Elementals

Chapter 20 - It's just you and me!

The sky was gray, blanketed by gloomy clouds. There was not a sound in the streets, just a quiet town, a quiet world. Standing upon the roof of a tower, Aidan looked up into the sky, the pale lady flying above him. A faint glow permeated from her body as she looked down upon the boy, smiling.

An uneasy silence, the calm before the storm. Within Aidan built a raging flame, burning ever so brightly in front of the goddess of light. This courage to stand before her, the absence of fear, it all intrigued her. He was shaking in fear just moments ago, but now, he was unwavering.

What happened in those few precious seconds? What made him so confident? Is it Grim? Can he hear her? The thought began to pile up in her mind, and with each new question, her grin grew bigger and bigger. She looked like a starved man finding a feast, viewing the boy as a meal.

"Aidan, this is ba-" Grim called out to Aidan.

"Shut it, Grim." he cut her off. He reached for his bracelet. "This is just me and her."

The silence returned, the two gods staring each other down, waiting for the other to make a move. With a single, gentle swipe upwards, Angelina unleashed a colossal slash made of light at Aidan, knocking him off balance. As Aidan fell to the ground, he witnessed this attack slice apart the world below him, cleaving the world in twain. A sickening knot tied Aidan's stomach, he realized that he was in the deep end, and he couldn't even swim. As thoughts raced through his mind, he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

Recollecting himself in an instant, Aidan struck the source of the tap. The pale lady caught his fist, her gentle hands redirecting his rough blow. Following the flow, Aidan spun and dropped down, kicking her legs out from under her. The pale lady fell over in the air, floating in the light. She flipped backwards and landed back on her feet gracefully.

He dashed at her, an unrelenting flurry of blows following him. The pale lady followed suit, reveling in a barrage of slashes. Aidan couldn't land a single blow on the goddess before him, she was too fast, her movements swift and elegant. On the other hand, the pale lady slashed away at Aidan. Though his armor protected him from most of the slashes, he was still grazed by several dozen cuts. His blood splattered across the rooftop, and melted it away.

Aidan stumbled backwards as the pale lady flicked away his flaming blood. A small grin on her face. Rage filled Aidan's heart, as fire filled his blood. His hair lighting ablaze, he snapped his fingers and ignited a pillar of flame upon Angelina. As the fire engulfed her, she took in a deep breath and let out a grateful exhale. Seeing her unaffected, Aidan snapped again and again, unleashing an inferno upon the pale lady.

"Don't tell me that's all you've got~" she teased from within the flames. Her smug silhouette standing in the fire.

"It's not." Aidan confidently responded whilst snapping his fingers again. The flames collapsed into themselves, shrinking into a small marble in front of Angelina. She tilted her head in curiosity.

Aidan punched her directly in the face.

With an explosive surge of power, Aidan launched the pale lady into the sky. A clean punch landed through deception, he snapped his fingers again, lighting his hands and feet on fire and creating his flaming armor. After activating his Fire Boost, he jumped in front of the marble of flame.

Angelina spun in the air, having been tricked by Aidan's fake out. The small smile on her face was accompanied by a slight lavender plush on her cheeks. Excitement filled her mind as she corrected her flight. As she stopped spinning, she witnessed Aidan snap his fingers and explode the marble he created, launching even faster than his punch did the pale lady. She raised her arms to block as Aidan slammed down onto her with two clasped fists.

Like a mountain, Aidan's might forced the pale lady down towards the ground, sending her down a dark alleyway. As she descended, she suddenly stopped. Her movement was unnatural, all motion stopped as she turned back around to face Aidan. His new surge of power, a strength he did not possess a few seconds ago, it made her giddy.

In a blink, the pale lady was already back in Aidan's face, and her knife in his stomach. A thousand stabs pierced Aidan as she flew up into the sky, dragging him with her.

"This fight's been fun, but you're not giving it your all, rose!" she exclaimed as they eclipsed the sun. "You don't know how to use these powers!"

"Give me a break! It's been two days!" he shouted back.

"...No~" she tilted her head again. Pulling back her knife, the pale lady stabbed Aidan in the stomach again, pushing light into his body, and pushing fire out. Crimson flames corrupted by small magenta wisps filled the air. The very sky looked like it began to melt as the fire inside Aidan's body was pushed out of him. The Earth began to melt away as the pale lady looked Aidan in the eyes. "This is what you should be doing. This should be your might."

"...what the fuck?" the words fell out of Aidan's mouth as he watched the fire permeate the air. It did not touch the ground, it couldn't. The flames solely floated in the sky, and the world below them faded away. Streets melted, plants burned, water evaporated, the world turned to dust.

Angelina stabbed Aidan again, piercing his throat. He gasped for air as she let go of him, letting him drift in his fire as she clapped her hands. A small wave of light pulsed down her long, white hair as the light forced into Aidan's body began to violently erupt, thrashing his beaten body even further.

"This has been fun, rose, but I must really get going. I still have a new Crown Elemental to take back home. Toodles~" she clapped again, and vanished. Aidan was alone, left to bleed in a sea of his own fire.

As he floated, a voice called out in his head, Grim.

"Aidan, you've gotta listen to me!" she shouted. "I can tell you how to fix thi-"

"I get it now." he interrupted her. Blood gurgling in his throat, he spoke. "I get what it means now. What it takes to be a god. Why I couldn't teleport, why I always felt weak compared to the others, why I couldn't fight back. I get it now." Aidan floated in the flames, experiencing a bliss unknown to him. The fire in the sky began to return to their rightful place, closing his wounds in the process. All the flames disappeared into Aidan's body as he slowly descended back onto the burnt ground. His calm bliss began to creep out Grim.

"Uh... Aidan?" she reached out before he snapped his fingers, returning to the real world to continue his fight against Angelina, and to save Dominick.