At many points along this journey, I've said that I've been in the worst pain in my life. Past me hadn't the remotest clue what he was on about. Old me deserved to be repeatedly slapped in the face.

This was agony.

Pure, unrivalled, skin tearing pain. Picture being stabbed by a thousand red hot, electrified needles coated in wasp venom. Got that? Okay, well just add a dash of boiling alive and a sprinkle of being bashed in the chest with a lump hammer and you're partway there.

I couldn't scream, my vocal cords were paralyzed by the black invader coiling itself around my throat. This thing was alive. Shifting and squirming through my veins, wrapping around my muscles, and coating my lungs like sticky tar. Every breath stung like sand. Pain raced down my spine until there wasn't a cell in my body that wasn't recoiling in agony.

I knew my friends were screaming but I couldn't see them, I couldn't hear them. I was completely alone, just me and this foul thing that was desperately trying to take over my mind. Flames tried to force their way through my skin but the mass just extinguished whatever spark I had, locking the heat away, just inches out of my reach.

Bile rose hotly up my throat, acid not stopping the thing from forcing its way down into my gut as I gagged. My chest felt like there a hand gripping each lung, squeezing tighter and tighter. I couldn't breathe anymore.

Get it out, GET IT OUT, GET IT OUT!

The panic attack scrambled any coherent thought. I'm dying. My brain usually thought I was dying in a moment like this but this time it was real. Very real. Breathe, Nick, breathe. I had to get control back. I had to keep fighting.

But it didn't matter. It just pushed on, deeper and deeper until I could feel it from the soles of my feet to pressing painfully against the backs of my eyes. Something warm and wet splashed against the back of my hand.

Through the tears, I looked up at my wonderful Mum. Even though her tears had run dry her face was twisted into sobs. Horror etched onto every line, mouth hung open and screaming in a perfect red O, eyes wide and pleading with who I knew was standing just behind me, howling with laughter.

I wanted to push this away and run over to her. I wanted to tell my Mum not to worry and that I'd find a way out of it. I wanted to tell her it was going to be alright.

Instead, I was curled into the foetal position on my knees, the stabbing torture in my gut threatening to rip whatever consciousness I had away from me. Seriously. I couldn't tell if it was the pain or the fact that the serum had seized hold of my brain but the world was spinning like a teacup ride and if I could have I would have chucked.

I had to hold on. I must! Just for a bit longer. Think Nick, think. What's Mum's maiden name? Penhallow. Where did I grow up? 20...21 Brandfort Gardens. What's my little brother's name? Ma...Mat...no that's not it. Ma...ma...max...Maxie! What about my sister? Lily? No...lil...lay...li...

It was in my chest now, worming and wriggling its way down. My lungs felt heavy, useless. My stomach was filled with bile. My head felt like it was stuffed with cotton wool. I couldn't think straight anymore. One touch. All it had to do was reach out and take my heart down and that would be it.

It crept down my veins, expanding out like a network of roads and extended outwards. It reached into my heart-

And retreated like a struck dog.

What?

It reached out again with the same result. Hissing filled my ears as it recoiled, snakelike as it writhed backwards for just a moment. It was struggling to break through, but why? It had done just fine with everything else, why was my heart putting up such a fight?

And then from somewhere deep within my addled mind came the response. I wasn't a normal Elemental. I had my father's heart, figuratively and literally. A heart that blazed with fiery determination at such a temperature it had hiked up my body heat to a toasty one hundred and twenty degrees Celsius.

The serum didn't like heat!

With that realisation fresh in my mind I knew what I had to do. I screwed my eyes shut and with what little scrap of sanity I had left, willed my temperature up.

The fire within me burned into life, transforming from flame to a bonfire. The comforting warmth turned unbearable for me but that was nothing. The moment the heat pulsed from my heart like a wave, the black mass infesting my veins reeled and flinched from the coming onslaught. Screaming the entire time.

It fought back. It pushed against the wave, relentlessly advancing back into my chest in a desperate attempt to gain control again. It wanted me, it's prize, but I don't give up that easy.

My gritted teeth felt like they were going to break under the stress of my clamped jaw but the pain didn't matter and the temperature kept climbing, even as my body screamed to stop, that it was too much, that I'd gone beyond the point of no return and to keep going would kill me.

You know what? Screw it. If I'm going out, I'm going out on my own terms and besides, there's no better way to go than in a blaze of glory, right?

By this point, Molly had worked out that something had gone very badly wrong. I should have lost my mind by now, but I hadn't. Nick Hayden still existed and wouldn't you know it, he was fighting back and winning.

I looked up at her, my vision cleared of black fingers scrabbling at my peripheral, as my blood and the serum started to boil.

I'd never that look on her before. There was no other way to describe it. She was terrified. "Call for back up," she ordered hoarsely, her gaze never breaking from my mine.

"Who?" Marx replied. His voice shook as much as his master's

"Someone," she barked back. "Anyone! Just get support up here now!"

The serum was now forcing its way out of every pore in my skin as it tried to escape its death sentence. It leaked from my eyes, ears, and nose to be evaporated by my skin which had morphed into solid magma.

Something spurred me to my feet. Flames erupted from my eyes, engulfing my vision in crackling flames. Soon there wasn't a part of me that didn't crackle and dance with golden light. The fire within me burned brighter than a dying sun as the last evil was purged.

My soul was alight and more alive than I'd ever felt. This was what it meant to be elemental. To be one with the primal forces that ripped and moulded the world to their will. These flames weren't killing me, they were healing me. Every cut, every bruise miraculously closed up and vanished like they hadn't even been there in the first place. My wrist slotted back into place as the bone fused back together. Broken ribs, fractured skull, even the crack in my jaw I'd sustained two years earlier tingled warmly and then vanished, good as new.

I had become an inferno with skin.

I gazed down at the trembling figures before me. Molly retreated so quickly at the sight of me before her, she'd crashed into her two cronies and, like the stellar individual she was, pushed those two kids in front of her. Marx was aghast, perhaps remembering I still had his voodoo doll in my pocket, while behind his dark shades I knew James's eyes were wide.

The reflection in his glasses made for interesting viewing. I turned my head to one of the polished steel sheets hanging in the wall. There was something supernatural about the face staring back at me. Flames licked at his skin and his hands were lit up completely. As was his head. His eyes were two burning spheres of green fire and from his heart, arching and dancing like a ribbon in the wind, was a blazing inferno.

I grinned at the figure and my reflection grinned back.

"Well," I said, surprised at how my voice now mimicked the burning nature of the rest of me. "This is a fine how do you do."

Molly lunged for the controls, too quick for the column of roaring flame that extended from my outstretched palm. She slammed a button on the console down, bathing the room in red light as sirens wailed. The doors flung themselves open and a stream of soldiers poured into the chamber, each armed to the teeth and none looking too friendly.

Alright, so that's how you want to play. I could see the metal cuffs binding my friends. The weaknesses, the joints in the metal, the temperature that would reduce them to molten slag. How fragile. A burst of heat, 1500 degrees Celsius straight into the heart of the metal, and they snapped like they were made out of butter. The three of them leapt to their feet as the gaggle of soldiers circled us.

"Oh come on," I said, "Can't we just talk this out?"

I think Molly was a bit past reasonable conversation. In fact, she looked on the verge of hysterics. "Leave no survivors!" she shrieked.

"That's going to be tricky," Shadow muttered.

The ring of soldiers lurched inwards, weapons drawn and Beasts snarling. Okay, let's do this.

"Get down," I said calmly.

Knowing what was about to happen, the others to hit the deck. Eyes shut, I reached for this primal energy that was pulsing from deep within my soul. My eyes flashed green and I threw my arms wide, unleashing a blast of fire that would have made the sun look like a birthday candle. The first two rows of soldiers were turned to ash while everyone else was blasted backwards from the sheer force of the explosion.

Skating blades popped out from under Sheira's boots, propelling her forwards into the crowds, blasts of ice throwing the crowd apart. Anyone frozen into a human-sized ice lolly was shattered into a thousand pieces by Shadow or Mum who had scooped up another evilly pointed spear to kebab anyone left standing.

Within seconds, the apparent order had descended into chaos. I'd never fought like this before. The scale was jarring, the noise was intense and god helps anyone with motion sickness. It was like the room had sprung to life. A bloody, violent and death soaked life. I didn't allow myself to think about that. It was us versus them, think about it later.

Still, that was easier said than done as one of my fireballs tore mercilessly through a small gaggle of soldiers who were focused on Sheira. She was like a demon when she fought, savage and beautiful. That explained why the snow leopard was her Beast.

Screams rang out as a familiar twelve-foot tall black mass burst onto the battlefield. Crash bellowed and charged, easily living up to his name as he ploughed forwards like a bulldozer. Black bursts from his master directed the goliath onwards from the path of destruction he left behind.

Two swordsmen leapt forwards. One tried to loop strips of metal around my wrists but they just melted before they could touch my skin. I would kill to know what my temperature was right now. The unlucky soldier was easily dispatched with a blast of concentrated heat but his mate was more resilient.

He drove his weapon towards me, narrowly missing my leg as I stepped backwards. I threw a flaming punch at his ribs which he caught and didn't immediately combust. He was a Fire, like me. Sheira's first lesson came bolting to the front of my mind. He was resistant, but not immune.

With his palm still clamped around my fist, I took my chance. The look of realisation on his face was quickly followed by a look of complete horror and shrieks of pain as his entire left arm burst into flames. Luckily (or unluckily depending on your view of the situation) he didn't live long enough to be in too much pain. The ice shard that punctured his torso made sure of that.

"Good to see you're back on your feet," I said cheerfully as a black tendril slashed through three people.

Sheira glowered at me. There were spots of blood in her hair, but I don't think it was hers. "How in God's name are you doing that!"

That wasn't really a question, was it?

"Is this not normal?" I asked. Let's be honest, being completely engulfed in flames and living is usually only something stuntmen can achieve but yet, here I am.

"Not normal?" Shadow yelled above the din of battle. He knocked a charging ball of rock aside with a pulse of darkness like it was a pebble. "I can't do what you're doing and I've had a thousand years of practice!"

A knife buried itself in the chest of a visored soldier, deftly thrown by my mother. "It's your elemental form," she explained, slashing at another soldier with her spear. "It usually takes thirty years or so to perfect! By the way, did you just say a thousand years? Who are you?"

Shadow waved a hand like being immortal wasn't a big deal or anything. "Not important right now, we've got bigger problems." He jabbed a finger at the now thankfully closed tank. "We can't let a single drop of that stuff leave this building. If we fail the entire country will be up the creek without a paddle if you get my meaning."

"It'll be anarchy..." Mum murmured.

"No," Sheira's forehead was suddenly clammy. "It'll be a victory. We need to find Molly and stop her before she can activate the system."

I scanned the room carefully between slashes and bursts of flame. One would presume that it would be impossible to lose a reanimated corpse in a crowd but she'd managed it. This room seemed more decorative than functional and with only one panel of buttons and levers so there had to be a control room somewhere else.

"THERE!" Mum pointed into the mass. The instantly recognisable white-haired figure was weaving through the crowd.

"Don't let him get away!" Shadow bellowed. "Can you clear us some space kid?"

I grinned, smoke spilling from the upturned corners of my mouth. "Duck."

Familiar strength coiled like a spring and exploded outwards with the force of a supernova. Fire rolled like clouds to the walls. Those who didn't throw themselves out of the way were cremated immediately. Blades of darkness grew from Shadow's palms, slashing like a guillotine, Sheira dashed elegantly with my Olympian of a mother close at her heels, clearing a path expertly before us.

More soldiers were waiting in the corridor as we sprinted after the rapidly receding Marx. We couldn't let him get away. He had to be following Molly and if we lost him in the carnage we wouldn't stand a chance. And believe me, it was carnage.

At this moment I could block out the death rattle screams and the sound of flesh as it burned and bubbled. Would I be having nightmares for months? Yes. Did that matter right now? No. If we didn't stop this here this would be the reality for six million people.

By sheer luck and laughing in the face of statistics, the four of us burst onto a grand sweeping staircase. Molly must have been on some sort of recruiting push because this was ridiculous. Hundreds of people armed with every weapon I could imagine forced their way up the stairs towards us.

"Where is he?" Mum yelled. "I can't see him anymore!"

I tore my eyes away from the sight of her stabbing a woman with her own sword and stared into the throng. A cold feeling pooled in my stomach as if I'd just chugged a gallon of ice water. I don't know how the mini Einstein had managed it but he had completely vanished. Four doorways. Four possible exits. Dammit!

"NICK!" Sheira shrieked.

I can only assume that a bullet train hit me square in the chest as I was forcibly ripped off my feet and catapulted thirty feet across the room. My back gave out a sickening crack as I slammed into the cold stone floor at the base of the stairs. Splintered vertebrae fused together again just in time for another blast to punt me through the gigantic wooden door.

The taste of warm copper coated my mouth as I crashed heavily against the stone floor. I forced myself to my feet, my clothes ragged from the chaos and splints of woods protruding from my arms like hedgehogs spikes. A gust of air altered me to the next oncoming blast. I leapt aside, hurling a fireball towards the hovering Jack.

It found its mark, the boy exploding like a firework as he plummeted to the ground. I went for Incaendium but a blast of compressed sound caught me in the side and threw me into an ancient suit of armour. Leo bared down on me, too close to avoid my foot connecting with his gut but close enough to slash at me with a concealed dagger.

Hot stinging pain pulsed from my cheek. More blood worked its way into my mouth. It lasted for a few seconds before whatever weird abilities I'd accumulated worked their magic.

"Hello, again boys." Every breath in felt like I was inhaling smoke. Oh, wait. "I'd say long time no see but..."

"We should have killed you when we had the chance," Leo spat.

I studied them both. Were they angry and vicious? Oh yes. But they were also scared. The slight twitch at the corner of their eyes, the trembling knife in Leo's grasp, the now extinguished Jack eyeing a way out. It was almost enough to make me feel sorry for them.

"I don't want to hurt you. I just want your boss," I explained calmly. I didn't want more blood on my hands. Maybe I was being too merciful, but that's my problem. "Tell me where she is and we don't have to do this."

For a second, just one split second, it looked like they were about to say yes. Then Jack's expression darkened and the decision was made.

"Death before dishonour," he barked.

"Suit yourself," I sighed.

Wind and thunder barrelled towards me, a storm of power that I just managed to dodge away from. Golden fur blurred towards me teeth bared savagely. I reached for my amulet, slammed it into my chest and fell to all fours. I launched myself at Spark, canine teeth digging into his throat, claws raking along his fur.

A razor-sharp beak pecked at my eyes and nose. I roared in pain, lashing out an enormous paw at the orange ball of feathers. I sprang backwards, opened my mouth and breathed a jet of flame at my four foes. Tapestries and hangings burst into flames. The heat must have been unbearable, but I couldn't feel it.

From the next room, I could hear my friends calling out my name. Just hold them off for a little longer. I dashed towards Leo, still recovering from the force of the flames, and pounced on him. His fragile body folded like a concertina under my lion weight.

The wind rushed around me and ripped me away from him. Jack threw me against the walls, every impact cracking at least three bones and dislocating another two. Spark pounced, ripping clumps of fur from my back and mane.

They all fell onto me, slashing and tearing at my fur. Why wasn't the heat keeping them off? It must have been painful, it had to be. So why wasn't it? Only when that stupid knife found a new home in my neck did I decide to try a new tactic.

Flame and I separated with an audible bang, both of us skidding across the floor, which was by now slick with blood. I turned slightly, grinning at the sight of my very harried friends running at full tilt towards me.

Very unsteadily, I got back up to my feet just as, like the freaking juggernaut that he is, Crash tore past me, catching the two other beasts on his enormous horn and ploughing them both into a wall. That's gotta hurt.

"Nice of you to join us!" I yelled happily.

"Yeah, yeah," Shadow replied like this was a typical Wednesday. Then he said something that caught me off guard. "You doing alright kid? You don't look so good."

I was tired but that was to be expected. I glanced down at my burning palms. It may have just been a trick of the light but the flames didn't look as high as before. Or as bright. Hmm...

"I'm fine," I replied. I didn't want him to worry. "I can keep going."

He didn't look convinced but he didn't push the matter.

Now it was seven against four Jack and Leo, weren't as confident. Monsoon the parrot wasn't contributing to anything and had taken to squawking noisily out of reach and divebombing down whenever anyone dropped their guard. He tried that once. Only once. Mum almost turned him into a spit chicken.

His master fought on though. He may have been a coward but Jack was insanely strong. With a single, whirling tornado he was keeping myself, Shadow, Mum and our Beasts at bay. Every attack ricocheted right back at us like we were firing rubber bullets.

A wave of thunder crashed into our group and sent us flying. My head snapped against the cold flagstones, migraine level pain flaring up against my browbone. Leo had joined the fight but I couldn't see him. Where was he?

Where was Sheira? I suddenly thought. I'd seen her rush past me like a force of nature and...plough headlong into Leo.

"Sheira?" I called out.

Nothing, just the shouts from outside and the groans of pain from my friends. Then, over the chorus of the howling wind, I heard her scream.

"SHEIRA!"

Fire, blazing hotter than anything I'd produced so far, spilt from my arms, engulfing the tornado and morphing it into a twisting inferno. Jack screeched as the flames licked at his feet, breaking his concentration. Then, like a boulder dropped from the top of the Empire State Building, he plummeted to the floor, his body landing with an ear-splitting crack. He didn't get up.

Suddenly my vision lurched like I was in one of those horrible "fun" houses you find at the fair. And yes, I do mean fun with air quotes there. Shadow's hand cupped my elbow but I staggered away from him, my eyes fixed on the two bodies lying one on top of each other. White blonde hair spilt outwards like untouched snow.

"Sheira!" I cried out. I rushed over to her, even though the room was now spinning violently.

I seized Leo by his arm and shoved him onto his back. Freshly drawn blood was pouring from his side and his eyes were closed. Sheira's blue eyes were wide and fearful but she was breathing, albeit raggedly but she was okay. Her navy blue coat was turning purple with dark red blood but it wasn't hers, most of it at least. A single clean cut stretched from the bridge of her nose to just under her left eye.

"Sheira?" I whispered.

It was like she'd snapped out of her trance as if she'd only just noticed me standing there. "I – I'm okay," she stammered, but she still needed both Shadow and I to pull her to her feet. She took a moment to steady herself between the two of us, gripping so tight on our arms her knuckles turned white under layers of dried blood.

"They're both still alive," Mum said quickly after checking their pulses. "Should we...?"

Shouldn't we? It would literally be killing two birds with one stone, two of Molly's top dogs removed from the equation at once! But they weren't conscious, they were both defenceless... That would make us worse than her. I would never be able to justify it to myself.

"Leave them be, we've got bigger fish to fry." I expected an argument from Shadow, but it didn't come. Perhaps he was warming up to mercy after all.

No sooner had the words left my mouth a low rumbling, deeper than Crash's own baritone voice, rattled the chandelier like a monster waking up from a killer hangover. Sharing a single look between the four of us, a look saying "well this is going to be fun isn't it?" we took off in a full sprint towards the sound, like sane people.

The door sequestered beneath the stairs leapt from its hinges, the blast of shadow ripping a good bit of the wall out with it. Molly jumped a foot as we spilt into the freezing cold chamber, which, judging by the elegant tapestries and carpets shoved unceremoniously into a corner, was once a throne room.

Molly was not looking particularly happy about the current situation. Her red hair had escaped it high ponytail and was hanging limp and greasy around her shoulders. More stitched wounds had burst open and pus and all sorts of other unmentionables were oozing from the wound.

Marx and James were both cowering at their controls, controls for the witches kitchen they'd set up shop in. Yep, this was definitely where they kept the serum. I lost count of how many silo sized tanks I could see. Each tank was made of shiny steel plates, bolted together clumsily so beads of black liquid could worm itself through the cracks. Glass pipes burst from the tops, escaping away into the ceiling.

She was right. There was enough serum here to convert the entire country.

The three of them weren't alone either. A hundred or so armed and dangerous soldiers stood at attention, behind their commander. More footsteps echoed from behind me. Okay, now we're trapped.

Molly was not happy about being interrupted. She snarled, "why don't you just give up! There's nothing you can do about this! It's over!" Her voice was high pitched and harsh, like a fork on a china plate.

"We're still here," Sheira barked back. "You haven't won yet."

Letting out a growl like a rabid dog, Molly pushed herself away from the controls and pulled out the two rusty blades from the bulges in her legs. "Well then," she said as she stalked towards us. Okay, that was definitely murder in her eyes. I was not going to leave this world as a human chair. "Seeing as you leave me no choice, I'm afraid I'm going to have to kill you all. Bye-bye!"

The three psychos and their army charged. A shield of blackness rose up before and behind us. I fell onto the balls of my feet and braced myself for the impact as the red-eyed zebra rushed us.

But the blow didn't come. I blinked. Surely I hadn't seen that right. Another golden blur whizzed into the Beast, two more puncture wounds appearing on its neck. I had to be going spare at long last because it looked to me like a gazelle, a gazelle that was moving at a speed only seen in people that had eaten a full bottle of five-hour energy and washed it down with a pint of espresso (Don't do it, trust me).

But it was real. Black Magic and Bionic, momentarily frozen at the sight of the zebra recoiling in pain, didn't notice two more animals barrelling into them at top velocity. Molly shrieked as her frog was snatched into the air by the biggest bird I'd ever seen, a bird with smoke drifting from her wings, while the chimaera bellowed from a pair of teeth sinking into her throat.

And on the other end of those teeth was a dog. A dog whose head was on fire.

I could have danced an actual jig.

Sheira laughed while I whooped with joy as wave after wave of friends surged into our battlefield, the army behind us breaking apart from the onslaught. And there, heading up the front, was a beak faced woman with iron-grey hair, a blonde girl with a bow in her hands, a boy who looked like he had one finger in a plug socket and a redheaded girl with the biggest grin.

"ELEMENTALS!" Ms Harper yelled, "ATTACK!"

Right on time.

Even though Molly's own army was trying to force their way through from the back the combined force of the London and Edinburgh regiments was just too much. Molly screamed in rage, the possessed elementals materialized beside her in response. That didn't help her in the slightest as the sight of their fallen friends whipped the masses into a rage-fuelled frenzy that surged towards her like an angry mob.

I ran forwards, hacking and slashing through the crowd, made larger by Marx summoning what was left of his zombies with a flick of his hand. They were fun to burn and soon the smell of barbecue was once again rolling through my head. The taste of death smothered my tongue. I was smiling. I shouldn't be, but I was.

"Looking good Hot Stuff!" Sophie cheerily appeared at my shoulder, cremating another line of soldiers who had wormed through the cracks.

I laughed. "Learned from the best Soph'"

"Sorry we took so long to get here," Chip yelled. He moved faster than anything I'd ever seen before. Just a magnificent blur in the chaos.

"Yeah, we made some friends on the way up," Leela loosed an arrow into the decomposing skull of one of the zombies. "Although I see you've made some too!"

"Oh do I have a story for you," I grinned.

Sophie laughed. "Look forward to hearing it, buddy."

The noise, the chaos the heat, it was just fantastic. Movies didn't do this justice. It was too ordered on the big screen, too polite and dignified. The reality was messy and soaked with blood. I watched as Ice pounced onto a shaken zombie, pinning it to the ground to rip out its trachea with one fluid motion.

The Beast's wove their way through the battle like it was second nature. Crash and the armoured rhino Irontrap bulldozed everything they touched. Phinea ripped out eyes and scalps with her taloned feet. Inferno and Flame lived up to the meaning of "light 'em up". A zoo of sounds was soon drowning out the clash of metal and screams of the fallen.

My head was still spinning like a teacup ride and the feeling of nausea was stubbornly refusing to go away. More smoke than fire was curling off my body now which, let's be honest, couldn't possibly be good. How long did I have left before I went out completely?

Where the hell had Molly got to? She'd vanished into the crowd, leaving her two lackeys to fight for her. I scanned for a reanimated corpse that was fresher than the others. Come on, where are you? Come out, come out wherever you are. I want to barbecue you!

No sooner had the thought left my head, which happens remarkably often to be fair, did a sharp line of pain shoot up from my side. With an instinctual reaction only seen in cats and ninjas, I reached behind me and pulled Incaendium from the scabbard on my back. With all the force I could muster I brought the heavy blade down onto the rusted shard of metal that had been in my side just moments ago.

With the two blades pressed sparking against each other, Molly and I were now face to face. Black blood, thick and congealed, burst from the open stitches and the stench of bad breath and decay was almost enough to make me vomit. As she spoke beads of yellow phlegm and spittle shot from her snarling mouth like bullets.

"Why are you so insistent on interfering!" she spat. Globules of saliva peppered my cheeks. "This is so much bigger than you. It doesn't concern you!"

It didn't...concern me? Ha! "You tortured my family. You hurt my friends. You made this personal when you killed my father!" Incaendium's flames flared brighter, fuelled by my own burning rage. I once believed that I couldn't hate anyone. I was wrong. "You made me interfere and I'll never stop until I have your head!" I snarled. Woah, Woah, Woah Nick that's a bit intense, isn't it? Where did that come from?

Molly devolved into a rabid dog. She stepped backwards, driving one rusted blade down above me while the other aimed for my side. Incaendium's blazing blade roared into life, his words filling my head with how not to die.

She was frantic. Inelegant but fuelled by enough savagery to cut deep into my arms and exposed skin. Incaendium was perfectly weighted, he willed me to be calm and to stay focused. Even so, her two weapons just measured up to my possessed one.

We danced around each other, never taking our eyes off each other. Someone could have stabbed me in the back, but I kept catching glimpses of swirls of black, bursts of freezing cold and pulses of raging heat. A whole new meaning to I've got your back.

She extended a hand, muttering dark words under her breath. Something looped around my throat and yanked me backwards with enough force to rip the wind from my lungs. Sharp points dug into my throat, ripping hot blood away faster than the flames could heal me. I seized the rope between my fingers and blasted it. Molly let out an inhuman screech and stumbled backwards.

Her stitches caught fire but that didn't stop her either. She snapped her fingers again and I felt the muscles in my legs seize up waste away. I dropped to the floor, twisting onto my stomach, narrowly missing the downward strike from miss monster, and forced myself to my feet. The numbness had only lasted a few seconds.

I threw my elbow back, felt in connect to Molly's ribcage and followed it by a left hook to her jaw. I felt it disconnect as I seized hold of her head and slam it against my knee. She staggered backwards, congealed blood pouring from her mouth. She spat something onto the floor. A lump of greened meat.

Part of her tongue.

Even though her bones were on display and one leg was literally hanging on by a thread Molly kept coming. The rusted blade was gripped tight in her bloody fist (She only had four fingers now, not five) she lurched forwards, dragging her severed leg behind her.

I flipped my own sword over in my hand, readying myself for the impact. My life was in danger, so of course, that was the moment my legs decided to give out. I dropped to one knee. God my head. Every slight sound was like thunder and my temples felt like they were being squeezed tighter and tighter in a vice.

Molly was laughing. This sound twisted round and round in my head until it distorted into a nightmare. She raised the blade high over her head, grinning with her broken face.

Shadow materialized from the darkness, unleashing two black blasts at Molly's chest and head. She flew backwards, sprawling like a ragdoll. A stream of icy wind surged towards Molly, freezing her skin to glass. Sheira looked on coldly as Molly's skin shattered and the flesh beneath was exposed.

I've never heard anyone scream like that. And I never want to again. Still, she was conscious enough to roll out of the path of Mum's spear. More nausea, but this time it wasn't caused by lack of strength. The decomposing form of Molly stood before us. Her shoulders trembled and she certainly wasn't laughing anymore. She was still smiling though. A twisted grin through bared teeth, not too dissimilar from a shark's.

I slowly forced myself up onto my unsteady feet, rage welling up from deep within me to face the one who had destroyed so many lives. Then I rather ruined the effect. Again.

Three pairs of hands caught at scraps of clothing as I dropped to my knees. Okay, I will fully admit that I don't know squat about this elemental form business but I do know that smoking like a chimney can't be good. Molly laughing like a hyena didn't help either.

"You're out!" Her cackle was definitely witchy. "All that power and you're out! Useless!"

I felt useless. My head didn't feel attached to my neck (A very odd sensation) and I couldn't feel anything below my knees. The scent of smoke was overwhelming, adding to the head spin considerably, and my tongue was coated in bile. The flames on my skin had died down to embers, sparkling faintly in the dark like fireflies against the evening sky.

But all I cared about was her smug face, laughing maniacally like the sight of me on the ground was the funniest thing in the world. I wasn't completely empty yet, I still had on more good fireball in me and I wasn't going to waste it.

With everyone distracted, Molly suddenly dashed towards the controls, still laughing. Shadow made to lunge after her.

"MOVE!" I yelled at him.

His expression said, 'I hope you know what you're doing you, idiot'. He stepped aside but kept his hand raised, blackness still pulsing like an aura around his fingers.

My shot was clear, a perfect line towards my target. I gathered all the heat, all the energy I had to give and pulled it into my palm. The fireball sparked to life and spiralled into a football-sized orb of raw and concentrated flames. My breathing steadied, my hands stopped trembling and, sending up a prayer to anyone who may be listening, let it fly...

And watched it sail past Molly.

She pivoted, eyes wide at first with shock but when she saw the projectile sail above her head, the corners of her mouth turned into a malicious grin. "You missed! I was right in front of you and you missed!"

My legs shook as I pushed myself to my feet, using Shadow and Sheira as crutches. She was laughing, laughing like she didn't know. Now it was my turn to smile.

"No offence," I beamed. "But I wasn't aiming at you."

I have never seen anyone go from laughing like a drain to paralyzed by abject fear but somehow Molly managed it. She turned fast enough to give herself whiplash, tracing the path of the speeding fireball as it sailed over the heads of the battling crowd to slam into the one of the leaking metal silo's and–

WUMPH!

The result was immediate. Within seconds the silo was engulfed in golden flames and black smoke. The serum was screaming. Why was it screaming? How was it screaming?! What the heck was that stuff anyways?

The serum wasn't the only thing to be screeching its lungs out either. Molly, realising that she was completely stuffed was wailing like a banshee, scrabbling at the controls, and mashing every button she could find in a desperate attempt to salvage anything.

BANG!

The crowd surged backwards as the glass pipe shattered and the flames spilt into the next silo. And then the next Then the next. Then the next until as far as the eye could see there was just burning. A steel forest blazing with the force of a thousand suns.

Someone yanked on my arm, pulling me up from my knees that I hadn't realised I'd been on. I was hauled to my feet and shoved unceremoniously towards the only exit as more explosions boomed behind us. We booked it as fast as we could go until the four of us leapt from the chamber and the doors slammed shut behind us.

"How did you know that would work!" Shadow yelled. He reinforced the doors with webs of black goo. A part of me hoped that Molly would cook inside, but another more logical side said it wouldn't be that easy. But hey, you have to dream, right?

I felt funny. Numb and tingly at the same time. "It didn't like my heart. Figured I'd take a chance."

Suddenly Sheira, who had been leaning against the wall to catch her breath, wrapped her arms around my shoulders. My mother gave me a look. You know the one. I didn't mind though. I just hugged my best friend back as tight as I could.

"I'm glad you didn't die."

"Me too"

"Maybe you're not as much of an idiot as I thought you were."

Heat blossomed in my cheeks. Why did she make me blush so much? Eh, whatever. I don't mind. "You have given me the highest of compliments, my lady," I mock bowed. Not the best of idea's in hindsight as everything in my vision leapt about six feet to the left as I did so. I crashed headlong into my mother. Ow.

"Oh no." Well, that can't be good.

"What wrong?" Mum shoved me upright again, rolled her eyes and then shifted her gaze towards Shadow.

He'd gone very quiet for the last few seconds which, let's be honest is never a good sign when it comes to old grumpy guts. Shadow pointed upwards, his face unnaturally pale. I tracked his gesture up to a dim corner of the ceiling, just above the door frame.

A pipe was jutting out of the wall, made of the same material that the serum had been contained in. It coiled out from the tiny corridor we were lodged in and spiralled up and away into the ceiling where it vanished into the stonework. It looked like it went in the same direction as the– ah. Oh dear.

"This place is a giant ants nest," he slowly turned, wide-eyed to me, "and you've just opened the floodgates."

Glowing orange light started to burst from the edge of the pipe.

"RUN!" Sheira yelled. Everyone fighting stopped and turned as the sound of rattling and warping metal got louder and louder. "THE PLACE IS GOING OT BLOW!"

That got people moving alright. The Army soldiers, knowing how the entire building was connected like a giant rabbit warren, dropped their weapons and bolted for the doors. Not wanting to be left out our friends from London and Edinburgh followed suit.

A giant explosion rattled the walls, centuries-old dust raining down from the ceiling as what can best be described as a river of lava started cascading down the stairs. To be perfectly honest I'd suspected that something like this might happen, I was actually hoping it would to be fair, but perhaps not as quickly. Definitely not this quickly!

It had taken all of five seconds for the fire to fathom it out and now the entire building was burning. But with only one way out the crowd was now bottlenecked, pushing and shoving to escape. People were going to die if this kept up.

I grabbed the hand of a red-haired girl and hauled her to her feet. Her nose had been shattered from where she'd been shoved and trampled by the crowd. An iron chandelier snapped from its holdings and crashed to the floor, sending shards of broken metal scattering across the floor and narrowly missing Shadow by a hair.

"Stand clear!" his order was only just heard above the sounds of more explosions.

Shadow brought his hands up and, like a damn magician, the entire wall melted into the darkness and vanished. It was like opening the floodgates to the goddamn Thames. With the blockage cleared we spilt easily out into the cool open-air, gasping for breath.

Dear God, had we just been breathing smoke in there? The heat was radiating off the walls to the point that some stone was glowing. Stone was glowing. It's very possible I overdid it a bit. Yeah, just slightly.

The air shimmered, the winter illusion shattered as everything burned. It was enough to take your breath away. Or was that just the smoke that had grown into a cloud the size of a skyscraper and was sucking the air out of the sky.

It was like every single natural disaster had turned up at once. Earthquake, yup, raging wildfire, definitely. All we needed now was a hurricane and we'd be playing Armageddon bingo.

Then all at once, it went quiet. Dead silent. When I was in year four we did an entire term learning about the blitz and world war two. I loved it, we built little Anderson shelters over our desks and went on field trips to museums to see what it was really like. Most of its just blank now but remember one paragraph in a book word for word.

You would be safe so long as you could hear the whistling of the bombs, it was when they went silent that you should be scared. It meant your house was about to take a dead hit.

The calm before the storm.

Glancing over my shoulder I watched the flames still and then–

BANG!

It was like a volcano going off. The force of the explosion knocked me off my feet and I sprawled headlong into the dirt. My ears rang as if I'd been standing next to Big Ben. I could see Mum's mouth moving but it just sounded like she was underwater.

Sheira appeared before me, her mouth moving in the same way Mum's had been but I couldn't hear anything. I couldn't hear her. Oh god, I couldn't hear her.

"Kid!"

Sound, excellent. We're getting somewhere. Even though he sounds a million miles away at least I'm not deaf.

"Are you okay? Say something dammit!"

Was anything broken? I don't think so. The ringing was going away and the black spots zooming back and forwards across my vision were slowly clearing. Good.

I sat up and looked over Shadow's shoulder. Bad. Bad. Very bad!

"Look out!" I screamed as a burning boulder the size of a car streaked across the sky, careening towards us like a runaway train.

Too close to run from, too fast to avoid. The meteor tumbled out of the sky and plummeted towards our group. Mum and Sheira screamed in terror. Grabbing hold of them both I pushed them behind me, shut my eyes and waited for the impact to come.

We waited.

And waited.

And waited.

But it didn't come.

I cracked open one eye, wondering why certain death had taken a holiday and then opened both, gawping like an idiot but I couldn't care less. Shadow was standing over us, hands outstretched, arms trembling under the weight of the shield.

Yes. Shield.

Safe and sound under a dome of blackness. How much force had he held back? The boulder must have weighed a tonne, at least, and that's not considering the sheer speed it had been pelting towards us at. Was that just pure, Olympian quality strength or was that the immortality talking. Either way, it was badass as hell.

The fact that he'd kept standing through being enveloped in flames was even more impressive. His skin had burned and crisped like a turkey on Christmas day. Speaking from experience, third-degree hurt like a bitch. Your muscles start to fry and your nerve endings are reduced to toast. I couldn't have done that. No one else on Earth could have done that.

The shield dissipated with a faint pop and Shadow, quite understandably, collapsed backwards, landing between Sheira and I. His skin was already knitting itself back together, the deep burns melting as if they'd never even existed. Sweat poured from his brow and he was breathing like a French bulldog after a five-k run. Lovely.

From over the top of his head, which I may add had wisps of smoke drifting from his hair, I locked eyes with Sheira and an understanding was made. The two of us tackled the six-foot grumpy cat into a hug. Shadow yelped in surprise (After all, it had probably been years since his last display of physical affection) and went as rigid as a statue.

"Hey!" He stuttered. "Get off!"

"Shh... Don't fight it." I said, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Just admit you like us really," Sheira giggled, more out of relief than anything

With his cheeks now the same shade as his eyes Shadow decided to just go with it. He sighed and for the briefest moment, squeezed us both on the shoulders. I suppose that counts.

"You have no idea how much I hate that fact," our friend muttered to himself. "Now get off. I have a reputation to uphold."

Then there was just laughter. Three friends laughing. Proper laughing with relief and joy and the knowledge we were safe. It was over.

Two weeks ago I was a different person. A loner school kid, counting down the days to college. I thought I was just a normal human, nothing special about me, no sir.

But here I sat, in the ruins of a burning castle with two of the greatest friends I could have ever asked for. My family was safe and I could protect them now. And as for being a normal person? Fire buzzed in my veins, flames were woven into my very soul. All my life I'd never been able to explain the primal feeling that was built into the core of who I was, but now I had a word for it, an explanation after all these years of feeling outcast and different.

Elemental and proud.

Shuffling closer until she could put an arm around my shoulders, Mum pulled me into her so her head rested lightly against mine. "I guess I have some explaining to do."

If she'd told what I was two weeks ago, I would have called her crazy. Me? A superhuman with the ability to bend fire to his will? Yeah, right, and Lady Gaga wants me as a backup dancer for her next tour.

I suppose I did say that to Sheira when we met for that first time. God that moment seems like lightyears away, but it's only a couple of weeks. It's funny actually, how one moment, one word, can change your life. For better or for worse, I'm not the same guy who "accidentally" set his desk on fire and booked it from his high school, laughing as his overweight chemistry teacher chased him down the halls.

A smile slowly crept across my lips as the castle continued to burn. Smoke billowed into the stratosphere, black clouds reached up like a fist trying to punch a hole in the sky. If I could do that with nothing but the fear of certain death looming over my head, what else could I do with a little bit of discipline and a bit of training? Okay, a lot of training.

Still grinning, I turned to look at my Mum. "Actually..."

A whole new life was in front of me and you could bet every penny that I was going to seize every moment.

As smoke filled the air and the sun touched the horizon, a small, golden flame danced on the palm of my hand. "I think I've got this one worked out myself."