Element: Season One, Nick Venom [my reading book TXT] 📗

to force her father out of business. 

Fortunately, now, Skylar was free from her month-long quarantine, basking in the noon sun. She was happy to be out of her house and with her friends. Max, on the other hand, wasn’t feeling the same. He was still suspicious, believing that Bronze Dagger was a scapegoat, a diversion, an intentional sway of the hand. No matter what, Skylar remained in danger.

However, his suspicions were just that. Suspicions. With no evidence to back up the scapegoat theory, he was forced to treat every day like normal. Even so, he couldn’t. The last month was a clear example of his “normal.” He went through vicious days of draining himself of elemental essence after-school before resting for ten hours. He would then go back to school, returning home to train for another half of a day and continuing the cycle. His father, who stayed in the house, had never gone outside once to inspect the events unfolding in his backyard. 

Guardian had cast a barrier that prevented the neighbors from witnessing their actions.

Meanwhile, Max’s mother slaved away at her job, working at a factory line, producing miscellaneous items. She barely had enough time to rest, let alone cook and clean. These duties would’ve befallen Madeline, but she was gone. 

Max spent, at least, half an hour per day cooking and cleaning. His mother would come home at 2 in the morning, eating the food he'd made for her before heading to bed. His father would, once in a while, travel to the kitchen and gouged down on food and beer. His temper had simmered down, but his heart was still aching for Madeline, an emotion that creeped Max out. He never would’ve thought that his father cared about anybody aside from himself.

 

Once Skylar’s quarantine was over, Max went to visit her at the nearby park, the same one he had a battle with Toxic at. Now freed, Skylar’s smile reached the heavens. She was beautiful, more so than the luscious grass surrounding her. More so than any models that Max could think of.

A slight tug at his heart reminded him of a feeling he had tried to lock away. Love. The image of her running through the grass brought the feeling to the surface. 

He looked away, coughing as an attempt to rid himself of the feelings.

Skylar turned around and motioned for him to follow. He nodded, following her to a park bench. She sat down on the bench, gawking at the birds' nest above them. Max sat down next to her, partaking in the sight. 

“I can’t believe it’s been a month. It feels like it’s been an eternity since I could walk freely. Now that the case is nearing its end, I can breathe the fresh air.” She thought aloud. She turned to Max. “Thanks for everything you and Gus did. It seems like I have good friends. Even my father was surprised at your dedication in keeping my spirits high. He wants to reward you.” 

“I don’t want a reward, keeping you happy is thanks enough,” Max said, blushing after realizing what his words meant. Skylar also blushed, looking down at the ground.”Ahem, well, anyways, I, uh,” He shook his head and let out a breath, starting his sentence again. “It’s good to see you doing better.”

“Yeah, you too…” Her voice trailed off. 

The two remained on the bench, both blushing hard. They didn’t speak a word, simply sitting next to each other and waiting for the other person to speak. 

“I have to tell you something important,” Max said, breaking the silence.

“What?”

“Don’t speak a word to anybody else.”

“It’s that serious?”

Max nodded his head. “I have pow-” Max sensed something coming towards them, grabbing Skylar and pushing her off the bench. She looked up at Max, bewildered as his hand was encased in ice, stopping the object that hurled towards them. Max turned his hand around and stared at the object. It resembled a sniper bullet. 

“Assassins,” He thought aloud. “We have to go now before we’re killed,” Max told her, grabbing her hand---the ice disappearing---and dragged her towards his house. As they made their way to his house, Max blocked multiple bullets before they arrived at his home, barging through the front door. 

His father looked at Max and Skylar, scoffing while remarking about “young love”. Max ignored him and went to the backyard. Waiting for him was Guardian.

“He’s still here. The assassin isn’t dead.” He shouted.

Guardian shook his head before walking up to Max. “When did I allow for ordinary people to enter my territory?” His voice boomed.

“It’s my backyard, you just took it over.” Max retorted.

“Uh… anyways, why is she here? You already exposed your secret!”

“Forget about that, the assassin is back. He nearly killed us at the park.” Guardian laughed at Max, bringing his arm out to the left. He caught a bullet with two fingers. 

“You led the assassin to your home. Now, he knows where you live. Oh, and now he’ll find out about your powers. A stupid move, Max.” Guardian mixed the gunpowder inside of the bullet with magic, forming a magical bullet. He turned the bullet around and with, one single action, he flicked the bullet away. A large explosion followed a few seconds later; a ten-story building having part of its roof destroyed. Guardian squinted his eyes towards the building, letting out a sigh of relief. 

“He’s gone, he escaped.” Guardian turned to face them. “He knows where we are. Prepare for double training. And for you, what shall I do about you.” He stroked his chin lightly. “If I burned your body to ashes and planted a fake one in the park with a bullet, nobody would figure out the truth.”

Max stood in front of Skylar. “No! Don’t you dare touch her! If you do, then I’m out. I will no longer be a he-her….superpowered being any longer.”

Guardian bit his lower lip. He let out a small sigh before giving in. “Fine, she can remain. However, she will have to swear on her life that she won’t speak of your abilities.” 

Max turned around and looked at Skylar. She nodded at him before stepping in front of him.

“I swear on my life that I, Skylar Alderman, will never reveal your secret, or may my life be damned by the evil gods.”

Guardian creepily smiled. “Perfect,”

 

TBC…

Episode Ten "Ice Wall"

Max brought his fingertips together, forming an ace with his hands. He circulated the elemental essence through his fingertips, running through each finger. He was preparing himself to reform a large weapon like he did at the school. However, he couldn’t form any weapons bigger than a dagger or a pistol. Assault rifles, spears, bows, and everything a little bigger than his palms were inaccessible to him. He was stuck with smaller weapons, limiting his range.

“I can’t do it, the elemental essence isn’t forming anything good,” Max said with his eyes closed. He sat crossed-legged on the soft grass.

“I see… can you build a wall of ice?” Guardian asked him.

Max redirected the essence from running through his fingertips to collecting at them. Once he collected enough essence at his fingertips, he purged his body of it. The essence exited his body and came out as a spray can, spraying the grass in front of him. The essence formed into ice, encasing the grass and dirt, but the height was no more than a few inches. Incomparable to a large ten-foot wall. 

“Try again, keep going at it until you figure it out. Don’t vision a wall of ice, instead, envision every molecule that makes up the ice wall.” Guardian advised him.

Max focused on Guardian’s advice, envisioning every molecule that comprised the ice wall. The vague picture of an ice wall left his mind as smaller images of ice molecules entered. 

He collected essence at his fingertips, steadily increasing every moment he waited. Once it was enough, he released it. It spewed from his fingertips, creating an enormous ice wall in front of him. Max opened his eyes and gawked at the sight.

Skylar, who was watching everything, walked closer to the wall, gawking at it. It was like nothing she had ever seen before. “Incredible,” she muttered.

Guardian touched the ice wall, staring at its ten feet of solid ice. He lightly rattled his knuckles on the ice, confirming its strength. He summoned his wand, from out of nothing, before chanting a spell, launching it at the ice wall. The ice wall was dented, nearly collapsing under Guardian's spell.

“Not bad for your first time. However, I’m afraid that this wall won’t protect you from magic threats or assassins. Continue training, soon, I’ll teach you Elemental Heal.” Max nodded, jumping back into form. He built up more elemental essence, trying to envision a stronger and denser ice wall.

Skylar approached Guardian. He glanced at her like an insolent bug, 

“What do you want?” He asked her. 

“I want to train as well. I can’t have Max protecting me for eternity. I need a weapon.” Guardian laughed at her, taking a few steps away from her. 

“I know you will impede his training, so I’ll give you a weapon.” Guardian formed a bubble of magic in front of him. “What are you proficient in? It doesn’t make sense to give you a weapon you’re weak at. No guns or anything explosive.”

“Got it, then… how about a bow? I’ve taken some archery lessons.” She told him. He nodded and created a longbow made of darkwood---a type of wood created by normal wood and magic. He handed her the bow. She thanked him before going up to Max. 

“Wait! Don’t interrupt him!” He shouted.

Max jumped up from the floor, creating a stronger ice wall in front of him. He then took his shirt off, undressing in front of Skylar, and created an ice towel, wiping his sweat off. He walked up to the ice and touched it. It responded by glowing a cyan-blue light. 

“Beautiful, almost as Sky-” 

“Max?”

Max quickly put his shirt on and turned around to face Skylar, his face reddening by the second. Skylar’s face blushed, but she didn’t try to hide her face. 

“Do you mind encasing the bow with your ice?” She asked, holding up the longbow. Max smiled and nodded, grabbing the bow and encasing it with his ice. The ice took hold of the bow, but---instead of taking over---it fused with the bow, creating a beautiful glazed blue look. 

“Thanks,” She lowered her head, the embarrassment taking over.

“Uh… yeah…” The two stood awkwardly next to each other, stealing glances at each other. 

“Focus on training!” Guardian shouted, interrupting their young love. “Get back to training. As for you,” He pointed at Skylar. “We’ll begin your training. I will install fifty new skills into you by the end of the-” He looked away and brought his wand up. “Enforce Barrier!”

The barrier was shattered by a sniper bullet, landing a few feet from Guardian’s feet. The shot was thrown off its path by the Enforce Barrier spell.  Guardian squinted his eyes and fired a few fireballs towards the direction of the shot, but to no avail. They were a waste of magic as the assassin was in front of them. He had gone from miles away to being inside the backyard. 

The assassin pulled out a silenced pistol and pointed it at Skylar. Max raced to stand in