Authors: Philip Mcclennan
The concrete roof support that James crashed into had broken, causing part of the roof directly above him to collapse. A small ray of sunlight shone down through the broken part of the roof onto James. The heat gave him strength and it regenerated his body, healing his injuries somewhat. James smiled, realising he could use this to his advantage.
Lucius had now reached the sword he detested so much. He pulled the blade from the wall with minimal effort.
“Lucius!” shouted James from behind him.
Lucius, still with his back to James, seemed a little surprised to hear his voice so soon. He thought his earlier blow had put James out of the fight for a long duration. He turned around and was even more surprised to see James standing on his feet.
For the first time, James turned the tables on his white-haired nemesis. “Is that all you’ve got?” he said, mocking him. Lucius was not impressed by his rival’s words. He looked at the blade he now held in his hand. Pride got the better of him and he tossed it aside. He wished to finish off James with his own hands. Lucius walked forward, his usually calm exterior had been rattled slightly.
“You are no match for my strength!” said Lucius as he reached James. He threw the most fierce punch he could muster. Lucius’ fist landed square on James’ lower left jaw, sending his head jerking to the right. James was unmoved though. Unbeknown to Lucius he had stepped into the light of the sun and his punch just didn’t have the same effect. The rays of the sun had lowered Lucius’ body potential, and his blow was nothing more than a normal man might receive from another regular man.
James slowly turned his head back to face Lucius and smiled, he knew he could match up to his foe now. Confusion was edged on Lucius’ face, taking a few moments to figure out how James was able to withstand his punch. He then looked upwards and realised the cause of the power shift in the fight. James seized his chance and hit Lucius with a quick and powerful uppercut whilst Lucius was busy staring at the sun. Lucius groaned a little as the punch sent him flying back several feet.
James, understanding the need to press home his advantage, began to break several of the other concrete roof supports nearby. He jumped out the way as the rubble fell down all around him. Lucius rose to his feet, not at all amused by the blow James had landed. He wiped his mouth, which was bloody and then smiled. It had been a long time since he had the opportunity to fight against someone who could truly give him a run for his money. Lucius was a fierce warrior and he loved the joy of battle.
Instead of being intimidated, Lucius advanced forward, despite the sunlight. James also ran forward and the pair met in the middle of the facility. They fought back and forth, James having the speed and strength advantage now, but Lucius was still the more skilled fighter. The latter used every fighting technique of the dark arts of Underworld to keep his now more physically superior foe at bay. Every time James would seem to gain the upper hand, Lucius would come up with a miraculous counter attack to thwart him.
The two of them began crashing into the computer equipment at the nuclear plant as the intensity of the battle increased. The machinery began to catch fire as their powerful frames bounced off them with great force. The radiation levels began to rise as James and Lucius continued their fight. James realised he needed to try a different approach. Everything he had thrown at Lucius thus far had been ineffective. James decided to employ a different fighting style. He changed his fighting stance, however, Lucius seemed unconcerned.
“Ah yes. I’ve studied all the primitive combat methods of this world,” he said. Lucius observed James’ stance a little closer. “Now let me see, Karate yes?”
James rushed forward unleashing several of the most difficult Karate techniques that he could muster. Lucius fended them off almost effortlessly. James changed his style once more, this time to that of Ninjutsu. Just like before, Lucius recognised the style and dealt with it accordingly. The agent was beginning to become frustrated and sloppy. Despite his physical superiority, he could not break through Lucius’ solid defence. The white haired man truly was a great fighter.
“You cannot beat me with the weak and narrow-minded fighting styles of this world. I was trained by the dark king himself, I have never been defeated!” warned Lucius. The white haired man looked around to the machinery equipment that the pair had broken whilst brawling. He noticed that some of it had caught fire. Lucius gave a sinister smile. He held forward the palm of his hand, which began to give off a red glow. James could feel the heat coming from his hand and sensed that his enemy was about to attempt to manipulate the fire elements within the compound. The white haired man reached his hand in the direction from which the machines had caught fire and began to hurl fireballs in the direction of the agent.
James looked on as the fire approached him at great speed.
Oh great
.
Two fireballs reached him simultaneously. James jumped up quickly and spun his body around three hundred and sixty degrees in mid-air to avoid them. The fireballs whisked past him at great speed, but to James it almost seemed like slow motion. He could not afford to be content though because just as he landed back on the ground, another three balls of flame were well on their way toward him. He jumped again, this time having to almost do the splits in mid-air as he rose his legs either side of him to avoid a fireball hitting them. At the same time he crouched his head to the left to ensure two balls of fire didn’t crash into his face.
As James landed, Lucius met him with a punch to the face. It did not have the force it might have done had the rays of the sun not been present, but it still caused discomfort. Lucius met him with another punch, which found its mark. James sensed fireballs coming at him from behind and ducked down. This time, Lucius also had to take avoiding action to ensure the flames did not strike him.
With James still in a crouching position, Lucius kicked him square in the face, sending the agent abruptly back up to a standing position. Lucius then quickly threw a left hand but James was wise to it and blocked the attack. James unleashed a high kick in response, which hit Lucius in the face. The force of the kick sent the white haired man stumbling back a little, however, it paved the way for three more fireballs to quickly advance on James.
With little time to improvise, James attempted to weave out the way, he managed to successfully avoid the first two however the third had hidden in the shadow behind the previous fire and hit him in his left forearm. James cried out as the flame burnt against his skin. He realised he could not withstand these attacks forever. Then he remembered, there was one item nearby that could very well enable him to survive the onslaught.
James brushed past Lucius, doing a forward roll to avoid a roundhouse kick from his foe as he passed. Lucius used the fire that had originated from the burning machines to conjure a much larger flame than any of the previous one’s and hurled it into James’ direction. Reaching his sword just in time, the agent picked it up from the ground and swung it at the fireball before it could make contact with him.
The blade smashed into the fire bolt, which was much more solid in form than James would have ever expected. It certainly would have done him a great deal of harm had it hit his body. The bolt was sent crashing towards a large selection of gas cylinders in the corner of the structure. Both James and Lucius realised the repercussions of what was about to happen and began to run as fast as they could.
The large fireball struck the gas cylinders violently, breaking them open. A huge explosion engulfed the compound. It ripped against all of the support structures within the facility and sent the whole complex plummeting to the ground. James and Lucius crouched down to the floor, trying to protect themselves as the building collapsed down on top of them.
James and Lucius lay beside each other as pieces of debris burnt all around them. Both of the men were physically broken. Even the rays of the sun were not enough to restore James’ strength after such an evenly fought contest. The building had crumbled completely as a result of the explosion caused by the gas cylinders. The structure was now nothing more than a huge pile of burning ash. The two men lay motionless at the top of the cliff in which the building had once stood. They were down for what seemed like an eternity.
James slowly opened his eyes. His body felt battered and broken. His face was black with smoke and when he coughed, blood came out of his mouth. He tried to move and found he still had the strength within him to do so. Directly in front of him lay Lucius, who was also beginning to come around. James spotted his sword lying in the rubble several feet away from the pair. He knew he needed to regain possession of the blade if he was to finish Lucius off. Both men gasped desperately for breath as they tried simultaneously to get to their feet. It was the white-haired man who rose first. With the little of the strength he had left, Lucius hobbled to the blade and picked it up.
By this point, James had only just managed to get to his feet. Lucius took aim with the blade, preparing to fire what he knew would be the killing blow to James’ mauled body. “You fought well Alexandrian, but this is farewell,” said Lucius.
James looked around but there was nowhere to go. He was near the cliff’s edge and the only escape he could foresee was the long drop down the cliff onto the rocks below. The blade began to form into fire, as Lucius was set to unleash the most fearsome fire bolt he could muster.
A loud cracking sound echoed out around the cliff as something struck Lucius with unbelievable force in the back of the head. The white haired man was sent flying several feet, all the way to the cliffs edge. Lucius stumbled over the edge, managing to grasp the foot of the cliff with one trailing arm. Lucius’ strength was now leaving him and his grip was fading. He felt a sharp pain in the back of his head, which hampered his attempts to pull himself up.
As Lucius hung helplessly over the cliff, someone walked towards the edge. Lucius looked up at the figure that now stood over him, however, it was the last person the man had expected to see. Chad stood over Lucius with the golden axe in hand that his younger brother had taken from him at the temple in Argentina. It was this weapon that had struck Lucius in the back of the head. Chad looked down at his fallen enemy.
“Did you miss me brother?” said Chad. He smashed Lucius between the eyes as hard as he could with the axe, sending the white haired man falling from the cliff. Lucius crashed into the rocks below. His body bounced violently as the man ricocheted down the side of the cliff. His broken body finally came to a halt on the beach below.
Chad looked down the cliff at the sight of his fallen brother. There was no hint of remorse on his face. James walked up alongside Chad to see the fate of the white haired man. The pair stared down for a moment before Chad broke the silence. “Sorry for stealing your kill,” he said, trying to ease the tension.
James shook his head and smiled at the same time.
Only Chad could make light of such a situation,
he thought.
The pair shared a manly hug, however, there was genuine affection in it. Although James had never confessed it to anyone publicly, he had feared the worst when Chad had disappeared. “Where the hell have you been Chad?”
“Don’t get mad, I just saved your life remember?” said Chad.
“I’ve been looking for you for weeks!”
“Yeah, I have my reasons for taking off…”
James waited for Chad to further elaborate; his short explanation clearly wasn’t going to cut it. Chad could tell from the look on his friend’s face that he wanted answers and so he explained the real reasons behind his disappeared.
Ever since the explosion of James’ apartment in Miami, which had resulted in Chad plummeting into the ocean, he had been suffering major blackouts. He had lost hours, sometimes even days at a time, waking up in strange places and having no recollection of getting there. One such time, Chad woke up outside of a strange place. It was a large castle-like building that stood against the side of a huge mountain. The building was dark in colour and looked like a section of smaller wooden houses that had been built together to make one structure. The building moved upward as the mountain ascended, meaning the top part of it, was not parallel to the bottom.
It was located deep in the snow mountainous terrain of Alaska. The temperatures in that place were bitter cold, well below the freezing level. Yet Chad had been roaming the lands wearing only standard clothing. He wore a small black T-shirt and jeans. Those temperatures would kill a normal man in that type of attire, however, Chad’s body showed great resilience to the cold.
Chad looked at the structure and then looked around at the surrounding area. He wondered how he ever arrived at such a place. Besides the mysterious building in front of him, there was nothing but snow and mountains in all directions.
How did I get here?
He had just awoken face down in the snow, having no recollection of his journey. However, during the small parts of his travels he could remember, he had been searching for the axe he had briefly come into possession of at the temple in Argentina.
The golden axe was all he thought about lately, even more than Stacey or James. Even now, he could feel its power. It seemed to be calling him, drawing him to it. He felt lost without it, consumed with a great desire to get it back.
I need it. Holding it will make me whole.
He seemed almost infatuated with the weapon. He wondered how he could ever have handed it over to Lucius so willingly. He felt the power of the blade now greater than ever. Chad looked at the dark structure that was before him once more.
The power comes from within there!
If truth be told he had no choice but to enter. Even his own durable body’s resilience to the cold was beginning to wane. Chad began to shiver a little and his hands and face were red with cold. He walked up the foot of the mountain and came to a large wooden door. Chad pushed the door open with relative ease. The door was unlocked. Whoever resided in these parts clearly did not fear trespassers.