerly down the street, Xander stepped lively around the protruding timbers and rubble. A few houses further down the lane still looked intact, as though the buildings opposite them on the street had absorbed much of the brunt from the mudslide.
The sound of trickling water reached his ears as he approached a part of the street that was blocked by the flow of dirt. From the heart of the muddy pile, a small river of water crashed into the wall of the nearest house before cascading into the alleyway and out of sight.
Xander frowned as he examined the mud that blocked the way ahead. He slowly closed his eyes, and a gust of wind enveloped him. His T-shirt fluttered in the building wind, and Xander sighed as the breeze soaked into his pores. Slowly, his feet lifted from the ground until he hovered a few inches above the filth.
He walked forward, though his feet were suspended above the mudslide. Each breath of fresh air seemed to revitalize him, as though he were deeply connected to the wind itself. Which he was, he had to remind himself. He was the Wind Elemental now, having absorbed her power. He was the last of the Wind Warriors, and the last hope for humanity.
As he cleared the offending mud, he touched back down on the stone street and laughed to himself. The idea that he was the last hope for humanity seemed preposterous. He knew more than a few people—especially his old college professors—who would have hung their head in despair had they known who was attempting to save their lives.
One of the unsullied houses sat just ahead on the left side of the street. Xander looked around once again but didn’t see any people. The town was abandoned, though Xander had no idea for how long. Despite his misgivings at walking through a ghost town, they were hungry and needed something to eat before they continued flying. It had only been by chance that Xander had spotted the archipelago.
The door unlocked as he turned the handle. The interior of the building was dark like all the rest of the houses, power having been either shut off on purpose or by the mudslide. Despite the darkness, he stuck his head inside the door and called into the gloom beyond.
“Hello? Is there anyone here?”
He wasn’t sure anyone would have answered even if they had been at home, or even if they would have understood English. The world had been ruined by the infighting between the Wind and Fire Castes. Earthquakes, volcanoes, wild fires, and worse had completely changed the face of the planet. He was glad the villagers had fled their homes, but he wasn’t sure the world they found would be any better when they made landfall somewhere else.
Standing at the doorway, he strained to hear any noise. When he was sure the house was empty, he pushed his way into the large central room. He could see light streaming through a back window, illuminating the kitchen. Smiling, he made his way to the back of the house.
A foul smell seeped from the refrigerator as he approached, and he wiggled his nose in disgust. The smell alone told Xander that power had gone out at least a few days ago, long enough that the contents of the refrigerator were already spoiled. Despite knowing that more hardy foods might have survived in the fridge, he bypassed it all together as he continued to search.
As he turned deeper into the kitchen, he forced a broad smile. A baker’s rack near the rear of the room held some fresh fruit that didn’t look completely spoiled. A wispy, white mold covered one of the apples in the basket. There were some bananas or plantains—Xander wasn’t sure which—jutting from a mix of forgotten mail near the back. They were marred with black spots but still looked edible. He also noticed a few cans of vegetables but didn’t think his companions would appreciate that option.
A few letters tumbled from the rack as he pulled the bananas free. Reaching down, he picked up the mail and quickly scanned the gentle woman’s writing on the envelopes. Xander frowned, knowing that a whole family’s life had been uprooted, and he was at least partially to blame.
With a sigh, he set the mail back on the baker’s rack. He didn’t know if the family would ever come home again, but the symbolic gesture of leaving everything as he had found it would be appreciated, he was sure.
Bananas in hand, Xander walked back toward the front of the house. He paused as he neared the front door. Sitting on an end table near the door was a small, stuffed teddy bear. His breath caught in his throat as he picked up the stuffed animal, feeling the coarseness of its fur and the hard stitching at its shoulder, as though it had been sewn back together more than once.
He held the bear in his hands and stared at its inky black eyes. His mind swirled with conflicting thoughts. In one instant, the realization once again struck him that this destruction was in some part his fault. Immediately afterward, the thought was replaced with the realization that some little girl was without her home, her food, and her teddy bear. Those were all the reasons he wanted to defeat the Fire Elemental—to bring a sense of normalcy back to the lives of all those who had already lost it. Gently, he set the teddy bear back down on the end table and said a silent prayer that the little girl to whom the bear belonged was safe.
With his prayer complete, he stepped into the bright sunlight and kicked off the ground, flying quickly into the air.
He passed over the roofs of the village, shaking his head as he saw some of the rooftops struggling to be seen beneath the wall of mud that had slid down the side of the nearby hill. The hill itself looked like someone had sheered free the side of it, slicing down to the stone and letting the dirt and grass slide free. Despite the destruction it caused, Xander knew it would have been amazing to watch.
Passing over the top of the ruined mound, he glided toward another hilltop nearby. Against the lush green of the grass, Sean and Jessica stood out as they sat on the crest of the hill. They had their backs to Xander as he approached but quickly turned when their hair whipped wildly in the strong breeze he created.
“Find anything good?” Sean asked with a smile. He rubbed his portly belly affectionately. “Fat kids got to eat, you know?”
Xander landed lithely on the grass beside them and tossed them each a banana. Jessica caught the fruit but frowned at its condition. She delicately prodded the squishy exterior of the banana and looked up unapologetically toward Xander.
“This is all they had?”
Xander shrugged. “Power’s out in the town. Everything worthwhile is already spoiled.”
“Don’t worry about her,” Sean said, glancing over at the blond woman. “She just hasn’t reached her quota of complaining for the day.”
“I will punch you, Sean,” Jessica said. “I dated Xander, and I’d still punch him in the head if he got lippy.”
Sean patted the ground beside him, ignoring Jessica’s less-than-idle threats. “Pull up a seat and join us for a while. You’ve been flying nonstop since we left Iceland. You’ve got to be exhausted.”
Xander sat down heavily beside his best friend and smiled at the pair. “Strangely, I’m really not. I’ve actually never felt better.”
Jessica arched an eyebrow in concern.
“Don’t give me that look,” he replied. “I’m not kidding. It feels like being up in the air revitalizes me. Each breath seems to wash away any feeling of being tired, sore, or worn out. It’s…”
“A bunch of metaphorical bull crap,” Sean replied with a smile. He pointed to the banana in Xander’s hand. “Now eat, unless you’re going to tell me that the wind cures your hunger pangs, too.”
Xander’s belly rumbled at the mention of food. “No, apparently I still need to eat.”
He swung his legs over the side of the peak and let them dangle. The edge of the hilltop was stone and dropped steeply toward the slime-covered rocks below. The lakebed beneath their feet had obviously only recently drained. Large, bleached-white rocks poked through the film of algae that coated the edges of the bowl-shaped depression. Intermixed with the algae, they could see glistening, silver-scaled fish laying on the rocks and baking in the strong sunlight. The scent of rotten fish rolled up past their noses and threatened to steal their appetites.
The algae and large stones eventually gave way near the center of the lakebed, where the bowl flattened into a huge slab of limestone. A large fissure ran the length of the limestone sheet, dropping away into the darkness of the earth.
“Where do you suppose we are?” Sean asked as he stuffed the bruised banana into his mouth.
“Sao Miguel,” Xander quickly replied.
Both Sean and Jessica turned inquisitively toward him.
“It was on an envelope in one of the houses,” he explained.
“Is that in the Caribbean?” Sean asked. “It sounds Spanish.”
“Portuguese, actually,” Jessica corrected. She tried unsuccessfully to run her fingers through her knotted blond hair. “It’s one of the islands in the Azores.”
It was Xander’s turn to look confusedly at Jessica.
She frowned at their curious looks. “Just because I’m a sorority girl doesn’t mean that I’m stupid. I probably paid way more attention in class than either of you jokers.”
“She’s got me there,” Sean replied with a smirk.
“Finish up,” Xander said as he popped the last of his banana into his mouth. “We’ve got to get going soon.”
“How much further do you think it is?” Sean asked.
Xander stood and looked out over the lapping ocean waves that caressed the island’s shore. He could feel the tug in his gut growing stronger the further they flew. They had been following the pull—toward an Elemental, Xander assumed—since they left Iceland, and he had never felt the draw more clearly.
“It won’t be too much further now.”
Sean stood and placed a hand on his friend’s shoulder. For a moment, he looked out over the endless horizon of ocean that surrounded them.
“You nervous?”
Xander shrugged. “I don’t think I was when we left the Wind Elemental and my aunts and uncles, but I’m getting that way now. There’s too much time to think when you’re flying for hours at a time.”
“Don’t worry, Xander,” Jessica chided as she stepped up beside them. “Thinking’s never been your strong suit.”
He arched an eyebrow toward her, but she offered a disarming smile. Xander smiled and held up his hand, bringing his thumb and index finger within an inch of each other.
“You’re about this far from being left on the island by yourself.”
The three of them laughed and, for a second, Xander was able to forget about all the weight of responsibility he was shouldering. Then, as their laughter petered off, it came crashing down upon him.
The Fire Caste was moving against the world, ready to burn all vestiges of humanity in an attempt to start life on the planet over again. His only hope at stopping them was to find both the Earth and Water Elementals, who would help him defeat the Fire Elemental that haunted his every move. If that wasn’t enough, he also had to save his girlfriend who, aside from being a Fire Warrior herself, had been captured by the Fire Elemental so that she could become his new host.
All that pressure on the shoulders of someone who had once professed that if they made a bell curve of all college students, he would be at the peak as the most-average one alive.
“Come on,” Xander said morosely. “Let’s not drag this out.”
Sean burped and patted his belly. “Isn’t there a rule where you’re supposed to wait an hour or something after eating before flying? I’m asking for your benefit. You guys should just be aware that I get airsick, just in case I wind up throwing up.”
“Ignore him,” Jessica said. “We’re ready.”
The wind whipped around the trio as the pupils of Xander’s eyes turned stark white. The effort involved in flying had quickly become subconscious after he absorbed the power of the Wind Elemental. The trio lifted off the ground with ease and floated higher as the island withdrew below them. They leveled off before Xander launched forward, pulling Sean and Jessica in his wake.
The Fire Elemental stood before the mirror and looked on in disgust. Its reflection showed the stringy, unkempt blond hair. It flickered slightly in the reflection as heat shimmered from its shoulders and head. The hair hung over its eyes, partially covering the smoldering red that had consumed the once crystal blue irises.
The face that had once been Sammy’s looked strained, with faint bruising beneath both eyes. The Fire Elemental had fought against sleep after taking its host, but the biological imperative caught up to it. It frowned, and the woman’s full lips turned downward at the corners. It didn’t like the idea of having biological imperatives. There was another imperative it had quickly discovered that both fascinated and disgusted it. It assumed the Fire Warriors conducted themselves in a similar fashion, but it had never cared enough to find out such frivolities.
Turning away from the mirror in disappointment, the Fire Elemental stormed out of the palatial apartment. It ran its hand along the wall, feeling the hard stone against the soft skin of the woman’s palm. That was, perhaps, the most disturbing thing it had experienced since taking its host. Though it knew it was still as practically indestructible as it had been as a dragon, it felt soft and vulnerable. With the woman’s short stature, it often found himself looking up at its servants, rather than towering over them.
As the Elemental opened the door to its apartment, a pair of bowing Fire Warriors stood outside. The two ornately dressed generals kept their eyes turned sharply to the floor until the Fire Elemental had passed. Only then did they stand and turn on their heels, quickly following the blond woman toward the spiral staircase that led out of the tall tower.
“Tell me of your progress,” the Fire Elemental said. Its voice rumbled from the woman’s throat in a tone that hardly matched the delicate features.
General Kobal stood a head above Sammy’s short height. His broad shoulders filled the narrow staircase directly behind the Fire Elemental as they descended.
“My legion is outfitted and ready to march to war, my Master,” he said.
“Excellent. And you, General Geryon?”
General Geryon ran a hand nervously across his short, blond hair. His hair was slicked back against his head with a combination of grease and sweat.
“The Fourth Legion is formed but undermanned, Master,” he said. “Many of my men were deployed in search of the Wind Warriors and few returned alive.”
“My men,” the Fire Elemental corrected. “The Fourth Legion, like all the legions, is mine and mine alone.”
“Of course, Master,” Geryon said. He bowed even as they walked.
“Those that remain of the Fourth are ready to march?”
Geryon cleared his throat and tugged at his leather tunic. “The men… they aren’t yet fully equipped. They’ll need more time.”
The Fire Elemental stopped walking, pausing on a landing between floors. It turned sharply on the shorter of the two generals. Despite the stare coming from an unintimidating figure, Geryon shrank from the intensity in the burning eyes.
“General Geryon,” the Elemental said, “you offer me excuses at every turn. Don’t offer another.”
With that warning, it turned and continued its descent down to the main level of the keep. It heard the heavy, booted footsteps of the generals following close behind.
“We’ve reviewed the battle plan, Master,” Kobal said. “The Third Legion is ready to accept the main assault. We’ve conducted reconnaissance of the city. Most of its towers and turret are in disrepair following the earthquakes. The sea has swallowed much of its Western seaboard. We expect minimal resistance.”
“You please me, Kobal.”
The stairs ended in a long hall that led to the throne room. In front of the wide double doors, a pair of guards stood stoically, their eyes fixed straight ahead. When the Fire Elemental and two generals approached, the guards stepped to the center of the doors and, pulling the heavy handles, opened the massive entryway.
“Geryon, you have yet to offer your assessment of your mission.”
The Fire Elemental stopped and turned toward the generals.
“Your plan is aggressive, Master,” Geryon said. “With the forces available, I’m not sure I’d be capable of carrying out your—”
The Elemental lifted its hand, and the ground beneath General Geryon split open. Lava shot upward in a geyser and consumed the man. He screamed briefly before his body was completely covered in the scalding magma. The Fire Elemental dropped its hand, and the lava receded back into the floor of the throne room. There was no trace of General Geryon after the magma had disappeared.
It looked to the space where the general had so recently stood. An odd sensation settled into its chest, one that it wasn’t familiar with. The Elemental reached up and touched the protruding female bosom. It felt almost like… guilt? It seemed unlikely. General Geryon wasn’t the first Fire Warrior it had destroyed, nor would he likely be the last. With a shake of its head, the Fire Elemental turned toward General Kobal.
“Select a commander from within the Third Legion to replace General Geryon. I will inspect both legions within the hour.”
The Fire Elemental turned toward the far end of the throne room.
“Do you wish me to accompany you, Master?” Kobal asked.
The Elemental reached up and rubbed the feminine chest, eager to be rid of the odd sensation that continued to brood there.
“Don’t be a fool, General Kobal. You may look at me and see a weak female, but don’t for one instant forget what resides just beneath this soft exterior.”
Kobal bowed apologetically and backed out of the throne room without another word. The Fire Elemental appreciated the general’s discretion. It would serve him well under the new regime.
When the doors clicked shut behind the Elemental, it walked forward, passing between the room’s tall, carved pillars. The throne sat against the back wall, a mix of worked metal and carved stone. It climbed the stairs leading up to the raised dais and looked down on it. Reaching out, it closed its long, delicate fingers around the arm of the throne and shoved it aside. The stonework holding it to the floor snapped as though it were wood instead of Ignatius rock. The heavy seat was lifted up and crashed to the ground beside the dais. The metal bent on impact, and the stone shattered. The Fire Elemental looked at the destruction before turning its attention back to the tapestry hanging behind the throne’s pedestal.
A flash of its eyes ignited the tapestry. The well-woven scene of Fire Warrior ascension to power blazed quickly before falling to blackened ash onto the floor. The Elemental knew there was a secret button to reveal the passage beyond, but it didn’t bother searching for it. It formed a fist and felt the untrimmed fingernails biting into his palm. Driving its fist forward, the Elemental crashed through the wall. Stone vaporized on impact and the rocks near the blow fell away, revealing the sloped, dark passage beyond.
When Sammy descended this path before, she had done so with a flame in hand, lighting the way through the darkness. The Elemental needed no such tools. The smoldering, red eyes revealed the passage beyond as it walked.
The guilty feeling from earlier quickly disappeared, replaced by a growing anger. It had spent thousands of years trapped within the stone prison at the far end of the passage, far too large in its natural reptilian form to escape. The prison had been a devious gift from the Earth Elemental. Though Fire hated Earth for his trickery, it respected the Elemental for its attempt. However, it would never be trapped again. The stone prison at the end of the passage was every bit a symbol of its imprisonment. Now that its caste was taking control of the planet, it would never be in someone else’s prison again.
It reached the end of the tunnel and stared across the wide chamber. It knew every niche in the walls, every curve of the roof, and every scratch mark it had left across the stone with its enormous claws.
The Elemental raised its arms wide, and the ground beneath its feet rumbled. It savored the growing power within him. As a prisoner, it had never had the power to escape. The stronger its caste became, the stronger it became. In its new host, the Elemental finally had the power to bring this prison crashing down.
The walls shook stronger, and cracks formed across the ceiling. The floor split with a deafening crash, and magma poured out of the chasm. Slabs of stone fell from the ceiling, splashing into the lava. Cracks formed a spider web along the walls. More and more stones fell inward. Slowly, the Elemental stepped out of the room, savoring the destruction it left in its wake. The rest of the room collapsed inward, blocking the doorway, and forever sealing the room.
The Fire Elemental climbed out of the passage and crossed the throne room. It pushed open the doors and stormed across the narrow hallway, exiting onto a balcony that overlooked the castle’s courtyard.
Below the Elemental, perfect rows of black-clad Fire Warriors stood at the position of attention, their eyes locked on the balcony. With the Elemental’s arrival, their hands snapped to their chest in salute.
The Elemental smiled, Sammy’s pearly white teeth glistening in the torchlight. “Stand tall, Fire Warriors. Tomorrow, we take the surface world by force!”
The Fire Elemental sat in a circular room within its palatial apartment. The room was barren of any niceties, aside from an odd, circular, hieroglyphic pattern carved into the stone floor. The Elemental took a seat in the middle of the circle and closed its eyes. Around the room, flames sprung to life, hanging in midair and wavering in an unseen breeze, as though ignited on the wicks of candles. The room illuminated with a soft glow, casting dancing shadows on the Elemental’s feminine features.
With its eyes closed, the Elemental reached out its thoughts across the world. Its awareness traveled the pathways of lava that ran beneath the upper crust as it sought out its emissary. Slowly, its consciousness found General Abraxas perched on the edge of a cliff, looking down on a burning city below.
Sensing his master’s presence, Abraxas turned away from the scene. Above him, a burning, draconic eye hovered in the air. Abraxas bowed and placed his fist against his chest.
“Master,” he said.
The Fire Elemental looked down on the man’s bald and tattooed head and a sense of nausea washed over it, as though the Elemental was disgusted and bothered by the sight of the loyal general. It quickly suppressed those feelings as it addressed the warrior.
“You have served me well thus far, General Abraxas,” the Elemental said, its voice booming in the open air of the plateau.
“Thank you, Master. Tell me what more I can do to serve you.”
“Our enemy has unleashed the power of the Wind Elemental and even now searches out the next of my Elemental adversaries. Though I can sense his presence, he is protected from my scrying by the very elements he now controls. He moves fast, pushing us quicker toward an endgame, quicker than I’d like. When I locate Xander again, you will go and kill him for me at once.”
General Abraxas smiled, feeling blessed to be given that task. Xander had been part of the pair that nearly caused his death. The other person—Sammy—had already been destroyed when she became the host. He would be honored to kill the infuriating Wind Warrior as well.
“As you command,” Abraxas said.
The orb of an eye disappeared in the air above General Abraxas. He looked down on the burning city once more before flaming wings emerged from his back, and he launched into the air. The Fire Warriors below were engaged in the wanton destruction of humanity. It was time to go awaken another clan of warriors.
The trio skimmed over the crashing waves as they sped over the endless ocean. In all directions, the rolling water stretched to the horizon. It was a lonely landscape. Without any land in sight, a sense of agoraphobia settled over Xander. He’d never been bothered by quiet hikes by himself through the countryside surrounding White Halls, but this was different. This was nothing. This was a long and lonely expanse of nothingness.
Despite the inhospitable terrain, he still felt the tug forward. Wherever they were going and whatever they’d find when they got there, they were close. He could sense it. Like a magnet, he was drawn toward the Elementals. It was becoming a physical pull, like gravity drawing him closer and closer.
He looked around again but saw nothing. If an Elemental was nearby, he couldn’t begin to fathom where it might be.
The direction of the pull shifted immediately downward. The force of its draw was strong enough that Xander felt his stomach lurch as it sunk toward his toes. He pulled up and hovered in midair above the inexorable downward force.
Sean squinted and looked around as he hung, buoyed in the air next to his friend. “This is it? We’re here?”
“I think so,” Xander said.
“We’re where?” Jessica asked as she covered her eyes with her hand. She glanced around the lonely ocean and saw nothing remarkable. “There’s nothing here. Please, please don’t tell me this whole thing was a wild goose chase.”
“It’s here. I can feel it nearby.”
Sean turned a full circle in midair but still saw nothing useful. “Want to help a brother out here, Xander? I’m with Jessica; I’m not seeing a whole lot around here.”
“It feels like it’s right below us,” Xander explained.
The trio looked down at the choppy ocean waves beneath them. Sean looked up, paler than he had been during the flight.
“Clearly you don’t remember how much I disliked the boat when we sailed to Iceland. I’m not a fan of the water. Fat kids float. We kind of struggle to stay underwater for any amount of time.”
Jessica sighed at Sean’s inappropriate sense of humor. “So safe money is on the Water Elemental, right?”
Xander looked down at the rolling waves and shrugged. It made sense, but common sense didn’t seem that common when dealing with the budding apocalypse.
“What are you thinking, Xander?” she asked.
Xander bit his lip. “I’m thinking that for once I agree with Sean. I’m pretty sure we’re not going to be able to just go for a dive.”
“Then what are our other options?” she asked.
Xander held his arms out wide, and both Sean and Jessica were pulled protectively behind him. “I’m thinking it’s time we took this wind power out for a real test drive.”
Despite the bubble of pressurized air around them, all three could hear the loud rumble as the wind kicked up around them. Xander closed his eyes and listened to its siren’s song—a gentle whisper of inaudible melodies that accompanied the summoned storm.
A deafening roar split the air as a gale sliced across the waves. The rolling waves directly beneath them shifted directions unexpectedly, slamming into one another and collapsing into a churning, boiling sea. The ocean became frothy, as though a feeding frenzy were occurring just beneath the water’s surface as the waves crashed confusedly into one another.
The sea spray licked at their ankles, and the wind tugged at their feet as a vortex appeared around them. Far wider than even the waterspout they had kept around the Wind Warriors’ island, the tornado slammed into the surface of the ocean. In the center of the frothy waves beneath them, a small, dark hole appeared as the driving winds burrowed into the water. As the wind continued to bore deeper beneath the choppy sea, the hole became bigger.
Around the burgeoning void beneath them, the water swirled maddeningly. The whirlpool quickly grew in both strength and size, swallowing the nearby water as it dug deeper and deeper beneath the waves. The sea spray that had previously clung desperately to their ankles was instead sucked into the heart of the tourbillion with an audible hiss.
As the whirlpool grew, Xander, Sean, and Jessica slowly descended into its core. The waves around them swirled angrily but were held at bay by the velocity of the vortex Xander created. Lower and lower, they sank beneath the waves.
At first, the water was a deep blue as thin sunlight filtered through the upper levels of the ocean. They could see the silhouettes of schools of fish approaching the walls of the whirlpool inquisitively before quickly disappearing as they fled. Larger shadows skimmed the edge of the vortex before angling lazily away.
Slowly, the deep blue faded to near black as they descended lower and lower. Xander knew instinctively that they were beyond the depth any human had ever gone without mechanical aid, yet still they sunk deeper into the Atlantic Ocean.
The meager light from above strained to illuminate the area into which they sank. The sunlight seemed to shrink from the depths to which they flew.
“It’s freezing,” Jessica remarked as she rubbed her arms. She pulled her fur-lined winter jacket from her bag and slid it on but still shivered against the chill.
Xander looked over his shoulder and saw Sean pulling on his jacket as well. It had been so warm when they were eating lunch at the Azores. The warmth was clearly gone, as a cold seemed to emanate from the ocean around them.
For some reason he couldn’t explain, the cold seemed to affect him far less than the other two. He remained in his T-shirt and, though he could feel goose bumps spreading across his exposed skin, it wasn’t enough to warrant putting on the thick winter coat.
The darkness swallowed the filtering sunlight, leaving the sea around them in perpetual dusk. The sunlight that had followed them surrendered its chase and retreated to the surface. The glassy perimeter of the vortex still swirled around them, but it was barely visible anymore.
“H-how far down are we g-going?” Sean asked as he began shivering uncontrollably.
Xander could feel the tug in his gut like someone had tied a rope to his stomach and dropped it from a bridge. “We’re close. Really close now.”
He looked back at both Sean and Jessica hovering behind him and noticed their lips were turning blue. Jessica’s eyebrows looked frosted as small ice crystals formed on her brow.
When the darkness was on the verge of swallowing them whole, their feet touched down on the silt and sand of the ocean’s floor.
“I can’t see anything,” Sean said.
Jessica fumbled in her pocket, and they heard the jingling of keys. She pulled out a massive keychain, its lengths adorned with charms and discount tags from assorted department stores. She sifted through the jumble before exclaiming loudly and raising her hand above her head.
“Found it,” she said.
“Found what?” Sean asked as he stared inquisitively at the barely visible shape in her outstretched hand.
Jessica lowered her hand and pressed a button on the object dangling from the end of her keys. Light spilled from the pocket flashlight. Though its illumination was weak compared to the oppressive gloom, they were able to make out the shapes immediately around them.
The light fell first on the ground at their feet. Xander furrowed his brow as he leaned forward and brushed away some of the damp sand. His hand fell on hard stone with clearly defined edges. The narrow gap on the edge of the stone led immediately to another paver stone set artfully beside it. From that paver, Xander followed the path to another and another.
As his eyes adjusted, he was able to make out the silt-covered edges of the path—a clear trail that led forward from where they had landed.
“What is it?” Sean asked, crouching beside his friend.
“It’s a road,” Xander said unbelievably, his words escaping in an amazed exhalation.
The two stood and glanced along the path of the trail.
“Shine the light over there,” Xander said, pointing ahead of them.
As Jessica turned the meager flashlight forward, the light poured over the unnaturally sharp corner stones and dilapidated rooftops of the nearest buildings. Just beyond the crumbled buildings, the light exposed the rounded exterior walls that were now crumbled from age and choked with sea life.
“It’s a city,” he whispered unbelievably into the still air.
It was a city, or at least it had once been ages ago. Xander touched the slime-encrusted stonework of the nearest building with admiration. Despite the water being held at bay by his vortex, the sea still clung to the ruins around them. Coral had taken root on the collapsed walls, growing bulbous forms until the stonework was nearly unrecognizable at parts. Water still poured in miniaturized waterfalls down the facades of the ruined buildings. He stepped further away from the cobblestone road they had discovered as he explored the structures.
“Who built this?” Jessica asked as she took a squishy step forward. Her foot sank slightly into the ocean floor, and the seawater flooded into her shoes. It only added to the cold that had permeated ever corner of her body.
“I don’t know,” Xander said.
“This was a doorway,” Sean said, rushing toward one of the buildings. Though his breath still escaped in clouds of white, the adrenaline rushed through his body at their discovery, helping him temporarily forget about the cold. “I mean, if there had been a real door here once, it’s rotted away. But it’s clearly a doorframe.”
Jessica pushed gently on a stone that stood at her chest level. It slid easily off the top of the broken wall and sank into the silt beyond. “It’s falling apart. How old d-do you think this place is?”
Xander shrugged as motioned for Jessica to turn the light toward him. As she adjusted the beam, it fell over another nondescript structure.
“Centuries? Millennia? I have no idea. It’s been underwater for a long time. That much is clear.”
“Just so long as it’s not going to come rushing back in while we’re still here,” Sean said.
Xander shook his head and stepped over another set of fallen stones. The curved walls of the city stood before them. “It won’t. I have the water under control.”
“Just like that? You’re holding back the entire ocean just like that?”
“Just like that. I’m not even really concentrating on it. It’s just happening.”
Sean frowned. “Yeah, glad to know holding back the ocean hasn’t really rated high on your conscious thoughts. That really puts my mind at ease.”
Sean looked over to Jessica, whose feet were submerged in the damp ground. She held the flashlight aloft in one hand and her other was crossed protectively across her chest. She shivered uncontrollably as she followed Xander with the light.
She rubbed her arms as she tried to keep her body from shaking. “Holy c-crap, it’s freezing,”
She pulled a boot free of the sucking silt and frowned as water dripped from its sole.
“Come here,” Sean said as he walked over and wrapped his arm around her. “I’ll keep you warm.”
“I r-really want to make some j-joke about you not being as c-cold because of your blubber,” Jessica began through clattering teeth, “b-but it’s just t-too much effort.”
Instead of offering a stinging retort, Sean laughed and pulled her in closer.
Xander walked away from the pair, still admiring the ruins around them. The city was enormous and ancient. Despite the damage done by underwater currents over what must have been hundreds, if not thousands, of years, the city was still remarkably well preserved. He reached out as he approached the nearest building, his fingers dancing over the ancient stones. The craftsmanship seemed exquisite considering the obvious age of the houses around him, if indeed houses were what they were.
He walked around its perimeter until he found what looked like a doorway, though half the wall on one side had long ago collapsed. Around the edge of the doorframe, Xander could make out faintly etched symbols, intricately carved into the stone itself. The water currents had washed away anything discernable, though he doubted he could have read the symbols even if they’d been clear.
Turning slowly, he saw more and more similar homes stretching as far as he could see, eventually disappearing into the edge of the vortex he created to keep the ocean at bay. Whatever this place had been, it was enormous.
Sean and Jessica walked up beside him while he was lost in thought.
“I’m just throwing out ideas,” Sean said, “but you don’t think it could be… I mean, you don’t really think this could be Atlantis, do you?”
Xander turned toward his friend with a frown. “I think you read too many comic books.”
“So says the superhero,” Sean retorted.
“If you two are d-done, then can we p-please hurry? We can’t s-stay here much longer,” Jessica moaned.
She took a tentative step toward Xander but she seemed to be teetering unsteadily, as though her joints weren’t cooperating under the extreme cold.
“She’s right,” Sean said. He was clearly warmer than she was, but the strain was evident on his face. “You may be able to handle the cold, but we can’t. We’re going to freeze to death.”
“Where is the Elemental?” Jessica stammered.
“It’s here,” Xander replied, though he seemed unsure of himself. “It has to be.”
He led them to the edge of the curved wall. There were huge holes along its length where it collapsed under its own weight. The massive stones littered the ground on either side of the wall. Water sloshed along the edge of the remaining stones like a narrow moat, one that Xander easily stepped over. He climbed up the small incline of sand and stepped onto the lip of one of the holes.
“Let me borrow the flashlight,” he said as Jessica approached.
She handed him the light and he shone it over the wall, though the light from its small bulb diffused quickly as it shone over the crumbling city. Craning his neck, he was able to see over the nearest of the low buildings.
The road they had found when they landed entered the city to his right and continued straight toward the heart of the city. The design of the houses themselves seemed similarly built to the Wind Warriors’ island, with the flow of buildings seemingly pointing toward a center that he couldn’t see from his vantage point. The familiar architectural design set his mind at ease that they were at the right place, even though he still had no idea where the Elemental could be.
“D-don’t you have some mumbo-jumbo you c-can use to find it?”
Xander frowned at his ex-girlfriend. She was right, but his ability to sense the Elementals had gone haywire the second they arrived at the ocean floor. It seemed like the Elemental was everywhere at once, which left his sense of direction dizzy and unclear.
“What can you see?” Sean asked from behind him.
Xander looked over his shoulder to where Sean still stood, ankle-deep in the muck.
“It looks like there are some roads leading toward the center of the city, but I can’t see what’s there from here.”
“I don’t mean to be the guy pointing out the elephant in the room,” Sean said, “but I’m pretty sure that would be a good place to start.”
Xander frowned as he climbed down from the wall. He knew the smart thing would have been to fly directly to the center of the city and find out what was there, but he reveled in the fact that walking bought him time to collect his thoughts. Every step on his journey had brought both new responsibilities and new heartaches. He had become a Wind Warrior, and it had cost the lives of his parents and his grandfather. He had absorbed the power of the Wind Elemental but was now responsible for stopping a legion of Fire Warriors from destroying the planet. He still didn’t feel ready to take another leap of faith on his journey. Instead, he helped the other two climb through the hole in the wall.
The trio rejoined the road to their right, knowing it would make the trip easier than forging through the deepening silt.
The buildings around them quickly grew more dilapidated the closer they got to the center of the city. Xander frowned as he looked upon the ruin. The destruction had been the result of far more than just time and water currents. The stones that had once formed the walls of the buildings were split. Many of the buildings stood as little more than foundations, leaving gently raised outlines of structures in the sandy ocean floor.
Something sinister had happened ages ago that left behind only the broken foundations. It only reinforced Xander’s hesitation as they climbed through the wreckage. This city had once belonged to one of the Elementals, and it had still come to ruin. The Elemental power seemed to be a magnet for violence.
The road remained unwavering as it led them to the heart of the city. The rows of buildings ended abruptly, and the trio found themselves on the edge of a giant, circular courtyard. The ground in the center of the park rose slightly to a gentle hilltop, clearly the focal point of the entire city.
Xander took a step forward, but Sean’s hand closed over his arm.
“Turn off the flashlight,” Sean said.
Xander looked at him inquisitively but pressed the button on the keychain. For a brief moment, the city grew impenetrably black. As quickly as the darkness rushed into his vision, however, it was banished by a gentle glow radiating from the hilltop. A faint blue light poured from its peak, gently illuminating the surrounding area.
“What that glowing when we landed?” Xander asked.
Jessica shook her head instead of responding as she kept her jaw clenched to stop her teeth from chattering painfully.
“I’m pretty sure I would have noticed it,” Sean said. “It was almost pitch black when we were flying in.”
Xander swallowed hard but stepped toward the base of the hill. The slope was gradual and, even from its base, he could almost see the source of the light at its crest. He could hear the sucking footsteps of his friends following behind him as he nervously climbed the hill.
The hill rose a short distance before leveling off. In its center, surrounded by immaculately carved flagstones, was a pool of crystal-clear water. The blue glow radiated from its depths, though Xander couldn’t tell if the glow came from something on the bottom of the pool or from the water itself.
“This wasn’t what I was expecting,” Sean said as he turned up his fur-lined collar against the chill. The air seemed even colder close to the water’s edge. Though the pool clearly wasn’t frozen over, the air seemed far below the freezing point.
As Xander walked toward the still pool, his stomach began to churn. The weight of inevitability settled over him, and he struggled to find the inner resolve he needed to continue. As though sensing his doubt, he felt a renewed tugging in his gut. Despite the dilapidated appearance of the city around them, he knew that at least one of the Elementals was here.
He stopped at the pool’s edge and crouched down until he was inches from the water’s edge. With a shaking hand, he reached out toward the pool’s surface.
“Are you sure that’s a g-good idea?” Jessica asked, breaking her silence. She ran a dry tongue over her blue-tinted lips.
“We have to do something, right?” he replied.
Xander dipped his hand into the water and felt the biting cold roll up his arm and settle in his chest. He pulled his hand back, but not so quickly that he spilled the water cupped in his palm. The water was painfully cold in his hand but, even removed from the pool, it continued to glow with an inner light. The blue painted his fingers and reflected off his face, as he stood, awestruck at the sight.
“It’s impressive,” Sean said. “I’m guessing we’re sure the Elemental’s here, then.”
Xander felt the knot forming and easing over and over in his stomach. “One of them is. That’s for certain.”
“So…” Sean began, drawing out the first word for as long as he could. “What do we do now?”
“I have no idea,” Xander admitted. “I kind of expected the Elemental to just kind of be waiting for us when we got here, like the Wind Elemental was.”
“D-did you happen to have a plan B?” Jessica asked.
Xander stared into the pool. Its light seemed to wax and wane like a heartbeat, something he didn’t remember it doing moments before. His face lit up with its glow as it pulsed, only to leave his frowning expression in deep shadows moments later. He could feel its power practically radiating from its surface. One of the Elementals was here; he just couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t appearing.
Sean cleared his throat to get Xander’s attention. As the friends locked eyes, Sean pointed over his shoulder.
“We’re kind of feeling like the third wheel… well, I guess more like the second and third wheel on a unicycle, if you want to get technical.”
Xander sighed.
“My point,” Sean said before Xander could chide him, “is that we’re going to go check out the other side of the pool and leave you to your thoughts.”
Sean and Jessica began walking around the perimeter of the pool as Xander went back to staring into its depths.
When they were far enough away, Xander knelt back down until his face was only inches from the water’s surface.
“I know you’re in there,” Xander whispered. “You made sure the Wind Elemental pointed the way to you as soon as she gave me her powers. I’m guessing you’re still asleep right now. She didn’t exactly tell me if there was something I needed to do to wake you up. If you could throw me a bone, that would be great.” Xander rolled his eyes. “You probably don’t even know what I mean by that.”
He stared at the silent and still pool, but it offered no response. Xander frowned and put his hands on his hips.
“Xander!” Sean yelled. “You need to see this.”
Xander glanced in the direction in which Sean and Jessica had disappeared before looking down at the water once more.
“Xander, I’m not kidding,” Sean reiterated. “You really need to come check this out.”
He walked around the pool until he reached the far side. Both Sean and Jessica were staring at the surface of the water. A portion of the glowing water close to the shoreline churned angrily, seemingly boiling from within. The frothing water slowly approached the shore, leaving a wake behind it. The chill in the air that he had seemed impervious to suddenly crashed down over him, and he couldn’t stop shivering.
The churning water grew closer, like a monster was swimming just below the surface. Yet beneath the boiling surface, the pool remained still and crystal clear. Xander looked and could see the bottom. There was nothing in the water beneath the agitated region.
The blue light from the water pulsed faster the closer the boiling came to the edge of the pool. It waxed and waned like a strobe light, casting the entire city into alternating dim light and inky blackness. Every time the light reemerged, the churning water had grown eerily closer.
As one, the trio stepped away from the edge. Xander couldn’t hear the chattering of teeth from his two friends, as though anticipation had frozen their bodies in place.
“Xander?” Jessica asked.
“Stay where you are,” he said. “This is what we came for.”
He hoped he sounded more confident than he felt. The truth was he had no idea what to expect. He had felt sure of himself when they left the Wind Elemental, as though going to find the other two Elementals was the only course of action. Now, knowing he was about to come face to face with another embodiment of pure elemental power, he was more frightened than ever. He felt like he was making a terrible mistake.
The churning water stopped at the edge of the pool. The blue light disappeared altogether before slowly reigniting, casting their faces in sharp relief.
The water swelled in the center of the boil, rising like a bubble from beneath the surface. It grew larger as it emerged further. Slowly, the bubble shrunk around a more defined shape. The sloshing water merged into strands of hair. A pointed nose emerged as the bubble reformed into a pair of glowing blue eyes and pale blue lips.
The figure continued to emerge from the water. As she became more defined, it was obvious that she was naked, though it mattered little since her body was completely translucent, molded from the water of which she was formed. Her body glowed with the same bioluminescence of the pool.
Sean took in a sharp intake of breath as the woman finished her transfiguration. She remained ankle deep in the pool, and the water seemed to flow up her body. Despite her soft appearance, her blue glowing eyes were cold and emotionless.
Xander cleared his throat. “Are you the Water Elemental?”
The woman shifted her gaze to Xander, boring into him with her stern expression. Her blue lips pulled apart, showing translucent teeth beneath as she sneered.
“You made a terrible mistake in returning here, humans,” the Water Elemental said as the water formed a spear in her hand.
The Fire Elemental walked through the hallways of the keep with a pair of Fire Warriors following closely behind. There wasn’t a purpose to its walk; it had spent so long trapped within the bowels of the earth that it yearned for nothing more than to wander freely.
Turning, the Elemental walked down the steep steps that led from the side tower and into the courtyard. Dozens of Fire Warriors filled the courtyard, practicing battle techniques and mastering their control over their elemental powers. Flames erupted as balls of fire exploded against training targets.
It stood on the edge of the courtyard, admiring its army in practice. Every time a Fire Warrior used his powers, the Elemental felt connected to the warrior. It could feel the pull of their power as though leeched directly from the Elemental’s endless well. It was a sensual connection, one that it shared with every Fire Warrior on the planet.
Closing its eyes, the Elemental could feel other Fire Warriors already surfacing in other continents and marching toward the world’s major cities. Their destruction of humanity washed over it and sent shivers up its spine.
One of the Fire Warriors noticed their master and called the courtyard to attention. The warriors stopped immediately and saluted the Fire Elemental. With a nod of recognition, the Elemental walked through the center of the courtyard; the Fire Warriors parted before the blond woman host.
It emerged out of the far side of the courtyard and walked beneath the massive iron portcullis that led outside the castle. There was a small stretch of land between the rim of the castle and the cliff that dropped off to the river of lava below. A bridge stretched before the Elemental, dilapidated as it had always been with an open hole along its length.
The Fire Elemental turned away from the bridge and arched its neck backward, staring up at the castle wall above the portcullis archway. A man dangled from the wall like a decoration. His arms were chained to the wall, held straight out to his side awkwardly. He had a grimace on his face, but he stared straight ahead defiantly.
“Tell me, Lord Balor,” the Fire Elemental said. “Do you like your new accommodations?”
Lord Balor looked down, and his eyes widened in surprise. He immediately tried to conceal his horror, but it was too late. Balor slowly raised his eyes back up, refusing to look down at the Elemental.
“Does it pain you to see me this way? Wearing your daughter’s skin as my new host? Look at me.”
Balor kept his face straight ahead with his eyes glistening.
“Look at me, Lord Balor.”
The Fire Elemental’s feet left the hard ground, and it hovered up into the air. It drifted upward until it floated directly in front of the disgraced Lord. Balor strained against the chains when he saw it directly in front of him. The Elemental’s smile was disturbingly familiar to Balor, as it spread across his daughter’s face.
“I want you to look upon the face of your daughter. Every day that you hang here on this wall for your betrayal, I want you to remember that I’m using this body to bring about the end of the human race. And, trust me—you’ll be hanging on this wall for weeks. I could have stripped you of your power and let you die in the heat within a day. By leaving you with your elemental powers, you don’t need much water to survive. I’ll make sure you get exactly enough sustenance to survive for a long time, dangling and wallowing in your disloyalty, thinking about the destruction of your daughter and everything you built as Lord of this clan.”
Balor shifted his eyes to the Elemental. “Go jump in a lava pit.”
The Elemental scowled. The expression was unusual for Sammy’s face, and it twisted it until it ceased to resemble the former blond. Lord Balor smiled at the illusion, since the woman in front of him no longer looked like his daughter.
“I’ll take great pleasure in your anguish and torture. And when the time comes, I’ll be here to see you die.”
Lord Balor turned his eyes away and stared at the distant, black stone wall. Frowning, the Fire Elemental drifted back down to the hard ground. The Fire Warriors that followed him everywhere bowed deeply.
“What is your wish, Master?” they asked.
“Take me to the surface,” the Fire Elemental said. “I wish to look upon the sky for the first time in millennia.”
As the Fire Warriors led the way onto the bridge and into the maze of tunnels beyond, the Elemental stole a glance backward toward the defiant Lord. The same sense of guilt washed over the Elemental, and it temporarily considered releasing the man. Frustration quickly erased the asinine consideration. It snarled and turned away, following the warriors into the pitch-black passageways.
Lord Balor watched the figure of his daughter disappear across the bridge before he dared to release the sob he was holding back. All that he had done was for naught. His daughter had been claimed by the Fire Elemental.
The Elemental walked in silence as they made their way to the surface. It had taken a host only once before claiming Sammy, and the results had been disastrous. The raw elemental power was far too great to be harnessed by a normal man or woman, even one blessed with the Elemental’s power as a Fire Warrior. The last warrior had survived less than a minute before the flames erupted from his chest, burning his body to ash and releasing the Fire Elemental back into its natural form. Sammy had been designed specifically to harbor the Elemental’s incredible power and so far, it had been a success.
The experience of living within a human frame was disconcerting. Aside from the biological issues that it hadn’t expected, the Elemental had been feeling unexpected emotions. It assumed they were artifacts of its host’s previous life—remnants of the woman’s soul it had destroyed to claim the body.
Whatever the cause, it would do all it could to crush those meager emotions. They were signs of weakness that it would not abide.
The dark tunnels began filling with light, reflecting off the slick stone walls. The closer they got to the surface, the brighter it became. As they emerged through the narrow chasm into the rock face, the Elemental raised its hand to its eyes and squinted against the brilliance. It hadn’t been above ground for thousands of years, and the glaring Southern California sunlight was blinding.
As its eyes adjusted quickly, it savored the warmth of the sunlight beating on its exposed skin. Reaching up, it removed its tunic and kicked off its boots. The Fire Warriors turned aside in embarrassment as the Fire Elemental removed its pants. It stood in its feminine nudity, exposed to the radiating heat.
The Elemental looked out across the desert. Its keen eyesight—far better than those of its warriors—could make out the towers and spires of the distant city of Los Angeles. General Kobal was correct; the earthquakes and natural disasters had ruined it. The city sat close to a number of fault lines, leaving it vulnerable to devastating quakes as more and more of the Wind Warriors were slayed. Many of the skyscrapers were sheared, leaving exposed pylons jutting into the sky like skeletal remains. Only a few of the buildings were completely intact.
The Elemental smiled wickedly at the sight of fires burning uncontrollably there. The denizens of the city knew nothing of the hell that prepared to march on them. The spotty fires within it were only a precursor to the inferno that awaited them.
Satisfied, the Elemental pulled its clothes back on and nodded to the Fire Warriors.
“Take me back to the castle. There is much to be done before we go to war.”
The Water Elemental marched from the pool. Though made of water, the spear in her hand glistened dangerously in the flickering, bioluminescent light.
Xander held his hands protectively in front of him. “Wait. We’re not here for a fight. We need your help.”
The Elemental released a hellish scream before swinging her spear in a wide arc. Xander dropped quickly to the ground as its shimmering blade passed inches above his head. Canting his head to the side, he saw Sean and Jessica frozen in disbelief at the enraged woman.
“Run,” Xander said.
His words broke through the spell that seemed to hold them in place. They turned and ran in opposite directions from the pool, trying to put as much distance as possible between themselves and the Water Elemental.
As Xander turned his head back to the blue woman, he watched her shift her grip on her spear and drive it down toward his prone form.
He rolled quickly to the side, and the spear slammed into the sandy ground. It pierced the silt with a crash, sending sand flying into his face. Any hope he had that the weapon lacked solidity was dispelled. He kicked out quickly, hoping to knock her legs out from underneath her. As his leg struck hers, his foot passed through her calf without resistance. The water soaked into his shoe, but she didn’t seem the slightest bit unbalanced.
The kick gave Xander the chance to get his legs underneath him, and he quickly stood. The Water Elemental snarled at him as she ripped the spear from the ground and advanced on him once more.
“I don’t want to fight you,” he said as he backed down the hill, away from the pool. “We’re not whoever you think we are.”
“You humans are all alike,” the Water Elemental said. “Your promises are hollow.”
Wind began swirling around Xander’s feet, driving the sand away from him until he was standing on cleaned cobblestones. The Elemental thrust her spear forward. With a quick wave of his hand, he caused a gust of wind to knock the tip of the spear harmlessly aside.
“A Wind Warrior?” she asked incredulously. “You dare defile my home?”
The Water Elemental didn’t give Xander a chance to respond, thrusting again and again. He turned the blade aside repeatedly, though her thrusts grew closer to him with each assault.
Xander didn’t want to hurt the Water Elemental. He didn’t know how this process was supposed to go—if this entire battle was little more than a test that he had been painfully unaware of—but she seemed intent on killing him.
She thrust again and another gust of wind knocked the tip of the spear wide, passing just over his exposed shoulder. She released the spear with her backhand and the fingers flowed into a knife’s edge. Stepping toward him, she swung her hand and sliced into Xander’s shoulder.
He cried out and stumbled backward. Her hand changed back to fingers, and she grabbed the shaft of her spear for another thrust.
A rock flew through the air and slammed into the Elemental’s torso. It passed cleanly through her body before lodging itself in the sand behind her. Her body rippled as concentric rings rolled away from the impact point.
The Water Elemental and Xander both turned toward Sean, who stood near the edge of one of the ruined buildings ringing the central park. Reaching down, he picked up another rock and prepared to throw it.
“I thought I told you to run,” Xander said.
“You did,” Sean said. “But you’re also the only thing holding back the entire freaking ocean. If she kills you, Jessica and I are going to get crushed under tons of seawater. So, if it’s all the same, I think I’ll stick around and fight.”
The Elemental glanced dangerously at Xander before hefting her spear over her shoulder like a javelin, turning her attention solely on Sean. She took a step forward and launched the spear toward him.
Xander heard the roar of the wind as a vortex lifted one of the larger stones from the rubble and launched it into the air. The stone passed between the Elemental and Sean just as the spear reached him. It splashed harmlessly on the limestone block, collapsing back into water that dripped onto the ground.
Xander felt his anger growing. When the Elemental tried to kill him, he was caught off guard. With the power of the Wind Elemental, however, he had the means to defend himself. Sean and Jessica were normal humans and were far out of their element going against the enraged woman. It was his fault they were even there, in the heart of a ruined city. He wouldn’t let them get hurt, or worse, just because they were loyal friends.
Another rock flew through the air, striking the Elemental on her back. The ripples hadn’t begun to fade when a second, and then a third rock struck her. Jessica and Sean threw handfuls of stones at her. There wasn’t a shortage of rubble around them, and they knew it would keep her distracted.
Angrily, the Water Elemental shifted her attention back and forth between the trio. Tilting her head backward, she stretched her arms out wide. Xander immediately felt a heavy weight settle over him. At first, he assumed she was attacking him directly. It took a moment to realize that the pressure was coming from the vortex keeping the ocean at bay. The Water Elemental was trying to flood the city, crushing all three of them to death.
Xander’s eyes flared white as he actively focused on reinforcing the whirlpool’s perimeter. Incredible power poured through him, and the force of the water quickly resided.
The Water Elemental’s head shot forward and she stared at him in disbelief. “That’s not possible. I will kill you and your friends for this insult.”
“I’m getting really tired of your threats,” Xander said angrily. “This ends now.”
Xander thrust his hands toward her and hurricane winds struck her liquid body. Air bubbles forced their way through her porous skin and settled within her transparent body. With a thought, he filled the bubbles with more and more air, expanding them deep within her. Her body swelled awkwardly, and she lurched backward.
With a clench of his fist, the bubbles swelled and popped. Her body exploded in a spray of water that coated Xander and all the ground around him. As quickly as it had arrived, the Wind Elemental power within him receded and he sighed with exhaustion.
The wet ground squished under Sean’s shoes as he walked up behind Xander.
“Did you just blow her up?” he asked. “I mean, you really just blew up an Elemental, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t mean to,” Xander admitted. “She threatened you guys and a got a little defensive.”
Jessica sniffled as she walked up beside him. She wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve.
“So what does this mean?” she asked. “I didn’t even know you could kill an Elemental. What happens now?”
Xander shrugged. “I know exactly as much as you guys do.”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have blown her up.”
“Thank you for that,” Xander said.
“Um,” Sean said, tapping Xander on the shoulder. “I’m not entirely sure you did kill her.”
Xander looked at his feet and noticed beads of glowing blue water rolling over the sand. Droplets merged with one another before rolling toward other globules of water. When they had merged into a shallow pool, they coalesced into a woman’s lower legs.
“She’s coming back,” Sean said.
“Do something,” Jessica demanded.
“Like what?” Xander asked. “I already blew her up. What more do you want?”
Sean snapped his fingers. “Bubbles.”
Xander arched his brow as he looked at his friend. The upper legs of the Elemental began to reform. At this rate, it wouldn’t be long until the Water Elemental was complete again.
“You made bubbles when you first found out about your power,” Sean explained. “Can you make one around her?”
Xander nodded. He formed his hands into a rounded shape, with his fingertips touching. The air around the reforming Elemental shimmered. As he lifted his hands, the sloshing water and a layer of sand rose into the air and hovered just above their heads.
The water within the bubble quickly merged with the rest of the Elemental, forming a woman slightly smaller than the one they had faced moments before. The rest of her glowing water pooled beneath the bubble as though yearning to be included with the rest of the elemental form.
The Water Elemental opened her eyes, and their piercing glow stared down at Xander. Her angry visage was gone, replaced by a soft expression. A gentle smile spread across her lips.
“I yield,” she said, her voice flowing and echoing from within the bubble.
“Darn right, you do!” Sean said.
Xander didn’t know what to say to the Elemental. He hadn’t planned out a speech before they arrived and after they’d been so viciously attacked, he was at a loss for words. Part of him wanted to blast her apart again and again, to see how long it would take before she grew tired of reforming.
The Water Elemental leaned forward until her noise was pressed against the edge of the bubble. Her piercing eyes examined him, looking him up and down as he stood beneath her.
“Release me,” she said.
“Not on your life,” Sean interjected. “Or on our lives, as it were.”
She turned her attention to Sean, who quickly looked away.
“I already yielded to you. You have nothing more to fear from me.”
“Xander?” Jessica asked.
“It’s okay, guys. I don’t think she’s going to fight us anymore.”
With a wave of his hand, the shimmering bubble lowered itself back to the damp sand before it dissipated. The remaining water rushed into her, and the Water Elemental grew to her full height. She shook slightly, letting her translucent mane wave in the air as though she were floating underwater.
When her form was once again settled, she stepped calmly toward Xander. She stopped when she was only a few feet away from him and canted her head to the side, as though she were examining a curious insect.
“I sense the power of the Wind Elemental, but you’re not her.”
“No, I’m not,” Xander said. “The Wind Elemental gave me her power so I could continue the fight against the Fire Caste.”
Her eyes were cold and emotionless, but her face no longer showed the blatant animosity they’d experienced when she was first awakened.
“You’re… him. You’re the one we designed all those ages ago. You’re the one that will end the elemental cycle, are you not?”
Xander nodded, though he wasn’t sure how he felt about being “designed” by the Elementals. “Apparently I am.”
“And you believe you can stop the Fire Elemental from destroying the planet? You think you can save the world?”
“I don’t really have a choice any longer,” he said. “You all created me to harness the power of all four elements. It’s basically my destiny now.”
He stepped toward her, despite his better judgment. His shoulder still bled from the gash she gave him during their fight.
“The Wind Elemental believed in me enough to give me her power. She sent me to find both you and the Earth Elemental so you could help me as well. I’ve tried fighting the Fire Caste with just the wind, but it’s not enough. I can’t do this without you.”
Xander stared into her glowing, unblinking eyes, trying to find any semblance of humanity within her aquatic form.
“Please,” he begged. “We need your help.”
The Water Elemental turned sharply away from him and began walking back toward her pool. She looked over her shoulder at the dumbfounded Xander, and he saw the frown lines at the corner of her mouth deepen.
“No,” she said flatly.
Entering back into the massive cavern that housed the Fire Warrior castle, the Fire Elemental felt a thrill of excitement. Its destiny had always been intertwined with the destruction of the world of man. After waiting impatiently for thousands upon thousands of years, it was finally coming to fruition. Looking upon Los Angeles gave the Elemental a keen sense of disgust toward the humans of the surface world. They had built great towers toward the sky as an edifice to their greed, while never considering the ramifications of their actions. The Fire Elemental was the sword of nature, the weapon that would be used with great precision to remove the head of the beast. The Elemental smirked. That wasn’t the best analogy. It did not intend to remove just the head of humanity. It would be the hammer that would shatter the body until nothing remained.
The Elemental stepped past the gaping hole in the bridge and looked affectionately toward the lava flow far below it. As it reached the far side of the bridge, it paused and looked up toward Lord Balor. The Fire Warrior escorts stopped behind the Elemental but refused to raise their eyes to the traitor.
Before a smug smile could spread across the Elemental’s face, it was struck in the chest by an unseen force. The strength of the hit knocked the wind from its lungs, and it gasped for air as the Elemental dropped to a knee. The Fire Warrior escorts rushed to its side, but it angrily shoved them away.
The pain had been exquisite but only served as a warning. The Water Elemental had been awakened. That cursed fool of a Wind Warrior had already found the next of the Elementals and even now bartered for more power with which to defeat the Fire Elemental.
The Fire Elemental threw back its head and howled in rage. Flames erupted from around its body. They shifted quickly to blindingly bright white and roared with the intensity of the sun. The lava river below bubbled and boiled in response to its anger. Magma sloshed far up the ravine walls as though it were climbing toward its master.
The ground beneath their feet shook violently as though its rage was trying to tear the cave apart. The mortar holding the stones of the bridge together bubbled and melted from the onslaught. Stones gave way against the leftmost edge of the bridge, and one of the two escorts tumbled over the side. His scream of surprise was cut short as lava shot upward to meet him.
The other Fire Warrior hurried across the bridge and collapsed onto the small inlet of land between the bridge and the castle wall.
The Fire Elemental howled again, and a thunderous crack split the air. One of the giant stalactites hanging on the ceiling high above broke from its mooring and plummeted downward. It crashed onto the land, sending shards of Ignatius rock scattering across the ground.
On the face of the castle, the obsidian split violently; a crack formed from the base of its foundation to the parapets above.
General Kobal stormed out of the castle gates and approached as close as he dared to the enraged Elemental. He raised a hand to his eyes, protecting his face from the waves of heat that radiated from the possessed woman.
“Master,” he yelled, though the din of crackling flames stole most of his words.
“Master, please. You must stop or you’ll bring the whole cavern crashing down on our heads.”
The Elemental looked up at the tall, broad-shouldered general and saw fear reflected in the man’s eyes. Slowly the aura of flames around it receded, and the devastating shaking subsided. The room seemed to shake for a moment longer as the cavern settled around its new fissures.
“That Wind Warrior has become a gnat,” the Elemental said as it climbed to his feet. “A parasite that has attached itself to me, feeding off my anger. He must be excised immediately before he has the chance to do more harm.”
The red eyes closed as the Elemental projected itself across the planet.
The giant orb appeared in the sky once more, this time hovering above a mountaintop. General Abraxas stood on a stony perch, looking down on a city lit by a sea of neon lights. Unlike Los Angeles, this city survived the massive earthquakes relatively unscathed, as though its inhabitants built in anticipation of such an event.
Abraxas raised his head and immediately bowed again to the glowing eye. “Master, you’ve returned so soon.”
“Our enemy has found and awoken the Water Elemental while I was busy acclimating to my new body.”
Abraxas looked stunned. “He already has the power of the Water Elemental as well?”
The Fire Elemental canted its head as it probed for the Water Elemental. It could feel her presence, but it seemed remote when compared to the more obvious wind power that Xander controlled.
“No,” the Elemental replied coyly. “He has awoken the Water Elemental, but her power is not yet his. Now is the time to strike. Xander Sirocco is on the move. With the power I’ve given you, you will be able to follow his general movements as I have, even if his power protects him from us discerning his exact location.”
“What are your orders, Master?”
“He must not have the chance to absorb the power of the Water Elemental. Find the Wind Warrior and kill him at once.”
Abraxas smiled wickedly, revealing his rows of sharpened teeth. “As you wish.”
“General Abraxas,” the Fire Elemental added. “I know your personal hatred for the man, as surely as I’ve felt residual hatred from this body toward you. Don’t let your personal ambitions get in the way of the mission I’ve laid before you. I tasked you with this so that you could destroy our enemy, not so you could resolve a personal vendetta. Don’t fail me.”
As the sight of General Abraxas faded from his view, the Elemental was faced with the same sense of guilt and disappointment it’d felt before. It glanced up at Lord Balor and saw the man’s inquisitive look. Angrily, the Elemental suppressed those unusual feelings and called over General Kobal.
“Prepare your forces, General. We march on the surface immediately.”
“What do you mean ‘no’?” Xander asked. He was still rooted in place, watching her return to her pool.
The Water Elemental ignored him as she continued her quiet march up the darkened hill.
“I’m talking to you,” Xander said, feeling his ire rise. They had risked everything to come here, including losing loved ones and depowering the entire rest of the Wind Caste. He couldn’t believe her obvious derision.
As before, she ignored him and continued her climb.
“Don’t you walk away from me!” Xander said.
The wind rushed down the whirlpool and slammed into the ground at her feet, forming a near solid wall of air. As the Water Elemental came into contact with the wall, the wind shear splattered parts of her bioluminescent body. She stepped back angrily and spun on Xander.
“Remove your wall, human.”
Xander didn’t even bother shaking his head. He stared at her through white, glowing eyes that gave off their own light in the darkness.
Behind her, the roar of the wind grew until it was deafening. He could see the vibrations of its sound shaking her liquid form.
“I told you to release me,” she said.
“And I told you that we weren’t done talking,” Xander said.
He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so angry with someone. Sammy’s life hung in the balance—the whole world did too—and the Elemental was the key to saving everyone he loved. This decision shouldn’t have been as difficult for someone as seemingly omnipotent as the Water Elemental.
“What is your problem? The Fire Caste is preparing to destroy everything you and the other Elementals have worked so hard to create and, instead of helping me, you’re crawling back into your pool of water to hide.”
The Water Elemental stormed down the hill, stopping directly in front of Xander.
“Don’t you lecture me about the world we created. Your life is a drop in the ocean compared to mine. I’ve seen the best and the worst of humanity. I’m the only one who will decide if I help you and I decided not to.”
Xander’s eyes drifted to her clenched fists, remembering how quickly they could become blades and how painful their cut could be. He hadn’t intended to be so confrontational, but time was definitely not on his side.
“What happened to you?” Jessica asked, rubbing her arms to ward off the biting cold. Her tone wasn’t accusatory but genuinely filled with concern. “Why do you hate us so much?”
The Water Elemental scowled at the blond woman. Her arm swept out to the side, and Xander tensed for another attack. Instead, the Water Elemental gestured to the ruined city around her.
“This city was the beacon of all that the Water Caste offered. Science and elemental magic intertwined. Beauty and peace. And it was destroyed by the same humanity you now want me to save. Destroyed for greed, envy, and lust.”
Xander shook his head. “But you agreed with the other Elementals to create me in the first place.”
“I agreed when I still believed in humanity. I agreed when I though humanity deserved a chance to grow and mature.”
“And now you don’t?” Sean asked, joining the others.
“Do you know that when an Elemental slumbers, they’re still completely connected to their element? I am not just part of the water—I am the embodiment of the water. And while I slept, I felt poisons dumped into my rivers and oceans. I felt masses of refuse clumping together to form virtual islands in the sea. I felt the cry of my sea life as they were harvested nearly to extinction to feed the gluttony of humanity. You want me to help save humanity... but where are the humans trying to save the water? What possible reason do I have to try to save humanity from itself?”
“I can’t argue about what humanity has done in the past,” Xander said. “Yeah, humans have killed fish and dumped chemicals into the water. I’m not going to deny that. But the people that do that are a small minority. The average person like Sean, Jessica, and me, we’re not destroying the oceans. You can’t blame everyone for the poor decisions of a few humans. You can’t just stand by and let everyone die.”
The Water Elemental shook her head. “Three humans hardly make a convincing argument.”
“Then give us a chance to prove I’m right. Let me show you that humans are worth saving.”
The Water Elemental stared at him sternly. “Why would you want to fight the inevitable? Humanity is destined to destroy itself. You don’t even know most of the humans you claim to be defending.”
Xander swallowed hard as thoughts of Sammy flooded into his mind. No matter how regal and selfless his actions seemed, he knew the truth was that he was fighting to save Sammy.
“I know the ones that matter,” Xander said.
“It’s more than just friendship. You fight for a love? I can read it on your face.”
Xander nodded slowly. “There’s a woman I love, a Fire Warrior. She’s special, like me, only she’s destined to be a host to the Fire Elemental. I… I know what happens when someone becomes a host. I know that the person dies so that the Elemental can use its body. I can’t let that happen to her. I can’t let her die. Please. Please help us.”
The glow faded from the Water Elemental’s eyes, and it took Xander a moment to realize that she had closed them. Though her aquatic form still stood in front of him, he knew that her mind was somewhere else, connected to the waterways that cut across the planet.
For minutes, the trio stood shivering at the depths of the Atlantic Ocean while the Elemental communed with people and places unknown. The glow finally reappeared in her eyes, and she stared at Xander once more. Her frown softened, and her face grew smooth like a calm sea.
“I’m…” she began, before pausing and shaking her head. “The destruction has already begun. Fire Warriors march on the cities of the world. Their ashes choke the rivers and seas, and the heat from their fires boils the waters.”
“Then you’ll help us?”
“I’m still not convinced that the Fire Elemental isn’t right, but I’m willing to give you a chance to prove your case. I’ll grant you a portion of my power, making you a Water Warrior. Take my power and use it to prove me wrong—prove to me that humanity deserves the chance to continue as the planet’s dominant species.”
“How?” Jessica asked. “How can we prove to you that we’re right?”
“There’s a city on an island to the north of my home that burns. The river that runs through its core is cluttered with ash and the bodies of those already killed by the Fire Caste. Defend the city—cleanse it of the taint of the Fire Caste—and I’ll consider granting you the rest of my power.”
“I’ll do it,” Xander said. “You won’t be disappointed.”
The Water Elemental stepped toward him and raised her hand to his face. Her touch was wet and matted his black hair to the side of his head.
“I’m afraid that in the end, I will be disappointed, regardless of the outcome. We all will.”
She leaned forward, her face dangerously close to his. Though everything in Xander’s head told him to turn and run, he stood stoically as she leaned in even closer and brushed her lips against his. Her liquid form splashed against his mouth, and its icy cold fluid rushed down his throat. The water flooded his esophagus and settled in both his gut and his lungs.
The oxygen bubbled through the water in his lungs, and Xander strained for breath. Though he had grown up learning how to swim, he always harbored a fear of drowning. The idea of being trapped under the surface of the water—clawing for freedom that was always just out of reach—while the water crushed you both from within and without scared him terribly. Despite standing on dry land, the sense of drowning was overwhelming.
He tried to cough and force the water from his lungs, but the Water Elemental grasped the sides of his face and drove more water into his mouth and nose. He felt the pressure in his sinuses as the water filled his nose and popped his ears. Xander’s diaphragm constricted and water sloshed from the corners of his mouth, only to be replaced by more of the glowing fluid immediately afterward.
Sean and Jessica rushed to his side. Jessica grabbed him and tried to pull him away, but the Elemental’s grip was superhuman, as though her fingers were fused with the very moisture within his skin.
Sean picked up a rock and swung it through the Elemental. Her watery body parted around the attack and reformed as his hand passed harmlessly through her. She didn’t bother to even turn her head and acknowledge Sean as a threat.
Xander couldn’t breathe and felt the helplessness creeping into his mind. It felt like hands grasping tightly to his feet, dragging him slowly beneath the surface of an endless sea. He sank deeper and deeper, and the world around him grew darker as the light from the surface retreated.
As unconsciousness threatened, his concentration gave way. The wind power that was holding the ocean at bay wavered, and water rushed into the ruined city. It pooled around the flagging foundations and encircled the weathered fallen stones of the perimeter wall. The water level continued to rise until the ocean poured through the holes in the wall and flooded into the city center.
From their perch on the side of the hill, Sean and Jessica saw the water level rising. It quickly covered the floor of the central park and began creeping up the side of the hilltop.
“Let go of him,” Sean said as he swung the stone harmlessly through the Elemental once again.
“Xander!” Jessica yelled as the water level reached the bottom of her boots. She felt the aching cold seep through the thick material, and her feet instantly went numb.
Xander could hear their yells but they came from miles away, like whispers trapped in bubbles washing over him in the sea. He wanted to help but his care and concern seemed to recede along with his consciousness, as his sense of self was slowly carried away with the rising waters.
“Listen to me, Xander,” the Water Elemental’s voice whispered in his mind. He could still feel her moist lips pressed against his as she spoke.
As the pair embraced, the water level continued to rise. It rushed over Xander’s feet, quickly rising above his knees and then above his waist. Throughout it all, he remained unmoving, as though completely unaware that the ocean was consuming him.
Sean and Jessica retreated to the top of the hill and stood on the flagstones marking the edge of the glowing pool. The water caught up to them quickly, washing past their legs as it filled the pool behind them to capacity. The two shivered uncontrollably as the water level rose.
They looked down the hill to where Xander and the Elemental stood. They saw them both disappear completely underwater.
“Xander!” they both yelled as his dark hair swirled on the surface before being sucked under the churning waves.
They didn’t have any time to mourn before the water rushed over them as well. They tried to tread water, but it was difficult in their thick winter jackets. As the ocean soaked through the inner lining of the coats, they could feel the increased weight dragging them down.
Sean managed to find a delicate perch, balancing on one foot and tilting his head up to keep it above water. The cold was already constricting his chest, making it hard to breathe. Beside him, he could see Jessica flailing as the water level quickly went over her head. She sputtered once before disappearing beneath the bubbling water.
Sean reached out and clutched her hand, pulling her in close. She fought him for a moment in her panic before he was able to force her head above the water. She coughed, sending a mouthful of water spilling onto the rising ocean before taking a deep breath and groaning loudly.
“I’m…” Sean said as water sloshed into his mouth. He spat it out and tilted his head backward again, straining once more for the surface. “I’m sorry, Jessica.”
Tears streaked Jessica’s face, intermixing with the salty water that dripped from her hair. Only Sean’s lips and nose were still above water, but he knew even they would soon be submerged. Jessica leaned forward quickly and pressed her cold lips tightly against his, holding that position even as the ocean washed over them both.
“You are one of my children now, connected as much to the water of the planet as you are to me,” the Water Elemental told Xander from their watery prison. “Show me the best of humanity, and I’ll grant you my power in full. Fail me, and you’ll join me in this forgotten city as I slumber again.”
Xander’s body felt like water as the Elemental withdrew from their embrace. He could feel the fish of the ocean passing through him. Locked in her embrace, his consciousness poured into the oceans and seas, stretching across hundreds of miles. He could sense the Elemental’s guiding hand as she showed him the Thames River far to the north, choked with gray ash.
As Xander flowed with the currents, he was suddenly acutely aware of his own body submerged strangely both far away and close by, simultaneously. More importantly, he could also sense a pair of humans much closer to his physical form. Their heartbeats slowed in the frigid waters, pulsing slower and slower as they sank lower beneath the rising ocean surface.
Panicked, Xander’s consciousness rushed back into his body, and he opened his eyes. Despite being under the frigid waters of the rising ocean, he didn’t feel panicked, and his lungs no longer screamed for air. Like the wind when they were flying, the water seemed to sustain him as his sunk deeper beneath its surface.
Through the dark, murky water, he could see his friends limp forms battered about in the undersea currents. Xander immediately felt the power of the water surge through him. His normally dark eyes turned completely blue as he felt ethereal fingers clutching the top of the rising water and pulling it back down. To his amazement, the ocean responded. The water retreated, dropping until the tattered rooftops reemerged from beneath its churning waves. The water pooled around them, reforming the whirlpool walls that had existed minutes earlier. Unlike before, the whirlpool was held back not by the wind but by the power of the water itself.
Xander’s friends drifted in the water, sinking until their bodies alighted on the flagstones around the pool. The last of the water drained from the hilltop, and Sean and Jessica collapsed on the floor. For a moment, they remained unmoving. At once, they began shivering and coughing up lungs full of water. Xander could feel the liquid still pooled in their lungs as they struggled for breath and gently forced it up their throats. They both coughed again and a gallon of salt water splashed onto the damp ground.
“Are you two okay?” Xander asked, rushing to their side.
Despite the obviously painful coughs that wracked their bodies, Sean managed a weak thumbs-up.
Even beyond the coughing, he could see their skin turning blue from the cold. He turned to address the Water Elemental, but the hilltop behind him was empty. Though he could still feel her presence around him, he knew she wouldn’t be coming to help.
They shivered again, and he knew he needed to get them dry and warm or they’d both die of hypothermia. He placed his hand on Sean’s chest and felt the water squeeze out from the fur-lined folds of his coat. The water soaked his hand for a moment. In his surprise, he withdrew his hands. To his amazement, the water retreated from his touch in response.
Xander closed his eyes and focused on the water on their clothes. Slowly, droplets of water dripped from Jessica’s collar. The more he concentrated, the more the drops became streams of water. The streams quickly became waterfalls as the salt water fled from their clothes.
When he opened his eyes, he saw them both completely dry, to include their hair. Xander was stunned. Learning to use the wind power had been such a painful labor, whereas the water element seemed almost intuitive. He didn’t know how much of that was because his power had been granted directly from the Water Elemental as opposed to being inherited.
“Are you two okay?” he asked again.
Sean shivered uncontrollably but managed a soft smile. “At least I’m not wet anymore. Any chance you can turn up the heat?”
Xander almost opened his mouth to apologize but immediately stopped. He was a part of the ocean and could feel its ebbs and flows surrounding him. Now, far from where they stood, a thermal vent released volcanic-heated water into the depths of the Atlantic Ocean. Gently, Xander created a water current that pulled the superheated liquid closer to the ruined city.
As the hot water passed along the wall of the whirlpool, Xander turned the water current until the warm water swirled in an endless loop around the perimeter of their dry patch of land. Immediately, the temperature began rising on the hilltop.
Though it took a while, Sean and Jessica both eventually stopped shivering and color returned to their faces. Despite feeling better, neither got up from their awkward position on the damp sand on the hillside, instead choosing to stare at the distant sunlight barely visible far above their heads.
“Are you sure you two are going to be okay?” Xander asked.
“You’re like a pestering mother hen,” Sean said without making eye contact.
Xander smiled at his friend. He let his eyes drift to the still-glowing pool just beyond where they laid. He could feel the Water Elemental’s scrutinizing gaze on him, watching and judging him as they wasted time lying down and recuperating.
“If you guys are feeling up to it, we need to get going.”
“Just five more minutes, Mom,” Jessica complained as she covered her eyes with her hand.
“Where do we go from here?” Sean asked as he propped himself up.
Xander looked above him at the faint light. “London.”
Sean shrugged as he reached out. Xander took his hand and pulled him to his feet. “Sure. I hear London is lovely this time of year.”
“I could go for some fish and chips,” Jessica said as she reached out as well.
Before Xander could take her hand, Sean stepped in his way and pulled Jessica to her feet.
“You two don’t have to come with me on this one,” Xander said. “I won’t blame you if you opt out.”
Sean chuckled, but his eyes never left Jessica. “How many times do we need to go through this with you?”
Xander smiled, knowing his friends would always be watching his back. His smile widened as he noticed Sean and Jessica hadn’t released hands after she stood.
“I’m going to check and make sure everything’s still good with the Water Elemental,” he said with a knowing laugh. “You two let me know when you’re ready to go.”
“Sure,” Sean said.
When Xander was out of hearing range, he turned his attention back to Jessica. To his surprise, the blond blushed at his gaze.
“So, about earlier,” he began. “It was… I mean…”
“I thought we were going to die, you know,” Jessica said.
“Yeah, no, of course. It’s just darn silly of us to ruin the moment by not actually dying.”
“Silly of us, really,” she said with a smile.
Sean flushed with embarrassment, knowing he was out of his element. “Well, we should probably be going then. The world isn’t going to save itself, right?”
Jessica smiled and leaned forward, kissing him gently on the cheek. “Yeah, we should probably get going.”
She slipped out of Sean’s grip and waved to Xander.
“Everything good?” Xander asked, noticing his best friend’s deep red blush. “Seems like you’re getting your color back, Sean.”
“Yeah,” Sean said. He cleared his throat loudly. “Can we just skip all the ridicule I’m sure you have planned and just get back to fighting for our lives?”
Xander laughed as he kicked off the ground, the other two carried aloft in his wake.
Fire Warriors poured from the recesses of rock outcropping and chasms in the stone like ants exiting a mound. The black-clad men and women scowled at the bright sunlight as they flexed exposed arms, letting gentle flames lick their skin as it sheathed their hands.
The Elemental marched at the front of the line. They walked across the sand as they approached the dilapidated highway. Where the Elemental stepped, the sand melted and fused into glass.
The marching army was forced to avoid large spears of rock that had broken through the ground during the most violent of the earthquakes. The same stone outcroppings had shattered much of the road nearby, creating a labyrinth of rock that they traversed as they marched toward the city.
For miles, they marched through the desert, unfazed by the intense midday sun. The road they were on merged with others, though they were equally abandoned. Cars sat in the road, some destroyed by fire but most ruined by vehicular accidents. Sammy’s memories bled through the Fire Elemental’s mind, and it envisioned streets like these filled to capacity with speeding cars. It could easily conceive that the shaking ground had caused numerous accidents along the way. At first, people would have stood outside their cars and argued with one another angrily, expecting aid to come when the earth stopped shaking. Except the earth never really did stop shaking. Instead, the shaking grew in intensity until the ground split open and shards of stone exploded across the highway. The people would have turned and ran in a panic, hurrying back to their homes on foot.
The Elemental savored the image in its mind. Despite Sammy’s eventual betrayal, she was a Fire Warrior at heart. Her imagination for destruction seemed boundless.
As they marched closer to the city, the destruction became less obvious. Ruined cars had been moved aside, allowing for a fluid flow of traffic.
The Fire Elemental walked down the center of the wide highway, standing at the pinnacle of the sloped road. Its warriors spread out behind it, covering both directions of traffic as they marched toward Los Angeles.
Over the crest of a hill, a large semi-truck sped down the eastbound lane of Interstate 10. The road was concealed beyond the lip of the hill, so it wasn’t until he began his downward slope that he saw the hundreds of blond, leather-clad men and women spread out across the road. Reaching forward, he pressed a button on the dash that sounded the horn. Air blew through the large stacks mounted behind the cab, blasting the air with an ear-splitting honk.
The Fire Elemental flinched at the noise. Though it didn’t realize it, it had been savoring the silence of the desert. Only the sound of their booted feet on the asphalt had disturbed the illusion of endless seas of sand and shrubbery.
The Elemental turned its red eyes sharply on the semi as it sped down the road. The driver honked again, and the Elemental scowled at the sound. It could hear the air brakes engaging on the large truck as it tried to stop in front of the army.
The Fire Elemental raised both hands and flames erupted from beneath the truck. The pressure from the flames lifted the cab and trailer high into the air. The force of the fire split the fuel tank mounted beneath the semi, and the whole contraption exploded in a massive shower of gas, flames, and concussive might.
Steel showered down around the warriors, clattering onto the asphalt. The Fire Elemental smiled wickedly at its work. The Elemental returned its eyes to nearby Los Angeles as the husk of the truck slammed back down onto the road. It walked forward, casually bypassing the burning wreckage, and started down the hill. The senseless destruction of the truck was a release of its frustrations, and it secretly hoped they would encounter more cars before they reached the city proper.
The Elemental was not disappointed.
Many cars tried to flee Los Angeles. Not far outside the city, a car trying to aggressively merge lanes got tangled up with another vehicle that refused to yield his lane. The resulting accident had included another car that had been driving too closely behind the unyielding vehicle. A three-car pileup was enough to block all the eastbound lanes for miles, stretching all the way back into the city itself.
People stood beside their cars, yelling angrily at one another, while their air conditions ran full blast within. They cupped their hands to their eyes as they tried to see the accident, or they fidgeted with the luggage racks strapped to the tops of their minivans.
“What can you see?” a wife asked as she rolled down the window to their sedan.
Their children complained endlessly in the backseat, asking how much longer it would be before traffic started moving again and they’d get to Colorado Springs.
The husband bent at the waist and rested his forearms on the windowsill. He immediately withdrew them as the metal seared his exposed skin.
“I don’t know,” he said. “I can kind of see the accident up ahead, but I don’t really see any cars sliding by.”
Cars to their left turned onto the soft sand of the median and drove to the empty westbound lanes. They bounced back onto the asphalt and drove back toward Los Angeles.
“Maybe we should just go back,” his wife said, noticing the cars making U-turns.
The husband shook his head. He lowered his voice so he could talk only to his wife, despite the silence in the car. “Go back where? Our house might as well be condemned, and there isn’t a single hotel with vacancies in the entire city. We need to go stay with your parents for a while, until the insurance company starts sending out checks.”
He heard the sound of sirens and turned in time to see a police car driving along the shoulder, with one set of wheels on the asphalt and the passenger side pushing through the packed dirt. The rumble strip sounded in a dull hum as the police car tried to pass vehicles that, like it, had decided driving on the shoulder sounded like a quick escape from the traffic. It sounded its siren again briefly and cars merged back into regular traffic, allowing it past.
The husband smiled. “See, there’s a police car. They’ll figure out what’s going on and get traffic moving here in a little bit.”
“Knock on the glass when they figure it out,” the wife said as she pressed the automatic button for the window. The glass on the driver’s side of the Audi rolled up and closed, trapping the soothing air conditioning inside.
The man’s smile faded, and he stood upright. The sun was intense and blinding. He could see waves dancing over the surface of the road in the distance, making the shape of people walking on the highway. It was the curse of living in the desert, he told himself. There was always a mirage appearing before your vision.
He raised a hand to his brow, blocking out the glaring light, though it did little to block out the sunlight reflecting off the hundreds of mirrors in front of him.
Though he was trying to see the accident ahead, his eyes found the mirage of black-clad people walking on the highway once more. He furrowed his brow and looked on confusedly.
A man climbed from his car beside him, and the husband pointed to the distance.
“Are you seeing this?”
The man shrugged. “The accident?”
The husband looked beyond the car wreck blocking the road. The shape of people walking through the desert was still present.
“No, beyond it.”
The other driver shaded his eyes and stared beyond. He frowned and looked back at the husband. “Are those people out there?”
“That’s what I thought.”
“There must be a couple hundred of them out there.”
The husband nodded. He heard the whir of the car window rolling down beside him.
“What’s going on, honey?” his wife asked.
The husband didn’t look over but motioned toward her with his free hand. “I don’t know. Keep the kids in the car and roll up the windows.”
The other driver pointed toward the accident. “Looks like the cops see them, too. They’re driving over to check it out.”
The police car pulled onto the asphalt and cruised down the open road, advancing on the army of Fire Warriors. The two men watched it coast forward, growing closer and closer to the strange men and women. With a flash of light, the police car exploded. It pinwheeled into the air, landing on its roof with a crash of twisting metal.
They flinched and nearly fell over. Specks of flame spread across the strange people, as though they were catching fire. Near the accident, people climbed out of their cars and turned away from the scene, forcing their way between the stalled traffic.
The husband reached over and smacked the window with his hand. Begrudgingly, the wife rolled down the window once again.
“What is it?”
“Get out of the car,” he said.
The distant figures were growing closer, approaching the accident. Panicked people raced past their car, roughly pushing the husband aside.
“What’s going on?”
The husband opened the back door and reached through, unbuckling his son’s seatbelt. Confusedly, the wife climbed from the passenger’s seat and looked toward the accident. As she watched, the two wrecked cars exploded into flames. She screamed and opened the back passenger’s door, nearly yanking their daughter from her seat.
The family turned and ran back toward Los Angeles.
General Kobal laughed maliciously as he threw a ball of flame through the windshield of another car. The windows burst outward, showering the area in glass, and black smoke billowed from the car’s core.
“General,” the Fire Elemental said, watching its minions gleefully burning the rows of abandoned cars.
“My Master,” he said, stepping away from the burning car.
“Lead the march into the city. I’m flying ahead to… soften the city for your arrival.”
Kobal smiled and nodded. “It will be done.”
The Elemental held its arms out wide and opened its mouth. Smoke poured from between the full lips, dripping sickly down the woman’s chest and spilling onto the ground at the Elemental’s feet. From within the dark cloud, flames grew and sparked, illuminating the heart of the dark smoke. Starting from the ground, the smoke burst into flames. Like a living serpent, the fire rolled around the Elemental’s ankles, wrapping itself around its form as it coiled up its legs and over its narrow hips. The Elemental leaned its head back as the flames consumed its torso and arms before it rolled over its head.
The flames pulsed, and each throb of power enlarged the circling flame around it. The aura of flames grew larger and larger, spreading wider and wider. From within the core of the flames, a guttural growl rumbled. Large, leathery wings burst from the back of the mound of flames. With a shiver, the flames fell away, revealing the massive red dragon beneath.
The giant orbs of its eyes scanned the cars beneath it. The Elemental snorted and flames rolled from its maw. The dragon spread its wings and launched into the air, knocking humans and Fire Warriors aside with the downdraft created. With its eyes set on the remaining skyscrapers of Los Angeles, the Fire Elemental soared toward the city.
The water rushed back into the void as Xander released the whirlpool. As the ocean collapsed into itself, the pressure shot sea spray hundreds of feet into the air. Rainbows sparkled through the misty salt water as it reached its zenith and fell back to the ocean.
Ocean waves rolled over the spot where the whirlpool had been. As the last of the geyser settled over the sea like rain, the last indication that there had ever been something as remarkable as a whirlpool in the heart of the Atlantic Ocean was swallowed and washed away. Below the trio, the water rolled as though it had never been disturbed.
Xander raised a hand and blocked the glaring sun from his eyes. Of all the things he had taken from both Wind Warrior island and from White Halls, he wished he had remembered a pair of sunglasses. The glare as the sun reflected off the ocean was causing a headache.
He glanced over his shoulder and watched Sean and Jessica removing their jackets and stuffing them into bags on their backs. The temperature above the drowned city was far warmer than at the bottom of the ocean, and even Xander began feeling beads of sweat rolling down his back.
Though he controlled the wind as the surrogate Wind Elemental, it still struck him as bizarre to see two people hovering in the air, going about tasks like taking off jackets as though they were standing on solid ground. He was sure there’d come a time when it felt normal, though he doubted it would be any time soon.
“Are you two ready?” he asked as they finished stripping down to their summer clothes.
“Ready?” Sean asked. “Are you asking if we’re ready to fly back to London? Or are you asking if we’re ready for the three of us to take on an entire army of Fire Warriors once we get there?”
Xander smirked. “Let’s start with the first one.”
Sean shrugged. “Then sure, I’m ready to go.”
A shimmering bubble of pressurized air appeared around the trio moments before Xander started flying north. At first, the ocean rolled lazily below them, but they quickly picked up speed. Soon, the white-capped waves were passing in a blur. A thunderous boom split the air as they reached supersonic speeds. Despite the bubble suppressing most of the noise around them, the sonic boom physically shook them all.
The flight was exhilarating to Xander. No matter how alive he felt under the ocean when he was connected to the Water Elemental, the air was where he belonged. He had known the rush as a child when his family took their first airplane flight, and he was able to look down on the miniaturized world over which they flew. Now, flying by only his strength of will alone, the pleasure saturated his very being.
With a broad smile on his face, he chanced a glance over his shoulder at his friends. Sean and Jessica couldn’t have come from more different worlds. Sean and he had been best friends since they were young. Though Xander eventually outgrew the comic book fascination of his youth and Sean didn’t, it made the heavyset man that much more interesting to be around. Jessica, by contrast, was a gorgeous sorority girl. She cared about her look and reputation in all the ways Sean didn’t. Yet Xander could see the gleam in Sean’s eyes when he looked at her and knew there was more going on than what would have been readily obvious to an outside observer.
As he looked from Sean to his ex-girlfriend, Xander didn’t see the mirth on her face. The frown was practically etched on her skin; its downturned corners carved craters into her normally smooth complexion.
“Penny for your thoughts?” he asked.
Though he didn’t think it was possible, her frown actually deepened.
“You may have let Sean off the hook earlier, but he wasn’t wrong. We’re three people, about to start a war with the whole Fire Caste. Please tell me you have a plan.”
“She makes a solid argument,” Sean added before Xander could respond. “You may be all Superman right now but we’re Jimmy Olsen, sidekick reporter. We’re the people that are going to get creamed while you’re being all invincible.”
Jessica sighed and shook her head. “Sean may be a tactless jerk,” Jessica said, “but he’s not completely wrong. We can’t just go flying into the city and hope for the best. We need a plan.”
Xander’s smile faded, as he suddenly felt outnumbered. “I’m working on a plan.”
Jessica reached out and gripped Xander’s ankle. She used it for leverage as she pulled herself forward, until they were flying side by side. “Don’t lie to me, Xander. We dated for a long time. You’re a spontaneous guy, and I loved that about you. But you’re not a planner. You’re more a ‘wing it and hope for the best’ sort of guy. You were the type that decided Friday during class that we should go rent a cabin on the lake for the weekend, and you’d walk out of class right then to see if there were even any cabins available. But if I asked you to plan a romantic dinner for our anniversary or Valentine’s Day, there was a good chance we were going to wind up ordering off the ninety-nine cent menu at McDonalds.”
Sean laughed from behind them. “Dude, she’s right. Remember when you planned your parent’s anniversary party? You invited their friends and then totally forgot to pick them up at the airport because you went on a date with some bimbo instead? They were pissed.”
Jessica turned sharply toward Sean. “I’m pretty sure I was that bimbo, Sean.”
Sean laughed nervously. “Awkward. Well, I’ll just stay out of the conversation for the rest of the flight then.”
“You guys aren’t wrong,” Xander said. “I suck at stuff like this. It’s one of the reasons I wanted you two with me on this… trip, or whatever we’re going to call it. You guys not only keep me grounded during all this insanity, but you’re also the brains behind this operation. Without my aunts and uncles around, it’s up to just us, and that scares the crap out of me.”
He glanced over at Jessica, and his brow furrowed with concern. “I don’t really know what I’m doing here,” he said. “I’ve been fighting this whole elemental war on a wing and a prayer. The truth is, even my successes—like finding the Wind Elemental—are more because of you, Sean, and my aunts and uncles than they are because I did something well. Tell me, Jessica. Tell me what to do now.”
Jessica looked away from him and stared down, admiring the giant waves passing quickly below them. It was disorienting and left her with a sense of vertigo, but it gave her a chance to gather her thoughts.
“All right. You’re going to do two things for me,” Jessica said. “First, you’re never going to admit that again,” she said, poking him in the chest.
“Excuse me?” he asked, surprised.
Jessica turned her attention back to him. A stern determination flashed in her eyes.
“You don’t get to doubt yourself anymore,” she said. “I’ve always believed that you don’t stress the small stuff or the stuff you can’t change. What you’re doing may not be the small stuff, but you can’t change who you’ve become. You can’t pass off your responsibility onto someone else. You can’t wonder if you’re going to succeed because there’s no one else to pick up the slack if you fail.”
Xander felt the weight of his responsibility returning.
“People believe in you, Xander. A lot of people. Sean and I are risking our lives to stay by your side because we believe in you. Your aunts and uncles gave up their powers, their entire livelihoods, because they believed in you. Elementals, that I didn’t even know existed a couple weeks ago, gave you incredible powers and tasked you to save the world because they believe in you. It’s about time you started believing in you, too.”
Xander swallowed, unsure how to respond. He still didn’t feel comfortable with the idea that he was the last line of defense between the world and its destruction.
Xander licked his dry lips as he looked at Jessica. “I’m almost afraid to ask what the second thing is.”
She placed her hand on the side of his face and gently turned his head toward her. “We need you to not be you right now. The crazy spontaneous kid was awesome when we were together, but now it’s time to do the adult thing for a while. We need a plan. We’ll help you as best we can, but everything hinges on you. So wrack that crazy brain of yours for a plan, so we don’t go flying into the middle of a few thousand Fire Warriors with nothing but my arsenal of smarmy comments and a list of profanity that would make you blush.”
Xander smiled despite the stress he felt. He was forever grateful to have his friends by his side. Though it sometimes seemed counterintuitive, he was incredibly happy that he had people in his life that would be brutally honest. In a time like this, it was exactly what he needed.
“So I need to come up with a plan,” he said. “Any ideas where to start?”
Jessica shrugged. “Find something worth fighting for. You have to start with a reason.”
“Sammy,” he said without hesitation. “She’s the reason I’m doing all this.”
Jessica nodded as she released her grip on him and began drifting back to her normal spot beside Sean. “Then keep in mind that rescuing her hinges on us succeeding in London. So start coming up with a plan.”
By the time the trio arrived on the southern tip of the English Isle, the humor had drained from Xander. Though they were too far away from London to sense the Fire Warriors using their elemental powers, the weight of his responsibility seemed to radiate from the city in waves.
They had flown off confident, bolstered by his acceptance of the Water Elemental’s power. Xander had brazenly agreed to save London from its destruction at the hands of the Fire Caste and, like normal, he had rushed to the rescue without truly formulating a plan.
It wasn’t long after they began speeding over the countryside that the inky smudge on the horizon became more apparent. Like a giant pillar of darkness, the heavy smoke rose from the ruins of London, staining the sky for miles around. It rose unimpeded until it reached the perpetual cloud cover, where it then blossomed outward like a mushroom cloud.
Xander’s breath caught in his throat as they approached. Even from a distance, the city looked like it had been struck by an atomic blast. His heart sank in his chest, and he fought the urge to vomit as the weight of his task settled onto his shoulders.
“Are you seeing this crap?” Sean asked. “Dude, I’m serious. You may be all Superman, but Jessie and I are just normal people. We’re going to get killed in there.”
“Shut it, Sean,” Jessica said. “You’re not helping.”
“I wasn’t trying to help. I’m trying to stay alive.”
Jessica looked past Xander. The overly confident exterior she normally exuded faltered as she stared at the distant city.
“Please tell me you have a plan.”
Xander swallowed hard as he stared at the smoke. He didn’t have the heart to tell her that he didn’t.
The dragon soared over Los Angeles. Its shadow fell over the streets below, and its wings skimmed the rooftops of the buildings. It could hear the screams of surprise from the people below as they looked up at the monster of mythology gliding overhead. The Fire Elemental let out a roar that shook the windows nearby, adding to the fear and panic in the city beneath it.
It reveled in the fear it caused. The Elemental’s draconic ears could hear every scream as the people ran both from its presence and from the Fire Warriors who stormed into the eastern part of the city. With a flick of its forked tongue, the dragon tasted the ash, smoke, and sulfur lingering in the air. The taste grew in intensity the further the line of Fire Warriors advanced into the city.
The Elemental lowered its long neck and inhaled. The air ignited the furnace deep in its chest. As it exhaled, flames bellowed from its throat and poured from its mouth. Like a wave, the fire filled the streets below. Cars melted in the inferno and glass shattered in the windows of houses. The concrete and siding of the buildings dried and cracked before shattering under the heat. Home after home collapsed in its wake as it flew deeper into the heart of Los Angeles.
Satisfied with the destruction it had caused entering the city, it twisted its reptilian neck upward again and looked toward its real prize—the tall skyline rising from the center of the city.
Los Angeles had a surprisingly narrow skyline, with all of its skyscrapers closely consolidated. Only a few of the tall buildings remained intact. Most were merely steel girders and shattered metal that stretched toward the sky.
The Fire Elemental tilted its wings and gained elevation as it raced toward the city’s center. As it reached the skyscrapers, it arched its back and swept up the broken face of the nearest building. As it reached the lattice of pylons and girders, it reached out its massive, clawed feet and grabbed the metal cage. The power of its claws bent the metal between its fingers, and the top of the building groaned under the dragon’s weight.
It turned its long neck as it scanned the cityscape. Saliva dripped from its maw. Where it struck the concrete and steel of the building, the spittle sizzled like acid. Looking down, it saw people fleeing through the streets, climbing amongst the rubble and ruined cars that lined the road. It yearned to sweep down and crush them beneath its claws, to scoop the humans up in its maw and feel their bones crunch beneath its powerful jaws. Instead, it looked over to a rounded tower that wasn’t ruined. From within its depths, it could see heat signatures of people cowering in the offices. A wicked smile stretched across its scaled face, and it launched from its precipice. Leather wings spread wide as it soared toward the whitewashed building.
Tucking in its wings, the Fire Elemental picked up speed. It didn’t so much land on the building as crashed into it. There weren’t ledges for the Elemental to hold on to. Instead, it dug all four claws into the face of the building. Glass shattered as its claws pierced long bay windows. The clawed fingers gouged long lines in the concrete between each floor as it sought purchase.
The Elemental clamped its fingers down onto a ledge and balanced itself precariously. It swished its scaled, barbed tail, which slammed into the ground beneath it. Cars scattered from the impact, rolling end over end into the street before crashing into the buildings nearby.
Within the building, people ducked behind upturned tables and behind walls at the sight of the monster. Its red scales glistened in the sun, and the heat it generated turned the carpet near its body black. Smoke rose from the furniture near the window as it threatened to burst into flames.
The Elemental lowered its head until it could look through a shattered window. Despite their cowering, he could see the shapes of their bodies by the heat they radiated. It flicked out its tongue once more. The air was filled with the taste of sweat and panic. The scent was like seasoning for the meat, whetting the Elemental’s appetite.
One of the women in the room ran toward the door, but the dragon snorted and a jet of flame struck the wall in front of her. She screamed and ran back to the rest of the group behind the heavy furniture.
The Elemental smiled to itself as it inhaled sharply. The furnace within it boiled as chemicals mixed in its gullet. The furniture would be no obstacle once it exhaled. The flames were like fluid and would pour through every nook, burning the humans to death. It savored the scent of the humans’ fear once more, as it prepared to exhale its hellfire.
It began to exhale, but it felt like there was a bubble lodged in its throat. The boiling inferno in its gut was frozen in place, unable to burst forward. It strained against the pressure, but the flames refused to pour from its maw. Rearing back, the dragon withdrew its head from the floor and tilted its head skyward. It tried to exhale again and the flames willingly poured forth, spewing into the sky and scorching the exterior of the building. It looked back toward the open floor confusedly and inhaled once more. As it tried to exhale, it found itself faced with the same inexplicable block.
Furious, it slammed its claws into the wall, shredding large chunks of concrete free from the building. The debris fell to the street below, crashing into the sidewalk. It stared at the heat signatures of the people within the building, paralyzed as they were behind the furniture, and yearned to burn them to death. Instead, it turned so that its face was pointed downward and scaled down the front of the building. As its clawed fingers encountered the street, the red scales shimmered. The claws withdrew, forming white-tipped fingernails. The scales became smooth, alabaster skin. Its mane of barbs turned into flowing blond hair. The wings slid into the porcelain skin of its back.
Looking once again like Sammy, the Fire Elemental stood up from the crouched position. A cool breeze washed over its naked form, though it was oblivious to its nudity and hardly cared about modesty. It looked around the street, noticing people staring dumbfounded at the host body.
Though it noticed a human in a blue uniform rushing toward it, the Elemental casually turned away from the street and caught its reflection in the cracked glass window of the tall, rounded building.
The Elemental’s jaw slackened as it stared at its reflection. It reached up and ran its hand across its eyes. It leaned forward, staring in wonder at the crystal blue eyes that stared back at it.
The city stretched below the trio like a black smudge. Sooty black smoke billowed from over half the buildings in the city. The air was choked with ash and, even from their height, they could feel it burning in their lungs.
The mixture of black smoke and white ash blanketed the city in a false winter. Ashes fell like snowflakes and collected along the edges of the streets like snowdrifts.
Xander flew them far above London, high enough that the Fire Warriors below couldn’t sense his powers. The smoke was thick enough in areas that the city was lost below them. Xander turned sharply to avoid a dark pillar billowing from a row of townhouses that burned as one.
In the areas that were devoid of the obscuring smoke, Xander could see small orbs of flames dancing as Fire Warriors ignited another building. Though he couldn’t hear the explosion, he could see the flames belch from the front of the shattered storefront window as the building ignited.
Flying over the city left Xander fatigued. He wasn’t sure how much of it was mental exhaustion after seeing the wanton destruction of London and how much of it was being deprived of the rejuvenating clean air he’d come to love while flying, but his eyes watered and his muscles ached.
The air above the Thames was cleaner than that of the rest of the city. With nothing left to burn across that wide stretch of water, it offered Xander a brief refuge.
“Look at that,” Jessica said breathlessly.
Xander stopped the trio in midflight as they gawked at the scene below. The Eye of London—an enormous Ferris wheel that had once illuminated the night sky from its perch beside the river—lay shattered and partially submerged within the Thames. The metal of its base still glowed cherry red from the flames that melted its support beams. The force of its fall shattered most of the cars that had once clung around the circumference of the wheel.
Xander heard a faint sob beside him and turned toward Jessica. He was surprised to see her wiping away tears from her eyes.
“Jessica?” he asked.
She waved her hand at him, annoyed at his attention. “I’m fine. I just… I actually had it on my list to visit London some time. I wanted to ride the Eye and now it’s gone.”
She fanned her face with her hand to try to dry away the tears. “I know it’s stupid, with everything else going on. It’s just… seeing the Eye like that reminds me of all the things that are ruined now. This is just one city. There’s no telling what else I had on my bucket list that I’ll never get to do now.”
Sean slid beside her as best he could while being held aloft. He slipped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her in close. Jessica buried her head in his shoulder and leaned into him.
Though he knew they had so much more to do, and that they were exposed hovering above the Thames, Xander let her cry for a few minutes until she regained her composure. He glanced past the ruined Eye and shook his head at the rest of the burning city. Westminster Abbey and Big Ben both burned freely and brightly. With so little else around them, they were beacons of red and yellow flames, dancing over their ruined and gutted corpses.
He hated that Jessica was right, that there was so much in the world he’d never enjoy because the Fire Caste had taken it away. He felt a much brighter hatred burning for the Fire Warriors below; the callous men and women who ran through the streets, indiscriminately setting fire to anything they could find. Sammy had once tried to convince him that the Fire Warriors weren’t evil. She explained that they were just fulfilling their imperative—the same imperative that was decided between the four Elementals.
The Flame burns the world of man down to the Earth.
He knew the line so well and hated it even more. Watching the city beneath him burn, he believed Sammy less and less. The people who killed his fellow Wind Warriors were the same ones burning the cities around the world. They weren’t misguided souls. They were evil and, no matter what it took, he would find a way to stop them.
Jessica rubbed her eyes one last time, but refused to look down at the ruined Ferris wheel again. She gestured for Xander to go. “Let’s just get to the far side of the city and figure out what we’re going to do next.”
They flew on in silence. Xander continued to glance down at the passing streets, trying to imagine what London looked like before all the chaos he was witnessing. He had seen London in pictures before, and in movies, but it looked nothing like its cinematic portrayal anymore. The power was out throughout the city, leaving it blanketed even further in darkness. With the smoke blotting out the sun above, he was sure it was like living through a nightmare for anyone still there.
The city seemed to spread forever toward the horizon, but Xander could see a distinct shifting from industrialized inner city to a more residential part of the city.
Smoke still concealed most of their view of the streets below. Xander could feel an itch under his skin, like a calling to land and fight. He had never really been much of a fighter and, even after the extensive training from his aunts and uncles, he still felt uncomfortable starting fights with the Fire Warriors. Still, something was burning within him. He didn’t know if it was the sight of London in ruins, Jessica’s sadness at having part of her future taken away, or a residual effect of being the newest—and only—Water Warrior. It wouldn’t have surprised him if his new hatred and eagerness for combat stemmed from the Water Elemental. Even thousands of miles away, he was still intimidated by the aquatic woman.
A loud crack split the still air.
Xander paused, his heart racing in his chest. Though he had only heard the sound before in the movies, it was unmistakable.
A second and third rapport sounded.
“Those are gunshots,” Sean said. “Someone’s alive down there.”
“We have to help them,” Jessica said.
Xander shook his head. “What happened to us having a plan? What happened to us not being spontaneous anymore?”
“Screw that,” she said. “Someone needs our help, and there’s no way we’re leaving them to die. Now, take us down.”
Xander nodded and smiled faintly to himself. No matter how much he agreed with Jessica and Sean that it was time to plan ahead instead of running into trouble half-cocked, he already felt relieved to finally be able to do some good. Flying over the city had started to make him feel helpless and useless.
The trio hovered above the smoky cloud until they heard a fourth gunshot. Quickly, they descended until the inky soot swallowed them.
Xander coughed as they passed through the smoke cloud cover. The soot clung in the air like fog, making it hard to see more than a few feet in front of them. They were nearly on the road before he could see the yellow painted lines emerging from the smoky fog.
As they landed, their wind kicked up the ash and burning embers into the air. It enveloped them like they were in a snow globe; the sparks and ash encircled the pressurized bubble of wind around them. The flakes slowly settled again as their feet settled onto the asphalt and the bubble faded away, falling on their shoulders and settling into their hair, adding to the illusion of winter.
Jessica pulled her shirt up and over her nose and mouth in an attempt to block out the acrid smell in the air. Distant, burning fires dimly lighted the gray fog, and it added an eerie ambiance to the already dangerous situation.
“I don’t hear anything,” Sean said.
Xander nodded as he searched for the source of the gunfire. Straining as he was, he still wasn’t able to find any sign of the mysterious gunman.
“Maybe they got him already,” Jessica added morosely.
“Maybe,” Xander said, “but I’m not leaving until I find out one way or the other.”
The street they were on was abandoned. Cars sat parked on either side, but many of the windows were shattered and others were marred with burns on their paint. A few, just at the edge of Xander’s vision, looked completely burned, with only their metal frame surviving the destruction.
“We need to move,” Jessica said. “If there were any Fire Warriors around, they definitely noticed our landing. They’ll be on us…”
She trailed off as a pair of glowing eyes appeared just beyond the limit of their visibility. The red orbs glowed in the fog, hanging around Xander’s waist level. Slowly, the eyes approached the trio.
As they got closer, the illusion of eyes was shattered, and Xander could see the glowing orbs for what they were. Two flaming spheres encompassed a leather-clad Fire Warrior as he marched out of the concealing smoke. The blond-haired man’s eyes lit with a similar inner fire as he eyed the Wind Warrior. He raised his hands over his head, and the flames glowed brighter in anticipation.
With a sharp flick of his hand, Xander sent a gust of wind streaming along the road. The bellowing wind moved with such force that it left a contrail behind it as it carved through the smoke and ash.
The howling wind struck the Fire Warrior with far more force than Xander had intended. The man screamed in surprise as he was lifted from his feet and launched into the air. He rose more than a dozen feet as he flew backward and disappeared into the fog once more. Xander cringed as he heard an awkward crash as the warrior landed somewhere out of their visibility.
“Whoa,” Sean said. “That’s one way to do it.”
Xander shook his head rapidly. “I didn’t mean to hit him that hard. I didn’t realize how much stronger my abilities were now that I had the Wind Elemental’s power.”
Sean placed his hand on Xander’s shoulder. “If it were me, I would have hit him twice as hard. That’s probably why you’re the chosen one, and I’m just your plucky comic relief.”
“Hate to break up your man-love,” Jessica chided, “but if they didn’t notice us landing, they certainly noticed that display. We really need to get out of here now.”
Jessica sighed disappointedly as another Fire Warrior emerged from the smoke ahead of them. The female warrior smiled wickedly as flames consumed her arm. They flickered and elongated until they resembled a burning sword emerging from her outstretched hand. The woman took a determined step toward them.
From behind the husk of a car to the trio’s right, a dark figure slipped out of the shadows. He was on the periphery of what Xander could see and was little more than a shadow, though the silhouette of the rifle in his hands was unmistakable. The man raised the rifle and squeezed the trigger. A gunshot rang out, and a bright light flashed at the end of the barrel. The flames immediately disappeared from around the Fire Warrior’s arm. She looked at the man in surprise before glancing down. From a hole in her dark leather breastplate, a small stream of red blood trickled down her front. In utter disbelief, she touched the wound with a shaking hand. As she pulled her hand away, her fingertips were coated in red. With a gurgle of surprise, she dropped weakly to her knees before collapsing onto the ground in a heap.
Xander had his hands up defensively but couldn’t bring himself to use his abilities against the stranger. Though the man was clearly dangerous, he was also the first person the trio had encountered that was fighting back against the Fire Caste.
Despite his better judgment, he took a tentative step toward the man. A few steps forward brought the man out of the fringes of the smoke and made him easier to see. Unfortunately, approaching the man also alerted him to Xander’s presence. The soldier, dressed as he was in British military camouflage, spun on Xander. The butt of his rifle was still pressed firmly into the crook of his shoulder, and he pointed its dangerous barrel at Xander as he approached.
“That’s far enough,” the British soldier said.
The barrel of the rifle never wavered; unlike Xander’s hands, which shook nervously. The man had a broad nose that had clearly been broken once before and gray eyes that matched the fog around him. His dark skin glistened with a sheen of sweat that seemed to attract the falling ash. It clung to his skin and buzzed black hair.
“I don’t know who you are,” Xander said, his voice reflecting the nervousness he felt when staring down the barrel of the soldier’s rifle, “but we’re not here to hurt you. We’re on the same side.”
The man’s eyes narrowed but he didn’t reply. Instead, his gaze drifted to the end of the scope on top of his rifle, and he squeezed the trigger once again.
“What is the meaning of this?” the Fire Elemental asked in surprise at its own reflection.
The crystal blue eyes were bloodshot, rimmed with red, but didn’t bear any semblance to the smoldering, fiery eyes it normally bore. They looked practically like Sammy’s once again.
The Elemental rubbed its eyes furiously and could feel the irritation behind the eyelids. When it opened them again, a haze of smoke rolled from the sockets and the eyes were once again burning embers. It shook its head and continued staring at its reflection, assuming the eyes would once again change back to their unusual natural state.
“Freeze,” the police officer said as he reached the sidewalk.
Entranced as the Elemental was with its appearance, it hadn’t heard the human approach from behind. It turned slowly toward the man and stared at him unblinking.
The pistol in the officer’s hand wavered at the sight of the Fire Elemental. It was once again naked, the clothing having not survived the transformation into the dragon. The man’s eyes inadvertently drifted over the muscular female body, but he stepped back with a start when his gaze fell on its face.
“Put… put your hands where I can see them,” the officer said. He raised his pistol once again, pointing it at the Elemental.
The Elemental looked down at its arms, hanging by its side. “Can you not see them now?”
The rumbling voice coming from the diminutive woman startled the police officer, and he squeezed the trigger on his pistol. Three shots rang out in rapid succession.
As quickly as the bullets were fired, the Fire Elemental radiated a superheated aura. The bullets struck the edge of the aura and began melting. They turned to pools of liquid nearly a foot away from the Elemental’s skin and fell to the ground in a puddle of metal.
The police officer stared in amazement as his mind began to recognize what happened to the rounds he had just fired. His legs shook as he stared at the demonic woman. Slowly, he lowered his arm and, bending at the knees, set his pistol down on the ground. He raised his hands defensively before him and started to step off the sidewalk.
“Please don’t kill me,” he said.
The Elemental bared its teeth toward the man and raised its own hands. The air shimmered just before flames erupted and rolled over its fingertips. It looked maliciously toward the human, feeling the sense of disgust it shared for the man’s entire race. One burst of flames would erase him from the face of the planet, leaving behind a pile of ash. It focused on creating a jet of flames aimed toward the retreating human.
A fog settled over its mind as it tried to concentrate on destroying the police officer.
Like it experienced when trying to kill the humans in the building behind it, nothing happened. No flames rolled from its fingertips toward the human. The flames that had been on its hands faltered, flickered, and died away. Only smoke rolled from its ash-covered hands.
In utter disbelief, the Fire Elemental stared at its hands. It raised its infuriated gaze toward the human, as though he were to blame for its inability to create its namesake flames.
“What have you done?”
The police officer shook his head in a panic. “I didn’t do anything, I promise.” The man looked over his shoulder toward his police cruiser parked across the street.
The Elemental reached down and dug its fingers into a large slab of concrete debris, its fingers piercing the hard stone with ease. Heaving, the Elemental lifted the one-ton slab and lifted it over its head.
“What have you done?” it asked again.
It slung its arms forward and released the concrete. The police officer ducked quickly, and the stone flew over his head. Despite its weight, it flew across the street before smashing into the hood of the police car. It crushed the body and frame, driving the heavy engine into the asphalt of the road. A sad horn sounded quickly before trailing off and falling silent again.
The police officer looked at his ruined car before looking back to the Fire Elemental. His eyes fell on the numerous other pieces of concrete around the Elemental’s feet. He turned and ran down the road as quickly as his feet would allow.
The Fire Elemental barely noticed the human fleeing from it. It was still staring dumbfounded at its hands. It tried to reignite the flames that had recently consumed the air around its flesh, but nothing appeared. It was as though the Elemental had been separated from the flames, which it knew was impossible. It was the embodiment of the Earth’s fire. So long as the core of the planet burned, then the Elemental could never be deprived of its power.
It turned away from the police car and caught its reflection in the fractured glass window. Gone were the smoldering red eyes, replaced once again with the all-too-human blue irises.
“This is impossible,” it said in frustration. “What is happening?”
“I’m happening,” a woman’s voice said from nearby.
The Elemental turned sharply, trying to find the source of the voice. The street around it was abandoned—the human’s having fled after the police officer.
“Who said that?”
“I said it,” the voice said again, seemingly right behind the Elemental. “Just like I’m also the one who’s keeping you from using your powers.”
It turned again and saw a human facing it. The Elemental nearly threw a fireball toward the human before it recognized its own reflection. It slowly unclenched its fist and snarled at the image.
It took the Elemental a second to recognize that while it was snarling, the reflection wasn’t. It maintained a stoic, tight-lipped facial expression as it stared at the Fire Elemental.
The Elemental furrowed its brow and raised its hand, but the reflection did none of those things.
“Who are you?” the Elemental asked.
The reflection smiled and placed a hand on her hip. “I figured you would have been smart enough to figure it out by now. You are a big, bad Elemental, aren’t you?”
“What are you? You can’t be me.”
“Oh, I’m not you,” Sammy said. “I’m the woman whose body you stole. Now get out of my body and give it back!”
Xander clenched his eyes shut as he awaited the burst of pain that was sure to follow. He’d never been shot before but had no doubt that the pain would be excruciating. For a long moment, he stood perfectly still, his eyes closed and his brow furrowed in concern. It was a moment longer still before he realized he wasn’t hurt.
The thought that he might be dead flittered through Xander’s mind. He couldn’t resist a frown at the irony—that he fought valiantly against the Fire Caste and tried to save the world, only to be shot dead by a human.
Someone groaned behind Xander and the noise was quickly followed by a thud of something striking the asphalt. With trepidation, he opened one eye and saw the soldier still standing in front of him, but the barrel was pointed over Xander’s shoulder. He turned slowly, and his eyes widened at the sight of another Fire Warrior’s body sprawled on the ground. A slowly spreading pool of blood crept from underneath him and began flowing toward the gutter.
Xander turned his attention back to the soldier. “You saved my life. Thank you.”
As though reminding the soldier of an unresolved threat, the barrel turned back to Xander.
Xander raised his hands defensively, trying to show the man that he was unarmed. “Whoa, same team. Same team.”
“I saw what you did to the other man,” the soldier said in his crisp British accent. “You tossed him in the air like he was nothing, all without even touching him. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t shoot you too?”
Xander swallowed hard. “Because if I had wanted to kill you, I would have done it before you pointed that gun at me. And if you had really intended to shoot me, you would have done it instead of shooting the Fire Warrior behind me.”
The soldier didn’t pull the trigger, but neither did he lower his weapon. Footsteps resounded behind Xander, and he knew that Sean and Jessica were risking approaching the odd standoff. The soldier’s gaze shifted to the two newcomers but the barrel never stopping pointing at Xander, as though the soldier could sense the real threat amongst the three.
“Whoa,” Sean remarked when he saw the stalemate. “I didn’t come all this way just to get shot by some dude with a bad attitude.”
“You’re Americans,” the soldier said. Xander supposed it could have been a question, but it sure didn’t feel like it.
“We’re from Tennessee,” Jessica said.
The soldier paused before lowering the weapon. His finger remained perched in the trigger well, and he seemed more than capable of raising the weapon again if threatened.
“It’s a long trip over the pond just to visit jolly ole’ London,” he said. He gestured toward the body behind Xander. “So if you’re not one of them, what are you?”
Xander shrugged. He glanced over his shoulder at his impromptu friends and realized for the first time just how motley a crew they truly were. “We’re the good guys.”
The soldier continued to stare at Xander, his gray eyes piercing into him like daggers.
“We’re the guys who are trying to kill the guys who are trying to burn down London,” Sean said, though even he paused at how convoluted it sounded.
Xander sighed. “I guess you could call us the cavalry.”
The soldier stared at them, though his expression seemed to relax at the sight of Jessica. Though she had the telltale blond hair of a Fire Warrior, her demeanor was certainly something different.
“There’ll be more of them about,” the soldier said. “We need to get inside before they return with reinforcements.”
He turned away and started walking toward a series of townhouses just off the road. Xander turned toward his friends, both of whom just shrugged. As a group, they hurried to catch up to the British soldier.
They entered one of the townhouses, and the soldier glanced outside to make sure no one was around before gently closing the door behind them. Without asking for help, he grabbed the end of a heavy, wooden hallway bench and dragged it in front of the door.
Xander looked around the foyer, living room, and stairway to the upstairs, all of which were visible from their place in the narrow entryway. The place was well kept and looked only recently abandoned. The only things that looked out of place were the large bookshelf that blocked the majority of the living room’s bay window and the recently displaced wooden bench.
“Is this your place?” Xander asked.
The dark-skinned soldier shook his head as he walked past the trio and into the living room. “Of course not. I just don’t figure the owners are really going to mind me using it for a spot.”
The soldier pulled back the thick curtain slightly so he could look out on the street. He glanced both directions down the road before gently replacing it, making certain not to let it waver for fear of letting a passing Fire Warrior know that the house was inhabited.
“I’m Xander,” he said to the soldier’s back. “This is Sean and Jessica. Thanks for saving us back there.”
“Leftenant Wilkes,” the man replied.
“You’re an officer,” Jessica said approvingly.
“What’s your first name?” Sean asked.
Leftenant Wilkes turned away from the window without a smile. “Leftenant.”
“Okay, then,” Sean said. He walked over and took a place on the long couch.
Wilkes’ rifle was still perched in one hand, but he used his other hand to brush the thick ash from his hair. Though they didn’t have any lights within the dark living room, Xander could see the man’s uniform clearer than he did in the smoke and fog outside. He wore a vest of sorts over his camouflaged jacket with a number of pockets along its front. Curved ammunition magazines jutted from the pockets in perfect rows for easy access. A folded knife was clipped to the vest next to his left shoulder. He had a name tag on his uniform but it, along with any rank he might have worn, was almost completely covered by the vest.
He glanced around at the three college students. “So you’re the cavalry? I expected a little more.”
“We’re tougher than we look,” Xander said.
“That’s good because you don’t look like much at all.”
Sean frowned. “You don’t know who or what we are. We could be Fire Warriors, too, for all you know.”
“They’re not Yanks,” he said, pointing to the street beyond the window.
“Come again?”
“I’m not worried about you being some of these Fire Warriors because you’re Americans. They’re not.”
“That’s all it takes for you to trust us?” Sean asked incredulously.
The Leftenant sat on the arm of the couch so he could look down on Sean. “Make no mistake. I don’t trust any of you. But the fact that your friend has blond hair is the only thing you share in common with them. Those things out there are warriors. They aren’t emo kids with their hair hanging in their eyes.”
Xander absently brushed his hair off his forehead.
“They’re not pretty girls from university. And they’re certainly not fat.”
“That’s just mean and uncalled for,” Sean said. “Just for argument’s sake, you know we could just be faking, right? We could have just learned an American accent.”
“And I could still shoot you, if that’s what you’d prefer,” he said, fingering the trigger well of his rifle once more.
“Shut up, Sean,” Xander said.
“Yeah,” Jessica said. “Shut up, Sean.”
“So you’re in the army?” Xander asked, pointing at the uniform and poignantly trying to change the subject.
The man nodded. “I am, or at least was, assigned to First Battalion, Royal Gurkha Rifles.”
“You were stationed here in London?”
“Kent,” the Leftenant corrected.
“Where is the rest of your unit? Where are the soldiers and the tanks?” Jessica asked.
Wilkes shook his head. “I couldn’t tell you. I didn’t exactly come here on official orders. I just got to the city and haven’t exactly found anyone else before you.”
“What are you doing in London, then?” Xander asked.
Wilkes frowned and pointed to the stairwell. “You can all stay the night. Get some rest because tomorrow you’re on your own. If you want food, there’s some in the kitchen.”
Wilkes took his spot by the window and seemed to forget that the trio was still in the room. Taking his cue, Xander led them into the adjoining kitchen and dropped heavily into one of the chairs. The other two sat, and they stared at each other from across the narrow table.
“Let me go ahead and point out the eight-hundred-pound gorilla in the room,” Sean said when he realized no one else was planning on speaking. “That guy’s a real jerk.”
“He needs our help,” Jessica said.
“Were you listening to the same conversation I was?” Sean asked. “He didn’t seem all that interested in having us around.”
Jessica cocked her head to the side as she stared at Sean. “You’re such a boy. If you spent any time working on your social skills, you’d know that he was incredibly sad. Something’s really eating him up.”
“Like what?” Xander asked.
Jessica’s expression softened as she looked at her ex-boyfriend. “He has the same look you do, like someone you love is in trouble. I think he has family here in London.”
A fire was reignited in Xander’s heart. He knew how much pain he was in knowing that Sammy was out there, at the mercy of the Fire Elemental, and there wasn’t anything he could do to help her. He had no doubt that if he were in Wilkes’ shoes, he would have marched straight through London to save her, Fire Warriors be damned.
“I think we should help him,” Jessica said.
“Really, Jessie?” Sean asked. “He doesn’t want our help. Anyway, weren’t you the one that was just telling Xander he needed to grow up? Miss ‘we need to start acting more mature’ is the first to tell us we need to be spontaneous?”
Jessica narrowed her eyes as she shot him a disapproving glare. “Being the good guys means we help people.”
“No,” Sean replied emphatically. “Being the good guys means we come to London, kick the crap out of some Fire Warriors, and go back to the Water Elemental. Back me up here, Xander.”
Xander looked away from his friends and glanced over his shoulder toward the living room. Despite the gloom, he could see the silhouetted form of the soldier standing watch near the window.
“I think Jessica’s right. I think this is why we’re here,” he said, without looking back to his friends.
“You’re just taking her side because she has boobs.”
“They’re two of my best arguments,” she said.
“I think we’re supposed to help him,” Xander interrupted before their debate got out of hand. “I think it’s why we were sent here.”
“Like it’s our destiny?” Sean asked. “I didn’t peg you for the destiny type.”
Xander rapped his fingers on the tabletop. “I just found out that I was designed thousands of years ago to be a champion during some cosmic, world-ending battle between psychotic elemental forces. Kind of puts everything in perspective, don’t you think?”
“Point, Xander,” Jessica said with a smirk.
Sean threw his arms up over his head. “Fine, we’ll help out the Brit. We’ll just go marching into the heart of a city completely overrun with Fire Warriors.”
Xander smiled, knowing that Sean was very unlikely to still be angry in the morning. “Go get some sleep, both of you.”
“What about you?” Jessica asked.
“I’m going to stay up for a bit. Don’t worry, I’ll get some sleep.”
Sean got up and stormed out of the room. Xander cringed as he heard his heavy footsteps reverberating on the wooden staircase. Jessica stood beside her chair for a moment after Sean left, staring at her ex-boyfriend. Xander looked up at her and smiled confidently. She returned his smile, albeit sheepishly, before following Sean up the stairs.
Xander sat at the table, cradling his head in his hands. The other two couldn’t possibly understand why he wanted to help the officer. To them, it was merely Xander’s same old spontaneity that they had so recently condemned.
Glancing back into the living room, he saw Wilkes leaning against the window frame. He was a man eagerly searching for his family in the middle of all this chaos. It was no different from what he was trying to do for Sammy. He knew that he would have given anything to free Sammy from the Fire Elemental. In fact, that was exactly what he was doing in London in the first place. Proving himself to the Water Elemental was the only way to gain the power needed to defeat the Fire Elemental. Though through very different methods, he completely understood the Leftenant.
Pushing away from the table, Xander stood and walked into the living room. Despite walking quietly on the carpeted floor, Wilkes turned and looked over at him before he made it across the room.
“Mind if I join you?” he asked.
“I’d prefer you didn’t, but it’s a free world.”
Leftenant Wilkes motioned to the couch against the wall beside him. Xander sat down while Wilkes resumed his watch out the window. The sun had already set, though it was barely noticeable from under the smoky cover of London. Fires still burned in the distance, illuminating the fog. A dense, gloomy gray still hung over the city, darkening the streets beyond the window.
“What’s on your mind, Yank?” Wilkes asked.
“We want to go with you tomorrow,” Xander said.
Wilkes shook his head. “Not going to happen. I don’t need or want your help.”
“We’re tougher than we look.”
The Leftenant turned and put his free hand on his hip. “You might be. I saw what you could do and while I don’t understand it, I’m sure you could handle yourself in a fight. But those other two? They’re not fighters. They’re scared kids. The best thing you can do tomorrow is take them by the hand and take them home. This isn’t a place for people like them.”
“They’re tougher than they look, too.”
Wilkes turned back to the window. “Go home tomorrow. I don’t need your help. Those things out there may be weird, but they’re not bulletproof.”
Wilkes’ comment made Xander’s stomach flutter. He could still see the pool of blood spreading from underneath the Fire Warrior the Leftenant had shot. Though he wasn’t foolish enough to believe Fire Warriors hadn’t been killed—he was pretty sure his aunts and uncles killed a few while he was inside the sorority house in White Halls—it still stunned him to see a dead body.
“Do you have anything else you wanted to ask, mate?”
“You shot those Fire Warriors earlier.”
Wilkes nodded. “That wasn’t much of a question.”
“You said it yourself. They’re not bulletproof. Why didn’t your army just wipe them out?” Xander asked.
The Leftenant shook his head sadly and stared out the window. “You’re absolutely right. They’re not bulletproof. And we did have a lovely army, full of tanks, jets, helicopters, and men with guns.”
Turning, he sat on the edge of the couch, propping up his leg on the cushion. He pinched the bridge of his nose, as though an awful headache was spreading through his forehead. “You may think soldiers are some kind of John Wayne type, but we’re not. Whether we were religious or not, there wasn’t a single man that didn’t know this was the end times. Call it Revelations, Ragnarok, or whatever you’d like. The world was ending.
“When the earthquakes started, they swallowed whole towns. The buildings would fall into massive ravines and disappear forever, taking everyone in the town with them. Then, lava would pour from the gaps and burn away anything that remained. No bullets and guns could stop the ground from shaking. And none of our tanks or jets would stop our families from dying.”
Wilkes wiped soot from his face and, in the darkness, Xander couldn’t be sure that he wasn’t also wiping away a tear. “We had nothing to shoot. We were a strong army without an enemy to fight. We were warriors without a war. When we realized how obsolete we’d become, some of the officers released their soldiers to return home to their families. Most just abandoned their posts.”
He looked at Xander with a stern expression in his gray eyes. “So you’re right. These Fire Warriors—as you call them—aren’t bulletproof. But by the time they arrived, there wasn’t anyone left holding a gun.”
Xander sat in silence, unsure of how to respond. He had lost so much during his fight with the Fire Caste—his parents, his grandfather, and now Sammy was their prisoner—he sometimes had trouble imagining what this war had done to normal people. Supernatural occurrences had become nearly commonplace for the trio of friends but it was still the beginning of Armageddon for those who didn’t know about the Fire Caste.
“My friend thinks you’re here because of family,” Xander said.
Wilkes’ expression turned steely. “I think it’s about time you went to bed.”
Xander nodded and stood. He walked to the hallway and to the base of the stairs before pausing.
“For what it’s worth,” Xander said, “I’m sorry all this is happening.”
Wilkes shrugged. “It’s not your fault.”
Xander cringed but remained silent.
“Go get some rest,” Wilkes continued. “I can’t guarantee when you’ll get another chance to sleep through the night.”
Xander felt nauseated as he walked up the stairs and searched for an empty bedroom.
“That’s impossible,” the Fire Elemental said.
“Improbable, sure,” Sammy said in the reflection, “but clearly not impossible.”
The Elemental swung behind it and connected with the side of a parked car. Its fist left a massive dent in the door, and it slid a few feet into the road.
“Hosts don’t survive the procedure. You can’t exist. How are you still here?”
Sammy smiled at the outburst. “You tell me. You designed me. You made me to be the perfect host, capable of containing the essence of the Fire Elemental. I couldn’t be a normal Fire Warrior, so you made me special. Maybe you made me too special.”
The Elemental opened its mouth to respond but quickly shut it.
“You were going to say it was a problem you’d quickly correct, weren’t you?” she asked. “I know what you’re thinking. I’m in your head. Or you’re in mine, I guess would be more accurate.” She placed her hands on her hips and lifted her chin defiantly. “Except you can’t correct your problem, can you? You don’t have the time to find a new host, which means you’re stuck with me.”
The Elemental sneered at its reflection. “You may exist but you don’t control this body. It’s mine now to do with as I see fit. I’ll use it to put an end to the rule of mankind, and you can’t stop me.”
“But I already have,” Sammy said. “Twice now.”
Sammy held her stern gaze, but she felt the butterflies in her stomach. Influencing her former body was taxing, exhausting to the point that she struggled to maintain her presence. She couldn’t let the Fire Elemental see her wavering resolve.
“You might as well realize that we’re stuck together. Until I figure out a way to get rid of you and reclaim my body, of course.”
The Elemental turned sharply away from the window and outstretched its hands. Flames erupted from its fingertips, setting fire to cars around it. The flames intensified and grew, engulfing the Elemental. It swirled madly, a reflection of the rage boiling within the Elemental. The concrete under its feet melted and boiled under its tantrum, making its footing uneven.
“Master?” a Fire Warrior asked.
The Elemental turned its ire toward the young warrior, who stood some distance away, watching the raging inferno around the naked, blond woman. The man quickly stepped away.
Before the Elemental could focus its blaze on the warrior, it heard Sammy’s derisive laughter from the window. It turned back toward the glass and saw Sammy’s taunting expression.
“I don’t know how you survived being taken as a host, but you’re not in control of this body any longer.”
Sammy felt the malicious glee within the Elemental, and her gaze naturally fell toward the Fire Warrior. Even without acting, Sammy could sense the Elemental’s intent. Closing her eyes, Sammy tried to place herself back within the Elemental. It was physically painful for her to try to stop the Elemental from acting. It seemed like she was pulling on the bumper of a speeding car, trying to keep it from rolling over the edge of a cliff. She had been successful twice so far, but it left her emotionally and physically drained. Sammy could see the Elemental lifting its arm, pointing toward the warrior, but was helpless to stop it.
The Fire Elemental turned back toward the Fire Warrior, and a jet of flame leapt from its hand. The blaze consumed the young warrior, who screamed in pain before collapsing onto the road. His body smoldered as it continued to burn.
The Elemental turned back toward Sammy and saw her pained expression. For the first time, Sammy saw the Elemental smile at its reflection.
“You’re not nearly as in control as you’d like me to believe,” it said. “You may have caught me by surprise before, I’ll admit, but you won’t get that chance again.”
Sammy frowned. “You can’t do this. What you’re doing is wrong. I don’t care what it takes, I’ll find a way—”
The Fire Elemental punched forward. Its fist passed through the window, shattering the glass. Shards tinkled onto the sidewalk. The Fire Elemental stepped forward and looked at the pieces scattered across the asphalt. It saw its own reflection staring back at it from a hundred places. It frowned, then smiled, and then raised its hand into the air. The reflections mirrored its movements without any of the pestering intervening images of the host.
The Elemental felt a dull ache in its chest, but it couldn’t tell if it was residual anger or an artifact of Sammy’s frustration. It reached up and rubbed the exposed skin, trying to push the feeling aside.
A gentle breeze blew down the street, and the Elemental felt the chill across its skin. It looked past the broken window and into the lobby of the battered skyscraper. Letting its eyes trail upward, it saw the top of the building towering overhead.
If the Fire Elemental was to rule the world of men as its king, it only made sense that it had a throne. There was no better throne room than one in the tallest tower remaining in the city.
It stepped over the threshold, ignoring the bite of glass on its bare feet. It walked through the lobby and entered the stairwell on the far side of the room. Step by step, it climbed the stairs toward the penthouse.
Abraxas lit up the sky with his blazing wings as he soared over the eastern edge of London. Smoke hung heavy in the air, stealing the oxygen from his lungs. He flew on unfazed by the choking smog. The city burned in great swaths, bringing a great joy to the general. Though he reveled in the destruction of another of the human’s capital cities, it wasn’t the burning of London that drew him to the English city. He still felt the tug of the elusive Wind Warrior nearby.
Though the Fire Elemental had given him instructions on how to follow Xander, it had been difficult to pinpoint their enemy until he grew closer to the island nation. He had felt the pull right away, like a string was tied to his belly button, drawing him into the wake of the fleeing Wind Warrior.
The draw had been strong when he had been out over the ocean but had grown weaker the closer General Abraxas grew to the edge of London. He knew it meant that Xander had stopped using his powers. All Abraxas could still feel was the residual power still hanging over the city, like an echo. It was fading quickly, which is why Abraxas pushed himself faster as he flew toward the Thames.
As quickly as the feeling had appeared, the sensation of the Wind Warrior’s power disappeared. Abraxas stopped abruptly and hovered, his flaming wings beating in rhythm with his racing heartbeat.
The general frowned and scanned the city around him, as though he might catch sight of Xander. He punched his hand in disappointment, but his emotional outburst stopped short of actual anger. He had the Wind Warrior trapped. Xander couldn’t fly or fight without Abraxas sensing his presence. There was nowhere for his young adversary to go that the Fire Warrior General couldn’t follow. Though patience had never been his strongest attribute, Abraxas would find it within himself to wait for Xander to show himself.
The General scanned the city again, and his eyes fixated on the smoking and burning ruins of the House of Parliament near the river. Unlike Xander, who had avoided the heaviest areas of destruction, Abraxas flew straight toward the still-raging inferno that consumed the building.
Darting into the smoke, he savored its scent as it enveloped him. He passed through the other side and looked down upon the cracked and brutalized road beyond the smoldering building. Fire Warriors marched through the street, throwing jets of flames into the storefronts as they passed. The soothing sound of humans screaming reached Abraxas’ ears, even as high above them as he was.
The General swooped up into the air until his face was turned toward the sun. Arching his back, he turned in a loop in the air until he was inverted, facing the street below. He plummeted downward without fear, aiming for the empty street between a patrol of Fire Warriors.
The ground grew steadily closer. At first, he could only see the warriors as miniscule figures moving along the street, identifiable only by the burning orbs of flames around their bodies. The closer he dropped toward the ground, the more he could see the peeling paint of cars, the rubble strewn across the asphalt, and the twinkling glass of shattered windows.
As he came dangerously close to the road, he spun again until his feet faced downward and he dissipated his fiery wings. He dropped the last ten feet to the ground, slamming into the road with thunderous weight. The asphalt buckled beneath him, cracking in concentric rings from his body. The impact shook the ground for blocks, knocking some of the less fortunate Fire Warriors from their feet.
Regaining their composure quickly, they turned toward the uninvited guest. They took in the look of his bald head and dark tribal tattoos that traced his scalp. Flames reignited around their hands as they faced what they saw as a new threat.
General Abraxas smiled, his eyes smoldering with the Elemental’s power. He bent forward, bringing his arms to his chest. Arching his back suddenly, he threw his arms out wide and the flaming wings burst from his back. Their wingspan brushed the faces of the nearest Fire Warriors, who all stumbled backward from his daunting presence. They looked at one another confusedly as they tried to figure out what to do about the burning man before them.
“Stand down,” a rumbling voice demanded.
Abraxas willed his wings to lie tightly against his back and turned toward the commanding voice. He was surprised to see a diminutive Fire Warrior entering the ring of other warriors. The man wore a half cape slung over a shoulder, a sign of his stature as a lord of this Fire Warrior clan. Despite the clear apprehension on the lord’s face, he walked forward, stopping a few feet away from Abraxas.
The General stared at the man who stood nearly a full head and shoulders shorter than him.
“Forgive us, General Abraxas,” the lord said. “They didn’t know to expect someone of your position. Had we known, we would have prepared a proper welcome.”
Abraxas narrowed his eyes. “I was here not long ago, and I don’t recognize you. What is your name?”
“Lord Cambion,” the man said with a sweeping bow before the General.
Abraxas stroked his chin thoughtfully. “How is it that you’re now lord of this clan?”
Cambion flushed a brilliant crimson at the question. “You killed everyone who stood in the way of my ascension to lord last time you were here.”
“I destroyed all the other lords because they were fools who disobeyed the orders of our Master. Don’t give me reason to do the same to you.”
Cambion cleared his throat nervously. “Of course not. I’m eternally loyal to the Great Dragon.”
“Good,” the General said, turning away from the diminutive man.
“My Lord, please tell me what brings you to London.”
Abraxas turned back to the lord, seeing the potential in the available army of Fire Warriors. “Our mortal enemy has arrived in your city.”
“We felt his presence,” Cambion said, nodding.
“He’s in hiding now, but he’ll eventually be foolish enough to show himself. You and your clan will help me find and kill him in the name of our Master.”
Lord Cambion clearly brightened at the mission. “Of course, General Abraxas. My clan is at your disposal.”
General Abraxas flexed his fiery wings and lifted into the air. He saw a series of tall buildings not yet destroyed by the Fire Warriors’ wanton destruction of the city.
“I will make my perch there while we wait,” he said, pointing to the tallest of the remaining buildings. “Join me there.”
Lord Cambion bowed, but Abraxas didn’t await the man’s response. From the corner of his eye, he could see the lord rushing through the streets as the General flew away.
Abraxas smiled wickedly. He looked forward to slaughtering Xander and currying more favor with the Fire Elemental.
Now he had an army to help him.
The sun was barely filtering through the window when Xander awoke. At first, he felt disoriented. He didn’t realize how exhausted he’d become until his head hit the pillow. He had fallen asleep almost immediately, despite Sean’s obnoxious snoring in the second twin bed in the room. Jessica was in a neighboring bedroom, and her door had been closed by the time Xander went to bed.
His mind felt foggy as he rubbed his eyes with the heel of his hand. He tried to stifle a yawn but it escaped, and he was forced to stretch widely. The sliver of sun creeping through the window caught his eye, and he wondered why he was awake. Despite a good night’s sleep, his body screamed for a dozen more hours of rest.
As he tried to shake away the cobwebs of slumber, he heard a noise downstairs. His weariness disappeared immediately, and he slid from under the covers. In his exhaustion, he had fallen asleep fully clothed, but it worked to his benefit as he padded across the carpeted floor and gently turned the doorknob.
The door creaked faintly as he pulled the door open, and Xander cringed at the noise. He hoped the sound didn’t carry in the modern townhouse and that whatever, or whoever, was downstairs wouldn’t be alerted that he was awake. His imagination ran wild, and he envisioned dozens of Fire Warriors sneaking into the house like quiet assassins while they slept.
As he mused about the potential murderers downstairs, he heard the noise again. It was a grating, like something heavy being scraped across the floor. Even in his weary state, it didn’t take Xander long to figure out what he was hearing. He crept to the top of the stairs and looked down to the foyer below.
Wilkes strained as he pushed the heavy bench out of the way of the front door. It slid a few inches to the side and he immediately paused and glanced upward, as though trying to see if his small noise had alerted anyone else in the house. Xander slid quickly back behind the half wall at the top of the stairs and hoped the officer hadn’t seen him. A second later, the bench scraped a few more inches and Xander let out a sigh.
Xander hurried back to the bedroom as he heard a lock turned aside and the front door open. He shook Sean, who grumbled as he rolled away from him and faced the window.
“Wake up, Sean,” Xander said quietly. Despite hearing the door open, he didn’t want to alert the Leftenant that they were awake.
“Five more minutes,” Sean muttered.
Xander punched him in the arm.
“Ow. What do you want?”
“Wilkes just snuck out of the house,” Xander said.
“Fine. Let him go, and let me go back to sleep.”
Xander punched him again, harder than before. Sean rolled over and glared at his best friend.
“What is your problem? If he wants to leave, let him go. He’s not our problem.”
“Yes, he is,” Xander said. “He’s trying to rescue his family, and he’s going to get killed in the process.”
“Unless we help him, you mean,” Sean said.
“Unless we help him.”
“No, you mean unless we get ourselves killed too in the process. Somehow, you always seem to forget that part.”
“Get up and get dressed,” Xander said, ignoring his friend’s repeated complaints. “I’ll go get Jessica.”
“No need,” she said from the doorway. “I’m way ahead of you.”
Xander’s heart leapt in his chest at the sound of her voice. He didn’t realize he was so on edge until she snuck up on him unannounced.
“Sorry,” Jessica said. “I didn’t mean to scare you. I heard him moving that bench and figured I’d better get up.”
Xander smiled, glad to have someone on his side. “Get your stuff. We’ll follow him and see if we can keep him out of trouble.”
“He’s not the one I’m worried about,” Sean said as he pulled on his jeans.
Outside the townhouse, the sky was still overcast. Sunlight cast a dim glow to the gray sky but offered little other improvements for visibility.
Xander dusted the ash flakes from his shoulder, leaving behind a smear of white across his T-shirt. His skin felt chalky and dry as the fires continued to burn freely around the neighborhood. Some of the flames seemed closer this morning than they had been the night before. Without a fire department, burning embers floating through the air ignited secondary fires in nearby townhouses.
The trio crouched low as they moved to the end of the hedgerow in front of the townhouses. The hedges butted up against a waist-high brick wall that bordered the sidewalk and offered a modicum of privacy to the upscale apartments.
Peering around the edge of the wall, Xander couldn’t see the Leftenant. He had a good head start on the trio and Xander frowned, thinking they’d already lost their opportunity to follow the British officer. As he swore under his breath, Jessica tapped him gently on the shoulder and pointed to the ground in front of him. There, imprinted in the drifting ash, was a set of booted footprints. They faded into the smoke and morning fog, but offered the only trail they had available. Stepping around the corner, Xander hurried after the tracks.
Wilkes’ movements were sporadic, often moving to the rear of a scorched car before moving in long strides toward a hedgerow on the other side of the street. Xander wondered if they should be moving tactfully like the officer. He felt like he was blundering through the London streets haphazardly, almost inviting a Fire Warrior ambush.
To his surprise, the streets seemed deserted. There were no overt signs of Fire Warriors, aside from the destruction they’d already caused to the property and vehicles around them. Despite the silence, Xander could practically feel eyes on him, watching his movements.
The tracks turned sharply as they reached a cross street. The street sign hung at an angle, but the name “Orchard Street” was still visible on the burnt sign. Turning onto Orchard Street was like stepping into an entirely different city. The townhouses disappeared, replaced by towering department stores and restaurant storefronts. Glass display windows stretched down the road with mannequins standing awkwardly—and often headless—in the storefronts. Many of the windows were broken like the car windshields but a surprising few still seemed intact. A few marred tables jutted at odd angles from a restaurant’s storefront, though Xander couldn’t tell if they had been placed there as blockades by the owners or were just part of the wanton destruction.
The Leftenant’s tracks hurried down Orchard Street; the strides were long and uniform as he ran. Xander couldn’t blame the officer. The new street seemed exactly the type of place where the Fire Warriors would congregate. Glancing down, he noticed that some of the tracks were filled with a light dusting of ash as the wind carried the white powder across the street. Xander felt his stomach lurch at the thought that he could lose the tracks completely if he didn’t hurry.
The space between the footprints narrowed as they approached the shattered windows of a towering department store. The gray stone of the three-story building glowed in the reds and yellows of nearby fires. Tall windows stretched the height of the building, which sat on a full city block. At the center of the store, an entryway was recessed from the rest of the building and the name Selfridges hung below the tattered remains of what had once been a two-story banner of a male model.
The footprints continued beyond the shadowed entrance. As Xander looked up, he frowned. The footsteps went only about twenty feet beyond the department store’s entrance before stopping before a shattered window. He knew that following the Leftenant inside a department store of this size would be virtually impossible.
As he glanced down again, he noticed the footprints beyond the store’s entrance were misshapen, as though the edges had been smeared by a second pair of boots.
“What’s wrong?” Sean whispered.
“It looks like two sets of prints, almost like someone was following him or—”
The realization struck Xander at the same moment his heart skipped a beat. “—or he doubled back.”
Wilkes stepped out of the shadows of Selfridges and punched Xander hard in the jaw. Xander’s knees went weak as the world spun around him. He didn’t realize he was falling over until he saw the sidewalk rushing up at him.
Sean tackled the officer, but Wilkes shifted his weight and sent the heavyset man sliding across the sidewalk. Sean finally came to rest in front of the broken display window, in a pile of broken mannequins pieces and metal clothing rods.
“I told you to go home,” Wilkes said. “What do you think you’re doing here?”
Xander rotated his jaw as the spots stopped dancing in his vision. He couldn’t remember the last time he’s been punched that hard. Jessica offered him a hand, but Wilkes pushed her aside.
“No, you don’t get up,” he said, pointing at Xander. His rifle dangled from a sling over his shoulder. “You stay right there and tell me what you think you were doing?”
“We’re trying to help you,” Xander said as he sat up.
“I told you last night, and I’ll tell you again. I don’t need your help.”
Xander felt anger boiling within him. It seemed like every time he offered to help people, it backfired on him. He was growing tired of being pushed around by people who thought themselves superior.
The wind kicked up suddenly around them, swirling madly and throwing ash high into the air. Jessica stepped back slowly, leaving plenty of space between herself and the Brit. Wilkes looked around in surprise at the sudden gust of wind that pulled angrily at his clothes. His hand closed around his rifle as it banged against his leg. As he looked down at Xander, he was surprised to see the college student’s eyes consumed by brilliant white light.
Wilkes started to pull up his rifle, but the wind howled defiantly. It slammed into him, ripping the rifle from his grip, and tossing him ten feet backward. He slammed painfully into the locked doors of Selfridges where he was pinned, his feet dangling a foot above the sidewalk.
Xander casually climbed to his feet while maintaining the powerful wind. It moaned as it poured around the pillared edges of the long building, responding to his call.
He stepped in front of Wilkes and stared at him through his glowing eyes.
“You don’t need our help?” Xander asked, throwing his arms above his head with dramatic affect. “Look at you. You don’t even know what you’re up against. You don’t even know what’s really going on in London, much less the rest of the world. You’re so arrogant, cocky, rude, and condescending. Open your eyes and realize that you need our help whether you like it or not.”
Wilkes didn’t reply. He hung against the building with his mouth slightly agape as he stared in fear at the possessed man in front of him.
“I’m going to let you down now,” Xander said, as he seemed to regain some semblance of control. “If you so much as mouth off to me or act like you’re going to use that gun on me, I’m going to grab you, fly you up into low orbit, and leave you there. Do I make myself clear?”
Wilkes nodded slowly, as much as the wind would allow him. With a disappointing sigh, the wind died and the officer slid heavily down to the sidewalk.
Standing up slowly, he watched Xander warily. He brushed off the accumulated ash on his pants and shirt, slowly walking over to retrieve his gun.
“I don’t need your help,” Wilkes said sourly. “I can manage this on my own. You said it yourself. I have a gun, and they’re not bulletproof.”
Xander shook his head. The brilliant light faded from his eyes. “You don’t get it. There’s thousands of Fire Warriors in the city. Exactly how many bullets do you have?”
The Leftenant didn’t reply, but Xander could see the hurt in the proud man’s face.
“I didn’t think so,” Xander said softly.
Wilkes looked past Xander, and his hand tightened on his rifle. He started to raise it, but Xander knew it wasn’t because of him. He spun and saw a Fire Warrior leap onto the hood of a parked car.
The warrior’s eyes burned with anger, and he opened his mouth. Flames rolled from his throat, dancing around the roof of his mouth. Xander raised his hands but knew he wasn’t going to be quick enough to stop the Fire Warrior from breathing fire onto the group.
Sean stepped beside the car and swung a metal pole, catching the Fire Warrior just above his knees. The force of the swing knocked his legs out from underneath him. The warrior’s legs flew out behind him, and he slammed face first into the hood of the car. He limply rolled off the hood and slumped onto the asphalt.
Sean spun angrily on the rest of the stunned group. He looked at the metal pole in his hand. It was bent at an odd angle from the impact. He tossed it at Xander, who was too surprised to move. It bounced off his chest and clattered onto the ground.
“Are you two out of your minds?” Sean asked. “Have you forgotten where we are? Your little display of machismo is going to bring every Fire Warrior in the area crashing down on our heads.”
He walked past the two men and took Jessica by the hand, leading her toward the broken storefront window.
“Next time you two want to find out who’s the bigger man, pull out a ruler and measure them like normal people.”
He and Jessica climbed through the broken display window and disappeared into Selfridges. The other two looked at one another and shook their heads.
“What did he mean about bringing them all down on us?” Wilkes asked as Sean and Jessica disappeared.
“Later,” Xander said guiltily.
Wilkes gestured toward the other two. “You’re right, they are pretty tough.”
Xander shrugged. “Told you so.”
After a quick look for other Fire Warriors, they hurried to catch up with the others.
In spite of the broken display windows along the front of Selfridges, the interior of the store was in surprisingly good condition. Xander eyed the racks of clothes that were still untouched by the chaos and destruction that occurred outside.
Wilkes let Xander enter before standing against the wall and peering out toward the street. The smoke hung heavy in the air and wafted in through the open windows. He blinked heavily from where the soot was mixing with the sweat on his skin and running into his eyes. Wiping his eyes absently, he immediately regretted it when he realized all he had successfully done was to grind the filth further into his eyes.
He blinked rapidly, letting his tears wash away the pollution. As his vision cleared, he caught movement in the street. A small group of leather-clad men and women walked between the parked cars. They looked from side to side, clearly searching for something.
Wilkes stepped away from the window and grabbed both Jessica and Sean by their arms, pulling them further into the store. He wordlessly motioned for Xander to follow, and they hurried far from the dim glow of light from the open window.
The depths of the store were eerie without power. Emergency bulbs illuminated regions haphazardly, spilling pools of light over random racks of clothes and tall aisles of assorted household goods. In between those bright pools were inky black stretches, mazes of clothes and mannequins, half racks of towels and shirts, followed by long stretches of plates and appliances. It was a labyrinth of home care and high fashion made sinister by the lack of light.
“Check inside,” a voice called from the window. The sound carried through the vacant store, bouncing around the aisles as it chased after the retreating group.
Flames illuminated the front of the store as a pair of Fire Warriors stepped through the shattered window. Glass crunched beneath their boots as they stopped just inside and scanned the expansive dark store.
Wilkes pulled the trio into a men’s clothing section. Long suits hung to the floor like curtains, and he pulled them down behind the racks. The Brit pulled his rifle to his shoulder and quietly ejected the magazine. He counted the rounds still loaded inside. Satisfied, he slid it back into place with a gentle click.
Xander looked over at him sternly and shook his head. No matter how much his wind powers attracted the Fire Caste, a gunshot would be just as likely to draw every Fire Warrior in the area. Their best bet of escaping was to stay as quiet as possible and hope they passed them by.
A flash of flames burst from the hands of one of the warriors, shattering a nearby mannequin. The melted remains of the plastic figure skittered across the floor. The flesh colored mannequin bubbled and blackened from the heat. One of the arms came to rest beside Sean, who reached out and gently pushed it away from the flammable clothing.
“What’s wrong with you?” one of the Fire Warriors asked.
“Leave me be. I thought I saw someone,” the mannequin-slayer replied.
“I’ll leave you be,” the first said, “but you’d be a fool to think that General Abraxas would be so lenient.”
The name struck Xander like a hammer, knocking the wind from him. Abraxas was supposed to be dead, or at least had been that way the last time he had seen him burning and running into the woods. His surprise boiled into fury at the thought that the Fire Warrior was still alive. He had killed Xander’s parents and grandfather. If he was leading the Fire Warriors in London, then Xander knew he’d kill him.
He shifted suddenly and bumped into the clothing rack. The metal rods rattled against the hangars. Even as quiet as it was, it was noticeable in the silent department store.
Jessica put her hand on Xander’s arm and squeezed tightly, letting her nails dig into his arm. His rage was apparent, and the last thing she needed was him having an episode and drawing unwanted attention.
“What was that?” a Fire Warrior asked.
Xander bit his bottom lip and silently swore for being so stupid. This was the exact behavior Jessica had berated him for when they were flying to London. He had let emotions override his common sense. If he had just stayed quiet, there was almost no chance that the Fire Warriors would have found them in such a large department store. Now, the best-case scenario was that the two Fire Warriors at the window would search the entire store. Worst-case scenario was that they would go get the rest of the Fire Warriors, and Xander’s group would be badly outnumbered.
“Someone’s here,” the other Fire Warrior replied. “Go get the others.”
Xander scowled. Though he didn’t want to use his powers again, he didn’t know if there’d be much of an option.
Wilkes knelt behind his rack of clothing and made eye contact with Xander. Xander furrowed his brow in confusion until he saw the Leftenant clench the pistol grip of his rifle tightly. He shook his head, but Wilkes didn’t seem to be paying attention.
“Stay here,” Wilkes whispered. “Don’t follow me this time. I mean it. Stay here.”
“Wilkes,” Xander said.
He wasn’t able to finish his argument with the British officer before the man jumped to his feet and sprinted across the store. When he was into the next section of the store, he ran his arm along a row of dishes, knocking them to the floor. They crashed loudly, shattering on the hard floor.
The rack of dishes behind Wilkes exploded as a fireball struck it. Flying ceramic struck the back of his vest but didn’t slow him as he ran deeper into the gloomy darkness of the store, searching for another exit to the building.
A jet of flame carved into the nearby racks of clothing, igniting the fabric. The hanging shirts erupted in flames and thick smoke filled the aisles. Wilkes gritted his teeth and ran on deeper into the store.
The Fire Warriors howled as they pursued the fleeing officer. Flames leapt from their hands, striking the objects around him. They ran after him, growing further and further away from Xander, Sean, and Jessica.
Xander heard the voices and yelling receding until the entire store was once again blanketed in silence. Lights flickered from the smoldering clothes across the store, but the fire was already dying out without spreading very far.
The trio slowly stood and looked around the empty store.
Wilkes slammed into the department store’s rear emergency exit, snapping the thin, plastic wiring that held the door closed from the outside. Without the electricity, no alarm sounded.
The dim sunlight struck him as he emerged onto the narrow, one-way street that ran behind the department store. Despite the gloom over London, the light was a stark contrast to the darkness of the building’s interior. He paused and raised a hand to his eyes as he looked left and right, scanning for more Fire Warriors.
A ball of flame struck the wall behind him, splashing fire across the metal emergency exit door. Wilkes jumped and looked over his shoulder, noticing the two Fire Warriors emerging from the gloom of the store. Flames reemerged around their hands as they prepared another fireball.
The officer started to raise his rifle but thought better of it. He tucked the weapon against his body so it wouldn’t rattle as he ran, and he sprinted down the street.
Though he’d been stationed in Kent for the past few years, he knew London and knew the streets that ran parallel to Selfridges. He was confident he’d be able to lose the leather-clad warriors on some of the side streets.
His lungs burned as he ran between the ruined cars. He was in good shape but wasn’t used to breathing pure ash. He coughed painfully as he felt a stitch starting in his side.
By the time he reached the next cross street, his side was burning from exertion.
“Bloody smoke,” he muttered. He leaned over, resting his hands on his knees as his lungs screamed for more oxygen.
“There he is,” a Fire Warrior yelled.
The car beside him burst into flames, and its side windows exploded outward. Wilkes threw up his hands defensively, protecting his face from the flying glass.
The Brit started running again, taking a sharp right. He frowned because Selfridges still sat on his right. He wanted to put as much distance as possible between himself and the store. Otherwise, his entire plan of leading the Fire Warriors away from Xander and his friends would fall apart.
Another street opened on his left and he turned, hoping he had put enough distance between himself and the warriors that they’d have trouble following him. He wasn’t sure how much longer he’d be able to run at this pace before he’d have to stop.
Another burst of flames painted the wall beside him as he turned, telling him that he wasn’t lucky enough to have outrun them already.
“Why can’t these blokes be fat like the Yank?” he muttered to himself.
The run down the narrow side road was exhausting, and he could feel his blood pounding in his temple. His lungs ached, and he could feel pain spreading through his muscles as they burned through their oxygen.
He fought the yearning to turn and shoot the warriors. He knew a couple of well-placed shots would end this chase and probably catch the Fire Warriors by surprise. He also knew, however, that any gunshots this close to the department store would bring every other Fire Warrior to his position and jeopardize the Americans. Instead, he pushed himself through the pain and reached another cross street.
He turned right onto James Street. His feet caught on the sidewalk, and he stumbled forward. His arms felt heavy from the exertion, and he barely got his hands up before he staggered into the wall. He coughed again and looked down the road to where it reconnected with Oxford Street. It seemed a far run, and he wasn’t sure he felt up to it.
Instead of running, he slipped into a recessed entryway on the nearest building and sank into its deep shadows. He gripped his rifle in both hands, knowing it was time to use it, regardless of whether or not he’d put enough distance between himself and the others.
The Fire Warriors rushed around the corner and barely had time to acknowledge that Wilkes wasn’t on the street in front of them before the Brit stepped out of the alcove. He drove the butt of the rifle into the face of the first warrior, shattering the man’s nose. The warrior dropped to the ground like a rock, his head clattering on the concrete. The second raised his hand, but Wilkes quickly spun his rifle around and squeezed the trigger. The Fire Warrior lurched as the Brit fired three rounds into him at close range. The man gurgled before slumping to the ground beside his friend.
Wilkes didn’t wait to see if any others were coming. He turned and stumbled down James Street.
“Did you hear that?” Xander asked. He stopped his incessant pacing around the men’s wear of the department store. Canting his head to the side, he strained to hear the noise again.
“It sounded like gunshots,” Jessica said. She pulled her new jacket tighter around her body and absently pulled off the price tag that hung from the sleeve.
“Wilkes is in trouble,” Xander said. “We need to go after him.”
“Or he’s managing just fine,” Sean said, “seeing as how he has a gun and is clearly using it.”
Xander slammed his hand onto a clothes rack and scowled. “I don’t like just sitting around. He could need my help.”
Sean stood up from the seat he had dragged over from the changing rooms. “And what would you do if he needed help? Use your powers again? He’s in trouble because you used them in the first place.”
Xander frowned but couldn’t find the words to reply.
“That’s a little harsh, Sean,” Jessica said. “Aren’t you supposed to use humor as a defense mechanism?”
“Yeah but, apparently, I have a saturation point for stress and once I cross it, I become the mature adult in our group.”
Xander shoved his hands in his pockets and walked toward the open maw of the display window. Keeping to the shadows, he peered down the street, hoping to catch sight of the Leftenant. The street beyond was sadly empty, though the smoke limited his visibility anyway. He wasn’t sure he’d see Wilkes even if the man were running down the street a block away.
The city seemed abnormally quiet again following the gunshots. He didn’t like the idea of hearing the gunshots and thinking Wilkes was in trouble, but the silence was almost more frightening. Gunshots meant the British officer was still alive. Silence could mean he was hurt or worse. Xander swallowed hard at the thought that Wilkes could be dead. No matter how much Sean might be tactless and sometimes be a jerk, he couldn’t deny that he was right. The Fire Warriors had found them because Xander had lost his temper and foolishly used his power.
With a sigh, Xander turned back and rejoined his other two friends. Sean glanced over as he approached. Jessica was barely visible as she sat on the changing room bench, trying on a new pair of boots.
“I think we should go after him,” Xander said matter-of-factly.
Sean smiled. “I had a sinking suspicion you’d say something like that.”
“So?”
Sean jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “If we’re going after him, I need to hit up the sporting goods section. I’m getting a little tired of matching off with guys with fireballs in their hands with nothing other than my fisticuffs. There’s no way I’m going after a bunch of Fire Warriors without a weapon this time around.”
The heavyset man turned away from the other two. “Do they have sporting goods sections in England?”
Xander laughed. “Why wouldn’t they have a sporting goods section?”
Sean shrugged. “You never know. They call soccer football. They still play polo on horseback, play cricket, and say silly things like ‘sticky wicket’. Isn’t England also the one where the toilets flush the opposite direction?”
“I’m pretty sure that last one is Australia.”
“Whatever. I’ll be back with a baseball bat. Unless they only have cricket bats. Then… whatever.”
Sean faded into the gloom of the store as he searched for the sporting goods section.
Abraxas sat on the rooftop, staring over the burning city with great satisfaction. He still felt the lingering feeling in his gut from when Xander used his wind powers. Though he couldn’t pinpoint his location anymore, the General knew he was close to finding the final Wind Warrior.
He ran a sweaty hand over his bald head, feeling the slightly raised tattoos on his scalp. The flaming wings on his back tucked in close to his body as he perched on the edge of the rooftop, scanning the street below. His eyesight, bolstered with the strength of the Fire Elemental, was unfazed by the smoke that blotted the cityscape. The heat from his wings rolled over him, causing his treated leather armor to smolder and threaten to catch fire.
Lord Cambion stood patiently behind him, his arms crossed in front of him, awaiting the General’s commands. The flaming wings on his back radiated heat that even Cambion’s desensitized skin could feel from ten feet away.
“What are your orders, my lord?” Lord Cambion asked.
Abraxas turned on the man, glaring at the warrior’s invasion of the silence that had existed on the roof. The Fire Lord bowed low and cleared his throat nervously. For a brief moment, Abraxas considered burning the man to ash as he’d done his predecessor, for no other reason than the affront of interrupting him while he searched the city for something to kill.
Before Abraxas could decide on his wanton destruction, three gunshots echoed through the streets nearby. The General spun quickly toward the streets below and scanned them impatiently.
In the distance, he could see the heat signature of a man emerging from a cross street. The man’s silhouette wasn’t masked by the thick leather of the Fire Warriors.
General Abraxas smiled wickedly and turned back to Lord Cambion. After spending so much time supervising the decimation of the human race by the different Fire Caste clans around the world, it would be good to feel someone die by his hands again.
“There’s something still alive in London that needs killing,” the General said.
The Fire Lord stared at him confusedly, as he offered no directions or guidance.
Abraxas stepped off the rooftop, stretching his wings as he did. Thermal currents washed over Cambion as the General raced toward the stranger on the street.
Leftenant Wilkes paused when he reached Oxford Street. The main street, like James Street behind him, was creepily devoid of the Fire Warriors that he knew had to be around the area.
He reached up and wiped away a sheen of sweat from his dark skin. His lungs still burned from the exertion, and he looked forward for a chance to get back to the department store and rest for a while with the others. Though he had just met the odd trio of college students, they were the only friends he had on his mission to find his family.
A light breeze blew, carrying the smoke further down the street. For a moment, the tall, red brick buildings across from him were visible through the haze. Wilkes glanced up and down the street, hoping the flowing wind wouldn’t reveal an army of Fire Warrior laying in ambush.
As he glanced down Oxford Street, his eyes fell on a smoldering ruin of a double-decker bus, fallen on its side and blocking the road. The red paint was bubbled and blackened from flames. Just beyond the bus, however, Wilkes noticed something significantly more promising. A white, metal cage jutted from the building, framing a hollow entrance. Beside the entry tunnel, a telltale sign hung over the street. Its red circle with blue bar running horizontally through its center was exactly what Wilkes needed to find. The entrance to the Bond Street Underground station gave the Leftenant hope and a plan.
With a smile on his face, Wilkes turned back toward Selfridges.
A whoosh of air alerted him to danger moments before a brilliant figure flew overhead. The glowing form illuminated the smoke in the air as it passed over Wilkes. The Leftenant dropped to a knee and raised his rifle to his shoulder.
General Abraxas emerged from the smoke and slammed down onto the roof of a ruined car. The force of his impact buckled the metal frame and shattered outward what little glass remained in the car’s broken windows. He dropped down into a crouch on his landing, slamming his fist onto the car with a ringing that reverberated across the street.
Wilkes could see the dark tattoos tracing the strange man’s head, illuminated as they were by the enormous, burning wings. As Abraxas stood, he stretched the wings and let them brush the brick building behind him. The red brick blackened under the heat, and the tough mortar between the stones bubbled from the intensity.
The Leftenant felt his stomach lurch at the sight of the clearly deadly figure towering over him. The Fire Warriors he had encountered before seemed tame and manageable compared to the monster that stood before him.
“So what the bloody mess are you?” Wilkes said softly, though he doubted General Abraxas either heard him or cared.
Abraxas dropped his gaze to the Brit just as the wind died, and the smoke began to drift back across the road, separating the two men.
“It’s been far too long since I’ve killed someone,” Abraxas said. His eyes flared with internal fire. He smiled, revealing a row of sharpened teeth. “Run, if it makes you feel better. I enjoy a good hunt.”
Wilkes swallowed hard but, he felt a surreal calm settle over him. He clutched his rifle a little tighter and smiled at the Fire Warrior.
“All right, mate. Let’s dance.”
As Wilkes raised his rifle, Abraxas threw a fireball. The roaring flame struck a car beside the officer and exploded in a shower of sparks. It erupted in flames and was tossed into the air. The concussive blast from the explosion knocked Wilkes from his feet before he could pull the trigger on his rifle.
Wilkes skidded across the sidewalk from the force of the blast. The smell of sulfur seemed to settle over him like a blanket, choking his lungs and stinging his eyes.
The car crashed back to the asphalt and thick, black smoke billowed from its ruin. Wilkes quickly scrambled to his feet and raised his rifle again. The General was concealed behind the black smoke, but the Brit doubted the man had moved from his precarious perch. He raised his rifle, switching the rate of fire from single round to full automatic. As he squeezed and held the trigger, flames leapt from the end of his rifle.
He felt the kick of the rifle against his shoulder as he emptied the rest of his magazine. The rounds flashed across the street, disappearing into the thickening smoke.
The pull of the fully automatic burst pulled the weapon to the left and his bullets missed their target, spraying instead the wall beside the Fire Warrior. The rounds splintered the brick, sending slivers of the brickwork flying into the surrounding area. Its stone sliced into Abraxas’ back. The General howled in rage, surprised by the brashness of the British officer.
With the burning car between the two, Abraxas’ heat vision was blurred, concealing Wilkes’ exact location. Enraged by the man’s attack, he summoned an orbiting series of fireballs that hovered around him.
Wilkes’ rifle clicked empty as the last of the bullets left the chamber. The bolt locked to the rear and smoke faintly rolled from the barrel of the weapon. Despite the spray of gunfire, he wasn’t foolish enough to believe the howl was one of pain. It was anger, and Wilkes knew he was soon going to be in trouble.
From the thick smoke, a white-hot glowing ball of flame emerged, sailing toward him. Wilkes dropped to the sidewalk as the fireball sailed inches over his head. The flames exploded against the storefronts behind Wilkes. The Brit sucked in a breath of air and brought his legs underneath him as he prepared to run. He knew he should reload but wasn’t sure he had the time.
Two more fireballs flew out of the smoke, striking the walls haphazardly. Wilkes smiled, knowing his enemy wasn’t aiming anymore. The flames flew again and again, striking the walls, storefronts, and nearby automobiles. Each blast filled the area with more and more dark smoke.
Despite it burning his eyes and lungs and leaving his mouth with a taste of ash, Wilkes saw an important opportunity to escape. He wasn’t foolish enough to think he was a match for the psychotic winged warrior across the street, but the Fire Warrior’s aimless destruction of the area granted the Brit more than enough opportunity to escape without being seen.
As another fireball struck the car in front of him, Wilkes leapt to his feet and sprinted down Oxford Street, using the smoke as cover. He turned and quietly slipped down Duke Street, running along the side of Selfridges.
He hoped that General Abraxas hadn’t seen him escape or figured out where he went. If he did, all the hard work Wilkes did trying to keep the college students safe would be for nothing.
Abraxas crouched back atop his building perch and scanned the city below. He knew that irritating human he had encountered on the street was still alive and, more importantly, the Wind Warrior was nearby. It seemed too coincidental that he would be hunting Xander when he encountered the black soldier. Find one, he was sure, and he would find the other.
He looked over his shoulder and saw the seeping wound on his back from where the shrapnel had cut him. General Abraxas scowled. The Wind Warrior still retained the spot on the top of his list of people to kill, but the soldier had quickly moved up to the second spot. He hoped he’d find them together. It would be such a wonderful reward to kill them both at the same time.
His frown deepened as he looked back toward the city. The Wind Warrior hadn’t reappeared, and he was due to report to the Fire Elemental. He knew reporting that Xander had eluded him would have unfortunate repercussions. However, it wouldn’t be long until he found the boy. It wasn’t technically a lie if he said he had found Xander. The warrior was trapped somewhere below and it was only a matter of time before he revealed himself.
General Abraxas closed his eyes and concentrated on the Fire Elemental. Slowly, the air in front of him shimmered.
“General Abraxas,” the Elemental said. The voice seemed to echo all around him.
He opened his eyes and stared at the giant, draconic orb hovering in the air before him. He bowed deeply before returning his gaze to the representation of his Master.
“My Master,” he said.
“Why have you bothered me, Abraxas?” it asked.
Abraxas stared at the eye and furrowed his brow. The Elemental’s voice seemed oddly strained. The Elemental was being curt, at least more so than normal. Perhaps its conquest of Los Angeles was not going as well as the destruction of London and Tokyo.
“I have located Xander Sirocco,” General Abraxas said. “I have him trapped and eagerly await your orders.”
The eye hovered in the air, and Abraxas sensed a wave of displeasure. He looked down toward the ground in confusion, not eager to make eye contact with the Elemental if it truly was displeased.
“Let him go,” the Elemental said.
Abraxas paused and his breath caught in his throat. His hand slowly clenched to a fist, and he defiantly raised his head toward the visage of the Fire Elemental.
“Master, you must be mistaken. We’ve been searching for—“
Abraxas paused in midsentence. The edges of the dragon’s vertical iris were framed in a brilliant blue. As quickly as he noticed the blue discoloration, the red and yellow of the pupil reasserted itself.
“Kill him,” the Fire Elemental said. “Kill the Wind Warrior and bring me his head as a trophy.”
General Abraxas forced a smile toward the reptilian orb. “As you wish, my Master.”
The eye disappeared from the air over London, leaving Abraxas alone once more with his thoughts and his confusion over the Elemental’s odd and contradictory behavior.
The Elemental slumped into its recliner and scowled angrily. It looked beside it and saw the human cowering at its obvious irritation. The Fire Elemental swept its hand aside, striking the man across the face, sending him sprawling across the floor. With him lying prone, the Elemental could see the series of crossing burn marks across his back.
The human had been the sole inhabitant of the luxurious penthouse at the top of the building. He had tried to defend himself against the Fire Elemental’s intrusion and now he suffered for his insolence.
With the man knocked aside, the Fire Elemental returned to its consuming anger. The anger was the only thing that overwhelmed the disappointment it felt at ordering Xander’s death. It knew it wasn’t its own emotional response. It stole a glance across the room and saw its reflection standing arrogantly with her arms crossed over her chest.
“Stop doing that,” the Elemental ordered.
“I’m never going to stop,” Sammy said. “Not until I get my body back.”
“You’ll never get it back. If I can’t evict you from my mind, then I’ll see how you feel after I kill the man you love and post his head on a stick above my city. It’ll dangle like a banner from the roof of this very building, as a constant reminder that no one—not even you—can stop me.”
Sammy chewed on her lip and stared across the spacious room. “I hope he kills you.”
The Elemental laughed, frightening the man on the floor. “If he kills me, then he kills you.”
“I’d rather die than have you using my body.” Sammy glanced at the naked woman sitting on the recliner. “And put on some clothes. Have some decency with my body.”
The Elemental looked down as though just recognizing the fact that it was truly naked. “It’s not your body anymore. If you want me to dress, force me.”
Sammy frowned at the Elemental’s challenge. It knew controlling her body was exhausting. Though the order to let Xander go had been short-lived, it had left her feeling wasted. She didn’t have the strength to make the Elemental demonstrate some semblance of modesty.
“Why?” the man on the floor said, daring a glance backward at his captor.
Both Sammy and the Elemental turned their attention to the cowering man.
“What did you say?”
The man rolled onto his side, clearly too weak to even climb to his knees. “Why do you hate humans so much?”
The Elemental stood, towering over the human. It looked over to Sammy in the mirror and smiled. “You misunderstand. I don’t hate humans. I have no issue with humans individually.”
It crouched down beside the man and reached out toward him. The man flinched away but it grabbed a hold of his hair, turning his face toward it.
“What I have a problem with is the idea of humanity in general. You treat the planet like you’re an insolent child, leaving your toys lying around with no thought to the house you’ve left in disarray.
“My brother and sisters gave you everything. They raised you like their own, giving you all the tools to be successful. They gave you the keys to their castle.”
The Fire Elemental swept its arms wide, gesturing to the amazing view from the penthouse’s large bay windows. It scowled at the man.
“And you squandered it. In a few generations, you ruined all that they had worked so hard to build. Take a look out that window and see the thick pollution hanging in the air. Even before my Fire Warriors set fire to your city, you could barely see the ocean from your window when it’s practically close enough to throw a stone and strike it.”
It paused and stared out the window. A malicious smile suddenly spread across its lips. “So, do I hate you? No. In reality, I love you. I exist solely to destroy humanity once it overstepped its bounds, and I wouldn’t even exist if you hadn’t created a reason.”
It reached down and tightly grasped the back of the man’s neck. The Elemental lowered its head dangerously close to the man. “The truth is, I should thank you.”
Sammy didn’t need to be inside the Elemental’s head to know what it had planned. “Don’t. Don’t do this.”
The Fire Elemental turned its attention to the mirror and stared at Sammy’s pleading expression. The man looked toward the far wall, trying to see what had caught the attention of his attacker. It saw nothing in the wide mirror aside from a reflection of the ceiling.
“You genuinely love them, don’t you? After all they’ve done, you still want to try to save them.”
Sammy frowned. “They’re not all bad. There are good people living all throughout the world. They don’t deserve you and what you’re trying to do to them.”
The Elemental laughed. Sammy felt disturbed by hearing a coarse version of her own laughter. It shook its arm, rattling the man it held by the neck. “But not this one. Look at this home. He lives in extravagance, while those just at the base of this tower live in squalor. People like him make their living on the suffering of the planet. They’re exactly why I exist.”
“No,” the man pleaded. “You got me wrong. I’m not like that. I didn’t do anything like that. Please, please.”
The Fire Elemental smiled wickedly as it stared at Sammy. “You want to control this body? You want to save humanity? Then control the body now. You have one chance to save this man’s life. Reach out with your mind and take control of the body. Stop me from doing what you know he deserves.”
Sammy shook her head, but her eyes widened in fear. “Don’t do this. You don’t have to do this.”
She tried reaching out into the Elemental’s mind, but it could already feel the fog of fatigue spreading over her efforts. She was too tired from controlling it previously.
The Elemental stood, dragging the man up by his neck. It stepped toward the bay windows and turned the man so he could see his fate. The man let out a whimper as his bladder released. He pawed weakly at the Elemental’s hand, but it did little to dissuade the monster.
Sammy focused on the hand holding the man in place, yearning to have the fingers release the man’s neck. Despite her efforts, not even a finger twitched in response.
Instead, she shifted her gaze to the Elemental’s legs. At once, the Elemental stopped walking, stopping a few feet from the glass pane of the large outdoor windows.
It looked down at its legs and then shifted its gaze back to the window. The surprised expression quickly faded, and the deadly smile returned. The red glow of its eyes intensified. “Good but not good enough. Time’s up.”
“No!” Sammy yelled.
The Elemental drew its arm back and threw the man through the pane of glass. The glass shattered around him, cutting his exposed upper body. His momentum carried him over the balcony railing, and he fell toward the ruined street below.
His scream echoed in Sammy’s ears the entire way until he crashed unceremoniously onto the asphalt road. Tears welled in her eyes. Try as she might, she couldn’t bring herself to look back to the monster inhabiting her body.
Xander stepped away from the rack of sweaters. A violent knot of pain burned in his gut, and he groaned as his knees grew weak. He stumbled and grasped for anything to support himself. His hands closed over a suit jacket. It pulled free from its hangar. The jacket wasn’t nearly enough to support him as another wave of pain rolled through his stomach. Xander fell to the ground, pulling the clothes down on top of him.
“Xander!” Jessica leapt from the seat and rushed to his side.
She pulled away the jacket on top of him. His face was contorted in anguish and surprise.
“Talk to me, Xander,” she said. “What’s wrong?”
Xander gritted his teeth but managed a broken sentence. “There’s a Fire Warrior nearby… using his power. But not… normal. I’ve… never felt anything… like it. So much power.”
Jessica looked over her shoulder, hoping Sean would have heard her cry of concern but he was nowhere to be found. She grabbed a silk tie off the round rack beside her and used it to dab Xander’s sweaty brow.
Xander took a deep breath, forcing the pain in his gut to subside. Despite its presence, he was able to push it down until it was little more than a dull ache.
“Help me up,” he said.
Jessica slipped her hands under Xander’s arms and pulled him up to a standing position.
“Thanks,” he said.
Jessica furrowed her brow. “Want to tell me what that was all about?”
“There’s a Fire Warrior nearby, and he’s more powerful than anything I’ve encountered before,” Xander sighed. He sat down heavily onto the bench and rubbed the back of his neck. “When he used his power, it was like someone kicked me right in the gut.”
“More powerful than anything we’ve encountered?” Jessica asked nervously.
Xander didn’t reply only because he knew how bad that sounded. He never considered there could be tiers of elemental power. He had only experienced the normal warriors and the Elementals previously. Who knew what he’d face with a new classification of more powerful warriors.
“We need to get Sean and get out of here,” Jessica said.
“We still need to wait for—” Xander began, before another lance of pain rolled through his gut.
The sharp pain was immediately joined by the sound of automatic gunfire, sounding like it was being fired from nearby. Xander bit his bottom lip until he tasted blood, as much to stop from crying out in pain as it was in concern for the British officer. It seemed dangerously reckless to fire all his ammunition at once, and Xander assumed he probably wouldn’t have done it unless he was in real trouble.
Xander’s eyes glistened with tears from his pain, but the look in his eyes quickly shifted from discomfort to determination.
“I don’t care if they can find me if I use my powers,” he said. “I’m not going to let Wilkes sacrifice himself for me. We’re going after him.”
Jessica frowned but didn’t try to dissuade him. “What do you need me to do?”
“Go get Sean. Tell him to grab whatever weapon he’s found by now and meet me back here.”
Jessica stood in front of him, unmoving. Xander looked up and arched an eyebrow.
“I really hope you know what you’re doing,” Jessica said.
She turned away and disappeared into the darkness of the store.
Sean swung a cricket bat with a broad smile, reveling in the weight of the weapon.
“I had you guys all wrong,” he said as he swung again. “This thing’s awesome.”
He took a step away from the shelf and set his cricket bat on his shoulder. He took a quick glance over his shoulder, despite knowing that he was alone in the back of the store. Seeing no one, he turned back to the empty aisle.
“It’s the bottom of the ninth,” he said. “Bases loaded. He’s been facing a ninety-five mile per hour fastball from the Yankees closer all night and now sits with two strikes.”
Sean pointed toward the emergency exit sign that was illuminated above one of the store’s rear entrances.
“Is he? Yes. Sean is calling a homerun. That’s four hundred and eight feet to the center field wall but if anyone can do it, it’s him.”
Sean clutched the elongated grip on the heavy wooden bat and got into a batter’s stance.
“And here comes the pitch.”
Sean closed his eyes and swung his bat hard. The air swished audibly around the quick-moving bat.
“He’s connected. It’s going… going… gone!”
He released the bat with one of his hands and raised it to his mouth, faking the noise of a crowd cheering.
“What are you doing?” Jessica asked from the end of the aisle.
Sean let out an effeminate scream and dropped the cricket bat. It clattered on the hard floor, rattling as it came to rest against the sporting goods rack. He clutched his chest and fell against the shelves of cricket pads beside him.
Jessica raised a hand to her mouth to conceal the laugh that she tried to suppress.
“Don’t do that, you crazy woman,” Sean said.
He took a deep breath and tried to get his racing heart rate under control.
“What do you want?” he asked.
Jessica coughed politely to clear her throat. “Xander said we’re going after the British guy. Pick up your bat, Babe Ruth. We’re leaving soon.”
“Funny you’re coming after me,” Wilkes said as he came around the far end of the aisle, “when that’s the exact opposite of what I told you to do.”
Both Sean and Jessica screamed this time. The Leftenant laughed as he walked toward the pair. He reached over, retrieving one of the cricket pads and using it to wipe away the sweat and soot from his forehead.
“We thought you might be dead,” Jessica said.
“I practically was,” Wilkes said. “But not only did I not die, I have an idea of how to get us out of here.”
Wilkes looked around. “Where’s Xander?”
Jessica pointed toward the front of the store. “Right where you left him, though not by his own choice.”
“He’s a stubborn one, isn’t he?”
“You have no idea,” she said.
“Let’s go get him, and I’ll tell you what I have planned.”
He motioned for Jessica to lead the way, and Sean fell into step beside him.
“Just out of curiosity,” Sean said, “would you think less of me if I peed myself. Just a little bit?”
Wilkes laughed at him without looking over. As they passed it, Sean reached down and retrieved the cricket bat.
Wilkes stepped past Jessica and Sean before Xander had a chance to express his relief at seeing the Brit.
“My wife and son,” he said.
Xander paused, and Wilkes took a seat on the changing room bench. The man looked exhausted and white ash still clung to his damp skin. Xander stood beside the bench and watched his profile as he continued.
Wilkes ran a hand over his short, coarse hair. “You asked before why I was in London, that you thought it was about family. You were right. I was stationed in Kent, but my wife had a job here in London. She and our son lived in a flat near the Thames.”
Xander frowned, glad that the Leftenant couldn’t see his sour expression. He remembered clearly how ruined the city was near the river but didn’t have the heart to tell the British officer.
“I…” Wilkes paused and shook his head. “When I heard that London had been attacked, I abandoned my post. I jumped in my car and raced up the M20. I knew that I had men looking to me for leadership, but I didn’t much care at that point. I didn’t even pack a bag; I just left them all.” He looked up at Xander with sorrowful eyes. “I’m a deserter.”
“You did it for your family,” Xander said. “Your men would have understood.”
“No, they wouldn’t. The army’s a funny thing. They don’t often care about extenuating circumstances when you desert your post at a time of war.”
Xander looked to Jessica, who nodded to him. He turned his attention back to Wilkes.
“I’m not good at asking for help,” Wilkes said. “I guess what I’m saying is…”
“I can get you to the Thames,” Xander interrupted, saving the man from his uncomfortable request. “I can fly, like you saw when I first landed in London and we ran into each other. I can fly you there, and we can get your family.”
Sean frowned, which Wilkes noticed.
“When he said that you brought the Fire Warriors to us during our fight,” Wilkes said, “it was because you used your powers, wasn’t it?”
Xander swallowed hard as the wave of guilt swelled again. “Yes.”
“Then no.”
Xander shook his head and leaned against a rack of clothing. “It would be quick. We’ll fly in and be out of there before the Fire Warriors could catch up to us.”
Wilkes looked up at him before climbing back to his feet. He faced Xander, but it wasn’t with malice. “When I was out there on the street, I fought something I’d never seen before. He had massive, flaming wings and threw balls of flame ten times stronger than that rubbish the other ones were playing with. If I didn’t know that these Fire Warriors weren’t devils, I would have sworn this man was a fallen angel.”
Xander looked at Jessica knowingly. What he felt earlier had to be connected to the Fire Warrior Wilkes fought.
“If that thing is still out there and you go flying about, wouldn’t that draw him to us?” Wilkes asked.
Xander nodded.
“Then no. Even if we could outrun him now, by the time we found my family, we’d be bringing that thing down on them. I won’t put them in any more danger than they already are. We’re going to get to them, but we’re going to do it my way.”
“What’s your way?” Sean asked from behind everyone.
Wilkes looked over his shoulder. “We’re going to take the Underground. There’s an Underground station about two blocks down the road from where we are. There’s another Underground station exit near my flat. We should be able to stay off the streets all the way there.”
“Don’t you think there’ll be Fire Warriors there?” Xander asked.
“Maybe. Probably not. They seem pretty intent on burning down the city and probably haven’t put much thought to the railways. At least, I hope they haven’t. And if they have, I’ve still got a few magazines left, and we still have the fat man’s quite dangerous cricket bat.”
Sean blushed but smiled at the ribbing.
“So what do we do first?” Xander asked.
Wilkes looked around the store. “We’ll need some supplies before we go. Then I say we wait until nighttime before we make our move for the Bond Street station.”
Xander looked at the other two college students, who nodded their approval.
“All right,” he said. “We’re with you.”
As dusk settled over the city, Leftenant Wilkes hefted a heavy hiking bag full of supplies over his shoulder and led the way out of the department store. He stepped gingerly, limiting the amount of crunching his army-issue boots made on the broken glass on the sidewalk.
He looked left and right down Oxford Street, but it was an exercise in futility. Visibility was practically nonexistent during the day because of the smoke. Couple the smoke with the gloom of a moonless night, and he could barely see the ruined car parked on the curb in front of him.
Exasperated, he motioned for the other three to follow.
Xander led the group out of the window. Their footsteps weren’t as tempered, and the sound of breaking glass echoed around the silent neighborhood. Xander cringed and gently brushed aside some of the larger pieces so Jessica and Sean wouldn’t make the same mistake he did.
He didn’t bother looking around the street. He knew his eyesight was bad enough that he wouldn’t see a Fire Warrior if he was standing on top of a nearby car proudly waving a flag over his head. Instead, he concentrated on the sensation in his gut; the one that grew in intensity every time someone used elemental powers nearby.
Xander practically braced himself in anticipation, remembering the anguish he felt when the crazy Fire Warrior hybrid used his powers. While it was a telltale sign that they were going to be in danger, it didn’t make the kick in his gut any less painful.
Luckily, he felt nothing as they hurried across the street.
The group rushed down the far side of the road, ducking behind cars whenever possible and sprinting across the open areas when it wasn’t. Long before they reached the intersection of James Street, Xander could taste the sulfur still hanging in the air. The taste was pungent and strong, even after hours had passed since Wilkes’ gunfight. The smell in the air was reminiscent not of the number of fights Xander had with the Fire Warriors since discovering his power, but reminded him directly of his first exposure to a Fire Warrior: when Sammy tried to kill him in the abandoned house in White Halls. Her blasts had carried the pungent smell of sulfur and brimstone.
Sean shoved him from behind as he reminisced, forcing him to sprint to the side of an overturned double-decker bus. The bus was ruined but offered great protection as they passed toward the open intersection between James and Oxford Streets.
Wilkes held up his hand, indicating for the group to stop. The officer inched to the far edge of the bus and peered around the corner. The smashed car onto which the winged Fire Warrior had landed was nearby, and the wall behind it was riddled with bullet holes. He turned back to the rest of the group and nodded while pointing to the far side of the street.
The Brit led the rush across the road. Xander kept expecting a roar of flames to chase them through the open intersection, but it never came. As he dropped to a crouch behind a car on the far side, Xander took a moment and looked back across the intersection. He saw the scorch marks on the wall and admired the still-smoking husks of the cars that were decimated by the Fire Warrior’s tirade. Xander also saw the same bullet holes marring the wall and silently wished Wilkes would have hit the warrior instead of clearly just nearly missing.
Jessica tapped him on the shoulder. As Xander turned, he realized the other two were already sprinting ahead, rushing toward an entrance a few storefronts ahead of where they stood.
Aside from the white, metal cage that protruded from above the entryway, Xander wouldn’t have guessed that they were approaching an Underground entrance. He wasn’t familiar with the red circle and blue bar, which designated the railway. It wasn’t until he was underneath the metal awning that he saw “Bond Street Station”.
Wilkes was already at the glass doors, pulling one open. Unlike the storefronts, the recessed Underground doorways still seemed to be intact. Wilkes held the door as they all rushed inside and the officer scanned the road once more before letting it close quietly behind him.
Inside the train station was silent like a tomb. A few pamphlets and Underground maps were strewn across the floor. Xander half expected a breeze to blow across the room and a tumbleweed to go rolling past. He reached down and picked up one of the maps, figuring it would be a handy tool as they explored the rest of the city.
The turnstiles were ahead but were barely visible. There was hardly any light to filter through the glass doors, and even the emergency lights seemed to have failed.
Xander felt his skin crawl as he looked at the ominous darkness beyond the turnstiles. The inky blackness seemed to swallow any attempt of his to see into its depths. It was like the world ended just beyond the metal gates, devoured by the nothingness on the far side. He had never been afraid of the dark before, as well as he could remember. Of course, he had never believed in monsters before either. Now he lived in a world where he knew monsters existed, and the thought that they could be hiding in the darkness before him was all too real of a threat.
Wilkes slung his camping bag from his shoulder and unclipped the top flap. He shoved his arm into the bag and rummaged around for something.
“It looks like all the power went out here too,” Xander said, staring at the threatening darkness. “Emergency power failed too, from the looks of it.”
“Give me a moment,” Wilkes said. “I’ve got a torch in here somewhere.”
Sean furrowed his brow. “Like a stick and fire?”
The Leftenant pulled a flashlight from the bag and turned it on, shining the bright light in Sean’s eyes. “No, not quite.”
Sean shook his head and tried to blink away the bright blue spots dancing in his vision. “I feel like we’re having the same conversation but speaking completely different languages.”
“Don’t worry, Sean,” Jessica chided. “I took some English in college. I should be able to translate for you.”
The Brit laughed quietly as he started repacking his bag. Sean stepped beside him and looked into the bag, curious about what the officer had retrieved from the store.
Sitting on top of his bag was a shimmering silver, foil blanket.
“What’s that?” he asked.
Wilkes paused and looked at the object. “It’s a flame retardant blanket. You’re supposed to crawl under it if you’re caught in a forest fire.”
Sean smiled. “Are you planning on getting caught in a lot of forest fires in the middle of London?”
Wilkes smiled right back. “With the craziness that you blokes have shown me, I’m planning for bloody well everything now, aren’t I?”
The flashlight forced the darkness to retreat and revealed a frozen escalator leading deeper into the subway system. Wilkes stepped to the edge of the stairwell and shined his light to the tunnel below.
“See anything?” Xander asked.
Wilkes shook his head. “No, but that doesn’t mean they’re not down there.”
He handed Xander the flashlight and shouldered his rifle. “Stay right behind me and keep the light straight ahead.”
The group went down the stairs cautiously, Xander sweeping the platform ahead with the light as more of it was revealed during their descent. By the time they reached the bottom of the escalator, the glow of the flashlight filled the tunnel.
It quickly branched off with colored markings on the walls. Xander reached up and touched the gray line marking on its surface. Ahead, he could see the red line pointing in the opposite direction.
“Which way?” Xander asked.
Wilkes scratched his chin. A salt and pepper beard had started growing in the couple days since they’d met, making the man look far older than he had originally.
“We take the red line. We can follow it down to the black, which will take us under the Thames and close to the flat.”
Xander pulled out the tube map and searched for the red line. The map was helpful but was still a maze of multicolored subway lines. He remembered riding the subway once during a trip to Washington DC and recalled it being far less complex. His eyes finally fell on the red line, and he traced it to its intersection with the black and down a couple stops until it crossed the Thames.
“London Bridge?” he asked.
Wilkes nodded, pointing at the tube station just across the river. “Our flat is walking distance from there.”
Xander looked up sadly toward Jessica. He knew how much she had wanted to see the sights of London and had to assume this wasn’t the way she wanted to visit the famous London Bridge.
“Come on,” Wilkes said as he started walking toward the red line tunnel. “No time to dally.”
The red line tunnel opened onto the platform. Wilkes took the flashlight back from Xander and shone it on the wall. He read the stops and quickly figured out which way they needed to go. The Brit walked to the edge of the platform and glanced down, scanning the rails below with both his flashlight and his rifle. Seeing nothing, he sat down on the edge and jumped nimbly down onto the center of the rails.
Xander helped lower Jessica down before rolling over on his belly and sliding down to join the others. Sean slid down beside him and landed surprisingly lithely. The heavyset man scanned the area with a nervous glint in his eye.
“What’s bothering you?” Wilkes asked.
“Isn’t there like a third rail or something that electrocutes you if you touch it?”
Wilkes took his rifle and banged the butt of it against a thicker rail set to the side. Sean flinched, both at the anticipation of the man’s electrocution and at the reverberating noise it made. When Wilkes wasn’t electrocuted, Sean relaxed.
“No power equals no electricity,” the officer explained. “You’re in the clear. Now, if there are no other blaring concerns that we need to address, we’ve got a couple hours’ walk ahead of us.”
The flashlight did a good job of illuminating the curved tunnel. Its wide light painted the walls and ceiling in its yellow glow, lighting the way ahead. Xander, Sean, and Jessica—who followed behind Wilkes and his flashlight—spent most of their time looking down to ensure they didn’t trip over one of the jutting support beams.
Their walk through the red line tunnel was slightly unnerving to Xander. Despite seeing the destruction of the city above them, the fact that he was facing the potential end of the civilized world had always seemed somewhat surreal, as though it was happening to someone else. It almost felt like he was watching the story unfold from the other side of a movie screen. Walking through the abandoned tunnel, however, made the destruction around him just a little too real. He almost expected a Morlock tribe to jump out of the shadows at any moment.
It wasn’t any less stressful when they came across tube stops every few hundred feet. Each platform required Wilkes to reconnoiter the area, ensuring Fire Warriors hadn’t made a home in the Underground station. He went so far as to check the upstairs in each, clearing aside any chance of an ambush. Once the way ahead was clear, the four would have to walk past the platform, crouching low as they walked in case someone mystically appeared between Wilkes’ sweeps of the area. Though it was only six stops to where they would catch the black line, it was hours before they were past the first four.
Wilkes dropped back once they were past the Chancery Lane station and walked beside Xander. The officer stretched his arms out wide, stretching the stiff muscles in his back. As he settled, he looked over to the Wind Warrior as the flashlight beam bounced in rhythm with their steps.
“I’ve given you the benefit of the doubt,” Wilkes said. “I’ve trusted you, but you still haven’t told me what’s going on.”
“In London?” Xander asked, knowing that wasn’t what Wilkes meant.
“With you.”
Xander shook his head. “You’d think I’m crazy if I told you.”
Wilkes patted Xander firmly, but affectionately on the back. “Yank, I’ve been fighting strange men who make flames magically appear in their hands. I fought a man with burning wings. I think I’ve got a pretty good grasp on the strange and inexplicable.”
Xander smiled weakly. “All right. You know how there are four elements: wind, water, earth, and fire? Well, a long time ago, those four elements split up the responsibility among them for shaping and nurturing humanity.”
“And you’re one of these elements?”
“No,” Xander said. “Yes. It’s complicated.”
“Well, thanks for clearing that up.”
Xander sighed. “I was one of the Wind Warriors, but now I’m the last of my kind.”
“And those blokes outside are Fire Warriors. I picked up that much. These Fire Warriors want to destroy the world then?”
“Kind of.”
“Nothing’s really clear with you, is it?”
Xander chuckled. “The Fire Caste is supposed to destroy humanity so that the planet can be reborn. It’s a cycle that we’re trying to stop.”
Wilkes stared at him as Xander concluded his story.
“I told you it was crazy,” Xander said.
Wilkes pointed to Sean and Jessica behind them. “Actually, crazy is those two for volunteering to step in the middle of this pile of crap. What you just told me makes more sense than anything else I’ve seen or heard lately.”
“What about you? Want to tell me about your family?”
Wilkes smile faltered for a second and a distant look filled his eyes. “Her name is Tamara. We met while attending university together. We fell in love and, once I realized she was far smarter than I was, I never let her go. We got married shortly after we graduated and found out we were pregnant, perhaps not quite in that order.”
Xander smiled, and Wilkes’ smile quickly returned at the happy memory.
“Brandon was born just after we moved to London and just after I received my commission in the army. Tamara got a great job, which is why we bought the flat. I was stationed in London for some time before being assigned to the Royal Gurkha Rifles out of Kent. That’s the abridged story of my life.”
“We’re going to save them both,” Xander said, feeling it was the right response.
“You bet your arse, we are.”
Wilkes smiled and patted him hard on the back before resuming his spot in the front of the group. Xander smiled at the odd Brit. He couldn’t say he completely understood the man, but he certainly appreciated having him around.
He heard Sean yawn behind him and reflexively he felt himself yawn as well. Though they knew they’d be moving by night to get from Selfridges to the Underground station, they all had trouble sleeping during the day. The stress of knowing that Fire Warriors were nearby made him jerk awake at any sound, whether it was real or imagined. He had finally given up trying to sleep and instead sat up with his friends, playing board games they salvaged from the children’s toy department.
Now his lack of sleep was catching up to him. The gloom and silence of the tube tunnel was both mildly claustrophobic and soothing. The air was cool, but not cold, and he could easily imagine himself curling up against the near wall and sleeping for a few hours.
Daydreaming as he was, Xander almost didn’t notice Wilkes stop as they came around a corner in the tunnel. He followed the beam of light as it spilled over a stopped train car. Though they knew the power had been shut off in the subway system, Xander hadn’t really put much thought into the subway cars themselves and what had happened to them.
“Stay here,” Wilkes whispered. “I’ll go check it out and come get you if it’s all clear.”
Wilkes handed Xander the flashlight, though Xander knew the futility of the officer moving ahead without it. They’d already pointed the light at the back of the train car, which had previously been sitting in complete darkness. If anyone was on board, they certainly already knew they were coming.
The Brit moved up to the back of the car with his rifle raised. He climbed up the back ladder until he could see into the narrow window on the rear car. As quickly as he had jumped up onto the back of the car, Wilkes climbed down and walked casually back to the group.
“It’s clear,” he said. “The whole thing’s empty as far as I can tell. I’ll do a better scan once we get closer.”
“Do you think it’s somewhere we can rest for a while?” Jessica asked. She reached down and rubbed the heel of her newly acquired boots. “I didn’t exactly get a chance to break these things in, and my feet are aching.”
Wilkes frowned. “We need to get to the London Bridge station.”
“You’re right,” Xander said, “but so is she. I’m sorry, Wilkes, but we’re exhausted. None of us slept well and carrying around all this tension is mind numbing. If you want us to be at our best when we go topside again, we’re going to need to get some rest. All of us, you included.”
Wilkes’ frown deepened, but he didn’t argue. “We can camp out in the train car for a few hours, and then we’ll get going again.”
He led the group to the rear of the car. The train filled most of the width of the tunnel, leaving very little space on either side. The left, however, had a narrow ledge that curved along with the wall. Wilkes handed Xander his rifle before climbing up on it and retrieving the weapon again. He offered his hand, pulling the others up behind him.
They had to turn sideways to slide past the curving cars of the subway. Though Xander thought for certain they’d take their break in the rearmost car, Wilkes led them nearly halfway down the length of the train before stopping. Xander kept the light shining through the windows, constantly expecting to see a Fire Warrior staring back at him. Or even worse, a dead body. The whole situation screamed “horror movie”.
Wilkes handed Xander his rifle again and slipped his fingers into the rubber separating the two sliding doors on the side of the subway car. Despite not having very good leverage from their narrow ledge, he easily pried the doors apart.
“Turn off the light,” the officer said as he stepped into the car. “We won’t need them, and we don’t want to draw any unwanted attention while we’re stopped.”
It was dark inside, but the meager batteries on board the subway car illuminated the red exit lights. It painted the interior of the car in an eerie glow, like the car itself was a gateway to something far more sinister. Even so, the group found seats along the empty subway car and sat down heavily, glad to be off their feet.
Xander lay down across a couple of seats, letting his feet dangle into the aisle. Jessica did the same, except she chose a handicapped row of sideways facing seats that offered her more space to stretch out. Sean, however, stood near the entrance and rubbed his belly thoughtfully.
“You got anything to eat in that giant duffel bag of yours?” Sean asked.
Wilkes dropped the bag on the floor and unclipped the top. “I do, but I promise you’re not going to like it.”
Sean looked down at his protruding belly before looking back at the Brit. “Clearly, you don’t understand Americans very well. We’re fat kids at heart and in practice. And right now, this fat kid’s stomach is about to eat his practically non-existent butt. So in this case, beggars can’t be choosers and I’ll take whatever you have to offer.”
Wilkes smiled before pulling out some bags of vacuum-sealed foods. He tossed Sean a bag of beef jerky and another larger bag that had a forest scene printed on the front.
“What is this?”
“Meals ready to eat,” Wilkes explained. “We use them in the military, but they sell them commercially to hunters and the like.”
Sean tried to read the label in the dim light. “Does this say ‘Beef Enchilada’?”
“Yeah, Yank, but I’m pretty sure you’re about to be sorely disappointed.”
Sean laughed and sat down on a seat. He pulled open the top of the bag and began removing smaller and smaller bags of pre-packaged foods. “I don’t know how long ago it was that you went to college, but you’ve clearly forgotten what it means to be a starving college student. I’ve been surviving on a staple of microwave mac and cheese, ten-cent microwave burritos, and ramen noodles. I wash all that down with the cheapest generic soda I can afford, which usually tastes like carbonated urine. This is a freaking banquet, all in my honor.”
Wilkes laughed and pulled out a meal of his own. Xander glanced back and forth between the pair, glad to see that the situation hadn’t completely dulled Sean’s senses of humor. Even Wilkes, who had seemed so straight-laced when they first met, really seemed to be relaxing around them.
Xander wished he could relax and join in the fun, but his thoughts kept drifting back to all his responsibilities. He had promised the Water Elemental that he would clear London of the Fire Caste, which had seemed far easier to do when he was sitting in her sunken city at the bottom of the Atlantic. Standing on the streets of London, facing even a pair of Fire Warriors seemed daunting. Wilkes had killed five, maybe six of them total. There were still thousands more that needed to be dealt with.
On top of that, he still had an ache in his chest every time he thought of Sammy and what she could be going through. Every moment they delayed meant she could be one step closer to becoming the host to the Fire Elemental. Though it had been his idea to stop here and rest—and he knew that they needed it—he almost wanted to push on and get their mission over.
“Penny for your thoughts?” Jessica asked.
Xander looked up and saw her hanging over the side of his chair, her chin resting on her crossed arms. He hadn’t even heard her stand up, much less approach him.
“It’s nothing,” he said.
“Of course it’s something,” she said. “Tell me about it.”
Xander sat up and looked at the others, who had turned their attention toward them. Wilkes was no longer smiling and looked much like the stern British officer they’d encountered when they first flew into the city.
He sighed. “All these new powers and responsibilities just keep piling on top of me. I almost feel like I’m drowning in it, if you know what I mean. I just think I might have bitten off more than I can chew, so much so that I barely even feel like myself anymore.” Xander formed a ball with his hands. “I feel like I’m an onion. The real me is still there in the core, but I’m covered with all this new responsibility.”
Jessica slowly shook her head.
Xander furrowed his brow. “What?”
“You’re doing your pity party crap again. We understand; you’ve drawn the short straw for a life. No one’s going to argue that you’ve had to make a lot of sacrifices. You’ve lost more than Sean or me or— ” She pointed at Wilkes but immediately dropped her hand. “Well, more than Sean or I could imagine. But you have to get over it.”
“Just get over it,” Xander said with a derisive laugh. “Just like that.”
Jessica reached over the seat and put her hand over his. “No, not just like that. I don’t expect you to forget about all the pain, but I would appreciate it if you learned to channel it into something more productive than just feeling sorry for yourself. Let it be the fire that drives you forward.”
“Anything else?” he asked.
Sean got up from his seat and nodded his head as he approached.
“And, dude, you suck at analogies. You’re not an onion. An onion implies you peel back your gruff exterior and you find that heart of gold—that sensitive man—underneath. That’s the onion analogy. You’d know that if you ever watched Shrek.”
“It was a stupid movie,” Xander replied. Though he tried to be harsh about it, he knew there was a punch line brewing and felt a lighthearted humor creeping into his gruff exterior.
“You’re stupid,” Sean retorted.
“But?”
“No ‘buts’. You’re stupid.”
Xander frowned. “I meant about the onion.”
“Oh yeah. But you’re not an onion. You’re a platypus. All the weird elemental powers you have are the duckbill on your furry body. They’re the beaver tail to go with your webbed feet. They’re the toxic barb behind your back leg. Yeah, you’re just a whole collection of crazy that’s stuck together into, well, whatever you are now.”
Sean put his hands on his hips. “You’re a platypus.”
Xander’s face contorted into an odd combination of frown and suppressed laugh. “Why do I even bother talking to you?”
“Because the alternative is talking to Officer Grumpypants,” he said, pointing his thumb at Wilkes.
The pre-packaged brick of pound cake struck Sean in the back of the head. He stumbled forward, and Xander barely managed to catch him before he fell on top of him.
“Get some sleep, you wankers,” Wilkes said with a smile. “We’ll get started again in a couple of hours.
Jessica was already lying down again before Sean retrieved the pound cake package from the floor. With an uncaring shrug, he tore open the package and stuffed a handful of it into his mouth.
Xander laid his head back and closed his eyes, laughing to himself about being compared to a platypus. He drifted off to sleep pretty quickly, without the overwhelming feeling of stress pressing down on top of him.
The leather of the makeshift throne tugged at the Fire Elemental’s naked legs. It shrugged aside the minor inconvenience while its eyes never left the mirror across the room.
Sammy could feel its eyes upon her but refused to glance toward it. The monster in her skin watched her mockingly, knowing she had been unable to save the human it had sacrificed. She felt queasy at the thought of the man falling to his death, and she felt the urge to vomit when she thought about Xander being in trouble. General Abraxas wielded the Elemental’s power. He was dangerous enough without the added strength. The Xander she knew wouldn’t stand a chance against the General. Sammy knew that Xander had found two of the other Elementals. She only hoped their combined might was enough to defeat Abraxas.
The door opened on the far side of the room and both Sammy and the Elemental turned toward the disruption. General Kobal entered the room and walked to the foot of the recliner. He bowed, concealing the faint blush at his master’s unfettered nudity.
“You’re here sooner than I would have expected,” the Elemental said. It brushed a loose strand of blond hair irritatingly from its face.
Kobal stood straight. Sammy could see the General from two sides, one from the perspective of the mirror, and one through the eyes of the Elemental. The General’s armor was dark, concealing much of the stain across it. Even darkened, Sammy could see faint red blood dripping from the oiled hinges of the shoulder plates.
“The conquest went quicker than expected, Master. Much of the city has already fallen before our Fire Warriors.”
The man flexed his broad shoulders with pride. Sammy could immediately sense the Elemental’s skepticism, however. It arched a plucked eyebrow and laced its fingers together in front of its face.
“If only much of the city has fallen and not all of it, then you shouldn’t be here. You should be leading your warriors as you finish claiming this city for me. Why are you here, General Kobal?”
Kobal’s confidence faltered, and his shoulders sagged slightly. “We’ve encountered pockets of resistance with some of the neighborhoods. They’ve proven difficult to break.”
The Elemental unlaced its fingers and gripped the padded armrests of the recliner. “And you are unable to handle this problem by yourself? You’ve come here because you need me to do your job for you?”
His abilities called into question, Kobal raised his square chin defiantly. “I came only to keep you informed, Master. My Fire Warriors will destroy any resistance these humans offer. I’ll have their heads decorating the city by morning.”
The Fire Elemental sighed in irritation and stood. “You’ll do no such thing. I won’t wait until morning to rid this city of its human population. I’ll take care of this problem myself.”
“But Master,” Kobal protested. “You can’t take away this privilege from me.”
“I can do whatever I want, General.” The Elemental narrowed its eyes dangerously, as a warning to the insolent man. “While I’m gone, you will stay here in my throne room.”
It looked around the room, and its eyes settled on the mirror. Sammy stared back at the creature angrily, though she knew it was only a façade. Truthfully, she was frightened again. If the Elemental wanted to wipe out the pockets of human resistance, there was little she could do to stop it. And as little as a chance as she had at stopping the Elemental, the humans had no chance at all. It wasn’t joking when it said they’d be dead by morning.
“And cover that mirror while I’m gone,” the Elemental added. “I’m tired of looking at my host. I don’t want to see it when I get back.”
Sammy caught the double entendre of its comment. It wasn’t just its reflection it tired of. It was tired of seeing its host still alive. No matter what the Elemental tried, Sammy did not intend to abdicate her body to that monster.
General Kobal unhooked his flowing cloak and carried it toward the mirror. The Elemental turned toward the window and took a step backward as it prepared to run. The well-muscled feminine body sprinted across the floor. It passed through the shattered window, oblivious to the broken glass over which it trotted. Reaching the metal half railing on the end of the balcony, the Elemental leapt smoothly over its edge. It plummeted toward the ground below, following the trajectory of the poor human it had so recently tossed through the same window. Instead of hitting the ground, the skin of the woman split as bright red scales burst from its body. Its neck elongated as a snout formed at the end of its face. It grew in massive scale as it shed its human form. With a spread of its giant, leathery wings, the dragon arched its back and quickly leveled off. It sped down the street before arching again and climbing high into the sky.
Within the penthouse, General Kobal affixed the cloak over the mirror. Sammy’s vision was immediately replaced with the red fabric, leaving the room beyond barely visible through its stretched threads.
Undeterred, Sammy closed her eyes and felt her consciousness pass to the dragon.
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” she said as she looked out through the draconic eyes.
The world looked stranger through the Elemental’s vision. It was cast in shades of blue and red as it scanned the city for heat signatures. The fires of its warriors burned brilliant white against the cool surroundings. Sammy wasn’t sure how the Elemental managed depth perception in such a strange vision, but it seemed unfazed by the shift. She could actually feel the sigh of contentment as the Fire Elemental settled back into its natural form.
“If it were that easy, I would have destroyed you long before now,” it said. “I’m not trying to destroy you anymore.”
Sammy didn’t think for a second the Elemental was suddenly being altruistic. “It’s about time you gave up.”
The Elemental’s laughter was a rumble, like the warning before a volcano’s eruption. “I’m not giving up. I’m just smart enough to know that until I figure out why you survived the host process, I can’t destroy your consciousness.”
“Then you’re stuck with me, because I’m not giving up either. I’m going to do everything I can to thwart your attacks on the world.”
“I’m not stuck with you; you’re stuck with me. You don’t have control of this body, which means you’re helpless to watch as I destroy everything you hold dear. So do your worst. Believe me when I tell you that I will be doing the same. In fact, I think I’ll start doing my worst right now.”
The sound of gunfire reached their shared hearing. The dragon shifted its gaze, and Sammy saw a maddening flicker of white and red heat as a battle ensued beneath them. Sammy could see the flares as jets of flames struck the exterior of a long building. From within it, quick muzzle flashes sparked from the open windows. Though it was only a small victory, Sammy cheered quietly when she saw a Fire Warrior collapse to the road with a gunshot wound.
Her victory was short-lived. She felt the furnace boiling within the dragon’s chest and could feel the wash of hatred roll through the Elemental. As much as she wanted to be within the Elemental’s head so that she could stop it, they shared emotions as well as sight. The hatred felt like it seeped into Sammy’s mind as well and, for the briefest moment, she yearned for the destruction of the humans. She recoiled in horror at the thought and screamed out in hatred, not at the humans but at the Elemental. If it heard her cries, it didn’t show any reaction.
The dragon tipped its wings and dove toward the building. Its long shadow fell over the windows facing the street, and the gunfire halted. Sammy heard a few shots ring out seconds later as they aimed at the monster flying above them. Though she knew her life was tied to that of the Elemental, Sammy almost wished one of the bullets would find its mark and kill them both. Her disappointment grew when the bullets reflected harmlessly off the thick scales of its skin.
The dragon inhaled, and Sammy tried to force its mouth shut in a panic. Her head ached from the exertion and, had she been in control of the body, she probably would have vomited from the effort. Instead, she felt her strength leaching away until she mentally collapsed in exhaustion. She was helpless to do anything more than watch through the dragon’s eyes as it exhaled.
A jet of flames washed over the building, flowing into the open windows. The humans hiding within disappeared, engulfed in decimating fire. The incredible heat split the plaster on the walls and melted the metal beams supporting the structure. As the flames swirled within the building, the walls swelled outward. Without warning, they exploded outward as the flames sought escape. Debris flew from the shattered walls, crushing the cars and the unsuspecting Fire Warriors alike. A plume of dust and smoke intermixed as it spread skyward.
Turning away without a second thought, the Fire Elemental sought out the next building in which the humans hid.
Wilkes climbed up onto the platform at the London Bridge station and peered up the stairwell leading to the street above. When everything appeared clear, he motioned for the others to follow. Unlike the Bond Street Station, the London Bridge station was an open maw leading out onto the wide street. The concrete was scorched with long, black marks that spread up the walls and even coated the ceiling.
A knot of nervousness grew in Xander’s stomach. He knew the area near the Thames had suffered far worse than the parts of the city further away, but he was unprepared for seeing the destruction up close.
They emerged onto the broad road. It was still nighttime, but Xander could already tell that the light of dawn was cresting somewhere nearby, gently illuminating the thick smoke cloud above them.
“How far do we have to go?” Xander asked as he looked around the corner.
Wilkes looked around the corner and stared down the road. “About five blocks all together. We live closer to the Tower Bridge than London Bridge. It won’t take us long, so long as we don’t run into trouble.”
“That’s asking a lot,” Sean said.
Wilkes led them around the corner. The road was quiet, oddly so. Though Oxford Street was relatively quiet too, it still had patrols of Fire Warriors roaming randomly through the area. There was a chance, Xander knew, that the area had been abandoned after the Fire Warriors destroyed the neighborhood. Most of the buildings around them were covered with burn marks, either from Fire Warrior attacks or from the flames that gutted most of the store’s interiors.
They walked the first block cautiously, anticipating an ambush. Despite their apprehension, they saw no signs of Fire Warriors. Xander let out a breath he’d been holding since they emerged on the street. For the first time since arriving in London, it seemed that they might go more than a few blocks without being attacked.
As they passed the second block, Xander felt a tightness in his gut—a telltale sign that Fire Warriors were using their powers nearby. He placed a warning hand on Wilkes’ shoulder, pulling the Brit back into the shadow of a building nearby.
“Our good fortune ran out?” Wilkes asked quietly. “You see something?”
Xander shook his head as another uncomfortable jab pierced his side. “I can sense when they’re near.”
“Of course you can. How many?” Wilkes asked. “Can you tell?”
“More than we want to deal with, if I had to guess.”
Wilkes frowned and looked around the corner, though he couldn’t see anything through the din of smoke.
“Come on,” he said. “We’ll take a roundabout way to the flat.”
The Brit rushed across the road and entered a side street between two tall buildings. The road ended abruptly at the entrance of a hospital. The look of the abandoned hospital struck Xander as more depressing than anything else they’d seen in the city. Cars were parked haphazardly in front of the emergency room entrance. And ambulance was parked canted there as well, with its back open and a forgotten gurney setting behind its back bumper. Xander wanted to look longer, but the pain in his stomach intensified.
Turning away from the hospital, they ran through a labyrinth of alleys between the hospital and a once glass-lined office building before emerging on another street that ran parallel to the Thames. The further they ran, the less Xander felt the bite in his abdomen.
By the time they reached a pier jutting out over the Thames, he couldn’t feel the Fire Warriors any more.
“We can stop,” Xander said breathlessly. He stopped and rested his hands on his knees.
“That’s good,” Sean said. “I’m pretty smoked all—”
He paused as he saw the pillar of flames licking the sky above. The others turned and stared at the destruction across the river. The gray stonework of the keep was charred black from the flames that billowed from the building’s interior. The London landmark smoldered as the tower belched fire and sparks flew high into the night’s sky.
“That’s the Tower of London, isn’t it?” Jessica said sadly.
“And the Tower Bridge,” Wilkes said, pointing toward the tall suspension bridge. The towers on either end of the bridge were consumed with flames, and the fire rolled down the length of the bridge’s core. Even from a distance, the group could hear the groaning of the metal supports as they were sheathed in the blaze.
“We need to go,” Xander said. He knew the longer they stood and watched the destruction, the less likely they’d be to ever leave.
Wilkes and Sean nodded and turned away, following Xander back toward the road. Jessica stood for a moment longer and covered her mouth with her hand. Her eyes glistened as she watched the landmarks burn. Sean came back for her and wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her gently after them.
They cut east along the edge of the river—trying their best not to look at the tower and bridge—until they found another road that led back toward the flat. Xander rubbed his belly, drawing a concerned look from Wilkes, who assumed Xander’s movements meant he sensed more of the Fire Warriors nearby. Xander shook his head and let his arm drop to his side.
“I don’t sense anything,” Xander whispered.
As they reached the stonework buildings at the next intersection, the group noticed all the broken and charred windows. It seemed that every window was blackened and the stonework marred with smoke from where the buildings burned uninhibited. As a testament to the power of the Fire Caste, they passed a fire truck parked abandoned on the side of the street. The single fire truck hadn’t been nearly enough to stave off the flames that spread eagerly from building to building.
They turned onto Tooley Street, and Wilkes pointed excitedly a block ahead, where—barely visible in the early glow of morning—a side street angled off to the right.
“Our flat is down that road,” he said. “Just a couple more blocks until we’re there.”
The group felt invigorated, knowing they were nearly there. As Xander glanced back toward Sean and Jessica, a sharp stab of pain rolled through his core. He clutched his gut as the pain intensified.
Before he could say anything, a blast of fire exploded on the ground in front of them. Xander threw up his arms defensively and glanced upward, spotting the Fire Warrior on the rooftop of the building nearby. His hands glowed brightly as he summoned more flames.
“On the rooftop,” Xander warned.
Wilkes crouched behind a car and raised his rifle, using the hood of the car to steady his aim. He pulled the trigger and the Fire Warrior disappeared. Xander couldn’t tell if Wilkes hit him or not, but it was effective.
As he tried to celebrate their minor victory, two more balls of flame struck the car behind where Wilkes was hiding. The flames washed over the car, flickering just above the Brit’s head.
Looking down the road, Xander could see spots of flames emerging from the darkness like glowing, demonic eyes. The flames at street level were joined by more on the nearby rooftops.
“It’s an ambush!” Xander yelled. “Go back the way we came.”
He turned away from the advancing Fire Warriors only to see more flames emerging from the other direction. The Fire Warriors had waited until they were back on the main street before springing their trap. Now, it seemed like they were stuck.
Flames seemed to come from all directions at once. Instinctively, Xander threw up his hands and an invisible wall of air appeared. The flames shattered on the wall, leaving the neighborhood bathed in fire, but the four people in its core unharmed.
Wilkes stood up behind his car and began firing indiscriminately into the approaching Fire Warriors in one direction. Xander heard the officer’s rifle click as he quickly emptied an entire magazine. The man deftly dropped the empty magazine onto the asphalt before replacing it with a full one from his vest.
Xander immediately regretted using his powers. It hadn’t been his intent to summon the shield. He had been far more of a conduit for the power within him than a willing participant. Despite the fact that these warriors knew where they were located, using his power would alert dozens, if not hundreds more, on this side of the river.
Having already used his powers, however, it hardly made sense to hold back any more. He glanced over to Sean and Jessica, while the sound of gunfire intermixed with the sounds of exploding fireballs striking his defensive wind wall.
“Get out of here, you two,” he said to his friends. “There’s nothing you can do here. We’ll cover you guys.”
Jessica turned, but Sean shook his head. In a twist of fates, it was Jessica who grabbed Sean’s arm, pulling him back onto the side street from which they’d emerged. Xander lowered the wind wall in that direction, allowing his friends to escape his enormous bubble.
Satisfied that his friends were out of harm’s way, Xander turned his attention back to the Fire Warriors who were congregating around the edge of his protective barrier. Though they couldn’t get to Xander and Wilkes directly, the warriors skirted the edge of the barrier and began filtering down the side street down which Sean and Jessica were running. He saw one of the Fire Warriors glance toward his two friends and flames engulfed the man’s arms.
Fearing for his friends, Xander shifted the current of the wind wall. Before the Fire Warrior could release his flames, he was lifted from his feet and tossed through a broken window, disappearing into the shattered interior of the store.
Only after he threw the warrior did he realize his mistake. Shifting the wind dropped the barrier long enough for the other Fire Caste to get closer. Flames now exploded around the two men.
“I’m already running low on ammo,” Wilkes yelled, his voice barely carrying over the din of battle.
Xander lifted another pair of Fire Warriors, tossing them high into the air. They both crashed down on rooftops nearby and didn’t reappear. Glancing around, he saw a few warriors sprawled on the ground unmoving, but far too many were still advancing. His technique of attacking one or two at a time wouldn’t be good enough to save them from this ambush.
Closing his eyes, he summoned a much smaller protective barrier just around the two of them as he concentrated. Aside from the heat that washed over them both, he barely noticed the unrelenting Fire Warrior assault going on just inches from his protected face. Instead, his mind reached out to the clean air high above the smoke cover over London. There, in the clean air, dark clouds began to gather. The clouds crashed into one another as they swelled in size, forming the general shape of an anvil hanging in the morning air. Within the dark cloud, a single brilliant flash of lightning crashed.
General Abraxas raised his head at the sound of rolling thunder. His lips spread into a crooked smile that revealed deadly, jagged teeth. The flaming wings on his back spread as he leapt from the top of the building and soared over the Thames.
Sean coughed roughly as he wiped soot from the side of his pudgy cheeks. He and Jessica stood hand in hand, staring at the end of the road from where they just fled. The intersection was consumed in flames, swirling in an angry pillar around where Xander and Wilkes were standing.
“Do you think they’re okay?” Jessica asked, squeezing Sean’s hand.
“He’s the freaking Wind Elemental,” Sean said. “If he’s not okay, there’s not much hope for the rest of us, is there?”
Instinctively, they knew they should run further. The Thames wasn’t far behind them and was probably the safest place they could go to survive the swarming Fire Warriors, but they couldn’t pull their eyes away from the onslaught at the intersection.
“We should go,” he said.
Jessica nodded but neither of them moved.
Thunder rumbled in the sky, rolling from clouds they couldn’t see through the smoky cover over the city. Rain began pouring around the blazing pillar surrounding Xander and Wilkes. It poured torrentially, but it was remarkably localized. Sean and Jessica could actually see the line on the road where the rain stopped and the dry air began. They looked to each other inquisitively and quickly looked back toward the battle.
They flinched as they saw a Fire Warrior emerge from a storefront between them and the inferno. The blond man had his back to them and he, like all the others, advanced on Xander.
“It’s raining just at the intersection, and the Fire Warriors are still going toward him,” Sean said. “That means Xander’s got to still be alive. Otherwise they wouldn’t bother, right?”
Jessica nodded again but didn’t speak.
A burly Fire Warrior emerged from an alleyway and turned toward the intersection. He started toward the battle before pausing and turning the other direction. His gaze fell on Sean and Jessica, and his brow furrowed in anger.
“He’s seen us,” Jessica said.
“In hindsight, we probably should have hid instead of standing in the road.”
“Run,” she said as she released his hand and hurried away from the running Fire Warrior.
Sean reached down and picked up his cricket bat before turning and running after her. It only took a couple strides before the stitch in his side returned. It had been coming more and more frequently the more often he’d been forced to run. Cardio had never been his strength but he had already determined that if he survived this apocalypse, he was going to put a lot more effort into his physical fitness.
“Move it, Sean,” Jessica yelled from nearly a block ahead. She paused next to the dilapidated fire truck and vigorously gestured for him to hurry. “He’s gaining on you.”
Sean looked over his shoulder and saw the massive Fire Warrior racing after him. The man was easily a foot taller than Sean was, with long strides with which he couldn’t hope to compete. At most, Sean figured he had another block before the big man caught him, if he even bothered. More than likely, he’d feel a scorching fireball hit him in the back.
Realizing the futility of the chase, Sean stopped and spun toward the warrior.
“Sean? What are you doing?” Jessica asked.
“I can’t outrun him, and I’m sure not going to get killed from behind while running away.”
Sean spun the cricket bat in his hand and sneered at the Fire Warrior. The bulky blond slowed his pace before sauntering to a stop twenty feet in front of him. Muscles swelled beneath the man’s leather armor as flames sheathed his hands to the wrist.
“Man,” Sean muttered, “this was a really stupid idea.”
He gripped his cricket bat tighter and ran through his options in his head. Running, fighting, pleading, or crying all ended with the same fatal result, as far as he could surmise. He swallowed hard and shook his head.
“All right,” he said louder so the Fire Warrior could hear him. “You want some? I’ll give you more than you can handle.”
The Fire Warrior smiled maliciously at him and took a dangerous step forward.
A jet of high-pressure water shot over Sean’s head and struck the Fire Warrior in the chest. The flames around his hands were extinguished as the man was driven to the ground. He sputtered as the geyser kept him pinned to the asphalt.
Sean turned and saw Jessica perched on the back of the fire truck, straddling the gap behind the cab. A water hose was mounted to the roof, and she angled it so that the blast struck the Fire Warrior in the face.
“It still has some water left in its tank,” she said giddily. She was clearly enjoying herself.
Sean smiled at the sorority girl. As much animosity as they shared when she and Xander were dating, he’d never have thought her as strong and tough as she turned out to be. Jessica noticed him smiling, and she pursed her lips. She held onto the hose with one hand while pointing impatiently toward the warrior with her other.
“He’s down,” she said. “Go hit him with the bat before he gets back up.”
Sean nodded excitedly. “Yeah. Sure. Right.”
He turned back to the man just as Jessica turned off the hose. The Fire Warrior coughed and ran his hand across his face, pushing his long hair out of his eyes.
Sean stepped forward, hefting the bat onto his shoulder. He didn’t see the Fire Warrior lying on the ground in front of him. Instead, he saw every jock and bully who ever gave him a hard time growing up. He saw an outlet for every bit of frustration he’d felt from long before the world started ending.
The warrior looked at him defiantly and started to climb to his knees. Sean rushed forward and swung the bat, connecting solidly with the man’s forehead. The wooden bat made a hollow thud as it connected, and the man’s eyes rolled back into his head as he pitched backward. He collapsed onto the ground, his arms and legs spread eagle as his eyes drifted closed.
Sean exhaled slowly and looked at the results of his release of frustration. “Well, that was probably unhealthy.”
Jessica jumped down from the truck and ran over to him, throwing her arms around his neck.
“That was amazing,” she said.
Without thinking, he slipped the bat behind her back and pulled her forward, pressing his lips against hers. She froze in surprise for a moment before her body relaxed into his.
When they finally parted again, Sean felt far more out of breath than he had after running from the Fire Warrior.
He looked over her shoulder to the fire truck. “You think it still has more water in it?”
Jessica saw the mischievous look in his eyes and smiled in return. “I’m sure there’s enough.”
“Then let’s go show these Fire Warriors that even normal humans can be really dangerous. I mean, aside from the ones who carry guns.”
Jessica punched him playfully in the arm and laughed. “Shut up, Sean, and get on the truck.”
Lightning slammed into the road around Xander and Wilkes, scattering the Fire Warriors. As they fled, more flashes of lightning crashed into the buildings around them. Stonework splintered from the brick edifices, showering the Fire Warriors as they tried to flee.
Xander could taste the heavy ozone in the air, and his hair stood on end as he summoned more and more lightning bolts. His eyes glowed with a blinding white brilliance as he spoke to the cloud, coaxing it into creating more of its deadly weapons.
The lightning pierced the smoke cover like glowing spears, leaving hallow gaps in their wake. The smoke rolled back into the wake, only to be pierced again as another bolt flashed through the darkened sky. A sheen of rain followed the lightning, pouring over the burning London street. It soaked through Xander’s hair, matting it to his head.
Thunder rumbled deafeningly through the street with each strike, rattling the few glass windows that still remained and jarring Xander and Wilkes’ teeth. As he concentrated, a sheet of lightning poured onto the street, driving the warriors even further away from the duo.
While Xander summoned the storm cloud above, Wilkes continued firing into the few Fire Warriors brave enough to stand their ground against nature’s onslaught. Struck by his precise gunshots, they collapsed to the ground, joining a dozen of their counterparts who already lay unmoving across the street and on the rooftops nearby.
Xander clenched his teeth as a wave of nausea washed over him. The strain of maintaining the cloud was taking its toll. The pressure was building in his temple with every strike he summoned. Despite his best efforts, he could feel the edges of the storm cloud above him dissipating. He tried to hold onto the evaporating storm cloud, but the strain was too much.
“We’re losing the lightning,” Wilkes said as he shot another Fire Warrior who risked advancing toward the pair.
“I can’t keep it up,” Xander said through gritted teeth. “It’s too much pressure.”
“I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but I think they’ve noticed we’re faltering.”
Xander noticed spots of flame reemerging further down the street as the Fire Warriors returned. He focused a few warning blasts of lightning toward them, but the strikes were weak and untargeted. The rain began to lighten as well, turning into a meager drizzle that faded further to a light misting.
“I really hope you had a plan B, Yank,” Wilkes said, though he hardly had to yell any longer without the constant rolling thunder. “I’m down to my last two magazines here.”
Xander swallowed hard as the rain petered off. The lightning trailed off as well as he lost control of the storm cloud. It faded into wisps that blew away in the wind. Only a gently rolling thunder high above the smoke cover remained as a reminder of his elemental assault.
He was exhausted, unsure if he even had the strength to summon a hurricane-strength hale, when the Fire Warriors attacked again.
“We’re going to have to make a run for it,” Xander said. “I can’t keep them back anymore.”
“Run where, exactly? They’ve got us surrounded.”
Xander turned in a slow circle and knew he was telling the truth. Spots of flames were emerging from all around them. They were blocks away but there wasn’t any side roads down which they could run that weren’t already covered by the incredibly angry Fire Caste.
“We’ll…” Xander began before shaking his head. “I don’t know, Wilkes. I’m sorry.”
Wilkes raised his rifle and shot another Fire Warrior. “So am I. Might as well take as many of them with us as we can, right?”
A howling siren split the air, startling both men. Xander dropped into a protective crouch as he looked around cautiously.
Red lights flashed from down the road, spinning lights that matched the intensity of its billowing siren. The fire truck sped past the line of Fire Warriors blocking the way. They dove for cover as the truck flashed past, its tires squealing as it slid to a stop in front of Xander and Wilkes.
“Sean?” he asked.
His friend sat just behind the cab of the truck, where the end of a fire hose sat mounted to the roof. Glancing through the window, Jessica sat in the driver’s seat wearing a broad smile.
“Going our way?” she asked.
“What are you two doing?”
“Saving your butt,” Jessica said. She glanced through the windshield and pointed at a Fire Warrior emerging from the smoke. “Sean, eleven o’clock.”
“What happens at eleven?”
Jessica shook her head and rolled her eyes. “No. There’s a Fire Warrior just to the left of straight ahead. Like a clock. Never mind, just spray him.”
Sean spun the mounted water cannon toward the leather-clad woman and pulled the nozzle. A stream of water shot from the end of the hose, striking her in the chest and knocking her from her feet. Xander couldn’t suppress a laugh at the sight.
“How did you luck out with the hose?” Xander asked. “I figured Jessica would want that job.”
Sean flushed, and Jessica leaned out the window. “Mister tough guy apparently can’t drive a stick.”
“We’re heading east, right?” Sean asked, pointing in the direction of Wilkes’ flat and casually changing the subject. When the Brit nodded, he patted the area beside him behind the cab. “Then mount up.”
Xander climbed onto the back of the truck and slid forward on the top ladder until he was crouched just behind Sean and the water cannon. The truck started with a lurch as Jessica threw it into gear and let out the clutch. It rolled forward with a jerk, and Sean began scanning the road with the hose.
Xander leaned forward until he knew Sean and Wilkes could hear him. “You know this isn’t going to last long, right? They’re going to tear us apart once they figure out what we’re up to.”
“Probably,” Sean said, “but we’ll make a little headway before they do. Every block we can drive is one block we won’t have to walk.”
“Here they come,” Jessica yelled through the back window.
The Fire Warriors emerged from the street ahead, scowling at the charging fire truck. Flames appeared in their hands as they formed a line along the street.
“Let them have it,” Wilkes said, patting Sean on the back.
Sean cranked the handle back and the hose sprayed the line of Fire Warriors. Like dominos, they fell one after another as he shifted the cannon. The Fire Warriors ran for cover after they overcame their surprise and, while the fire truck continued charging ahead down the road, flames started striking the road around them.
“Watch left,” Xander warned as they passed a Fire Warrior.
The warrior threw a fireball into the side of the truck, and the metal smoldered from the blast. A stream of flames struck the front windshield and rolled up and over the top of the cab. When the flames met the pressurized jet of water, the air was filled with a hiss of steam.
“Are you okay in there, Jessie?” Sean asked as he saw where the flames had blackened the front of the cab.
“I’m okay, but I can’t see very well anymore. Most of the windshield is covered with soot.”
The element of surprise quickly disappeared. As they drove past the initial line of Fire Warriors, they reemerged behind the truck and more and more balls of flame struck the speeding vehicle.
A loud pop warned the group as a flame ruined one of the back tires. The fire truck jerked sharply to the left as Jessica lost control of one of the rear tires. The truck slammed into the row of ruined parked cars. The sound of metal scraping together was ear piercing, and sparks flew over the concrete sidewalk.
“There’s our turn,” Wilkes said excitedly, pointing to a road that angled off from Tooley Street.
The truck didn’t begin angling toward the side road, though they were speeding closer to their turn by the second.
“Jessica,” Xander said. “We need to turn.”
“I’m trying,” she retorted. “The truck’s not exactly cooperating anymore. I can’t get it to turn right with the ruined back tire.”
Xander looked over his shoulder and saw a large gouge torn out of the asphalt from where they were driving on the rim of the blown tire.
“I got more bad news,” Sean said. He pulled back and forth on the nozzle, and the stream of water struggled to spray past the front of the cab. “We didn’t think this thing had a lot of water left if they were using it to fight fires, but we kind of hoped it would last more than a couple of city blocks.”
The truck struck another parked car and rolled slowly past their turn. Xander slapped his hand on top of the cab to get Jessica’s attention.
“Just stop,” he said. “We’ll have to run from here.”
The fire truck pulled to the left again as Jessica applied the brake, and the vehicle came to rest against the burnt husk of a car. They jumped out quickly, landing in the inch of water that pooled on either edge of the road from both the rain and fire hose. It splashed as they landed and kicked up behind them as they ran away from the truck.
Whether the Fire Warriors knew the truck was abandoned or not was unclear, but they peppered the vehicle with bursts of fire until the entire red engine was consumed with flames.
Xander looked to the Brit for guidance as they looked for somewhere to run. He pointed inquisitively toward the side road, which was just past where they came to a stop.
Wilkes shook his head. “We’d never make it back past the Fire Warriors and, even if we did, without the truck we’d never shake them before we got to the flat. We need to lose them first.”
Wilkes looked at the oddly structured building beside them. The dark glass, triangular building was framed in an odd, metal cage. Though some of the windows had been smashed, the cage had done a good job of protecting the building from the gratuitous destruction many of the other buildings had suffered.
“We can go this way and sweep back around,” the officer said, pointing to the sidewalk that ran along the triangular building. “We’ll just have to put some distance between us and them.”
“Then let’s stop standing around talking about it,” Sean said.
They hurried onto the sidewalk and into the shadow of the building. Xander took a step forward but his knees buckled as an incredibly sharp pain stabbed through his gut. He dropped to his knees in the frigid water and groaned.
“Stop,” Jessica told the others, and she rushed back to his side. “What’s wrong?”
“Pain,” Xander said. “Like before. When we were at the store.”
Wilkes turned and looked upward in a panic, knowing what he faced when Xander had felt that pain before. The burning wings appeared as General Abraxas swooped down, landing heavily in front of the group. His burning wings illuminated the shaven head and dark tattoos. His eyes smoldered with sadistic glee as he looked upon Xander.
Xander looked up and stared in disbelief at the demented Fire Warrior. His face was one that was burned forever into his memory; the man had slaughtered his entire family.
“That’s impossible,” Xander said, forcing his legs underneath him so he could stand again. “You’re dead. We killed you.”
“You did nothing other than anger me,” Abraxas snarled through his pointed teeth. “You tried to kill me once before. I’ve been waiting so long to return the favor.”
Xander let the white overcome his eyes as he summoned the power of the Wind Elemental. He could feel his anger and disgust feeding his power until he was no longer in control; he was little more than a conduit for the full wrath of the elemental might.
Abraxas turned casually to the side and let loose a stream of blindingly bright white flames. Xander’s skin smoldered and smoked from the heat, despite the fact that the flames weren’t directed at the four friends. Instead, the fire struck the triangular building beside them. It melted through the white, metal cage without any resistance. As the fire struck the building itself, the structure exploded from the heat and pressure. Metal, glass, and concrete flew into the air. Without its corner support, a crack split through the center of the building. The top shifted under its own weight and slid forward, spilling toward Xander and the group.
Xander looked up in time to see concrete and glass spilling toward them, led by jagged and shattered white, metal poles. He immediately forgot his thoughts of revenge as he realized they were about to be crushed by the collapsing building. He threw up his arms defensively in his panic, and the wind power fled from him.
The Fire Elemental swooped low, blasting the street below in a swath of flames. Sammy could see the people below scattering in the dragon’s wake but too few of them escaped its destruction. She sobbed internally, knowing she had no control over the actual creature. The tears she shed were hers alone; she doubted the Elemental even recognized her pain. She could feel its overwhelming sense of morbid glee as it breathed fire again and again, wiping out the human defenses within the city.
As it turned for another pass, Sammy tried futilely once again to stop its attack. She struggled against its intake of breath, hoping to seize its throat closed. When that failed, she tried to stop the brewing of flames within its gullet. The pain lanced through her head as she tried to keep it from breathing its fire.
As the flames struck the side of the wide home below them, the house erupted in fire. The roof melted and fell inward, trapping those inside.
Sammy tried to retreat into herself. When she realized she was still alive and hadn’t been destroyed by being taken as a host, she had such high hopes. She assumed she’d be able to control her body, taking it back from the Elemental. Even if it meant purging the Elemental only to have it turn and kill her body in retribution, she was willing to accept that fate. She just wanted it gone and to limit its ability to move freely among the humans.
Nothing was working out how she had hoped. While she was technically still alive, she was watching the world unfold through her own eyes with no hope of control. The few brief moments where she was able to exert herself were so taxing that she had been forced to watch impotently as the dragon continued its destruction of Los Angeles.
She was quickly learning that her times to control the Fire Elemental were going to be few and far between. If nothing else, she was going to have to choose her battles more wisely. With only a few seconds at a time—and far too long of a recovery time before she’d be able to control the body again—she couldn’t fight every battle. She’d find a way to win the war between her and the Fire Elemental but to do it, she’d have to be a lot smarter.
As the Elemental turned upward, climbing toward the sky, Sammy was pulled back to the present. The dragon tilted its wings and arced back toward the taller buildings in the center of the city. Sammy watched through the creature’s peripheral vision and saw similar flares of heat surrounding them. The resistance wasn’t gone, not yet at least, though Sammy doubted it would survive much longer. Something else had drawn the Elemental’s attention away from its business.
They swooped low once again, and Sammy feared they were going to attack another human stronghold. Instead, the dragon used the dive to pick up speed before arching upward. It climbed higher until it was able to alight on the protruding rooftop balcony of a taller apartment building in the area. The roof groaned under the Elemental’s weight, and its rear claws dug into the rooftop.
Sammy searched the dragon’s mind, trying to figure out why they had stopped. She could sense the Elemental’s urge to return to the fight—the urge to get back to killing the last vestiges of humanity within the city. Something had drawn it away, and it seemed ready to sit here and wait for whatever it was.
Then Sammy sensed it as well. It was faint, a tickling in the back of their respective minds. It was little more than a whisper that slowly grew in intensity until it was practically a scream echoing in their head. Sammy’s stomach fell as she recognized the voice demanding an audience. General Abraxas’ requested the Elemental’s attention, as though he had something important to report.
She wanted to stop the Fire Elemental from responding to his call. She knew that if Abraxas was excited, it couldn’t possibly be good news for either her or Xander. She didn’t have the energy or even the ability to stop the Elemental’s projection to its strongest minion, but neither would she be left alone in the draconic body. If Abraxas had something to report on his mission to kill Xander, Sammy would be right there beside the Elemental, receiving the news.
Slowly, the world around them hazed and blurred, and she felt a tug in her gut as their consciousness sped across the planet.
It was inky blackness underneath the tons of debris from the collapsed building. Xander coughed into the dust-filled air. He held his hands up but couldn’t see his them directly in front of his face. It was completely black.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked.
“Good,” Wilkes said, though his voice sounded rough.
“I’m here,” Sean said.
“Living the dream,” Jessica said.
Xander tried to reach up, but he immediately touched something sharp just over his head.
“Is anyone else cold?” Jessica asked.
“Yeah,” Sean said. “It’s freezing in here. Where are we?”
The narrow space they were in felt arctic cold, like it was radiating from all around them. Despite his general ambivalence to extreme temperature changes since gaining the Wind Elemental’s power, even he could feel the cold.
“Wilkes,” he said, “do you think you can get to the flashlight?”
He heard the Brit’s camping pack strike the floor with a clatter. Wilkes rustled around in its interior until he let out a small cry of victory. He turned on the flashlight, and its bright light filled the small chamber they were in.
The light reflected off the white bubble around the four friends. It was nearly smooth, aside from small air bubbles trapped within its shell. Sean reached up and touched the wall gingerly but quickly withdrew his fingers.
“It’s ice,” he said, turning toward Xander with a confused look. “Did you do this?”
Xander shrugged. “I must have but if I did, it was completely reflexive.”
Jessica stood and ran her hand along the smooth wall of the ice cavern. “I didn’t know you could do this with the water power.”
“I didn’t either. Now that I know I can, though, it opens a lot of new options.”
Jessica turned toward him with a smile but immediately blanched when she saw where he stood. Xander furrowed his brow but followed her gaze upward. Through the top of the bubble, one of the white, metal poles from the bizarre cage protruded through the ice. It hovered, frozen in place, inches above his head, with a wicked point angled down at him. Xander politely cleared his throat before casually stepping out of the way of the deadly spear.
Sean shivered and looked around the full circumference of the bubble. It wasn’t wide, barely larger than the space between the four friends. Beyond the semi-transparent ice, he could see debris surrounding them. He stood up and walked to the far side, realizing that the area closest to Xander was actually a wall.
“Who was that guy?” Jessica asked.
“He’s the bloke I fought when I ran out of Selfridges,” Wilkes said.
She looked from the Brit back to Xander. The fierce look on his face told her there was more to it than that. “Xander?”
“His name is General Abraxas.”
Sean furrowed his brow, feeling like he’d heard the name before.
“He’s the one that killed my parents and my grandfather,” Xander explained.
Jessica crossed her arms over her chest as she watched Xander.
“Wait,” Sean said, walking over to his friend’s side. “I thought you said Sammy killed him.”
Xander shook his head. “I thought she had. Last time I saw him, he was on fire and running off into the woods. I figured he would have burned to death.”
“I got to see him up close earlier,” Wilkes said. “He doesn’t look like he has a one scar one him.”
“I know. I saw. He’s not only still alive—he’s stronger than he was before. I don’t know how he survived, but it had to have been the Fire Elemental.”
“That’s great,” Sean said. “Now we have to worry about the Fire Elemental, too.”
Now that Xander was past his surprise at seeing Abraxas alive, he was completely consumed with rage. Abraxas had personally ruined his life, going after his parents as a means to lure the Wind Warriors out of hiding. The injuries his grandfather had sustained during the battle had eventually led to his death.
Xander was beginning to rethink everything else that had occurred since Abraxas supposedly died, wondering how much his hand was involved. The attack on the Wind Warrior island could have easily been coordinated by the Fire Warrior. Even Sammy’s kidnapping could have been his doing. If so, General Abraxas had literally been directly responsible for every hardship he and his loved ones had endured since he first realized he had these elemental powers.
“You want him dead,” Wilkes said. It wasn’t a question.
Xander nodded, but his mind was elsewhere.
Wilkes grabbed his shoulders and turned him toward him. “Xander, I need to ask you something, and I need an honest answer.”
Xander nodded again, confusedly.
“You say your bird tried to kill him the first time, right? I’ve watched you out there. You’re tough. You have good control over your powers. You toss these Fire Warriors aside like they’re nothing.”
He stopped talking, and Xander awaited the question. Instead, Wilkes just stared at him.
“Xander, have you ever actually killed a Fire Warrior?”
Xander paled at the question. He remembered the nauseated feeling he had when he first saw Wilkes shoot one of the warriors, the pool of blood spreading from beneath her body.
Wilkes shook his head. “When we met, you told me this was a war. People die in war. The best you can hope is that it isn’t you. And the way you make sure it isn’t you is to kill them before they have a chance to kill you. You’ve tossed these blokes about, and I’m sure you’ve hurt them, but every one you haven’t killed is someone willing and able to come back later and kill you, Sean, and Jessica.
“I know you’re a kid. If it weren’t for this insanity, you’d probably be happily sitting at university, drinking a beer and shagging your girlfriend. But the world’s changed, and it’s time for you to stop being a kid and become a soldier. If you want to win—” he paused, making sure Xander looked him in the eyes. “If you want to win, you’re going to have to be willing to kill.”
“I haven’t killed any of them,” Xander said, realizing just how similar this conversation sounded to the one he recently had with Jessica. He thought of losing his parents, his grandfather, Bart, Robert, and maybe even Sammy. It burned in his heart like a bonfire. “But I’ll do what I have to. I won’t lose anyone else I care about.”
“Good. Use it,” Wilkes said. “Take all that anger and use it against him. But first things first, can you get us out of here?”
The Brit’s smooth voice did more to cool Xander’s anger than the ice surrounding them. Xander bit his lip until he tasted the coppery taste of blood in his mouth.
“I might be able to get us out of here but not without letting him know we’re still alive.”
“One problem at a time, Yank. Get us out of here, and then we’ll worry about Mister Crazy. I’ve already seen he’s not bulletproof, so I’ll deal with him if it comes to that.”
Xander closed his eyes and wondered how he could use his wind power to pry aside the debris covering their icy prison. He strained to feel the wind beyond the collapsed building, but another voice was far louder and refused to be silenced.
“Your wind won’t save you now,” the Water Elemental whispered to him through the moisture around him. “It’s time for you to embrace what you can become.”
The ice around him whispered, describing the area beyond the frozen cavern. Just beyond the ice, he could feel trickles of water running along the sidewalk. It seeped through the cracks in the wall lying against the bubble. He could see through the droplets as they poured through the far side of the wall and dropped into an open chasm on the far side. Through the stream, he could see a way out of the rubble once they got past the wall.
He opened his eyes and met his friends’ inquisitive stares. Wordlessly, he turned around and faced the side of the bubble against which the wall rested. With a wave of his hand, the ice unfroze along the wall, dripping down and pooling on the floor at his feet.
With the ice aside, he could see the cracked, concrete wall standing vertical, albeit canted slightly.
“Got a way through there?” Wilkes asked.
Xander felt the water’s eagerness to help. “I will shortly.”
The water at his feet rolled forward, sliding up and over the ice and seeping into the cracks of the wall. It whispered instructions to him, as though it yearned to set him free of his self-imposed prison. He doubted this was a normal power of a Water Warrior. He could practically feel the Water Elemental’s guiding hand along with her impertinent voice.
The water flowed vertically up the wall, defying gravity as droplets slid into the cracks. They marched into position until the water filled all the individual fissures.
Xander focused and a rich blue color—the deep blue of ocean depths—consumed his eyes. Within the cracks on the wall, the water froze and expanded.
At first, only a single piece of concrete calved from the wall. Quickly, though, the friends heard cracks and pops from within it. It sounded like popcorn popping within a microwave. Another piece of concrete broke free and fell to the ground at Xander’s feet.
After the piece fell, the area fell silent. Xander stood stoically still, his arms held firmly against his side. The friends crowded against the back of the bubble, anticipating the wall’s collapse that seemed not to come.
“Xander?” Sean asked. He dared to step toward his friend.
At once, the wall gave one final groan before falling to pieces along the prescribed cracks. It fell with a thunderous roar and a blast of dust. The friends covered their faces with their arms and coughed as the dust filled their narrow chamber.
A gust of wind flushed through the ice bubble, blowing the dust free from the room and replacing it with satisfying fresh air. The group lowered their arms and stared at Xander. He turned toward them with a smile, the bright light already fading from his eyes.
“Is everyone okay?” he asked.
They nodded. Over Xander’s shoulder, they could see London’s dim light filtering through the rest of the debris.
Wilkes stepped toward the hole. He peered out, examining the narrow passage that led toward the surface.
“If they can sense when you use your power, they certainly would have noticed that.”
Xander nodded. “You’re right.”
“They’ll be waiting for us when we emerge. We’ll be coming out right into a fight.”
Xander cracked his knuckles. “They haven’t seen a fight yet. I’ll give them more than they can handle.”
Xander led the group into the tunnel. It was a tight squeeze, and the rubble pulled at their clothes as they slid past the debris. As he approached the glow of the surface, he took a deep breath and let the wind power surge within him.
He stepped out of the hole and turned quickly, searching for the telltale glow of Fire Warriors.
The area around him was quiet and empty.
He didn’t even feel the churning in his gut when they used their power.
Xander stepped aside and let Wilkes step out of the tunnel. The Brit turned slowly, letting the barrel of his rifle follow his searching gaze. Like Xander, he saw nothing moving. By the time Sean and Jessica emerged, Xander was confident that they were alone.
“It doesn’t make sense,” Sean said. “Where are they?”
“They’ve ambushed us before,” Jessica said. “They could just be lying in wait, ready to throw everything they’ve got at us when we start moving.”
“Maybe,” Xander said, though he wasn’t as sure as he sounded.
Admittedly, it was strange to be alone. Using the power of the Elementals, he knew the Fire Warriors would have felt the pain as much as he did when Abraxas was near.
“If they’re near,” Wilkes said, “there’s nothing we can do about it now. I say we don’t—how do you American’s say it?—look a gift horse in the mouth? Let’s get as far away as possible before they spring this trap.”
Xander nodded while he scanned the area once more. “Lead the way. Get us to your family so we can get out of this city.”
Wilkes led them on while the others followed closely at his heels.
From the shadows beyond the broken building, Lord Cambion watched as the four rushed away. His stomach still ached from the incredible power the young warrior wielded. There was a faint sense of dread at the thought of facing him in battle, despite the dozens of Fire Warriors that were hidden nearby.
General Abraxas stepped beside him, letting his flaming wings reignite. The fire illuminated the storefront in which they stood.
Cambion looked over at the possessed General and realized he would never be as scared of Xander as he was of the formidable man beside him.
“I don’t understand, my Lord,” Cambion said, gesturing toward the four friends who were already out of sight. “We could have easily destroyed them when they reemerged from the rubble. They would have already been dead and their heads on spikes along the riverside.”
“Dear Lord Cambion,” Abraxas said with a wicked smile. He crossed his massive arms across his chest. “As always, you fail to see the big picture. They move through this city with a purpose. They’re looking for someone, someone that matters to them. Someone that they love. We’ll follow them and let them lead us to their loved ones. Then we’ll let them watch as we kill those people in front of them. Then, and only then, will we slaughter the Wind Warrior and his friends.”
Abraxas looked to the diminutive Fire Lord. “Xander Sirocco had the audacity to try to kill me once before. Since then, I’ve made sure I’ve taken away everything he’s cared about. I want him dead, but I want him completely broken before he draws his last breath. This represents my final chance to take away everything he loves before I end his life.”
He looked toward the alleyway into which they had run. His long tongue emerged, and he ran it over his sharpened canines. “I’m going to savor the taste of desolation in his flesh.”
Abraxas felt the quick pull of his attention as the reptilian orb materialized above him.
“Follow them,” he told the warriors, “but don’t engage until I arrive.”
He felt like a rat in a maze. Xander followed Wilkes through the myriad of alleyways as they rushed toward his flat. He couldn’t shake the feeling that everything was happening far too easily. Fire Warriors had barred their way at every step through London. He refused to believe their group had somehow finally eluded them. It was only a matter of time until they reemerged.
Wilkes’ advice ran through his head. Xander hated Abraxas. The feelings burned him and made bile rise into his esophagus at just the thought of the General. He was sure that if they faced one another again, he’d kill Abraxas. Could he say the same thing about the other Fire Warriors, he wondered? If he had to, could he kill the other leather-clad warriors that were destroying London? It seemed like such an easy decision to say, “Yes,” as though it were an emotionless, clinical decision on his part. In reality, he knew that every Fire Warrior he met could be like Sammy—a person likely to be a victim of their circumstances. They couldn’t all be inherently evil. Some had to have the spark of compassion that Sammy bore. Killing them indiscriminately, even if that was what they intended with his friends, was a line in the sand he wasn’t sure he could cross.
They turned into an alleyway that opened onto another major road. The alley was narrow—to the point their shoulders were practically brushing the brick walls. Wilkes slowed the group as they squeezed past a thin, metal trashcan. Xander held the lid closed, fearing it would rattle as it brushed against his jacket.
“We’re here,” Wilkes said, motioning toward the apartment building beside them. “Wait here.”
Wilkes leaned out and looked down the street, seemingly both unsurprised and disappointed when the road was clear in both directions. He slipped out of the alleyway and hurried to the front door. Reaching in his pocket, he fumbled with a set of keys as he searched for the right one to the building’s front door.
The lock clicked open, and he pulled the door open with a soft squeak of metal on metal. Xander cringed from his place in the alley. Leaning slightly forward, he could see the Brit stepping into the doorway. Wilkes leaned out quickly and gave him a thumbs-up and smile before disappearing inside, pulling the door closed behind him.
Xander turned back to Sean and Jessica, who stood crammed into the narrow alley. He could barely see Jessica standing in the back of the group, her blond hair barely protruded around Sean’s wide head.
“So what now?” Sean asked. “Kind of sucks being stuck in here.”
“It shouldn’t take that long,” Xander said. “Just get comfortable.”
“Did he just tell us to get comfortable?” Jessica asked. “He does know I’m crammed in an alley so tight that I can’t turn around, even though I’m in the back of the group, and a Fire Warrior could be coming up behind me even as I’m sitting here—”
“Whoa,” Sean said, glancing over his shoulder. “You’re doing that panic attack, talking four thousand words per second, and not breathing thing.”
Jessica sighed a couple times as she calmed herself. “Maybe I wouldn’t feel so trapped in this alley if you weren’t carrying that stupid cricket bat around.”
Sean tried his best to see the bulky bat hanging at his side. “You mean old Peacebringer? I’d never leave her behind.”
Jessica rolled her eyes. “You named it? Wait, of course you named it.”
“Her full name is Peacebringer, Scourge of the Fire Caste,” he said with a broad smile.
Xander suppressed a laugh. He was glad that Sean’s natural defense mechanism was humor. It never let him get overwhelmed in a situation.
Their humorous interlude was quickly interrupted when a woman screamed from within the apartment building. With little more than a shared concerned look, the trio rushed out of the alley and up the stairs to the building’s front door.
Xander grabbed the handle and turned, but it was locked and unyielding. He rattled the door futilely. Taking a step backward, he wanted to yell up to Wilkes but didn’t dare draw too much attention to themselves.
His eyes fell back to the door. He scratched his chin, wondering if he could create a bubble of air around the lock. With enough focus, he was sure he could crush the metal lock and get the door open.
A blur of movement startled Xander. The cricket back slammed into the door handle, breaking off the nearside part of the lock. Sean reached into the opening and pushed the rest of the lock through to the interior of the apartment. When he turned around, he came face to face with Xander’s disapproving look. Sean smiled sheepishly and shrugged, pointing to the cricket bat.
“Peacebringer,” he said. “What are you going to do, right?”
Xander slid his fingers through the hole left behind from the ruined lock and pulled the door outward. With a little pressure, it swung open. As they rushed into the apartment, Xander realized he had no idea what flat belonged to Wilkes. The scream sounded like it had come from the second floor, so he led the other two up the flight of stairs.
On the second landing, they found Wilkes tightly embracing a crying woman. Xander felt immediately embarrassed, mistaking Tamara’s obvious cry of joy for one of trouble.
Fresh tear lines streaked down the caramel skin and soaked into her copper-colored hair. Tamara pulled her face away from the crook of Wilkes’ neck and, for the first time, noticed the three odd white people standing awkwardly at the top of the stairs. She leapt back and started to scream again, but Wilkes quickly placed his hand over her mouth.
“It’s okay, love,” he said. “They’re friends of mine.”
Xander could see her throat bob as she swallowed the scream. The British officer slowly removed his hand, and she exhaled slowly.
“You’re friends of Bernard?” she asked meekly.
“Bernard?” Sean guffawed. “Your name is Bernard?”
Wilkes frowned. “I haven’t taken the option of shooting you off the table, Yank.”
Sean snorted again. “Getting shot would totally be worth it now, Bernard.”
Tamara surprised everyone by smiling. “These are the ones that helped you get back home?”
Wilkes shrugged as he cradled his rifle in his arms. “I wouldn’t be alive if it weren’t for these three. I owe them my life. We owe them our lives,” he corrected, “since they’re also going to get us all out of London.”
“Xander,” Xander said, offering his hand. Sean and Jessica quickly introduced themselves as well.
“I’m glad to meet you,” Tamara said, “but we can’t get out of London. We tried when those… things first showed up in the city.”
She paused and swallowed a welling of emotion. “Some people died. We had to run back to the flat. We’ve been hiding ever since.”
“Xander has a few, well, we’ll say he has some tricks up his sleeve to get us out of the city,” Wilkes said.
Tamara looked to Xander before returning her gaze to her husband. “How long until you’re ready to leave?”
“As soon as you’re packed. The sooner we can get out of the city, the better.”
Tamara stepped into the doorway of their apartment. “You had better all come inside. I can offer some tea and scones. We may be rationing food, but that’s no reason to lose our general English hospitality.”
They entered the small apartment, emerging into a busy living room. A few pieces of furniture sat against the walls. The floors were covered with miniature train sets and stuffed animals. Xander smiled at the scene, appreciating the small flash of innocence in the otherwise chaotic world beyond the blanket-covered windows just behind the playroom.
A young boy sat quietly beside a scale train set, gently gliding an engine back and forth over the smooth rail. A set of noise-suppressing headphones sat over his ears, and he nodded along to a rhythm only he could hear. His back was to the front door, and he was blissfully unaware that anyone else had entered his personal world.
“Brandon?” Wilkes said softly as they closed the door behind them.
“I’ll get him,” Tamara said. She walked over behind the boy and placed a hand on his back, rubbing in a small circle between his shoulder blades. Brandon looked up and removed his headphones.
“Someone’s here to see you.” She pointed toward the door.
Brandon turned around, and his eyes widened in surprise at the sight of his father. “Daddy!”
He jumped up from his spot and rushed toward his father. Wilkes quickly handed his rifle to Jessica before the boy crashed into his legs. He slid to his knees and tightly embraced the boy. Xander politely looked away as he noticed tears streaming down the officer’s face.
“I missed you, buddy,” Wilkes said as they finally separated. “You been a good boy for your mum?”
Brandon nodded, and his eyes drifted to the other strangers. “There are a lot of bad men outside.”
Wilkes smiled, but Xander could see the sadness behind it. “I know. Don’t worry. You don’t have to be a big man much longer. We’re leaving the city.”
Brandon lit up. “You promise?”
“Of course, buddy. I’d never lie to you.”
“Did you all want tea?” Tamara asked from the kitchen.
“No thank you, ma’am,” Xander said. “I think we’d rather just be getting on our way.”
Sean and Jessica nodded eagerly.
“Do you need any help with your bags?” Xander asked, hoping to speed the process along. Despite not seeing Fire Warriors recently, he could feel the nooses tightening around their necks. If there were a chance they had honestly escaped the Fire Caste, what they were doing next would draw their attention all over again. They couldn’t get out of the apartment soon enough.
“No,” she said, emerging from the kitchen with a single backpack slung over her shoulder. “We’re packing a little light for the trip.”
Xander looked over to Wilkes, who ran his hand through his son’s hair. The Brit smiled wistfully as he looked around the cramped London flat.
“You okay?”
Wilkes looked over at him and chuckled softly to himself. “This has been our home for a long time. We bought it right after we got married. This is the only home Brandon’s ever known. It’s just a little sad to know we’ll probably never see it again.”
Xander thought back to his parent’s house in White Halls. He had shared so many of his first memories in the drafty, two-story home. It was the only home he’d ever known, until his parents were killed and it burned to the ground. The ache in his chest still felt like a fresh wound, and his heart went out to the Brit.
“Do you want a moment?” he asked. “We can wait outside.”
Wilkes shook his head and slipped his hand across Brandon’s shoulder. Tamara walked over, and he took her hand with his free one. “No. It’s been a good run, but it’s time to say our farewells. Home is wherever my family is anyway, right? We’ll find somewhere new just as soon as we’re out of London.”
He let Tamara take Brandon, and he retrieved his rifle from Jessica. “All right, Yank. It’s time for you to work your magic.”
What Sammy saw mirrored that of the giant orb hanging above the ruins of London. It looked down on General Abraxas, who stood confidently amidst the debris of a collapsed building.
“What do you have to report?” the Fire Elemental said, its voice filling the air.
Abraxas smiled, revealing the pointed teeth. “Xander Sirocco is on the run.”
“Why is he not dead yet?” the Elemental replied, clearly unhappy with his response.
Abraxas’ smile faltered for a second. Sammy could swear the man wanted to chew on the inside of his cheek nervously. She almost wished he would. She’d gladly watch his sharpened teeth chew through the soft lining of his cheeks.
“He has friends with him, but they seem to be searching for more. If he has anyone else that could threaten our mission, I wanted them all together so we can kill them all at once. It seemed… tactical.”
Sammy hated the sound of the man’s voice but hated what he was saying even worse. If Xander had friends with him, then it would be Sean and Jessica. She couldn’t imagine him leaving them behind, even if it meant taking them into the heart of the besieged London. Though Sammy didn’t see eye to eye with Jessica, she didn’t want any of his friends killed any more than she wanted to see Xander hurt.
Though she couldn’t turn the eye, its large orb offered a panoramic view of the area around her. She hoped Xander was far away, and getting further away while they kept General Abraxas distracted. Even so, she had hoped to catch sight of him. They hadn’t seen each other since he had yelled at her, sending her away. She didn’t even know if he was still mad about her revealing that her father was Lord Balor. She hoped not. Despite his irritation, she had to believe that he still loved her as she loved him. It would have been wonderful to tell him as much, but she didn’t have enough control over her body yet to risk getting close to him.
“Kill them all,” the Elemental said flatly, “but don’t fail me. I know you pursue them for personal reasons. Don’t let yourself be blinded by your goals. If you fail me, I’ll make sure I flay you alive.”
Abraxas shook his head. “I won’t fail you. I’ll see him and everyone around him dead.”
“Contact me when the deed is done.”
With that final dismissal, the Fire Elemental withdrew its awareness from before the General. The city of London swam in Sammy’s vision before she felt herself yanked back toward Los Angeles. The world spun past her as she was pulled back to the dragon’s body, still perched precariously atop the high-rise apartment.
“He’s going to kill your lover,” the Elemental remarked, knowing Sammy was listening to everything it said.
“You don’t know Xander,” Sammy replied. “He’s going to kill you.”
The dragon laughed at her. “If he kills me, he kills you as well.”
Sammy scowled, wishing she could make the facial expressions to match her mood. “I’m ready to die, especially if it stops you. Can you say the same?”
The Fire Elemental swung its head, scanning the city below it. It seemed that the conversation was barely recognized as a nuisance. “I won’t die. General Abraxas will kill him long before he and I have to face one another.”
“And if he kills Abraxas instead?”
The Elemental stopped moving and craned its long neck, staring across the cityscape. “Then I’ll kill him myself. He only has the power of the Wind Elemental now, and Wind doesn’t stand a chance against me. For whatever reason, Water didn’t give up her power to him. He’s already lost before we face one another.”
Sammy huffed. “He’ll get the Water Elemental’s power. You don’t know him like I do. If he’s in London, he’s there for a reason. And after he gets the Water Elemental’s power, he’ll find the Earth Elemental and get that power. Then he’ll be more than strong enough to kill you.”
The Fire Elemental fell silent. It looked out across the city but didn’t seem to focus on anything in particular.
“You have nothing to say?” Sammy goaded. “I look forward to him wiping the floor with you.”
“I grow tired of this conversation. General Abraxas won’t fail me, and I’ll make sure you see your lover’s head mounted on my wall before I find a way to destroy you, too.”
Before Sammy could reply, the dragon leapt from the rooftop and swooped back toward the fighting in the streets below.
Wilkes took Tamara’s hand as they paused before the apartment building’s main door, turning her toward him.
“Do you trust me?” he asked.
Tamara nodded. “Of course.” She looked toward the other three, all of whom seemed nervous with the conversation. “What’s going on, Bernard?”
Wilkes cleared his throat. “Xander’s going to get us all out of here, love, but we’re not taking a car, a plane, the tube, or a boat.”
His wife furrowed her brow. “What are you talking about? You’re starting to scare me.”
“Xander has powers, like the men out on the street… but different. It’s going to freak you out just a bit when it starts but, trust me, he’s one of the good guys.”
Tamara looked skeptically toward the Wind Warrior, who tried his best to smile disarmingly. She quickly turned back to her husband.
“If you trust him,” she said, “then so do I.”
Wilkes looked to Xander and nodded. Xander led the way out of the apartment, easily pushing through the door Sean had broken during their grand entrance. His heart raced as the door swung open with a faint creak. He figured this would be the time the Fire Warriors would spring their trap. They had been left alone long enough for his group to begin to hope there was a chance for escape. If it were up to him—and he were far more twisted and malicious than he really was—he would have surrounded the apartment building with their army of warriors.
When the door swung open, Xander stared out onto the same empty street they’d seen when they first arrived. He let out the breath he’d been holding nervously.
They rushed down the few stairs that led to the sidewalk. Xander slipped between two parked cars and stepped into the middle of the abandoned street. The others crowded nearby with Wilkes pulling his family in closely.
Xander turned and looked at his group. Even if there were Fire Warriors waiting to ambush them, it wouldn’t matter soon. They would soon be airborne and since the Fire Caste couldn’t fly, they’d soon be out of their reach forever.
He caught sight of Brandon’s nervous expression as he stared at the odd collection of Americans. Xander knelt down beside Brandon and smiled. A faint breeze trickled around them, tugging at their jackets.
“Hi, Brandon. My name is Xander. Have you ever been on an airplane before?”
The boy looked to his mother, who nodded that it was okay to answer. Brandon looked back to Xander and nodded.
“Great. Did you enjoy flying?”
Brandon nodded again.
“Do you want to do it again?”
The boy stared and Xander, wide-eyed with curiosity. Xander rolled his fingers toward him and pulled more of the wind around their group. It coalesced beneath the British family, buoying them like a pillow slipped beneath their feet.
Tamara let out a stifled yelp of surprise as their feet left the ground. They hovered only a few inches from the asphalt but both mother and son pinwheeled their arms for stability as though they might pitch backward.
“Bernard?” Tamara asked. Brandon, in contrast, smiled broadly and laughed to himself.
“It’s okay,” Wilkes said. “He’s a good man. This is how he’s going to get us out of the city.”
Xander stood and ran his hand across Brandon’s head before turning back to the others. He summoned more of the wind, which sighed as it poured through the empty street. Soon the whole group was levitating in the air a foot off the ground.
“Do I need to hold onto you or something?” Tamara asked as she clutched to her son and husband like a lifeline.
“No,” Xander said. “I’ll do all the work. You all just need to enjoy the ride.”
He turned around, and his smile faded. Despite his bravado, he knew they needed to hurry. Even if they had miraculously eluded the Fire Warriors earlier, using his powers would be like lighting a torch in a cave. It would draw a lot of unwanted attention.
Xander kicked off the ground, and they began rising quickly into the air. He had to get out of between the tall buildings before he’d be able to maneuver and pick up any speed. Once he cleared the rooftops, he knew they’d be able to hit supersonic speeds and leave London—and all of England—far behind.
The pain that slammed into his gut shouldn’t have been unexpected, but it made him flinch. Their ascent faltered, and the whole group hovered just a little more than a story off the ground.
“Xander?” Jessica asked.
“He’s here,” Xander said in a panic. “Abraxas is here.”
The group turned their eyes skyward just as the flaming wings emerged from over the nearest rooftop. Abraxas swooped down, impossibly fast, and slammed his feet into Xander’s back. The force of the impact drove the air from Xander’s lungs and broke his concentration. The pocket of air keeping them aloft dissipated, and they dropped toward the asphalt road below. At the last moment, Xander summoned a cushion of air that padded their fall. They struck the pressurized air but it only slowed their descent. The landing on the road was still far rougher than he would have liked, and his shoulder ached as he quickly climbed to his feet.
He launched back into the air immediately, leaving the others on the ground. Without the others, Xander was far quicker. Even so, he only made it level with the roofs of the nearby buildings before Abraxas reemerged. He came at Xander from a different angle this time. The Wind Warrior tried to defend himself, but the General broke through his meager wind wall as though it didn’t exist. The bald man’s fist caught Xander in the chin as he flew past, and his fiery wings ran dangerously close to his arms.
Lights danced in Xander’s vision from the strike, and he rocked backward. His body arched in the air, and he began falling back to the ground headfirst. He shook his head, and the wind whipped around him again. Striking the ground hard, his hip dragged along the ground as he tumbled sideways. He came to a rest a couple feet away from his impact, resting face down on the asphalt.
For a long moment he just stayed down, letting the aches and pains settle over his body. He could hear Brandon crying, and Tamara eagerly trying to soothe him. Xander cursed himself for being so naïve. Abraxas let them get to the flat, knowing he’d have the upper hand. Without the extra people with him, the Fire Warrior was far quicker and more maneuverable. Coupled with the tall buildings, Xander had little chance to clear the buildings before the General attacked him again.
“Xander,” Jessica and Sean cried together as they rushed over to his side.
Before they could reach him, he pushed himself off the ground and sat back on his knees. He had to run a hand over his face to push his dark hair aside. Running a frustrated hand over his face, he felt the days of beard growth on his cheeks.
“Are you okay?” Sean asked.
“Physically? Yes. Mentally? No. I shouldn’t have been so stupid.”
Jessica slipped her hands under his arms and tried pulling him to his feet. “Come on. Get up. We need to get in the air and get out of here.”
Xander stood but shook his head. “We can’t fly. It’s what Abraxas wants. He’ll just keep knocking us down until he gets tired of playing this cat and mouse game.”
“I can shoot him,” Wilkes said. “I’ve done it before.”
“I appreciate it, Wilkes, but with all due respect, that’s a terrible idea. Something’s very different about Abraxas this time around. His power is much more than anything I’ve seen. It’s like he’s channeling the Fire Elemental directly. The only reason we’re still alive is because he sees this as some game. The second you shoot at him or—God forbid—actually shoot him, he’ll burn every one of us to death.”
“Then what do we do?” the Brit asked, clearly displeased with Xander’s answer.
“We need to get away from the buildings. We need to get somewhere more open where I can actually turn and pick up speed. I’m slower than he is with all of you with me. If we’re going to survive, I’m going to have to out fly him instead of just outrunning him. And I can’t do that with all these buildings around.”
“The pier,” Tamara said.
Xander turned toward the woman, who self-consciously ran a hand through her mussed hair, as everyone else looked her direction as well.
“Would the pier work?” she asked. “It’s not far from here and would let you out over the Thames.”
“The pier,” Sean said. “Of course. We saw it when we were trying to get here in the first place. It was near the hospital.”
Xander nodded excitedly. “That could work, but we’re going to have to hurry. As soon as Abraxas figures out what we’re up to, he’ll kill us.”
Wilkes started toward the alleyway from which they had emerged, but Xander shook his head. “He already knows where we are. We’re better off running on the main roads. It’s quicker.”
The group started running back toward Tooley Street. Wilkes scooped Brandon up in his arms and kept pace amazingly well with everyone else, despite the bulging camping bag on his back and his son cradled in his arms. They reached the main cross street without any interference. Xander didn’t feel any more pains in his abdomen, though he doubted that meant Abraxas was gone. It was far more likely that the General was perched on a rooftop watching their retreat without using his powers.
Tooley Street was a wreck. They emerged on one of the legs of a Y turn, directly across the street from the triangular building General Abraxas had destroyed during their last encounter. Glass, concrete, and the white, metal cage lay in ruins not only on the building’s foundation but strewn across the street. Spears of metal cage, like the one that had pierced the top of Xander’s ice wall, sat lodged in the buildings across the street.
The group paused momentarily and absorbed the wanton destruction. They knew intuitively that they had been in the heart of that wreckage, but it seemed impossible to look at the collapsed building and to think they had walked away unscathed.
Xander led them past the debris, stepping gingerly through and over piles of rubble. He lifted his right leg cautiously with every step, feeling the ache from where he scraped across the ground on his landing. He didn’t want to check the wound, despite it feeling sticky against his jeans and shirt.
Past the rubble, they reached the side street down which they had run from the pier. Xander turned onto the street but stopped abruptly. Through the din of the smoke and fog, dozens of spots of flame were visible. Fire Warriors were lined up across the street, barring their path.
Sean stopped beside him and stared slack jawed at the warriors. “They’re blocking the road.”
“On purpose,” Xander said, confirming his best friend’s suspicions.
“There was another road a block down that went the same direction,” Jessica offered. “It might be open.”
Xander knew in his gut that he’d find it blocked as well, but they turned and ran down the main street again.
They fared no better at the next intersection. Fire Warriors were perched on the street and in windows of the buildings, completely blocking their way ahead.
“There’s still one more road,” Sean said. “The one that led to the hospital. It’s worth a chance.”
“No, it’s not,” Xander said. “They’re herding us. They’ll have every path blocked.”
Xander turned toward Wilkes. “What’s past the hospital?” he asked. They hadn’t gone that direction after emerging from the Underground station, so he was running in the dark.
Wilkes clucked his tongue as he thought. “This road will end just past the hospital. Left will lead deeper into the city. Right will lead to the London Bridge.”
Xander frowned at their options. If the roads they had passed were any indication, the bridge would be blocked as well. That only left deeper into the city, which was a death sentence for their entire group. He couldn’t fathom where they were being corralled or why Abraxas hadn’t bothered attacking them already, but he knew the psychotic Fire Warrior had a plan.
“We can go back to the apartment,” Tamara said.
“I don’t think that’s an option anymore,” Jessica said, pointing behind them.
Xander looked over his shoulder and saw Fire Warriors climbing over the rubble of the ruined building. Their way back was blocked.
“We go forward until I can come up with a plan,” Xander said. “I’m not just going to play Abraxas’ game.”
The group hurried forward, putting some distance between them and the gathering Fire Warrior army. They passed the hospital, and the road ended abruptly past it in a cross street.
Xander looked first left, knowing that way would be clear of any obstructions. Dejectedly, he glanced right as well and was stunned to see the way to the bridge was clear. Though he could practically feel the eyes of the Fire Warriors on him, none stood in the road between them and the start of the bridge.
“It’s a trap,” Wilkes said. “He wants you to take the bait.”
“We don’t have a choice,” Xander said. “There aren’t any other options. The bridge is our best chance to get out of here, even if we have to fight our way free.”
Wilkes nodded and handed his son to Tamara. He shouldered his rifle and ejected the magazine, counting the rounds. His frown deepened as he slid the magazine back into its well. His fingers fell to the one other lonely magazine still stuck in his tactical vest. He didn’t need to explain for Xander to know there weren’t nearly enough bullets for all the Fire Warriors they were likely to face.
“Is everyone ready?” he asked.
Sean and Jessica nodded firmly. He was surprised by how strong his friends had become since all this began. Jessica had always seemed far too delicate to be useful during the end of the world. Though he loved Sean with all his heart, his friend wasn’t exactly athletic. To see them side by side—with Jessica’s arms crossed defiantly and Sean shouldering his cricket bat—he couldn’t have been prouder of the pair.
Tamara hid Brandon’s face in her shoulder, and she glowered at Xander. He felt terrible for the woman. She had survived such hardships in London only to be given a glimmer of hope and just as quickly have that hope crushed.
Xander frowned. He guessed that was exactly what Abraxas was doing to them. He had given them hope of escape only to take it away. It was sadistic, but he expected nothing different from the General.
“All right. Let’s go.”
The group rushed onto the near lip of the bridge. It was a long span across the bridge, but they did not intend to run its full length. As they ran, Xander veered them toward the sidewalk. They could see the flowing water past the pedestrian railing. Its surface was dark and choked with ash and wood from the hundreds of ruined structures around the city. The debris flowed past them before clogging the river a ways down, at the base of the still-smoldering Tower Bridge.
The wind gusted from on top of the water as they ran, striking the group in the face. They weren’t far from the city buildings yet, but Xander didn’t want to risk running out of time. He would adjust their flight once they were out over the water. He began drawing the wind to him, sculpting it as it flowed invisibly across the bridge. He could feel himself growing weightless as the wind swirled around his ankles.
“Get us in the air, Xander,” Wilkes said.
Before he could respond, Xander felt the now-familiar angry burn in his gut.
“We’re too late,” he said. “He’s already here.”
Abraxas emerged like a phoenix, burning a line across the sky. He landed heavily on the bridge a few dozen feet behind the group. Xander glanced over his shoulder at the snarling Fire Warrior. He saw the other Fire Warriors emerging behind him, their hands consumed with flames as they aimed at the escaping group.
Wilkes raised his rifle, but Xander placed his hand on the barrel and pushed it back down.
“You might get Abraxas but not before the others kill us all. We need to run.”
Xander stole one more glance at Abraxas before turning away from the warriors and running toward the center of the bridge.
Abraxas marched calmly behind them, pursuing them as they ran for the zenith of the arched bridge.
“You can’t escape from me anymore, Xander,” Abraxas said. “I’ll be on you before you make it two feet into the air. Even if you could, you can’t outrun me while dragging all that dead weight behind you. Your friends are slowing you down. They’re a liability. Cut them loose. It’s your only chance of escaping me.”
“Ignore him,” Xander said. “Keep running.”
They ran without speaking, knowing words would be pointless in their current situation. When they reached the bridge’s peak, Xander stopped the group and looked out over the river.
“They’re coming,” Jessica said, pointing toward the far end of the bridge.
Flaming spots were visible as an army of Fire Warriors advanced, cutting off any chance of moving further along the bridge.
“Same behind us,” Sean said.
Fire Warriors crowded either end, trapping the group in its center. Wilkes had been right all along; this had been General Abraxas’ plan. On the bridge, they had even less options for escaping.
Xander looked toward the far end of the bridge and watched the Fire Warriors advancing, led by a diminutive, leather-clad Fire Warrior who wore a brilliant red cape hung over one shoulder. With both groups combined, Xander counted nearly a hundred warriors surrounding them.
“If we can’t fly,” Wilkes said, “then we jump into the water and float down the Thames until we’re out of London.”
Xander shook his head. “There’s too much debris in the water. You’d get crushed by a floating log long before you made it out of the city.”
Wilkes stared at Xander angrily. “We don’t have a lot of other options. I trusted you to get my family out of the city. I could have just as easily snuck through the city and rescued my family, but I let you join me because I thought you were something special. They wouldn’t have been in danger if you weren’t fighting your God-forsaken feud with the Fire Caste. If you can’t get us into the air, then the water’s our only option.”
“Yes,” Abraxas said, savoring the infighting. “Fight amongst yourselves. Let that fear and anger just pour out of you. I love the smell of it in the air.”
Xander looked at Wilkes sternly. “You’re right. Water is the only choice but not the way you’re thinking. You trusted me before. Please, do it again, just for a little while longer.”
Wilkes stared at Xander for a long moment before stepping aside. Xander nodded his appreciation before stepping past the group and facing Abraxas.
The General stopped sniffing the air excitedly and turned his gaze to the Wind Warrior. Abraxas’ eyes smoldered with flames as he watched Xander stand defiantly, with his hands on his hips.
“What’s this?” he said. “You’re done fighting with each other already? You want to fight me instead?” He tilted his head back and laughed derisively. “You don’t stand a chance against me, boy.”
“I’ve noticed you’ve learned some new tricks since we met last. Well, so have I.”
Xander’s eyes quickly shifted to blue. The blue glow sparkled against his soot-covered cheeks and dingy hair.
“Ah, there it is,” Abraxas mocked. “The power of the Water Elemental. But you don’t really have her power, do you? Of course not. She made you a warrior. You’re nothing more than a peon. You’re a child sitting in a church pew challenging God himself to a fight. I’ll crush you, no matter how many shiny new powers you have.”
Sensing a fight brewing, the Fire Warriors crowded closer. Wilkes tightened his grip on his rifle as he scanned their hungry faces.
“Maybe you will, Abraxas,” Xander said. “Maybe I’ll pick a fight with you, and you’ll annihilate me. Maybe you’ll kill everyone else with me, too.”
Xander took a step forward, the intensity in his eyes increasing with every brave step. “Or maybe, just maybe, I’ll surprise you. Maybe I’ll do something so unexpected that you’ll be the one broken and bleeding when all this is said and done.”
Abraxas laughed again. He turned to the Fire Warriors, and his laughter spread like a contagion. Their laughter was a roar surrounding the group like a suffocating blanket.
Sean furrowed his brow as another noise crept through the thunderous sound of laughter. He heard a trickling, like a faucet left on and running a thin stream of water into a sink. Confusedly, he glanced over the railing beside him to the Thames below. His eyes widened in surprise and he snapped his head forward again, hoping that the Fire Warriors didn’t notice his random gaze.
Below the London Bridge, the Thames River was receding. The water level dropped slowly, revealing the mud and heavier debris that had poured into the river during the city’s siege. Fish that had survived the choking ash floundered on the muddy banks, gasping for air as the water disappeared from the riverbed.
“Laugh all you want,” Xander said. “There’s a part of you, deep inside, that’s afraid I just might be right.”
The laughter died away as Abraxas scowled at the overly confident man. “You’re only alive right now because I’ve let you live. I think, perhaps, you’ve overstayed your welcome.”
Sean stole a glance to the far side of the bridge and saw the rest of the river run dry. He didn’t know what it meant, but he knew it was Xander’s doing. His throat felt suddenly parched, as though even the moisture from his mouth had been pulled away.
Xander’s mouth felt equally parched, though he knew his was from stress and worry. Wilkes had been right that Xander had never killed a Fire Warrior before. Even face to face with the demented Fire Warrior General, he wasn’t sure the first emotion he felt was a desire to kill the man. But Wilkes words stuck with him. If he wanted any of his friends to survive, he’d have to be willing to make the ultimate sacrifice of his morality. He’d have to be willing to kill.
The flames sheathed Abraxas’ arms, glowing first red, then orange, then yellow, before finally igniting a brilliant white. He snarled, revealing his sharpened teeth. His dark tattoos twisted as he furrowed his brow in anger.
A new sound filled the air; a mixture of thunder and crashing waves. Abraxas faltered as he stared at Xander in confusion. He turned his head to the side, and his eyes shot open in disbelief.
“I told you I’ve learned a few new tricks, too,” Xander said.
A tidal wave rushed down the Thames’ riverbed, the entire force of the river having been released all at once. The wave towered over the bridge and it cast a long shadow over the small group and the one hundred Fire Warriors.
Abraxas looked at the solid wall of water rushing toward then and swallowed hard. The wave slammed into a bridge further upstream without faltering. In the depths of the translucent water, he could see logs and other rubble carried along in its wake.
“Xander?” Jessica asked. She clung to Sean nervously.
He didn’t reply; his eyes were completely consumed by the blue glow as he channeled the full might of the Water Elemental.
“No,” Abraxas said as he ignited his burning wings, his revenge temporarily forgotten. He jumped onto the railing and leapt off, in an attempt to outrun the churning surge.
The wave grew quickly closer. It was an unstoppable force of nature that was set to obliterate the wide bridge on which they stood.
The Fire Warriors saw their leader turn and flee, and they ran toward opposite ends of the bridge. Though they fled, they weren’t nearly fast enough to escape the wrath of the wave.
“Xander!” Jessica yelled as the wave reached the London Bridge. Xander threw his arms out wide, and the wave parted down its middle. The two halves of it washed over the bridge, slamming into the two groups of Fire Warriors as they tried to escape. Their respective cries were drowned out by the thunderous crash. They were lifted from their feet and pulled into the churning depths of riptides and swirling madness just beneath the tidal wave’s surface. As one, the entire Fire Warrior ambush was washed over the side of the bridge and carried downstream.
Abraxas was barely clear of the bridge when the water washed over and around it. He pulled steeply upward in an attempt to escape, but the wave struck his legs and sent him spinning wildly away. He disappeared into the nearby buildings in a crash of glass and steel.
In the middle of the bridge, the small group of survivors cringed, bracing themselves for a ravaging wave that never struck them. Water from the breaking waves sloshed across the surface of the bridge, soaking their boots and pants legs, but the wave itself bypassed them completely.
They turned slowly to Xander as his eyes returned to normal. He staggered momentarily as the first signs of exhaustion settled over him but Wilkes was quickly at his side, supporting his weight.
“I should have never doubted you,” the Brit said.
Xander didn’t reply. He looked over the edge of the now-twisted railing and watched the water settle back into its riverbed. It churned at first as it tried to settle back into its regular flow. Eventually, the surface resumed its regular, gentle, downstream flow.
Wood floated back to the surface as more debris flushed from upstream. Amidst the broken wood, he saw pale-skinned bodies emerge from the frigid depths. The Fire Warriors bobbed back up to the surface, floating facedown as the river carried them away.
Xander felt nauseated, watching the results of his tidal wave. There had been a line he hadn’t previously crossed. So much of his previous life had been stripped away with the loss of his family and the gaining of not just the wind power, but the water as well. Not killing the Fire Warriors was his last connection to his humanity. He felt as though a part of his soul had been torn away, no matter how necessary the killing had been.
Sean looked sadly at his friend. “It was either us or—”
“Don’t you dare,” Xander snapped. “Don’t feed me some textbook answer about how I’m supposed to be okay with this.”
Wilkes placed his hand on Xander’s shoulder. The Wind Warrior tried to shake off his hand, but Wilkes tightened his grip. Slowly, Xander turned to the Brit.
“I’m not going to feed you any rubbish,” he said. “I’m just going to tell you that Abraxas didn’t get caught in the wave. He’ll be back. We need to go.”
Xander looked around the relieved expressions of his friends. Without a reply, he drew a sharp breeze over the bridge. The wind lifted the group from their perch and carried them up into the air.
They passed quickly over London as they picked up speed. Xander’s eyes barely noticed the rest of the burning city; his eyes remained fixated on the Thames until they finally gained enough elevation to pass through the smoke cloud.
When Los Angeles was burning brightly across its full length, the Fire Elemental swooped back toward the skyscraper it had established as its throne room. The dragon didn’t turn its head and scan the streets below; they were filled with its Fire Warriors and now devoid of most of the human resistance. It focused solely on the tower and being done with the first part of its conquest.
As it approached the balcony protruding from the penthouse’s bay windows, its body began to shimmer and morph. The long claws of its scaled hands receded until they became dirty fingernails. The tail faded completely, leaving no semblance of it behind. The red scales turned alabaster and were absorbed into Sammy’s porcelain skin. Even the spiked ridge on its back became flowing blond locks. By the time its feet alighted on the balcony, only the wings remained, stretching widely from its back. With its feet comfortably on solid ground, the wings, too, disappeared. Standing before the shattered windows was a dirty-faced, naked, blond woman who held none of the intimidation of the monster it had been moments before. Only its smoldering, red eyes gave any indication the woman was more than she appeared.
She stepped over the broken glass once more. The shards cut into her feet, but the wounds healed almost as quickly as they appeared.
Within the warm interior of the building, the room was dark. The power had been out in the city since the assault began and only the natural sunlight illuminated the open room beyond. Despite the darkness, the Elemental saw perfectly fine. The room was cast in conflicting shades of blue and red. Standing in the middle of the room—the only red in the otherwise cool interior—was General Kobal, who bowed deeply as he was recognized.
“I assume the war has gone well?” he asked. Even bowing, the man was nearly as tall as Sammy’s shorter frame.
“The war is just beginning,” the Elemental corrected. “However, you are correct that the battle for Los Angeles has come to its inevitable close.”
Kobal nodded as he stood to his full stature. He walked over to the Elemental’s side and opened a robe he held in his large hands. The Fire Elemental looked down at its nudity before slipping its arms into the sleeves of the plush robe.
Sammy looked at the man and grimaced. Kobal was yet another in a long line of Fire Warriors who took pleasure in the thought of eliminating humanity—of fulfilling their destiny by burning the world of man back down to the earth. Warriors like Abraxas and Kobal didn’t care about the humans they were killing. They didn’t realize that they had lives and families. No, Sammy corrected herself, they did know. They just didn’t care.
She had just witnessed the Fire Elemental end hundreds, if not thousands of lives. It made her feel sick.
“And the elusive Wind Warrior?” Kobal asked. “Is he also dead now?”
Sammy could sense the Elemental’s hesitation and knew exactly why. When any other Wind Warrior had been killed, the world had nearly torn itself apart in mourning. The ground had shaken, volcanoes had erupted, and tsunamis poured over the coastline. The deaths of Robert, Bart, and Xander’s grandfather had been strong enough that the western side of Los Angeles was already partially submerged in the ocean.
During their battles in Los Angeles, however, there hadn’t been a single indication that anything was amiss. Sammy somehow doubted the world would ignore Xander’s passing.
“I intend to find out shortly,” the Elemental replied curtly. “Return to your men, General. Claim this city as our stronghold and prepare your warriors to march toward the next city.”
Kobal placed a fist on his chest in salute. He spun on his heel and walked out of the penthouse. Sammy waited until she could no longer hear his booted feet clicking on the tiled hallway floor before she allowed herself to exhale.
“General Abraxas failed you,” Sammy said bluntly. “You know as well as I do that this city would have broken in two if Xander had actually been killed.”
The Elemental scowled but didn’t reply. Sammy wished she could return to the mirror and talk to the Elemental face to face. Though she could sense the creature’s displeasure, she longed to see the confusion and disappointment cast in its expression.
Without a reply, the Elemental stretched its consciousness across the space between Los Angeles and London. In Sammy’s mind, she could hear the Elemental’s whisper to Abraxas on the far end.
“General Abraxas,” it said.
Sammy could immediately sense the barely bridled rage at what the Elemental found on the far end. Curious, Sammy hijacked the communication and rode it until her vision merged with that of the giant orb hovering over London.
The eye hovered above the Thames, staring down at a partially collapsed building. It didn’t look like one that had been ruined by fire, nor had it collapsed uniformly like she would have expected if it had fallen in an earthquake. Only the upper corner of the building had shattered and much of the building’s interior lay in rubble, confined within its four walls.
“General Abraxas. Answer me!”
“Are you sure you’re in the right place?” Sammy mocked. “Because it doesn’t look like he’s in any condition to answer you right now.”
Infuriated, the Elemental severed the connection and both their consciousnesses raced back to Sammy’s body in Los Angeles. The Elemental staggered as it returned to the body, its anger threatening to burn up even Sammy’s specially created figure. It stormed over to one of the upright bookcases and grabbed its edge, yanking the whole thing from where it had been affixed to the wall. Books scattered across the hardwood floor as the wooden bookcase shattered on the ground.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and assume Abraxas failed you,” Sammy chided.
“Silence,” it hissed.
“That means that Xander defeated Abraxas and escaped. Again.”
“Be quiet.”
The Elemental stormed across the room, looking for an escape from the incessant nagging within its mind. Sammy smiled to herself, knowing there was nowhere it could go that she couldn’t follow.
“Abraxas is more than likely dead. It’s only a matter of time before Xander comes for you, too. He’ll go get the Water Elemental’s power and then go find the Earth Elemental. And in the end, he’s going to hunt you down and make you extinct like the dinosaur you are.”
“That’s enough from you,” the Elemental growled. “You won’t speak again unless I allow it.”
Sammy felt like iron bars slammed down over her, clamping around her wrists and ankles. They dragged her away from the perfect vision of being merged with the Elemental, as though her consciousness were being suppressed. Sammy struggled against her bonds but knew she was wasting her energy.
Though surely the Elemental had intended to completely eradicate Sammy’s awareness, it wasn’t quite as successful as it would have hoped. The iron manacles didn’t drag her far from the forefront of the Elemental’s mind. She could still see through its eyes, though it seemed like the vision was at the far end of a dark tunnel rather than feeling united with it like she had been.
She screamed out; it was nothing intelligible, just a release of frustration. The Fire Elemental didn’t flinch at the sound. Sammy doubted it could hear her at all.
Sammy frowned and stopped struggling against the manacles. Deep down, she knew she was to blame for her current predicament. The Elemental hadn’t had the ability to do this previously, or else it surely would have done so long before now. Sammy was trapped because she goaded the Elemental enough that it was able to use its anger against her. It was a blunt hammer trying to perform delicate surgery, but it was effective for the Elemental nonetheless.
Though she should have been frustrated, Sammy was glad not to share the homicidal thoughts of the Elemental for a while. She relaxed against her restraints and watched through the Elementals’ distant vision.
“I really hope you’re still okay,” Sammy whispered, hoping that somewhere Xander could hear her plea.
They soared over the English Channel in complete silence. When they’d flown together before, Sean and Jessica were always hovering close to Xander’s hip. This time, they were nearly two arms’ lengths behind him, as though he were isolating himself from them. They exchanged concerned looks but said nothing.
Wilkes, Tamara, and Brandon flew with a combination of wonder and paralyzing fear as the Channel rushed by beneath them. They huddled together, clinging to one another as though letting go would cause them to plummet from the sky.
“Xander,” Jessica said. Within the bubble of air, there was little noise from the gusting wind. “Xander, can we talk about this?”
The wind suddenly billowed over them, roaring deafeningly in their ears until they couldn’t hear their own words. Jessica and Sean flinched at the noise, which died away as quickly as it had appeared.
The few other times they’d tried to speak to Xander and make sure he was okay, a similar and inexplicably loud roar of wind appeared, stealing away their words. Jessica frowned but got the hint to stop trying to ask.
Sean tilted his head backward and enjoyed the sunshine. It had been a drastic transition, flying from the smoky cloud that hung over London to the countryside, which had just the more traditional gloomy English sky. It wasn’t until they flew out over the Channel that the sky started clearing, and the sun finally found purchase.
“Is he planning on keeping us at arm’s reach the whole rest of this trip?” Jessica asked sourly.
Sean shrugged, but Wilkes responded. “Most people have trouble coping after they kill their first man. Xander just killed a hundred. Give him some time.”
“We don’t have a lot of time,” Sean said, pointing ahead. “We’ve almost reached the mainland.”
The French coastline stretched to either end of the horizon as they quickly approached. There was a marked lack of smoke billowing from the small towns they could see from the air, a good sign as they were trying to find somewhere to land.
Once they began flying over dry land, Xander began descending. He dropped their elevation until they were barely skimming over the trees. When he found a clearing beyond the tree line, he stopped in midair and began lowering everyone down onto the soft grass.
Wilkes nearly fell over once his legs touched the ground. He righted himself, pulling his family in close once more.
Xander turned toward the Leftenant. His hair was disheveled, and his eyes red and swollen. Wilkes politely didn’t remark about the man’s appearance, just merely offered his hand.
“I owe you my life,” Wilkes said. “My family owes you their lives. There’s no possible way I could ever repay you.”
Xander shook his hand. “Take care of your family. Find somewhere quiet in the middle of the French countryside and keep your head down until all this is over.”
“Is it going to be over?” Wilkes asked, stepping close to Xander so that the others couldn’t overhear their conversation. “Are you going to go back into the fight after London?”
Xander stared unblinking at the Brit. “I don’t know.”
Wilkes nodded. “For what it’s worth, I really hope you do. The world needs someone like you. I can’t imagine what’ll happen if you don’t finish what you’ve started.”
Xander pulled his hand back and stepped away from Wilkes. He turned his back and looked out over the pastures.
Wilkes turned to Jessica and pulled her into a strong hug. “You take care of these Yanks. You’re the brains of the operation, so I expect you to keep them safe.”
Jessica smiled as she wiped away a tear from the corner of her eye. The officer then turned to Sean. The two stared at each other for a second before smiling broadly and hugging.
“I’m going to miss you most of all, Scarecrow,” Sean said. “I really hope the Wizard gives you a brain.”
Wilkes laughed. “You’re still fat, you know?”
Sean pulled away and smiled. “What’ll you do now?”
The Brit looked over his shoulder and smiled at his family. “It doesn’t really matter at this point. I have my family. We’re relatively safe here in the country, away from any cities the Fire Warriors may attack. We’ll figure something out.”
“You guys take care,” Sean said wistfully. “It’s not like there’s a lot of planes around the area but if you’re ever in the United States, be sure to swing through Tennessee.”
“I’d love to.”
Sean and Jessica walked over to Xander with sad waves goodbye. Xander kicked off from the ground, lifting the trio into the air. Wilkes and his family waved after them until they were out of sight.
“Xander,” Jessica said, once they were flying once more over the French countryside, “we need to talk.”
“No, we don’t,” he replied curtly, without bothering to turn around and look at his friends.
“Yeah,” Sean said. “We really do. You’re flying blindly through France. Do you even have any clue where you’re going right now?”
Xander ignored his friend and continued to stare straight ahead.
“What exactly is your plan?” Sean continued, unabated. “Keep on flying around until the end of the world? And what about the Water Elemental? She seemed pretty clear about her requirements. What are you going to tell her?”
They stopped all forward movement abruptly, and Xander turned on them. They could see the tears that had fallen and just as quickly dried on his face during their flight.
“I don’t know, okay?” he asked. “I don’t know what I’m going to do but until I figure it out, do you think you could get off my back?”
“Why don’t we all just take a deep breath?” Jessica said. She looked at Sean, who crossed his arms and scowled at Xander. “We’re not trying to pick a fight here, but we need to deal with what happened in London.”
“No we don’t,” Xander said.
“Yes, we do,” Sean said, intentionally being argumentative.
“We don’t,” Xander corrected. “I need to deal with this. On my own. My way.”
They began drifting toward the ground.
“What are you doing?” Jessica asked.
They touched down on a farm beside an old, red barn. They looked around, seeing the small French village sitting in a valley a few miles away. Other than that, empty fields and old forest stretched as far as they could see.
As they turned back toward Xander, they saw him floating up into the air.
“Whoa,” Sean said. “What are you doing?”
“Just stay here,” Xander said. “I’ll be back to get you both later.”
“Stay here?” Jessica said indignantly. “How long are you going to be gone?”
Xander didn’t reply and kept drifting higher into the sunny afternoon air.
“Xander!” Jessica screamed, stomping her foot into the muddy ground.
“No,” Sean yelled to the retreating form, “don’t worry about us. We’ll just hang out here in the middle of an empty field in a foreign country in the middle of the freaking apocalypse!”
“He’s already gone,” Jessica said. “He can’t hear you.”
Sean huffed. “Your ex-boyfriend really is a piece of—”
“I know,” Jessica interrupted. “I know. Let’s go find somewhere to get comfortable. Maybe we can get something to eat in that village.”
Xander flew upward, letting the world beneath him drop away until the cities became black smudges on the surface of Europe. He went higher and higher, until the greens of the woods blended seamlessly into the yellows of wheat fields.
He looked away from the Earth, letting his eyes trail upward toward the unfiltered sky above him. His lungs burned, not from exertion, but from the thinning oxygen around him. He gulped for air, glad that the Wind Elemental’s power granted him the ability to breathe in such a thin atmosphere.
When he felt that he was high enough, he stopped ascending and floated in the thin air. The cold was biting but he ignored the discomfort. He looked down on the planet, admiring the curve of the horizon. From this height, he couldn’t see the brutal destruction that marred so much of the planet’s surface.
His heart ached looking down. He knew that somewhere, far below his feet, Sean and Jessica were still probably swearing at him. Somewhere along the curve of the horizon, Sammy was in trouble, her life hanging in the balance. Somewhere in the deep blue waters below was an Elemental, watching him and judging him.
He had failed them all.
His only mission had been to go to London and clear it of the Fire Warrior infestation. It was the only stipulation given to him by the Water Elemental in exchange for her powers. Instead, he had allowed himself to get sidetracked while playing the role of the hero. He had saved Wilkes and his family, but Xander had no idea how many other families were still in London. He hadn’t saved any of the others, and he certainly hadn’t cleared the city of the thousands of Fire Warriors. By saving one family, he had practically condemned all the rest of them to die.
Being this far up in the air seemed to give him a lot of perspective.
Failing the Water Elemental had much greater ramifications. Without her power, he couldn’t hope to stand up to the Fire Elemental. Even with her partial powers, he had struggled against General Abraxas. That failure hurt worse than any other did. Failing the Water Elemental meant that she wouldn’t be giving him her powers, and his chances of saving Sammy dwindled by the second.
He stared down at the world below and his eyes fixated on England, barely discernable off the coast of Europe. Looking at the island brought fresh tears to his eyes and a hitched sob escaped.
Though he hated to admit it, failing Sammy wasn’t his biggest failure. In the process of trying to save a single family in London, he had failed someone far closer—himself. He had been so eager to be the superhero Sean believed him to be that he had thrown away his humanity in the process. He had taken a life. Not just a life, but a hundred lives. How many times had he told Sammy that he didn’t necessarily consider the Fire Warriors evil? But he had killed them just the same.
He liked to think that Sammy was a rare breed among the Fire Warriors—that her connection with her own humanity made her unique. Except he didn’t know if that was true. He didn’t know if Sammy was unique, or if there were other Fire Warriors who didn’t agree with the scorched Earth mentality of the Fire Elemental. How many rebellious warriors had been on the bridge, only to be washed away by the tidal wave?
That was his biggest regret. He hadn’t just failed in his mission. He had also been so willing to sacrifice his morality and humanity in the process.
And that was the biggest joke. If he lost, he lost. But if he won, he also lost.
Xander floated far above the planet and took hitched breaths as his lungs struggled to strain usable oxygen from the thin air. He could have flown down a few thousand feet and continued his self-flagellation, but it seemed fitting to drift aimlessly in the frozen upper atmosphere. He deserved his punishment. He deserved any pain he suffered while trying to sort out his thoughts.
More importantly, he no longer felt the urge to rush back to the Earth and continue his fight against the Fire Caste. He had failed, and he hardly needed an Elemental to tell him all that his failure had cost him.
He guessed that, for the time being, he would just remain in his lonely perch atop the world. Just for a little while longer.
Sean and Jessica left their backpacks and the cricket bat at the red barn before walking toward the small French village. The countryside was surprisingly quiet, a drastic change from everything they’d encountered in the heart of London. They were glad for the quiet, even though Sean was still brooding over their abandonment.
“You have to let it go,” Jessica said. “He’s under a lot of stress.”
“Then he needs to down a six-pack of beer like a normal person.”
“Why are you so mad? At least we’re safe. It’s not like he left us in London.”
Sean stopped walking and turned toward Jessica. “We’re in the middle of World War Three, and he just dumped us in France. I don’t know about you, but my French leaves a little to be desired. I think the only word I ever learned was gesundheit.”
Jessica smiled politely. “That’s German.”
Sean threw up his arms dramatically. “That’s exactly my point. He might as well have dropped us on the moon.”
Jessica turned away from him and started walking toward the village again. “You’re being a drama queen.”
“I guess I’m just fed up with being the sidekick,” he said as he hurried to catch up. “I was okay with it when all this started. Xander was the big, bad hero, and we were just there to make sure he was successful. But he’s going through a Batman-style brooding period right now. And you know what happens in comics when the hero starts brooding and disappears from the public eye?”
“No, but I have complete confidence you’ll tell me all about it.”
“The sidekick puts on the uniform and takes his place,” Sean said, ignoring her obvious condescension. “If Xander’s going to run and hide from his responsibilities, we’ll have to face the Fire Warriors ourselves until he pulls himself back together.”
Jessica stopped walking and sat down on a fallen log. She patted the spot beside her, inviting Sean to sit. Confusedly, he took his spot next to her. She took his hand and squeezed it gently.
“I know this sucks, Sean,” she said, surprisingly compassionately. “All this bluster you’re doing is just to cover up the fact that your best friend is falling apart, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Sean frowned and pulled his hand back. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jessica took his hand again, pulling it back to her. “Yes, you do. You and Xander have been friends forever. No matter how much I disliked you before, I could never drive a wedge between you two. Now he’s running off on his own because he’s the world’s next messiah, and he’s leaving normal you behind. It sucks. You just have to realize everything he’s going through.”
She pulled his hand up to her lips and kissed it softly. “I never thought I’d say this but I think you’ve shown a much better job at holding everything together than he has. Just bear with him a little longer.”
“And if I don’t want to give him more time?”
Jessica clenched down on his hand until his knuckles turned white. Sean groaned, surprised by the lithe woman’s strength.
She saw his resolve weaken as he fixed his gaze on her hand holding his. “Okay, okay. I’ll give him some time. How are you so freakishly strong?”
Jessica laughed and stood. He climbed to his feet as well, ensuring their fingers stayed interlocked.
“I don’t know about you, but I’m starving,” Jessica began. “No, I take that back. Of course you’re starving, too.”
“Oh, we’re back to fat jokes, I see.”
Jessica smiled sweetly and caressed his knuckle with her thumb. “There’s probably something to eat in the village. I’d like to get some food and get back to the barn before it gets too late. You never know when Xander’s going to show back up.”
The little village was quaint. Sean didn’t really know a better way to describe it. Thatched roofs and stone walls framed either side of a narrow road that passed through the town’s center. Aside from the modern asphalt of the road, the whole thing could have been taken straight out of a Norman Rockwell painting.
The illusion of quiet peace disappeared as Sean made eye contact with the locals. They oozed malevolence. He had heard plenty of rumors about French people being rude; it was a stereotype that was constantly perpetuated by Americans. The looks he was receiving went beyond general rudeness. It was borderline violent xenophobia; they were afraid of anyone from outside their small town.
Their anger dissipated immediately when they saw Jessica. The anger toward Sean became outright fear. People rushed into nearby homes and shut their doors. Sean could hear the locks sliding across the doors as they closed behind the villagers.
“What was that all about?” she asked.
Sean shrugged. “I don’t know, but our chances of getting a good meal seem to be dwindling.”
They walked down the town’s center street, sure they could feel prying eyes watching them through the blinds of the homes they passed. Halfway through the town, the smell of fresh, baked bread wafted through the air. Sean’s stomach growled loudly in response. He placed a hand on his belly and smiled apologetically to Jessica.
She pointed to a nearby building, one with a glass bay window and a small, wooden sign dangling from its awning. “It’s a bakery.”
“Thank God,” he said. “Smelling the bread was torture.”
Sean jogged to the front door and tried the handle, frowning when he found it locked. He stepped to the window and cupped his hands against the glass as he tried to look inside. The walls of the bakery were lined with loaves of bread, cooling on baker’s racks. Near the center of the room was an old woman, frozen in place as though holding still would somehow make him overlook her.
“Hi,” he said, knowing his voice would be muffled through the glass. “Can you come unlock the door?”
He pointed urgently toward the front entrance. She glanced nervously toward it as though contemplating her options. Begrudgingly, she walked toward the door.
“She’s going to open up for us,” Sean said as he hurried back to Jessica.
The lock slid aside, and the door opened a crack. A weathered old woman stuck her head into the gap and looked at Sean.
“Oui?” she asked.
Her gaze drifted to Jessica, and her eyes widened in fear. “Zut alors!”
She tried to close the door quickly but Sean was quicker, putting his bulk against the wood and holding it open.
“Stop pushing,” he said. “We just want something to eat. Bread. Do you understand me?”
“She doesn’t understand you,” Jessica said. Her eyes drifted up to the sign hanging above them. She could read the single word well enough. “Pain?”
The old woman stopped pushing against the door and stared with obvious distrust at the pair. “Pain?”
Jessica nodded at the obvious correction of her terrible French accent. She brought her hand to her lips like she was mimicking the motion of eating. “Pain. Then we leave.”
The old French woman looked back and forth between the Americans before disappearing into her store. She reappeared seconds later and shoved a round loaf of bread toward Sean.
“Vous allez,” she said urgently.
“You wouldn’t happen to have some cheese too, would you?” Sean asked.
Jessica grabbed his arm and smiled toward the woman. “Don’t press your luck. Let’s get out of here. This town gives me the creeps.”
The door slammed in their face, and the lock was drawn again. They walked back to the road with the loaf of bread tucked under Sean’s arm. It felt like the walls around them were filled with judgmental eyes, watching their every movement.
From the corner of his eye, Sean caught sight of a man’s face watching him from a doorway. He turned and locked eyes with a bearded Frenchman who merely scowled at him. The man’s eyes never left Sean and Jessica as they walked out of town.
They reached the barn as the sun was starting to set. Some chopped wood sat beside the bar, and Sean dragged over a couple logs that they could use for a seat. This far away from any real civilization, the stars glowed in the air above them. The night was a little cool but not uncomfortably so, and they enjoyed their bread dinner.
The bread was delicious and though his stomach still growled for something more substantial, Sean felt content. He rested his hands on the log beside him and tilted his head upward, staring at the stretch of the Milky Way, carving across the night’s sky.
“This is nice,” Jessica said as she piled some logs against each other in a pyramid shape.
“What are you working on?” Sean asked.
“Starting a fire, if I can remember even half the things they taught me in Girl Scouts.”
Sean laughed. “I don’t picture you in Girl Scouts. Well, maybe I could picture you in the uniform, if they made a slutty version for Halloween.”
She threw a handful of dried grass at him, which hit him in the face. He spit as he tried to pull a few blades of grass out of his mouth.
“Do you have a way to light it?” he asked. “Or are you one of those crazy nature chicks who can rub a couple sticks together and start a bonfire?”
Jessica smiled as she pulled over her backpack. Unzipping a side pocket, she pulled out a box of matches. “Wilkes made me pack some of this stuff when we were in the department store.”
“Smart man,” he said wistfully. He missed the Brit. It would have been nice to have him around.
She struck a match against the rough surface on the side of the box, and it flared to life. As she touched the match to the kindling, a fire spread quickly in her makeshift fire pit. The fire grew, and she added some larger logs to build the blaze.
“Who would have thought I’d be excited about starting a fire?”
Sean laughed. “No, I’ve pretty much got my fill of fires for… well, forever.”
She started to reply when they heard the sound of a twig snapping coming from the woods beyond the barn. They froze in place. Sean glanced over his shoulder and saw his cricket bat still leaning up against the side of the barn, well out of his reach.
Dark shadows appeared along the tree line, carrying an assortment of weapons in their hands. Sean closed his hand over Jessica’s as they stepped out of the trees.
The buildings around the Thames were swathed in relative silence. Fire crackled in the distance but no Fire Warriors roamed the river’s edge. The warriors had spread through the rest of London, searching for the other humans who had hidden within its suburbs.
Most of the buildings were ruined, crumbled to the ground from the intense flames that had gutted their interiors. A few structures still stood in different states of disrepair. One in particular was only slightly ruined. All four walls stood tall. Black soot stained the bricks above each dilapidated window, and the wooden doorframes had been burned to ash. The only visible destruction to the building’s exterior was a shattered upper corner.
Within the building’s interior, the bricks from the shattered corner rested on top of slabs of drywall. The impact of a figure driving through the edge of the wall crushed the two interior floors, bringing all the debris collapsing downward. The brick, wood, metal, and drywall came to rest together in a massive mound that stretched past the second story windows.
Deep within the pile, the ground shook faintly. Smaller rocks rolled from the pile of debris, rolling down to the bottom of the mound. The mound settled before immediately shaking again. A fist erupted from the depths of the crumbled floors, reaching toward the filtering sunlight from high above. The bloodied hand grabbed a slab of drywall and easily flipped it aside. The drywall slab struck the exterior wall and shattered.
With the slab pushed aside, General Abraxas was able to inhale without his ribs aching from the pressure on his chest. Blood trickled freely from wounds on his scalp and face. As he relaxed, the edges of the cuts started pulling together. From within the wounds, flames licked the cuts, sealing them shut. They didn’t heal cleanly, leaving ugly scars across his exposed skin.
Abraxas lifted his upper body, shaking free the dust that clung to his exposed chest. His skin was still damp from the tidal wave, and the dust from the ruined drywall turned to viscous paste on his skin. He scowled at the thought of Xander’s assault. General Abraxas had been so confident that he had cornered the Wind Warrior that he had greatly underestimated his opponent. Though he knew Xander had contacted the Water Elemental, he had no way of knowing the powers it had granted him. The tidal wave had been a surprise. Though he was able to get into the air before it struck, the wave still struck him with enough force to send him spiraling into the corner of the building in which he now resided.
He tried lifting his legs, but they refused to come. The General angrily brushed aside the bricks over his lower limbs and hissed at the sight. Both legs were mangled. The bones were broken, and his lower legs jutted at odd angles from his thighs. He knew he should be in pain and couldn’t tell if he was numb from shock or from a blessing from his master. Abraxas knew that, given enough time, even his broken legs would heal.
Even if his lower legs hadn’t been broken, Abraxas wouldn’t have been able to escape the bottom of the building. A thick, twisted rebar lay across his thighs, pinning him in place. He reached down and grasped it, pulling with his augmented strength. Despite his Elemental-infused power, the rebar wouldn’t budge.
With a growl of frustration, he released the metal pole and collapsed backward. He stretched his arms out beside him as he stared up at the small opening high above his head.
His frustration quickly shifted to nervousness, bordering on fear. He wouldn’t have long until he’d be forced to contact his master and tell it what had happened here. Abraxas would have to admit that, despite its multiple warnings to the contrary, he had failed… and Xander Sirocco had escaped. In his mind, he could see the best-case scenario as the Fire Elemental withdrawing its power and leaving him stranded in London. The worst-case scenario took little imagination. He had personally seen the Fire Elemental burn its own followers to ash for causing it general displeasure. What Abraxas had to share wouldn’t cause “general displeasure”. It would cause outright rage. He wasn’t sure if the Elemental had the ability to destroy him from such a great distance, but he wasn’t eager to find out.
Sitting back up, he looked again at the rebar. Extending his fingers, he formed the shape of a blade with his hand. Red flames sheathed his hand. He concentrated, and the heat of the flames intensified. The flames shifted from red to yellow to blinding blue. He lowered his hand until the flames touched the top of the thick, metal pole. Sparks showered the area as he started cutting through the rebar. Liquefied metal dripped onto the ground beside him, igniting the debris.
Despite sweat beading on his brow, he pressed downward, cutting deeper into the metal.
He wanted to set himself free but dreaded contacting the Elemental once it was done. He knew his master would blame him for letting Xander go, but Abraxas knew there was only one person to blame. The Wind Warrior had killed him men and driven him into the building.
Abraxas stopped cutting and looked upward toward the hole in the building’s wall. “I’ll find you, Wind Warrior, and I’ll carve out your heart.”
Lowering his hand, General Abraxas started cutting again while the bones of his legs clicked and knotted as they healed.
Figures emerged from the tree line. They were spread out in a line as they came into the clearing, and Sean quickly counted six men. As they stepped closer to the firelight, Sean recognized the bearded Frenchman in the front of the group. The man’s hands were empty but others in his group carried axes, pitchforks, and knives. One of the men had an unmarked bottle of wine hanging from his hand, and he took a long swig as he stared at the pair.
Sean and Jessica both stood. He took her hand and pulled her to his side. “What can we do for you, gentlemen?”
The bearded man said something in French and pointed toward Jessica. Sean furrowed his brow, wishing he spoke the language. Even without understanding the words, his tone told Sean all he needed to know.
“We haven’t done anything to you,” he said. “Why don’t you just walk away and leave us alone?”
The bearded man said something else, his voice tinged with anger. He touched his hair and then pointed to Jessica once more.
“I don’t understand what you’re saying,” Sean said.
He could feel his heart racing, and a knot formed in his throat. Sean had never been a confrontational man, preferring to disarm people with comedy so he wouldn’t have to fight. Staring at the Frenchmen, he could tell that the language barrier wasn’t the only reason comedy wouldn’t be enough in this situation. They had come looking for a fight.
The group stepped forward, getting closer to the pair. The smell of stale wine drifted across the campfire, and Sean wrinkled his nose in disgust.
“They’re drunk,” Jessica said, echoing Sean’s thoughts.
The Frenchman touched his hair insistently again before pointing once more toward Jessica.
Sean looked toward Jessica, and his eyebrows arched with disbelief.
“Holy crap. You think she’s a Fire Warrior, don’t you? You stupid, inbred idiots think she’s a Fire Warrior just because she’s blond?” His voice got louder and louder as he talked, the anger within him overwhelming his normally calm demeanor. “Do you ever leave your hillbilly little village and realize that the world is full of blond people? What exactly did you think—”
A wine bottle soared through the air and struck Jessica against the side of her head. She groaned once before stumbling backward. Her feet caught on the log she had been sitting on, and she fell backward onto the grass. Her head rolled to the side, and her eyes fell closed.
Sean leapt over the log and knelt quickly by her side. “Jessica? Jessica?”
He could see blood seeping from her temple, dripping down into her hair above her ear. His heart stopped as his hand reached out and felt the sticky blood. It coated his fingertips. He reached down, placed his fingers against her neck, and sighed slightly when he felt a quick pulse.
“Come on, Jessica. Wake up. I need you to be okay.”
He heard footsteps approaching, and the Frenchman’s shadow fell over them. The man said something angrily to Sean. Sean set his hand on the grass beside Jessica and felt a rock about the size of his palm. His fingers closed over the stone and he stared at his girlfriend, trying to hold back the tears that wanted to spill.
The Frenchman said something again and kicked Sean in the back. Sean turned, and the man motioned for him to stand.
Sean slid a leg underneath him and pushed himself into a crouched position. The man leaned forward and slipped a hand underneath Sean’s arm. With his other hand, Sean spun and slammed the rock into the Frenchman’s forehead. The man staggered, and his eyes tried to roll back into his head. Sean reared back and hit him again, this time across the jaw. The Frenchman slumped onto the ground, barely missing the campfire as he fell.
Sean pounced on the man, straddling him as he swung the stone again.
“She’s just a woman, you moron!” Sean yelled as the rage consumed him. He swung again, oblivious to the blood he was getting on his hand and arm. “If she’d been a Fire Warrior, she would have killed you the second you stepped out of the trees.”
The other Frenchmen were dumbfounded by the ferocity of the rotund American. It took them a moment before they started rushing toward their leader’s side.
Sean shifted as he heard them coming and something hard and cold pressed against his thigh. He looked down and saw a pistol protruding from the prone man’s waistband.
He dropped the rock and fumbled with the pistol. He pulled it free just as the first of the Frenchmen were reaching him.
Sean leapt to his feet and shoved the barrel of the pistol into the man’s nose. The Frenchman stopped abruptly, and his eyes widened in surprise. For a moment, the man’s hand shook as it held the small hatchet, but he quickly dropped the small weapon and raised his hands in surrender.
Sean looked around at the other Frenchmen and was glad to see them equally hesitant to approach him.
“You may not understand what I’m saying but I bet you understand this, don’t you? Now back off!”
They understood well enough to back away slowly from the enraged man. The one toward whom the barrel was pointed didn’t dare move until Sean pushed the barrel into his nose, forcing him to take a step away.
Sean pointed the gun toward the unconscious and bloodied man at his feet and then motioned toward the woods with the barrel. “Now take your buddy here and run. If I ever see you again, I’ll shoot every one of you. Do I make myself clear?”
He knew they didn’t understand the words, but they clearly understood his intent. Two of the men hesitantly approached and grabbed the bearded man by his arms, dragging him away. They continued to look back toward him nervously as they disappeared back into the wood line.
Sean kept the pistol pointed at them long after they were gone, sure that they were going to reappear at any second. When his hand started shaking uncontrollably, he lowered the pistol and turned, rushing to Jessica’s side.
The blood had already matted in her hair near the temple, and her skin looked ashen. Sean choked back a sob as he ran his fingers gently across her temple.
He tucked the pistol into the back of his pants and slid his arms underneath her. He lifted her with ease, surprised at how little she weighed.
“I’m going to get you inside. Just stay with me.”
He stumbled across the field to the red barn. Balancing her in his arms, he pulled the door open and stepped into the gloomy interior.
“Don’t worry, Jessica, you’re going to be okay. You have to be okay. Please be okay.”
Ice crystals began to form on Xander’s skin. The cold was biting, but he did his best to ignore it. His eyes tried to drift downward again. He struggled against the urge, but they found their way to an unmarked spot in the Atlantic Ocean. No matter how much he struggled against it, the urge was an itch that was quickly becoming inconsolable.
“Leave me alone,” he said into the thin air of the upper atmosphere.
The ice crystals on his face seemed to sparkle with their own inner light. “It’s time for you to return to me.”
Xander shook his head, knowing the Water Elemental would sense the movement and understand his refusal.
“I already failed. Isn’t that enough for you? Can’t you just let me be?”
“If you don’t return, you’ll freeze to death. The air is too thin to hold heat. The blood will eventually freeze in your veins.”
Xander frowned. He wanted his heart to ache at the thought of his death, but it didn’t. Instead, he just felt numb. “Maybe that’s what I deserve. Maybe dying up here is my fate.”
“I won’t allow you to throw your life away. We had an arrangement, and it involves you returning to see me when you task is through.”
Xander reached up with stiff limbs and wiped his eyes. “My mission isn’t through. I failed. I killed people. I took a hundred lives using your power. Can’t you understand that?”
He could practically hear the Water Elemental’s disapproving sigh of disgust in his mind. “This is a war. Did you think a well-designed debate would convince the Fire Warriors to give up their crusade? Is there anything that they could say to you that would make you give up on the woman you love?”
Xander had nothing to say.
“Understand me, Xander Sirocco. We are the rebellion. Natural progression wants the Fire Caste to succeed in its quest to destroy humanity. Our kind has always believed that the flames will burn the world of man back down to the earth. We have become the uprising that’s trying to change the natural order. You couldn’t possibly expect a bloodless coup.”
Her words felt hollow, despite the fact that Xander hadn’t considered himself the rebel. It seemed odd to believe that the Fire Warriors were in the right; that in the story of his life, they were the men in white, while he was the villain in black.
“What difference does it make if I’m right or wrong? I didn’t get rid of the Fire Warriors in London. I had one chance to save Sammy, and I blew it. Just leave me alone so I can die up here in peace.”
“Your lover is still alive,” the Water Elemental said. “There is still a chance to save her but only if you return to me now.”
Xander chewed on the inside of his lip to stifle the biting retorts he was considering.
“If you don’t, I’ll turn the water in your body to ice and let you fall to the ground like a comet. Then any hope of saving your Fire Warrior woman will be lost forever.”
Xander’s frown deepened. With a sigh, he tilted forward and began rocketing back down toward the ocean below.
Sean laid Jessica down in the soft hay of the barn’s upper loft. He gently pulled back her eyelid and saw mostly the white of her eyes.
“Come on, Jessica,” he said. “Please wake up. You have a concussion, and you’re not supposed to fall asleep. I need you to wake up.”
He shook her shoulders gently, and she groaned softly.
“There you are. Come on. Wake up. Wake up for me.”
Her body went limp again and slumped back into the hay. Sean ran his hand along the side of her head and felt the matted blood against her scalp. The cut on her head bled profusely as he carried her into the barn but had already clotted. Even so, she had lost more blood than he would have liked. He needed her to wake up.
Sean gently patted the side of her cheek, but Jessica didn’t respond. He pulled back his hand further but froze.
“I’m really sorry about this. Please don’t hate me or beat the crap out of me when you wake up.”
He swung hard. The sound of its impact with her cheek was sickening, and he could immediately see red finger marks across her pale skin. She groaned loudly, and her eyes fluttered open.
Sean laughed softly. “There you are.”
He rubbed the redness on her cheek as though it would make it fade away quicker. Jessica blinked hard, and her eyes struggled to focus.
“Can you hear me?” he asked. “Why don’t you try to sit up? Can you talk?”
“You ask too many questions,” she moaned. She placed a palm against her forehead and squeezed her eyes shut.
“No, no. No closing your eyes. I just got them open again.”
Jessica forced her eyes open and looked up at Sean. She immediately pressed her lips together, and her skin took on an odd shade of green. Pitching forward, Jessica threw up onto the floor and Sean’s shoes.
For a moment, Sean was frozen with disgust. He reached forward and gently patted her back.
“There, there. Let it all out.”
Jessica coughed a couple more times and ran the back of her hand across her mouth and nose.
“Oh God, I’m so sorry,” she said.
“Don't worry. This isn’t the first time a pretty girl who isn't fully in control of her faculties threw up on my shoes.”
Jessica sat upright and chuckled. “Aw, you think I’m pretty?”
Sean laughed and brushed her hair out of her face.
Jessica reached up and gingerly touched the side of her head. “What happened? My head is killing me.”
Sean cringed, not sure he wanted to be the one to tell her about the attack. He certainly didn’t want to tell her about beating the Frenchman with the rock. “What’s the last thing you remember?”
“We were sitting around the campfire. After that… that’s it.”
“There was… you were…” He looked in her eyes and saw her obvious concern. Sean smiled softly and ran his hand down across her cheek. “You tripped when you were getting up and hit your head on a rock. I was worried about you.”
Jessica closed one eye and was glad not to be seeing double. “Would you mind too much if I lay down? It’s killing my head to be sitting up.”
“Just don’t fall asleep,” he said. Sean sat down in the hay and patted his lap. “Go ahead and lay your head on my lap.”
“That’s the weakest pick-up line I’ve heard,” she joked.
She laid her head down but immediately shifted as something firm pressed against her head.
“Is that a gun in your pocket, or are you just happy to see me?” she mumbled.
Sean blushed and pulled the pistol from his waistband, tossing it into the hay. “Strangely enough, both.”
He patted his lap again and invited her to lie down. She lied her head down on his rough jeans but still felt nauseated. Sean ran his hand through her hair, avoiding the matted blood caked near her temple.
“Say something funny,” she said.
Sean frowned. His mind always froze when someone puts him on the spot.
“Come on, Sean. My head is killing me, and I don't want to think about Xander and his crazy war anymore.”
Sean cleared his throat. “Sometimes I lie awake at night thinking about how much scarier the world would be if there were evil mimes.”
Jessica laughed, but it quickly became a groan as she clutched the side of her head.
“Sorry,” Sean said.
Jessica took a deep breath and placed her hand on his arm. “Don’t be. Tell me more about these evil mimes.”
Sean brightened at her smile. “Think about it. You’d never hear them coming. And if they did get caught by the cops, they’d never talk.”
“But would they actually commit a crime, or would they just act it out?” she asked.
They both laughed, bringing a little bit of warmth back into their drafty barn. As their laughter died away, Sean looked down at the beautiful blond lying in his lap.
“I hope Xander hurries back,” he said.
Jessica smiled and reached up, brushing her hand across his cheek. “I don’t.”
They stayed up most of the rest of the night, talking and laughing.
The Fire Elemental drummed its fingers on the armrests of the recliner in irritation. Its host had been nothing but a bother. It couldn’t believe that she still existed at all, much less that she could assert her will onto their body.
The Elemental slammed its fist into the armrest. “It’s not our body,” it corrected. “This is my body.”
General Kobal looked up from his place across the room at the Elemental’s unmitigated outburst. He arched his eyebrow inquisitively but quickly looked away when he realized no explanation would be forthcoming.
It sat back and stared out the broken bay windows. The Elemental should have been savoring its victory, since the last vestiges of the human resistance in Los Angeles had been crushed. Instead, its mind drifted to Xander and his constant elusion. Sammy had said time and again that the Wind Warrior would defeat Abraxas, and she had clearly been correct. She had also said it was only a matter of time before he found the other Elementals and was finally ready to face the Fire Elemental in their final confrontation.
The Elemental smiled faintly at the thought. Sammy foolishly believed that gaining the strength of the other Elementals would be enough to defeat the Fire Elemental. There was so much more that she didn’t understand, nor did the Elemental believe Xander knew any better either. He would blindly march into combat with the Fire Elemental without ever knowing that he could never win.
As the Elemental pondered its future, it heard a faint whisper in the air around it, a beckoning call from one of its distant minions. It knew the voice well enough, though it believed at last this minion was actually dead. The Elemental clenched its hand into a fist. Depending on how the conversation went, there was a strong chance that General Abraxas would wish himself dead.
It closed its eyes and quickly teleported its awareness across the world. The glowing eye appeared once more above the broken building next to the Thames. It looked in a further state of disrepair than when it had seen it. The front wall was smashed as though from within. The bricks of the wall were scattered across the street, charred and blackened.
In the middle of the debris, Abraxas sat on the asphalt. His legs were bent awkwardly beneath him, and he was forced to lean backward to look up at the Elemental.
“Master,” Abraxas said.
The Fire Elemental remained silent, watching the disgraced and broken Fire Warrior. A dominant part of it wanted to set the General’s blood on fire, igniting its own power that coursed through the man’s veins.
Abraxas seemed to sense its inner debate and raised his hand apologetically. “Please, Master, forgive me.”
“The Wind Warrior has escaped,” it said matter-of-factly.
General Abraxas nodded slowly. “He wielded the power of the Water Elemental. I was… I was caught unaware. It won’t happen again.”
“You weren’t caught unaware. You were arrogant. You treated my mission to you as a means to end a personal vendetta. Instead of realizing that the power I gave you granted you a second chance at leading my armies across the planet, you saw them as a means to an end. That brash overconfidence made you underestimate a man who single-handedly wielded the full might of one Elemental and at least the partial strength of a second. Only a fool would have assumed Xander Sirocco would have rolled over and died as easily as you nearly did.”
“Please, Master. Let me prove my worth. Just heal my legs, and I’ll chase after the Wind Warrior. I won’t stop until he’s dead or I am.”
The eye stared down unblinkingly. “No, General Abraxas. You’ve proven just how unworthy you really are. Your legs will heal in time and, when they do, you’re to report to our underground castle.”
Abraxas raised his head in confusion. He furrowed his brow, and the new scars across his scalp twisted from the motion. “The castle? There’s no one still there. We only left a small retinue of guards behind. What could I possibly do there?”
Though Abraxas couldn’t see it, the Elemental smiled wickedly. “That small retinue of guards is watching over a single prisoner. You will replace them. Until I deem you worthy of a more important task, you will guard Lord Balor. And General, if your prisoner dies, so will you. This I promise.”
The General looked like someone had stabbed him in the chest. He struggled for breath, knowing that his new assignment was a metaphorical death sentence. He would never lead the armies of the Fire Warriors again.
“What of the Wind Warrior?” he asked meekly. “He’s still out there. Who will you send after him?”
“No one,” the Elemental replied.
Abraxas shook his head. “I don’t understand.”
“You were my most trusted minion, and you failed me epically. Clearly, I can’t trust anyone to kill the Wind Warrior. So I won’t be sending any of my Fire Warriors after him. I’m going to kill him myself. I’ll find Xander Sirocco and show you what happens to those who stand against the Fire Caste.”
Xander flew fast enough that contrails stretched for miles behind him. He flashed across the sky as he sped toward the heart of the Atlantic Ocean.
He didn’t bother slowing as he reached the surface of the water. The impact sent a geyser of water hundreds of feet in the air and sent concentric circles of waves rolling from the impact zone.
As he entered the water, his physiology shifted intuitively, and he started breathing in the briny water. Though the water should have slowed his descent, he moved through the liquid as though he were still in the air. He sank lower and lower, oblivious to the pressures of the ocean that would have crushed a normal man. The sea grew darker around him, but Xander didn’t notice. His eyes glowed neon blue. Through his eyes, the water near the sandy bottom of the ocean was as clear as the tropical waters in the Caribbean.
The city ruins quickly approached and he finally slowed, drifting on the undersea currents until he was over the hilltop and its once-glowing pool. Under the water, the pool seemed a foolish piece of architecture, just a square flagstone framework around more of the flowing ocean.
He knew the Water Elemental wasn’t in her pool. It wasn’t necessary anymore as it had been when they first found her. She was a part of the ocean, all around him. He could feel her presence from the moment he’d skimmed the surface of the waves, and she had followed him until he reached her ancestral home.
Xander stopped in the water and turned himself upright. His hair floated freely in the water, drifting upward and framing his head like a halo.
“I’m here,” he said. The words escaped as bubbles from his mouth, but the sound carried clearly through the heavy water.
The water in front of him shimmered. A school of fish swam toward the disturbance, turning upward at the last moment to form tendrils of hair. The bubbles that had escaped his mouth drifted horizontally through the water, settling into position as eyes and a thin mouth. The eye bubbles filled with the bioluminescent he’d seen before. Though her form was virtually impossible to discern—just the impression of undersea currents framing her curvaceous hips, torso, and arms—he knew he was facing the Water Elemental.
“I’m here,” he repeated. “Let’s get this over with.”
“Get what over with?”
Xander frowned. Despite it being unnecessary, he moved his arms and legs as though he were treading water. “Taking your power back. I just want this done with.”
He got the impression that the Water Elemental tilted her head inquisitively to the side. “Why would I do that?”
“Quit screwing with me,” he said. “I failed. You sent me to London with one purpose—to get rid of all the Fire Warriors. I didn’t. I got so sidetracked trying to save one family that I wound up leaving with thousands of warriors still in the city. I gave up my own humanity to save one stupid family. I screwed up. Now just finish this.”
“Xander Sirocco,” she said, “I didn’t send you to London to get rid of Fire Warriors. I’m no fool. One man, even one wielding all the might of the Wind Elemental, and a portion of my own power, still wouldn’t stand a chance against thousands of Fire Warriors.”
Xander furrowed his brow. “I don’t get it. If it wasn’t for the Fire Warriors, then why did you send me there?”
“Sometime between when we agreed to create you and when you showed up in my city, I had lost my faith in humanity. I wasn’t sure I wanted to save it anymore. I wasn’t sure the Fire Elemental was wrong anymore. I sent you to London to prove that humanity was worth preserving.”
She flowed closer to him, her bubble features stopping only inches from his face. “You say you gave up your humanity for one family. Do you know what I witnessed? I witnessed a single man willingly sacrificing his morality and his humanity to save even three of his fellow humans. Do you understand the difference?”
Xander shook his head, confused.
“What you see as a huge sacrifice for little reward, I see as someone willing to make an ultimate sacrifice to save the lives of even the fewest of his brethren. Had you known that they could have escaped but the cost would have been your life, would you have sacrificed yourself for them?”
He thought back to his group standing on the bridge, surrounded by General Abraxas and his legion of Fire Warriors. Hundreds of thoughts went through his mind as he tried to formulate a plan, most of which had resulted in his death. He had only dismissed those options because a better one presented itself.
“Yes,” he said simply.
“That’s why you didn’t fail me. That’s why you’re the perfect choice to harness the power of the four Elementals. If you care so much for even one family, amidst the billions on the planet, then you’re the right person to save the planet from destruction.”
Xander swallowed. He wanted to smile with relief, but the ache in his heart remained and refused to allow him any semblance of happiness.
“So what happens now?”
The essence of the Water Elemental turned away from him. He could no longer see the bubble facial features, and instead was faced with dozens of black fish eyes staring at him from her makeshift hair.
“Now I give you my power.”
He wanted to reach out to her but there was nothing there he could grab hold. “I mean after that. Where do I go from here?”
“You find the Earth Elemental and complete the triad. Only with his power will you be able to find and face the Fire Elemental.”
“Why can’t I find the Fire Elemental now? I felt the tug of your position the second I left the Wind Elemental. I’m sure if I concentrated right now, I could find the Earth Elemental. But every time I think about the Fire Elemental, I get nothing.”
“You can’t find him because he doesn’t want to be found. He’s concealing himself from you, and your powers are too new to you to fully utilize.”
Xander willed himself forward, and he drifted up behind the Water Elemental. She turned as he approached and he faced her glowing, seemingly soulless, eyes. “But you can find him, right? He has someone I love. If I can find him, then I can save Sammy.”
Despite her features being made of nothing more than sea currents and bubbles, he swore she looked wistful. “Going to her now is suicide. Find the Earth Elemental. Only then will you be ready to find the Fire Elemental and rescue your lady friend.”
“What are you not telling me?” he asked.
“Your mission is done,” she said. “Accept my power.”
The ocean flared brilliantly. The fish that created the illusion of her body fled in all directions as the water before Xander filled with sparkling stars. They were too brilliant to look at, and he was forced to turn away.
He felt a concussive blast centered on where the Elemental had stood seconds before. A wave of energy rolled over him. The force of the blast forced the water away from his spot above the city’s central pool. The water and power washed over and past him, leaving him hovering in the stale air, hanging in a dry pocket of air deep under the ocean.
He stared forward in wonder as he saw the brilliant blue, shimmering wall holding the water at bay. As he watched, the blue light quickly receded and the water rushed back toward him.
The crushing water slammed into him from all sides at once, but he didn’t feel its pressure. He became porous to the water, and it flowed over and through him simultaneously. It filled him from within until he felt like he was overflowing with its might. His body felt like it was tearing itself apart cell by cell as his consciousness stretched through the oceans, flowed into the seas, coursed up the rivers, and even fell in the raindrops from the sky.
It wasn’t the connection to the water that scared Xander so terribly. It was the realization that with the power of the water came an instant connection to every man, woman, child, and animal on the planet. He felt the water in their bodies, flowing through their veins, and pulsing through their hearts.
He gasped and sucked in lungsful of salt water. The physical connection to his body drew his awareness back to his spot above the pool. He looked down as his eyes came back into focus. The pool no longer glowed with its bioluminescence. Nor would it ever again, he realized.
It was the Water Elemental that had made it glow.
He was the Water Elemental now.
I never thought we’d already be putting out the third book. If it weren’t for the amazing rockstar fans of the World Aflame saga, I’d still be meandering through the pages of book 2 instead of publishing book 3. You demanded more and, since you are what make me successful as an author, I aim to please.
As with my other acknowledgements, my first and sincerest thank you has to go to my editor Cynthia Shepp. She believed in me as an author when I was unheard of beyond my close friends and family. She read my manuscripts and saw a spark of something great hidden within my overused commas, misplaced words, fragmented sentences, and the highly overused word: “tacky”. I know, I mentioned that word in both of the last two books I’ve published. Does that make it tacky?
The greatest thank you goes to Beckie, Courtney, Dyan, and Marya (listing names alphabetically sucks when you work with a B, C, and D, huh Marya?). These amazing ladies sort through piles upon piles of manuscripts to find the absolute best. They’ve published some phenomenal books through Clean Teen Publishing and yet somehow keep believing in the sole male on their docket, publishing not just my World Aflame saga but the Brink of Distinction trilogy and even looking at my next steampunk series. Your support has been truly inspirational.
I started with a sincere thank you to my rockstar fans and it’s fitting that I end that way as well. You all have made the World Aflame series a bestseller, with nearly 6000 downloads just of book 1. You’ve made it award winning, receiving an award in the international Readers’ Favorite competition. More importantly, you’ve helped my humble books reach an international audience, which I wouldn’t have believed when I started writing six years ago. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.
Now time to quit stalling and start working on book 4!
Can’t wait for the fourth book in the World Aflame series? Need more Jon Messenger? Check out his newest trilogy out on Amazon right now!
Burden of Sisyphus (Book #1)
Fall of Icarus (Book #2)
Purge of Prometheus (Book #3)