Sheira and I had very conflicting opinions on the word early. My early was seven in the morning when I had to drag myself out of bed and drag myself around the house like a zombie until I got some caffeine in me. Sheira's definition was so early that the stars were still out, and the sun hadn't risen yet. If the sun wasn't awake, then you'd have more luck throwing a pig out of a window and seeing it fly than catching me awake at this godforsaken hour. Yeah, I had pulled all-nighters before, but with those situations the terms early and late didn't exist until the following day when you realise you've somehow lost a few hours.

It didn't surprise that Shadow-the-psycho was awake at this time, he probably fed off the pain and suffering of others. But his early may have even been too severe for us. When Sheira woke me up at four goddamn thirty, Crash told us that we needed to get a move on because he really would leave us behind and that he had actually been considering abandoning us since he woke up at three. Three o'clock! That time didn't exist to most people. I moved groggily from my position on the sofa to see Ice padding round the room, she seemed anxious, she kept a constant eye on the door where Crash was standing. It seemed that Sheira was still a little weary of our new travelling companions.

"Where'd you we're going?" I asked her, stifling a yawn.

"I have no idea," she said truthfully. "We've just got to put our trust in Shadow."

"You do realise what you just said, right?"

She sighed. "Yep. We could be in for a long day."

Thank god I was wearing comfortable shoes. I stretched, yawned, released Flame who repeated my actions and stumbled out into the new light of the day. The sun was beginning to tinge the sky with a pale red as first light broke the horizon, the light cast a sparkling glow on the dew that coated the world in a blanket of water and the shadows of the night burned away under the glow of the sun.

Our Shadow, however, was a lot more difficult to get rid of. He was crouched down behind one of the diggers, watching the gates, sitting as still as a statue while Crash adopted a different approach and was rolling in the grass, having a bath in the dew. Flame and Ice approached Crash with caution, but they seemed to want to make friends. Not with Shadow though, as they both flashed their teeth at him threateningly. He didn't seem to be bothered by their distaste for him and stalked off out of the grounds, without saying a word to either of us, clearly expecting us to follow him.

We darted after him into the cold woodland with no clue about what on earth he was planning for us. Sheira attempted to work out a strategy for us, but Shadow proved that he was about as useful as a brick wall when it came to conversation, so she slunk back to me, defeated. If he was going to be like this the entire way there, then this was going to be a very interesting journey. And by interesting, I mean that it was going to be tedious, infuriating and if we did make it back to Camp then I was probably going to be bald for tearing my hair out. The only one who seemed to be communicating with Shadow was Crash, and their "conversations" were inaudible to us peasants.

Ice and Flame were darting through the undergrowth, on the hunt for breakfast no doubt. (Hopefully all furry creatures decided to stay tucked up in their burrows until the sun came up.) Crash was fine with finding food. As an herbivore he could just reach down and chomp up whatever he liked the look of. Sheira had the good idea to pack cereal bars and a thermos of coffee so we were sorted. We offered Shadow a bite. He declined.

After what felt like forever, we broke free of the forest and I caught sight of a town in the distance. It resembled a fortress, high walls, churches, steeples, a winding river, bustling roads and a railway line that was filled with trains. It looked like a model from this distance.

"York," said Shadow. It was the first time he'd spoken in over three hours. He walked off towards York without another word, once again expecting us two to trail after him.

"I thought we were staying away from the populated areas," I said to Sheira.

Sheira nodded. She looked as confused as I was. "Yeah...I thought that was the plan."

"Evidently not," I muttered.

The beasts were summoned back to their amulets as we moved closer to the boundary walls and trudged down the streets of the city. I'd never been to York, but I was very glad I had two people who seemed to know what they were doing as this place was like a maze of twisting, cobblestone streets. It was a series of connected squares and streets snaking away out from the heart of the city which was a beautiful cathedral that was standing on the same level as St Pauls or Westminster.

But Shadow didn't give us much of a chance to get a good look at the scenery as he just powered through the early morning crowds with me and Sheira jogging to keep up with him.

"Oi!" I yelled. "Where are we going?"

Shadow barely turned to face me. "To the bank."

Why did he bring up more questions every time he answered me? "Okay...Why?" I asked.

"We're not going to get very far without a few weapons and tools."

"Weapons?" Tools I got, weapons not so much.

"Yes." End of conversation as he had come to an abrupt stop in front of a bank.

A normal, human bank, squatting on the corner of a street. People filed in and out and used the cash machines without paying much attention to us. Why would they? Shadow hadn't walked towards the main entrance and was focused on a rusted iron door pushed into the weathered brick. It stuck out like a sore thumb, but it was exactly that reason, so no one noticed it. The homeless guy sat in front of it, probably helped that fact. But Shadow seemed to be talking to him. Sheira and I strolled over to find out what was going on.

"These two with you?" he asked when he saw us walk over.

He didn't look as shabby at second glance. His clothes were ripped and dirty, but his skin was clean, and his nails were cut and filed. Hmm...

"Yeah, now will you let us in?" snapped Shadow irritably.

I noticed that he was glaring at the guy who was smirking, happy in the knowledge that he was making him mad.

"Depends pal. We're on high alert with all this going on recently. I have to wait for my boss to authorise you."

"Look here you-"

"Griffin."

I could hear Shadows teeth grinding. "Okay...Griffin when can we get in?"

"I have no idea."

Shadow's patience was running very thin. "Right, I've had enough with you-"

"Let them in you idiot," snapped a rather frenzied looking woman who was leaning out of the banks doors. She was glaring at Griffin in a way that could have killed a man.

Griffin raised his hands in defence. "Sorry miss, I'll be just getting on with it," he mumbled as he whipped a key out from his pocket and shoved it into the lock of the rusty door. "Can't even have a joke anymore," he muttered as he shoved the door open and stepped aside, sweeping his arm grandly and mock bowing low. "As you were, sir."

"Thank you," said Shadow bluntly as we stepped through into what could only be described as Gringotts Bank from Harry Potter.

Far from the musty smelling carpets and peeling wallpaper I was expecting, it was a sweeping place of marble and crystal chandeliers. Plush red carpets spread across the floor, marble twisted across the walls and floor in an intricate network of swirling veins of white and grey, glittering chandelier sparkled above us, doors carved out of gold led off towards the corridors that travelled deeper into the building.

Sheira and I both had our mouths hanging open at the spectacle but Shadow, who was far too cool to be bothered the décor, walked off leaving the two of us to pick our jaws off the floor. I stared at all the sights, whipping my head around to the point that I almost gave myself whiplash in an attempt to take in everything I could see.

Elementals sat on high benches that wrapped around the walls weighing bags of coins, examining sparkling jewels, studying artefacts, scribbling in books and on scrolls of paper. Others wandered around carrying weapons of all shapes and sizes and taking small groups towards a line of elevators that were constantly zipping off to god knows where. A desk cleared, and Shadow leapt to claim it and beckoned us two towards him.

The elemental who was serving us was a small man with a weathered face and a grey moustache that had the unpleasant resemblance of a walrus, that combined with a squashed face and a pair of tiny round specs that were perched on the end of his flattened nose. The image of Jack's parrot being hit with my frying pan swing cropped up and I had to bite my cheeks to stop myself from smirking.

The clerk eyed us suspiciously, wrinkling his nose slightly. I hadn't given much thought to my appearance, but I knew rather subconsciously that we all looked like we'd spent the night sleeping rough. And I had a few visible bruises so that didn't help. (Thanks again Shadow). Shadow coughed drawing the clerk's attention back to him.

"Yes?" he had a nasally voice that made you subconsciously wince.

"We're here to make a withdrawal."

"Vault number and name," he wheezed.

"Eight hundred and six and the name's Shadow Grey."

His last name was Grey? I was calling bull on that. Definitely made up. The clerk nodded solemnly. "Amulet, power sample and blood sample."

Shadow looked surprised by that one. "Blood sample?"

"New measure," the clerks noise whistled, "sees through disguises."

Shadow sighed, handed over his amulet and placed his hand onto a sensor that the clerk provided. A flash of darkness swirled from Shadow's palm as a green light cleared him.

"Recessive arm please," crowed the clerk.

Shadow offered his right arm. Left handed then. The clerk then produced an evil looking instrument, about the length of a needle with five sharp points instead of one.

"What the hell is that?" I asked. Shadow was eyeing the device anxiously as well. 

"For healers," said the clerk. "It keeps the skin open, so we can extract blood."

"Hey, wait a second-" The clerk jammed the device into Shadow's arm before he could finish. He yelped in pain as the needles pierced his skin. But as soon as the needle stabbed him it was withdrawn, and the clerk examined the results if the screen on the side.

"You're clear," he said, "Are these two with you?"

"Yes," growled Shadow. I couldn't help but stare as the skin on Shadow's arm knitted itself back together until there wasn't even a mark left. He looked up suddenly and glared at me. What was with that guy?

The clerk shrugged, "Everything seems to be in order". He tapped a bell and a young elemental dropped out of existence beside the desk, giving me a heart attack in the process and making me pee my pants a little. "Ryder take these three down to vault eight hundred and six."

Ryder bowed low. "Right this way," he said. He led us towards the gilded elevators which arrived as soon as we reached it. "Step inside," Ryder ordered. The elevator was easily large enough to accompany twenty people, golden rails protruded from the side and, oddly, overhead straps like you would see on a bus hung down from the ceiling.

"What I don't get," I said as Sheira and I leaned against the back of the elevator, "is how they can cram all the vaults in above us."

Shadow laughed. He turned to us, an evil looking smile spread across his lips. "Who says we're going up?"

I only had time to take a glance at the fact that Shadow and Ryder were both holding onto the overhead straps after I processed what Shadow had just said.

Sheira shot a glance at me. "Oh hell," she squeaked.

WHAM!

The elevator plunged downwards like its cord had been cut. The world dropped away like the Tower of Terror, the wind screamed as we dropped further and further, cold air slashed at us and the elevator swung alarmingly throwing me and Sheira against the wall as we clung onto the railing for dear life. Shadow and Ryder stood calmly. My stomach was now situated somewhere in my feet and my heartbeat pounded in my ears as I screwed my eyes shut, just willing this ride to be over. The cosmic gods must have heard my silent prayers. The elevator stopped so suddenly that me and Sheira were thrown out of the doors which slid open smoothly with a pleasant ding.

I moaned groggily and Sheira proved that she was still alive by making a sound that resembled a mouse that had just been stepped on. We both pushed ourselves to our feet and while I couldn't say anything from her, I was struggling to keep my breakfast down, although I was considering releasing it all on Shadow as punishment for the hell that he had just unleased on us. The little bastard looked calm as can be and was smirking at the two of us.

"I hate you," I muttered.

"Ditto," responded Sheira, who was doubled over in the corner, sweat dripping from her forehead.

"This way please," said Ryder. Muttering every curse word, I knew (and I'm pretty sure some made up ones too) I trailed after Shadow and Ryder with Sheira trailing after us, clinging onto my arm, a little worse for wear.

I had no idea where the rollercoaster from hell had taken us except that it was cold, dingy and far from pleasant. The walls were a cold black brick, the firelight flickered miserably, and the occasional scuttling noises from behind us added to the creepy factor. Did I also mention that it was cold? Well it was. Freezing, bitter, chilly, the cold that seemed to penetrate your very bones and made it impossible to warm up. Sheira was shivering. That's how bad it was.

I attempted to summon a flame to provide some form of heat, but I couldn't feel anything, no heat, no energy, not a metaphorical sausage.
"Where are we?" I asked. Little puffs of vapour shot from my mouth with every word. "How come I can't use my power?"

"We're in the Void," said Ryder. Great, he had Shadow's conversation skills too.

"Right...Sheira, please fill me in," I whispered.

"T-t-the Void is the empty space between the d-d-dimensions. The b-b-banks use it as an infinite storage for t-t-the v-v-vaults." Again, the ice elemental is cold/still in shock after our plunge into the underworld. "I b-b-bet its b-b-bound too."

"So, powers are a no go."

"T-t-ten p-p-points to Gr-Gr-Gryffindor." I wordlessly shrugged off my coat and draped it around her shoulders. I was fine with the cold, perhaps I was running at a higher temperature than she was. She smiled gratefully as Ryder led us deeper into the vaults.

The doors got bigger as we travelled further in, security measures became stricter, and the air became colder and colder with Ryder offering explanations along the way like a condescending tour guide form hell.

"These are our most high security vaults," he announced gesturing to the heavy iron barriers that were now the same size as a small house. "Each is guarded and protected by the Void itself, which traps anyone who tried to enter illegally in the abyss. Granted, anyone that tried to get down the elevator with the intention of stealing would be plunged into the void for all eternity."

"All eternity?" I said disbelievingly.

Ryder shrugged, "well..." maybe not eternity. We keep them down there for a few hundred years to mellow them out. They're usually dead or insane by the end of it."

Wonderful. That's my career as a bank robber down the drain. I noticed that we didn't seem to be moving anymore and quickly peered around Ryder's shoulder to get a good look down the corridor. Two massive vault doors, bigger than anything I had seen so far, sat opposite from each other.

Vault eight hundred and six was an intricately designed, Fort Knox safety standard vault door that was as high as a rugby post and three times as wide. Sigils were carved into the black metal, forming a connected spiderweb, which resulted in, undoubtedly, the highest security vault in the Bank.

Ryder took a step back and gestured for us to continue. "I will be here when you return to take you back to the surface." And with that he turned on his heel and left.

"Creepy guy, isn't he?" I muttered.

"Its his job. You've got to be a little...odd to work down here."

"We're in a different dimension, I think being odd is the least of his worries."

"It saves on space," said Shadow. "Now hurry up and get over here."

We scuttled over to the vault door where Shadow placed his palms on two circular discs which formed the core of the sigil web. Black energy swelled form his hands and began to flow through the network of patterns. I could hear that the patterns were clicking open as each sigil completed and flowed onto the next one. Each was a lock and I had a very nasty feeling about what would happen if one of them was missed out or if anyone but Shadow tried to open the vault.

I saw that Sheira had one eyebrow raised, more than likely she had come to the same conclusion that I had come to. "Bit over the top isn't it?" she said.

Shadow glared at her. "Half of the stuff I own has the power to kill you in a heartbeat. I have several weapons of mass destruction, so no, this isn't over the top at all," he growled.

Weapons of mass destruction?! What the actual hell! I shot a very concerned glance at Sheira who had gone a very funny shade of lime. Although that could still be a result of our wild ride down here. Sheira locked eyes with me and took a slight step away from Shadow. Understandable, given the situation.

The black energy finally finished making its way through the advanced security system and with a deafening crack that seemed to reverberate through the passage way began to slowly open. Metal melted away, unfurling and unhooking as it pulled apart. Clicks sounded constantly and the iron scraped against the stone floor with a toe curling screech. I winced at the sound as with another clang the door stopped and stood wide open.

"Come on," barked Shadow.

Sheira and I had no real choice but to follow because the door began to slide shut as soon as Shadow passed over the threshold. Being crushed wasn't on my to do list, so I darted through and found my jaw hitting the floor for the second time today. When Shadow had said that he had more money that he knew what to do with I hadn't thought much of it. I just thought he had a bit of money lying around. Well he did. Lying on a pile on the floor that was about twenty feet high.

Gold glittered and cast a brilliantly dazzling golden light around the whole chamber, it was so bright I had to cover my eyes to get a decent look at the rest of the room. The room itself was huge, about half the size of Wembley stadium and the pile of gold took up almost all of it. This was not the full extent of Shadow's vault however. Even though I was being blinded by Shadow's wealth I could just about make out at least two dozen doorways spanning off from the chamber, creating a network of passageways and chambers. And if they were all this size...well then Shadow would probably the richest man in the universe.

I carefully reached and plucked a coin form the pile (That's how tall it was. I was twenty feet up and I could reach out and grab a piece.) and flipped it over in my hands to examine it.

"How many coins are there?" gasped Sheira, who was still staring with utter amazement around the room.

"They're not coins," I whispered. Sheira shuffled over to me and peered over my shoulder and I saw her eyes widen out of the corner of my eye.

The glittering pile had been deceiving as it wasn't filled of coins and various ancient currencies. In fact, it was rather more impressive. The pile was a collection of solid gold. The piece I was holding was a flat disc about the size of my palm, made of solid, twenty-four carat gold. Sheira reached and picked a piece up herself, retrieving a lump the size of golf ball. We both stared at each other, and then turned to Shadow.

"How much do you have here?" Sheira half ordered, half said in awe.

Shadow shrugged like having a pile of gold that would both put Fort Knox to shame and simultaneously solve world hunger at the same time was a perfectly normal occurrence. "I have no idea," he said simply.

He turned and started walking towards one of the doors at the opposite end of the walkway, "now hurry up, its easy to get lost in here. Someone came in a few years ago and I haven't seen them since," he cackled menacingly in a way that made me seriously doubt that he wasn't joking.

Sheira tossed her lump back onto the pile while I considered if he would miss a little piece. Even if I found Mum and the kids they would still be struggling financially. How much would this little piece that I was holding be worth? A hundred? A grand? A small bag full would singlehandedly solve all our money troubles, so surely Shadow wouldn't notice a that a few choice pieces were missing.

I sighed and tossed it back onto the pile without another thought. I was a lot of things, but a thief wasn't one of them. I wordlessly hurried after Shadow and Sheira before I could have a second thought about making like Robin Hood and making a break for it with as much gold as I could carry.

The vault was even bigger than I first thought that it would be. Each room we passed was at least the size of a tennis court and every single room was packed to the brim with stuff, priceless artefacts and various objects that could be the aforementioned "weapons of mass destruction".

However, Shadow was clearly not in the mood for a tour. He just continued to drag us down the winding passageways while wonderfully bizarre rooms just flashed by us. A library, rooms filled with gold and silver, galleries and walls crammed full of photographs, a walk-in wardrobe that would have made a Kardashian jealous, and various other chambers that just whizzed by without any explanation from Shadow who was just intent on reaching our destination, as fast as humanly possible.

It wasn't difficult to tell that Shadow really, and I mean really, didn't want us down here. And while I kind of understood why (this was his private vault and he was letting two strangers scrutinise his privacy), he was acting very strange about a few rooms. Any pictures were hastily rushed past, Shadow practically shoved us past one particular doorway, and he even darted ahead to cover entranceways or close doors entirely to prevent us from seeing what was inside. Shadow was piquing my interest with his behaviour. He was hiding something, but what?

That revelation would have to wait as we had finally reached our destination. This door was covered by a stereotypical, rounded vault door that you see in the movies that Shadow was beginning to open in the same fashion as the way we entered the chamber. Sheira and I watched with curiosity as the black energy flowed through the channels and a symphony of clicks filled the air.

"What do you think is in here?" I asked her.

She shrugged, "at this point nothing would surprise me," she muttered as the vault door swung open, resulting in an audible gasp from Sheira.

At this point I wasn't sure what I was seeing, but I had an idea why this was behind another locked door. Weapons, weapons and more weapons were lining the walls, crammed into every free space on the floor, and even suspended from the ceiling on chains. The room was long and thin and seemed to stretch off into the void itself, and several other rooms spread off like ribs from a spine. I glanced around the collection itself; daggers, swords of every size and shape, shields, bows and quivers full of arrows, whips of varying cruel designs, axes, spears, and a thousand others that I couldn't possibly name or had only seen in books.

"Woah..." I whispered as I scanned the room, completely awestruck.

Sheira's eyes were shinning as she slowly crept over to a row of knives as gazed, almost lovingly, at the intricate designs. I wandered over to a particularly nasty looking club, covered in vicious spikes (think Lucille from The Walking Dead) which was sealed in a glass box with a handwritten label next to it saying, "DO NOT TOUCH, CURSED". I decided to walk away slowly, as I saw Shadow watching over my shoulder.

"You should make that a bit clearer," I said, tucking my hands into my pockets.

"You shouldn't touch what isn't yours," he retorted.

Sheira had pulled herself away from the display but was gazing around the room. "How did you collect all this? I mean most of these weapons I've only heard of. They're legends."

"Well you might end up with one," Shadow muttered. He had wandered off and was picking his way through a display.

"What do you mean?" asked Sheira.

"I'm giving you one. Ah, there you are." Shadow plucked up a bronze coloured compass and pocketed it, completely oblivious to the shocked expression on both mine and Sheira's faces.

"Why?" I asked. Shadow had vanished round the side of a shield with a grinning medusa head that was dripping blood from its eyes.

"Because..." his head popped up from behind a rack of spears, "you need help. You have no weapons and no real skills."

"You don't know that," protested Sheira.

Shadow gave us a long hard look, one eyebrow raised, clearly not believing a word we had just said. "Yeah...sure... It you want a disadvantage out in the field then be my guest. But if you have a psychotic murderer bearing down on you, trust me when I say that you'll want a weapon at that moment. But if you don't want one, be my guest."

"No need to be so sarcastic dude," I snapped.

"Defending your girlfriend, are we?"

"Why you little-"

"ENOUGH!" yelled Sheira. She was glaring at both of us, her eyes were hard and steely. "I've had enough of you two bickering and arguing with each other. We need to work together, so Nick, stop being difficult, and Shadow," she spared a specialty glare at him, giving me a slight burst of smug satisfaction. "Just show us what we need to see and shut up."

Shadow raised his hands in a mock surrender. "Alright, now let's get to work." He did a quick loop of me and Sheira, a disapproving look in his eye, like a teacher inspecting our uniform. I just resisted the urge to punch him.

"Hmm..." He studied Sheira, "hmm..."

"Anything intriguing you?"

"You don't use weaponry, do you?"

Sheira scowled. "No, I don't. Why's it so important?"

Shadow shrugged. "Just makes my job more difficult. But...I think I could come up with something. Follow me."

So, we did. We walked out into a separate chamber, a black scythe taking pride of place in the centre. It was incredible, its black energy pulsed around it, swimming through my vision. It was almost intoxicating. It was almost calling out, reaching out to me, black shadows curling round my hands as I reached out to touch it...

"Oh no you don't," Shadow's voice broke through my stupor and snapped me back to reality.

I looked down and was in for a bit of a surprise. I was standing a lot closer to the scythe than I first was, black energy was wrapped round my arms like vines, bound so tightly that they were digging into my skin. I tugged back on the shadows only for them to wind tighter. Right...panic mode initiate.

"Guys, what the hell is going on!" I shrieked pulling back desperately.

"Nick don't move." Now you tell me, Sheira, as my arms are beginning to turn blue from blood loss.

"Let him go. Now!" roared Shadow.

The shadows reluctantly released, throwing me back onto the ground as the sudden pulling force vanished, and retreated into the scythe. The scythe continued to glow menacingly. It not longer seemed as friendly, it was like it had revealed its true nature, evil and wicked, an illusion hiding a sinister nature.

"What...the hell...is that?!" I yelled.

"That...is Azazel," breathed Shadow.

"Azazel?" I gasped in disbelief. "You called a murderous weapon Azazel? No, better yet, you gave it a name?!"

"It was already called that when I got it," he snapped.

"It just tried to kill him!" yelled Sheira.

"I told him not to do this again."

"Him!" I yelled, "it just tried to kill me! How did it do that? It's made of metal!"

"Is it a spirit blade?" asked Sheira.

I had a lot of research to do if I was going to fit into this world. Every day I heard a brand-new word or term that I didn't have a scooby doo what it meant. The library at Camp better be as good as they said it was because I was going to decimate it when we got back. But back to the present moment in time. Just had a scythe attempt to kill me.

"What was it doing to me?" I asked. "My head went all foggy and it felt like it was luring me in."

Shadow pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed irritably. "Azazel is an elemental blade that may or may not be possessed."

May or may not be was not very reassuring by anyone's standards, and as for the fact that that it was possessed...well I didn't need to be part of The Conjuring right now. "What's an elemental blade?"

"A weapon forged from pure elemental power, and in Azazel's case its pure darkness which can make him a bit..."

"Murderous?" I suggested sarcastically.

Shadow nodded grimly. "He also has a nasty habit of sucking the life force out of anyone that touches him."

"So, he would have done that to me."

"Reduced you to a quivering, lifeless husk," Shadow said bluntly. "He's drawn to the most powerful. So you're obviously stronger than you look."

Shadow hovered his hand over the handle of the blade and after a moment grabbed the hilt itself. The blackness instantly curled around his hand, snaking its way up his arm, under the folds of his black leather jacket. He winced in pain, his face was screwed up with concentration, "oh no you don't," he muttered and then the blackness retreated, slowly and almost miserably, like an animal denied a kill, slithered back into the blade and stayed there.

Shadow sighed happily and swung the blade around a few times. Satisfied the whipped it around in a circle so it transformed from a six-foot-long murderous death scythe to a much smaller murderous death ring that Shadow slipped onto his left hand.

"How'd you do that? Is the secret that you're already a lifeless husk with no soul?"

The opportunity was there to insult him, and I had to take it. My apologies Sheira. Actually no, I take that back, I will insult that little bastard at every opportunity I get, so sue me.

Sheira gave me a warning glare while Shadow laughed sarcastically. "Very funny sparkles."

Ever consider how you would look without a nose? Because I would start considering that reality asshole. "Azazel is a made from darkness and I'm a Dark. You can't put out fire with fire." Clearly, he'd never heard the expression 'to fight fire with fire'.

I scowled at him. "I don't care about what you do with your death sword, just keep it away from me."

"Its not a sword," Shadow snapped, "it's a scythe adapted from a Reaper-"

I mock yawned, which resulted in Sheira aiming a kick at my legs. "Do you want me to punch you?" she warned. Considering that she didn't mind punching me I wouldn't put it past her to cause me further grievous bodily harm. (More than she/Shadow had already done anyway)

I backed up and held my hands up high half in surrender half to block her if she followed through with her promise. "Chill out, I just don't need to hear a history lesson about something that just tried to eat me."

"He tried to drain your soul, not eat you."

"Swings and roundabouts, same difference."

Shadow growled menacingly. He closed his eyes and seemed to count to ten in his head. He opened his eyes, still glaring but he didn't have bloody murder on his mind. Excellent. "You," he jabbed a finger at Sheira.

"I have a name," muttered Sheira.

" Let's go find you a weapon," he continued like he had never heard her, "and you." He jabbed a finger at me and gave me a warning glare (which could be interpreted as 'you try anything, and I will eviscerate you'), "Don't. Touch. Anything. If you do..." he shrugged, "I'll let your imagination take care of it."

Shadow and Sheira disappeared into another room leaving me very much alone. Now, when you tell someone not to do something their instant reaction is to press the big red button, and this particular chamber may as well have been one massive big red button.

Every weapon that had ever existed was stockpiled here from your bog-standard shield and sword to a variety of stuff that I couldn't pronounce unless I wanted to tie my tongue in a knot. I did a quick loop of the room, my eyes wandering over the various tools of war. Some were on display for easy access, while some were sealed within glass boxes and some more were bound, chained, sealed in reinforced glass with a bright red label saying things like,

Do not, under any circumstances, open this box...Confer with Jeramiah Shaw...Get rid of A.S.A.P!!!

That last one was particularly concerning. I wandered back to the row of weapons that were available for the taking.

Hmm... I thought, if I was going to have a weapon, I may as well get a feel for them.

I quickly did a 360 glance around the room in case Shadow decided to materialise like the ninja he was and reached for the nearest weapon. The round Viking shield felt awkward and heavy, maybe it would feel better with a sword in my hand? I studied the selection of blades and picked up a short broadsword. The sword felt much better in my hand than the shield did, it didn't feel as clumsy or as cumbersome as the shield was, but it still didn't feel...right. I returned the sword and shield to the pile.

A long leather whip was my next choice and that was a no go. Images of various videos popped into my head and I quickly replaced the whip without even having a quick cosplay as Indiana Jones.

The bow was stiff and definitely didn't feel right and I honestly didn't trust my aim with anything.

A pair of double bladed battle-axes, that still seemed to have a bit of blood on the edges, gave me all of the Lord of the Rings imagery but after giving it a few test swings, my arms were already exhausted. Axe wielders must have arms like a donner kebab.

The collection of knives were examined carefully but left alone as I failed my Food and Nutrition lessons spectacularly and was told to never take the subject again after I nearly took one of the teachers fingers off.

I picked up a long thin spear and twisted it in my grip, it was too long and unbalanced and I honestly couldn't throw to save my life. Seriously. I almost killed my P.E teacher on sports day after my feeble attempt at the javelin, combined with a freak gust of wind almost turned her into human spit roast and I was left to clean up the sports cupboard for the rest of the day.

I sighed and returned the spear back to its rack. I was useless. Utterly useless and Shadow wasn't going to let me hear the end of it. I couldn't even hold a shield properly so how on earth was I going to defend myself in a combat situation? I closed my eyes and allowed myself to wallow in my own incompetence. And then a pale light seemed to creep under my eyelids. I quickly opened my eyes to find the source. I was expecting a lamp or some high security death torch that Shadow had rigged up to stop people from touching his stuff, but instead I found something a bit more supernatural.

A thin ribbon of golden light, resembling a stream of flames, was curling around the room, dancing in front of my eyes. I blinked a few times and instinctively recoiled (I had an almost near-death experience with something very similar only a few minutes ago so I naturally wasn't overly fond the present situation). But this didn't feel very...dangerous? Well it certainly didn't feel threatening.

Azazel's energy was guarded, intoxicating, an illusion hiding a deadly lure. But this was open, crystal clear, it was like it was allowing me to fully study it. It still felt like it was a lure but unlike Azazel who was trying to drag me towards it, but this one was waiting for me to come to it. I stood up and cautiously reached out a hand. The energy was as warm as a summer breeze, gentle and unthreatening. It curled around my fingers and it seemed to be whispering. A quiet hushed voice reached my ears, it almost sounded like whoever it was, was singing in a language that was long dead to all human ears, but I could make out one word,

"...follow..."

Whatever it was wanted to show me something, or maybe it was leading me towards the source? Oh great...I'm taking orders from a hallucination. I did a quick check of my surrounding, I even checked out a few doorways in case Shadow was lurking somewhere and was pulling a massive joke on me. He wasn't. Oh well, curiosity killed the cat and all that rubbish.

I followed the stream out of the chamber and down another murky hallway (Seriously man, good lighting doesn't cost much) my way only illuminated by the faint glow if the stream. It was almost silent down here, my footsteps echoed off the walls until it sounded like there was an army in the tunnel with me. I would have liked an army right now, good back up. But other that the maddening silence and slightly concerning dampness that had probably spawned its own ecosystem down here I had run into a wall. Literally.

The stream had stopped at a wall and now I was hopelessly lost with no recollection of how I had got here. I snapped my fingers and to my surprise, summoned a flame. Hadn't Sheira said that powers were a no go down here? Interesting. With light now flickering around me I had a good long look at the wall where the stream had disappeared. It was an ordinary wall aside from the fact that it was covered in a heavy silk tapestry.

It was a beautifully made thing, clearly hand stitched embroided with what seemed to be gold and silver. It showed a battle, the light and the dark locked in combat. The figures were unrecognisable, worn with age and forgotten about but one seemed to be preserved. Just. Almost against his will, a figure sat atop a black horse was a man with jet black hair and piercing eyes. Red eyes.

"Shadow?" I whispered.

But that had to be impossible, it couldn't be him. I gently reached out to touch the figure when I fell though the wall with a yelp of surprise. My head cracked against the cold stone floor and my flame momentarily went out. Not that I needed it in here of course. I raised my head dizzily and before I even opened my eyes I knew that I had found what was left of the stream. It was burning like an inferno in here, flickers of flame glittered like light from a disco ball and the ribbing easily circled the walls three times, forming a continuous loop of energy.

"Hidden room, huh?" I said out loud. "Not bad. Now what were you hiding in here?"

You don't build a secret room and then hide it with a giant tapestry unless you have something that you want to hide but I honestly couldn't see anything that was valuable. The room as a whole was no bigger than a prison cell and it was just as bare. It was depressing how empty this place was. I was at least expecting jewels or gold or some weapon that would blow the world to smithereens if you looked at funny, no such luck.

In fact, the only thing that was in the room was a box. A four foot, or thereabouts, long box that was sat on a, lets be honest here, very grimy table that looked like it was slowly rotting. And yet, I knew that whatever was in that box, had to be very valuable. The guy wasn't very conscious about the security of his stuff, he had a pile of pure gold sat in the entrance for God's sake and I had nearly wandered off with a bag full.

What could be so precious, or dangerous for that matter, that he went into this much trouble to hide it. Well there's only one way to find out. I slowly inched forwards and placed my hands on the two latches sealing the box shut. They came undone easily (In hindsight probably a bit too easily but that's for later) and I slowly opened the lid.

I didn't get very far though. I'd barely lifted the lift a centimetre before I found myself being swept off of my feet and pinned to the wall by a hand around my windpipe. To say the wind was knocked out of me was the understatement of the century, it had been punched, kicked, squeezed and forcibly drained form my lungs with a vacuum pump, partly from the shock of being lifted two feet above the ground and partly form the pure terror I felt from looking into Shadow's eyes. I'd never seen anyone that angry. Ever. I wasn't even aware that it was possible for someone's eyes to blaze with that much fury, but they were, and he was now trying to crush my windpipe. My day's getting better and better.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IN HERE!!!" he roared pushing me further up the wall with the superhuman strength that he possessed.

Let me just push out that reminder that I am five feet eight inches and weigh nine stone and Shadow was holding me up with one hand like it was an everyday occurrence. This guy clearly had access to something that us mortals didn't. Had he been bitten by a radioactive demon?

"Shadow put him down!" I had forgotten Sheira was still here.

Hi Sheira, just being casually pinned to a wall, how you doin'? She had a new pair of fingerless gloves on, I'd have to ask her later. My priorities were focusing on not blacking out right now.

Shadow tightened his grip around me throat, "I'm going to ask you again. How the hell DID YOU GET IN HERE!"

I desperately gasped for breath to attempt to form some sort of an answer. "I...I...I...don't know."

"Oh really?" His grip tightened once more, I was about ten seconds form blacking out.

"The...door...was open..." I wheezed.

"Bull," he growled. "It's a Babylon sealed lock, you couldn't get in if you wanted to. It would kill you."

"It was open...I swear," I frantically gulped for breath, "I was following something...a stream of energy...its still there...can't you...can't you...see it?" They'd walked through the stream to get in here. Sheira was standing in it for gods sake, how could they not see it?

Shadow looked around, so did Sheira, but their puzzled expressions more than answered for the silence. "Where's it coming from?"

It took a lot of effort to point to the box where the energy was flowing like river from the cracks in the wood, but I somehow managed it with my vision beginning to die. Shadow's rage visibly died on his face and it was replaced by confusion, surprise and...was that curiosity I could see?

He looked from me to the box and then back again. "That's impossible..." he muttered. He let go of me, so I dropped to the floor like a stone while I frantically inhaled and massaged my neck at the same time to prevent my unceremonious passing out.

"Nick? Nick are you okay?!" Sheira sounded like she was on the verge of hysteria and to be honest who could blame her? I'd almost gotten myself killed more times in one week than in my entire previous life. I managed a weak smile up to her. She had the expression of pure relief at the sight that I wasn't dead yet.

"Hey...Nice gloves."

She glanced down at the pale blue, elbow length, fingerless gloves she was wearing. A sigil that looked like a six-pointed star being slashed in half was stitched onto the back of each glove. I naturally had no idea what it meant. "Yeah, Shadow found them for me. They let me conjure ice faster. Watch." I'd seen Sheira make ice before. It took her a long time, five seconds to make a snowball, perhaps?

This formation was almost instantaneous. Two heavy ice crystals dropped out of the air and into her palms. I whistled in appreciation. "I can also do this," she placed both her hands together and the spread them, so a spear of pure ice had now formed between her hands.

"Pretty cool. Pun intended."

"Thanks," then she whacked me over the head with her spear with such force is shattered like glass.

"OW!" I yelped. I checked my hands for any sign of blood, "what the hell was that for?!"

"That's for not listening to a word I say!" Every word was punctuated with her slapping me around the head, followed by a torrent of insults.

"Get off!" I protested but she just continues to scream at me until I was pretty sure my ears were bleeding.

"Will you two shut up!" yelled Shadow. I had completely forgotten that he was standing no less than two feet away from us. Although that might be because of the lack of oxygen to my brain. Shadow glared at us, "good god you two argue like an old married couple. It drives me crazy. Now shut up so I can listen."

Listen to what? Then I looked down and saw what he was holding. It was uncountably what was in the box. It was a sword. About three feet long and wrapped in a worn leather scabbard that had clearly seen better times. The whole thing looked rusted and disused, and certainly not valuable. He unsheathed it slightly, so I could see that the metal itself was dirty and rusted, no one had taken care of it in years. And then there was the fact that Shadow was talking to it. It seemed to be a very one-sided conversation however.

"What the hell...You've got to be kidding me right?... All this time and you've never picked anybody. He's in here for five minutes and- ...Yeah I know..." he sighed, "Why? Why him?...Fine. It's your choice...you can always change your mind... Understood. Hey kid!"

I realised that he was actually talking to me now. "It's Nick."

"Here," he held the sword out to me.

Obvious confusion is obvious. "What?" I said, taking a step back.

"Take the damn sword."

This had to be a trick. It had to be. I spared a quick glance at Sheira who for once in her life looked like she didn't have a plan for what was happening. That reassuring if this thing suddenly cuts me in two. I cautiously reached out and took hold of the scabbard.

The sword was balanced pretty evenly, that had to be a good sign. I took hold of the leather hilt. It felt comfortable, actually. The hilt fit snugly into my palm and the leather wrapping gave me good grip, so it felt like it wasn't going to slip out of my hand. The weight also felt nice too (weapons expert over here), nicely balanced and evenly distributed throughout the entire weapon. This fit surprising well compared to the broadsword I had messed around with earlier which was uncomfortable and took a lot of effort to swing.

But of course, there still a chance that this could be a colossal prank and I'm about to die as soon as I unsheathe this thing. But Shadow looked pretty damn serious and Sheira wasn't running forward to stop me so... maybe it wasn't dangerous? Only one way to find out. I took a deep breath and in one smooth motion drew the blade from its scabbard. And fire filled the room. When Shadow drew the blade, it was made of normal iron with no signs of a pyrotechnics display. This could not be further from that. The whole sword was burning, sigils caved into the steel spouted bright white fire and cast the blade in a brilliant coat of golden flames. The heat was extraordinary. Shadow looked shocked, his eyes were wide, and his mouth was hanging open slightly. Sheira's shock was much more visible, her hands actually covering her mouth in surprise. But as for me? I couldn't believe that this was happening. How had I managed this? I had managed something so extraordinary that I never thought I would be able-

Shall I introduce myself? Or do you need a minute?

I screamed out loud and dropped the sword like it was a rabid weasel (Don't ask) "What the hell! It just... it just... it... it... it" And now I can't even form a coherent sentence. Great.

"Nick what happened?" Sheira was visibly concerned.

"It just talked!" I yelled.

"Pick him up!" yelled Shadow.

"What!?"

"Just do it!"

Calm down Shia LaBeoufe. I gingerly reached down and took hold of the hilt again.

Sorry about that. Did I scare you?

"Just a bit," I muttered, "its not every day that a sword starts talking to you."

I can agree with that. Let's start over, shall we?

"I think that would be a good idea."

Alright, hello nice to meet you.

All things considered the sword had a very normal sounding voice. It was definitely a male, far to deep to be a woman's voice and he sounded to be about twenty years old as his voice was still young and not dry or raspy like you would expect form an older soul. He sounded kind and reassuring in a way that instantly made my heart pang for my dad. I shook that thought out of my head as quickly as I could but noticed that the swords hilt had heated slightly. It was like he was reassuring me. He could definitely read my thoughts.

"How can you talk?" I asked eventually.

"Nick...that's a spirit blade," said Sheira breathlessly. Her eyes were wide in wonderment.

My lack of knowledge was actually beginning to irritate me. "What's a spirit blade?"

I'm a sprit blade. The soul of an elemental infused with a weapon of some description that still holds some elemental powers.

"Woah...so you were a human?"

Yes. I was the one who forged this blade in the first place. I made it for a friend of mine who was about to leave for the crusades, but I was unable to finish it before he left so I perfected it into a spirit blade and then I was drafted myself.

"Crusades? Assassins Creed tells me that you're at least a thousand years old."

I have no idea what that is, but yes, I am a thousand years old. Well, the blade is nine hundred and twenty if you want to be specific about it, but the spirit is closer to the nine hundred and fifty mark.

"Impressive," I said. But then there was the obvious question. "You showed me that light, didn't you?"

Correct.

"Why?" I asked.

"Yeah," snapped Shadow. "Why him?"

The sword seemed to sigh in my hand. Tell Shadow that he already knows why, he muttered.

"Um..." I looked at Shadow, "he told me, to tell you, that he's already told you."

Shadow glared fiercely but didn't push the subject any further. But that didn't stop me from wanting to know. "Same question, why me?"

The sword was silent for a few seconds, so I wondered if id done something to upset him. But finally, he answered.

Well...it's a bit boring sitting in a dingy room without a master. And I starting to rust, and that's not pleasant.

"But who's your master?"

He waited for the penny to drop. Then it did. A whole sacksful of pennies crashing down a fifty-foot drop into a dark well. "Wait. I'm your master?" I said in disbelief.

If he could nod or smile or whatever, he would have. Well done. He chuckled, I think we're going to get along splendidly.

"But, I can't use a sword. I don't know how."

I can teach you. I assure you that you'll pick it up in no time, master.

I visibly winced at that last word. "Okay, lets just get one thing straight here. Drop the whole master shtick. My name's Nick. Nice to meet you. Um..." I frowned and then looked at Shadow and then back again. "Do you have a name?"

You're supposed to give me a name

Oh fantastic. Naming things has never been one of my strong suits. My first teddy bear I literally named Bear and my input for the class hamster was Fluffy. Clearly, I'm an imaginative thinker. Surely this thing had to have a name already that I could go along with. Unless I couldn't pronounce it of course. "What did you name the blade originally?" I asked.

Clearly, he hadn't been asked this question before. He was silent for a while before finally speaking up. Incaendium.

"In - ken - dee - um," I said nervously.

Excellent pronunciation. Its Latin for wildfire.

A cool name for a cool sword. And I could pronounce it. A textbook win-win situation. "Then that's what I'll call you. If that's alright, of course?"

Yes. That's fine... No one has actually asked what I would like before, so I appreciate it. Really.

And I could sense that he really did. "Its very nice to meet you Incaendium, I only hope that you can teach how to fight properly."

Likewise, Nick. And don't you worry. I'll knock you into shape.

"I look forward to it," I said and retuned Incaendium to his scabbard. I'd almost forgotten that Shadow and Sheira (Remember them?) were still in the room with me and their reactions couldn't be further apart. Sheira looked ecstatic, her eyes were shining, and her lips were curved into a smile. She was happy for me, while Shadow looked like he was regretting not crushing my windpipe. He sneered ferociously as he tossed/hurled with malicious intent the heavy leather belt at me, which I could only presume was for Incaendium to clip on to.

He certainly offered no help as to which side he had to go on to (It's the left side if you're right handed by the way) or how to attach Incaendium in the first place. Shera had to assist and after a few minutes my sword, it was very strange to think that, was attached comfortably to my belt. The extra weight didn't cause me to list sideways, it actually had the opposite effect of balancing how I stood, that was a plus because my posture was horrific.

Sheira actually clapped her hands together with joy. "You look awesome Nick. A true warrior."

Let's just see how I fight with this thing on, then you can call me a warrior. Shadow grunted. He was still shooting daggers at me. "Let's go, I want to be out of York by sundown and if I find that any more of my stuff has taken a liking to you, then so help me god I'll lock you down here for the next century."

***

Hi, Abi here. That was a long chapter and sorry to keep you waiting for so long. I've been without WiFi for a week and Im trying to figure out where to take this story next but I've come up with a few ideas. If you're liking the story so far leave a comment and tell me your favourite chapter or your favourite character. Feedback is always good. The next chapter may be a while as I've got mock exams coming up soon so sit tight and it'll be out ASAP. Thanks again for reading!