I shake my head, "Didn't need to ask, I'm a quick learner anyway."

"Too bad because..." Nannot holds out his own arms and with a slight twitch sets them ablaze with a ghostly black fire. It's almost like a living shadow has taken roost on each of his lower arms. "...You're not the only one who can wield it."

Then as quick as scorpion strike, he reaches out to me and fires a blast of the flaming darkness straight at my chest. It's like an inferno erupting out of a cannon, pointed directly at me. I react on pure instinct and cross my arms and will my own flames to burn hotter.

His burst hits me square in the middle of my defense. The flames scream by, trying to engulf me, but my guard holds and I'm left unscathed by the near melting heat. And good thing too, because the area around me is beginning to char and burn.

I look back at the scorched landscape, uncrossing my wrists as I do. It's all the opening he needed. Nannot throws himself towards me, willing the wind to carry him. My own shield had blocked my line of sight just long enough for him to get the jump on me.

He lands on me and drives his clawed fingers into my chest. The pain is that of acid and fire, mixed together. It's like nothing I've ever felt before. It honestly feels like he's trying to rip out my soul. My consciousness almost fades, but I get a word of encouragement from my very p.i.s.sed off partner.

ROAR!.

As my vision fades again, I glance over too see Ares fully recovered, although he is still missing a section of his face. The left side of his head is completely gone, including his left ear and eye. I'm still not quite sure if it really matters if they lose an eye or an ear, but either way the beastly G.o.d of war is mad as h.e.l.l and charging straight towards us. Straight at Nannot, I realize.

The traitor looks over and tries to lift a hand to direct a blast of his firestorm at Ares, but I grab his wrists a squeeze, not letting go. He tries to pull them away again, but I hold on, clasping my hands tighter, closing my eyes. I plead to Thoth and his warrior priests, to give me the strength to hang on.

Then, the world stops. The scene around me is in a permanent freeze-frame, like the pause b.u.t.ton got pressed. Everything looks exactly the same, except nothing moves. All the sound is muted as well, adding to the eerie calmness.

Nannot is frozen in mid-sneer, utter hatred spread across his face. He is looking to his right and I follow his gaze. Ares is also frozen in time, pounding across the courtyard, his razor-filled, bloodstained maw wide open, going for the kill. I don't think either Nannot or I have ever seen canines that big.

You are half way there my son. You mustn't fail now.

The voice startles me, but it's not Nannot's. It's someone else's, someone infinitely more pleasant.

"Thoth?"

Yes, it is I young one. You must not fail here. This will be your only chance. I foresee you will not survive another of his attacks. He is saving his strongest for last.

"Strongest?" I mentally ask. "What could be more powerful than this? It feels like he's trying to burn me up from the inside-out."

You do not understand my son's full potential. He controls the elements, better than any of us ever did. It's where he focused most of his training.

I'm waiting for him to get to the point. I don't think this little break in the action will last forever.

"Skip to the end, please. What is he about to do?"

He is going to unleash his final judgement-his world ender.

"World ender?" I ask. I sounds like a finishing move a professional wrestler might use.

Yes, in his studies and practices, Nannot learned how to bring about immense seismic activity deep within the Earth's core. These earthquakes have the ability to cause every volcano on the planet to ignite, bringing about the end of the world.

I blank, having no thoughts of any kind.

Then a mild heat reforms on my chest.

Quickly, he is regaining control. We have little time left.

"Wait, what?" I ask a little confused.

I do not have the same power I once did. I cannot control him for long.

I get back to the task at hand, "Is this what he tried to do on the night Atlantis fell?"

The silence on the other end tells me I'm right. Nannot wasn't just there to destroy Atlantis-he was there to wipe out the entire world. He wanted to do it right there, in his father's kingdom. He wanted to see the look on his family's faces when he did it, but obviously the world was saved. Atlantis was sacrificed to prevent Nannot's weapon from coming to fruition.

"What do I do?" I beg. "How can I stop him if you couldn't? What can I do different?"

As the last word slips out of my mouth, I feel the heat increase again in my chest, pushing deeper into my very being. The pain is excruciating. At this rate I'll burn away unless I can stop him.

Then I feel something new and unexpected. I feel a tingling in my arms and legs and a soothing sensation going up and down my spine. It's the most comfortable and most relaxed I've ever felt.

You must show him, Thoth explains. You must show him how much we care for him. He must know how much I regret not standing and facing him myself. He needs to feel that he is still cared about, even across time itself.

And just like that, the cozy feeling that the ancient king provided is gone and all that's left is an absolute suffering that I wouldn't wish on anyone.

49.

The shock of being thrown back into reality mixed with what must feel like two-dozen heart attacks at once nearly sends me into a coma. My eyes black out from the pain, but I don't let go. I fight. I will myself to endure.

I open my eyes revealing the swirling orichalc.u.m and something else. I feel a resolve I've never experienced before. I think I know what I need to do. The problem is that it's going to hurt. A lot.

I use every little bit of willpower I have left and center my thoughts on my hands. I tell them to burn like a super nova would. I want the heat from the fires of h.e.l.l itself in the palms of my hands, boiling anything within them. Conveniently, Nannot's wrists are there, in my grasp.

This is payback.

"This is gonna hurt you a lot more than it's going to hurt me," I grunt out. Momentarily perplexed, Nannot looks at me and suddenly understands my plan, but it's too little too late.

I clench my eyes shut, push and squeeze. Nannot wails in pain as I turn up the temperature. He squeals like someone dipped his arms in lava which is exactly what I want it to feel like.

The combination of my resolve and the power within gives me the ability to out-burn Nannot's heat. I fight for a more n.o.ble cause than just hate and malice. I fight for an entire kingdom and the world. My flames are so hot that the normal electric-green color they possess has turned an impossibly bright white. My experience fighting him tells me that this injury won't heal very fast, if at all.

Finally, almost losing consciousness from the effort, I let go. But the damage is done. Nannot climbs to his feet and holds up his arms, which are now nubs from the forearm down. The skin has liquefied and cauterized over the wounds preventing them from healing.

The look on his face is total shock and terror. He has no idea how to respond or what to do next, but I do. I wrap my arms around the genocidal maniac, embracing him. I clutch Nannot like his father would have when he was little boy, before he turned his back on his homeland, choosing his own ambitions over his duties.

I let the love and affection Thoth and his brothers had for him pour out of me. I engulf both of us in my green flames, setting us ablaze. We do not burn however. For within my fire is a different type of flame. My inferno is not one of pain and torture. It's one of love and forgiveness.

"Why?" Asks a voice, but it's not the demon.

I open my eyes to see Omar staring up at me. Then it flickers back to Nannot. And once again back to Omar.

His power over Omar is weakening, I think. It's working.

"Why do you forgive him?" Omar asks barely staying conscious.

"Because..." I try to answer, but I really don't know what to say. It wasn't really my idea to go through with this. In any other situation I would have found another way to avoid the conflict altogether. This was different though. This felt...right. Then I know what to say.

"It was the right thing to do."

I actually get a slight smile out of Omar before he loses consciousness. I let go of my hold over the burning fire and it goes out. Omar slumps into my arms and I catch him and lay him gently on the ground. I feel for a pulse, but find none.

Omar Jafari is dead.

The funny thing is, I don't blame myself for his death.

"YOU!" Yells a voice.

I blame someone else.

I look up into the air above me and see him. A swirling cloud of darkness churns directly over Omar's body. The hurricane-like vortex forms a funnel cloud, which quickly turns into a raging tornado. And boy does it suck, literally. I immediately start to get pulled off my feet, but find an unusual source to anchor me to the ground.

Ares steps in front of me, helping buffer some of the tug from above. The big stone bear has turned into a big stone wall, a perfect shield.

Then Ares' feet slide, if only an inch. But, it's enough for me to know that this shelter won't last much longer. I need to figure out a way to destroy Nannot while he is weak and vulnerable.

I bring my hands back up and turn the inferno back on. I step back from Ares, to better my view. Thankfully, the monster's girth is such that I still get some defense from Nannot's might. I hold out my hands, fists closed, pointed upward. I must look ridiculous, like a pathetic, flightless Superman. I concentrate and fire off a blast of kinetic energy into the relentless whirlwind.

I hit home and it stammers, losing some of its strength, but doesn't stop. I think I injured it-if you can do that to a storm cloud. I need to hit it with something much stronger in order for this to work.

I feel for the small of my back, reaching into my tattered Tac-Pac, and find what I'm looking for.

I pull out my Glock, remembering what I did, back in my dream, during my first encounter with the fiend Nannot. I recall how I beat him then.

Could this work now? I think. I guess there's only one way to find out.

I bring up my pistol and take aim. Unfortunately, I think I know what needs to be done. I need to give back my gift.

It was never about me, it was about a family trying to reconcile and save a member of their kin. I was just the tool to do the job.

You were more than that. You brought us peace after these long and many years. You saved us ALL, Hank Boyd. You saved my family and the world...

I fire. I let go of everything, all my abilities that were given to me. I mentally force out the consciousness of Thoth and the three elders, giving them what they ultimately wanted. I give them a formal reunion with their fallen family member. I send them on a mission that they've been praying for, for a very long time.

That mission is peace.

My simple lead bullet-which is glowing hot white-sails through the darkened air towards its ultimate goal. Once this is complete, the family line of Thoth and his warrior sons will most likely be gone forever. This saddens me if true, but I guess it's the burden of their immortality. They have lived forever, ever since Atlantis was sacked, waiting for this very moment to come. All they needed was a vessel to do their bidding.

You were more than that...

I again recall the words of Thoth and what was done here today. The world was saved, and a family, at long-last, reunited. If I did anything here in this strange and wondrous place, it was to save a family and ultimately the world. Is there anything better than that?

Very few things come to mind honestly, except...

Nicole sunning in a very thin bikini while lying on a beach in the Florida Keys pops into my head. She's holding one of my fruity c.o.c.ktails and smiles. I feel the same warm and tender touch that I did when I was encased in my green flaming coc.o.o.n. The radiance bursting from her is like that of an atom bomb. And that's when I notice my bullet strike its target dead center and detonate.

50.

After shielding my eyes from the aerial annihilation for what seems like minutes, I look up and see nothing, just random particles of dust falling from the ceiling above. The funnel cloud and lightning storm are gone...for good.

HRRRN.

Ares calls to me with the same gentle tone he used earlier. He's standing next to Omar's deceased body looking somber. I amble over, noticing how beat to death I feel.

Oh, right.

I turn my attention to Omar's maimed corpse and quietly apologize for my a.n.a.logy.

The giant bear nudges Omar's body with his snout, trying to dig under him. I oblige and help Ares lift Omar's lifeless form onto his broad shoulders, turning away from the awful sight.

HRRRN.

HRRRN.

I glance back to Ares and see him still kneeling on the ground. Is he waiting for me to get on? I guess right as I climb onto his back, joining my former teammate atop the most vicious predator ever known-or not known in this case. I do my best to hang on, bouncing up and down on a bus sized rock monster.

CRACK.

Ares stops and sniffs, craning his head around, searching for the noises origin.

CRACK.

We look up together and see a gigantic crack quickly making its way across the ceiling of the necropolis. The force of Nannot's last storm must have applied a large amount of pressure to the roof, not to mention the tremors constantly pa.s.sing through the ground from the huge bolts of lightning.

CRACK!.

POP.

An apartment sized chunk of stone breaks off, falling away from the ceiling above, crashing into the lava moat on the far side of the cave.

"Ahh, c.r.a.p," I mutter out loud.