“Oh damn!” Paige’s curse filled his ears

Mettan hit the door to the third floor and ran down the hall. Alex was unconscious on Paige’s lap. Alex’s brother was slowly starting to sit up on the bed.

Mettan knelt down and checked Alex’s pulse at his neck. It was weak, but he would be fine in a few hours. He had told the human not to do that.

Paige was back in a state of shock. Mettan placed his hands on her shoulders and helped her stand up. He looked her in the eyes, “Paige.”

“Uh?” Paige muttered

“Paige!” Mettan shook her, “Snap out of it!”

“Yeah?” Paige slurred

“Go down the stairs.” Mettan pointed down the hall, “I left Caleb by the door on the first floor. Get him to the ship.”

“Okay.” Paige started down the hall, then stopped, “What about you?”

“I’ll be okay.” Mettan pointed down the hall, “Go.”

Paige ran down the hall. Mettan watched her pause at the door, then continue. She would be fine once she got to the ship. Things were about to get interesting.

“Who is this?” Mettan said,

“He said it was his brother.” Paige answered in his ear.

Mettan picked up one of the discarded charts and read the name at the top, “Andrew?”

Andrew just stared at the outstretched hand, “Who are you?”

“Mettan Cascade. I’m a friend of Alex’s.”

“You’re not human.”

“I’m an Elf.” Mettan took back his hand, “You okay?”

Andrew hopped off the bed and knelt down next to Alex, “What happened?”

“He pushed himself too far to get you out,” Mettan said

“Is he going to be-“ Andrew started

An explosion cut off the rest of the sentence.

Mettan grabbed Alex off the floor and dumped him onto the bed. He pulled Andrew up and twisted the humans behind him.

The door opened and a black-haired Elf with white skin and red eyes walked out. He was wearing human jeans and a black shirt. A red-headed human woman in army camo followed him through the door.

“STILAS?” Mettan froze. He had been part of the task force decades ago to kill the dark elf. That mission had been a success. At least he had thought it had been.

“Cascade.” Stilas sneered

Mettan pushed the bed back down the hallway. His life had been on a normal trajectory until he and his father had crossed the Dark Elf’s path. The hunt had begun with capturing one of Stilas’ apprentices. The apprentice had actually been an assassin, on a mission to destroy the Elders. Even though his father was the top Mage hunter at the time, he hadn’t been strong enough to stop the assassin.

Mettan had killed the assassin, but he had been too late to get to his father. He had dedicated his life to learning how to kill dark elves. That training had ended with Stilas’ death. He thought that chapter of his life was over, but the monster was standing in front of him.

“Cover the back.” Stilas said to Bethany

Bethany nodded and walked back through the door.

“Training humans now?” Mettan asked. He pulled the water out of Alex’s suit. The water dispersed into mist and filled the gap between the two groups.

Magic erupted from the pen in Stilas’ hand only to fizzle out as it tore into the mist.

“Don’t worry about her.” Stilas lowered the pen, “She doesn’t have any power.”

“Who is that?” Andrew asked

“The enemy.” Mettan continued his retreat down the hall. He had to get the humans out, or Stilas would kill them. And he didn’t trust what the Dark Mage had said. There was something about that human that he didn’t want to learn. He lowered his voice, “Paige, get Kark.”

“Getting Kark.” Paige echoed

“You aren’t getting away this time.” Stilas sneered as he held up his right hand, “Your Elemental is MINE!”

Mettan pulled out his water and fed it to the mist. The extra water helped to ground out the next magic burst from Stilas. He had to keep Stilas’ magic dampened. If he could get Andrew to carry Alex out of the hall, then he could attack, but for now, he had to focus on protecting his charges.

“Get Alex out.” Mettan never took his eyes off Stilas. It was like watching a cat stalk its prey. Each move was bringing the hungry predator closer and closer to them.

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A fireball appeared in Stilas’ hand and cut through the mist. Mettan pulled the water in front of him together to shield the blast, but it stopped and fizzled out before it reached the wall of water in front of him.

Andrew was standing next to him with his right hand out. The human stared down the hall at the Dark Elf, “I’ve got your back.”

“Get Alex out NOW!” Mettan ordered, “I’ll handle the Dark Elf.”

Andrew gestured at the ceiling above Stilas. Tiles fell down and pounded the head of the dark elf.

Stilas backed away from the falling tiles. His pen danced through the motions of the shield spell.

Mettan pushed the cloud of water further down the hall so it would eat at the shield. The human was moving the fight wrong. He couldn’t risk the human running into whatever new powers had saved Stilas.

“ARGGGG!” Andrew screamed as he charged into the water cloud

Mettan pulled the water around the human to slow him down. Andrew might have two elements, but that wouldn’t give him the edge he needed to take on the killer at the other end of the hall.

Mettan felt a second mind tug on the water. It wasn’t strong, but it managed to pull the cloud a little away from Andrew’s body. The human didn’t just have two elements, he had three.

“Stay back!” Mettan ordered as he grabbed the collar of Andrew’s shirt and tossed the human back down the hall. The human crashed into the bed holding his brother. The clang echoed up and down the hall as the bed slammed into the wall.

Smoke started rising in thin clouds off of Andrew’s arms. Flames chewed through his blue scrubs and left him covered in a red shirt of living fire. Death danced in Andrew’s eyes, matching the intensity of his flames.

Mettan coated his hand in water and reached through the flames to grab Andrew’s shoulder. He didn’t have time to protect a hero, “Stay with your brother.”

“Alex will be fine.” Andrew shrugged off Mettan’s grip. He twisted around the dark-skinned Elf and pushed into the water, but didn’t make any headway.

Mettan grabbed Andrew and spun the human around, “Your brother risked his life to break you out. Stay with him.”

Andrew backed away from Mettan. It looked like he was going to argue, but decided against it. The fire on his skin shrank back and then died. He turned down the hall and pushed the bed Alex was crumpled on into the wall. It clattered with a bang that knocked Alex half off the bed.

Mettan realized that Stilas hadn’t been throwing anything else at them. He looked past the burning human to his old nemesis.

Stilas was sitting with his eyes closed in the middle of a circle. Circles were never a good thing; Mages used them to enhance their magic. Whatever the dark elf was doing, it wasn’t good.

The water condensed around the circle as Mettan walked toward his old enemy. The water tightened around the circle, popping and eating at the magic gathering inside it.

A lone black hole opened on the white wall. Mettan recognized a guardian portal. He had spent too much time around Mages not to be able to recognize the magic being released. It didn’t track though. Stilas had been stripped of his guardian before he was expelled from the University. By all reports, he shouldn’t be able to form a second bond with a guardian.

The soft tap of claws on the tile floor echoed down the hall, joined by a low growl that grated over the dog’s teeth. Fire dribbled out of the black mongrel's mouth as it turned and looked at him. Fire danced inside the empty eye sockets, giving the illusion of having eyes, but really just serving as a heat seeker. A chill ran down Mettan’s spine as he realized what Stilas had done. The Dark Elf had made a new guardian, and not just one either. There were two hellhounds in between him and his target.

Mettan shifted his stance as the first hellhound leaped at him. He grabbed it by the throat and slammed it into the wall to his left. Pieces of the wall fell off of the cracks made by the impact. With a little pressure he crushed the hellhound’s throat. He began turning back down the hall as the hellhound melted away.

Guardians were beings that were connected to a Mage. Each Guardian was sustained by the magic of the Mage. This allowed them to live in the same state they were in when the bond was made for as long as the Mage lived. In return they were tasked with protecting the Mage, some even served as tutors to enhance the Mage’s knowledge.

The upside for the Guardian was that as long as the Mage was alive, they were immortal. Their body could be reassembled as long as the Mage they were bound to still had enough magic. The downside was that it was permanent. The Guardian couldn’t move on to something else until the Mage died. Since Mages lived for almost a thousand years, it was a long-term commitment.

The wisps of smoke that had been the hellhound were still floating in the air as it stepped out of a newly forming portal. Mettan swung his arm and caught the second hellhound across the jaw with the back of his right hand. It slammed through the wall and landed in the room on the other side.

Mettan cradled his right arm close to his body. He had heard the sickening crack. He shouldn’t have hit the hellhound so hard, but hopefully, it was unconscious instead of dead. As long as a Guardian was incapacitated or unconscious, they wouldn’t be able to rematerialize.

“Finished already?” Stilas grinned as he stood up, “I remember you being stronger.”

Sweat began to stream down Mettan’s forehead as he increased his focus on the water around the circle. The pent-up magic popped knocking both Elves off of their feet.

Mettan twisted up in time to see two hundred pounds of hellhound flying through the air at him. He got his right leg under him and managed to plant his foot in the thing’s chest and kick it back. As it flew backward its claws raked down his leg, leaving three red gashes in his leg.

Fire blossomed down the hall evaporating the mist and melting the glass walls of the elevators. It rushed towards him like an angry dragon. The Hellhound jumped through the mouth of the fire, its jaws open and angling for his throat. There was no water anywhere around. The fight was over.

Mettan pushed himself into the wall. This fight hadn’t gone well at all. Stilas had been preparing for every move that he had, while he had been prepared for human resistance. He thought about the tools he should’ve had that were back on his ship. Not that they were going to do him any good. He was going to fail Alex and Andrew just like he had failed Neresa.

The tiles under him quivered as they pulled up and slammed into the wall. The Hellhound hit the barrier, then sank into it as the tiles wrapped themselves around the beast. It snapped at him, but all that could reach him was the heat of its rotten breath.

The fire vanished as Andrew stepped next to Mettan, “I’ve got this.”

Mettan started scooting out from under the hellhound. Maybe the human was stronger than he had thought.

His hope was dashed by the sound of the second Hellhound jumping back into the hallway. It hit Andrew full-on and drove him into the waiting room behind them. Mettan heard glass break and a single bark.

He pushed himself back into the hall and looked at the waiting room. His hope was gone. There was nothing left of the human or the hellhound, just a broken glass window.

“Where were we?” Stilas asked from behind him.

Mettan could feel the paralysis magic wrapping around his body. He could break it, but his arm was broken. He couldn’t beat Stilas in a fistfight. Without water, there wasn’t much he could do against Stilas’ magic.

“That’s right.” Stilas snapped his fingers, sending black sparks to the ground. “I’m collecting your Elemental.”