The floor rumbled, shaking everything inside the building. I toppled off of the counter, landing on my knees. Sol jumped off and helped me to my feet.

“I’ll call in the Order, you get people out of here,” I said, pushing him away. He nodded, shouting “Alright everybody, remain calm and head to your cars, IMMEDIATELY,”

I held my wrist up to my ear and pressed the left bead on my bracelet. I said “10 Pins Bowling Palace” and let go.

I waited. And waited. About two minutes had passed by, and the building was growing darker and darker. I waited some more, praying they’d get here soon.

Just then, a medium sized creature came soaring out through the ball return and out of the top. It ejected a high pitched screech, and outstretched its wings.

It was a bat.

Sol raced up to me, and I grabbed his hand, while readying the other one.

I felt a tap on my shoulder, and braced myself for who it may have come from. I turned around and threw my hands in front of me.

“Woah woah wooooah! Calm down!” Aria said, joining me and Sol.

“Oh, thank goodness you guys are here, but where is everyone else?” I said.

Aria pointed to the ceiling, just as meteor-like orbs shot into the ground. I knew it was them, for some were water, rocks, and lightning. Everyone emerged from their orb things, each wearing their battle uniform.

That’s when I realized, I couldn’t fight in skinny jeans and a sweater.

“Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Just snap your fingers,” Aria said.

Sol and I did just that, and in a split second, our clothes were now different.

I looked around the dark room, searching for Mother Nature and Father Time. I saw them both, looking wildly different. Mother was in an all green outfit, similar to ours. And Father looked like an extremely fit old man, he even shaved off his beard into a mustache.

She winked at me, and took her stance.

The room was completely dark now, and so I shot a ball of flame into the lights, hoping it would help us see. Sol did the same, throwing light into the center of the building.

The three of us readied ourselves, as the place continued to shake.

I took notice to the bat once more, and wondered, where my own animal was. I whispered my question to Aria, who replied with “Press the flame on your bracelet. I’ve already called mine, I suggest you should too!”

The bat was about the size of a large dog, soaring through the ceiling fans, and screeching uncontrollably. It seemed to take no interest in us, and I had my eyes fixed on it completely.

I barely felt the slippery skin wrapping around my calfs, until Aria shouted at me. I looked down ad saw the cobra ready to strike, and I struck it with fire. It hissed, and let go a little. I continued to do so until there was only one more layer wrapped around me, and the snake refused to budge. It took the heat, and continued to struggle, trying to sink its fangs into my leg.

I felt claws dig into my shoulder as I was lifted off of the ground, I looked up to see Edna, who was carrying me.

“Thanks girl,” I said, as she lowed me. I rubbed her head, and said “Lets go kick Evil’s butt,” She screeched in reply. She shook her head, and her feathers lit up in flames.

“Good girl,” I said as she soared off.

I braced myself, and the arena stopped shaking. The cobra stood in place and the bat landed.

Fog formed at the front of a lane, soon revealing a woman, with dark hair and a menacing smirk. It was Mara.

“Musenda!” She called out, and the large bat screeched, and soared over to her, perching on her outstretched arm.

Then, the same fog appeared 5 lanes down, and out stepped Adriano. He called out, “Cerin,” and the cobra came slithering toward him.

We knew Anubis would be here soon, but there was no ore fog to reveal him. Instead, Mara dark, raspy voice echoed throughout the building.

“So! I see the circus is here!”

Sol, who I hadn’t even realized was standing next to me, grabbed my hand.

“What? What is this? Have I missed something? It seems we have 4 new faces!” She made her way towards Morgan, who was closest to her.

“Aw, child. Who might you be?”

Morgan stood fearstruck in Mara’s gaze.

“That’s okay, if you can’t talk. I already know everything about you. All of you, August,” She patted August’s cheek. “Brooklyn,” She ran her fingers through her hair. “And how could I forget MacKenzie!” She exclaimed, walking towards me with her arms wide open. She tried to embrace me with a hug, but Sol shot her away.

“Do not put your hands on her,” He said firmly, but there was still fear in his voice.

Mara looked confused, and then took notice to our interlocked hands.

“Oh, so we have love birds? I see,” She acted in awe of our relationship, and quickly snapped her fingers.

Musenda came screeching towards us, and crashed through our hands, separating and cutting them at the same time.

“No, let them be together.” A  low voice boomed throughout the building.

“Let them be together,” No the dark voice was right behind me. I spun around, and once again, threw my hands in front of me, facing Anubis. He looked just as eery as his picture, and I felt goosebumps down my spine.

“Put your hands back together, I want to see our happy couple.” He ordered.

Sol grabbed my hand, either out of orders or fear.

“Hmm, good good. Now, I’d like to see you two in action.”

No one moved.

“Go on,” he said, making a hand gesture.

No one moved.

“Fine. I’ll do it myself.” A dark purple flashed his eyes, and his voice echoed, “Kiss”

After those words, my head snapped to look at Sol, and his hand landed on the back of my head. His moves were affectionate, but his eyes looked worried. We were both under the control of Anubis. He leaned toward me, and pushed his lips onto mine. I closed my eyes, and unwillingly kissed back. I fought the spell, but my arms were forced around his shoulders.

“Haha! I love it,” Anubis declared.

I couldn’t get out of it. As much as I liked Sol, I didn’t want to kiss him like this. And I knew the feeling was mutual.

After a while, our lips separated, along with our bodies. I gasped in breath, and looked at Sol, who seemed to be ashamed.

“Very good. Very good. Now, if you love each other so much as to not come in contact with anyone else, then, I guess you wouldn’t mind having your hands joined together? Would you?” And with that, our hands interlocked once more, literally. We would have to fight with our hands grasping each other’s.

Anubis teleported over to where Mara and Adriano now stood side by side.

He called out, “Khaalida!” And a huge dark animal emerged from the ball return. I couldn’t detect what it was, until it stood next to him, standing five feet tall on all fours. It’s coat was black with grey faded spots, and its fangs had not been trimmed, stretching over the creature’s mouth. Its ivy green eyes were darting around, eyeing all the animals.

I’d never thought to ask if our animals could be killed. If they could, I know the panther would go for Aria’s nightingale, Scarlet’s chameleon, August’s mouse, and Flora’s rabbit.

I tried once again to unclasp me and Sol hands, but it was no use. Our fingers were glued to each other’s.

I scouted for Edna, and spotted her, perched on top of a light fixing. Her wings were folded out, and her talons were sharp, ready for flight.

“Now, we can do this the easy way, or the hard way. You pass on your elements to us without a fuss. Or, if you want to go down with a fight, well, be our guest.”

No one responded. Instead, we all did our signature move in unison. I flicked my wrist, and a spew of fire shot up and out of my palm, stretching towards the ceiling. The adrenaline kicked in, and I was ready to fight.

“Let them be killed!” Anubis declared, and a fog of black magic whirled towards us.

The battle broke out. My first instinct was to jumped to the left, dodging the fog. But I crashed into Sol. We toppled to the ground as we tripped over Altan, roared at us in return.

“Altan, get the cobra,” Sol directed his bear.

“Wait! No, don’t!” I exclaimed, throwing my arm in front of Atlan. “Atlan moves slower than Cerin, he’ll surely injure Atlan.”

Sol nodded and directed Atlan to where Flora and Fauna were fighting the bat.

I flicked my wrist and clenched my fist. I felt sparks inside my hands, trying to escape. I located Anubis, and focused my eyes on him. I wound up my arm, building up the power and whirled y arm towards him. I never lost gaze, and the ball of fire directly hit him. In the moment that the flame connected with his cape, he teleported out and into the other side of the room. His eyes were set on me, and I felt a large lump in my throat.

I knew he was getting ready to do something drastic, he was completely still, murmuring words and moving his fingertips ever so slightly. I stuck out three fingers and connected them, squeezing them together, creating a massive fire shield in front of me.

“Edna! Fire bullet!” I said to her. She screeched in return, and her wings erupted into flare. she spiraled straight for the large man, and I made the motion possible for Inferno, one of my favorite moves.

Suddenly, everything appeared in slow motion. The room was silent, and I looked around, observing every little movement of my friends. I saw Edna slowly crashing into the wall, and Scarlet dodging blobs of black and blue. I saw the bat collide with Brooklyn, and Khaalida dueled it out with Jabali, Chi’s rhino.

I heard Sol’s voice echo in the back of my head, rattling my brain.

“Maaa-zieeee….waaa-tchhhh…outtttttt” It shook my skull.

Everything returned to normal, I blinked and opened my eyes, only to see a hurl of black debris coming straight at me. My shield had worn of, and the dark mass struck my torso and pierced my neck.

I let out a scream, and collapsed to the ground. It felt like a hundred spikes were digging into my stomach and oddly enough, there was a burning sensation crawling up my neck.

I cried out for Mother Nature, and she was quickly by my side. There was more echo, and it was almost not understandable.

“Get herrrrr….Order offfff…..quicklyyyyyy”

Someone scooped me up, I turned over and saw Sol’s worried face scanning the room for the door.

The building shook, and cracks lined the walls not long after.

The pain, the chaos, the fear. It was all too much. I bawled, and began to lose consciousness. My eyelids fluttered, but I forced myself to stay awake, no matter how much it hurt.

Pieces of the ceiling fell down, and more yells erupted, familiar voices, I had heard them before. Perhaps it was my friends, friends. I liked my friends.

I tried to snap out of it, but I couldn’t. I felt tired, and the burning was now stretching across my face.

The ceiling began to cave in, and people quickly scrambled outside. I felt like I was atop a horse, I figured Sol was running. Not even the strong breeze could cool off my face.

I blacked out a few times, struggling to keep my lids open.

Eventually, the burn reached my head, the spikes felt as if they had dug straight into my stomach lining, and the last thing I saw was the cement crush Anubis before everything went black.