Prologue

Throughout its history, mankind has always been fascinated by the natural elements such as fire, water, earth, air, light, and shadow. Using their ambition, humans were able to eventually harness the power of the elements, but ambition can be deadly. Soon after harnessing this power, humans would learn just how devastating their fascination and ambition could be.

Quinton City. Population: 25,000

“Look at this loser!” one boy shouted. A loud, metal bang rang through the air. A boy with black hair was sitting at the bottom of a locker behind him. There were three boys standing over him, each grinning deviously.

“He’s such a wimp!” the one on the right spoke.

“He won’t even fight back!” the boy on the left added. Then, the one in the middle stomped on his victim’s chest and laughed.

“Let’s get outta here. We’ll see’im after school.” he declared. After that, he started walking away and the other two followed behind him. The boy remained seated at the bottom of the locker. He wore a black jacket with a light gray hood over a plain, white shirt. He also wore a pair of gray pants with black shoes. He had a messy head of black hair and gray eyes. At the time, he was seventeen years of age. His name was Cole Merrick. Cole looked around the hallway and saw a few people looking at him, but none of them came to help. With a sigh, Cole got up before putting his red backpack on and walking off.

That evening, Cole was walking home and a cracked, gray sidewalk. He looked up at the gray, cloudy sky above before his eyes looked toward his house. It was a dull, faded blue and, upon seeing it, Cole sighed again.

Once he was inside, Cole’s attention immediately focused to his left where the TV was the only light in the room on that side. He looked and saw a hairy arm hung over the side of a chair. Beneath was a bottle of liquor that’s liquid had leaked onto the laminate flooring. Cole growled in frustration and quickly went up the staircase on his right. He passed a room and was immediately stopped by a voice.

“Cole? Is that you?” it called. Cole’s eyes shut and he reluctantly turned. The door opened and a woman, nineteen years old, stepped into the hallway. Like Cole, she had gray eyes and black hair, except hers was combed and went halfway down her back. She wore a blue, shoulderless sweater with a white tank top underneath. In addition, she wore black jeans with tears in them as a design. Cole didn’t notice it, but she was wearing black boots despite being inside.

“What, Rose?” Cole asked.

“You’re leaving… aren’t you?” she asked. Cole didn’t answer. Instead, he turned away and continued down the hall. “Cole,” Rose tried. Again, he stopped and waited to hear what she had to say. “Look… I know things haven’t been easy for you lately. You aren’t sleeping at night… You have nightmares when you do sleep… You aren’t eating much anymore… You come home with bruises… You and Dad are fighting more… When he hits you, you hit him back… and I’ve even noticed his supply has been going down… You won’t even talk to me about this stuff anymore, but-” Rose started.

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“But what?! Mind your own business!” Cole snapped as he faced her. Faster than he could move, Rose closed the distance between them and punched Cole in his stomach. Winded, he used the wall on his right to keep himself up.

“But I’m not letting you go alone. I care about you more than anybody else in this family, probably more than anybody else you know. I’m worried about you, and I don’t want you doing anything stupid like you always do.” Rose finished. Cole looked up at his sister in surprise. He was expecting her to try to stop him, not agree with him. “I’m already packed, so whenever you’re ready.” she stated.

Within the hour, Cole and Rose were at a bus stop. They were walking side by side with each other as cars moved by them on the road. After a while, Cole stopped and caused Rose to pause a few steps later.

“What is it?” Rose asked.

“I-It’s just… I…” he tried. Then, he hugged Rose, which brought a surprised look to her face. “Thank you for coming with, big sis. I’m glad you’re here.” Cole thanked. Rose laughed a little and hugged him back.

“You’re welcome, Cole. I was never gonna let you go on-” Rose started. Cole thought it was strange how she randomly stopped speaking. He looked at her and saw her eyes were focused on the sky above. Cole turned and quickly found what she was looking at. There was a large figure dropping through the sky. It was small from the distance, but they could still tell it was something out of the ordinary. Then, a bright flash flickered in the sky. Cole could hear something, almost like a roar of some sort. In seconds, his ears filled with a loud boom as a shock wave passed over him. Cole tried to shield himself from its power, but he was lifted back in a matter of moments as he screamed.

Cole’s eyes started to open. His vision was blurry at first, but after a couple of blinks, he was horrified by the image around him. Everything was in ruins. Buildings had broken apart or were lying as piles of rubble now. There was clumps of cars scattered all around him, some on fire, others mangled beyond repair. The sky was filled with smoke from the various fires littered around Cole and throughout the city. Despite all of the chaos around him, Cole spotted one thing that made all else irrelevant. Just a few feet in front of him was Rose’s body. She wasn’t moving, so Cole did. He rushed to her and immediately fell to his knees next to her. Cole lifted her upper body up and looked at her in shock.

“B-Big sis? Rose? Rose…?” he tried as he shook her a little. Rose gave no response whatsoever. Then, the reality of it came down on Cole. Rose was dead. Cole held her close as he shut his eyes. “No… No please… Not Rose…” Cole pleaded as he looked up at the dark sky above with tears in his eyes. That was when Cole felt a strange sensation in his hands. He noticed black flicks rising from his fingers and looked down at them. His eyes started trembling once he saw his hands. They were black and had become claw-like, monstrous even. The feeling in his hands transformed into pain, a sharp, unbearable pain. Unwillingly, Cole dropped his sister and threw his head back as he screamed from the agony as he became a shadow. Now, he was unable to hold his tears back. The emotional pain, the physical pain, it was all too much for him.

“Why are you crying?” a familiar voice asked. Cole looked and saw that Rose standing over him with a kind smile. Everything was normal again. The buildings reached toward the sky. There were no more fires. The blue sky was stretching endlessly into the horizon again. It was just the two of them, just Cole and Rose.

“R-Rose…? But… But you died…” Cole spoke.

“Cole, what are you talking about?” Rose questioned. Crow stared for a moment, but then his eyes started tearing up again. He started shaking his head as he backed away.

“No, no, no… Not again…” Cole said. He knew what was happening. This had actually happened to him before. It had been happening to him for years now, over and over again almost every night.

Cole started coughing. His eyes slowly opened and he could see his shelter through the light brown dust that was floating around. There was a ceiling above him with bullet holes in it. He was lying on a bed covered by blue sheets. The mattress was thin and small, only meant for one person. The inside was dirty, littered with clothes and garbage like wrappers and empty food containers. He also had a nightstand on the right of his bed. It was cluttered with a revolver, some bullets, and a picture of his family. Cole coughed more and stood up. He grabbed a black. unbuttoned longsleeve on the floor and slid it on, leaving it open to his white shirt. Cole rolled the sleeves up and then put on a black pair of fingerless gloves. Since he already had on a pair of gray jeans and his regular black shoes, he had nothing else to put on. Then, he climbed up the ladder that led up to the surface. The whole area was like a desert. There was sand everywhere with the remains of buildings poking through. Cole looked around at the wave-like dunes around him. Once again, Cole Merrick sighed before his eyes focused on the Quinton City sign off on his right.

Quinton City. Population: 1