Hell Fire

Darkness of the Earth

Setting
The final battle is over. The Quest of the Seven has failed. Leo Valdez is one of the few survivors, but not for long. He wanders the Earth in grief, and in search for a new purpose.

Hell Fire

Leo was not in a good mood. He spent the last hour finding paths from one place to another without touching the waking earth. Every step he took sank into the ground. He was growing tired of this.

He knew he shouldn't be wandering around anyway, for it was unsafe. But he had nothing else to do. Yes, he heard Jason had just started a resistance group, with roughly a hundred members, but he also knew members were disappearing every day. Also, for Leo, the group reopened old wounds.

When they lost the battle, the thing he was most furious about was the loss of an oppurtunity for him to avenge his Esperanza Valdez's death. His motivation for the entire quest, short of saving the world, was to have his fill of vengeance. He knew that nothing more than the savage desire to put Gaea into an eternal sleep was the driving force behind everyone of his actions.

But all of that was for naught.

Suddenly, the ground in front of Leo rippled. The face of Gaea formed. This time, her eyes were open. Leo gazed into her eyes. They seemed to suck his soul in.

''Leo Valdez. As I have promised, I have brought your pitiable rebellions to an end. Now, bow down to me or face the challenges I have in store for anyone who defies me.''

Leo didn't speak, which was unlike him. Instead he kept walking, stepping on the rippling face of Gaea.

She looked furious. Her face disappeared once more, probably plotting a violent death for Leo. Leo wasn't afraid. All he lived for had been wiped out. This was just another chance, although a small one, for him to have his revenge. His mind was burning with a bitter hatred.

Creak.

Leo looked up. Several large sequoia trees tipped over. He knew what to do.

His entire body was soaked in flames, and he fired several bolts at the trees. The trees incinerated before the blunt of the attack could hit him. Instead, they fell short of him, the fires still burning to the stumps. The fire charred the earth. Leo felt a grim sense of satisfaction. He was able to deal some damage, no matter how negligible.

Then, in a sudden fit of rage, he ran through the entire woods, lighting every tree he could. Once done, he was exhausted, but with a strange sense of completion.

What have I become? Leo questioned himself.

Nevertheless, he continued to watch the forest burn. Everytime a tree fell onto the Earth, Leo smiled.

Suddenly, everything went wrong. The earth rippled once more, and tilted several falling trees toward Leo again. This time, he wasn't ready.

<p style="text-align: left; ">He was being crushed. His lungs screamed for air. But all he could do was wait for the trunk to burn.

<p style="text-align: left; ">So this is how it ends. Leo's last thought was, before blacking out.

<p style="text-align: center; ">*****

<p style="text-align: left; ">When Leo awoke, he expected to be lying by the banks of the River Styx. But instead, he was lying on the ground among the ashes of an entire forest. He laughed. It was a maniacal laugh, directed at Gaea's failure.

<p style="text-align: left; ">But he laughed too soon.

<p style="text-align: left; ">The ground split open underneath him, and he was falling, falling with no apparent end.

<p style="text-align: left; ">Then he splashed into a pool of shimmering red. It was midly warm.

<p style="text-align: left; ">The voice of Gaea sounded again. ''I have decided to destroy you with your own element. You cannot escape. Although you are hard to burn, this shall work.''

<p style="text-align: left; ">Leo nearly laughed again. He couldn't be hurt by fire. Then he looked down. This was no fire. It was a lava pool, looking like it was straight from Hell.

<p style="text-align: left; ">Leo screamed. The burning sensation was growing stronger. He never knew how it felt like to be burned, to be too hot.

<p style="text-align: left; ">The next hour was torture. The heat never grew quickly enough. He wished he weren't a fire user, so he could die now, instead of enduring until the next minute. Every drop of sweat that dripped from him was a great loss, every moment he felt accustomed to the heat was cherished. Sadly, every time Leo was mildly comfortable with the heat, it increased in intensity. Soon, he was howling at the top of his lungs until his throat grew hoarse and as dry as Tantalus's.

<p style="text-align: left; ">He squirmed around, desparate to climb out of the pit of fire, bu alas, he couldn't

<p style="text-align: left; ">In Leo's last moments, he bit his tounge until blood pooled into his mouth. Liquid, finally.

<p style="text-align: left; ">His relief was brief. The heat increased exponentially to an intolerable level. Finally, he let go. He drifted in the molten rock, finally dissolving as a normal human body would.