Chapter 10

(Do you remember what Silver told us about the Sanctuary?"

Yes. Why hasn't he revealed himself to us?

He must have his reasons. We must take Antonia there as soon as we can.

You still trust him.

You never did, I notice. But he was right all along.)

Once they returned to the Center, Lead gently placed Jet down on the table, surrounded by the surviving other Elementals, including Sapphire. Jade impatiently pushed the others aside, placed her palms on either side of Jet's head.

"What is wrong with her?" Mercury was puzzled. "What could have injured her like that?"

Jade's body had stiffened, and her eyes illuminated the faintest tint of green. The others waited tensely for her to make her diagnosis.

"Jet was injured by a neural and physical particle accelerant, exact composition unknown. It is still in her, eating away at her from the inside." She lowered her hands to Jet's body: the wounds also started to pulsate with a pale green light.

"She's dying then," murmured Lead. The others exchanged troubled looks; if Jet and Copper were gone…taken down so quickly…the enemy facing them was formidable indeed.

"Isn't there anything you can do?" Steel pressed.

Jade shrugged. "I can try to rejuvenate her damaged cells, but if it's too far gone…"

"Just do what you can." Steel looked up at Sapphire, who looked paler than usual. "What can you determine about our visitors?"

"Two of them, already in the outer ring. There's someone else with them…I can't determine who that third person is."

"Only three Transient Beings?" Silver's brow creased. "Surely there must be others."

"I can detect only two individuals definitely," Sapphire looked down. "The other one…I cannot determine its identity."

Silence from the other Elementals.

"Their 'higher power,' Radon said aloud what they were thinking. "has finally decided to show itself."

"That means that the Authority cannot help us," Lead added. "We're on our own."

"We don't know that for certain," Steel interrupted. "Sapphire, can you show us the…other entity?"

Sapphire walked towards the Center's entryway. The wide corridor beyond seemed to stretch into infinity. Her eyes began to glow the deepest blue, and the air in the corridor's center began to shimmer, and coalesce, and hum. The other Elements gathered behind her, peering into the shifting blur, except for Jade, still seeing to Jet, and Gold. He turned away, unwilling to look, a look of horror on his face. The others did not notice him.

"I think I can see the outlines of two, yes, there!" Silver pointed. "The ones in the tan pajamas-"

"Those aren't pajamas," Mercury growled. The faintest shapes of what Gold had seen dimly began to appear, move back and forth. "I doubt they came here for a sleepaway!" They could then see three distinct figures, but while the first two had outlines that were definite, the last one kept distorting, refusing to come into clear focus. Sapphire braced herself against the doorjamb, clutching it for support, as she concentrated intensely.

"We must see that one! Sapphire, you must try harder!" Steel ordered.

The air in the corridor began to pulsate, and a wind started to blow against the Elementals. The center of the blurred mass began to grow, become sharper in appearance. The two images faded, materialized into almost clarity, faded again. Beyond them was the faintest outline of another. He was indistinguishable from the other two, but then became apparent that out of the three he was actually facing towards them.

Steel glared at the projected image. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Reveal yourself to us!"

"What are you doing?" shouted Gold, who had taken refuge behind them. He was huddled under the table, clearly in terror.

"Do you recognize him?" Silver whispered to Steel.

Radon replied quietly. "It is unlikely any of us know him, really."

"Show yourself!"

Sapphire began showing the strain of her efforts. "Steel…it's-"

"Keep going Sapphire!"

"Something…something is surging through…"

The amorphous mass in the corridor suddenly doubled in size, nearly reaching towards the entrance; the image suddenly became vividly clear, and they could see him clearly, although not his face. The wind in the corridor became a roar.

"Who are you?" shouted Steel.

The being seemed to react then, taking three sharp strides towards the Center. He reached with one hand and pulled down his neck gaiter, revealing his gaping mouth. He only had 3 teeth, two incisors on his lower jaw, one from his upper, where it would fit between the others. They split open and the Elementals recoiled and the energy projecting from that mouth.

"MAASA-!"the entity bellowed, but before they could hear him Gold rushed at Sapphire.

"No!" Gold screamed, and struck her, knocking her aside. Abruptly the vision vanished, and the wind and noise disappeared. Lead grabbed Gold, pinned him. "He's seen us now!" Gold struggled helplessly in Lead's hold. "He's coming here! He's seen us!" he howled, but he couldn't break the strong Elemental's grip.

"Hold him!" Steel shouted, but it was too late. Sapphire's projection was broken. "Sapphire can you bring it back! We need its name!"

Sapphire shook her head, trembling and exhausted. "No, it's too late."

"Calm yourself, man!" Lead shouted at Gold, who struggled fitfully, then simply went limp. Lead looked at Silver and Steel. "So what now?"

Steel stepped back from entranceway, gave a hand to Sapphire as she got back to her feet. "Are you all right?" Sapphire nodded weakly, and he turned to glare at Gold but he had returned to his near-catatonic, shocked state.

"What now?' We get ready for the battle."

Silver was astonished. "Are you serious? I would think the wisest course of action is to find the Sanctuary. If that creature is what I think it is…we'll need all of us together to fight it, not to mention the Authority, and..."

"You can go alert the Sanctuary," Steel brushed past him. "We'll fight it here and now, now that we have it here."

"If you hadn't noticed, Jet is badly wounded," Silver continued relentlessly. "and Gold is certainly in no condition to keep fighting!"

"We are dealing with a Primordial. That is who the Transient Beings are following!"

"We don't know that for certain!"

"'Following'?" Radon scoffed. "The Primordials only ever enslaved others. No doubt that's what they want to do with us…if they don't destroy us outright."

"Whatever this thing is," Silver waved his arms in exasperation. "It did knock out three of us! Copper, then Jet, now Gold."

"There are enough of us here to give us a chance. Jade, Mercury, Radon, Lead, and myself." Steel glanced over at his "insulation," who nodded gamely. He looked slowly back at Silver. "You can alert the others if you want."

Or is it that you do not want to be separated from Sapphire?

Silver looked at him coolly. I'd advise you against this course of action…and any others you may be thinking of. May I remind you I know of which I speak. It's very unwise.

Steel stared at him. "We'll stand our ground here. You go on."

Silver realized it would be of little use to argue with him now. "Very well. I'll bring back help…if I am able. But I would advise…"

"It would be best if you left now, before the attack." Steel muttered.

Silver felt a twinge of apprehension; he felt as if there was more going on here than just his regular rivalry with Steel. Steel wanted him out of the way for some reason - but why? It was certainly not because he feared Silver would get hurt. No, it had something to do with Sapphire. Steel had always been jealous of his and Sapphire's previous partnership, and the fact that they were still close. Well, it was understandable that Steel would be jealous, they were quite compatible...but ever since this massive disruption had started, the retreat...there was a hard - even dangerous - edge to Steel even more than usual...and he also had the bad feeling that Sapphire was in danger. He wouldn't be so gauche as to try to pry Sapphire about her partner's odd behavior, he knew that she cared very deeply for Steel, perhaps even more than she ever did for him. But he did not know Steel's feelings towards her...feelings would be something not even the Authority could make him talk about. Silver could not believe Steel would ever hurt Sapphire intentionally...but only if he could know for certain what he was planning...

Silver only nodded to Sapphire in farewell, which she acknowledged with a weak smile. He wished he could warn her, but he didn't know exactly what to warn her of. Steel was hiding something, but as Silver was a Technician (technically) he couldn't discover what. He didn't dare admit to himself what he suspected...if he did, he honestly wasn't sure what he would do, but it certainly wouldn't help matters at hand. He really didn't want to leave any of them but Steel was right in a way…the knowledge of who was their enemy had to get out.

"Very well," Silver walked to the entranceway. Gold had gone catatonic and didn't notice him at all. "Good luck, all of you, I'll be back as soon as I can."

Lead laughed. "We'll be joining you, instead!"

Silver tried to smile. "I know," he turned to Sapphire, grasped her hand. Steel pretended not to notice. She squeezed back. "Be careful," he looked around at them, hoping it was not the last time he would see them. "Remember what you are dealing with."

"The Ancient Ones," Radon added dreamily. "What things we could learn from it."

"Yes, well…let's hope it doesn't learn from us just how weak we are." With that Silver was gone.

Steel turned to the others. Silver was right: Gold was useless now. Lead and Mercury he could rely on, Radon was weak (in Steel's opinion) but better than nothing...Jade and Sapphire were here also. Jet...he didn't allow himself to think about her quite yet. It would only weaken him before the battle.

"Right," he said. "Let's find this Enemy."

But in the end, the Enemy found them.

To be continued.