CHAPTER 27-DESERT OF PAIN

Brik let go of Aqua and rushed forward at the scorpion, hoping to stop it from attacking X. He felt something coming from behind him and whipped around to see Aqua's trident rushing towards him. He lashed out with his right Death Vine, grabbing the trident, while yelling at Aqua.

'Seriously, you want to fight now?'

'Just use the trident, dummy.'

Brik turns around and leaps forward with all his strength, springing towards the giant insect. He swung his left arm, sending the claws toward the scorpion, slashing its hard exterior endoskeleton. There were no marks on it, but the creature went mad with rage, ignoring X and Raising its body, roaring in wrath. Brik roared back with more ferocity, and swung his right hand, stabbing the trident into its fleshy lower body. The creature cried out in pain, and rushed forward, walking past X's unconscious body. The scorpion stabbed at Brik with its large pincer. Brik fixed his claws into their usual form and punched the pincer, matching the attack. A trident flew in the air and hit the creature's face, sending it flying.

Cold ocean water poured out of its wound, heavily contrasting with the hot desert climate. Brik jumped up and landed on its back, and out of the corner of his eye, saw Aqua zooming around, multiple riptide tridents floating around her. The insect shook itself and sent Brik crashing down. Aqua threw another trident, screaming out. 

'Watch out!'

Brik turned around and saw the scorpion aiming its massive stinger at him. The trident clashed with the stinger, and all the force behind the attack was lost. The stinger then came crashing down really fast. Brik rolled to get out of its way, but he was too slow. He caught the tip of the stinger with his claws, forcing it away with all his strength, claws out. Roaring out in anger, Brik pushed the stinger away from his chest, holding it back from piercing his chest. He turned his head and saw Aqua floating around. He was in grave danger, but she was just staring at the horizon like nothing was happening. So, Brik yelled at her.

'You idiot, quit floating around and attack this...'

The scorpion pressed forward with its stinger, unimpressed by Brik's yell for help. Aqua still did not attack and kept staring beyond it. Then she looked down and saw X lying down on the hot desert floor. Blood rushed through her cheeks, as she saw the giant cloud of dust storming towards them. She was struck with panic since that was most likely a sandstorm, which would be deadly in the current situation. But now that X was in danger, she had to stop it and save him, no matter what. So, after aiming at the scorpion for a while, she sent a riptide trident forward, whizzing through the air. 

'Death Vines'

Brik saw the attack, and in that moment, pushed the insect with all the force he could muster, screaming out as he overpowered the house-sized arachnid. The creature toppled away, and its neck was hit with a lash from a bone whip. A heartbeat later, the same spot was hit with a trident. The cold ocean water flowed within the shattered spine of the desert animal, cooling down its insides instantly. The sudden temperature change was probably the most painful thing it had ever experienced, and the creature shrieked out in pain. Just then, Brik jumped up in the sky, higher than the scorpion, and with his claws in their normal rigid state, slammed his fists into its face. The shrieking stopped, and the scorpion dropped dead. Brik heaved a sigh and lay down on the hot floor. It was really hard to fight in the desert. Looking at the girl flying in the sky, Brik asked.

'Why did you not attack when I was getting killed, huh? I really think that you want us dead. Just wait until the mission is over...'

'Get up and grab X. And run. Now.'

Brik hated being interrupted, but the urgency and despair in Aqua's voice scared him. Turning around, Brik looked at his friend lying down on the floor peacefully, unaware of the struggle that just happened. And behind him, a storm was approaching. Within the cloud of sand large shadows were moving, at least seven of them. All of them were scorpions larger than the one they had just killed. They were rushing forward to attack them. 

Brik rushed forward, grabbed X, and started fleeing, doing exactly what Aqua had ordered him to do seconds before. He hated her, but he hated dying even more. So he ran, while the scorpions chased after them. His foot sank into the sand, making running away almost as hard as fighting. Why was Brik so dumb? He had learned in class that giant desert scorpions will avenge their fallen no matter what, so why did he not run away when he saw the first one? X twisted and turned in his arms, but Brik did not mind it. Until X spoke

'You can let me go now. And stay back, but don't run away. You are heading back to the ocean.'

Brik let his friend go and stopped. Aqua looked at him with a puzzled expression, until she saw X walking up towards the arachnids, hatchet in hand. She landed beside him, and they both stared in horror as their friend stepped forward to fight against the enemies that would be impossible for him to kill. 

X knew he could not do it. He had felt heat for the first time and had lost consciousness. He was still feeling like he was boiling, and he knew that turning into fire would only make it hotter. This was not practice. If he died, he would die. He remembered what he had seen in the vision just now, a terrible scene of people burning to death. But to save his friends, he had to do this. Dusan Sinclair Rubeus told him not to do it. His Grandfather told him not to do it. Any knight with common sense would tell him not to do it, but he would still do it anyway.

'Fire Escape'

X appeared in the middle of the scorpions, in the middle of the storm caused by the dust that had risen due to their movement. He felt so much pain, that he did not feel anything for a while, until he doubled over, and screamed. But it was not over.

'Immortal Tree'

His eyes glowed pink. All discomfort due to the heat was lost, and he felt like he was as he was before the mission, immune to heat. The scorpions rushed towards him, and X could feel all of their movements, down to the twitching of each scorpion every muscle. He had done it. 

'Dance of the Dragon'

The hatchet moved in the air in a deadly pattern. One slash, another slash. Left, right, goodnight. A scorpion lost its pincer, and another lost two. The third one lost its stinger, the fourth one lost all its limbs and the fifth one lost the back half of its body. They all lost their lives. All it took were a few slashes. X felt like he was pulling the pink string he saw when he awakened Immortal Tree, and the string replied by lending him power. He felt like he was on a whole different level compared to before. A whole different Stage. 

Flames burst on his back, before going away. Similar eruptions of white-hot fire raced through his entire body, sometimes on his chest, sometimes on his arm. X did not feel the heat, since Immortal Tree was active, but fear raced through his head. The scene of people burning replayed themselves in his eyes, their screams were heard in his head. And the fear was a mistake.

'Interesting, another person can use the string of immortality. Well, I will take over for you now.'

The screams stopped, and so did all the visions. Black streaks raced through X's glowing pink eyes, and the flames that spluttered out of his body turned black. He stepped forward, and the sixth scorpion, which was biding its time leaped out of strike with its pincer. X caught the attack with his bare hands and glanced over at the scorpion.

Fear was all that the scorpion felt. Its friends all lay dead. The strongest attack it could use, the poison-tipped stinger was stopped with ease. The poison was destroyed by the black flames. The elder of its species, one of the strongest within the region whose existence helped shelter them from the desert Centipedes was standing away, not moving even though six scorpions just died and one more was close to its end. X looked up at the creature, and it looked down. The sight of those pink eyes streaked with black was the last thing the scorpion felt before it was chopped in half. Right through its center, chopped symmetrically. 

The biggest scorpion had retreated, forming a cloud much bigger than the one all the scorpions formed together when chasing them. But it did not matter. X launched himself in that direction, zooming in the sky so fast he felt like he would die from the pressure of the wind. X was not really in control, it felt like he was watching his own body move from outside. X landed in front of the arachnid, black flames billowing strongly. The flames blasted the sand around the scorpion to glass, which rose in the air due to the force of the wind. Glass shards impaled the insect, and shattered on colliding with X's body. Since when was he so strong? Not even an immortal tree could strengthen him like this. 

The scorpion dropped on the burning hot desert floor, barely breathing. A great number of glass shards poked out of its body, so many that the creature looked like a mirror. In that mirror, X looked at himself for the first time in weeks. The black flames were spontaneously combusting over his body, before disappearing. X had many abilities, but he did not have one that produced flames. His eyes glowed a mixture of pink and black, and his body was coated in green blood. 

'The body is almost as nice as my body. I think I'll keep it.'

X heard that voice in his head again. Suddenly, his body moved, leaping through the air in the opposite direction, towards his friends. Whatever was in control of his body was planning on killing his friends. And X was definitely not going to allow it. He would control his body, and stop their death. X focused as much as he could, and slowly gained some control over his body. Closing his eyes, X turned his body by a little bit, as much as he could possibly move it. He focused and moved his hand. So, he slapped himself multiple times over, until he spat out blood. Then, he collided with something and felt a shock of pain. Concentrating, he turned off Immortal Tree, and he felt so much heat, that he almost passed out again. He crashed into something and spat out more blood along with sand. He had gained control.

Opening his eyes, he turned towards his comrades, who were staring at him with a scared expression. They waited for a moment, before rushing towards him. Brik opened his mouth to speak, but X laid a finger on his lips. The sun was setting, and night was approaching. They had survived the first night in the desert. So, turning around face-first on the sand, X drifted off to sleep. The temperature dropped, and Brik and Aqua followed suit. 

The next morning, X opened his eyes and saw Giant Centipedes glaring at him. He shook his friends awake. Some parts of his memory had now returned, small fragments. It might be because he used Immortal Tree, but his friend's lives were more important than his memories. Besides, there was good news. Looking at his friend's puzzled and scared expressions, X spoke excitedly while pointing at the Centipedes.

'Our transportation has arrived.'