Gingerly, I took the man's, Lincoln's, outstretched hand and shook it once before quickly dropping it. He held my eyes for a moment, probably noticing my shock from seeing his arm, but he didn't comment on it.

"I hope those Scourgers haven't given you too much trouble," Lincoln continued, his eyes still staying cold despite his consoling tone. "You'll be facing much worse once we put you on the front lines.

"No problem- wait, excuse me?"

Lincoln's eyes narrowed. "It is your duty as the Fire Elementalist to serve in our war against Lightning Elementalist," he said slowly, as though it was obvious.  "And that entails the Elemental Alliance sending you to the front lines. Does that address your concerns?"

"No, actually," I said. "Why am I even here? What do you want from me?" 

"Like I said," Lincoln growled impatiently. "You're here to help the Alliance fight Andras. To kill him. Understand?"

"No," I immediately replied. My head was reeling now. "Why me?"

"Because-" Lincoln groaned and slapped his forehead. "Because you're the Fire Elementalist. It is your duty to-"

"Yeah, but why should I?" I interrupted, but I took a step back when Lincoln looked at me, his eyes glowering now. "S-sorry sir, but why can't I just go home?"

Now Lincoln was looking at me with disgust.

"Dalton," Lincoln growled at me again. "I did not kill an entire squadron of Scourgers and lose one of my most valuable soldiers just for you to abandon the Alliance five seconds after we extract you."

"Then why didn't you save Harold?!" I demanded. "Where were you when-"

"You think I wouldn't have stopped it if I were there!?" Lincoln snarled at me. "Klausen didn't even contact me at all. It was Harold that alerted the Alliance about the Scourgers. I barely turned up on time. The two of you," he glowered at me and Real. "should be grateful you made it out alive. Especially with the incompetence you showed today. Especially you, Klausen."

"We are very grateful, sir," Real said before I could retort. "Has Albert found...anything new?" He asked, eager to change the subject. He shot me a warning look to stay quiet.

"He went out to get Mira," Lincoln muttered.

Aránzazu had been watching the exchange between Lincoln, Real and me like a tennis match, her head moving side-to-side. But upon the mention of Mira, her body tensed. She opened her mouth to say something-

"Where's the party?" A voice drawled.

We all turned to the door, and there stood another guy also around my age with wavy brown hair. One of his hands was nestled in the pocket of his shirt and the other was holding a phone. A pair of brown-tinted glasses rested on his nose, matching the colour of his hair.

"You don't host a party in someone's office without inviting said someone," the boy said to no one in particular. He nodded at me, mildly curious. Before anyone could reply, he added, "who's the new kid?"

I opened my mouth to answer, but Lincoln beat me to it. 

"He's the new Fire Elementalist. Extracted two days ago."

To my surprise, a repulsed look flickered on the boy's face. 

"Of course. Figured as much. I'm Albert Kairo, by the way," he said, his facial expression quickly shifting back to a polite one. I reached out my hand for a shake, but he just looked at the bracelet on my wrist. "They gave you a Deltan Device already? You better keep yours on, Fire Boy. I wouldn't want my phone to jam." 

"What do you mean?" I asked as he shrugged past me, my arm still awkwardly outstretched for a shake.

"Haven't the others told you?" Albert scoffed. He fell backwards on his seat and spun around, leaning back and resting his feet on his desk. He flashed his own Deltan Device at me, its surface etched with the initials S.K.K. "You Elementalists have this funny aura that causes electrical appliances or modern weapons to jam around it. Super annoying. If the equipment is made of something made by an Elemental, like Deltan Iron-" He tapped his own bracelet. "It numbs the effect a little, but the best way will be to have the Elementalist wear those metals instead."

"Wait, Al..." Real said. 

Albert looked over his shoulder at him. "What?"

"You found anything? About Harold?"

Albert's confident exterior shattered for a brief moment, his eyebrows scrunched in worry. "Not...as much as I would like."

"Then what'd call Mira for?!" Aránzazu demanded.

Albert narrowed his eyes at her for a few seconds. "I need her to translate these." Albert finally said, firing up his laptop. He opened a file and it showed a yellowing image of a page with a lot of cryptic symbols on it.

"Where did you get this?" Aránzazu asked, putting her hand on Albert's shoulder as she leaned in for a closer look.

Albert swept her hand off his shoulder, shooting a cold look at her before he began ranting. "There was a faint location ping from Harold's Deltan Device. I tried pinpointing it, but someone else is blocking me from finding an exact spot. So instead, I measured the weakness of the ping and measured its distance from Delta, and cross-referenced every possible coordinate with the archives we have on all known planets that lie in that particular distance. This-" He gestured the picture. "-is all that we have."

Everything he just said flew over my head, and Albert could see the confusion on my face. I raised my eyebrow for an explanation, but he just smirked. Like I would be too dumb to understand anyways. 

I was already starting to hate this guy.

"It must be some sort of language, then." Lincoln muttered, turning Albert's attention away from me. He ran his fingers along the screen, causing Albert to furrow his eyebrows in annoyance. "I recognise the symbols in the centre, but not the ones ringing it."

"Then what are the ones in the centre?" I asked, intrigued.

"Fire, Water, Space-Time, Lightning, Air and Magic," Lincoln muttered. "But that makes no sense, where's the Earth Elemental? And what are these other languages?"

"See the Arabic writing here?" Albert said. "Arabic is inspired by the language of the Earth Elemental before the Artefact's explosion, and since it was one of the last languages spoken by the Earth Elemental-" He tapped the the symbol in the centre. "This must be the first language spoken by the Earth Elemental, the language of the Elementals."

I mouthed what? silently. Albert caught a glimpse of that in the reflection on his screen, but he just smirked again. He probably enjoyed giving all of these info dumps just to mess with me. 

 "And that means-"

"The Earth Elemental must've spoken the other languages too!" Real said.

Albert pointed at Real in a silent correct, glancing at me mockingly. "Since the Earth Elementalist isn't-"

"Didn't know you were hosting a party here, Alby," a female voice broke in.

We all turned to the door. A girl entered the room, her arms laden in jewelry and her clothes shimmering with gold linings, giving her an almost angelic look. She reminded me of someone...

"Ah, Mira. These symbols...you know this language?" 

"What codes, Al?" Mira said, cocking her head and hitting Albert's shoulder playfully.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Aránzazu's face turn red as she averted her gaze. 

Almost at the same time as I did, Mira noticed Aránzazu's presence.

"Hey...Ará..." Mira greeted awkwardly. That was when it hit me. The similarities between those two. Their brown eyes, their sharp facial features and the arrogant way they carry themselves. 

They're sisters. 

"Hello," Aránzazu muttered. 

"I was thinking we can go dinner together later...catch up, y'know? It's been a couple of months..." Mira said, but her cheerful voice trailed off.

Aránzazu simply huffed and stormed out of the room. "Tell me what you guys found later," she mumbled to Real. She went out of the room.

BANG! We all jumped when she slammed the door shut.

"So much for that," Mira sighed. 

"Forget her," Albert muttered, shaking his head.

"Honestly, I'm impressed you still haven't given up," Real said, casting a concerned look at the door. 

"Well, it's my fault she hates me, so I'm the one who has to make it up to her, right?" Mira muttered.

"If it weren't for you, Ará would've been dead on Lithas," Real shot back. "Don't blame yourself. You did what any older sister would've done."

"I'm only older by six seconds-"

"I'm sorry, Private Maria, but the three of you can discuss your internal drama later. Harold could be dying as we speak," Lincoln said calmly, but his eyes were desperate. He might be pretending to be aloof about Harold's disappearance, but it definitely affected him. Every second we spent talking was another second Harold was missing. For a moment, I empathised with this Air Elementalist.

Mira started at the mention of Harold. She glared at Albert, a dangerous glint flashing in her eyes. That's when I noticed the dagger scars marring her wrists and forearm.

"I'll tell you everything, I swear. After this," he promised, holding up his arms. "But the codes around the centre ring. Can you translated them?"

Mira took a look at the codes. She clicked her tongue as she analysed them.

As I turned to look at the symbols again, something came over me. It was as though I've had blurry vision for my whole life and put on a new pair of glasses. The symbols around the circle almost glowed. Suddenly, they begun rearranging themselves, spelling out an English line that said-

"Six shall perish, only one may rule. All thy need is the beast, the final tool," Mira and I chanted in unison.

We looked at each other.

Mira gawked at me. "I'm sorry. Do I know you? I haven't seen you around Delta before."

Albert looked at Mira pensively, but when his eyes fell on me, he was nothing but stunned. Like I'm some sort of freak.

"This is James Dalton. Our new Fire Elementalist," Lincoln interrupted. 

"Then if he is the Fire Elementalist, how could he-" Mira just gaped as she extended her hand, gesturing the symbols. "And...no offense, but...are you actually the Fire Elementalist?" She looked at me. My cheeks turned red in embarrassment and anger.

"Yes. I know I don't look like the great and all-powerful warrior you expected," I said sarcastically through gritted teeth.

Mira's eyes widened. "No, that's not what I meant! But how..." Mira said.

"We don't know..." Real muttered, also looking at me in absolute shock. I could feel him taking a few steps away from me, like I'm a pariah. 

"But I thought only an Earth Elementalist could-"

"Private María, I understand you're confused right now. We all are," Lincoln said evenly. "But once again, let's focus on our objective."

"Six shall perish, only one may rule. All we need is the beast, the final tool," Albert chanted, tearing his eyes away from me. "Six shall perish, only one may rule. All thy need is the beast, the final tool," he repeated, like he's trying to commit it to memory.

"Six shall perish, I'm assuming those are the six Elementals represented in the centre?"

"Fire, Water, Space-Time, Lightning, Air and Magic," Lincoln recounted. "Which would mean the Earth Elemental is the one that rules."

"But wasn't the Earth Elemental on the good side?" I said, still looking at the other symbols.

"He was," Albert confirmed.

"But it can't just be the Space-Time Elemental, can it?" Mira said. "The thing says 'all thy need is the beast'. Thy."

"But the beast..." Albert said. "I might have something on it. Whatever this beast is, the Earth Elemental wanted to-"

"Are we actually entertaining the idea that the Earth Elemental wanted the other Elementals dead?" 

"Look, Mi-Mi. We have virtually nothing to go off of, okay?" Albert said, throwing up his arms. "We're trying to find Harold's location. Maybe the Earth Elemental wanted to make a demonic puppy to torment the people of whatever planet that is, or maybe he started fangirling Justin Bieber and things got out of hand. Whatever it is, I couldn't give less of a shit!"

"You have something on the beast?" Real prodded. "If we know what the beast is, we can pinpoint Harold's location."

"Maybe, just maybe," Albert said. Suddenly, red light illuminated from his left ear. I stepped back, frightened, but Lincoln's right ear also glowed in red light. They both simultaneously tapped their ears. After staring blankly for a few moments, they nodded.

"Yes, we're on our way. We'll bring Real, too," Lincoln said to nobody in particular. He tapped his ear and the red light died. Albert did likewise.

"It's a War Room meeting and we're already late. Real, we'll need you to come with us. They would want to hear a first-hand account of James' extraction." Albert said.

Lincoln looked at me. "We'll talk about that later," he said. Instinctively, I knew that meant me translating those Earth Elemental texts.

Mira grabbed me by the shoulder and steered me out of the room. We bumped into Aránzazu who was outside, wiping her eyes with a handkerchief. Aránzazu's eyes glinted with rage at the sight of Mira. Mira gave her an apologetic look before leaving. Aránzazu walked up to me, still angry, but she took a deep breath.

"How about I show you around?" she said in a falsely-bright voice.

 ~~~~

Despite having walked for about thirty minutes, I still wasn't tired at all. Aránzazu showed me the armouries and infirmaries on the first floor. The armouries and archive rooms on the second floor. The War Rooms and armouries on the third floor...I tuned out after we were done with the sixth floor, still thinking about those texts. 

Was that some Fire Elementalist thing? But even Real and Aránzazu were shocked, and they knew everything that I don't. But how? How did I manage to translate all those codes...

"And this-" Aránzazu said, interrupting my thoughts. I realised we're in an armoury. I had been following her out of instinct. "-is the standard gun and combat knives issued to every soldier on Delta."

She showed me a weapon that is shaped like an assault rifle. However, instead of having a folding metal stock, it was made fully of Deltan Iron. The knives she showed are also made of Deltan Iron. 

"We use Deltan Iron for all weapons here," Aránzazu explained. "Granted, it doesn't have much of a stamina effect on the soldiers as the Devices, but Deltan Iron bullets still hurt a lot, and it's pretty abundant here."

"So, if I take off my Device-"

"The guns will instantly jam," Aránzazu confirmed. "The average range of that aura of yours is around four hundred metres, so you're out of range for any assault rifles and pistols."

"Then snipers?" 

"It should be pretty effective, you would think. I think around three of the previous Lightning Elementalists were killed by snipers, but Andras is smart. In battles, he is never stationary."

"But constantly running won't stop a good sniper for long-"

"He doesn't run around like a headless chicken, James. He teleports. Summons these random lightning bolts and uses them as some sort of transportation. A bolt can strike him, and he'll be gone. Then, another lightning bolt will strike somewhere else and he'll reappear."

"So he can literally go across the world?" 

"Not really, he does have some limitations. From what we see, there's always a one-second interval before he comes back, and the longest range he travelled that way, documented at least, was about twenty metres. Pretty far, but not too dangerous"

"Then how about grenades? Missiles?"

"Grenades work the same way as guns when caught in the Elementalist's aura. For some reason, they don't even explode when they're unpinned. Missiles, he can destroy with a well-placed lightning bolt."

"Nuclear bombs? Hydrogen bombs?"

Aránzazu's face darkened. 

"That's how the previous Earth Elementalist died. The plan was to detonate the hydrogen bomb on Andras, and the Earth Elementalist volunteered to distract him. The other Elementalists begged him not to, but he did it anyway. The explosion killed him and everyone else on the Northern Hemisphere of that planet...it was a small planet. Everyone except Andras."

"Wha- but how? He's not..."

"He's not immortal, no. But the bomb didn't kill him. We have no idea why. We genuinely thought he was dead. Almost every planet was celebrating, until he launched a surprise attack on Planet Lithas, and-" her voice broke. "slaughtered everyone there."

"He...an entire planet? He couldn't have killed everyone, right?"

"Not a single survivor. Except Lincoln."

If it wasn't for you, Ará would've been dead on Lithas. 

Didn't Real say that to Mira? That meant Aránzazu and Mira had both escaped Lithas, so why the hell was she lying now?

But something else disturbed me. If the most destructive thing mankind ever made isn't enough, what is? "Then what are the Alliance's plans now?" I asked, consciously making sure I said the Alliance instead of our.

Aránzazu gently laid the gun and knives back to their proper place, gauging if she should really tell me. "Antimatter. The Gaires are an intelligent species on Planet Horia, and they're one of the last species on our side. Their researchers said that they might have a way to harness antimatter as a weapon" 

"You're planning to annihilate Andras with an antimatter bomb?" 

"That's our plan. Albert hatched it himself" 

I was quiet for a few moments.

"Oh yeah, here's your communication device," Aránzazu said, shoving something into my hands. 

I inspected it closely. It looked like a hearing aid, but it unlike the other items in the armoury, it didn't seem to be made of Deltan Iron. The material seemed to be less lustrous and duller, with a yellowish hue to it.

"Banished Copper," Aránzazu explained. "Long time ago, the Earth and Space-Time Elementals worked together to build giant signal towers that can communicate between planets. So they made these metals called Orion Copper. But some Orion Copper didn't turn out they way they wanted it, so they cast it away as Banished Copper. Quite a few of those meteorites landed on Delta. They aren't strong enough to communicate between planets, but their range is still good, around twenty kilometres."

I wolf-whistled softly. "Still better those regular handheld radios back home," I said, looking at my device in awe.

"Tap once and say the person's name to call them. Tap once to end the call, and tap twice to activate silent mode," Aránzazu explained. 

I put on the device. I tapped once and said "Aránzazu".

Nothing happened. 

"Try my full name," Aránzazu said.

I paused for a second with a guilty look on my face.

Aránzazu sighed. "Aránzazu María."

"My bad, I suck at remembering names," I apologised as I tapped the device a second time. "Aránzazu María."

I butchered the spelling of it, but almost instantaneously, Aránzazu's device blipped in her ear. She