We marched into the town weary of the rampaging elemental that could be lying in wait anywhere. We had to keep our reflexes sharp and our awareness levels at the max.

The ground and houses were damp due to the sphere of water that had been dropped on to the town fairly recently.

We moved in an organized formation, Alexandria and Elizabeth were the vanguards and I was rear guard, this corresponded with our weapons. Since Alexandria was in front she was in charge of opening doors, she’d open the door and Elizabeth and I would run in, we would have to do this with every house just in case, who knows the infernal could be hiding in one of these houses.

The first house we entered had a male child of the monster race, the child looked about to be four years old, had long pointy ears and two small horns growing out of his forehead. The young child grasped onto his stuffed animal as he sobbed for his mother and father to come and get him.

It took the young gold a second to realize that we were there, the child grasped his stuffed animal tighter as he mumbled, “Who are you?”

Alexandria went up and got on her knees to get onto the same height as the young child, she used her finger and swept away the tears from the child’s eye and told him, “It’s okay, we're not here to hurt you, we need you to get out of here is dangerous to stay.”

“But my mother and father! Where are they?” Said the child worried.

“I’m sure their safe! They are probably waiting for you outside right now!”

To a child, Alexandria's words sounded reassuring and comforting but Elizabeth, Alexandria, And I know that we don’t know where his parents are, and we don’t know if they are truly safe or not, but in order for us to take him somewhere safe things like that must be said.

Suddenly I heard footsteps from outside the house, it seemed that two people were outside. I signal Alexandria and Elizabeth, we don’t know who they could be but we still had to be careful at all times.

We face the door in anticipation, ready to take action if needed to, finally, the people outside revealed who they were, there was one woman and one male, they were probably a couple, and they had similar facial features to the young child.

Once the two showed themselves the young child ran towards them.

“I’m so sorry we left you!” Said the mother in a guilty tone.

The young parents stared at us and somehow knew we weren’t here to cause any harm, they must’ve seen the fire be put out by the sphere of water and took the opportunity to “safely” go back in and get back their child.

Before they left they thanked us. It felt good to be thanked for helping out, back in the day I’d get a thanks every so often, whether it'd be helping out local stores, or giving to those less fortunate on the streets.

We have to check every single house, the possibility of people being trapped inside due to the fire was very likely, those trapped would usually be those who weren’t strong enough to escape, so this would include children and the elderly.

The next couple of houses were empty and then the next couple had either the elderly or children. Each and every person was escorted out of the town, outside the town families were being reunited with one another and tears of joy ran down their faces. It was truly a heartwarming sight.

We made sure to check each house thoroughly, there could be hidden spaces where people could hide not knowing if it’s safe to go out yet.

Now it was time to take on the big boss, the reason why this town got engulfed in flames, the elemental.

“Look out for a body engulfed in flames.” Said Alexandria.

“How do you know so much about this stuff?”

“Well I read a lot when I was a kid, there really wasn’t much to do other than training inside the manor but there was an enormous library full of sacred texts, I’d spend half the day working on my magic and swordsmanship and the rest of the day reading about the outside world.”

Although she did have a lot of knowledge about the elemental the main issue was experience, none of us have ever dealt with a raging elemental of fire, I’ve fought magical beasts, hideous abominations, people, and shadow knights but nothing comparable to a guy on fire.

I don’t think Elizabeth has ever fought one before either……..this may spell disaster for us…...but you never know until it actually happens.

As we travel through the town the ground was mostly clear except for the ash and burnt pieces of wood. I’m grateful that I don’t have to see burnt bodies lying on the ground. Such a sight would be horrifying…….I don’t think I could ever recover from that. I’ve seen many bodies filled with holes and lead bullets but not once have I seen a body burnt to a crisp.

“Hmm if I were a raging fire elemental where would I be?” Said Elizabeth.

We searched high and low for an elemental but it proved wat more difficult than we had first anticipated. I had expected it to be a lot simpler than this, first, we escort the civilians to safety, we find the elemental, we kick the shit out of it, and we will return on the road but that clearly wasn’t the case.

We were only one-fourth of the way done.

We kept on searching through the now deserted town in hopes that we’d by chance run into the elemental, and to our surprise, it actually worked.

There in front of us, still like a statue and burning like a bonfire. The elemental looked like a skeleton engulfed in flames and each bone had been charred pitch black. In the middle of the rib cage were multiple red gems.

We held our weapons tight and got into a triangle formation, Alexandria to the right and Elizabeth to the left while I was in the back middle. This formation allowed me to have a clear vision of our opponent and the two vanguards to the right and left could flank or protect me if I were to be targeted. Time to take this guy out.

Alexandria and Elizabeth get in their one of many swords stances and I take aim, “BOOM!” “BOOM!” one shot to the head and one shot to the rib cage. The force of the bullets knocked the elemental back but it didn't make it drop, it stayed up unphased from what just happened.

“Tch”

“BOOM!” BOOM!” “BOOM!” Three more shots directly to the head of the elemental but it's still stood there unphased, it felt as if I was in a shooting range shooting at a still target. But then something happened, the elemental started to slowly turn and while it was turning it.

“Fwoom! Fwoom!”

Once it turned it started to throw balls of fire in our direction. This forced us to break formation and look for cover. Once we were behind cover the elemental kept on throwing balls of fire in every direction uncontrollably not even trying to target any of us.

“Alexandria! How is it able to use magic without drawing magic symbols?”

Alexandria gave a quick response.

“Since the whole body is engulfed in magic and the magic is leaking out of it, it wouldn't need a magic symbol to direct the magic out, it could just use the magic already leaking out of its body.”

Damn ...that's gonna be a pain to deal with.

“Any way we can deal with this guy?”

“Hmm…..if I can remember…... elementals always have a crystal heart and depending on how many an elemental has determined their strength.”

“Alright.”

So that's what the red gems in the middle of the ribcage are…

But…..there are multiple gems…...does that mean this elemental is way tougher than we think? I glance over at Alexandria and she had sweat dripping down the sides of her cheeks. I knew it, this is gonna be really fucking difficult.

Behind a couple of barrels, I peek over and take a couple of shots aiming right at the red gem located in the chest. “POW!” “BOOM!” “POW!” three more shots but to no prevail. The elemental still looked unscathed and as lifeless as ever. I unload the whole magazine at the red gems but still, nothing happened.

“Alexandria I don't think it's working!”

“Your weapon might not be hard enough to pierce the gem…...but I think my sword might do the trick.”

What Alexandria said meant that we'd have to get close enough to elemental where it'd be safe for Alexandria to strike at the red gem, the only problem there was, was how we were gonna get close to the rampaging elemental. One step outside our cover and in seconds you'd see multiple fireballs of death flying at you…..but it's the only way we can win this fight.

“Alright, Alexandria you'll get close to the elemental with Elizabeth, ill cover you.”

“Got it!”

Alexandria and Elizabeth got out of their cover and so did I, I fired shots as I slowly made my way to the elemental while Alexandria and Elizabeth quickly closed the gap. As they got close they had to dodge every wild fireball throw from the elemental, some of the fireballs were so fast that they didn't have time to move out of the way so they blocked it with their swords.

I kept on shooting to get the elementals attention but it didn't seem to care about me, nor did it care about Alexandria since each fireball would be shot somewhere random. It was all a guessing game, who knows what could happen next.

I unload magazine after magazine, taking out the magazine and reloading, then putting it back in, this kept on going until Alexandria and Elizabeth finally got close enough for them to make a clean cut but suddenly I get hit by a fireball that landed on my left arm.

“RAGGHH!!!”

Where the hell did that come from!?!?!? One moment it was clear and then with a blink of an eye I see a fireball right in front of me…..what in the world just happened?

Alexandria and Elizabeth get distracted by my injury looking my way exposing themselves to the elemental, the elemental engulfed the area around it with fire which prompted them to get back.

“Don't worry about me you idiots I'm fine! I've been hurt way worse than this! Just focus on destroying the gems!”

“A-Alright!”

Alexandria was definitely worried about me but she can't let that distract her from what she's supposed to do. Even if I get severely injured it doesn't matter, this new body of mine can take it! It could probably take one hundred times more abuse than this!

We keep on the pressure and regain the area we just lost which allowed Alexandria to attempt a killing blow onto the red gems.

Finally, I got the mother fuckers attention after multiple magazines, the elemental stared at me and laughed.

“RAH HAH RAH HAH RAH HAH RAHA HA!!!!”

This laugh sent shivers down my spine but I won’t let it get to me…..I just gotta focus.

The elemental then pointed his finger at me and tilted his head.

“Dead…..”

What? What the fuck did this fucker just say?

After that Alexandria got close and swung, on impact Alexandria's sword didn’t go through, her sword was fidgeting as she tried to force it through.

The elemental let out another sinister laugh.

“RAH HAHA HAH HA.”

After that laugh, I had a bad feeling.

“Alexandria! Elizabeth! Get out of there no—“

And then Alexandria and Elizabeth both were engulfed in flames and not long after so was I.

“Alexandria! Elizabeth!”

“Antonio!”

I was still conscience and as I fell down onto the ground, I could see their tears as they fell down too.

As I was on the ground I could see many floating fireballs all around the town. Goddamn, that sly bastard….

………………..it’s hot………..so hot…………..

But after a while, the scorching fire turned into warmth.

Is it the end? Is this gonna be the second time? Why them too? Why couldn’t I have been the only one to die? They’re too young! They haven’t seen the world yet! No!!! No!!! No!!!

My vision goes dark.

Please…….no……..i'm…...sorry...please….not…..again……………..