Element

5-Compulsion

Compulsion: the act of making someone do a task or making them forget a piece of history in their life. I.e The state of being forced to do something.

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Cyrus trailed behind Ember through cracking ground, no sign of plant life in sight. They had been walking a good two miles before Ember stopped in a dry, barren wasteland of molten lava and dirt. It wasn't exactly as beautiful as the Treebridge Portal. In fact, it was terrifying compared to it. Cyrus was careful not to step on any of the cracks due to the fear of falling into a pit of lava.

Ember lead Cyrus up a crusty, dirt hill and when they reached the top, Cyrus was sweating from the instant heat. He looked down and about ten feet away from him was the top of a volcano. He dared to look down and found a bubbling pit of boiling globs of lava. They sputtered about, sizzling when coming in contact with dirt. Cyrus gulped.

"That's a volcano," Cyrus pointed out.

"Good observation skills, Captain Obvious," Ember's voice was dripping with sarcasm. He couldn't stand this Elementless anime-looking cross-dresser boy anymore. All he wanted to do was push him so his body would burn, flesh melting into the hot substance.

"That's not the portal, is it?" Cyrus looked terrified, his small eyes widening at the thought. "Right? Please, tell me it's not."

"I would love to," Ember smiled wickedly. "That would be a lie."

Cyrus went pale, blinking at Ember like he just asked him to kill himself. Which, he basically did. "I never said I had a problem with liars!"

Ember rolled his eyes, "It's not going to kill you, unfortunately for me. My power will allow us to jump through the lava and we will land somewhere in Seattle."

Cyrus glared at his offensive comment but joined by his side anyways. He didn't trust Ember but he figured he had to be telling the truth because if he wasn't, Roxxi wouldn't of suggested to ask him to compulse his parents in the first place. Of course, there was always the chance of Ember purposefully leading him to the wrong place and as soon as they jumped, Ember would be fine and he would be left in cinders. Cyrus decided to give him the benefit of the doubt.

Ember waved his hands in a circular motion until the lava began to spin, twirling around like a whirlpool. Cyrus looked at it in horror, imagining his tragic death over and over. Ember glanced at his expression and snickered, "Do you want me to hold your hand? Is little Elementless afraid?" he mocked in a baby voice.

"Actually, the hand-holding doesn't sound like such a bad idea-"

"Shut up." Ember snapped. "You're going to have to hold my hand anyways, otherwise my power won't affect you and you will die."

Cyrus blushed, but because it was so hot anyways, Ember didn't seem to notice and linked hands with the flustered Korean boy. Their fingers were laced through each other's, Cyrus' heart racing in his chest. This time, he wasn't sure if it was the nerves or Ember. The thought scared him.

He closed his eyes and then they jumped together. He felt like he was swimming through gelatin. The feeling was suffocating yet slimy. He could still feel Ember's hand, though. And he was not letting go. Then, all at once he could breathe again and Cyrus hit ground, but it didn't hurt. It was hard, but smooth and soft at the same time. When he opened his eyes, he was right on top of Ember, not ground at all. Ember was frozen, staring straight at Cyrus' face. His gaze travelled down the length of his body over his and Cyrus quickly scrambled up and off of him.