Chapter 34：Adaptation

It had been a month since James and Lucifer had turned up back at the warehouse. Liam, Izzy, and William had extended the newly dubbed 'Asurian sanctuary' to accommodate for the new arrivals as well as four ability users that had arrived in an escape from the government. Laws had heavily increased to make harbouring those with abilities illegal and if you were found to have abilities you'd either be executed in some countries or sent to the Rikers Island prison. Already, more than fifty thousand people had been executed and twelve thousand sent to Rikers Island. Calculations stated there were around two hundred thousand people with abilities left on earth but with Jack's influence it would fall to an estimated 50 thousand. The girl that James had brought back with him had woken up two days afterwards but had received some brain damage resulting in memory loss. She couldn't remember her name so James had told her it was Abigail - after her supposed mother.

James easily avoided a large metal pole being launched at him by a boy. His name Mathew. Fourteen years old, five foot tall, silver-ish hair, brown eyes, and wore the new training uniform: dark-blue, one piece tracksuit with reinforced, red shoes, and (only if necessary) a crash helmet. He had the ability of magnetism and could manipulate all elements that could be affected by a magnet which meant he could change their shape and, as used here, move them at high speeds. Next up was Matilda. Thirty two years old, five foot four, long, lime-green hair with small flowers in it, green eyes, and wore the training uniform as well. She had the ability of aroma creation and control with meant she could make different airborne smells and chemicals which could disorientate opponents or help sick people. The last person training was Abigail who, in light and conscious, was around 9 years old with knee length, black hair tied in a platted ponytail that brought it up to waist height, blue eyes, and wore the training uniform as well. She was mostly training with the punching bags since, too most people's relief, she couldn't activate her ability so she focused on physical combat and sometimes praticed with a staff. The other two ability users who had joined were Matilda's children Sophie and Kyle. They were only 2 years old so their abilities hadn't developed yet but scans and DNA tests had proven they were to gain they in time.

Due to restriction from Cynthinia, James wasn't allowed to even come in contact with his celestial weapon until he could control his blue blitz to a comfortable degree. Every morning, James and Cynthinia would meditate and train using small amounts of blue fire mixed with controllable amounts of red fire to adapt James' body. Although, every night James would walk into the woods where the crater was and spar with Lucifer who would always push James to the limit of control before quickly knocking him out and talking him to bed.

However, one night, Lucifer was doing his normal limit-pushing taunts and attacks but decided to see how James would cope in the state. James got to his limit and small patches of his blue flame aura appeared over his body with his tail and horns coming back as well but shorter. James launched himself and Lucifer who leaned to the side and grabbed James' tail as he went past. Swinging James around by his tail, Lucifer threw his to the floor and placed his foot on James' chest to stop him from getting up.

"Control it James. If you can't control this amount of energy you'll never be able to draw the sword again." said Lucifer. James quickly grabbed Lucifer's foot while he was off guard and swung him into a nearby tree. Lucifer fell to the floor and picked himself up onto his hands and knees. Grinned at the challenge and his hands became engulfed in blue fire as he stood up and got into an almost karate like stance. James charged again but Lucifer reacted quickly by punching James in the gut which, coupled with James' momentum, caused some blood to exit James' mouth. James rolled a little bit but regained footing and charged again. Lucifer, back in stance, got ready to repeat. He punched James in the gut again and felt it connect. But James had grabbed him hand, planted both feet firmly on the ground, continued Lucifer's momentum and his own, and slammed Lucifer into the ground that sent cracks outwards and left a dent in the earth.

Interested in the cause of the quiet thuds, Abigail got out of bed and walked into the woods. She followed the blue light that could be faintly seen until she found herself cut off by a rock large hill. She began to scale it and, when at the top, layed flat and looked down. The hill continued down to a cliff at the bottom of which she could see James looking down on Lucifer on the ground.

"What the!? How did you adapt so quickly?" wheezed Lucifer. He quickly went to kick James to the face but James caught his foot and swung Lucifer into the wall of the crater. The wall shattered and the earth came tumbling down and so did Abigail. James dashed forward, leaped off chunks of earth, grabbed Abigail, and landed back in the spot where he started. He looked at Abigail and his flames quickly dispersed and his tail and horns receded. He put Abigail down on her feet.

"Are you alright Abi?" asked James. She looked at him not in fear but in amazement.

"I'm fine." she said. She looked down. "Sorry for spying on you."

"Hey, your ok and that's all that matters at this point." said James. The earth that had fallen began to move and out came Lucifer.

"Your back to normal?!" shouted Lucifer. He ran up to James and began looking at his head for any trace of his horns and his back for any trace of his tail.

"I ... I guess I am. Did I run out of energy or something?" asked James.

"No. Fire elementals have the highest energy capacity because they use so much to attack. You might have calmed down but that wouldn't make sense. Unless..." Lucifer started to ramble on about possibilities but James yawned and decided it was time to go to bed.

"That girl is quite interesting. She causes this amount of damage and even causes James to exit out of his rampaging state. And James' ability to adapt to my attacks so quickly was astounding! Maybe he doesn't lose as much control as we originally thought?" said Lucifer.

"Maybe your right. But we can't let our guard down yet. Until we find a way to change the timeline or else it's all going to happen again. And can't live with a repeat of that annihilation." said a hooded figure. The whole time they had been sitting in tree watching the fight as it had done for the past month. They leaned backwards and began to fall downwards but before they hit the ground a portal appeared and they disappeared through it.

"For the years that I've known you, you always seem to find it necessary to show off." said Lucifer and he began to walk back to sanctuary.