Jessica sat down heavily on a hay bale, covered her face with her hands, and cried loudly. Sean glanced down at his battered friend before standing and walking over to Jessica’s side. Sitting down with her, he took one of her hands from her face and interlaced his fingers with hers. He squeezed her hand affectionately with one hand while slipping his other arm around her shoulders.
“I’m so scared,” she muttered.
He wanted to say something reassuring, but nothing came to mind. During his not-so-long life, he had never been required to comfort a woman. It wasn’t his forte. Instead, he just sat by her side, rubbing her back slowly and holding her hand. He only hoped it would be enough.
“What are we going to do?” she asked. “What can we do?”
Sean shook his head. “We’ll pray.”
Jessica looked up to him with swollen eyes, her face streaked with tracks of her tears. “I didn’t think you were religious.”
“I’m not, but sometimes, you just hope the big guy is listening all the same.”
He stood and walked over to Xander, covering him with the winter jacket he’d worn in Iceland. Searching through his backpack, he found a few extra shirts that he tore up to make bandages. He did all he could to stop Xander’s bleeding, though he doubted he did enough. When he was finished, the Wind Warrior looked more like a mummy than a man, and Sean was exhausted. He sat back, wrapping his arms around his knees and lowering his head until his forehead rested against his forearms.
“Where did they go?” the Fire Elemental asked rhetorically as it called out to an empty countryside. “Where did they go?”
Its pale skin shimmered as the familiar red, leathery wings sprouted from its back. It sloughed off the human trappings, returning to its draconic visage. The dragon launched into the air, quickly soaring over the trees. Its keen eyesight scanned the horizon, searching futilely for the truck that had caught it unaware. When it saw nothing, the hatred seethed from it in waves, visible as steam as its body heated to unnatural levels.
Sammy laughed derisively at the dragon’s anger. “You failed. You couldn’t kill him, and he got away.”
The Fire Elemental hissed. “You! You’re the reason he escaped. Your infernal interference has allowed him to escape! I’ll—“
“You’ll what? What can you do to me that wouldn’t harm you as well? You’re in my body, which means you’re trapped with my mind as well.”
“I’ll find a way to destroy you shortly after I find and destroy that Wind Warrior. I will end his line once and for all.”
The dragon tilted as it circled wider and wider, scanning the ground below for signs of its prey. The sun was already setting and the land was growing darker. No electric lights glowed within Paris in the distance nor did any lanterns illuminate the windows of houses nearby. The world, as far as it could see, had been abandoned.
It closed its eyes, gliding on the breeze, as it extended its consciousness beyond the confines of its body. It sought a sense of the elemental power, an indication that Xander was using either his wind or water powers. The powers had always drawn the other elemental castes to one another when in use nearby. As an Elemental, the dragon could sense any use of the power for miles in every direction, far more than a normal Fire Warrior. Still, it sensed nothing, as though Xander had merely vanished after his escape. It was impossible, the Elemental knew. After taking such damage, the elemental powers would activate subconsciously, helping the host heal from the injuries.
“You can’t find him, can you?” Sammy asked, reading its emotions and mocking its pain.
“It seems your lover has discovered how to mask his powers,” it grumbled.
“Like you had done? That means that you can’t find him unless he wants you to, can you?”
“I will find him,” the Fire Elemental said matter-of-factly.
“And I’ll stop you again, just like I did this time.”
The dragon opened its eyes and turned toward the west, beginning the long flight back to Los Angeles. “I clearly underestimated your emotional connection to the Wind Warrior. I didn’t think you had it in you to stop his destruction. I’ll have to find another way to destroy the Wind Caste once and for all.”
The corners of the scaly lips pulled back in a malicious smile. Sammy cringed internally, knowing that anything that made the dragon happy wouldn’t end well for her or Xander.
“Your connection to Xander is strong, far strong than I would have believed possible. Maybe you even love him. Either way, you clearly would stop his destruction should I find him again. Very well, I’ll just have to find someone else to destroy, someone without whom Xander would have no chance of stopping my caste… someone with whom you have no connection and no chance to interrupt my powers.”
It changed direction slightly, angling more toward the southwest. “I happen to know just the person.”
Sean jerked awake as morning light streamed through the open barn doors. With the back of his sleeve, he wiped away the drool at the corners of his mouth. For the briefest moments, he was groggy, wondering where he was and how he had gotten there. Suddenly, the previous day’s events flooded back to him and with it came the memory of Xander’s inglorious defeat and the damage done to his friend’s body.
He stood abruptly, causing Jessica to fall unceremoniously from the other end of the hay bale on which they had inadvertently fallen asleep.
“Xander,” Sean whispered.
He rushed to the back of the barn, where their friend had been treated and left the night before. Sean wasn’t sure what he’d find; the amount of ruination to Xander’s body made Sean wonder for a quick moment if his friend would even still be alive. Making it through the first night was important to Xander’s recovery, if there’d be a recovery at all.
As he stepped around the stall partition, the once portly man stopped in midstride. His mouth fell open as he stared at Xander.
“Sean?” Jessica asked, the sleep quickly fading from her voice as she, too, remembered her ex-boyfriend. “Xander? Is he still… is he okay?”
Sean opened and closed his mouth a few times as he sought an answer. Despite his best intentions, nothing came out.
Jessica stood up confusedly, pulling back her blonde hair as she hurried toward Sean and Xander. “There are only two choices. This shouldn’t take this long.”
As she rounded the corner, she stopped as well, stunned by what she saw. In the back of the room, where Xander had lain the night before, a mound of ice had formed. Its surface was smoothly banded, as though his body had been wrapped in blue-white sinews.
“What is that?” she asked.
Sean shook his head. “I have no idea.”
Jessica reached out cautiously and touched the surface of the ice. Her touch cleared away a fog that settled over the ice. Beneath, the odd structure was nearly clear, like glass that only recently had its frost wiped away. Though distorted, she could see the outline of Xander suspended in its core.
“Oh my God, he’s actually inside this thing? Who did this?”
“I think it’s a cocoon,” Sean said. “I think Xander did. It’s just an educated guess, but I’m pretty sure it’s keeping him alive right now.”
“You think he’s still alive or is that just wishful thinking?”
Sean shrugged. “If he wasn’t alive, I don’t think the ice would have stuck around. He made that, even if he did it while unconscious.”
“So a cocoon?” she asked.
“Yeah, like that movie where the old people are kept alive inside a cocoon.”
She turned toward him slowly, her brow furrowed in disbelief. “You mean Cocoon.”
Sean nodded. “Yup, that’s the one.”
She turned back toward Xander. “How do we get him out?”
“I don’t think we do. I think he’ll come out when he’s better, or ready, whichever comes first.”
“Then what do we do in the meantime?” she asked.
Sean shrugged before leaning against t
he wooden partition nearby. “There’s nothing we can do but wait.”
Sean sat beside the icy cocoon on a small, three-legged stool he found in the barn. Pulling a protein bar from his pack, he took a bite of its chewy texture and grimaced. Peering into his bag, he saw that only a few remained, a mixed blessing.
He rested his hand flat against the ice, feeling the chill emanating from within. The ice beneath his hand should have melted just from his body heat but as he pulled his hand away, he saw no mar on the surface. It remained smooth as glass, with Xander’s silhouetted form barely visible within.
“You’re going to freeze to death if you stay there much longer,” Jessica said as she approached him from behind.
“I just…” Sean began, before pausing and rubbing the stubble on his cheek.
Jessica wrapped her arms around him and laid her head on his shoulder. “I know.”
Letting him go, she reached into her pocket and withdrew a piece of clear ice. She offered it to Sean, who looked at it inquisitively.
“It’s from the well,” she explained. “With him in… whatever state he’s in now, the water isn’t filling up the well anymore. I’ve just been breaking off pieces of ice from the well itself.”
As he took the ice from her, she sat on the ground beside him.
“Any change?” she asked.
Sean shook his head. “Nothing. Not a sound, not a movement; nothing for the past couple of days.”
“You’re worried about him.”
“Of course I’m worried about him, but I get the impression he’ll eventually be okay, given enough time. It’s not just him I’m worried about, though.”
“What else?”
Sean turned away from the cocoon and faced Jessica. “Do you remember what Xander told us in London, that when he was close to a Fire Warrior using their power he could sense them, like a sort of primal pull? It worked in reverse, too. Whenever he used his powers, it was like a beacon drawing all the Fire Warriors to us.”
Jessica’s gaze drifted slowly toward the smooth sheath of ice. “That’s a lot of power.”
“That’s what I’m worried about. He’s a freaking lighthouse right now, calling out to everyone close by.”
Jessica stood, brushing off the clinging hay. “You don’t think the dragon can sense him, do you? If Xander couldn’t take it down, you know we don’t stand a chance. I mean, the truck was a neat trick once, but it’ll never work again. What will we—?”
Sean took her hands and gave her a gentle squeeze. “You’re doing that talk-a-million-miles-an-hour thing again. Take a deep breath. If the Fire Elemental could sense him, it would have been here by now.”
He glanced over his shoulder to the cocoon. “The dragon hid itself from Xander for a long time. I think he’s inadvertently doing the same thing to it. But I’m not entirely convinced that’ll work on the Fire Warriors. If they’re in close enough proximity, they may still come for him.”
Jessica glanced around until she found a pile of wood nearby, much of which was bloated and split from the humidity. She picked up a thick branch and swung it like a bat. “This isn’t going to stop them for long.”
“Well, I was thinking of using something a bit more powerful,” he said as he reached into his waistband and pulled out the pistol.
Jessica frowned at the sight. She walked over to his side and placed a hand on the barrel, pushing it down toward the floor. “Sean, I don’t know where you got the gun, but I’m not an idiot. I know it has something to do with when I got hurt.” She caressed his cheek as he flinched. “Whatever really happened, I know I didn’t fall. Whatever it was, you obviously did something you’re not proud of. I… I don’t even really expect you to tell me what happened, but I think you need to put the gun away, not in your pants but somewhere else.”
“We need it,” he said softly.
“Have you ever fired a gun before?” she asked.
Sean started to reply, but Jessica cut him off. “Outside of a video game.”
Sean closed his mouth.
“I didn’t think so. Do you even know where the safety is?”
“I’ll figure it out,” he replied.
“Well, while you figure it out, we should start keeping watch in case there are some Fire Warriors nearby.”
“So you’re worried about it, too?”
Jessica sighed. “I wasn’t until you brought it up. It’s like when someone says there might be bedbugs and then you can’t ignore the feeling that hundreds of little insects are crawling all over you while you try to go to sleep.”
Sean swallowed hard. “I’ll just go ahead and add bedbugs to my growing list of things that freak me the hell out. Thank you for that.”
She laughed and took his hand. “Come sit with me in the loft. We’ll keep a watch out the window.”
Sean looked over his shoulder to the frozen cylinder. “What about Xander?”
She looked at their friend as well before she shrugged. “I’m pretty sure no one’s going to walk off with him. He’ll be okay.”
The Fire Elemental sped over the ocean, its reptilian form reflected in the dark waters. The crests of the waves steamed as it passed and receded in its wake. Its path was unwavering as it rushed toward a distant target only it knew.
Sammy watched from out of the dragon’s eyes as though looking through the portholes on a ship, trapped as she was in the Elemental’s hold.
A part of her wanted to kneel within the confines of the dragon and cry, feeling like she had failed Xander. He had been beaten so severely while she helplessly watched. Had it not been for the timely intervention of Sean and Jessica, Xander certainly would have died. However, she didn’t feel sad. She didn’t feel defeated, as she knew she probably should have. Even though it had been brief, she had saved Xander once again. Her ability to control the Fire Elemental and their shared body was clearly tied to her emotions, especially her feelings toward the Wind Warrior, yet she felt more in control with each passing day. The Fire Elemental was smug, overly confident to the point of brashness. If she merely bided her time, she’d find a way to take back her body and force the dragon out.
It was only her presence that had stopped Xander from destroying them both, her and the Elemental. If the dragon were separated from her human form, they’d be able to end its path of destruction, once and for all.
“I can feel your confidence, Fleshling,” the dragon said, its voice echoing within the metaphysical chamber in which she resided. “What possible reason could you have to be confident in the face of utter failure?”
“I’m facing failure, but the failure isn’t mine,” Sammy replied.
The Elemental chuckled. “You think your intervention was enough to stop me? You think those pesky humans saved this world? Xander Sirocco is dead. I’ve already won.”
“We’re connected, you and I. The same way you knew I was feeling confident, I know you have doubts. You’re not entirely sure Xander’s really dead. You want to believe it, but I know you don’t.”
The dragon guffawed at her comment but didn’t reply. There was another emotion stirring within the Elemental, one Sammy hadn’t encountered in it before—self-doubt. The thought of killing Xander frightened it for some reason she couldn’t fathom.
“Can you die?” she asked bluntly.
“I’ll never be killed,” the dragon replied, though Sammy immediately knew it hadn’t fully answered her question.
“That’s not what I asked. I know you don’t think anyone has the power to kill you, but that’s different from not being able to be killed. Can you die?”
“This conversation is done.”
“You can die, can’t you?” Sammy asked. She was feeling brash, as though for the first time she was in control of the conversation. “You, the embodiment of heat and fire, can be killed just like any mortal.”
“I said this line of conversation was finished.”
“What happens when the physical manifestation of all fire on the planet is
suddenly killed? That’s something I’m very interested to see.”
“Enough!” the dragon yelled, the power of its voice disrupting the waves over which they passed. “I warned you not to mock me, Fleshling. Perhaps you need some time to remember who’s in charge and who is merely on borrowed time until I find a way to destroy your mind.”
Sammy felt herself falling backward, down an endless rabbit hole toward her solitary confinement, deep within the dragon’s mind. The light from the dragon’s eyes, through which she was able to see the world, shrunk as they withdrew until they were merely pinpricks of light far, far away.
Unlike her times in the prison before, she didn’t loathe her confinement. She had found a weakness, a chink in the dragon’s otherwise impervious armor. It was afraid, not just of being killed, but of killing Xander. No matter how much it longed to be rid of the impetuous Wind Warrior, there was a hesitation within it, a part of it that wasn’t sure it was making the right decision.
She had been right to ask the pertinent question—what would happen if the dragon were killed? What would have happened if Xander had succeeded or, on the contrary, if the Elemental had killed him instead? They were now living embodiments of elemental powers. Sammy shivered at the thought of that power being unleashed upon their deaths.
As her eyes began to focus, she saw light streaming through cracks in her once uniformly dark mental prison. Her very presence had worn away chinks in the dragon’s mental defenses. Through them, she could see the waves dancing below them as the ocean stretched from horizon to horizon. She could smell through the Elemental’s nostrils and feel the salty air coating its scales.
More than that, she could sense its emotions as she had before. Despite its best efforts to keep her out, to segregate its emotions from her persistent intrusion, Sammy remained connected to the monster possessing her body.
Sammy furrowed her brow as she explored the conflicting emotions within the dragon, emotions it wasn’t aware she could feel as well. There was fear and concern, the same emotions present when she had pried about its mortality, but those emotions were underlain with a different set—curiosity and sadistic glee.
Earth God Page 11
