CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Zack did his best to keep his mouth from dropping open when he saw what had come of his home. Boston was in shambles. It was the best way he could put it. There was no other word to describe the state other than it appeared to be…completely wiped off whatever map they could possible find. Hovering through the air on Blazen's back he looked around for miles all he could see was smoke, dark clouds…and destruction. The tall buildings that had reminded him of bigger cities liked New York and Paris were gone, the houses he had normally been able to see where leveled and judging by the smoke that continued to swirl in the air around them, there was a fire burning somewhere.
The slight beacon of hope that kept him from going completely crazy was that he could see the Tipton hotel still standing. Windows were blown out, and it appeared that a portion of the back wall had been collapsed or broken into for supplies, but it was still standing. /Maybe the Tipton is protected/ Blazen said to him. /Just like Sydney can make shields around us. I think you guys were able to make it so that the place that's been your home for so long can't be torn down/.
I guess that makes sense, Zack thought. Just like our guardians protect us, we've found a way to protect something that's important to us.
/Yes, but as time goes on the powers of the guardian aren't needed as much. Once you come into the power that you are capable of, us guardians aren't needed in fights or to directly protect as we were when you first awaken, but that doesn't mean we're not there for you in many other ways.
Zack nodded. He let out a long sigh as he continued to look around the city landscape. As if reading his thoughts—which Zack was sure that the guardians were able to do as well—Blazen slowly shifted in a circle so the fire elemental could get a 360 degree view. Then he pulled himself up higher into the air, with Cody and Phantom following along with him. The fire and water elementals exchanged glances before they turned back to their friends, who were all silently, horrifically, staring at the former city landscape below them. And as Zack locked eyed with Cody, he could see the two were thinking the same thing; this was going to be the toughest thing they'd ever have to face along with the question of: how long had they been gone?
They knew time ran differently in the Element World than on Earth but hadn't thought it was something they thought would have caused so much damage in terms of what would happen while they were gone. Not only were they only in the Element World in a few days by their estimate, how long they had been gone from Earth made it appear that they had been away from the city for weeks. There was one thing Zack was glad about, in a bittersweet sort of way, he couldn't see any news copters flying around, trying to get a good look at the city. The bad news, he realized, was that it probably meant the city had been given up on.
Zack didn't get a chance to dwell on it, or what that meant for the family he had left behind when going to the Element World, before he felt a searing pain in his arm and looked down in time to see a gash open up on his arm and blood start to flow freely from it. His gasp of pain attracted the attention of his friends, breaking them out of the stupor and turned towards him. Cody moved closer to his brother and examined the wound, seconds before he was hit in the arm as well.
"What the—?" escaped his lips before Zack listened carefully at the sudden whistling sound and the change of the wind behind him.
He whipped his head around and brought his hand up in time to catch something in his palm. Opening his hand, he turned it over to see a black spear in his hand. He frowned, turning it in his hand before turning his attention back towards the ground, his eyes shifting so that he took on the power of the aviary; his gaze moving a mile down towards the ground, he could see a plethora of the same sharp, black spears heading their way. It took him a second for his eyesight to shift, straining slightly, until he spotted the four figures on the street below them; four elementals that were creating the spears out of their hands and throwing it up towards them.
"It's an attack!" He called, lowering himself so that he lay flat against Blazen's back. "Uriel must've been tipped off that we came back. "Get to the Tipton hotel, it's the safest place we can be right now!" He held out his hand and his new sword appeared in it. Cody did the same as his improved staff appeared in his. "Go! Now!"
"What about you?" Tapeworm called to him.
"Cody and I can hold em' off, right now we need to make sure that we get to safety in one piece." Zack tilted his head to the side, a light smile coming to his face. It was surprising what some new powers and an explanation from the Element World could do for his confidence. "If we're the ones that are going to save the world, it wouldn't make much sense to die, would it?"
He gripped Blazen's shoulders and held his sword high above his head as the fire guardian shot down towards the ground with Phantom and Cody following after him. Zack turned his head to the side to be sure that his friends did as they were told, he could see them streaking across the sky in the opposite direction, then turned his attention back towards the spears coming his way. Moving his sword back and forth in front of his face, Zack easily fended off the spears that headed his way, the metallic sounds of it clashing against his sword caused him to let out a grim smile. He could feel the surge of power from the Element stone within him, much stronger than he had been able to feel it before. Now, knowing Mother Nature and Father Time had, in a way, added their presence to their powers, he knew it was only a matter of time until Uriel decided to come out of the woodwork and show himself so that they could get this over with once and for all.
Blazen came close to the ground and Zack's eyes widened when he realized that the Elementals that were fighting him all had darkened eyes, much like the ones that Uriel had. However, he was unsure if it was under their own doing that they wanted to work for him or else they were under some sort of a spell, but knew he couldn't think about it for too long. Hesitation, he had learned a while ago, only caused the worst things to happen. His guardian turned Zack so that he had the angle to swipe his sword around and cause the steel Elementals to duck out of the way. Blazen and Phantom lowered enough so that Zack and Cody jumped off of their backs and landed on the ground, holding their weapons up as they did so.
There was a flash of red and blue light and the eagle guardians morphed into their human forms. Zack had to blink a couple of times to be sure he was seeing the right person standing in front of him. It certainly looked like Blazen, but instead of the fourteen year old boy the guardian used to resemble, his friend now appeared to be about twenty-years old. Glancing over at Phantom, he could see the water eagle had appeared to have grown older as well. Not that it was confusing in any sense, they had been told before that guardians aged differently than humans did, but to see it in person when he was so used to seeing the beast or small form of his guardian was a bit of a shock.
Blazen seemed to have noticed the attention now put on him for he turned to Zack and smiled a little. "What? Haven't you heard of the 'Period of Change'? We got through it a couple of times throughout our lifetimes."
"I think they would love to have a continuation of this conversation," Phantom said. "But I think we're a little busy at the moment." He turned around and kicked the chest of a Steel Elemental as it hurried his way, knocking him back. Zack was thrown off by how young the Elemental looked; appearing to be nothing older than fifteen. The other three Elementals that were with him were about his age as well; thirteen, sixteen, and fifteen if he had to guess. About the same age he had been when he first awakened. If Uriel had the city, the World, to himself while they had been gone, who knows how many Elementals had managed to awaken while they were gone.
The ratio of one in every five people were Elementals had never sounded so dangerous to him before. Exchanging a look, Zack and Cody nodded to each other before they launched themselves towards the Elementals that surrounded them. Wave after wave of attack came from the young teens without any chance of slowing. Uriel must've really been doing a good job with getting these guys geared up for war while we've been gone. Zack lifted his sword up into the air and blocked the shots of steel that were headed towards his face and turned around, slashing it as a rush of fire shot off of his new clothes as well as his sword. He couldn't help but grin a little when he noticed the shimmering of the air around him, much as it did on a hot summer day. It proved they had grown as Elementals since they had first awakened and would continue to grow if it meant doing what they were destined to do.
He ducked out of the way of another attack, noticing that the spear that had been created his time was double ended and the thirteen year old boy that was attack him was really gunning for him this time around. Wincing whenever a barb of the spike on one end managed to get past his defenses and strike him, Zack continued to fend off the boy, but didn't fight nearly as hard as he could. This was a war, he knew that, but there was a big part of him that felt for the boy wondering if what was happening to him was what he truly wanted or if he had been taken over in some way.
"What are you doing?" Cody grunted as he fell against Phantom's back and brought his staff up sideways to fend off an attack. He then grabbed the older boy that was fighting against him by the shoulder and flung him to the ground before turning around and grabbing onto Zack's shoulder. His eyes bore into his older brother's and Zack blinked as if he had just been slapped across the face. "These guys are trying to kill us! If you hold back…then they might just do that." He continued to tighten his grip against Zack's shoulder. "These guys aren't kids anymore; they're working for Uriel and will do anything to let him win."
Zack sucked in a deep breath and nodded. It was something he hadn't really thought about before, how there were people that chose which sides of the war they were on. There were going to be some that knew just as soon as they were born they were destined to fight for the side of good, just as there were the ones that knew as they were born they were destined to fight for the side of evil. Then there were those that had no choice against the matter.
Either way, he couldn't wait and try to weed them out when he got the chance; he had to take the moment when it came to him and fight no matter who or what got caught in the way. Besides, he was their age when he first awakened and drafted into the war he hadn't know and he fought the way he was supposed to then. He could do it now.
"Blaze of the Heart!" He called and his sword erupted in a wave of fire. He grinned, feeling the power of the Element Stone course through his veins and through his body. He could practically feel his eyes turning to allow the red color that came through whenever he allowed himself to tap into the power. "Fire Slash!" He slashed his sword up the face of the Elemental coming towards him; snapping his spear in half and catching the skin in front of him.
He closed his eyes as he felt the warm spray of blood splash against him. Turning around, he watched as Blazen shot a strong punch into the chest of another Elemental and winced as he heard the sound of cracking rib bones. He watched as the Elemental fell back, sitting hard on the ground as if he had just been merely pushed, then slumped forward onto the ground. Turning in the other direction, he watched Cody and Phantom make quick work of the other Elementals surrounding them. They fell lifelessly to the ground as well as Cody waved off his staff, droplets of water falling to the ground.
They only had a few seconds of reprieve before Zack found his arms bound by his sides by a thick vine. He heard Cody's surprised cry of pain and watched as he was suddenly zapped by a jolt of electricity. Then there was a an invisible force that shot Blazen and Phantom off their feet and crashing to the ground, causing Zack to hiss at the scratches that appeared on his own arms and legs as Blazen skidded against the ground. Then the invisible force crashed into Zack's back and he felt himself slung forward onto the ground before the vines lifted him up and he crashed against the ground before being lifted once more and crashed on the ground again.
He rolled onto his back and managed to get himself up to his knees as Cody was hit by another bolt of electricity and was blasted off his feet once more, crash landing on the ground beside his older brother. Zack flipped his hair out of his face and looked to see where the vines were coming from and found a Brazilian man he had never seen before standing across the street, smirking towards him as the vines came away from Zack and returned to the shape of his hands. Besides him was an Asian man with spiky hair, electricity crackling over his body. And as the fire Elemental watched, more and more Elementals came to surround the two that had originally fought them. The group continued to get larger and larger and Zack finally came to terms with the fact that there certainly were more Elementals around than he had originally thought.
"How many of them do you think were forced to awaken?" He murmured, staring at them.
Cody shook his head. "How many of them do you think are on his side, I believe is the better question."
The Fire Elemental nodded. He turned towards Blazen who exchanged is glance and disappeared in a flash of red light back into his body, Phantom doing the same with Cody. This is definitely something we weren't prepared for. "We've got to get out of here. Right now, we're not going against them, we're looking for Uriel and trying to stop him."
"You're right," Cody agreed. He paused and looked over at Zack as if he had just seen him for the first time. "God, I never thought I was ever going to say that. The world must really be ending."
That was a very sobering conversation topic. If Boston appeared to be the remnants of an atom bomb had managed to go off overhead, then what was happening with the rest of the world? Uriel having the Element of Life had the ability to snuff out a life every chance he got even if he just found it amusing. Knowing there was someone out there like that made his blood boil. He was the one that caused his parents to run out of Boston and leave their sons behind, he was the one that inadvertently caused the deaths of Max and Koto, he was the one that had caused all of the pain and suffering the he and the people around him had felt basically since they were all born.
The fact he could do it with so little regard made him angrier than he ever had been. All of a sudden, Cody whacked him on the arm before grabbing onto his elbow and shooting straight up into the air, wings sliding out of his back in a second. Zack dangled above the ground as Cody continued to rise higher and higher from the ground.
"What's the matter with you?" he finally asked once they were high enough away from the threat that had come in front of them. Zack gave him an odd look, sliding his own wings out form his back and allowed himself to hover through the air, soaring towards the Tipton.
"What do you mean?"
"There was fire around your hands," Cody said, staring at him.
"So?"
"So." Cody turned and gently floated in front of his brother, staring him directly in the eye. "It was black fire, Zack."
When they arrived back at the Tipton, Zack immediately found himself feeling safe as they stepped through the front doors. Whatever sort of shield or protection had been placed around the hotel was definitely working. Stepping inside, Blazen turned into his small form and immediately flew over towards the other guardians that were sitting, waiting with their wards.
"You're back," Maddie said as soon as they appeared back through the revolving doors at the front of the hotel.
Zack barely glanced at her before noticing how quiet the lobby of the hotel was. He was so used to the extravagance and majesty that the hotel had brought him every day he walked through the lobby. Now, he had seen just how badly things had gotten. The chandelier situated at the center of the room had pieces missing, the front desk was cracked, the flowers on all of the tables wilted brown and black, and the small vase that sat on the table, the one Mr. Moseby did his best to keep from breaking, lay in pieces along the floor.
Running his hands over his face, he dropped into the seat next to her and pressed his face into his hands. He couldn't take it, seeing everything he had been afraid to see, having it all manifested in front of him was more than he could bear. The stark difference between how beautiful, magnificent, and mostly peaceful the Element World was struck a chord with him he never thought would ever hit him. The silence that surrounded him showed his friends were feeling the same way.
"Hey," Maddie said quietly to him. She looped her arm through his and rested her chin against his side. "Is everything okay?"
"No," he admitted. "Though I didn't expect it to be when we got back." He lowered his hands and looked at his friends with a steady gaze. Cody, who was sitting on the couch on the other side of the lobby rested his head in his upraised palm, arm resting on the back of the couch. He kept a steady gaze on Zack, his eyebrows furrowed together as if waiting for him to sprout a second head. "I thought things would be the same, where it wasn't a lot of destruction, where we could recognize things. But then…we get back and it's like…"
"It's like we never existed in the first place," Noah remarked, managing to covey exactly what Zack had been thinking. "Like…like there had never been anyone here to protect the city…or Earth in general."
Zack nodded and pointed at him. "Guys…while we were out there, when we were going after those Elementals…they were all young. But then there were these other two guys that attacked us…and even more. Uriel has a bigger reach than we originally thought. We had to have been gone longer than we thought. He has this whole entire army of Elementals at his disposal and they're really strong." He shook his head. "I don't think we can do this on our own."
"So what do you propose we do?" Julius asked from Maddie's other side. He was leaning forward, hands pressed together between his knees.
"Have all the help we can get." His eyes flashed over his friends. I wonder what that's about, Zack thought. He could see Julius chew his lower lip as he exchanged a glance with Tapeworm, who cleared his throat and made a show of avoiding anyone's gaze if they turned his way. "There have to be more Elementals out there, those that are on our side. I mean, if there're that many on his side…"
Aaron sat up straight. "What about the ones that we used to know? The ones that fought alongside us a couple of years ago?" He nodded earnestly. "And I'm sure the guardians can figure out or sense if there are any other guardians around."
"That is if they've all managed to awaken," Crystal pointed out, absentmindedly running her fingers through her little brother's hair. "We don't know, for sure, if that's the thing that manages to make us all tap into our powers. It's not what happened with me."
"There are probably loads of reasons for it," Reihu added, stretching his arms over his head. "But that's not the issue. Right now we have to figure out what to do next. We're not going to be able to stay here in the Tipton for too long." His eyes shifted back and forth for a moment. "Before we left for the Element World, Core told me there was going to be a war between the two worlds and I guess this is what he meant." He paused for a moment. "Core told me about this place in Canada, a safe place he was headed if things got too bad out here. We could all go there. I'm sure that's where he, Christian, and Diamond currently are."
"And do what?" Riley frowned. "Wait for Uriel to squish Boston like a bug under his bloody thumb?"
"Well, at the moment it's not like we have many options," Zack said. Other than to become the thing I never wanted to become. A killer, just like Uriel is. He could feel the blood drying against his front and was suddenly given the image of the Elemental falling over with lifeless eyes in front of him once more. It wasn't the first time he had killed someone, but it was the first time he had done it so easily, all because of the powers he had finally managed to tap into as if turning on a light switch.
"Don't worry, Zack." Maddie gently rubbed his arm. "We'll come up with something." She leaned in and gave him a kiss on the cheek, something that would have caused him to melt on any given day, despite having his own girlfriend and her being in a relationship of her own.
"Maddie's right," Patrick said with a bright smile. He always was one that tried to be positive whenever things weren't going well for all of them. "We've always managed to come up with something before, we'll do it again. We're not ones to roll over and just take it."
"Yeah, well, at the moment it doesn't seem like we have any plan other than going to Canada and if that's the case, we're going to need a good night's sleep." Zack stood up and pulled his shirt away from his body, feeling it starting to stick to his front from the drying blood. "I doubt there are any planes running lately and our guardians have a long way to fly. I'm going to go take a shower if the water is still running."
Cody suddenly sat up straight. "I hope it is," he remarked. "Because I'm not going to be the one to help you."
Eyes widening ,Sydney bolted upright as well, knocking SpiritSaru off of his lap and onto the floor. "Me either!"
Laughter escaped Zack's lips as he used his enhanced speed to race to his suite on the twenty-third floor. It was the first time he had laughed in a while and while it felt foreign to him, he was grateful for it. Anything that would keep his mind off of the thing he had been afraid of since falling further into the Elemental work they had been doing. At fourteen when he first awakened, he had thought it was the coolest thing to have the same sort of powers he read in all of his comic books. Then the reality of things came around and he watched people die, people he had been close with and people that were hi enemy and he realized just how serious it was.
There had been a time where he wished he could give up his powers because of the responsibility and the horror that seemed to come along with it. It was something that crept into his mind every now and then when he allowed himself a chance to relax. Being forced to fight those that were only just in their teens, having been on the other side of the fence, he was scared. How many more child soldiers were there going to be? How many more senseless deaths and lives cut short before it all ended?
Would he be one of those deaths when all is said and done?
Standing under the—thankfully running—shower head and allowing his negative thoughts to swirl down the drain along with the dirt and grime that had managed to accumulate over his body. Closing his eyes, he let out a long breath, breathing back in the steam that swirled and wafted around him.
/This is something you have to deal with for a long time, Zack/ Blazen reminded himself. /Whether in a war or not, there's going to be people that don't deserve to have their lives cut short, lost in the balance. What matters is how you respond to it./
"Yeah, I guess you're right," Zack agreed. He tilted his head back and allowed the water to run over his forehead and down his back. "Blazen, is it possible to give up Elemental powers?"
/To give up completely? No. Once you've awakened, you've awakened. However you have the choice not to develop your powers./
"What happens to those that don't? I know if you…if you die so the Elemental is reborn, what if it's the other way around? What happens to the human if the guardian dies?"
/Then the Elemental becomes significantly weakened./
Nodding, Zack scrubbed his hands over his face and reached out, turning off the water. He stepped out of the tub and held out his hand, moving it up and down the length of his body, immediately drying himself off. He quickly got dressed and left the bathroom, moving back through the suite he stopped as he reached the couch, noticing a flash of red catch his attention. He walked over to it and picked up the fabric, realizing it was a hoodie, similar to the one that Cody was wearing. Letting out a light sigh, Zack's eyes furrowed together as the one thought he tried not to entertain came to mind.
His parents had been captured after they left.
Taking off his own tattered shirt, Zack quickly switched into the white wife-beater and red hoodie that was left behind. Shoving his hands into the front pocket he turned towards the window and looked out over what was left of the city.
Despite the grievances, despite knowing a lot of what happened could've been avoided, Zack knew it was time to think about what would happen after they succeeded in defeating Uriel. It was part of the prophecy, part of their destiny, he had to remember that.
Besides, he had a new piece of motivation; no one messed with his family and would get away with it.