Chapter 38：The homestretch

Cynthinia and most of the group leaped over a small tributary stream but William brought out his trident and used it to create a wall of water going the length of the stream (up the top of the mountains all the way down to the main river. The squad stopped on the other side and one of them fired a few rounds into the wall. The bullets all slowed down when hitting the water and fell to the ground on the other side. William grinned, this would buy them enough time to escape. Suddenly:

"Fire at will!" shouted one of the gunmen. At once, they all fire constantly at the wall sending bullets tumbling to the ground. One of them whizzed past William's head. The gaps in the water made by the bullets was being used as a doorway for the others to pass through. The gunmen quickly caught on and began focusing their shots on one area. William turned around and ran but a bullet ripped through the wall, glided through the air, and sliced through his left leg. More followed and sliced up his arms, legs, and finally one planted itself firmly in his spine.

William collapsed to the floor. He couldn't feel his legs. He couldn't move them either. Cynthinia came into sight and clapped sending a burst of fire at the trees that ignited them instantly. Using the fire as a blockade, Cynthinia lifted William onto her back and carried him until they caught up with the group again in a cave that was barely visible through the thick bushes that surrounded it.

"I-I can't feel my legs!" said William breathing heavily and sweating at an accelerated rate. Mathew used his magnetic abilities to remove the bullets that where still stuck to allow William's body to heal. The one in is spine took a few painful seconds to remove but it came out in the end. William tried to stand but his legs wouldn't move.

"It's going to take a while for your spine to heal. You regain feeling and movement but how long it'll take is a mystery." said Matilda. Suddenly, a twig snapped outside the cave and the group froze. A figure limped into view but it was unclear if they could see the group in the cave or not. Figure stopped at the mouth of the cave, it's head darted to the left then the right, and then it quickly limped into the cave.

Izzy brought out her daggers and slowly crept behind the figure using the darkness to hide her. The figure stopped.

"You I can see you Izzy." said the figure in a familiar and jesterful voice. Cynthinia made a ball of fire that illuminated the cave.

"Lucifer, you ublyudok. You scared us half to death." said Cynthinia. Lucifer limped over to the wall of the cave and slid down using the wall as a backrest. Cynthinia put out the flame and the gunmen ran past the cave without paying any notice to it. Lucifer looked at William.

"What happened to you?" asked Lucifer.

"I could ask the same question. How are you here? We saw you fuse with James and James ... how did you get out of his mind?" asked William.

"Well, after James suddenly stopped responding I noticed his mind began to be swallowed by an infinitely dark, black void. I was only just able to manifest an exit. However, my leg didn't get through quite quick enough." Lucifer pulled up his trouser leg to reveal a large black area that looked like a spreading infection. "When I looked back, James' body had already decayed and all that was left was his skeleton. Any idea why that is?"

"It has been observed before in some elemental who've mutated to have two elements. The strain of the two put on the body causes major damage to both the mental and physical state of the host. That's probably what caused the accelerated decay." said one of the survivors. "The reason no one's heard of it before is the fact that there were only five cases of dual elements ever recorded or reported." Everyone looked at the survivor with mass confusion.

"How do you suddenly know all this?" asked Liam.

"What? When your as old as me you'll know what someone's blood type is just by the colour of their eyes!" said the survivor.

A couple of minutes later, the group decided it was safe to camp out in the cave for the night. The whole night, Cynthinia stayed up thinking about possible placed for the group to hide. William rolled over and bumped into her causing him to wake up.

"Cynthinia? Why are you still awake?" asked William in a whisper.

"I'm just trying to figure out where we can go next. It's almost like everywhere we go, Jack knows where we are. The viewing portal shouldn't work because it'll only follow where a person should be in the timeline. The amount of changes that have happened should put it out of action though." said Cynthinia. William placed his hand on her cheek and looked her in the eyes.

"You worry too much Cyndy. Just relax and sleep. If your cold we can spoon for warmth if you want?" proposed William.

"Matilda gave you morphine didn't she?" said Cynthinia.

"No, she gave me something called fenta- something."

"Fentanyl?"

"Yeah, that's the one! So how about that spooning?"

"I'll pass for tonight. You should get back to sleep. I'm now going to get some sleep myself now." Cynthinia lowered William to the ground to prevent him from hitting his head before laying down herself. She flashed back to went she and William had slept next to each other on the night they first met. She kissed him on the forehead, rolled over, and went to sleep.

Meanwhile in the realm of the gods:

"What in the multiverses did you two do!? Half the arena is on fire and the other half is non existent!" shouted Rawley. James and the omni-god were laying on their backs in the middle of the arena breathing heavily; the omni-god had chosen to change from into an comical version of Okubi as a laugh. The training was progressing at a better rate thanks to James combining his fire and red fire but the problem now was that he and the omni-god kept fighting each other at higher and higher levels of intensity. With only two days left before James was able to return to the mortal realm, they had kicked training into second gear to get as much done as possible.

"It's fine!" said the omni-god in a chilled voice. They clicked their fingers and the arena returned to it's original state in the blink of an eye.

"You say it's fine but what would've happened if someone had walked in here and seen James using his blue flames?! Okubi would have both of you killed!" yelled Rawley. The three of them made their way back to their secret hideout and began to finish preparations for the ritual that would send James back.

Gaia was waiting for them with a white chalk in her had and a piece of paper. Rawley took them from her and thrust them into the omni-god and James' hands.

"Seeming as your having so much fun together, you spend more time together by drawing out the ritual circle." James snapped the chalk in half and held one half towards the omni-god.

"First one to finish their half in the best quality gets a free punch on the other?" suggested James. The omni-god transformed into Picasso and took the chalk from James' hand.

"You're on." they said and the two of them shot into action each with one half of the circle to complete. Rawley and Gaia walked off to have some tea while they waited.

"Have you got the incantation ready?" asked Rawley. Gaia nodded.

"It's all memorised and written down just in case." said Gaia.

"Good." Rawley started tapping on her cup with her finger.

"What's the matter?" Rawley sighed.

"Do you think the omni-god has told James the truth about 'you know what'?"

"I have no idea what your talking about."

"The fact that they're his ... thing!" Gaia's face suddenly changed as she realised what Rawley was talking about.

"Oh I very much doubt they've told him. Even they know how catastrophic it would be if James found out."

"Lets just hope James stays in the dark until we bring him back. Once this Okubi business blows over James can serve his rightful sentence."