Elementals

Chapter 22-Corrupted Dreams

Chapter 22

•Alex's P.O.V•

Pitch black.

All around me, it was all I could see for miles. It felt like gravity was turned off, like I was levitating, but I was standing on something, some sort of floor. I looked around.

"Huh... This is one weird dream..." I muttered. I then heard the distant sound of a small fire burning form behind me. I turned and sound an orange speck of orange flickering light. I tilted my head before glancing around again.

'Better than the rest of this...' I thought to myself. I started heading toward the small dancing flame. The flame grew in size and started emitting more heat the closer I got, until I was close enough that it erupted in a blinding orange flash. I shielded my eyes.

I opened my eyes after a second to find myself in my house. In my living room. Engulfed in flames. Every surface was on fire.

"Deja vu..." I muttered.

"DAD!" I suddenly heard someone shout. I looked in the direction and found a figure about my height. That was when everything clicked. That figure was me, this was the day my magic fully manifested. I turned to my other self, still shouting for his dad.

"DAD WHERE ARE YOU!?" He shouted. There was no reply. The loud crackling of the flames silenced his cries for help. I was suddenly reminded of how scared I was on that day. I sympathized with my other self and decided to try and calm him down.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, don't worry." I said to him calmly. He didn't seem to notice me.

"DAD!" He shouted again.

"Hey, relax. You're going to to be okay-"

"Give it up. He can't hear you."

I whipped my head around to find the source of the voice. Nothing. I turned back to my other self, only to find nobody there anymore.

"What the-"

The blaze suddenly emitted a different colour glow, a pale shade of magenta, a shade all too familiar to me. My heart began to race in my chest.

"Oh no..." I muttered. I lit a flame in my hand, ready to hurl it at whoever tried to sneak up on me, but it fizzled and went out seconds later.

"Damnit, not now. Not now!"

"You think your pitiful flame can do anything to me?"

I looked around for the source of the voice, only to be met with nothing. I tried to light another flame, failing miserably. The voice spoke again.

"You are in my domain now, boy. The flames that you command aren't here to help you now."

I caught something out of the corner of my eye and quickly turned my head to it. A dark figure standing among the flames. They didn't get burned by any of them, in fact, it looked like the flames were trying to escape form the figure. As if they were scared of them. The figure stepped towards me.

"Don't come any closer!" I shouted, my heart thudding violently in my chest. I opened my palm again, trying desperately to light a flame. The figure laughed.

"Oh, you poor child, to think that you were the one chosen to end my reign over this realm." He stepped closer. "A child as inexperienced and underdeveloped as you, a child who knew nothing of this world until his own magic spiralled out of control. It's a shame that destiny decided that you were the one to defeat me."

'How does he...' I thought to myself. I looked at the figure's face, clouded by a dark haze that made it impossible to see his eyes.

"How do you know about that?" I demanded.

"Wouldn't you want to know?" The figure replied. He stepped closer, forcing me to take a step back.

"Not another step!" I said as stern and stoically as I could. Still, my voice sounded terrified. The figure laughed a wicked laugh.

"What do you expect to do? You can't even light a simple flame to save your life."

I growled. At that moment, a flame erupted in my hand. Without hesitation, I threw the fireball at the figure. But the figure caught it with ease and closed his fist around it, extinguishing it.

"Pitiful..."

I suddenly found myself off the ground, being held up by the neck. The figure wrapped his clawed hand around my neck, piercing my skin. I tried to loosen his grip, to no effect. He smiled demonically, seeming to salivate off my struggle to get myself free form his grasp. I gasped for air, his hold becoming stronger around my neck.

"As much as I'd like to continue the fun, I might as well end this now."

My skin suddenly started to burn, a dark smoke started to spill out of the figure's hand. I couldn't breathe... My vision started to blur. My hearing started to fade. My body began going limp, but not before I noticed my hair changing colour, going pale...

•••

I found myself screaming, sitting upright in my bed. I started breathing heavily, slowly catching my breath.

"Al? Are you okay?"

It took me a second to realize it, but my team was gathered around my bed all with worried expressions plastered across their faces. I stared at them blankly.

"Uh, hey guys. What are you all doing in my room?"

"I saw you tossing and turning in bed, like you were having a nightmare." Zielo started. "Then, your hair started changing colour and these black, sort of veins, started appearing and disappearing on your face."

My eyes widened, in surprise at first. Then I glanced at my magic mirror laying on my bedside table, before the realization hit.

"I was so worried that I woke everyone up." Zielo finished. I didn't respond.

"Uh, Alex?" Celest poked at my shoulder.

"Yo, Al, you good there?" Cameron asked, concerned.

"Pale hair... dark markings across my face... just like in my mirror." I muttered. I looked at the reflection again, and there it was. Pale magenta hair, dark vein-like markings under my eye and across my cheek, pale skin and now, eyes glossed over in black with pale irises. I felt my heart thudding in my chest again at the horror.

"Guys..."

"Yeah?" They answered.

"I think we're in danger..."

~~~~~

Author's Notes

Been a while since I wrote a chapter in the dream style. And if I'm being honest, I like how it turned out. Not much else to say about this chapter other than how long it took for me to get used to this writing style, so I'll see you in the next one.

-BlueBoyHalo14