Chapter Five

Alex couldn't take anymore of this. His patience was at an end. He couldn't pass up this opportunity – he needed those Mars Djinn. He put out his arm and cast Spire, and the rock came tumbling down upon Jenna. Jenna ran out of the way and drew in near, staff at the ready. Alex swung his sword and knocked Jenna aside, and she stumbled to the ground. He stepped up to her. "Your strength may have increased, but it is still far from mine," he said confidently.

Jenna, filled with ferocity, swung her staff and struck Alex in the ankles, knocking him off his feet. She then rose to her feet and held her staff to his throat, the end lit with flame, as she readied a powerful Fire Psynergy attack. "You killed my brother, you foul wretch," she said. "This couldn't feel better."

Letting out a loud shriek, Jenna poured all of her Psynergy into this one Dragon Fume, unleashing it right upon Alex at point blank rage, engulfing his body and a ten-foot radius in harsh flame. Sweat beaded down Jenna's forehead and she poured every ounce of strength she had in her body, every bit of rage stored up from the death of Felix, and every last resource she had at her disposal. Finally, after ten minutes, the flame faded, and she fell on her back, absolutely exhausted, breathing hard.

Jenna's eyes widened when she heard hoarse laughter. "You thought that was enough?" came Alex's voice as he rose to his feet once again, unscathed for the most part.

"How did you survive that?" cried Jenna.

"Don't you know?" asked Alex. "I am invincible. Oh, and some quick defense Psynergy thanks to Ivan's Djinn didn't hurt." He put out his hand. "Now, you are far too tired to resist me. Hand over the Djinn."

"NEVER!" Jenna shrieked. She tried to rise up and fight Alex, but the flesh was weak and she collapsed in a heap.

"Pathetic," said Alex. "Pathetic that I should finally unleash Alchemy within myself at the hands of a little girl. Well, beggars can't be choosers." He cast Djinnfest, and Jenna's Mars Djinn appeared, clinging onto her body. He then put out his hand, and the Djinn swarmed to his arm, joining the other Djinn, swarming over his body like parasites, and so they joined the others. He had the power of twenty-seven Djinn, nine of earth, nine of wind, and nine of flame.

"I did it…" said Alex to himself. "I did it…I actually did it…I POSSESS THE POWERS OF ALL FOUR ELEMENTS! I HAVE UNLEASHED ALCHEMY!" He thrust his arms into the air and tossed back his head in triumph. "I HAVE DONE IT!"

Alex paused. "What's this?" he asked. "Why has nothing happened? Shouldn't I have…unleashed Alchemy? A portion of the Golden Sun is in my veins! I possess the power of all four elements! WHY HAVE I NOT UNLEASHED ALCHEMY?"

Isaac rose to his feet. He was shaking, blood streamed from his mouth, and his shirt was soaked with blood. "Because, Alex…" he explained. "You don't possess the power of all four elements. You lack Mercury Djinn. Even though you are a Mercury Adept, you will still need Mercury Djinn to complete the circle."

Alex was filled with rage. "You mean…no! But…I can't!" He held out his sword. "You! You have stood in my way too long, and now you will die!"

Alex charged toward Isaac at full speed, but before he could strike he was overcome with pain once again. He felt the agony he had felt in his first attempt of murdering Isaac. Once again, the horrid force clutched his heart, and he fell to one knee, crying out in pain. "Why?" he cried. "Why can I not fulfill my wishes! Why can I never have what I desire? Why?"

"Your ways are wicked," said Isaac. "And your black heart will never allow you your goals."

"Fine," Alex spat. "I will then hunt down those two Mercury Adepts that were on your team…Mia and that other one, the Lemurian. Perhaps paying a visit to my old hometown would do me well…" With a sadistic laugh he ran off into the distance, once again driven in his mad chase, searching for the final elemental power.

Slowly, Garet got up, wiping the blood from his mouth. "Isaac, what did you just do?" he demanded. "You just helped out Alex! He's going to go take the Mercury Djinn!"

Isaac grinned grimly. "Not likely," he said. "Piers is staying with Mia right now in Imil, and Alex is banished from there. I doubt that even with the power of twenty-seven Djinn he can defeat an entire village."

"You may have damned them all!" cried Garet. "Did you see his powers? Did you see Charon that he summoned completely decimate us? That village doesn't stand a chance!"

"But it's his home village," said Isaac. "He won't…destroy…his…" He trailed off as the realization of the massive gamble he had just taken sunk in. Mia and Piers were in danger; so were the residents of Imil. Hemay have just brought about the destruction of the village.

Isaac turned to Ivan and Jenna, who were also just coming to. "Guys, we're in serious trouble," he said. "Alex is going to Imil, and he's after Piers and Mia."

"But we can't fight him," said Ivan. "We both lost our Djinn to him. We'll be useless out there."

"No," Isaac said. "We need anyone we can get here. We need to round up Sheba as well – we're going to need everyone for this one."

"Except my brother…" Jenna said distantly.

"We're going to Imil as quickly as we can," Isaac continued. "We're going to give a full-out attack on Alex – he must be stopped before he can destroy the village. When we get there, Mia and Piers can team up with us and the seven of us together can bring him down, I know it! But first, we need to get Sheba. Ivan, do you know where she's staying?"

"She was staying in Vault temporarily, just like I was," Ivan said. "We were both going to move to Contigo next week. It would have taken her too long to go back to Lalivero, so I just made sure that she got everything she needed in Vault. It's a lucky thing that Alex didn't know she was there; she might have been dead by now."

"Good," said Isaac. "Finally, some luck. We'll quickly swing by Vault and pick up Sheba, and then we can go on to Imil. We need to be quick, before Alex can be allowed to do anything else."

The four nodded solemnly. Then, without a word, they headed down the path to Vault, praying that there was enough time.