Elemental Wars: The Exiled Element

Chapter 1 - The Vision

My bed is drenched in cold sweat. 

I bolted up, eyes wide in terror from the nightmare I just had. My heart beating so fast it almost leaped out of my chest.

Getting up, I tore the curtains apart and wrenched the windows of my room open, swallowing the cold night air like a fish out of water. 

That nightmare...it felt so real. 

I practically pounced on the light switch and punched it. The lamps hummed in protest as they flickered before finally giving light to my room.

That's good, fears thrive in the dark.  

"C-Calm down, James," I said to myself. "It's just a dream, calm down,"

I slowly sat down on the bed as though it's a landmine. Grabbing my phone, I scrolled through my playlists, picking Taylor Swift's 1989 and hoping it would help me relax.

I leaned sideways against the wall and slid my hand over the course beige wallpaper. Course...like sand...desert sand...desert sand coated in blood....

Soldiers in green and white uniforms darted to and fro the sand dunes in the otherwise empty desert, yelling orders and firing bullets at aircrafts descending from the sky at lightning speed, noses pointed downwards. An aircraft's wing got shot off and it flew off course and crashed in the horizon. Another exploded. Too many managed to land.

Soldiers barked final orders as the top of the first aircraft opened up. They started firing at the figure coming out of the machine. The figure, a cloaked being with what looks like a glowing staff, pointed the staff at the soldiers. Some took cover behind the dunes. Others were less lucky and got fried with lightning from the staff. What remained of them was a charbroiled mess.

Soon, other aircrafts opened up and monsters emerged from them. One was a figure coated in...is that red paint? It let out an blood-freezing howl before dashing at the soldiers with inhuman speed, tearing them apart limb from limb. Another  giant of a man jumped out with a gigantic battle-axe and raised it in the air. As if it was a signal, big, burly creatures made entirely from stone rose from the ground. BANG! BANG! The battle-axe wielder crumpled to the ground with an infuriated roar, mud pouring out of the wound in his belly. A grenade was tossed. Some of the stone people were blown to bits by the explosion. Others got close enough to hit the soldiers. Their stone fist went straight through the soldiers' bellies, necks or faces.

Then, another figure walked out of the largest of the aircrafts. He was staring at his outstretched hand. A beautiful white crystal hovered in it without touching his palm. His arrival stunned the soldiers and some of them tried to fire at him. Their guns jammed. The man dropped the crystal. It hovered on the ground for a split second before the man began chanting in a mysterious language. The second that man opened his mouth, the crystal started slowly sinking into the ground. 

The soldiers looked terrified by what he was doing. Many of them pulled out combat knives and charged at that man in an effort to stop him. At the exact same moment, the more monsters poured in to protect the man. The soldiers were overun. Some were devoured, some were set ablazed, some were disemboweled, some were decapitated. The screams of fear across the battlefield quickly turned into silence.

One of them, however, managed to break through and attempted to stab the man. The man grabbed the soldier's wrist and twisted it, causing him to scream out in pain. He stabbed the soldier in the heart with his own knife.

The soldier gave a victorious, pained smiled in spite of his agony, thinking he broke the man's chanting. But when he looked down at the ground, he saw the crystal sinking into the ground. The soldier collapsed on the ground, dead, his face contorted with horror.

Then, the sand began glowing and the ground started rumbling. The man threw back his head and laughed, his mission accomplished. Something about it that tells me it's no regular earthquake. It's like somebody is trying to break out of the ground. 

No, not somebody. SOMETHING.

The ground shook. Boulders flew out of the ground. Cliffs triple the height of Mount Everest formed. In a brief moment, gravity itself reversed as the entire planet is being shredded apart from within-

"Dammit, James. Snap out of it," I said aloud to myself.

That's when I realised my phone is playing 'Shake It Off'. Everyone's a critic.

 I checked the time. It's 6 o' clock. Time to get up anyways.

I took a shower and got changed, still thinking about that nightmare.

What was that dream? It...it felt so real...And those planes, those creatures...my mind would've never concocted something as twisted as that...But what if it wasn't just a dream-no, that's crazy...That's crazy talk...

I was still in a stupor as I walked into the kitchen. I opened the cupboard and was greeted my a note attached to the cereal box.

𝒟ℯ𝒶𝓇 𝒥𝒶𝓂ℯ𝓈, 

𝓎ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝒹𝒶𝒹 𝒶𝓃𝒹 ℐ 𝒽𝒶𝓋ℯ 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝓂ℴ𝓇𝓃𝒾𝓃ℊ 𝓈𝒽𝒾𝒻𝓉 𝒶𝓉 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒽ℴ𝓈𝓅𝒾𝓉𝒶𝓁. 𝒲ℯ'𝓁𝓁 𝒷ℯ 𝒷𝒶𝒸𝓀 𝒶𝓉 𝒶𝓇ℴ𝓊𝓃𝒹 𝓉𝓌ℯ𝓁𝓋ℯ. 𝒴ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝓁𝓊𝓃𝒸𝒽 𝒾𝓃 𝒾𝓃 𝓉𝒽ℯ 𝒻𝓇𝒾𝒹ℊℯ. ℰ𝓃𝒿ℴ𝓎 𝓎ℴ𝓊𝓇 𝒮𝓊𝓃𝒹𝒶𝓎! 

 ℒℴ𝓋ℯ, ℳℴ𝓂

I cursed myself silently. I've forgotten my parents have to work overtime on weekends now at the children's hospital. I was counting on them to take me to the mall first to kill time before I head to the cinema. Now I have nothing to do until 1 o' clock.

Unless...

I picked up my phone and called my best friend, Harold.

Beep-beep...beep-beep...click

"Hello?" A voice crackled over the phone.

"Harold, is this you?" I asked.

"Oh sorry, I'm actually Lionel Messi, you must have the wrong number," Harold's voice shot back, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "Of course it's me. You're still going to the cinema, right?"

"I am. It's just that I'm wondering if you, Real, Norman and Sam could come over to my place before we go to the cinema. Maybe play video games or something."

"Say less, my friend. I am on my way," Harold responded.

"And don't you dare bringing spray cans again," I warned him. "I'm not having my room receive the same treatment as Real's."

"Aw, come on. One My Little Pony painting on your ceiling won't harm anyone, right?"

"Real didn't have just a single painting."

"Gah, one painting, seventy paintings, what's the difference?"

"The difference will be whether I have to explain to your mom why you have a bruise on your face or why your dead body is on her porch."

I could hear Harold laughing on the other end, and I couldn't help myself from grinning. It was hard staying mad at that guy. 

"Well then," Harold finally replied. "Perhaps I would reconsider my decision."

"Emphasis on perhaps."

I swore I could almost hear Harold smiling. "I'll be there by 8."

I called the rest of my friends, and only Norman declined. He claimed he wanted to study and do homework. I know him better. He probably wanted to watch YouTube.

I ate my breakfast and looked out of the apartment window at cloudless dark sky. Maybe that nightmare was just that...a nightmare. Somehow it's much easier to believe that when I'm not a in dark room relieving the dream, but at the same time...my smile turned into a grimace. 

I wished I could talk to my parents about it, but since I can't, I'll do the next best thing: talk to my friends.

Who knows? Maybe they'll make me feel better. I thought as I closed my phone, abruptly cutting of Taylor's rendition of 'Clean'.