My confidence faltered as the first figure pounced on me and socked me across my face. My eyes began to see stars as I stumbled back and fell on my butt.

Before I could even comprehend what was going on, my leg flew out with wicked speed and I felt it impact something. My eyes caught a glimpse of the creature with a dented crotch before it collapsed on its knees and was swallowed up by the muddy water.

Get up!

I hopped back on my feet and tried to back away, but when I turned around, I realised I was completely surrounded. Mute figures closed in on me from all sides.

I began to search my pocket for any weapon of sorts. As soon as the word weapon occured in my head, something appeared in my hand, an icy cool metallic rod clutched in my fist. Before I had time to question its existence, one of the figures choked me from behind.

Sputtering for air, I closed my eyes, wrenching out the metal rod in an attempt hit the creature in the face. I heard a sharp shink. The arms gripping my neck loosened as they collapsed on the floor.

I gasped, opened my eyes and there was the figure behind on the ground, its face sliced in half. I got a good look at its insides. There were no wires or flesh within its head, just solid metal.

What's even weirder was the giant sword I'm holding.

White-hot fire shot out from the hilt and seemed to be drawn to the tip of the sword, making it looked like the sword was wrapped in an inferno. There was an engraving on the sword's blade that I couldn't make out. It was so hot the rainwater around it sizzled and turned into steam even without making contact with it.

I sliced the air in a wide circle, causing the figures to back off. I had no idea what I'm doing, just that I needed to get away from these guys and get some help. Even without expressions, I could tell the figures were scared.

"Target has the Sword of Inferno," a higher-pitched robotic voice rang from inside one of them. "Permission to kill, commander?"

The leader got up and snapped its fingers. The lightning rod levitated in the air for a brief moment. Suddenly, it made a piercing whirring noise and flew back into its hand. "Kill him. I imagine Lord Andras would prefer him dead than escaped-"

Before it could even finished its sentence, they charged. I screamed, only out of fury this time, and blocked a blow from an axe thrown by one of them. The axe didn't last long and melted within seconds after making contact with my sword.

I stabbed in the direction of one of the figures and it easily parried the attack. I hacked at the hilt of its spear and raised my sword, determined to slice it in half.

That was a fatal mistake.

Another figure lunged and twisted my wrist, causing me to drop the sword. I grabbed its face, trying to push it away from me. It gave out what I assumed is a robotic scream when smoke started pouring out from between my fingers.

The figure I tried to kill sliced my leg with its spear. I yelled in agony and crumbled to the floor. The figure grappling onto me fell to the ground too, its face melted and distorted.

Ignoring my pain, I grabbed my sword, jumped and sliced off of the spear wielder's head. As I landed, I fell a dull stab of pain and looked down at my leg, thinking that there was a minor injury.

What I saw made me sick. An open wound split my leg apart to the point that my bone is visible through the mess of tendons and flesh. Blood is spilling out of the open gash like a waterfall.

Just then, I felt a clammy pair of hands clamp around my neck and began to strangle me again. My sword dropped out of my hand and turned back into a rod the second my hands relaxed around it.

The creature hissed. "I should've killed you the moment I laid eyes on you."

No... I could hear the panicked voice in my head. No, no, no!...Stay with me, James!

Suddenly, an arrow soared through the air and punctured the figure through the chest. It let go of me and dropped. The other 16 or so figures turned to the direction the arrow was shot from. Five more arrows whooshed out from behind a bush, just beyond the reach of the streetlight. Five figures fell.

At that point, around six of them charged to the bush while the others turned to deal with me. One of them grabbed the spear from their fallen comrades and threw it at me.

The next thing I knew, I caught the spear with my bare hands. My whole body tingled like I had superhuman strength. I held out my hand and my sword flew into it. The figures, shocked, readied their weapons and ran at me.

But I was ready for them.

Scars are forgettable, mortal. Not defeat.

Without thinking twice, I sliced the first figure's waist and severed it in two. The second I dodged and killed with a stab through the face. The other three charged me at the same time. One of them threw a trident that embedded my sword to a fencepost behind me.

Without thinking, without knowing why, I lifted my hands in the air. A wall of fire shot out from the ground. One of the figures was unlucky enough to run through it before it dissipated. Even its melted remains evaporated.

The final figure stabbed at me with its second trident. I didn't hesitate before grabbing it from its clutches and breaking the trident in half over my knee. I grabbed the shaft and drove it through the figure's head. It collapsed without a sound.

"JAMES!"

I looked up with a victorious smile that faded as soon as I see the panic in Real's face. Just then, a sudden blow to the back of my head knocked me onto my knees. A knife stabbed me in the shoulder. I howled at the pain. I see Real's blades whizzing through the air over my head and a dim clang as the last of those faceless figures fell.

"James, are you okay? James?!" Real's voice shouted through muddled consciousness.

Whatever superhuman strength I had left me, leaving me with the full pain of my mangled leg and my sliced shoulder. I opened my mouth in a silent scream.

I distantly heard Real repeatedly yelling my name as I blacked out.

~~~~

I slowly started to regain consciousness. My throat is sore. My limbs are aching, though they're more like dull pains then a searing open wound. Swallowing was agonising.

"It had to be a full possession. That transformation is so sudden, even by regular Elementalist standards. And for a new one like James? Impossible."

"You mean he never displayed any Elemental qualities before the Scourgers came along?"

"Nothing besides that dream. But that makes no damn sense. Why would James be the-"

I opened my eyes and I saw Real's face over me. He started and his hand dropped from his ear. His face was stunned for a split second, but then he grinned at me from ear to ear.

"James! You're awake!" Real cried gratefully. He turned around and raised his voice, still quivering in excitement. "He's awake, Ará! He's awake!"

I sat up on a hospital bed and looked around. I was in a small infirmary. Real is sitting on a chair next to my bed wearing a hospital robe.

"Where-" I suddenly became dizzy. Real caught me before I rolled off the bed.

"Easy there, James. After a full possession like that..." He gave a low whistle. "We never thought you would survive."

A young lady ran in from an adjoining room and checked a screen beside my bed. She sighed in relief.

"Your heartrate is good...body temperature good..." She muttered as she tapped the monitor. She has a slightly soft and melodic accent, though I couldn't place what it is. "Your blood pressure is still worrying, though." She opened her hand and faced me. "How many fingers am I holding up?"

I squinted my eyes. "Ummm...seventy-three?"

"You'll be fine."

She closes the monitor and slapped her forehead. "Almost forgot to introduce myself. I'm Aránzazu. Pleased to meet you." She said, holding out her hand for a shake.

I did not take her handshake. I just stared at my legs numbly, my tongue trying to form words.

I looked at Real, dead in the eyes. Real, who I thought I knew. Real, who had been my childhood friend for the past ten years. Real, the hilariously self-conscious fashionista who would freak out if a single drop of juice, heaven forbid, touched his beloved clothing. Real, who used that double-bladed weapon with such skill that must've come out of years of training.

What has he been hiding from me? What secrets have he and Harold-

Oh no.

"Harold. Is-is he-?" My raspy voice died off.

Real's smiling, happy facade broke, replaced by a broken expression, devoid of hope. He looked down at his shoes. "We-we couldn't find his body. The Scourgers must have taken him."

Aránzazu looked from my face to Real's face and back to mine. "What about Harold? Real, what have you not been telling me? Real?"

Real continued to looked at his infirmary-assigned navy-blue slippers.

"Real Evermore Klausen!" Aránzazu snapped. That's when I clicked for me. It's a Danish accent, that was the way Real spoke during the first few months after he left Denmark.

She must've been brought up in Denmark, just like Real.

Real finally opening his mouth. "The Scourgers' leader...He had a duplicate of the Rod of Spite. Harold got hit directly with it." His voice was horribly dead and hollow.

Aránzazu clapped her hands over her mouth. "How bad was it?"

Real looked up. His eyes now glistening with tears. "The Rod went straight through his leg and struck him with lightning. I don't know where his body went, but when Lincoln and I searched for it-" His voice broke. "-we couldn't find him."

Aránzazu's hands were still covering her mouth. Her eyes stared at Real, unblinking. "Do you have a signal from his comms? His vitals signal? His location? Anything?"

Real got up. "His signals are jammed. Albert is trying to break through."

"It's my fault." My raspy voice broke free of my throbbing throat.

Real looked down at me, the stark lighting reflecting off the tears in his eyes.

"Nothing about this was your fault, James. Those monsters...those Scourgers, we call them...they wanted to capture you."

"So it's my fault."

"No. Harold and I...it was our duty to protect you."

"You mean...you were assigned to protect me?"

"Not just us specifically. Everyone in the Elemental Alliance, including Invicti like Harold and I-" Real's voice broke when Harold was mentioned. He started pacing up and down. "-we were told to be on a lookout for Elementalists. We tried to live as close to a regular life as possible when we turned 15 and thought we'd stay on Earth until we're 17. We made some regular friends, like you and Sam. We really thought you were just a human, James. That was before-" He turned to me. "-you mentioned those dreams. Harold sent a distress call to Lincoln immediately...but we didn't expect the Scourgers to reach us so quickly."

"But why?" I asked helplessly. "Why was I the one the Scourgers wanted?"

"For the same reason the two of us protected you, James." Real said. "And the same reason that you give hope to the Elemental Alliance. Hope that you could end a war."

"But then what-" I tailed off.

For an Elementalist like James? Impossible.

We were told to be on a lookout for Elementalists.

I held up my hands, imagining them shrouded in flames.

"Am I...an Elementalist?"

I had no idea what that meant, but Real and Aránzazu looked at each other mutely. They then turned to me and somberly nodded, like they were paying respects to me in my funeral.

My mouth gaped. Suddenly, my head felt dizzier and what little energy I got from that brief conversation left me.

Aránzazu casted another concerned look at my vitals. "Inflammation in your throat...that can't be good." She made me take a lozenge.

While chewing on the sour tablet, I worked up the courage to speak again.

"Are there more like me?"

Real took out a handkerchief and wiped his glasses, as if buying time to think of the right answer.

"If you're referring to Fire Elementalists, no. You are the sole Fire Elementalist alive. But if you meant Elementalists in the broader sense, yes."

"And what is that supposed to mean?"

"There are multiple Elementalists. Fire-" He gestured me. "Water, Earth, Magic." His face turned dark. "There's also two more: Space-Time and Lightning."

"Are they all here?"

"No," Aránzazu replied. "James, your appearance is honestly a blessing. Before you, we only had two Elementalists on our side: Air and Water. The previous Fire and Earth Elementalists" She averted her gaze, but I managed to see a pang of pain in her eyes. "had been killed."

"K-killed? By those faceless things?"

"Scourgers," Aránzazu corrected. "And no, they weren't the one who killed them."

"Then who did?"

Aránzazu's face darkened.

"His name is Andras."

It might have been my imagination, but the room felt colder. The lighting seemed dimmer for a moment.

The master wants him alive.

"The Scourgers mentioned someone they called 'the master'," I recalled.

Real grimaced and bowed his head. "He isn't just the Scourgers' master. All monsters, all of the horrifying creations of the Lightning Elemental, they answer only to him, the Lightning Elementalist."

"But why? Why is he after me? And why do I have these..." I looked at my hands. "freakish powers?"

Real and Aránzazu looked at each other. They seemed to be having a battle, each trying to bend the other to their will. Eventually, Real must've lost, because he sighed and looked at me.

"First of all, as to why you are an Elementalist...There's no way to sugarcoat things. You have the dead soul of an immortal, all-powerful Elemental residing within you."

I remembered that man cloaked in fire. Beckoning me. Silently asking me in my head if I want the Scourgers dead.

"And as for why the Lightning Elementalist is after you..." Real sighed. "your predecessors have been fighting with him since the dawn of Earth. To stop him from accomplishing his goal."

"Which is?"

Real stayed silent. Aránzazu cut in. "To resurrect the Lightning Elemental."

Aránzazu acted as though it was something I should gasp about. Instead, I just looked at her cluelessly.

Real gave me a look of sympathy, which made me scowl. "I know it's a lot to take in James,. If you want to wait for when you're healthier-

"No." I interrupted. "Tell me now. Everything you've been hiding from me for who-knows-how-long."

Real nodded. "I supposed it's the least I can do," He muttered.

"The seven Elementals were the original intelligent species in the known universe. Each of them were in charge of different Elements, which they create as they wish. The Elementals established other intelligent species similar to theirs, and created innumerable planets and galaxies to house their new creations. The Elementals had cooperated for their myriad projects, and eventually, they've resided in the universes of their choice."

That's when Real grimaced.

"The Lightning Elemental was different, though. Unlike the other Elementals that create life, the only things it could create were storms, plagues, death and destructive monsters. Despite that, it was accepted by the Elementals. They all acknowledged that death and life goes together. Nobody knows what the Lightning Elemental thought of their decisions, but what everybody knows is that one day...Lightning snapped."

"It triggered what we now call the First Elemental War. Monsters mobilised by the millions and..." Real swallowed. "The other Elementals retaliated. But for every new soldier they created, Lightning made three more monsters. People died by the millions, and every planet devolved into a mindless battlefield."

"One by one, we lost planets. And the Elementals eventually were left with a single planet to house their forces. Combining their elements and intellect, the Elementals created an item they called the Artifact as a final bid to end the madness. They used their own life sources to power the Artefact, and detonated it in the Lightning Elemental's face. The subsequent explosion was enough to render all the Elementals into phantoms.

Real looked at Aránzazu for help. She sighed and picked up where he left off.

"The explosion also created the Milky Way, our galaxy. Since the Artefact's explosion, for reasons we still can't understand, some humans are born with the ability to generate a life source similar to the Elementals'. When an Elemental finds someone with such qualities, they will reside within the person, allowing him or her to tap into a small portion of their powers. Those are Elementalists."

"Ever since then, Lightning, through the help of Lightning Elementalists, has been trying to regain a fully-fledged body with the help of its allies. We, the other Elementalists, the hosts of the Elementals, are constantly holding it at bay. We have outposts throughout every galaxy to monitor their every movement. So far, as Real said, the situation isn't great. The Magic and Earth Elementalist are missing. So far we only have three of the six Elementalist on our side: Lincoln; the Air Elementalist, Clare; the Water Elementalist and you. The Space-Time Elementalist has betrayed us."

Real looked at me, wanting to see how I would take the news.

I realised my mouth was open.

"The Space-Time Elementalist is one of the good guys?"

"The Space-Time Elemental was. But Adrian - he's the Space-Time Elementalist now - he turned on us. Switched to Andras. Lincoln and Clare were shaken. We've never had one of our own Elementalists switch sides before."

Real's eyes darkened as he said that, like the mention of Adrian reminded him of something. A flash of emotion crossed his face.

"But..." I was about to ask Real about this Adrian guy, but his dark expression made me think twice. "Then..."

"It's getting late. We should introduce you to the others before the War Room meeting starts." Aránzazu interrupted as she got up.

I was about to protest before another thought struck me.

"Hang on, you said you had outposts in other universes...Am I even on Earth right now?"

Slowly, Real turned to me and shook his head. "We think it's unsafe for you to be on Earth. We evacuated you."

"My...parents?"

"We thought it'll be for the best that they think you're dead."

Before I could protest, Aránzazu got up.

"On that note," she smiled. "Welcome to Planet Delta!"

~~~

I turned down Real when he offered me a wheelchair, feeling robust enough to walk.

But I regretted my decision the moment we stepped outside.

"Planet Delta was a brainchild of the Earth and Water Elementals. A safe haven for all of their underwater creations." Real explained, turning around so as not to miss my reaction.

I was speechless, looking at my surroundings in awe. The infirmary was a tiny room attached to the side of a gargantuan glass dome. Other rooms ringed the dome, some have the words ARMOURY and STORAGE intricately carved into their doors.

The dome wasn't limited to a single level either. A giant spiral staircase was proudly displayed as the centerpiece of the dome, beautifully decorated with pictures of dolphins, flying fish, and other creatures I didn't recognise. Thin suspended platforms hung delicately in the air, connecting the innumerable levels to the staircase. Golden railings lined both sides of the suspended platforms and the edges of the