Phoenix was groggy, having just woken up from a deep sleep. Warlocks like him were prone to having lengthy naps that lasted days.

He sat up and looked out of the window tentatively. The metahuman that had been in the flat next to his and another one were walking away. He let out a sigh of relief. He was safe, for now.

The newest brand on his back still hurt him, but he was not worried about that. Mother nature, Gaia, punished hee children each time they defeated one of her undead, her anti-humans, they ended up with a brand, a tally mark.

Phoenix had nineteen.

It wasn't fair that whilst he tried to save his own life, he got punished for it. It wasn't fair that Gaia neglected her children to get back at father earth. Yet they still did as she asked. They still protected her nature.

Father Earth may own the planet, but the trees, the wild, that was all nature. And they despised each other.

Phoenix just couldn't catch a break, running from the undead to avoid excruciating pain and death, and then having to run from the metahumans to avoid excruciating pain and death.

Not only that, something else was stirring. An evil that had been sleeping for a milenia. An evil that was awake and able to bend the seven sins and fate to its will.

This world might as well be dead.

But somehow it was surviving, whether that was by the sheer will of the gods or because fate demanded It, Phoenix didn't know, but all he could do was survive. He was nothing in this world.

Climbing out of bed, Phoenix only paused to wonder where his only friend was. Where Lavinia was. She was nice, they had met when they had saved one another from a hoard of dead. He hoped she was okay. He reached up and ran a hand through his short, hazel curls. She had cut it for him, he missed her.

He glanced out the window, to see the two metahumans running from a hoard. He snorted, idiots. His violet eyes reflected in the glass and stared back at him. He had the sudden urge to save them, but repressed it and turned away from them, they wanted to kill him. He reminded himself of This, but something still chastised him in the back of his mind, telling him to help. He didn't know what mother nature would do to him if he helped them, but he suspected it would be worse that a branded tally mark.

Sitting back down on the bed, he tried again to make a flame in his hand. He was supposed to be a warlock, a powerful one at that, but he could barely produce a simple flame. It flickered briefly, appearing in his hand and extinguishing. He sighed and jumped up as he heard shouts from outside.

It was the metahumans, again. They had run a full circle and surrounded themselves with the hoard. And they were supposed to be first-rate warriors. He laughed aloud to himself. He hoped they would die, although he wasn't sure that they would, everyone reacted different to the bite, for Warlocks it was intense pain and possible death, for humans, they turned. For others, he wasn't sure.

As long as they didn't try to enter his building, he didn't have a problem with it, he could not cope with a hoard in his building, and he would not be able to fight them. His magic ability was almost not there.

The front door swung open and he watched in misery as the metahumans ran in, followed by the strange, undead. He cursed them. Why? Why his building? Why not the building next door? Unless... they knew he was there, they knew he was there and were going to use him to protect themselves. Great.

He attempted a locking spell on the door, but it didn't work, and he was greeted by the two metahumans, who slammed and locked the door, before turning to him.

The first was a male, tall and built to fight. He was insanely muscular and even more good-looking. His hair was a deep mahogany and his eyes bore into Pheonix's as though trying to say something.

The other was a female, blonde and incredibly pretty. Of course father earth would make his new set of humans even more nice to look at them the first. Gaia's secret children were a poor comparison.

"That hotel was a bad idea." The girl said, before crossing the room and casually pressing a knife to Pheonix's neck. Her blue eyes stared at him, she smirked. "Okay cutie, here's the deal, we don't kill you, you put a protection spell on this room." She told him.

Suddenly, an invisible force blasted her across the room. The other metahuman stared at him. Phoenix frowned. He hated how he could only use the magic he was born with when scared. The boy laughed, he wasn't really a boy, more of a man, but there was a gentleness in him, which wasn't present in the girl.

"Oh that's it!" The girl growled, she got up, clearly about to attack him, he held her back.

"Can you help us? Please?" He asked, Phoenix shook his head at once. The boy sighed, he looked conflicted.

"I don't know how." Phoenix told him. The girl walked over, holding a small metal device, Phoenix took a step back. They wouldn't, would they? The device was simple, but allowed you to utilise a warlocks power. It had been created by humans to help humans, but it severely hurt warlocks. Of course metahumans weren't above using it, he had been stupid to think they couldn't.

"Aura no!" The boy stopped her, he turned back to Phoenix. "Please? We'll die." The scratching on the door proved that. Aura? That seemed familiar.

"I don't know how." Phoenix repeated sullenly, it was embarrassing, but he was one of the worst warlocks ever to walk the earth. The undead began banging on the door. He looked from the door to the metahumans.

"You can, at least try." He wasn't sure why the boy was trying to sweet talk him, they should just kill him and get it over with.

But he tried. He really did try. A haze covered the room, he had done it. It flickered and went out. Aura snarled.

"You have to be kidding me." She grabbed Phoenix by the hair and stabbed the device into his skull. He screamed blue murder. It hurt like hell, he could feel all the magic he couldn't quite access flowing out of him, into her command. A protection spell went up around the room and he went limp in her aems, barely conscious. He could weakly hear the boy pleading for her to let him go. He couldn't stomach seeing pheonix writhing in her clutches. At last she let him go, the device still embedded in his skull. He sank to his knees and hit the floor, unconscious.