Chapter 3: Living Nightmare

“Ana? …Emett!?” He shouted over and over, almost becoming hoarse. The buildings around him were completely in ruin, and the area was swallowed in a black fog. Out of the blackness, he came across Ana, huddled over in a corner of what used to be a house.  Kane hopped through everything in his way to get to her. 

She turned around, face nearly covered in ash, looking rather shocked. “What’s going on Kane?” Her eyes almost tried to exude tears, but were too baffled by the events taking place to even bother. 

Kane looked at her face, putting his hands up to it. In a calm voice he called water into his hands to clean Ana's face.

“I have no idea what’s going on, but we have to find Emett.” She helt onto his hand tight. Kane helped Ana up, and looked towards Centro City.

“Let’s go.” he nodded. 

Once they arrived, they were almost brought to tears. Among the heat of the deadly fires, was a background of blazing clouds. Buildings were chipping away by the chunk. Paint from the buildings glided down like snowflakes. 

The place was in utter terror as numerous people scrambled around, using their powers to help them fly, run, or dig away from disaster. For most of them it was no use, they didn’t make it. It was the scariest thing they ever experienced in their lives. 

Among the chaos, they made it to the jewelry store which was barely in tact. Before entering Ana turned around and looked behind her at the city. She was finding it hard to believe that her home was being shattered before her very eyes.

Both searched the jewelry store high and low as the ground was wobbling violently under their feet. No sign of Emett was found, leaving them with no choice but to give up and head somewhere safer. 

Back hundreds of miles away, the satellite picked up the reading of dark energy once again. This time, it was one of the most intense readings the monitor has ever picked up. 

“Guys?… GUYS??” Spotty got up from her glass keyboard. She removed her headset speaker, and rushed to find Gloria and Cid. 

The girl flew through about twelve hallways, and up eight flights of stairs to get to the conference room where they were. Gloria and Cid were in the middle of a presentation when they saw their office doors fling wide open . They looked up at Spotty, who had a flustered face.

“Spotty?” Gloria smiled in a concerned fashion. Cid’s face switched from smiling to utter worry at the faces of the guests attending the meeting.

“Sorry for disturbing you Ms. Odell and Mr Wiseheart. It happened again. This time it’s worse.” Spotty gulped and apologetically bowed. Unable to continue the meeting, they excused themselves, and dismissed everyone.

“This machine better be all it’s worth. Those clients are once in a lifetime.” Cid tightened his fist. Gloria walked closer to him with her focus forward. 

“We both agreed that if it happened a second time then we’d check it out.” 

Cid just kept walking on and didn’t listen to her. “Do you realize how important that conference was? I was so close to--” 

Gloria tugged on his arm and he turned to gently hit the back of the hallway wall. She told Spotty to ready the monitor, then she focused back on Cid. 

“I know that was an important meeting, but when duty calls--.” 

“Gloria…” He paused, and looked into her eyes. “I… I’m sorry.” 

“It’s fine.” She looked to her left… then her right.  Her hands grazed Cid’s manly stubble, and she kissed his lips gently. 

“... Let’s go.” She straightened his suit before walking onwards to the observation terminal. Cid watched her swinging hips as she walked away. A heavy huff of air escaped Cid’s mouth, trying to heep his dismay to himself. 

He followed Gloria into the room to find her standing over Spotty as they examined the map on the screen. 

“I took a screen snapshot of the reading before, just in case we’d ever see it again…" She gave them an sideways glare. "Like right now.” 

Spotty dragged the screen snapshot next to the actual reading with her hands. “You can see, this time it’s much larger, and moving. You guys have a huge blob of energy coming from here… its a reading unlike anything I’ve ever seen.” She continued to stare at the screen for any sign of land where the reading was coming from. 

Cid looked away scratching his chin. Gloria stepped past him and out the door. She looked back and spoke in a serious tone before leaving.

“I’m going to suit up and head to those coordinates, assemble the appropriate squad for this mission from the 8 divisions, I’ll meet you at the landing strips.” She nodded and closed the door. Cid turned back around and thought quickly as he always does.

“Okay Spotty, sound the alarm for divisions 3 and 4, then have the team up here. Be ready to send us off as soon as I give the signal.” 

Kane and Ana made it to the temple. Thankfully everything was completely in tact. 

“Mom? Dad?” Kane’s dull voice echoed through the empty halls. Everything in the temple was quiet and rather dark. Suddenly, the sound of running footsteps could be heard from behind them. 

Ana turned around and readied herself to attack, her hands glowing bright green. 

“Kane! Ana! There you are!” Emett came running up to the two with ash all over his body. A fresh cut was bleeding on his forehead. All three of them were locked in an embrace in seconds. For the first time, Kane felt a nervous chill in his chest. Emett embraced the two, but it was cut short when the building shook. Tiny rocks fall from the ceiling, almost hitting them. They all regained their balance and stood back up. 

“Do either of you know what’s going on? Or how clouds of fire just happened to stop over top of our island?” Kane asked. 

“Not really, but people in the city kept shouting about a dark man and woman running around town.” Emett looked at them with frightened eyes. He wiped his forehead and winced, not realizing he had a thin gash.

“Here Emett, we’ve gotta get you somewhere to rest for a second.” Ana examined his forehead. She guided him up all the way to Kane’s room. They started to gather important belongings after letting Emett’s tall body down on the bed. 

“Emett, Did you see what the man and woman looked like?” Ana walked over the bedroom window, watching the blazing clouds set fire to houses and other structures. 

As Kane shuffled through important clothes, Emett sat his body up in the bed, running his hands through his dark blonde hair.

“No, they just look like shadows. People couldn’t even stand up to them without being attacked. 

Let alone see them.” 

“Whoever they are… we’ve got to take them down.” Ana confidently spat the words out. After having enough of looking out at the tragedy, Ana stood up and walked towards the door. She turned to Emett.

"I'll be right back, I'm going to go get some bandages for that scar." 

The door shut, and it was just Kane and Emett. They remained silent for a minute, not knowing what to say.

“Oh… Kane…” Emett got up from the bed, and walked over to him. "I forgot. I was going to give you something today."He looked over at Emett to see him holding a box wrapped in a shiny green type of paper. On the front of it was a was seal that read "Fontineau Jewelry Store" in the middle. 

"Ana and I were going to take you to the beach today and surprise you. But I don't really think that's going to happen." Emett scratched his arm. He knew it was the worst possible time to be giving him a gift, but in his mind it had to be done. 

The earth shook once again, a few more explosions rung from outside. Kane's eyes became misty at he stared at the box. 

"Open it." Emett's eyes started to do the same. He put his hands over top of Kane's guiding him to open the box. Kane tore the paper off carefully. He untied the tie and popped of the lid. Emett's face seemed confused as he watched Kane's reaction. 

Gleams of gold sparkled against the brimming fire coming from outside. A beaded bracelet rested comfortably on a luxurious looking cloth. Each bead was lined with she most intricate designs. It was a perfect gold color that reflected the city's fire. Kane put it on, almost tearing up a bit.

"No one else in the world has one. I made it just for you."

"Why would you do that?" Kane asked. 

"Well... because I--"

Kane stopped Emett's words with the embrace of his arms. He felt Emett's strong body for the first time. It was warm and welcoming. They could feel the thumping of each other's hearts racing before the ground gave one of it's strongest quakes.

A few prolonged seconds of gazing lasted between the two.

"Keep that bracelet. If we don't make it out of here then I want you to remember me and Ana."

"I could never forget you. Or Ana. And you guys aren't going anywhere." Kane tried to stop the tears, but it was useless. He figured out why he was so distant from Emett. He liked him. It all made sense to him now. Their moment between the two of them ended abruptly. 

"Did you guys hear that?" Ana rushed back inside with bandages. After patching up Emett's scar, they went into the hallway. 

A silence fell upon the temple.

They ran down the hallway to the main door to find it laying wide open.

"Didn't you close the door?" Ana looked at Emett. He nodded. 

"They're here." he shuddered. A sound brushed past them inside the house. Frightened, Kane grabbed Emett's hand. Among this stress and chaos, Emmet found a smile on his face. The sound came again and they turned back towards the hallway.

Kane let go of Emett's hand and lit his own on fire. Fight your fear. Ana's words echoed in his head. They seemed to be burned into his brain now. 

A creaking sound came from the doorway, and they all turned bac around. Among the flaming sky, the silhouette of a tall man cast a shadow down the already dark hallway. His hands coated in a purple flame. 

“It’s the shadow.” Emett whispered. All three of them had terrifying chills.

“Let’s get ‘em.” Ana took a step forward, clenching her fists. Rage sprung into her and she bolted towards the figure. It held its arm out and swung it. Ana went crashing into the nearest wall. 

Making it close enough, Kane tried to throw a windy fist towards the being, but it missed. Emett tried to make his move, but it ended in the same result. The figure kept stepping backwards to dodge, like he was leading them out of the temple. 

As soon as they were outside, the figure just stood there for a second, making the others stop, waiting for his next move.

“What is this thing?” Ana came back, holding her arm. “Is it human?” 

It seemed to chuckle at her words, and sank into its own shadow. It shot up in right behind Kane without him knowing.

"BEHIND YOU!” Ana and Emett both shouted, trying to run up to him as fast as they could.

He couldn’t even turn around before he was forcefully snagged away from his friends with the might of a hurricane. He was thrown into one of the blazing clouds by the figure. Black winds tussled him around roughly before spitting him out on the island’s south beach.

Kane flipped around a few times before landing head first into the sand. Far in the distance, he saw the clouds hovering over the island. This part of land had been untouched. It was beautiful and calm like most of his nights had been until tonight. Before he could stand up, the dark man came and loomed over him. He held out his hand over Kane's body. He was losing heat by the second. As Kane drifted out of consciousness, he started to float above the sand. The man let out a chuckle that could’ve been mistaken for a growl. Kane’s eyes began to fade out of color, and bright ball of light grew inside of his chest. It floated out of Kane's body, and toward the man's black clutches. 

“It’s finally mine.” The figure spoke. 

Kane used what little vision he had left to get a good look at the man. The bright light revealed a tiny bit of his face, not enough to get a good picture. As the light approached the man's body, it began shrinking.

Baffled, the man's colorless face grew surprised. He tried to grab the light, but something happened.

With an incredible pulsation, Kane and the shadow man were forcefully blown back from each other instantly. After even more violent tumbling, Kane laid there barely awake next to the crashing waters of the beach. 

Kane's tunneling vision caught sight of the bracelet. It brilliantly reflected the city burning behind him. He fought as hard as he could, but his body got the best of him. 

Everything went black.

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[Taylor H.]

Among the chaos, they made it to the jewelry store which was barely in tact---intact

A heavy huff of air escaped Cid’s mouth, trying to heep his dismay to himself.---keep


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