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Confrontation with Darkness A gust of wind blew through the room, pulling a book out of Vince's hands and tearing it into pieces in mid-air. "Don't read that book," the Dark Fiend of Air said. "It's bad for you." "Why didn't you tell me?" Vince asked. "You were too naive to understand," came the reply. "We knew that you wouldn't agree with the beliefs of the Shadow, so we had to mislead you. After all, you are a Dark Fiend. You need to be loyal to your creator." Vince clenched his teeth in rage. A flare burst forth, wrapping around his whole body. A moment later, the flames cleared and the Dark Fiend of Fire was revealed. "No," he said, looking down at the floor. "I can't let you or the others help Skias return the world to Chaos." Vince looked up toward Lydia. His eyes burned with fury. He screamed, "I will destroy you and the other 5 Dark Fiends so that you will never destroy anything ever again." "Just you try," Lydia said, entering into a martial arts stance. Vince gave a mighty warcry as he charged at Lydia. However, Lydia simply held out her arm, and a strong gust blew Vince across the room, smacking him into the back wall. Still sitting against the wall, Vince fired off a volley of fireballs. However, an equally large volley of spiraling winds met this volley of flame. Upon contact, each pair of fireball and spiraling wind annihilated themselves. "Drill winds," Lydia commented with a smile. "New technique." "I'll still knock it down, like the rest of them," Vince replied. Lydia reached her right hand forward. A strong wind blew from her hand. As it went forward, it twisted into a mad coil. The dust from the very air was trapped within this coil, creating an image of a large, dusty column of wind flying straight towards Vince. Vince quickly rolled aside. The drill wind smashed into the wall and tore a basketball-sized hole in it. Lydia fired again and again, while Vince rolled again and again. Finally, his last roll brought him to his feet, where he pointed both hands forward and shot forward a blazing flare. Lydia, with her right arm, aimed a drill wind towards Vince. The fire and the air met in the middle. For a few moments, the pair of Dark Fiends was locked in stalemate. Suddenly, Lydia dropped her drill wind. As the blaze zoomed toward Lydia, she held out her left arm. The blaze immediately died out, causing only a warm breeze to blow past Lydia. Vince was still posed as if her were firing off the blaze, but his body slowly and stiffly assumed an upright standing position, with his arms to his side. "I--I can't move," Vince said, with a tone of anxiety in his voice. "That's because I have you trapped in a snare of wind," Lydia said, with her left hand still extended. Circles of wind wrapped around Vince, hindering his movement. Lydia, keeping her left arm up to ensnare Vince, lifted her right arm and fired a drill wind at him. Vince took the full force of the drill wind. Flying through the air and smashing against the back wall again, Vince saw a bleeding gash in his chest. Lydia, using her left arm's wind snare, brought Vince back to his original, upright position. Again, she used her right arm to fire another drill wind at Vince. Vince tried to create a layer of flame around his body, but the drill wind punched right through it, drilling into Vince's chest again. As Vince landed against the wall with a loud crash, he screamed in pain. "It's no use," Vince thought. "In my upright standing position, my flame barrier is stretched much to thin to have any effect on Lydia's drill winds." He felt himself being lifted back into the center of the room. "I have to think of another way!" As the drill wind approached, Vince created two large fireballs, one in each hand. Even though he couldn't move, he managed to flick his fingers just enough for the two fireballs to fly toward the drill wind, coalescing into a spiral of flame as they reached the winds. This flame quickly spiraled down away from Vince while the drill winds plunged themselves into Vince's already bleeding chest. However, Lydia saw the flaming attack, released her left-handed grip on Vince, and used her left hand to summon winds to blow away the flames. They did not move. The flames converged on Lydia, setting her aflame. Lydia screamed in pain until she managed to summon a burst of wind from her body, blowing away the flames. Lydia collapsed to a kneel as Vince climbed to his feet. "Your mistake, Lydia, was that you spent so much strength and effort attacking that you left yourself completely defenseless," Vince said, panting. "Also, because I managed to aim them correctly, the counter-current of the drill winds help to carry my fire attack, so you couldn't block it even though you got your left hand free." "It was a fluke," Lydia yelled angrily while she stood up. "It doesn't matter. I still got you with my drill winds." "You'd like to try it again?" Vince asked. Lydia responded by ensnaring Vince with her left hand and firing off a drill wind with her right. Instantly, Vince began creating his fireballs, firing them onto the drill wind and watching them carry themselves to Lydia. Upon seeing the flames again, Lydia screamed and dropped her attacks. Just as the tip of the drill wind touched Vince's body, they burst into an outward projecting wind, blowing Vince's fire attack away. "I told you, you can't use that tactic anymore," Vince said. "I can still beat you with any other tactic I want," Lydia yelled back. With that, she used her winds to pull hundreds of books from the bookshelves, sending them flying toward Vince. Quickly, he sent forth a shockwave of flame, rippling across the room. The books burst into flames, as did the bookshelves and the entire room around him. Suddenly, an entire bookshelf flew into the air and landed on Vince, crushing him beneath itself. It shattered into pieces as the flaming mass of Vince broke through. Lydia now closed her eyes and began hovering a few feet above the floor. Suddenly, strong winds swirled around the flaming Chamber of Forbidden Books. Everything was being thrown in different directions. Vince barely held his ground, having to crouch to keep the wind from catching him. Although Vince had set alight most of what was in this room, much of the burning debris that flew around would still be quite painful if it were to hit him. Vince looked up as the debris of the bookshelf he had just destroyed flew toward him, knocking him off his feet. Vince flew around the room several times, bumping into several objects before the cyclone finally pinned him into the corner of the room. "Come on, Vince," he thought to himself as flaming debris began piled higher and higher over his body. "You've faced Lydia in a cyclone before. Even if you've never fought in one this strong before, you can still get through this." Vince blew off all the debris with a burst of flame, flying out from his body, accompanied by a mighty warcry. Vince pushed against the wind, trying to reach Lydia, ignoring all the small pieces of debris that smacked him and smashing up the large pieces. As he walked closer to Lydia, the center of the cyclone, the winds spun faster and faster. They cut more deeply into his skin. As he approached Lydia, Vince was already bleeding profusely. "Lydia!" Vince yelled. Lydia opened her eyes. Vince was well within striking distance. Lydia first felt a burning punch that knocked her off balance, bringing her down to the floor. Vince then followed up with a slow one-two flaming punch combo. As Lydia staggered back, Vince dove and tackled her. A burst of flame covered both of them as they impacted. Together, they went flying through a wooden door, shattering it, and into the main area of the Trioustan Library. Both of them, severely weakened, lay in the middle of a wide-open space. Lydia slowly climbed to her feet, muttering, "It's not over yet. I can still kill you." When she stood over Vince, she let herself fall down, dropping a wind-covered punch. Vince quickly rolled away, leaving a trail of blood. Lydia's punch hit the ground, throwing up debris at incredible speeds. A comparatively large dent was left where Lydia's fist sat. Lydia stood up again and slowly walked over to Vince. As she prepared to strike with her wind-covered fist again, Vince quickly gave her a two-legged spring kick. Lydia went flying backwards. Quickly, Vince rolled backwards, allowing himself to roll onto his feet. He pointed his arms forward and blew an amazing blaze toward Lydia. The Dark Fiend of Air, carried by this inferno, smashed through several bookshelves and landed in the corner of the room. Vince staggered toward Lydia. "Time to die, bitch," Vince said bitterly. "Wait for me in Hell." Vince began coalescing fiery particles into his hands, apparently to prepare an inferno to incinerate Lydia. Unfortunately, he never had the chance to use it. At that moment, Lydia let out a scream and shot out a wind, shattering the walls of the corner around her. Then, before Vince could react, she jumped up and flew away. As the Dark Fiend of Air flew, she turned around just once to say, "This isn't over yet, Vince. Next time we meet, I'm going to kill you." Then, she was gone. Vince collapsed into a pile on the floor. As he did, the air around him flared up. As soon as he landed on the ground, he was no longer the Dark Fiend of Fire, but the regular human Vincent Zeng. In his human form, his wounds were much more severe, as red blended in much better with black hide than it did with skin. Vince slowly climbed to his feet and began walking home. "I'll probably have to sleep in the backyard tonight," Vince thought as he walked. "If my parents see bloodstains on the walls, they might get suspicious." The next day, Vince dressed in a sweater and a pair of long, thick pants. Although the wounds from the battle the day before had clotted and no longer bled, he still wanted to hide those red clot lines. Besides, it was November, and it was getting cold. "Good morning, Alice," Vince said as he walked into the dining room. He saw she was wearing a tank-top and shorts. "Alice," he said disapprovingly while pouring himself a bowl of corn flakes. "It's getting to be winter. If you dress like that, you'll freeze." "Fine," his sister replied. "I'll get a jacket." While Vince was finishing his breakfast, Alice came back down. She wore mostly the same, except she had a thin, flimsy jacket on. "Alice," Vince said, after swallowing the last of the cereal. "Put on something thicker. You'll freeze of you wear THAT jacket." "Fine," Alice said as she went back upstairs. When she came back down, she looked at Vince's face and noticed something she had never noticed before. "Vince, that blood mark on your face," she said. "What happened? Were you in another fight?" "I got roughed up," Vince replied. "I think someone's out to make trouble for me. It's nothing, really." "That's funny," Vince thought. "Steph wasn't at school today. She's never absent, not even when she's sick. Something must have come up." The whole school day had gone by, and Vince never saw Stephanie's face. "Alice," Vince yelled to his sister. "You go home without me. I'm going to go to Steph's." Vincent caught up with Tina, Stephanie's sister, who still wore her pink blouse and skirt, but now she also had a pink sweater. As they walked toward the Chen residence, they talked. "Tina," Vincent said. "Where's Steph today?" "I dunno," Tina replied. "She left home early today to go to that math contest thingie, so I didn't see her." "But she wasn't at school today," Vince said. "I dunno," Tina answered. "I dunno." "Mommy, where was Sister this morning?" Tina asked her mother. Tina and Vince had arrived at the Chen residence. Tina spoke to her mother in the doorway while Vince stood a few feet behind, leaning against a wooden pillar. "She left at 7 am," Mrs. Chen replied. "She had to go to that contest thing. I saw her leave the house. Why? Where is she now?" "Umm..." Tina tried to say. "We don't know. We didn't see her at school." "Oh, dear," Mrs. Chen said with surprise. "Are you sure you didn't just miss her by chance?" "I have Calc AP and Physics AP with Steph," Vince replied. "She was definitely absent today." "Oh, my! Oh, my!" Mrs. Chen exclaimed. "Maybe we should call the cell phone, find out where she is." "Umm... Mommy, Sister doesn't have the cell phone," Tina interjected. "I do." "Oh, dear," Mrs. Chen said, in panic. "We don't know where Stephanie is and we can't contact her." She began to pace around frantically. "Come on, Mommy," Tina said. "You know Sister. She can take care of herself. She'll come home." "No, I'm calling the police," Mrs. Chen replied. "Come on in, Tina. Vince, you go on home. I don't want to put you in something like this." Vince found a note on the outside of the window in his bedroom. He read the note quietly to himself, "'If you want to see Stephanie again, come to Railway Station A17.'" "The old abandoned train station?" Vince thought to himself. "This is like something from the movies. It feels like a trap, but I have to go anyway. Steph is probably there, and being the Dark Fiend of Fire, I think I can rescue her." "Well, here I am," Vince quietly said to himself. "Railway Station A17." He looked around. "I think he wants me inside that building." Railway Station A17 was somewhat small. Two train tracks ran through the station--one for northbound, one for southbound. However, no one ever used these train tracks anymore, so no trains ever passed through this station. In between the train tracks, in the middle of the platform, there was a relatively small building. This building, formerly used to sell various snacks to train-riders, was now an empty building. The whole complex used to be painted beige, but most of the paint had peeled off. "Didn't this used to be an old Hybrid hangout?" Vince asked himself silently. "But the Hybrids are gone. I remember beating the crap out of them." Vince walked up to the building in the middle. There was one door, and it was rusty. As Vince pulled on the handle, the door opened, making a loud squeaking. Immediately, Vince heard a voice. "Vince?" "That's Steph's voice," Vince said to himself. Then, he ran in, shouting, "Steph? Are you in there?" "No, wait!" he heard Steph shout. Stephanie was in there, all right. She sat on the ground, her arms and legs bound by a rope. However, she was not alone. Standing behind her was a large boy, his hair a mysterious shade of light brown. His facial features almost Chinese to look at, but they seemed strangely off. "Steve Lin of the Hybrid Alliance," Vince said. "Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?" "Vince," Stephanie cried. "Look out! He's got a--" By then, it was too late. Steve had pulled his hand from behind him, revealing a small, black metal object he was hiding behind his back. A thunderous crash sounded as his finger pressed down on a little black level connected to a black tube. The end of the tube was pointed straight at Vincent's heart. A small piece of metal flew out from the end of the tube. "--gun," Stephanie finished her sentence. The bullet flew through the air and hit Vince in the chest. Immediately, Vince collapsed, falling forward onto the ground. "Vince!" Stephanie screamed. "No!" |