Silas

I opened my eyes. I was still on Earth, but it wasn't anywhere I knew. There was a wall in front of me. Then I heard a noise behind me. Death was here too. I stumbled down the hill and leapt over the wall, falling to the ground on the other side. There were lots of structures here, and six people were fighting. And the weird thing was, it was like a parallel Earth – one person was controlling earth, another water, another fire, one girl wasn't using an element – possibly the healer. The other two were behind me. As I thought – one wind, one lightning. I saw Death again, transforming into a shadow and possessing the wind boy. He used powerful techniques and seemed to be crushing the other boy into the wall. The other four tried to get his attention, and one of the girls punched him, hard. He fell to the ground. Then the scene blurred, and I saw a bright light ahead. I was moving towards it. It was so close. I could reach out and touch it…

I hit the ground. I was back at the place I'd just seen. Except it was different. The structures were burnt, crumbling. I walked through the ruins. There were bodies. Men, a dragon. A girl. The three boys. I turned a corner and saw the red-haired boy, with the other girl. They were running.

"Come on, Reinette!" said the boy. He nearly ran into me.

"What's going on?" I shouted.

"Death! He attacked the temple! He killed everyone!" screamed the girl – Reinette, I assumed.

"Death?" My mouth went dry. Behind the two of them, there was a creature like I'd never seen before. It was blood red, like the first monster I had encountered. But this one was seven feet tall, and had long claws. Its eyes were black. But then it looked at Reinette, and she fell. Dead. The boy screamed and knelt next to her, holding her wrist. The creature was almost on him. It locked eyes with him, and he screamed in pain. I screamed too, for the pain was in my body. Then everything was gone.

Joe

"Death? I think I've heard of him, yeah," said Dojo, and scratched his chin. "He's some kind of leader."

"Of an army of darkness?" I asked – half hoping I was right, to know I wasn't mad, half hoping I was wrong. Chase was bad enough.

"Yeah, that sounds familiar. I'll check the scrolls." He slithered into the scroll room and I heard him searching. I wandered outside. The moon shone down on the temple. I saw a figure in a tree. I climbed up and sat on the branch beside it.

"Hi Reinette," I said. She looked at me in surprise.

"Oh, hi. I didn't hear you come up." She looked out of the temple, over the hills.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

"Just thinking," she said. "About this afternoon. With Rai and Kim."

"And Death," I added quietly. "And Time."

"Death and Time…" she muttered. "And there was something else, didn't you say?"

"The Creator."

"So what do we know, then?" she asked, and turned to face me again.

"Right. Both Kim and Raimundo were possessed by this… Death, apparently. I've been hearing voices that I think are from the past, being sent to me by someone who controls Time. And I've found out that Death is trying to move Hell to Earth and is fighting The Creator. It's like a God and Satan set-up."

"Remember, though, if this is from the past, the fight could be over."

"But if Death is here, he must have won. So why hasn't he taken over?" She didn't have an answer.

I was in the temple. Reinette ran into my room, and pulled me to my feet.

"Joe, it's Death! He's taken over the temple, and the others are trying to hold him off, but only the six of us are left." I followed her out as Omi screamed. We found him dead. Some sort of creature was attacking the others, blocking their attacks. Kimiko threw a ball of fire, and the creature caught it and threw it back. Kimiko was able to stand the heat, but the force threw her into a wall and it collapsed on top of her. Reinette began digging, hoping she was still alive.

"Help Raimundo!" she shouted. Even as she spoke, I saw Clay fall as well. Raimundo was now fighting solo. I ran to help, shooting lighting. Death seemed surprised at this, and stepped back. Raimundo leapt forward to finish him off. There was a bright flash and Raimundo fell back on top of me. Now it was just me and Reinette left. Raimundo's body was lifted off and I saw the creature drop it into its mouth. I struggled to my feet and pulled Reinette away. I knew as we ran that the others were being eaten. We turned a corner and I nearly ran into a boy, about my age, with brown hair and a spear in one hand. He seemed to be wearing a Xiaolin robe with a Wudai sash. Maybe he was sending me the voices.

"What's going on?" he shouted.

"Death! He attacked the temple! He killed everyone!" screamed Reinette.

"Death?" The boy paused and stared behind us. Death was here. It looked at Reinette, and she fell. Dead. I screamed and knelt next to her, holding her wrist, trying to find a pulse. She couldn't be dead, she couldn't. The creature was almost on me. It locked eyes with me, and I screamed in pain. I was dying. The other boy screamed too, as if the pain was in his body. That was all I knew. My whole life was gone. Friends, family, teachers… love… gone…