With a sigh, he turned away from his escape and glanced back toward the city. The dragon would be there, in its new castle, ruling over its kingdom of ruin. Lord Balor had no interest in facing the dragon, but his daughter was there, as much if not more of a prisoner than he had been.
If he was to die, and he had no doubt that would be his fate, Balor would die freeing his Sammy from that monster rather than running. He stole one last glance over his shoulder and looked longingly toward the east, but he knew it was a useless endeavor. If the Fire Elemental won and humanity was destroyed, there would be nowhere for him to run that would be safe. The Fire Caste would rule the world, and he would be a fugitive within their kingdom.
No, he realized. It was far better to die on his feet, facing the dragon, than live running for the rest of his short life. Pulling back his shoulders and puffing out his chest defiantly, Balor began the arduous march toward Los Angeles.
Far beneath Lord Balor’s feet, within the rubble of the ruined castle, an impossibly large stalactite shifted. It scraped across the ground, destroying the flagstones on which it had collapsed. Deep in the grooves of its passage, blood mixed with the obsidian shards and dusty ground.
As quickly as it had moved, the stalactite fell still once more. From beside it, a figure stood. One arm was missing, torn apart just below the shoulder. Sinew and blood dripped from the wound, mixing with the ruined black leather armor encasing his body.
General Abraxas ignited a flame on his hand and brought it up to the torn limb, cauterizing the wound. He hissed softly as it burned the flesh and sealed the arteries. The smell of cooked meat filled the air, but it brought with it only a wave of nausea.
Abraxas knew he should be dead. The stalactite had nearly crushed him to death. It was only the undying will of the Fire Elemental and the power it had instilled within him that kept him alive once again. It had healed his wounds following being set on fire by that whelp of a girl. The power had allowed him to survive both the tidal wave in London and the subsequent impaling on a rebar. Now, it had kept him alive, albeit not in one piece, when the collapsing cavern had destroyed his arm.
He was weak; he could feel the fatigue settling over him as he fought off the shock to his body. He had lost a lot of blood, but he refused to rest even for a moment. If ever there was proof that he had a destiny, it was his continued survival against all odds.
The Fire Elemental had been wrong to relegate him to watching the captive Lord Balor. He was destined for far more. He would personally kill the Wind Warrior to prove his loyalty.
The general smiled at the thought, revealing the rows of sharpened teeth. His gaze drifted to the ruined wall of the keep, the stones of which were scattered across the ground. A sense of dread settled into his gut at the sight. The Fire Elemental, in its frustration after London, had given him only the task of guarding Lord Balor until its return. The death of the castle’s former lord would be hard to explain to his master, even if he wasn’t to blame.
He strode over to what was left of the wall and weaved through the larger obsidian stones. Repeatedly, he reached out with his right arm to steady himself, only to be reminded of his loss. Each reminder brought a growl of anger and frustration from his throat.
Near the edge of the cliff, far below which the lava bubbled furiously, he found the remains of the battlements atop of the keep’s wall. They were strewn about recklessly, as though they had bounced across the ground after their fall. Abraxas searched them each in turn, looking for the shattered remains of the prisoner. At each turn, he was disappointed to find nothing but broken stone.
As he rounded another of the black stones, something metallic glistened in the ambient light. Furrowing his brow, General Abraxas strode to the strange object.
Sneering in anger, the general reached down and retrieved the broken manacles that had once been locked around Lord Balor’s wrists. There was no sign of the prisoner, nor was Abraxas foolish enough to believe the former lord had merely fallen over the edge of the cliff and into the magma below.
No, Lord Balor lived, and General Abraxas would show his loyalty to his master by bringing Balor to the dragon.
He would not fail his master again.
Sean sat on the beach and wiggled his toes in the sand. The water lapped across his feet. It was warmer than normal but he wasn’t surprised, with three volcanoes nearby. He leaned back, letting the warm tropical sunlight soak into his wet clothes. He felt more human after… well, what could only be called a shower.
There was no one else around. Jessica was showering still and Xander was deep in concentration, sitting cross-legged at the peak of the dome. For his part, Sean just watched the horizon. The sky above them was clear. The plumes of smoke from the erupting volcanoes were being unnaturally pushed away from Easter Island, leaving the center of the island basked in its natural sun.
Sean glanced over his shoulder to the edge of the trees. There, hovering just above one of the only standing palm trees, was a single, small raincloud. It poured water down in a steady stream, underneath which Jessica stood. She was fully clothed, as interested in washing the soot from her clothes as she was her body. Out of the goodness of her heart, and certainly not her desire to take her time in the shower, she had graciously let Sean shower first.
As he watched, Jessica stepped out from underneath the rain. It continued to pour, oblivious to the lack of audience. She squeezed her hair, straining as much water as possible onto the sandy beach. Looking up, she caught Sean’s eye and smiled. With a toss of her hair worthy of a model shoot, the blonde walked over to Sean and plopped down gracelessly beside him.
“How are you feeling?” Sean asked.
“A little more human,” she replied.
Sean tried his best not to let his gaze drift away from her eyes. Her shirt was soaked with rainwater and clung tightly to her body.
“Things got a little crazy when Xander was absorbing the Earth Elemental’s powers, huh?”
Jessica laughed softly as she scooped up a handful of sand. “Here’s a phrase I never thought I’d say, ‘It’s okay, we just nearly died. We’ve been through worse.’ I hope that sounds just as silly to you as it does to me.”
Sean chuckled, though a part of him worried about her. They’d been in more life-threatening situations in the past few months than most people experienced in their lifetime.
“It’s not too late to tap out, before we have to head back to the States. I mean, come on, we’re going to face a dragon.”
Jessica let the sand slide through her fingers, all the while not bothering to turn toward her new boyfriend. “Don’t be stupid. Of course I have to be there. You guys aren’t smart enough to do this without me.” Sean chuckled, but she could see the agreement in his smirk. “What about you? Are you going to stick around?”
“Of course. Someday, they’re going to write epic stories about Xander. I’m not going to be a footnote that reads, ‘and his friend who bailed just before the stuff got good.’”
Jessica was glad to hear it, though she’d never admit how happy she was to have the curly-haired man around. Despite the smile on his face, Sean looked distracted. “Is everything good? I don’t mean the nearly dying stuff. You just seem like you’ve got a lot on your mind.”
Sean kept staring at the horizon, watching the hypnotic ebb and flow of the waves rolling toward the island. “Can I get a little metaphysical with you?”
“Without buying me dinner first?” Jessica joked.
Sean finally glanced at his girlfriend and, against his wishes, smiled at the lame joke. “I’m really fixated on what the Earth Elemental said.”
“About the world falling apart if either Xander or the Fire Elemental die? It’s bothering me, too.”
“No, not that part. I mean, that’s jacked up. How do you fight to the death when neither party is allowed to die? No, the other stuff he said.”
Jessica shrugged. “I was a little stressed out at the time, trying not to die again, and
may or may not remember everything that was said. Refresh my memory.”
Sean turned toward Jessica and sat cross-legged, ignoring the sand that crept up his pants legs. “He didn’t come right out and say it, but he kept talking about the cycle: earth to water to wind to fire.”
“The Earth gives way to—”
Sean waved his hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, all that crap. But how do they know all about the cycle if this is the first time? The Earth Elemental said humanity would give way for a new dominant species on the planet. I think the words matter. I mean, what if mankind wasn’t the first cycle they’ve gone through with all this? What if there was a previous dominant species that we replaced after they screwed it up?”
Jessica arched her eyebrows. “You’re not going to bring up the dinosaurs, are you?”
“Yes, the dinosaurs, exactly! Think about it. The whole world started with Pangaea, one super continent where all the dinosaurs lived. Then, boom, all of a sudden something happens and wipes them all out. Scientists keep saying it was probably a meteor, but what if it wasn’t? Think about it. What would a meteor have done to the planet? Set it on fire? Filled the sky with ash to choke out most other life? Doesn’t that sound exactly like something the Fire Elemental would do?”
“I’m impressed you know about Pangaea. But it doesn’t change the fact that if I didn’t know you better, I’d say you were a giant stoner.”
“The Earth Elemental could have easily made Pangaea for the dinosaurs,” Sean continued as though he hadn’t heard her. “After they screwed it up somehow, the Fire Elemental wipes them out, the Earth Elemental splits the continent, and they start over, only this time with primitive mankind. It makes sense.”
Jessica pinched the bridge of her nose. “I want to tell you that none of that makes sense, but we just held a conversation with an Easter Island head before Xander became the embodiment of the Earth itself. Anything’s possible at this point.”
“Do you think they ever tried a Xander before?”
Jessica paused. “A Xander?”
Sean glanced away from the blonde and stared across the ocean. “They must have had Warriors for each of the elements. The fact that a Velociraptor Fire Warrior is a pretty badass mental image notwithstanding, do you think they tried this before? Creating someone who can stop the cycle?”
“I don’t really know—”
“Because they failed,” Sean said bluntly. He turned back toward his girlfriend. “If they tried it, they failed because the dinosaurs were wiped out. I just keep thinking that we’re not taking this seriously enough, and I know that’s ironic coming from me. I keep worrying the Fire Elemental is just sitting back laughing right now, knowing that it kicked the crap out of a Sarcosuchus Water Elemental once before and is about to do the same to Xander.”
“I think by this point we’re all taking this seriously,” Jessica said. “Just because you’re joking doesn’t mean you’re not; we’ve known each other long enough to know it’s just your defense mechanism.”
They sat in silence, watching the lapping waves and trying not to see the lava pouring into the ocean not far away. It was peaceful, sitting on a deserted island in the middle of the Pacific. It was easy to ignore the fact that the world was coming to an end. Sean mentally noted Easter Island as a place to visit, once this was all over.
Jessica chuckled softly, disrupting Sean’s musings. He turned toward her inquisitively. “What’s so funny?”
“Pterodactyl Wind Warriors,” she said.
For a moment, he merely arched an eyebrow before he started snickering. Sean couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the thought. They both laughed until their sides hurt. It felt good just to laugh for no particular reason, to forget about the insanity of their lives for just a moment.
As he wiped away the tears from his eyes, Sean glanced over his shoulder. “What do you suppose Xander’s doing right now?”
Jessica shrugged. “I’m sure he’s off in his own little world.”
Xander’s eyes glowed brilliantly as he hovered a few feet above the pinnacle of the dome. His body was still on Easter Island, but his mind was half a world away. It was hard to concentrate, with the sensation of the air, water, and earth fighting for supremacy within his consciousness. It was one thing when he was feeling the breath leaving the lungs of a mountain climber or even when he became part of the underwater currents. Feeling the shifting of tectonic plates, however, seemed far too cerebral.
He didn’t try to guide his awareness; rather, he trusted it to lead him where he needed to go. He felt his essence lift from his body and speed north and east, leaving Easter Island far behind. There were two people he needed to find, one of which he feared would conceal itself from his prying. He had no reason to worry, however. The second his spirit made landfall, he could feel the gentle cooing of the Fire Elemental, urging him forward. It wanted to be found; it wanted the final confrontation that was to come.
Xander had never been to Los Angeles, but everyone knew the ruined city had once been the heart of the cinematic world. He floated over the smoldering ruins, examining the destruction around him. Through the haze of smoke, he could see the hills to the north. Only a single “O” remained standing in what had once been the iconic Hollywood sign.
The world around him shifted to black, white, and shades of gray. The fires burned blindingly white while the ash in the air was dark and foreboding. He didn’t fully understand his powers, but he needn’t to know what was happening. Atop the tallest remaining skyscraper, the only splash of color emerged from the depressing landscape. Vibrant red light spilled from the top-floor apartment, pouring out of the windows and spilling over the balcony.
“Come to me,” the Fire Elemental beckoned. “Come to me, Xander Sirocco, and let us end this farce once and for all.”
Xander no longer felt the fear burning in his gut. It used to be overwhelming, the thought of facing the dragon alone. Now, he faced the red glow atop the building with a sense of destiny rather than foreboding.
Without a reply, Xander turned away from the Fire Elemental. He could hear its insistent calls, urging him to return and face it, but Xander had one more task at hand.
His spirit floated beyond the city limits and color returned to the world, albeit in multiple shades of brown. The desert stretched out for hundreds of miles to the east, crisscrossed sparingly by dark gray highways and interstate roads. His eyes scanned the distant horizon, but he didn’t expect to see anything at such a distance.
Sammy had once told him that she and her clan of Fire Warriors had lived in the California desert, not far outside Los Angeles. Of all his adversaries, the one he needed now he hadn’t yet seen. Lord Balor had once sent his own daughter to assassinate Xander, long before he had fully assumed his mantle as a Wind Warrior. General Abraxas, one of Balor’s leading officers, had become a constant thorn in their side, but the lord himself had remained curiously absent.
He glanced hopelessly behind him, toward the gloomy remains of the city. There was life there, mostly Fire Warriors but a few humans in hiding. He reached out and touched them, sensing everything he could discern from the air they breathed, the water in their bodies, and their weight on the earth, but none of them were Lord Balor.
Turning back toward the desert, his brow furrowed since he had almost hoped to find the lord in the city with the Fire Elemental. He felt the currents of air moving lazily across the desert, searching for signs of life. The shifting sands whispered to him, telling him of footprints long since erased. It was the water, however, that was most telling. The dry landscape left spots of water glowing like beacons among the otherwise parched desert. Some spots were merely oases—a pond or small lake set in stark contrast to the brown of the soil around it—but some of the signs of water came from people.
One in particular caught his attention. A man stumbled across the loose, shifting sands as he marched unerringly toward Los Angeles. His water content was dangerously low. Xander wasn’t
a medical expert, nor had he taken any classes in college like biology, but he was certain someone with that little water remaining in their body would be knocking on death’s door.
His curiosity piqued, Xander raced over the desert until he hovered over the man. The Fire Warrior paused when Xander arrived, though the Wind Warrior knew there was no way the man could sense his astral presence. The man’s blond hair was shot with gray, showing his age even though the change in color was barely visible. His face was gaunt and recent wounds marred both wrists. He raised his head toward the scorching sun overhead and stared at the burning orb with a defiance that bordered on regal posture.
The man’s blond hair had a fullness that was familiar to Xander. His high cheekbones and full lips, even cracked and peeling as they were, were far too familiar. It was his stark blue eyes, though, that convinced Xander of the Fire Warrior’s identity.
Xander and Lord Balor had never met before today, but they stood facing one another with an ancient familiarity. It took Xander a moment to remember the Fire Warrior couldn’t actually see him; that the man was actually looking angrily through him and toward the glaring sun.
Balor looked on the cusp of fainting. He didn’t appear to be the strong leader of a clan of Fire Warriors and not at all the dangerous figure Sammy had made him out to be. He looked like a man who had recently suffered great torture. His wrists still bled where he had been bound. Small cuts and scratches marred his face and neck. Something wasn’t right, as though the man who had started this war between the two castes had been reduced to nothing more than a prisoner.
With an exhausted sigh, Lord Balor lowered his head and pressed on, following I-10 as it drove straight toward the ruined city.
The Wind Warrior felt surprisingly bad for the man. Lord Balor may have been his unseen adversary before the dragon made its appearance, but he had clearly fallen from the Fire Elemental’s graces. He couldn’t imagine why. That wasn’t entirely true, Xander realized. Balor had failed to kill him on multiple occasions. There was also the chance Lord Balor had chosen to try to protect his daughter from becoming a host. He couldn’t imagine a scenario in which a father would be complacent with his daughter being erased and replaced with something as evil as the Fire Elemental.
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