Argent Eye

24

"Look, I'm sorry. I don't think I have what you're looking for, and if I do, then I'm not just gonna give it to you. The world doesn't work like that."

"What do you want in return?"

I stood there, pretending to think about it for a moment when in actual fact, I was thinking about the air. I could feel the element flowing through me, a coolness over the surface of my skin.

"This isn't something we can bargain over." I said, and felt the sudden rise of power as the air circled me. I shoved my hands forward, and watched as the man was thrown forcibly against the opposite wall.

He got up quickly, and laughed despite being extremely angry. "You've just made a huge mistake, Millie." He said, just as sparks began to accumulate in his hands amongst flames. It was incredible- he had his fists alight with a sparking flame of hot energy. He threw his hands forward, releasing a huge bolt of fiery lightning at me. I felt the shock of the lightning hit me in the chest, knocking the air out of me and launching me hard against the wall. The energy kept coming at me, burning me and electrocuting me all at once, and for some reason I could feel all the pain. Despite the fact that I had fire and lightning within me, it was no where near as strong as this.

"We will be in contact again, Millie!" He shouted, before everything went dark.

__________

"Millie?" I heard Kate say my name, and opened my eyes. I was still in the cinema, in my chair, and people were standing and beginning to leave.

I quickly sat up, waiting to see the devastating effect of what the yellow eyed man had done, but everything looked... normal.

"Were you asleep for the whole movie?" James asked, looking down at me.

I was a little confused about what just happened, however it seemed that I had been asleep, and had been dreaming.

I chuckled a little, certain that whatever the dream was, it was also pretty real. That man had been in my head for sure. "I guess I was." I saw the screen had the credits running on it.

"Well, that was a waste of a tenner." Sunny laughed.

"Was it a good movie?" I asked, finally standing up.

"It was alright." Kate said. "I don't think you missed anything too drastic."

"Oh, good." I said, as we walked out the cinema. I then caught sight of Ronan, who was standing over the other side of the road, watching and waiting. "I think I'm gonna head back now." I said.

"Okay, bye Millie!" Everyone said. I smiled and waved, before crossing.

Ronan didn't look happy still.

"Good movie?" He asked, still pissed.

"I wouldn't know." I said. "I fell asleep."

"So your time would have been more beneficial training?"

"Look, Ronan-"

"No, Millie." He said firmly. "Don't Ronan me, okay? You need to start taking this more seriously."

"Are you kidding me?" I said. "Did we not have this conversation earlier?"

"We didn't finish." He said.

"Oh, I think we did." I was beginning to lose my patience again. Already I could feel the heat in the air begin to intensify.

"This is not a game, Millie." He said.

"No, it's not." I said. "So stop bullshitting to me. You lied to my face about something that was important."

"That's because you're not ready to hear it."

"You are not serious?!" I yelled. "This is where shit went wrong in the first place! Because you said I wasn't ready! Well guess what, Ronan, I'm fucking ready!"

With that, he disappeared and reappeared behind me. He wrapped his arms tightly round my neck.

"Are you ready?" He said to me, lifting me off the floor. "Get yourself out of this, and we can discuss whether you're ready or not."

The darkness within me grew stronger, as I tried to pull Ronan's arms away from my neck. Instead, though, I quickly leaned forward and flipped him over my head so he landed on his back on the floor. Darkness pooled around me, and I was not in the mood to play soft. I brought my fist down hard where his head was, but it ended up going straight through him and into the concrete, cracking it. He'd re-materialised about a meter away from me.

"You won't have this darkness soon." He said. "Once all your elements have manifested, it will be you against him."

So he didn't want me using the darkness? Okay, then. I shoved the darkness back down, and began to feel all the other elements begin to gather around me. The ice came first, and so I shot it out of my hands towards Ronan. He vanished before it could hit him, so instead the ground he'd been occupying became icy. I felt a pair of strong arms make their way round my waist, and lift me from the floor before throwing me hard onto it. My nose hit the concrete, and I felt the warm copper-smelling liquid make its way down my face onto my lips.

"You are not ready yet." Ronan said.

I got up, ran at him quickly before he could disappear, and charged straight into him. I knocked him down onto the floor, and summoned the lightning before wrapping my hands around his arms. I let the electricity pass through me, and for a moment, Ronan was paralysed. Then, he managed to teleport a few metres down the road, giving himself a bit of time to recover.

But, I was onto him. "Can we just stop this?" I called to him.

"Not until you are ready." He said.

"And when is that?" I asked, feeling the fire burn at my fingertips.

"When you knock me down and I can't get back up again." Ronan had a look on him I'd never seen before. He was absolutely determined, and perhaps a little hopeful.

I brought my hands together and fired- literally- at Ronan. The heat was intense, and I'd never let loose this much before. He brought his hands up in defence, and seemed to deflect whatever I was throwing at him. He came closer and closer to me, the flames not hurting him, before shoving me backwards. He punched me in the jaw, knocking me onto the ground, and for a moment I wanted to give in. I wanted to cry and tell him to stop.

"The man you are going to fight knows no bounds." Ronan said, kicking me in the stomach. "He will not stop when you start crying." He grabbed my collar and pulled me up. "And he will certainly never give up until he gets what he wants." He punched me in the nose, causing even more blood to drip down my face. "Do you still think you are ready?"

Ronan pulled his fist back again, and was ready to punch, but I couldn't let him beat me. I needed to know who this man was. I needed to know who was stalking my dreams, and who was trying to get the darkness from me. I felt the ice begin to prick, air begin to blow, the fire begin to intensify, and the lightning begin to crackle.

Then, I let loose.

Ronan was hurled backwards, into the air, before landing hard on the floor. I stood up, using my last ounce of energy, and ran over to him. I grabbed his collar with one hand, and using the other I summoned the ice. My whole fist became one with the element as it came down on Ronan, hitting him hard and piercing his skin with shards of ice. I let the lightning out in a short burst of energy, shocking him. The air blew the hair out of my face, as my hands became red with the heat and started to burn Ronan.

He cried out, unable to move. He was defeated.

I stopped, and sat down hard on the floor, exhausted.

"I'm fucking ready." I said, and spat a load of blood onto the pavement.

Ronan sighed, laying on the floor. "Okay." He said, breathing heavily. "Okay."

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