The Elementals : The Dawn of Darkness

Chapter 11 - Someone call the Dream Guru!

"Two in the– How long have I been out?" This could be interesting.

"Not long all things considered, about thirty-two hours."

Not long she says. I was expecting less than a day, not nearly two days for my brain to perform a systematic reboot. "Thirty-two...Jesus Christ, how hard did you hit me?!"

"Not hard enough, you were still blubbering like an idiot the whole way here. How'd you know it was me?"

"I may not be Sherlock Holmes, but it doesn't take a detective to work that one out. Big ball of darkness making a beeline for my face really narrows down the candidates."

"Hmph, fair enough."

I raised a hand to the area that he'd lobbed his projectile at. It felt tender to say the least. Oh well, another bruise for the collection. I tried to stand and instantly regretted it. The whole room violently lurched sideways and then began to spin like a tea cup ride. If I didn't have Sheira hooked under my shoulder to support me I'd have fallen flat on my face and destroyed whatever dignity I still had left. Even Shadow looked mildly concerned. Only mildly though.

"What happened to me?" I asked.

"You reached your Limit," she said, expertly manoeuvring me back down onto a sitting position.

"What's that?"

"The end of your power that you can go to without losing control. It's when your powers use you as an energy source rather than you consciously supplying it."

"So that's why I feel like I've been beaten to death with a baseball bat."

"Something like that, here drink this and eat that."

Was it a bad thing that I'd had a Lucozade and a Belvita for breakfast before? Whatever, gimme those sweet electrolytes. I chugged and munched while Shadow and Sheira kept explaining what the Limit was.

"All elementals have different breaking points; different distances they can go the first time they really use their power."

"I have to admit kid, I wasn't expecting that from you. You were like a goddamn supernova."

"I have to agree with him, that was on another level."

"Well to be fair if I didn't I'd be dead by now," I said before I took another swig of the drink. "They probably would have cut me in half with my own..." At that moment a genuine flashback whizzed through my mind. Incaendium. I dropped him!

"Where's my sword?" I asked, the hint of my panic in my voice was probably as subtle as a solid gold brick to the face.

Sheira quickly darted into the bathroom and came back holding the wonderfully familiar sight of Incaendium. Why she was keeping him in the bathroom was beyond me but all the same it was very good to see that Josh hadn't melted him down for scrap.

I gently took Incaendium from Sheira's hands. Golden flames instantly erupted from the metal, the fire licking at my fingers in a comforting manor.

"Hey Incaendium, you doing okay? Im sorry I dropped you, I didn't even realise until now."

I'm fine. Although, I'm more worried about you if I'm honest.

He certaintly didn't beat aroubd the bush. "I'm fine," I lied.

You know I can read your mind, right?

No I didn't. I sighed, it seemed that nothing was going to be getting past Incaendium. "I'm alright", I said firmly.