Elements Rage, Chapter1

Chapter 1:
The Hands of Hellfire

I
The meeting

“LIGHTING SLASH,” yells a slayer, causing a lighting bolt to hit his sword as he delivers the final blow. The monster hits the ground before it knows what happened. “Finally, that’s done,” the slayer says to himself. He seems to be a young man, about twenty-two and stands about five feet eleven inches tall. His dark brown hair is just barely longer than a buzz. His shirt is red with a yellow lighting bolt going from top left to the bottom right that is intertwined with a black bolt going form the top right to bottom left emblem on the left shoulder. Through a tear, a well-used chain mail shirt can be seen. On his back is two sword sheathes; one is empty, and one holding a long sword.  His pants are some what bagge yet don’t restrict any movement. Around his waist is a black belt with a leather case of throwing stars on the right and a fighting dagger on the left. He is wearing a heavy looking pair of boots with thick soles. The sword he is using, which he holds in his left hand, is a customized broad sword with the lightning bolt emblem carved into the blade; a shield covers his other arm. “Now to get paid,” the slayer says as his stomach growls. He twirls his sword around once and slowly slides it into his sheathe as he walks away.
A few hours later, he enters a somewhat run down café. There are four booths lining the wall and two more booths near the fireplace. Past that is the door back to the kitchen. A few feet from the wall and to the left is the main counter with about eight stools lined up.  Around the next corner are three more booths then the entrance again. In the middle there are four small tables. The walls are made out of bare bricks. The slayer sits down at the last stool at the counter and orders his meal with what little money he has remaining after buying supplies. About halfway though his meal a group of five fairly wealthy looking men walk in and up to a pretty, young woman in the far booth. She looks about 21 and could easily stand about 6ft 2. She has light brown hair that hangs down just a little past her shoulder, and is wearing a blue sorceresses robe that is made from a thick, soft material.
“Still here?” the leader of the group asks.
“What do you want?” replies the woman.
“I just wanted to apologize for the way my men treated you earlier.”
“Thanks,” she replies in a sour voice.
“Aqua, please, let me make it up to you, come to my house and I’ll fix you a real meal, not the cheap junk they serve here.”
“No thanks” Aqua replies in a flat, irritated voice.
“Come on!” yells the man as he grabs Aqua’s arm. Aqua quickly raises her other hand and points it at his face yelling “HYDRO BLAST”, causing a stream of water to pour out of her palm, blasting the man back. “Why you!” the man pulls his hidden daggers out of his belt and charges at her. “Ouch” he jumps back as he feels a strong static shock. Aqua quickly reaches for her wizards’ staff, but finds one of the other men had grabbed it. She springs out of her chair and shoots a hydro blast at him, but he dodges and laughs.
Aqua turns to the man with the daggers and yells, “Leave me alone Grounder,” Grounder tries to stab her, but she dodges to the left and soaks him with another hydro blast. The slayer watches the fight very closely with amusement. Grounder leaps forward with his dagger aimed right at Aqua’s chest. A sudden electrical shock shoots through his body and causes the dagger to skim Aqua’s shoulder.
It seems that Aqua is winning, until Grounder yells, “That’s it! Get her!” in response to yet another Hydro Blast in his face. Grounder and his men start to encircle Aqua. She tries to shoot another blast at them, but finds that she’s out of skill points. She crosses her arms and closes her eyes to shield her self from the quickly approaching dagger.
ZAP! A lighting bolt suddenly hits Aqua. The men look, completely stupefied, at the empty space where Aqua was just standing.
“Over here!!”
The men quickly turn towards the new voice; to see Aqua, who was just opening her eyes, standing behind the slayer. “Now that’s not very fair, five strong men against one woman, and after taking her weapon.” The Slayer calls in a disgusted, yet mocking, voice.
“You stay out of this, the girls mine!” Grounder shouts as he knocks over a table.
“You’ve got to get through me first”
“No problem, come on boys” Grounder and his men start to approaching the slayer. “Still not fair” he say’s laughing.
“Like I care,” Grounder yells as he runs forward.
“Oh well, I warned you” the Slayer yells “MULTI-PARALIZATION BOLT!!” Grounder and his men lay on the ground, their muscles twitching wildly from the lighting that hit them. Grounder forces the words “Who are you?” out of his mouth.
         “I am Zaper the Thunder Warrior, and if I EVER see you or your men treating a lady like that again I’ll do more than a temporary spell!” threatens the slayer. Then he grabs Aqua’s staff. Zaper politely hands Aqua her weapon and walks out the door without saying another word.
Zaper walks down the empty street. A soft snow is drifting down from the crisp night air. As he walks, several inches of snow crunches beneath his feet. A few feet back is the town square, with the rather empty slayers job board. To the right is the café where just a few hours ago Zaper had gotten a pretty good show. To the left is a general store and a wood shed. Along the street are a few more buildings, some with stacks of wood pilled by the door. Zaper approaches the village gate, disappointed that the town was barley even able to fill his pockets enough to buy all his needed supplies. Zaper looks around for the gate guard, but finds only a sigh hanging down from the tower reading, “doing urgent business, please wait” Zaper leans against the wall waiting for the guard. He shivers once and curses at the cold, wishing he had some warmer clothing.
“Hey, Zaper.” He turns his head to see Aqua running up with another man. The man looks to be about 23 and about 5ft 10. He has spiked black hair and a black jacket with flames all over it. His pants are loose fitting jeans and he has a pair of black, open fingered gloves. At first glance, he appears weaponless, but Zaper’s keen eyes notice four strips of metal just under the top layer of each glove, and two small power gems grafted into them at the wrists. These gloves were obviously the standard weapon for a fighter. Zaper reaches for his sword. “What do you want?” Zaper asks.
“I wanted to thank you for helping me earlier” Aqua cheerfully replies.
“Ya, your welcome” Zaper says in a tone that say’s he’d rather be left alone. The other man walks up to Zaper, who grips his sword prepared to a fight. “I’m Flare, I’d like to thank you too, for helping my sister,” he offers to shake hands as he says this. Zaper turns down the handshake and then turns to walk away saying “No prob”, while staying on his guard.
“Hey, can I ask you something?” Aqua say’s out of nowhere.
“What!” Zaper shouts as he spins around
“Would you mind helping us? To do a job?” Aqua asks, “There’s some good pay”
“What, can’t you do it yourself?” Zaper answers
“We can, but it would be nice to have some help,” Flare says. Zaper stands still, thinking. He feels his empty pocket and thinks of the small meal he had. “What’s the pay?
“Two grand” Aqua answered.
“Two grand?” Zaper repeats, knowing jobs like this don’t come along often. “Who’s the job from?” Zaper, now interested asks.
“The mayor” Flare answers.
“The mayor? Then why wasn’t it one the job board?”
“We took it off the board so no one else would take it”.
“K, what’s the job?”
“There's been a monster that’s been terrorizing the town, the mayor needs some slayers to take care of it,” Aqua explains.
“Really? Then why haven’t I heard anything from any of the villagers?” Zaper asks in a disbelieving tone “for two grand this must be a powerful monster.”
“The people have been trying to hide it to protect the town’s reputation” Flare states in a convincing tone
“Then why did the mayor ask for slayers?” Zaper keeps asking
“He ran out of options, there getting desperate.”
“K, what’s the monster” Zaper asks, still not completely convinced.
“Its name is Hellfire,” Aqua answers. Zaper jumps back in fear. “WHAT! Hellfire’s no monster; he’s one of the most well known demons out there!”
A demon, one of the most powerful creatures out there. Fighting a monster is one thing, they’re as dumb as animals, but Hellfire is a demon. Demons are intelligent, some are smarter than humans, and Hellfire is a powerful one. Most people unfortunate enough to cross paths with one never live to tell about it.
“So, you gonna do it?” Flare asked, snapping Zaper back to reality.
“YOU’RE CRAZY!! Fighting a demon is like walking up to the Grim Reaper!” Zaper shouts.
“We can take him, besides, he’s got a fire attribute, and I’m a water mage, so we’ve got the element advantage,” Aqua reasons
“I don’t care if you’re the Goddess of Water, fighting him is suicide,” Zaper screams.
“Hey, come on, the three of use can take him, besides, my skill’s as a fire fighter gives us resistance to his attacks,” Flare explains.
“AND my skills as a thunder warrior skills make me stronger than both of you, but that doesn’t mean I’ve got the advantage over a demon!” Zaper shouts, trying to talk them out of it.
“Please, you’ve got to help us, we really need the money,” Aqua begged.
“NO WAY IN HELL” Aqua gives at him with a desperate look, then, finally realizing it’s pointless to keep asking, starts to cry. “Hey, don’t cry, this is just a really bad idea” Zaper says. Aqua keeps crying, and as she does Zaper’s angry, annoyed face slowly melts away to a much softer, sympathetic, even guilty one. “Hey, stop that, your making me look bad… oh, come on, that’s not fair” Aqua keeps crying. “Oh, FINE, I’ll help, JUST STOP CRYING!!!”
Aqua looks up “re-really?”
“Ya,”
Aqua jumps up and yell’s “Thank you” as she hugs Zaper.
“God help us”
II
More to This
A few hours later, the three of them are found walking down the road. Zaper has taken the lead, followed by Aqua, then Flare. The road is covered with several inches of snow, with the forest popping out on both sides. There is a full moon over head, with only a few clouds blocking the stars. Aqua and Flare are talking to each other, occasionally trying to get Zaper to talk, but with no luck. Zaper is just walking, trying to keep from shivering, but with no successes. On several occasions, Aqua and Flare have made some smart comments on it just to see how he reacts.
The snow is getting thinner. They notice a couple small patches of dirt. The snow seems to be melting, and they see bigger and bigger patches of ground as they walk. “Shouldn’t it be getting colder as we climb?” Aqua asks.
“Ya, it should, but it’s getting warmer, why?” Flare response
“It’s Hellfire’s power, were getting close, be on your guard,” Zaper states, “are you two sure you want to do this? It’s not too late to turn back.”
“We wish we could,” Flare mutters, meaning for no one to hear.
Zaper spins around “What do you mean by that!?!”
“B-b-by what? A-al-all I sa-said was we don’t want t-t-to,” Flare stutters in a pointless attempt to cover up his mistake.
“OK! WHATS GOING ON!”          
“Nothing, he was just joking” Aqua quickly interrupts.
Zaper looks into her eye’s then at Flare, seeing great worry and fear in both their faces. “Nice try, something’s going on, and if you want my help your gonna tell me what”.
Aqua, realizing their cover had been blown, starts to cry. “We’re sorry we tricked you, but we had to have your help.”
“What for!”
“We got into some trouble,” Flare admits.
Zaper shouts “WHAT TROUBLE!?!”
Aqua and Flare look at each other then at Zaper. They start whispering something to each other, then Aqua stands up. “(sniff, sniff) THIS!” Aqua pulls her sleeve back.
“WHAT THE!” Zaper jumps back at the sight. About half way up the arm is a long, thin burn, which is about an inch long. Around the burn, the skin is turning black, and an evil power could be felt flowing from it.
“YOU’VE GOT A DEMONS CURSE!!!!!!” Zaper shouts in surprise
Aqua quickly covers up the mark again saying, “satisfied now?” now crying harder than ever.
“We ran into Hellfire on our way to the town,” Flare explains, “Aqua used a liquefaction spell, which let us wash away and escape.”
“But?” Zaper prompts
“He hit Aqua first, leaving her cursed”
“And you want to kill him to remove the curse, right?”
“That’s right”
It was the only known way to break a demons curse. Kill the demon that cast it. If the curse isn’t broken in time, you’d become the demons slave as a demon yourself.
“So there was no job?”
“No, we had to trick you to get your help. Guess your not gonna help us now, huh?” Zaper just stands there. The veins popping out on his forehead told everyone he was mad. “Come on Aqua, looks like we’re doing this ourselves” Flare says in a disappointed tone. Aqua wipes her tears and the two head for a near by cave.
“And where are you two going?” Zaper demands.
“We’re going to fight Hellfire, as if it matters to you,” Aqua cries.
“And leave me looking like the bad guy? I don’t think so, lets go,” Zaper says.
“We're not going anywhere till that demons dead!!” Flare angrily yells.
“If you’re not going then I’ll have to kill him myself” Aqua and Flare spin around in surprise.
“You’re going to help us?” Aqua says in disbelief.
“Well, ya, of course. I’m not that mean and heartless.” Aqua suddenly cheers up and gives him a big hug.
“Ok. Can we go now?”
III
The Demons Lair

They enter the cave. As they walk, the temperature continues to increase.
“God it’s hot,” Flare states.
“Really hot” Aqua agrees.
“It’s not that hot in here. This is just about right for me” Zaper responds
As they get deeper in the cave, it gets darker, and they come across some monsters, probably under the demons control as slaves. The light disappears and the cave turns pitch black, the party can’t see anything. The team tries to get though the dark without a light, hoping to maintain the element of surprise, but aren’t having any luck. As their stumbling makes more than enough noise to give them away anyway, “TORCH” Flare finally whispers, illuminating the cave with the dimmest light possible.
After what seems like hours of walking, they find themselves in huge cavern. It is empty, in an unnaturally perfect shaped dome. On the far side, they see a large lava pool, with a red glow that lights up the room.
“This is it,” Zaper exclaims.
“This is what?” Aqua asks.
“His lair” Zaper replies.
“How do we call him out?” Flare asks.
“Aqua, send a spell into the lava” Zaper directs.
“Ok, HYDRO BLAST!” Aqua yells. A white puff of steam and angry hissing sound comes up as the blast hits the lava.
“It didn’t work,” Flare says.
“Just wait,” Zaper mutters as he draws his sword and assumes his fighting stance.
A pillar of flames spews up from the pool.
“WHO DARES DISTURB ME!” a voice thunders through the caves, echoing off the walls.
“WE DO!!!” Zaper yells defiantly back.
The flames die down to reveal a giant hovering in the air. It has a set of short, curved, and sharp horns. Its hands are a set of four claws and his feet end in a set of three. Cracks of lava shatter the demi-human’s rock skin. Before them is HELLFIRE!
“WHAT DO YOU WANT YOU PATHETIC HUMANS?” His voice booms out like an exploding bomb.
“Remove your curse from my sister or die!” Flare answers with a hint of fear in his voice.
“HA-HA-HA, FOOLISH HUMAN! YOU SHALL BE THE ONE TO DIE!” Hellfire laughs as he bursts into flames.
“Aqua! Douse those flames!”
“TIDAL WAVE!” An oceans worth of water spills out of Aqua’s staff and pours itself onto the demon.
“ARRR” Fire yells in pain, but the flames are virtually untouched.
Zaper runs forwards yelling “THUNDERPORT!” A lighting bolt hits him and he disappears. Then, almost instantly, a second one strikes right next to Hellfire’s face. Zaper drops out yelling “LIGHTING SLASH + THUNDER EXTENTION”. Suddenly his sword is covered with lighting, forming into a 10ft long blade. He swings his blade at Hellfire’s head, but the demon swings his hand up and sends Zaper flying into the far wall. Zaper smashes into it and drops down, hitting the ground with a big thud.
“LAVA BRETH” A flow of lava pours out of Hellfire’s mouth.
“FIRE BARRIER” Flare yells as he constructs a wall of pure fire, forcing the lava flow to either side. Flare runs to the wall closest to the demon and jumps into it. As he hits the wall, he kicks off it and launches himself towards the demons upper body. “Aqua, Zaper, give me your powers!”
Zaper pulls himself up and casts a lighting spell; at the same time, Aqua casts a water spell. Suddenly Flare’s fist is surrounded by a block of electrified water. “That’s it! “MEGATON ELECTRIC WATER PUNCH!” Flare yells as he lands his punch home. CRASH! A huge crater appears in the wall as Hellfire is slammed backwards, then he falls off into the lava pool. The party falls silent as they wait.
Five long minutes pass, and there is no noise, no movement, and no sign of life from the lava pool. “We did it,” Aqua shouts finally. Aqua and Flare start celebrating their victory.

IV
Warm Ups Over!
“YOU FOOLS!!” a river of flames jumps out of the lava and dives at the party. Zaper, who had never dropped his guard, jumps out of the way, but Aqua and Flare barley have time to put up barriers. The two fly back. Zaper looks at his knocked out allies, thankful their barriers had saved them from any life threatening burns,
“NOW WHAT ARE YOU GOING TO DO? HA HA HA” Hellfire mocks as he rises from the pool.
“THIS!” Zaper replies as he reaches into his inventory and pulls out a vial marked Giga potion. Drinking it, he quickly grows to the size of Hellfire. “Let’s try this again!” he shouts as he runs at his opponent. Hellfire ignites a sword of fire and clashes it against Zaper’s. Zaper deflects the flaming blade, spins around to slash the demons side, but Hellfire jumps back, and dodges the blow, coming back with a vertical slash downwards that Zaper catches on his shield. Zaper tries to thrust his sword into the demons stomach who blocks with a newly made fire shield. The two springs off each other, like two rubber balls colliding in the air, then charge each other. They cross swords then pull back and swing again, this time pounding each other’s shields. Zaper pulls his sword back and swings at Hellfire’s head with a vertical swipe, who makes a horizontal slash at the oncoming blade. As the two swords hit, Zaper's flies out of his hand, spins three times, and imbeds itself, blade down, into the ground. Hellfire bashes his shield into Zaper’s side, dropping him to the ground, and makes a final vertical slash at the downed fighter.
Zaper’s world slows down as his life flashes before his eyes. He sees his father beating him for making a female classmate cry. He watches as the unknown menace butchers his parents while he was unable to help. He remembers the vow to always help those in need that he made after that. He once again sees every one he trusted betray him. He remembers his meeting with Aqua and Flare. Then he thinks of them. How desperate they were for help, and how helpless they are now.
Suddenly, at the thought of their deaths, Zaper gets a second wind. He crosses his arms yelling “LIGHTING ARM BLADES” Two lighting bolts hit his arms, turning them into solid blades of electricity. The on coming sword hits the blades and stops. Zaper pushes the blades back and slices the demon’s side. Hellfire screams in pain, and runs at Zaper in a crazed fury, slashing at him. Zaper dodges the attack, spins around, striking the demon in the side, plowing him into the ground. Zaper removes the spell from his arms and runs for his sword. He grips the helm and pivots around it so he’s facing his opponent, who has just stood up. “This is it!” Zaper yells, “FINAL FINISHER!”
“NOW I”LL END THIS!” Hellfire bellows back.
The two run at each other with their final attacks. For that one moment, the whole world seems to fall silent, as if it was watching these final attacks, knowing that once this charge ends one would be on the ground, meeting face to face with death himself, and the other would be triumphant. It was as if heaven and hell were about to finish the biggest battle ever…
V
It is Over
SHING! The rush ends and the warriors look each other in the eyes. They both stand strong, clenching there swords, not saying a word. The two slowly look down at the weapons, and then look back at each other. Both swords are embedded in there targets, Hellfire’s going through Zaper's stomach, just below the rib cage, and Zaper’s through Hellfire’s chest, dead center. The two stare for a little, then Hellfire laughs.
“HA HA HA! NICE SHOT MORTAL, BUT IT TAKES MORE THEN THAT TO KILL ME, THOUGH YOU’RE AS GOOD AS DEAD ALREADY!” Hellfire laughs in spite of his pain, confident that he has won, but then Zaper makes a smile
“WHAT ARE YOU SMILEING ABOUT? YOU LOST! AND NOW I’LL KILL YOUR FREINDS TOO!” Hellfire says in a rage.
“I may not live, but neither will you” Zaper chucks, then he lets out a scream of pain.
“YOU’RE WRONG! ALL I HAVE TO DO IS CLIMB INTO MY LAVA POOL AND MY WHOUNDS WILL HEAL INSTANTLY”
“Yes, they would, if you could”
“WHAT DO YOU MEAN IF?”
“You don’t know my Final Finisher, do you?”
“WHAT IF I DON’T? IT DOESN”T MA…” a surge of power though him cuts his words short.
“Are you sure?” Zaper pushes his sword in deeper “What’s the matter? Are you getting shocked?” Hellfire tries to say something, but the power in him surges again, the again, this time a spark jumps out of him.
“The Final Finisher is a move created by my father, if it hits right there is no chance of Living!” Zaper says as Hellfire struggles
“The charges are getting stronger, aren’t they?” Zaper snickers as another sparks jumps, this time bigger. “The power still rising, it gets stronger, and stronger, AND stronger! YOU CAN’T STAND IT, YOU FEEL LIKE YOUR GOING TO EXPLODE!  Right?”
Now the sparks are jumping out every which way, and still getting bigger. Then Hellfire’s sword turns to smoke and vanishes. The look on Hellfire’s face is that of pure fear, he knows what’s about to happen. He attempts to break free one last time, but Zaper jams the sword in deeper. Hellfire tries to speak, but can’t. The electricity is reaching its peak, then Hellfire stops fighting and falls limp, then he explodes! As the effects of the Giga potion wear off Zaper starts to shrink. He drops his sword and stumbles over to his allies, who are just regaining consensuses.
“Are you all right? Aqua exclaims as she sees Zaper.
“I’m fine, just a scratch” Zaper replies, as he slowly starts to fall over and lands in her arms, and then faints.


Notes from The author:
This only the first chapter of my story. Incase I never post anymore I'm going to say Zaper's fine, and at the time I posted this I’ve finished chapter 8. I feel Vary nerves about submitting this and I hope every one enjoys it. Thank you for your time.