They didn't.

"Well, that explains it. JD's going psycho."

"A nightmare doesn't warrant being a psycho, jackass," I mumbled through a mouthful of mashed potato, barely loud enough to be heard over the chatter of the other diners. The mall wasn't too packed for a Saturday night, but enough for us to be hard-pressed to find a decent restaurant. 

Sam shook his head at me, smiling. "Maybe, but being pissed off the whole day because of a nightmare? Seriously?" He laughed, looking over at Harold and Real. "And you call me crazy for dreaming about Violet?"

"Not crazy, delusional," Harold corrected. "But as for Jamie," he looked at me. "Sorry, man. But a dream? Bothering you for a whole damn day? That's just--"

"You say 'psycho' again, and I'll throw this steak at your face."

"In today's economy? You wouldn't dare."

Real scowled at his phone, typing something down discreetly. He'd been silent as I recounted my nightmare, only giving grunts or clicking his tongue to encourage me to carry on. He would've looked like a therapist if it weren't for the bloody tissues stuffed up his noses, drawing curious glances from other diners.

"What's the matter, RK? Still sore about losing that fight?" Harold reached over the table and patted his shoulder. "You'll get him next time, man. We believe in you."

"Shut up," Real brushed Harold's hand away, but he's laughing. "He's lucky Jamie was there," he looked at me half-apologetically. "Good call, though, pulling me out."

"I'll take that as an apology," I said, scooping up another mound of mashed potato. I waved my spoon at Real with as much threat as I could muster. "But pull another stunt like that again, and I'll kill you myself."

"Okay, dad," Real rolled his eyes, but he finally began eating. 

Sam smirked before turning serious again. "Say, what're the chances someone recorded that fight?"

"And make him famous? C'mon, that was Real's lucky break."

"Don't encourage him," I warned Harold. 

Harold opened his mouth for a playful retort, but a thunder suddenly boomed in the air. He eyed at the window behind me warily. 

"Weird," Real looked up, his eyes suddenly sharpening. "It isn't raining."

Sam and I exchanged confused looks as Real and Harold got up, their chairs scraping against the hardwood floor, the atmosphere suddenly dense. Finally, curiousity got the better of me, and I looked over my shoulder. 

I was sitting with my back faced towards a giant window. Our restaurant was on the second floor, overlooking the carpark. Real and Harold walked past me, looking outside with uncharacteristic alertness. Real's hand inched towards his pocket.

"You don't think..." Harold turned to Real.

Real's eyes were still fixated at the window, but he pointed behind him. Directly at me. 

Harold turned towards me, and I got up from my seat too. There was a look in his eyes now, like a revelation just struck him. A flurry of emotions flashed through his face. Confusion, shock, respect.

Then, creepily, his pupils narrowed in fear. 

I had no idea what came over my two friends, but I took a step back and looked at Sam for help. All I could see was the same alarmed look reflected in his eyes. 

"James-" Harold began, but I took a step back. 

"What's the matter with you two?!" I demanded. Already, other patrons were starting to give us weird looks. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a waiter approaching us. 

"James, listen to me," Harold spoke, and, for the first time, I could hear the panic in his voice. "We need you to come with us-"

"VALTER!" My hair stood on its end. I've never heard Real call Harold by his surname, but the terror in his voice was unmistakable. Real's hand plunged into his pocket, his fingers clasping around something. 

I didn't know what came over me, but I dashed up next to Real, getting a better view of the carpark. But before I could see anything, the streetlights began to flicker. 

Just then, my eyes caught on a shadow at the side of a van. Only for a split second before it darted out of view at a speed that would break human bones. A chill ran down my spine. 

All the sudden, all at once, the lights in the carpark cut off, plunging the outside world into darkness. The only way I could see anything at all was the light from the mall streaming out through the windows, illuminating patches of road and random motorcycles. 

"Valter," Real said quietly beside me. "Get ahold of Lincoln."

I practically jumped as someone tapped my shoulder. I turned around to see an annoyed-looking waiter. He tried to grab Real's attention, but my friend refused to look away from the window. Alarms began setting off in my head.

"I'm sorry, young man, but I'm afraid I'm going to ask you to sit back down. You and your friends are making a scene-"

My hair stood up on its end. My muscles tensed.

"BACK!" I wasn't thinking. I fisted Real's collar and pulled him away from the window. Glass shattered. I'm knocked on the ground. The waiter screamed and ran. Real's cursing something in Danish. Harold's wavy hair appeared at the edge of my vision.

"REAL! GET JAMES OUT OF HERE!" Harold accidentally stepped on my hand, the sudden pain pulling me out of shock. In a daze, I scrambled to my feet, the glass cutting into my skin. I heard Harold screaming my name, but my mind went blank went I saw what broke the window. 

Lying at my feet. Gilded in gold. Its shaft almost as long as I am tall. 

A javelin. Its razor-sharp blade glinting in the light-

BANG! 

I yelped and stumbled back as a gunshot ripped through the air. I looked up to see Real's hand outstretched, a pistol clutched in his right hand. Except it...didn't look like a regular pistol. It looked sleeker, shinier, and it glowed in his hand. A third figure was now standing in front of him, bending over before toppling out of the window. But not before I saw the gunshot wound in its stomach.

A cold feeling gripped around my heart. Did Real just...did he just murder that-

"JAMES!" 

Harold's in front of me now, dragging me away from the window. I was too numb from shock to fight back. 

What's going on? I wanted to scream at him, but my tongue refused to cooperate. The restaurant was already empty. Sam was nowhere to be seen. There's shards of glass everywhere. 

BANG! BANG! BANG! Real began firing from the window, his face taut with worry. But that turned to full-blown panic when he pulled the trigger for the fourth time and all that came out was a click. 

"Shit! I'm out!" Real roared. "Valter, you hold them off! I'll get James out of here!"

Harold was still dragging me out, but he paused for a moment to look at Real. "But I-"

"JUST DO IT!" 

Harold looked taken aback, but his face settled into determination. With one final yank, he pulled me out of the restaurant. The sound of alarms blaring punctured my ears. Water from a sprinkler

"James. You listen to me," Harold grabbed my face and forced me to meet his eyes. Those same eyes glinting with humour just a second ago. "Get back to Sam. Don't tell him about any of this. Just stay tight. We'll come get you."

"Wha- NO!" I was still in a daze, but I had enough sense to push Harold's hands away. I looked around to see every shop vacant. Where is everyone? "You- you need help!" I had no clue what were the figures Real's shooting at, but I saw that javelin. I saw their speed. And I saw Real running out of bullets. It didn't take a genius to figure out they're outmatched. "You can't take them on!"

"Well neither can you!" Harold roared at me 

"But-"

"JAMES! GO!" 

With a powerful shove, Harold pushed me back, causing me to fall on the ground. When I got up again, I saw him jump out of the broken window into the carpark below. Real's nowhere to be seen. 

"NO!" Just as I got up, gloved hands grabbed my shoulders from behind. I screamed and elbowed my assailants face, hearing a nose crack. 

"Enough! It's too dangerous here!" I looked up to see a burly security guard scowling down at me, his nose bent at an awkward angle. "There's a fire in the-"

"MY FRIENDS ARE OUT THERE! YOU HAVE TO HELP THEM!" I wildly pointed at the window before the guard reached out and pinned my arms to my side. I howled in anger. "LET! ME! GO!"

The security guard ignored me and began dragging me away. I didn't remember where he took me. I'm screaming, cursing, clawing at the guard's hands. Another pair of arms gripped my shoulders. They drag me down a flight of stairs. Then another. 

The next thing I knew, I'm being thrown screaming into a crowd of people. 

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" My voice was growing hoarse. I tried to get up, but a stab of pain ran up my leg from a glass shard. "You- you have to-"

"James!" Sam hoisted me up. I yelped as I accidentally stepped on my injured leg. "Where's Harold? Where's Real?"

"They're- they're outside..." My adrenaline was ebbing away, replaced by cold exhaustion. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Sam grimace in worry. Slowly, he let me down on the ground. 

"I don't...Real told me you guys would follow me..." Sam said carefully, surveying my leg and wincing at the trail of blood. "Just...just calm down, okay? They're saying it's a lighting fault or something."

"I-" Another wave of nausea hit me, cutting off my words. The chatter of people around me began registering in my ears. I sat up for a better view. There's a couple of people lying on the floor, bleeding from glass cuts and being attended by people around them. Others had their mobile phones out, screaming something at the security guards keeping us in the corner of the atrium. Fire alarms were still blaring. 

Sam said something to me, but the sound of rain outside drowned him out.

"What?" I mouthed. 

Sam shook his head and raised his voice over the other voices. "You're saying Real and Harold are out there?"

I looked out at where Sam was facing. A pair of double sliding doors gave us a view of the pitch black parking lot. The light from the mall could barely penetrate the curtain of water pouring down from the sky. 

"They- they are! And they need help!" 

"They called the ambulance, James. And the police, too. They're on their way-"

Panic and adrenaline filled me again, but I only got up for split second before a lightning bolt struck a tree on the compound. Screams came from the crowd. Despite the rain, the tree stayed alight. 

Screams of panic turned into gasps as the flames illuminated the compound. My blood turned to ice.

In the centre of the parking lot were Harold and Real, standing back to back. Harold was dual-wielding a pair of knives while Real is holding some sort of weapon that looked like a...rifle?

Surrounding them were a bunch of people. Some of them had spears, others had swords, while others had-

Those aren't people.

My blood froze when my eyes landed on the face of one of them. Where its mouth, nose and eyes should be, there was just a blank space. The firelight reflected off the humanoid's face, revealing a metallic glint to it.

Harold and Real braced themselves. The creatures began moving in.

"NO!"

I burst out of the doors. I didn't care. I didn't plan. All I wanted was for those things to get away from my friends. Hands grabbed me. Someone's shouting my name. But it didn't matter. I was on a warpath.

The doors banged when I practically wrenched them apart, drawing the attention of everyone and everything in the compound. Real was the first to spot me, and when he did, his face paled.

"NO! JAMES, RUN! RUN!" Real cried.

One of those creatures lunged at him with a knife. Real blocked the blow with his weapon, stopping it centimeters from his face.

"STOP!" I roared. Balling my fists, I took a step forward.

Harold saw me and started, desperately waving his arm, telling me to run and leave this place. To go away, far, far away, from this place.

But I can't. And I won't.

I took another step forward out into the compound. Rainwater poured down on me, soaking me from head to toe. It didn't feel like rain at all. It was like standing under a waterfall.

One of the faceless creatures turned to me. This one looks like it's the leader. It's holding a staff of some kind, with lightning wreathed around it. Every time a tendril of lightning popped in a flash of light, or forked into two smaller tendrils, another lightning bolt struck the ground. Instinctively, I realised that that staff was the one controlling the storm.

"There you are. I didn't know there were three of you. Where is the Fire Elementalist?"

Before I could react or even retort, the leader grabbed me by the collar and slammed me facefirst onto the ground with a loud crunch.

I distantly hear someone calling my name through the rain. My nose was bent in a funny angle. I tried to yell, but a mouthful of rainwater filled my mouth and blinded me.

A foot nudged my side and rolled me over. I sputtered and chocked, spitting rainwater out my of my mouth. Blood streamed out of my nose, which barely stuck out over the water's surface. Rainwater flooded and stung my eyes every time I tried to open them.

That's when I heard the voice of the leader again, like a sharp icicle scraping stone.

"I don't understand why the Raiders fear you Invicti. Your precious Elemental Alliance should've fallen millennia ago."

What? What is it talking about? What Invicti? What Alliance?

"Get up," it snapped, grabbing me by the collar again and forcing me onto my feet.

Gasping, I was greeted by a smooth blank faceless metallic expanse. I flicked my head around. Real was looking at me in horror.

"James, run! Just run! RUN!" Real cried. One of the creatures pounced with a spear.. Before my scream left my throat, Real intercepted the blow and kicked the creature in the stomach, simultaneously slicing its head off.

The fallen creature's brethren didn't flinch or even glance at its head as it landed with a splash into the floodwater. They just stood there, inhumanly still, staring at my friends, like tigers ready to spring.

Real sucked in a breath as he backed off. Once again back to back, he and Harold scanned the remaining nineteen creatures, unsure which ones will strike next. I could hear their hearts pounding against their chests as the suspense became thicker than the fog that was starting to envelope the-

WHACK!

My head jerked violently to the side as the creature slapped me with alien strength.

"I will ask you once again, Invictus," The leader said, its icy hand now on my neck, every syllable alive with malice. "Where is the Fire Elementalist ?"

I clawed at the metallic arm gripping my throat desperately, my fingernails leaving scratches on the creature's limb.

"I-I don't know-" I managed to choke out, my vision dimming from lack of air.

The leader released me. I fell on my knees onto the ground, gulping down the rain-sodden air.

"Kill one of those Invicti," The creature said, calm but loud. "Perhaps it'll make this one more cooperative."

Sirens. I hear them in the distance. But they won't make it in time.

All nineteen creatures pounced at the same time at Real and Harold, weapons raised and thirsting for their blood.

Real impaled one of the incoming creatures with his double-bladed sword and punched another one aside with a loud clang. Harold had to roll to one side to dodge an arrow fired by one of the creatures. He threw both of his knives at a second that was about to impale him with a spear. The creature fell without a sound.

Just then, Real back-flipped away from a third creature and parried its strike with so much force the creature's knife flew out of its hand and landed at my feet.

Harold pulled out another dagger from his jean's pockets and sliced the air in front of him in a wide arc. The creatures backed off for a moment.

The leader of the creatures didn't seem fazed by the fact that its soldiers seemed to be losing. Then again, it's hard to know what it's thinking when it has no facial expressions.

Suddenly, at lightning speed, it threw the staff it was holding. Before I could even blink, Harold crumpled to the ground, shrieking, the sharp tip of the staff going straight through his thigh. Just as Real turned towards him, the staff exploded in a blinding flash of azure light. A bolt of lightning descended from the heavens and struck Harold, sending his charred body flying.

My head, ringing from the ear-splitting blast. My nose, blood gushing out of it like a waterfall. My eyes, blinded by the light. I couldn't hear. My ears don't work. All I could remember was my vocals cords vibrating, becoming more sore and hoarse as I bellowed Harold's name.

The leader turned back to face me, like it made a point.

"I will ask this of you again, child. Tell me where the Fire Elementalist is and I will spare your other friend's life," it said.

It took out a small axe.

I fell back down on my knees, looking helplessly at the creature's face. I didn't know what these things are. I didn't care about what the Invicti are. I didn't care about who this Fire Elementalist is. All I knew is that Harold is gone...Real is going to be gone...and I'm dying. Already, my blood-soaked hands and feet were deathly cold. My head was dizzy. The blood gushing out of my nose is turning into a puddle. All I want to do was to collapse...to close my eyes. To end the pain...please just end the pain...

Then, he appeared again. The flickering fire figure I saw. He materialised behind the creature and looked directly at me, his hood now drawn back a little, revealing his fiery red eyes. For a moment, our eyes met, red staring into brown. He raised his eyebrows, nodding in the direction of the creature. His lips never so much as parted, but I could hear a voice, loud and clear, in my head.

Do you want him dead?

I held our eye contact for five heartbeats. Then, grimly, with my last bit of energy, I nodded.

"Ah, the weakling is bowing his head. Wise choice, but acknowledging my superiority won't save you," the creature sneered. "Now, where is the Fire Elementalist?"

The figure disappeared. It was as though blood began rushing up into my head. I took a gasp and got to my feet. I've never felt so invincible in my life.

Excellent. A voice said in my head. That voice didn't sound like mine.

"What now, young Invictus? Do you wish to die like your friend?" The creature jeered. "Perhaps I should kill the other one too and make you watch."

I took a stride forward. The creature took a brief step back. Its arrogance faltered, momentarily confused by how confident I am.

That's when I spoke. And when I did, two loud voices spoke in unison, both coming out of my mouth.

"I am the Fire Elementalist you seek. If you ever touch a hair on Real's head, Scourger , I will make sure you'll return to Andras in an ash tray."

The creature started backing away, realisation dawning on it. It tripped over something and fell on its back into the water. The other creatures abandoned Harold and rushed to their leader's defense. They leaped through the air and made a protective ring around it.

The leader got up and looked at me with a mix of satisfaction and horror.

"Take him alive."