Elementals: Book 3: The Dark World

Chapter Nineteen

Ash felt his heart beat faster as he stepped through the swirling black Portal and felt a cold hard concrete beneath his paws. They had appeared in the middle of an old and abandoned train station, large shattered panes of glass formed a dome above their heads, old and decrepit wooden benches lined the walls and center, a smashed clock hung from the ceiling at an angle. The far end of the station held two staircases that led up to the platforms, atop them stood Ruin. His small triangle eyes pierced through the Darkness, looking straight at the six of them.

"Come, defenders of Light." Ruin's voice was deep, it cut through Ash like a knife, increasing his fears tenfold. "Let us dance this final dance."

He walked back to the platforms, leaving Ash to look back at his team. Tsubaki was trying to put a strong face on, but he could tell the Wolf was scared. This battle was their biggest yet. It wasn't just fighting a pawn or a puppet of Ruin, this was the Dark Lord himself. This was one of the three Ancients that Kosmos itself created. Ruin had created his own world, there was no way the six of them could stand up to that. No. Ash had to shake the thoughts from his head and nudge Tsubaki to lead them.

"We're the Totems," Tsubaki spoke in a shaky voice. "This is what we were made to do."

He took a step forward, planting his paw down hard to signal his team it was time to move out. He didn't take a look back at his team to know they were following him, Elena flying above them, Kunai's paws shifting the Earth around them, Jinx and Brax bringing up the back. All six of them thought the same. Not all of them were going to make it out of this fight. They all hoped that Anarchy and the Sergal's would arrive sooner rather than later.

"Team," Tsubaki began as they neared the arch that led them to Ruin. "This will be our final battle. We cannot let up. We cannot give Ruin a second to respond. We have to kill him."

They all silently nodded before stepping through into a large open chamber with several tracks between them and Ruin, who stood beside the last Beacon at the far end of the station. They all silently stepped towards each other, meeting halfway. Ruin towered over the Elementals, this was the first time any of them had been so close to the Ancient, his presence was imposing, bearing down on them, his three claws on each arm were long enough to pierce any one of them through and through. They had no idea what sort of Power the Dark Lord possessed.

"You shall take the first move," Ruin spoke, his voice sending chills down everyone's spines.

Tsubaki closed his eyes and began to focus on his breathing. Now wasn't the time to let fear take over, now he had to be brave and put all of his training to practice. Now was the time to show Ruin how far he'd come.

"Love!"

"Friendship!"

"Loss!"

All at once, the three Totems were formed. Love stood just beneath Ruin's mane, its lava formed body alight, wings outstretched ready to dodge any attack the Ancient would throw at them. Loss bounded to the left, leaving frozen footsteps where its four paws left the concrete, its large fangs oozing a cold mist. Friendship leapt to the right, using its wings to land softly as sparks danced around its feet.

"Very well." Ruin's form began to shimmer, Love blinked a few times to try and focus on the one Ruin, but now there were three standing before them. The one facing Loss had a Fiery mane with Lightning crackling around its claws, while the one facing Friendship had Ice claws and an Earthen mane.

Before Love could call out to the others, thick walls of Darkness separated them, this was bad. Without even a second to breathe and recompose themselves, Love found Ruin behind them, moving so fast that a non Air Elemental wouldn't have noticed. They turned just in time to see Ruin reaching out with a claw and creating a small purple bubble at its tip before launching it at them. Less than one second passed since they had been separated from their team and already they felt an incredible fear as the bubble sent them flying across the station and back first into one of the lowered tracks. A single attack had forced them across the station, but it also gave them a chance to react, or did it. Ruin was already about to slam his claws right through their head if Love hadn't reacted quickly and dispersed into the Air, flying above the Ancient. They created a Fireball in one paw and threw it at the beast, Ruin simply looked at the attack and allowed it to impact him.