A walnut-skinned woman ran toward a red Goliath who sat on a throne made of bones.

  Goliath’s skin was carved in ornate scars that formed tattoos on his skin. One hand rested under his chin, and the other rested on top of a katana at his feet. He watched his approaching opponent with a look of disinterest.

  The challenger’s arms were tattooed. But where Goliath’s tattoos were an ugly tapestry, hers looked like flaming flowers hanging from vines. Her hair was braided in plaits that bounced along her back as the ends erupted in flame. The flame travelled up her scalp before covering her head, then her entire body.

  She looked like a human torch.

  Goliath lifted an eyebrow but remained emotionless.

  A trail of burning footsteps followed her before she applied a burst of speed and vanished from sight; she appeared in front of Goliath, her leg materializing next to his head. His hand moved so quickly, it appeared to time travel, as one minute it was resting under his chin, and the next, it was blocking the kick.

  A thunderclap shook the surrounding trees, bending them backward as a ring of water flew into the air from the moat encircling the throne.

  Goliath’s hand moved to snatch the leg out of the air, but the water formed into two gigantic hands wrapping around his throat. Surprise flashed across his eyes as the water turned to ice crawling up his neck.

  He tried to move, but the ice crawled both up and down, freezing his limbs to the throne.

  A smug smile danced on the woman’s lips as a flaming fist thirty feet long and just as wide drilled into Goliath’s chest, causing spittle to fly from his mouth.

  Flame was all that could be seen as the fist drove forward.

  The force of the attack ripped trees from their roots before turning them into ash. It sped forward until it crashed into a mountainside miles away, causing it to erupt like a volcano. Nothing could be seen but a mushroom cloud of flame and debris for a long moment, until the smoke cleared.

  Two individuals stood side by side in front of the place where the throne used to be.

  The female now had a male counterpart; his skin tone was like varnished wood.

  A black, full-length leather coat with a blue, fur-lined interior adorned his shoulders. Waterfall-like markings stopped at his pectoral muscles and flowed backward over his shoulders. He lifted his hand in the air, and water vapor surrounded the couple, dispersing the smoky debris.

  With a clearer view, the destruction they caused could be truly admired.

  Gone was the throne. Now, nothing remained but a deep, gorge-like wound in the earth all the way toward the mountain-turned-volcano.

  They looked at each other, grim determination etched on their faces. He reached out and held her hand, squeezing it, before the words, “I love you,” slipped from his lips. She said the same, and their attention turned toward the mountains as a thunderclap sounded and rocks flew in all directions.

  She pushed him to the side as Goliath appeared in between them.

  His eyes focused, a smile on his lips, he moved in a blur, and the woman just had time to lift her forearms as she took the blow of his strike on them. The stone altar underneath her feet turned into a half-mile crater.

  She fired back with a flaming kick that Goliath blocked with his katana still in its Saya before ducking under an axe made of ice. Goliath moved from left to right randomly, while the water user pursued him with an axe the length of his body. He wielded the axe like it weighed nothing more than a handful of water, but every time he struck the ground, it had the force and sound of a waterfall.

  Whatever the axe hit froze.

  The fire user waited for her opportunity but couldn’t risk attacking for fear of hurting her mate.

  She got the opening she needed when their opponent leaned back until his scalp brushed the ground and sprang back up with a two-handed sword strike that slammed into the water user’s chest. The force of the blow lifted him off his feet and shot him overhead as she propelled herself forward with jets of flame under her feet.

  She was before her opponent in an instant, launching a spear made of flame toward his face.

  He blocked the attack, but it was a feint for her real one.

  She slid in low and embedded another spear into his thigh.

  He hissed in annoyance as he drew back his weapon to strike her but found his arm pulled back.

  A lasso made of water was wrapped around the weapon.

  Goliath pulled forward with all his might, and the ice user allowed the momentum to launch him toward his target. Goliath looked up, but it was too late. An axe made of ice struck him between his neck and shoulder.

  Ice bit into his skin.

  It spread across his body like a disease.

  Goliath tried to attack but couldn’t move. Looking down, he saw ice keeping his feet in place. He flexed one leg and shattered the ice surrounding it, but the water user held his hands out and created more. The more the ice scattered, the faster it reformed.

  “You expect this to hold me?”

  “No,” replied the water user. “I’m just stalling for time.”

  Light washed over Goliath, forcing him to look up.

  The sky was aflame.

  Spears the length and width of skyscrapers blocked out the sky as the woman floated above the pair. Hair wild, eyes radiating nothing but conviction, she shot her hand forward, causing destruction to rain from the sky.

  Each spear struck the earth with the force of an atomic bomb.

  On and on the spears rained down until a city-wide area was covered in flame.

  The pair retreated to the top of a nearby mountain and looked down at the carnage they’d caused. Even from where they stood, the rocks under their feet started to melt and turn to magma.

  “Do you think we did enough?” asked the male, causing steam to rise as he cooled the rocks under his feet.

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  “We both know the answer to that, darling,” she said, still staring at the flames.

  “I know, my love, but you know me.”

  “Always the dreamer.”

  “Always the dreamer,” he agreed.

  “That’s why I love you.”

  He took her hand in his and kissed the back of it as a rumble causing the earth to shake beneath their feet forced both of them to float above it, him on two discs of ice, her on jets of flame.

  A sound like thunder emitted from the center of the flames as the wind pushed the flames out, creating a circle where Goliath stood.

  He looked up at the pair, hands still together.

  “Did he just clap the flames away?” asked the water user.

  “It appears so, my darling. It appears so.”

  He sighed. “Great.”

  “Well. At least we’ve done some damage. When was the last time anyone did that?”

  “Centuries,” he muttered, lost in thought.

  Blood leaked from the wound at the side of Goliath’s neck caused by the axe, as well as burn marks along his body.

  “Anyone else would have been finished by now. Yet here he stands before us with nothing more than surface wounds.”

  “What do you expect from The Ascendant?” she asked.

  Their opponent clicked his neck from side to side before touching his wounded neck. He looked at the blood that stained his hand and smiled with a faraway look.

  “I can’t remember the last time I saw this,” his voice boomed, covering the miles effortlessly. “I can’t remember the last time I was wounded. Maybe when I was climbing up through the ranks and had to fight my way to the throne.” He laughed. “Your performance is legendary. It shall be sung and written about for generations to come. The King and Queen of the Elements.

  “Yet it still won’t be enough.”

  The couple didn’t reply but turned to face each other and nodded.

  The ground under their feet erupted once more as they moved with a speed that couldn’t be followed. The first initial attack had been to test their opponent’s strength, gauge his movements and habits. Now they aimed to end this once and for all.

  They appeared in one location after the next, like they were popping in and out of existence.

  With each appearance they attacked, causing the sky to split with sound.

  The couple fought with a rhythm and coordination formed over a lifetime of battling side by side. They knew what the other would do before they did it, honed to such a sharp point was their fighting style. They shared a love and bond formed over countless battles. Countless losses.

  All so they could stand before this being and defeat him. So the people they were fighting for would know a life worth living.

  They separated and attacked from the front and back, throwing projectiles made of ice and flame.

  Nothing hit as Goliath increased his speed. He appeared next to the water user and delivered a kick to his ribs that broke bone and sent him flying into the fiery ground below. His body bounced, leaving craters in the earth.

  Panic swept through the woman’s eyes, but she shook the feeling off and attacked.

  Whips made of flame attacked long range, keeping her opponent at bay, while she struggled to keep her breathing calm. The Goliath moved like a serpent, always staying just out of range before he grabbed the two whips aimed at him with one hand. The smell of burning flesh filled the air, but he ignored the pain and pulled the whips, launching the fire user forward.

  She shot toward him, but her trajectory halted as a watery chain wrapped around her ankle.

  “Thank you, darling,” she said as more fiery whips wrapped around her opponent’s limbs, securing him in place.

  Goliath knocked as many aside as he could with his katana, but it was a losing battle.

  She smiled as he struggled and turned the remainder of the whips into spearpoints that pierced his body like a pincushion. They struck again and again, over and over, diving into the meat of his muscle until he gave the first audible grunt of pain. With a command of her hand, the whips lifted the Goliath upward and slammed him to the ground with a force that split the earth open, causing a chasm.

  Goliath disappeared through the cracks of the earth and fell.

  Both elemental users rose high into the air and launched their final attacks.

  Two dragons’ eyes, shining red, emerged from each of their cores, one made of ice, one made of fire. The dragons roared as they shot straight up before diving toward their prey. Mouths big enough to shallow cruise ships opened up and launched fire and ice. The attacks hit simultaneously, covering the earth below them and filling the newly created gorge.

  Two pairs of eyes concentrated with labored breaths as they poured every ounce of Aura and will into the attack.

  The dragons struck the earth, and a column of fire and ice rose a mile into the air until it stopped. The column looked like an art piece as ice and flame fought for supremacy.

  The couple lowered themselves to the ground and had to support each other as their legs gave out.

  “I…I,” said the male between gasps of breath, “I’ve given it everything I’ve got.”

  “Me too.”

  “I was concerned about using that technique. It’s not tested, but I’m happy we pulled it off. A King or Queen would be dead. An Emperor—”

  “He would have found out a way to combat it if he knew about it.”

  “You think…you think we’ve won?” asked the male.

  His partner looked at the destruction they caused and shook her head. Only a meteor strike could have caused more damage. “How could we not? God or not, who could survive that level of punishment?”

  He bent down and picked up the katana, still not drawn, that had somehow made it over to their feet. He looked it over, polished wood still unharmed by the damage they caused. “Shouldn’t there be some sort of notification? Bells? Chimes? No records exist when he defeated the previous God.”

  “That matters little now. We’ve done what we came to do and defeated him. Now, we get a chance to put right the wrongs he has committed.”

  “Where do we even start?”

  “By reversing every commandment that has become law. This is our only chance to give Isaac a life—”

  The earth vibrated and shook. They both looked at each other and knew what it meant. Helping each other back up, they readied themselves, but a deep sense of desperation grew in their stomachs. They had fought well, but somehow it wasn’t enough. Somehow, they had to come up with something else to the defeat The One all others feared.

  A figure shot out of the flame and ice and landed with a roll, kicking up dust and dirt until their body stopped.

  Goliath sat up and looked at them. One eye missing. Half his face burnt. Left side nothing but burn charcoal skin. He got to his feet and swayed as he gave them a smile filled with missing teeth.

  “I have waited longer than you’ve known to face a worthy opponent. Now I have two. I must thank you.”

  Neither said anything as they looked at each other, willing the other to give them strength to attack.

  “Before you, a few came and tested themselves, but after everyone saw their crushing defeats, they stopped coming. Fear. Fear keeps me on the throne. Fear from the ones below me in pushing their limits till there is nothing left. I always looked to change. I sought improvement through painful experiences. I died more times than I can count. Gave up everything. That is how I came to be.”

  “You ready?” asked the male. “He’s nearly done. He just doesn’t know it—”

  Goliath bit his thumb and marked a symbol on his forehead of interconnecting rings with a dot in the middle.

  His eyes glowed as the veins along his body pulsed with the same light. He didn’t grow larger. But his muscles got denser, like decades-old weathered rope used to keep ships tied to docks. His skin took on a radiated glow. He oozed power. He took a step forward, and the ground cracked under his feet.

  “You came so close. Yet it wasn’t enough,” he said, voice booming through their chest.

  “Lily, if we—”

  She turned to him and kissed him as if she was running out of air and he was her only source. Pulling away, she looked him in the eye. “David, I love you. Train him well so he can become stronger than we ever were.”

  “I don’t under—” he began but stopped as she cracked an egg-sized ball swirling with the colors of the cosmos and threw it behind him. It created a portal of the same color, and she pushed him through even as his arms flailed toward her in a vain attempt to grab her. His body was sucked through the portal as it closed with a pop.

  Lily turned to face her death.

  “It was noble of you to save your husband,” Goliath said. “But you are only prolonging the inevitable. The others know he is weakened. They shall look to finish him.”

  “He shall do what needs to be done to prepare our son.”

  Goliath stared her way and smiled. She lifted her hand, but before she could blink, he had her by the throat. Picking her up, he stared into her soul, but her eyes looked to the sky.

  “Isaac, I want you to listen to me. Only you can accomplish what we were trying to do. Train hard, learn from our mistakes, prepare. Build a team around you that you trust and that would die for you. I leave it in your hands now, my boy.”

  She gave Goliath a nod, who returned it before snapping her neck.

  The sound brought a heavy silence as he held her up.

  “Boy, remember what I said. Fear keeps me on this throne. If you wish to defeat me, then always seek to change, seek to improve through the broken bones and the defeats. Through the pain of losing those you love. Only then shall you seek to avenge what I have taken from you. You know where to find me.

  “I shall be waiting.”

  Back on Earth, staring at a screen that fit in his hand, Isaac watched the death of his mother.

  Tears dropped from the corners of his eyes.

  He had been tasked with killing a God.

  He was only six.