Joe

About half an hour later, Raimundo woke up, and found himself tied to a chair. We stood watching him.

"Hey guys? Little help?"

"Okay, Rai," started Reinette. "We need to talk, and we can't trust you right now. So, can you…"

"Was it jealousy?" asked Omi suddenly. "Did you think with Joe out the way, you would become only 5th best Xiaolin Dragon?"

"Omi, I'm a Shoko Warrior, you git! And what the hell are you on about?"

"I think you know what we mean," said Reinette. She frowned. "Don't you?"

"NO!" shouted Raimundo angrily. "All I know is it's something to do with him!" He nodded towards me, his hands being tied behind his back.

"Hey!" said Kimiko, waking up. "Why am I tied to a chair?"

"Kimiko, what happened during training today?" asked Reinette before Omi could speak.

"Well, me and you were fighting, then we saw that Rai was crushing Joe into a wall. He wouldn't stop, so you knocked him out. Then I woke up here."

"Raimundo, what's your version?"

"Me and Joe were training, and I used my wind powers to throw him into a wall. Then I woke up here."

"So both versions omit their own attacks," muttered Clay.

"When we started training," I said, speaking for the first time. "I thought I saw some kind of shadow on his face which disappeared suddenly. And we haven't seen Theo for a while." Theo, of course, was my evil brother.

"You think he was possessed?" asked Reinette.

"It's possible. Though it does mean Theo's getting a lot more violent."

"Poor naive fools!" The voice was back. I looked around, but I could still see no sign of its source.

"You're so close, yet so far away from the answer. I possessed them!"

"Not many survive an encounter with Death…"

"And my army is growing as we speak. Soon, Hell will be here, and Death will have the chance to defeat The Creator once and for all!"

"You're going the wrong way…"

"So long, Dragons!"

"He has no name. But he's known as Death…"

"He has the powers of darkness, of shapeshifting, of telekinetics… he goes against all that is good. He feeds of pain, death and destruction. He has armies of darkness."

"What the hell?" There were more voices than one, then. The first, from what I had heard, might be this mysterious Death. The others, I didn't know. Some voices, not the one talking to us, sounded distant, like they were being heard over a long distance. A man, a younger Death, and another man. Their speech was rough, as if they had to live off what they could find around them, they… I broke my train of thought.

"Not a long distance!" I cried. "Time! What was that first one… the man who understands Time will become all powerful. So someone who understands it is sending this stuff to me, for some reason. Or maybe they're from the future, and me hearing this causes me to help them understand Time, which will then have a great impact on the future of our world!" I noticed both that the other five staring at me like I was mad, and that Kimiko was free and Reinette was untying Raimundo. Of course, I looked mad. I'd just suddenly started shouting about Time. But now I knew Time was the key.

Silas

"Anyone home?" came a voice, echoing through my cave. I walked out into the sunshine and faced the person in front of me.

"Hi," I said.

"Can you help a poor old man?"

"Well, maybe. What do you need?"

"Souls… an army of souls…" The words were hissed out. I jumped back in alarm as the cloak slipped to the ground, leaving a humanoid shadow. It raised a hand and the earth beneath my feet crumbled. I moved away from the hole, but couldn't draw my eyes away. I saw fire, lots of fire. White shapes moved around, now they were grey, and looked like people. I saw creatures I couldn't imagine, even in my worst nightmares. As I stared, I felt myself being brought forward, into the Mouth of Hell, into the Arms of Death.

"And now you are mine…" That brought me back to my senses. I scrambled away and the hole closed up. I breathed a sigh of relief. Then I felt the Earth explode.