The Fire

Chapter Twelve: The Final Battle

  I woke with a startle. My heart was racing as I looked around. Right off the bat, I could tell I was restrained by shackles. I looked around to see that we weren't in New York anymore. What the fuck is happening? I thought as I looked around. I was in a corridor and my friends were restrained by shackles as well. I desperately looked for Vicky, even though I knew she was gone.

 “You're awake!” Xorale exclaimed, walking down the corridor, an evil smirk on his face as he walked. “I know what you're thinking, Rick. You're thinking ‘how did this happen? We are the good guys. We're supposed to win.’ In all honesty, do you believe that? I mean, you had just learned about your powers. You have barely begun mastering them. And you decided to come start a war with me?”

 I didn't know what to say. He had a point. I mean for crying out loud, we did just wing it, hoping for the best. Even though in the back of my mind, I expected the worst. How did we get caught? What happened after I passed out?

 “Good question…” he said, obviously reading my mind. “Your friends fought rather bravely. You see, Rick; no matter what efforts you and your little gang here threw against me, I have you outmatched and outnumbered. They just weren't enough. But in your loss, I collected your dead for you. Vicky is in the other room, untouched. The only damage dealt to her corpse was the damage that my disciple, Nick, gave her.”

 “Nick was garbage!” Emerson yelled from down the corridor. He was pretty fucked up. He had gashes and dried blood all over his face. The rest of the group didn't look much better.

 Hearing Nick’s name threw me in a whirlwind of emotions. I thought back to when we first met at Vortex High. And then my mind jumped to where he got Vicky with a dagger. As I remembered back to burning him to pieces, I felt my rage build up.

 “Speaking of Nick,” Xorale continued. “Rick, you did an impressive job killing him. I've never seen that much fire kill one of my men before. Not from a newbie like yourself anyway.”

 “It would have been you if I didn't use up all my energy killing Nick, asshole.” I said, bluntly, a nasty frown on my face as I imagined breaking free from the shackles and burning Xorale to bits.

 “One day, I will kill you. I will make it the most painful thing that you could ever fucking imagine, jackass. For Vicky, for my father, and for everyone. I will kill you.”

 Xorale looked at me, grinning in amusement. “Fine then. We will settle this with an old duel in the battlefield that I have for entertainment. I watch my captives battle one another much like a championship. We will battle in one hour. You may consult your friends for the time being.”

 You sick bastard… you need to die. I thought. At least I can prepare to kill your sorry ass.

 In the next hour, we were let loose and held in a chamber before the battle. Silver, Emerson, Seven, Starla, and myself discussed our plan. I knew it would be a one on one battle but I had a feeling I could kill him.

  “So what are you gonna do?” Emerson asked.

  “Burn him apart and get the fuck outta here.” I replied.

 Suddenly a portal opened in our chamber and Voren walked through. We all were in shock. A feeling of relief settled over me. At first, I was expecting Voren to scold us on coming here alone but he didn't. Instead, he seemed very calm and slightly impressed that we made it as far as we did.

  “Rick,” Voren said. “You cannot do this with fire alone. I am going to help you out a bit.”

 Voren pulled out a magical looking ball. “Everyone in the group, put your hands on the ball, except Rick.”