It was raining.
I could feel little drips of it hitting my face, the coldness of it running from one cheek down to my jaw-line. Like a icy tear.
Blearily, I open my eyes. I was flat on my back. The ceiling above me was cracked, with large sections of it missing. I could see support girders and bits of steel wire which had strengthened the concrete, through the holes the sky was a stormy grey. I rolled off of my back, and got to my knees.
The pieces of ceiling were strewn across the floor of the gymnasium.. or at least I think it was the gymnasium.. I could see the faint outlines of the courts under the rubble. The floor in question was in poor condition. it was cracked, through the cracks were poking up weeds, slowly conquering the ground before me.
Slowly, I stood. The entire room had a bleakness to it, as if all of the colour had been drained away. Everything had an off, grey tint to it.
Lighting flashed across the sky, making me jump about a foot to the right. When I looked up, my jaw dropped.
Standing directly in front of me, was a cloaked figure.
It looked about 6.9. The cloak was hooded and it's back was facing me. It looked a bit like Death, but without the sickle, scythe or whatever farm tool it carries.
"Was I dead?" said a voice in my head, "Well there's only one way to find out" another voice replied.
I gingerly put on foot in front of the other, careful not to disturb him, or it, I wasn't even sure if it was a boy or a girl. I somehow managed to keep walking, slowly putting one foot in front of the other, edging my way towards the figure.
It must've heard be because it began to turn. I stopped dead, my feet freezing where they were, the chill spreading up my legs into my chest. It was like an icy dagger had punched through my breast.
Then I saw the maw of it's hood, that's when I started to tremble. It was black, not the sort of "It looks a bit grey" black but utter pitch black. Like the few seconds when you suddenly turn off the lights in a dark room. Yeah. That kind-of black.
Somewhere, underneath the pile of terror that had settled in the put of my stomach, a little voice managed to peak out.
"A-am I-I D-dead?" I stammered, I sounded like a little frightened girl, was I was a little frightened girl...
The response I got was quite un-expected. The figure just shrugged it's shoulders and turned away, staying completely in the same place however.
This irritated me.
"HEY!" I yelled, taking a bigger step forward this time, "I asked you a que-" but I was cut short and the piece of ground I had stepped on fell away, falling into nothingness. My right leg followed through with it, I ended up with my legs at a weird right angle doing the splits. I started to panic again, but the more a struggled, the more the ground cracked around me, making the hold around my leg wider.
That drew the hooded figures attention again, so came over. His footsteps (if he had any feet) we making no sound on the cracked gymnasium floor.
I looked back up into the maw, my eyes were pleading with it, to help me out of this hole. However, he made no move to help me. He just sat there. Staring at me.
Then the cracks started appearing on the floor. Bigger than normal.
I started to yell, my fingers using grip on the floor as it became slippery under my skin. Then my other leg fell into the now 3ft wide hole. It was hopeless.
I just let go. I do not know why, I just did. I allowed myself to be swallowed up by the blackness below me and then....
I awoke to the sound of a fight.
I was in Karen’s arms, surrounded by a shimmering bubble of air. Every time something hit the bubble it send ripples across it like water. I looked up into Karen's face. It was screwed up in mental concentration, she hadn't noticed I was awake yet.
I tried to reach into her mind, to tell her that I was okay, but as soon as I reached into it, I was thrown back out. She had set up a mind block.
I wasn't surprised by that, she did that when she was concentrating, so I turned my attention to what was going on around me.
Isabella was electrifying. I mean literally electrifying the Chavvy Twins where they stood. However, I could see ice starting to creep up around her legs. I could see Kristy with her hand outstretched, looking oh so relaxed as she was casually freezing my friend. I couldn't see George or Dan, or the Shadowy guy.
The question of Dan and George was asked a moment later, when one wall of the gym burst apart and Dan flew through it, wreathed in emerald fire. He landed a few feet from me and Karen, smouldering. George was only a few seconds behind, jumping down from the hole, his arms also ablaze.
It was at this point that Dan got up, and turned to face George.
"Who the fuck do you think you are?!" Dan roared, flinging up his arms in a gesture of challenge. "I'm a bloody demi-god!"
George just stared right back at him and shrugging, replied simply
"I am a god, bitch" and threw a torrent of flame at him.
It was at this point that I noticed something different. I couldn't make it out quite clearly, but it seemed that two strings of orange light where twirling in circles. Moving gradually towards the fight, almost lazily, then, suddenly, striking out, it was then I realised.. they were blades.
The first blow hit Kristy squarely in the chest, knocking her backwards as a second hit sent her sprawling. The the blades changed colour, this time a bright yellow, and flicked back. They flicked back, finding their target with un-erring accuracy. It was Dan. Upon contact, yellow lightning bolts wrapped around his body, paralyzing him in place. Changing colour a third time, this time to an deep blue and struck again, this time at the twins, turning them to ice.
I didn't see what happened next, I blacked out again.. with Karen’s arms wrapped tightly around me...
