Page 86 of Elemasters

They locked hands in their elaborate childhood secret handshake (that Dustin remembered every convoluted step to, despite not having done it in years), and the moment they touched, the Fire Ring on Dustin’s finger began to pulse like a neon red heartbeat.

“I think it’s ready to come home, big brother,”

Chris looked down at the ring and took a deep breath.

“Let’s blow the roof off this motherfucker,”

Bailey had never been much of a fighter, so she was honestly surprising herself with the simple fact that she wasn’t fucking dead.

The seemingly endless army of stone soldiers just kept fucking coming. No matter how many she ripped apart with her earth powers, no matter how many stone heads Chloe’s sword-arms sent rolling across the floor, they just wouldn’t stop. Now, she found herself bracing against rough tree bark as she and Chloe tried to catch their breath.

“I hope they’re alright in there,” James said, his eyes closed as electric green light shined behind his eyelids. He was focused on the wall of bark, vines and leaves he’d forced up through the floor, creating a box around the trio that was protecting them from the terracotta onslaught. The soldiers pounded against the wood incessantly, but whenever they almost broke through, James somehow found the strength to reinforce it.

“I trust Dustin to get through to Chris,” Chloe said, breathing hard as she scanned the wall for any structural weaknesses, “and I trust Chris to let him for once,”

“I trust both of them too, but if they don’t hurry…”

Bailey couldn’t finish her sentence before the ground started violently rumbling.

The trio exchanged worried glances, and James allowed the bark to fall away just enough for them to peek through and see what was happening in the rest of the room.

Every terracotta warrior in the room was now slumped in place, as if whatever force was animating them had temporarily disconnected. Meanwhile, the sliding wall that led into the Lotus Garden was glowing red hot like it was gonna blow…

And blow it did.

With a spectacular blast of fire and flying rock, the wall exploded outward. Any of the warriors caught in it was immediately reduced to rubble as Bailey shielded her eyes. James finally let the wall recede, dropping to his knees from the sheer effort of holding it up. Bailey wanted to rush to his side and help him stand, but her eyes were fixed on the newly detonated hole in the wall, where smoke was pouring through into the rest of the room.

A figure stepped through it, momentarily obscured by dust and cinders… but the moment she saw the moonlight reflecting off bleached blonde hair, her stomach started doing gymnastics. Her fingers twitched and her knees threatened to buckle from the sheer anticipation of the moment, not knowing whether her prayers had actually been answered, or if Qin Shi Huang and fate had conspired to play their cruelest trick yet.

But then she got the full measure of Chris; standing there in all his butt-naked, too-skinny glory, with a grin bigger than the day he bought Mortal Kombat: Deception at half price.

“Lights out, bitch!”

“CHRISTIAN!” Bailey screeched as she tore across the room like Lightning McQueen on uppers. She pulled him into a hug and started sobbing, one that was immediately joined by James, and then Chloe.

“I missed you guys too,” Chris said, voice warm, but somewhat muffled by the bodies embracing him.

“I never let myself believe you were gone baby. Not for a fucking second!” Bailey gripped even tighter, registering for half a second just how skinny he felt under her grip. The last time she’d held him like this he was his usual muscular self… so much was different now. But her love for him? That wasn’t different at all.

“I brought you candy,” James said, fishing around in his pocket as he pulled out the pack of warheads he’d been holding onto for weeks now. His eyes briefly drifted to Chris’s crotch, before darting back up to his face, cheeks glowing red, “I… guess I should’ve brought you pants though,”

Chris barked out a laugh yet made no effort to cover himself.

“Damn, didn’t even realize I made my dramatic entrance with my cock out,”

“Probably because you always have your cock out. Always walking around naked like someone wants to see that shit,”

At the sound of that familiar, dry voice, Bailey’s focus immediately went back to the hole in the wall, and she noticed Dustin standing there, leaning against the rubble confidently with a knowing nod.

“I mean… I kinda liked it when we were together,” Chloe admitted, barely above a whisper but loud enough to make everyone burst out laughing.

Their laughter was almost so loud, so genuine and carefree in that moment, that they almost didn’t hear the sharp crack of thunder outside…

But they did hear it.

And it shattered everything in an instant.

Before anyone could react, they were being forced to their knees by that sickening omnipresent pressure as the emperor’s voice bellowed through the rolling clouds.