I ran through the destroyed wall and into the theater, with Hachiko and Malg at my side. The room's design was simple with a large, carpeted floor with curtains and boxes of props and costumes scattered about making for convenient cover to hide behind. Tyrone was getting up brushing off some dirt from his shoulder. Looking at me with a wild expression, his eyes filled with pitch black. “So, you think you got what it takes to kill a king? Well, let's have it. Let's see what you can do!” Tyrone screamed as he released a wave of fire from his hand, forcing me to run behind a nearby curtain. I wasn't sure if he was still there how much of him was left but I had to try I needed to try.

I signalled for Malg and Hachiko to stay put and ran towards Tyrone dodging and weaving through fire and flames until we were face to face, I grabbed on to him in an embrace and tried to plead “Please don't make me do this Tyrone I don't want to hurt you, it's not to late please just give me the book.”

“Get the hell off me!” Tyrone screamed releasing a burst of fire pushing me back and on to the wall behind me. “Who the hell do you think do you are acting as if you know me?” He roared flames ignited on his back as I realized that the only chance, I had at convincing him was without any tricks. I took off my mask and the fire momentarily flickered as Tyrone looked on in shock. “Ink what are you doing here?” he whispered softly, his eyes starting to turn back to their beautiful brown.

“I'm here to get the book” his grip tightened, pulling the book closer to the chest as the fire around him roared and danced with such fury, “I know how much you want to keep it but I'm telling you the truth when I say that if the book is continued to be used the world as we know will end.”

“How do I know you aren't lying to me? He spat back, “How do I know that this isn't some pitiful excuse for to take something important from me just like I did to you?” his eyes started to fill with black and the heat from his flames grew with his suspicion.

“I’m not lying, you know I'm not, I'm just trying to save you from that thing. look in a mirror your for god's sake, you barely look human.” I slowly approached until we were face to face. “Please Ty just give me the book and lets just go back to how things were.”

“If we go back to how things were what's stopping you from going crazy again snapping at the slightest mistake, because I think you still will, because it's been three months and never have you once apologized or implied that you were sorry for what you did, and I don't think you ever will be.”

I took a deep breath knowing the truth of the words he spoke even now I can't say I would react that differently from back then, but I’ve seen the true extent of my actions, actions that have hurt the people closet to me time and time again. “I’m not sorry for getting upset, but I am sorry for what I did to you, how I hurt you and drove you away.” I held out my hand to either receive the book or his own I was not sure. “You were right you are different, you should and do matter more to me than that statue.” the flames on his body starting to dissipate “And I promise if you hand over the book, I will never choose a statue over you again.”

He placed the book in my hand his grip starting to loosen as mine tightened. “Why now?” his grip started to tighten.

“What?”

“Why now you've had three months to apologize and you're only doing so now when I'm at the precipice of achieving greatness.” He snapped starting to pull the book back.

“Tyrone I wouldn't lie to you, you know that, please you just need to believe me for a little bit, and all can be explained.” I pleaded my heart filling with dread.

“I DON’T BELIVE YOU!” he screamed flames erupting around him burning and sending me flying against the wall, setting alight the carpeted floor around us creating a hellscape of an arena as he hugged the book tight, his eyes fulling consuming with darkness.

“I’m sorry” was all I was able to bring myself to say as I looked at Hachiko and Malg who were standing ready “Hachiko, Malg get him!” I commanded. They dashed forward Malg head-butting Tyrone, throwing him off balance as Hachiko bit into his arm. Tyrone retaliated by hitting Hachiko in the head with a fiery fist. Using the moment of distraction, I ran towards Tyrone, slashing at him with my electric saw cutting deep into his hip. 

I tried to go in for another slash, but he grabbed my wrist and pulled it high looking at me with uncaring eyes as spoke to me in a much deeper much older voice “You don't know me. You don’t know what I'm capable of, but you will. You will learn I'm not insane. I'm just taking my rightful place as king of the new world because I have the power. In fact, let me show you a taste!” he opened Nature's Pandemonium. The surrounding flames were extinguished in an instant and replaced with a vortex of wind with jagged shards of rock and ice, leaving no room for escape. “Feeling scared?” He teased pure glee in his voice. “That's only a taste of the power I possess, how bout a bit more." He taunted as he punched me in the stomach flames at his elbow accelerating the block rocketing me into the vortex. 

As my back met the surface of the vortex the rocks and ice tore at my back like a woodchipper. I screamed, as I fell to the ground barely having enough strength to crawl away from the tornado. I watched as Hachiko and Malg slashed and bit into Tyrone. And as the blood from my back seeped into the twister, colouring it a sickly crimson, I watched as he pointed his hand at Malg, causing massive stone arms to rise from the ground and pull him away holding him in place. With one hand, Tyrone grabbed Hachiko, picked him up and slammed him onto the ground. Causing cracks to form all around his giant body. 

I slowly picked myself up, painfully aware that the back of my shirt was completely ripped open and what I could only assume was a massive cut gash across my back. I looked at Tyrone who was looking at me with a mad grin on his face, and his eyes were consumed with pitch black. A black so dark that it was somehow darker than the endless void of the axis. Accepting the truth that lay before me I steadied my resolve; I picked up my nail gun and put the electric saw in my toolbelt. “Oh, are you going to fight me for real this time? Have you accepted I will not stop unless you kill me? Have you erased your mind of the foolish concept of mercy?” 

“Tyrone, if the real you is still in there, just know I'm sorry.” I ran forward holding my hand high, getting ready to grab and throw. “REVERTERE AD ME EQYYM MEUM!” I yelled, causing both Hachiko and Malg to shrink down and fly to my open hand. As soon as I felt them, I threw them as hard as possible at Tyrone while opening fire with the nail gun. “CRESCITE ET CONFORTAMINI, CRESCITE ET CONFORTAMINI!” I yelled as the two golems grew and landed behind Tyrone, just as the nails landed into his chest. “Demolish!” I yelled as I closed the distance dropping the nail gun and instead started to punch Tyrone in the face over and over again. Hachiko went for the legs and Malg bit into his shoulder as his snake tail started to coil itself around his neck suffocating. 

“Stop!” Tyrone yelled out, as a gust of wind pushed the three of us away. It took all my strength to hold on to the floor so I wouldn't be lost in the vortex. “You know what, I'm impressed you got some pretty good skills. I would've loved to work together. You could've been a member of my royal court with your battle tactics. I would have made you a great tactician in my army. However, my empire has no room for traitors. It's a shame really, you have such strong magic too, yet mine is stronger even compared to Guams. For you see, when I hold this book, I can use all four elements. The best part is I don't have to worry about any of the limitations I normally do. It's amazing. it's a shame you won't be able to see the full extent of its power, in your increasingly short life span. once I kill you, I'll have removed the last roadblock in my total domination of the world.” Is he seriously monologuing at a time like this? I thought to myself. “Actually, that gives me an idea, the burnt wreckage of a high school drama room is a pretty anti-climactic spot for a final fight. So how about I give you a treat?” Tyrone grabbed the book with both hands and smiled with a mouth that stretched and wrapped around his face coiling around it like a snake coiling around its prey. 

I was unable to question his new form as I was pressed against the ground as the floor of the theater started to rise in the air through the floors above it. Each time we went through a ceiling, I would be slammed against it causing shards and pieces to be lodged into my already bleeding and gouged back. When it finally stopped, we were maybe forty feet above the roof of the school being kept in place by a massive geyser of water that was lifting the small chunk of earth we were on. As I somehow pushed through the pain and stood up. The carpet and debris around me were violently torn and pushed off the edge of the platform. As I stared at what used to be Tyrone, I looked at his pitch-black eyes and his horrific spiraling grinning mouth. 

Tyrone was looking at the platform, that was now covered in the grey concrete that was hidden under the carpet. He moved his right foot forward ever so slightly causing the stone to form creases in a grid pattern. He looked at me and snapped his fingers causing small balls of fire to appear, illuminating the battlefield. He snapped his fingers once more and every other floor tile lit with red hot flames. 

I sighed with relief that neither me or my golems weren't on any of those tiles. Even still the fire raged on and on until it was put out in an instant, revealing a black and white checkerboard pattern. “Do you like it? Oh, please tell me you like it. It would make me so happy to know you're happy in your final… well not an hour, but let's say like five minutes at most?” I looked down at the ground below me, knowing a fall from this height would certainly mean death. I turned to face Tyrone and saw Hachiko and Malg were standing strong. Bits and pieces of them were chipped with Hachiko looking on the brink of death, yet they both stood strong. “Do you like what I've done with the place, a much more fitting place to fight don't you think?” I stayed silent, barely having the energy to stand let alone talk. “Oh, don't tell me getting here took all the fight out of you.” I stared at him, still staying silent trying to think of something I could do. The saw was in my toolbelt, and the nail gun was on the ground right in front of him. Since he had the book, he had the complete advantage in every conceivable way. I figured my only option was to try and take the book from him. “Oh, I know what will get the fight back in you.” Tyrone said as he turned his head towards Hachiko, causing two black marble pillars on either side to rise form the ground. 

“Hachiko RUN!” I tried to scream realizing what was about to happen. It was too late, Hachiko was only able to get his head out of the way before the black pillars slammed into each other. It turned Hachiko into wood chips leaving nothing more than a severed head. “NO!” Tears flowing down my eyes at the sight of one of the few things that still brought me joy. “NOT AGAIN! EVERY TIME I CREATE SOMETHING, YOU ALWAYS MANAGE TO DESTROY IT! NO MORE I'M TIRED OF THIS! NO MORE! I TRIED OFFERING YOU MERCY, BUT YOU WERE TOO STUPID TO TAKE IT. I'M DONE WITH THIS, MALG TO ME! WE ARE FINISHING THIS!” I screamed pulling out the electrical saw that now spun, as fast as my heart was beating. I ran forward with Malg, running next to me. In one swift motion, I jumped on to Malg`s back “Clamor Proelium!” which caused all three of Malg’s mouths to unleash a powerful blast of sonic energy hitting Tyrone dead on, the impact cracking the stone he stood on. Blood dripped from his ears as he looked at me with his ever-widening grin as he said. 

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“My turn.” as a roar of fire unleashed from his mouth. 

“Up, up!” I screamed, resulting in Malg flying high into the sky, narrowly avoiding the flame. “Malg when you see an opening, grab the book and run away.” Malg’s heads nodded. “Good now, fly me down there.” 

Malg dived towards Tyrone. Seeing the quick descent, he quickly picked up my nail gun and started to fire. Each shot sent out nails lit aflame and were headed straight for us. “Dodge!” I yelled, Malg tried but it was too late. Several flaming nails hit him dead on, piercing into his flesh. Throwing him off balance sending us hurtling towards the ground, we landed with a thud. I ended up rolling off of Malg, right in front of Tyrone. 

“Wow, I did not expect this kind of drive from you, Ink. I thought you would want nothing to do with us, including this magic stuff. Wait a minute.” Tyrone said as he placed his foot on my neck carefully holding it there, ready to add just enough pressure to crush it in an instant. “Is this about that stupid statue, not the dog one the other one, I mean i have to ask is that what this is really about revenge not because you actually care?” 

“I mean every word i said and I'm sorry for what I've done to you!” I managed to get out. 

“Really, wow your pathe–” he was interrupted by the sound of several police sirens WE WOO, WE WOO He turned his head and walked over to the edge. 

“OH, this is terrific!” Tyrone exclaimed pure joy in his voice. “Come over here.” Tyrone raised two fingers pointing them towards the edge causing the squares I was lying on to crack. As a dozen hands made from boiling water rose from the geyser, grabbed onto me and moved me into a position. I was kneeling overlooking the edge completely restrained. “Do you see them, Ink?” He gestured to the ground below, there were four or five police cars at the edge of the building with officers getting out of their vehicles. “When I do this, I want you to understand one thing for me. I want you to understand that all of this is your fault. If you had never chosen your future over your friends, I would have never sought out the book and all these people would be alive instead of a burnt pile of ash.” Tyrone said as one of the many water hands handed him my saw. He removed the battery from my saw, chucking it over the edge and pointed the saw at the cops below us. “I want you to watch as I show you the culmination of your choices and before you try.” The water hands crawled over my face, the scalding pain caused me to cry, yet my tears only added to the hands mass, which forced my eyes open with their hot bubbling fingers. “You can't look away, there's no escape.” Tyrone said, as a great eruption of flame came out of the saw and towards the officers below. 

I tried to scream to warn them. I tried to look away, but it was no use. They couldn't hear me. But I heard them, each and every one of them. Their screams echoed in my ear endlessly and still do to this day. I tried to scream to yell to beg but my screams could not penetrate the boiling hands.

“No Ink, you don't get it do you.” he sounded almost disappointed, “You are the monster here. You killed them. This is all your fault.” He taunted. “All of this, me finding the book, the textbook fire, the mountain of dead bodies we now stand atop of, they are all your fault and so is this.” He walked behind me the hands that held me turned me to meet his gaze. He put Nature's Pandemonium down on a stone pillar that he raised and held the saw in front of my face. With his other hand, he grabbed the blade and pulled on it like it was putty. He pulled and pulled, heating it up until it became a thin razor sharp blade with smoke coming off of the edge. “This is your fault, not mine. This all started with you, and it will now end with you.” He whispered into my ear, as I felt an excruciating pain. He ran the blistering hot sword through my arm cutting it off. I screamed in agony as I felt truly indescribable kind of pain, all while I kept on hearing the gruesome laugh of the thing, I once called friend echoing in my ear. 

In that moment, I felt something, a strange energy, in that moment I felt like I could run for miles without ever needing to stop for breath. I felt like I could keep going forever, as long as the wind was blowing in my face. I felt unstoppable, invincible. This was not adrenaline. I knew what that felt like, this was something different, it was powerful magic. I felt it surge and encompass all of me. Tyrone looked at me with a fearful expression I had not seen since he got the book.

“What the hell?” Looking through those black empty eyes, I saw two things reflected ever so faintly. One, my eyes, the pupils were filled with a bright orange. And two my body was emitting dozens of bolts of electricity in every which way, evaporating the hands that held me.

Feeling the power I stood up. Seeing my chance, I grabbed the tome off the pillar and threw the book over to Malg, with it landing half way. Tyrone lunged for it, using the flames to boost his speed but Malg who was ready for this dashed forward and was able to meet him at the book. Malg went for the book, but Tyrone grabbed Malg’s giant lion claws and lifted them above his. “I'm not about to let you get that book. I'll kill you just like I killed your friend.” 

“Venenum” I yelled, the command for the venom secretion. Truthfully, I didn't know how it would work, but it was the only thing I could think of. Malg was already at his maximum size, his sonic scream risked, sending the book flying towards Tyrone. So I chose to use his venom rune. You could imagine my surprise when instead of the snake tail biting poison into Tyrone. Instead, Malg started to be covered in a thick dark green viscous substance. Tyrone screamed letting go of Malg, which allowed him to grab the book. “Fly, fly away, give me the book once the fight is done.” He did as commanded, flying away from the now shaking ground. 

“YOU! I'M GONNA KILL YOU AND ALL YOUR FRIENDS.” Tyrone said as he came running towards me, fists full of flames. I ran forward pushing past the pain that ran through my entire being. As I did, the electricity sparking of me gathered near my legs so that with each step i took it would create miniature explosions sending me father. This made it so that in the blink of an eye I was behind Tyrone. As he turned around, I grabbed his wrist leg around his and pulled. Slamming him into the ground releasing a shockwave of electricity around us. An improvisation of the technique tulip had shown me but still worked. I looked at him not with malice or hate but with the same kind of compassion he used to show to everyone. 

“Please the book is gone, stop this, we don't need to fight, we can go back to the way things were.” He looked at me still on the ground and for a moment I saw the old him. The one who always smiled, the one whose smile didn't coil around his face like a bandage. 

“We both know it's too late for that.” He raised his fists in the air and slammed his accelerated flaming arms into the ground, shattering the platform into pieces. As we fell, I felt a strange sort of instinct like a voice in the back of my head telling me exactly what to do. I don't know how, but I channeled the lighting within me. From deep inside, I unleashed the lightning, turning it into a crackling beam of energy. That shot forth, into Tyrone’s face. Sending him flying to the opposite side of the roof, with the carter being the only thing that separated us. I struggled to get up as I felt the electricity that flowed through me starting to fade. 

The geyser of water fell back into the school. Tyrone stood up, one of his legs was broken and splintered where you could see the femur piercing out of him. A large black streak splintered off in multiple directions and went down his face ripping through his eye and shattering several teeth from his wicked mouth. 

We stared at each other both panting for breath, both exhausted, on our last legs. I felt completely drained, the lightning I once wielded was now much dimmer, probably only good for one more attack. Tyrone wasn't much better it looked like one solid hit could kill him. As we silently stared at each other waiting to see who would make the next move, a spec of gold flew out and landed next to the hole forming a familiar golden ring. 

Out stepped Tulip, Antonio and Brad, who was hoisting an unconscious Guams over his shoulder, the portal closed behind them. They looked at me in shock and awe seeing my several burns, cuts, bruises and most shockingly my lack of a left arm. 

“Ink, what the heck happened to you?” Tulip cried. I simply gestured towards Tyrone with my head barely having the strength to stand let alone move my hands. 

“Ink, we have to go. The building is going to collapse!” Brad cried.

“Wait what's wrong with Tyrone?” Antonio asked with a mix of disgust and fear. 

“Guys, I'm not sure how much longer the building is going to last, " Alex said as she panickily pressed a couple buttons on her phone and shot a coin out of her portal gun before running through it.

“Ink, we have to go.” Tulip said, grabbing my remaining arm, tugging it. 

“Can we still save him,” Brad said, visibly horrified. 

“I'm sorry.” I wheezed each word a struggle.

“He's right, that's not Tyrone anymore, he's something else entirely.” Antonio said, running through the portal. 

“I’m sorry Tyrone. I wish there was a way to save you," Brad said as he ran through the portal. 

“Come on, let's go,” Tulip said as she ran through the portal.

“Right," I said as I turned my back on the monster and hobbled towards the others. As I was about to reach the portal, I heard a voice distorted beyond imagination.

Through his reverberations of madness, I could still make out the words he spoke. “IF I'M GOING DOWN, I'M TAKING YOU DOWN WITH ME CHILD OF THUNDER. I WILL NOT DIE LIKE LAST TIME!” I turned my head to see Tyrone rocketing towards me with purple flames. He grabbed my shoulders and as it crackled a horrific laugh it set me ablaze with that horrible purple unholy fire. 

My vision was filled with images of pain and anguish. I saw a thousand years of all the different ways people have died from fire. I felt all the pain and suffering, the sensation of your flesh boiling off your skin before the fire finally reached your brain and put you out of your misery. I felt the hopelessness of families seeing their only way out of the burning building being blanketed in flame. I felt the sinking dread of sailors below deck who tried to escape the flaming ship, only for the steel ladders to collapse upon their weight leaving them trapped in a floating melting oven. I felt the desperation of a mother searching for their child in a forest, yet the only thing she can hear is the deafening roar of the flame encompassing all around her.

I felt their pain, I felt their despair, I felt their fear as it became my own. All I could hear were the blood curdling screams of the people who had felt the flames before me. I let out a scream which only gave the fire another place to burn me, as it seeped into my mouth and danced through my lungs. I felt the burning inside and out. There was no escape, only flames licking my insides. It lasted no more than a few seconds, but it felt like years, I was stuck there in hell being unable to say or do anything except scream. But the air I expelled out of my charred lungs only continued to fuel the fire. That was my existence, the only thing I knew for a long, long time was the touch of fire. 

Until a voice managed to ring through. “INK WATCH OUT!” 

For a moment in between a flicker of the flames, I saw one of Tulips daggers being thrown at Tyrone, driving straight into his heart causing the flames to disperse. The flames left my body. I was able to think clearly again and the Lady of Dreams' words echoed through my head. “Please make the right decision. It will be the hardest decision you can make. But that is how you will know that it is the right one.” 

Again, I channeled the lighting within me. With my left hand, I pulled out the dagger, raised it up high and slashing straight down through the being I used to call friend. This unleashed a wave of flying lightning, cutting him in two, as the electricity went into the night sky. 

The pieces of him fell to the ground with a thud, I joined him unable to stand any longer. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was the watering hands grabbing me from behind and pulling me through the portal. As I watched the corpse spew out flames in every direction, Malg barely made it through the portal in time with the book in its lion mouth.