Page 38 of Elemasters

“Sup whore. Just letting you know that I’m on my way home, in case your boyfriend has his cock in your mouth again,”

“It wasn’t in my mouth the first time,” Dustin immediately fired back, all dry wit like usual, but with an underpinning of self-assuredness that Chris hadn’t heard from him in a good while, “just hurry up and get here. I’m hungry and you promised to pick up food, remember?”

“Yeah, I remember. I’m getting Taco King, so you’d better be cool with a 7-layer burrito,”

“I don’t want Taco King again dude, that’s your favorite,” Dustin shot him down without a moment’s hesitation, “go to Burger Belle. I want a Spicy Double Bacon Burger with cheese fries,”

“Burger Belle’s on the other side of town,”

“I’m aware. Just like I’m aware that my allowance gases up our car, not yours. Hurry up, I don’t want it to be cold,”

With that, Chris was greeted by the sound of Dustin flipping his phone shut, ending the call.

“That little son of a bitch,” he grumbled to himself as he switched the lights off in the gym and stepped out into the absolute monsoon raining down from above, “and it’s raining too? Gotta be fucking kidding me,”

Chris made a mad dash for his car and eagerly hopped inside, tossing his gym bag and backpack into the passenger’s seat. He watched the rain make his windshield look like a fucking waterfall while he waited for the car to warm up, stewing in the frustration that he’d have to drive all the way across town in this shit instead of just hitting Taco King on the way home.

Since when did Dustin eat Spicy Double Bacon Burgers anyway? That couldn’t be good for his coveted swimmer’s physique… though Chris supposed that bubble butt of his had to come from somewhere.

Annoyed with how long it was taking for the heater to do its fucking job, Chris grit his teeth and focused on the feelings of turmoil warring within him; everything from the bisexual blunder to the missed free throw. Instead of just letting them fester, he used them as fuel; kindling to spark the raw power pumping through him thanks to that little red ring on his finger.

The veins on his forearms lit up like neon fire in his blood, surging with enough heat to make the car nice and toasty, without totally immolating his clothes… not this time at least.

He hit the gas and tore out of Kochiyama High’s parking lot like Batman going to confront The Joker, despite the fact that his quest for burgers was a lot more mundane. The one benefit of living in a small town, was that the streets were pretty much deserted after 8pm, meaning Chris could just plow through them without a second thought, even with the rain obscuring most of his vision (despite the valiant efforts of his windshield wipers).

He fully acknowledged that he was being a bit reckless, but nothing could have prepared him for the sudden appearance of a person in front of his speeding vehicle. Not because it was statistically unlikely, even Chris had to admit that it was a serious possibility, but it was the fact that they literally just fucking blinked into existence with a flash of lightning, like something out of an F tier horror film.

He slammed the brakes, but the slick road didn’t give him an inch of mercy, causing his car to slide for several feet before actually stopping…

But he somehow never hit the person in the road.

When he stopped squeezing his eyes shut out of abject terror, they were just gone. Vanished.

“What the hell? Where did they…” Chris didn’t even have a chance to finish that thought before lightning struck in the distance again, and with it, the figure appeared before his car like a ghost, “holy shit!”

The darkness of the night and the pounding rain obscured their face until they got close enough for Chris to make out their features. And even with the sickly pale skin, crooked, broken neck, and lumbering movements, Chris knew exactly who he was looking at.

And he knew it shouldn’t have even been fucking possible.

“L-Leo?!”

Chapter 14

Early Mourning

Chris had a habit of dragging his feet when he didn’t want to do something; this was nothing new to Dustin. So, when he requested Burger Belle over Taco King, he knew damn well that Chris would intentionally take fucking forever to “subtly” discourage him from going against his wishes again.

But with the rain pouring and the wind howling, he couldn’t help but get a bit worried that maybe Chris wasn’t just being a dramatic asshole this time. It was possible that he was overreacting; this whole Qin Shi Huang storm magic possession debacle had given him a trauma response to the most common weather phenomenon in the Pacific Northwest. But even taking that into account, he just couldn’t shake that feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He dialed Chris’s number again… only to be met with a busy tone immediately.

Okay, now he was worried.

Dustin started pacing the floor; his mind flooding with the absolute worst possibilities. Chris had probably wrapped his car around a tree or telephone pole or something, all because he couldn’t just agree to getting Taco King. He just had to make a stand, and now Chris was probably fucking dead.

Before his thoughts could completely spiral into the depths, he heard Sima Yao’s uncharacteristically frantic voice echoing in his mind.

“Second Master Ying, your brother is in immense danger! I am transporting you and the other sages to his location at once. You must be prepared for battle!”