Rise Of The Elements

Chapter Twenty-Six (Vlad)

Pain shot from the top of my knee up through the rest of my body. Stupid fucking Eclipse. It wasn't Arthur or Tara who got shot, even though that's what Oliver though. It was the one and only Vlad! I grabbed the spot where the bullet sunk in and cried out in pain.

"I honestly thought you'd make a much better follower Mr. Mauro," Eclipse turned to face me, still holding Arthur.

"You really need to stop underestimating me and my team," I said through my clenched teeth. "Now!" I yelled.

While everyone was trying to figure out how to save Arthur and Tara, Cedric and I thought of our own little plan. Hopefully the others would catch on. I was the distraction while Cedric would attack and soon after I'd join in on the attack. If the others joined it would be a perfect way to take out Eclipse.

The six elements all working together.

Cedric winced as the electricity bolted from his hands to Eclipse's back. Even with my small warning, he wasn't expecting it. Immediately his grip loosened on Arthur and the seven year old acted right away, biting Eclipse's hand and escaping.

"Come back here boy!" Eclipse cried, obviously in pain from Cedric and Arthur.

"Give it up Eclipse!" I shouted, walking closer to my friends. Arthur was hiding behind Oliver, sobbing and Tara had returned to the group once she noticed Arthur was safe. "This is a battle you aren't going to win."

"Vlad's right," Lindy backed me up. "You may have some of the elements in your control but not all of them."

"Unlike us," Oliver whispered to himself, finally realizing what we had to do.

Eclipse began laughing. Not in the stereotypical bad guy way. He was laughing as if something was funny. As if us standing together as one was a bad thing.

"You?" He asked. "Beat me? I'm sorry but that'll be extremely difficult considering you're all scared shitless of me." He laughed again.

"And you're a bloody coward," Oliver spat. "Not able to show who you really are. Hiding behind the people others fear."

"I must stop you there Mr. Hearth," Eclipse held up one hand. "I'm surely not a coward. A coward wouldn't continue fighting for their rights and what they want. I think you six are the cowards here. Scared of the most simplest and predicable people."

"Everyone is scared of someone," Aquarius muttered. I knew everyone t
here had nothing to say, besides Oliver, Lindy and I. They were scared shitless. Either that or they were awaiting battle.

"Yes you're right Mr. Foster. You are scared of your brother, Mr. Storm is scared of himself, Miss. Williams is scared of her uncle, Miss. Storm is scared of your so called Director D, Mr. Hearth is scared of his father, same with the little one," Eclipse paused. "Mr. Mauro who are you scared of?"

"No one," I snapped. I made brief eye contact with Cedric. He simply nodded. It was enough talk. Eclipse was a dead man.

I extend both my hands outwards in one quick motion and a horizontal column of pure darkness spiralled towards Eclipse. He was quick to act. Another horizontal column of darkness struck mine, creating a greyish mass where they met.

Cedric soon joined in. Adding his horizontal column to the party. Eclipse had to remove one hand from the darkness to defend himself from the light. His column on my side became weaker and another one was formed on Cedric's side, meeting his in the middle as well. It created a white ball of energy were they met.

The thing is, Eclipse only had two hands.

The other four all joined in at once and I couldn't help but let out a laugh. This was the first time in centuries that the six elements were working together as one. It was an amazing yet dangerous thing. Allow me to explain.

All six elements working together can result in horrid things. The largest most terrifying natural disasters. A single elementalist can't just make a tornado or tsunami out of the blue. They need the help of the other elements. For example, for a tornado to happen you would need an air, fire, and water elementalist. All six working together can do unspeakably horrible things.

The entire room shook, possibly from an upcoming earthquake. I could hear lighting and thunder cracking and pounding. Flames crackled and illuminated the room. The wind howling was loud enough to make my ears bleed. The water pipes creaked and snapped. Everything happened in the dark as the lights had all burned out.

Eclipse's followers had retreated, leaving him alone to fight. He wasn't doing as bad as I though he was. Then again, Eclipse wasn't like normal elementalists. He used the elements he could at complete will and attacked with everything he had. He would have taken us out, if we weren't doing the same.

My friends and I were all some what injured now. The bullet to my leg still affected my powers. Injuries means weakness. Weakness means difficulty controlling elements. Some had deep cuts and scratches from falling debris from the building. Others were affected by the elements Eclipse was using.

Fire, earth, darkness and electricity.

He didn't have the ability to use water or air. Which was good.

I knew that if Eclipse didn't break soon, we'd all fail before him. Which would result in death. No doubt. Luckily the odds were in our favour. Eclipse let out a cry of rage and built a wall out of darkness. A wall isolating himself from the outside, from the elements.

We stopped fighting and the air cleared. Eclipse stood there, the wall still up. "I see you are all pretty powerful," he said.

"Told you," I snapped.

"But," he smirked. "I now have you cornered."

Confused, we looked around the room. Hundreds of elementalists surrounded us. Each controlling a different element. Lindy grabbed Cedric's hand in complete fear. I couldn't blame her. We couldn't have gotten out of this. Until he offered that stupid deal.

"I will let you go," Eclipse glanced at his followers then back at us. "I have three choices for you."

"What?" Tara asked. "What can you possibly want from us?"

He gave a toothy grin. "My three choices for you are: One, you give me Tara. She gives herself up and the rest of you go. Two, I get the young boy and the rest of you are free to leave. Or three, you six try to pass my tests. If you fail I collect your powers and you all die."

"What!" Cedric shouted, letting go of his sisters hands. "Those choices are hardly fair."

"I'm not exactly the fair type. You have one minute to decide."

We grouped up in a small circle. Tara and Arthur stood next to Oliver while Lindy, Cedric and Aquarius stood next to each other. I ended up being next to Cedric and Tara.

"Option one," Tara offered. "He's my dad I doubt he'd try to harm me."

"He's Eclipse remember?" I asked her. "We never know what he'll do."

"Well we aren't going with option two," Oliver retorted. "Arthur has been through enough drama."

"Option three then?" Aquarius looked around the circle for clarification.

"How about we do a vote," Cedric offered.

"Time is up!" Eclipse called.

I sighed and the group split, all turning to face him. He still had a smug grin on his face and he asked one question. "So, what will it be?"