The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 25 - Burn, Baby, Burn!

Okay not literally, but close enough.

The moment the gem touched my skin a blast of fire shot out of it in a ring, throwing everyone in the nearby vicinity backwards and thoroughly torching every structure for as far as the eye could see. And that isn't an overstatement, the trees in the distance were now singed and I'm pretty sure that I accidently barbecued a pigeon. But for some unknown reason I wasn't dead yet, which was very surprising to me as I felt like I was holding a nuclear reactor.

Pulses of heat seemed to race through my veins, my skin felt like it was crackling and blistering from my bones and I swear on my life I could smell something cooking. It wasn't just the heat either, it was almost like my bones were stiffening and something unbelievably hot was being poured over my whole body. Let's just say it was rather painful and spare the agonising details, alright?

Good, now, where was I? Oh yes, I'm still alive. I had this unshakable feeling that I shouldn't have been holding onto this thing for so long as it should've torn me apart like an Infinity Stone to that poor girl in Guardians of the Galaxy. But it hadn't...I slowly pushed myself to my feet and looked down. To start with I was completely on fire. Head to toe burning like a bonfire, golden flames bursting from my skin, the hand that was still clamped around that stupid gemstone was actually burning white and was trembling with a ferocity I had never seen before.

I looked up at the others. Honestly they looked as shocked and as terrified as I was expecting, even Shadow had his red eyes widened in a cocktail of shock, horror and a little bit of awe. Scarlett looked the most terrified as unlike the other two I was actively trying to attack her and now I was supercharged so I was even more scary. But even now I could feel the energy already draining, like a tire with a puncture, I was using the stone, controlling it, but for how long? I turned and sprinted for the engine.

Scarlett and Miles were on my ass faster than I could blink, one zipping round to the front on his tornado and the other physically pulling gems from the roof by the sound of it. A vicious blast of wind sailed forwards towards me but with one quick flick of my wrist it was deflected by a wall of fire which hid a small sun that rocketed from my free hand. Miles dove out of the way, but the fireball missed him by a good foot or so. In my defence I'm not left handed so my aim's going to be a little off to say the least. Miles leapt up and snapped his palms, a concussive wall almost throwing me off the roof if I hadn't plunged my hand through the roof and held on for dear life.

Being crouched gave Scarlett the chance to leap at me, jumping onto my back and attempting to pull me backwards to the very long drop below. However, she also seemed to forget that I was literally on fire and so fell off screaming in pain, patting down the flames that were still licking at her clothes. This gave Shadow and Sheira a chance to leap into the battle. Skating across the uneven surface, with Ice in hot pursuit, Sheira released a constant ice beam aiming mainly at Miles, who was now trying to get airborne again, who promptly had his legs frozen together. Black energy curled from Shadow's fists as he threw punch after punch at the still smoking Scarlett.

She leapt out of the way, threw a diamond at his head and then mimicked one of those weird water sprinkler things/ those arm obstacles on Total Wipeout. The line of jewels flung itself outwards, cracking into me and Sheira while Shadow leapt forwards onto his stomach and in one fluid motion I hadn't seen outside of those practising yoga, was back up onto his feet with a black pulse of energy erupting from his outstretched palms. It seemed to rip through the sky as it slammed into Scarlett, kept going, barely missed Sheira again and collided with Miles knocking him out of the sky and onto the roof with a sickening crack. That's going to hurt in the morning.

Ice pounced, crashing onto Scarlett shoulder and burying her teeth deep into her pale skin. Scarlett bellowed in pain and tried to throw her assailant off, but considering the fact that Ice was a freaking snow leopard that was proving to be a lot more difficult than it looked. A sudden flash of light nearly blinded me as all of a sudden the same white bird I had seen yesterday was now sprinting towards her master and with one flick of her foot, and a very unsettling cracking sound, Ice was sprawled on the roof, one massive paw covering her cheek, hissing in anger and pain.