Elements (Tear of God Book 1)

by Henri, Raymond

  In the light of the glow crystal, Mink recognized the sheen of metal ore beside them as they continued slowly upward. His mom was actually digging through raw metal! Fighting his immobility, Mink strained in vain to grab the protruding ribbons of ore to use as hand holds. If his mom would just loosen him up a bit, he could help take some of the load off.

  Nyam toiled away for several more worrisome minutes. When at last a blinding shaft of light assaulted them, she wasted no time hooking an arm through the opening and pulling them both back up onto the ground of Rift Ridge. Fighting for breath, she crawled a few feet away from the hole with Mink still strapped to her back. She stood on her knees and grabbed her head to expand her chest while she drew deep breaths. Until she could control her breathing, she had no chance of making it through the Dispelling chant to free Mink from Hard Body.

  He could hear perfectly well at this point, but would have rather not been an audience to his mother’s gasping. Reflecting on what she had just accomplished, Mink welled with pride. He might have occasionally bore witness to his mother struggling, but he had never seen her fail. After a long, deep breath, Nyam managed to chant,

  “May Curpo undo the effect.

  Take back the power which you gave.”

  Nyam tapped Mink’s shin. He felt lightheaded and warm as blood began circulating again and his Body returned to normal. “I hate when you do that one,” he complained, flexing his arms and legs.

  “Sorry about that. I didn’t have much of a choice,” Nyam spoke through deeper breaths. “We have to get back to your father now.”

  As Nyam carried them, Mink scanned the plateau and saw the cliff of the ridge more than a mile away. Following the cliff line south, Mink hoped to locate where his father waited. He couldn’t see anyone. His mom ran quickly, but it certainly wasn’t the incredible speed she was known for. She made a straight path to a specific point on the horizon. It took Mink a moment to recognize what he thought was a rock as his father.

  “We’re back,” Nyam announced as they came upon Juré, who still looked over the cliff.

  Juré took time to fully appreciate their muddy and exhausted condition as Nyam and Mink worked together to remove the harness. “Where did you come from?” He asked as he plucked a clod of mud out of Nyam’s hair, amused. “What happened to you?”

  Nyam gushed between gasps, “It’s real! We found a Tear of God. Absolutely incredible. You should see the size of it. We would need about a dozen Body users to get it out of the ground, but that’s all. The stone will give them all the strength they need to get it out.” Nyam ran at the mouth, giddy from the rush of their discovery despite being nearly exhausted. “I dug a tunnel straight through to help the team locate and extract it. I touched it. You should! Direct contact makes you understand things… I can’t explain what very well. After you break contact, the knowledge part doesn’t last long. But the power, the strength you gain—I dug through about two miles of dirt! Two miles! I can’t believe I did that!” Nyam beamed, catching her breath, and looked down at the copse where the scout slept. “How’s your man doing?”

  “Well, after I broke off the Silent Signal Fire with Mink, I maintained the Eavesdropping effect on the scout,” Juré explained. “I learned from his memory that he has a direct communication to his superiors from inside the vehicle, so it won’t take days for them to find out. He’s just waiting until he finishes writing his speech, convinced that they’re going to record the announcement for posterity. He is aware of being asleep in his vehicle now, so he won’t be sticking around long.”

  Mink wasn’t sure how he felt about his time in the cavern yet, and he didn’t have any way of describing it. His mother’s take helped him fill in some gaps, but he knew their experiences were very different. Even with improved strength, he couldn’t imagine a hundred Body users moving the geode, let alone lifting it straight up two miles, then carrying it all the way back to the Cradle of the Citadel. Maybe his lack of an Element restricted his understanding. And, he reminded himself, he didn’t actually make physical contact with the crystal.

  Nyam spoke to Juré in a hushed tone, hesitant for Mink to hear. “We need to kill the scout.”

  “I agree,” nodded Juré. “Too much risk.”

  “Hold up,” Mink interjected. “You don’t have to kill him. Dad, you can put him in a coma.”

  Juré shook his head. “I won’t have enough strength for that until tomorrow, and by then he’ll be long gone.”

  “Then what about making him feel like staying here for a couple more days without telling anybody?”

  “His desire to become famous is too great. Even if I could convince him to finish his speech here, that wouldn’t take long enough. We need to allow almost a week for us to get back with the news and have a team come out here. Trust me. We don’t have another way of buying time to prevent the Machinists from claiming the Tear of God. We must secure it for our country.”

  Mink wondered about the scout’s life. But the more he thought about it, the more convinced he was that he didn’t want to know. He invented all kinds of reasons that made the scout out to be a horrible person. None of them gave Mink the feeling that he deserved to die.

  Thinking back on his own brief death experience, he realized that the Machinist’s consciousness was about to expand over the whole area, becoming aware of Mink in the same way Mink had become aware of him. He hoped that he would feel the same kind of peace that he had experienced. Perhaps with the universal knowledge he would gain, the scout would understand why he had to die, and even agree. Then he’d have one up on Mink.

  Nyam put a consoling hand on Mink’s shoulder. “I need to do this while I still have enough energy. It will be quick and painless. Why don’t you go take your dad back to camp and stoke up the Fire?”

  “Will you be okay on your own?” Juré asked his wife.

  “Sure. The river will give me a chance to wash off this mud,” Nyam replied shakily. Mink was relieved to see that Nyam was at least uncomfortable with her dark errand. Maybe she wouldn’t kill the scout, just smash his vehicle to bits and blind him so he would be later returning to Freeland. Mink decided a quick death was better than spending days scared and starving in the wilderness, only to wind up dead anyway.

  Nyam sighed heavily, then rushed over the edge of the cliff. Mink and Juré turned toward camp and walked in silence. Mink knew his father never killed unnecessarily. It wasn’t in his nature. He hoped his mom was the same way. As much as the logic of killing the scout rang true in Mink’s mind in the context of their plan, he kept trying to think of another way to accomplish the same goal.

  “It’s a putrid business,” Juré said, breaking the silence. “I almost feel like I got to know the guy.”

  “Yeah?” Mink didn’t want to encourage further conversation, but he felt like Juré needed some acknowledgment.

  “I learned a lot from him about the current state of affairs in Freeland. If they get the Tear of God, they will make a weapon capable of wiping out Octernal. Any of us who survive will be their slaves. I tried to think of a way to break the news to your mom before she said it on her own. This really is for the best.”

  “I know, Dad. It’s… whatever, right?” Unable to find the words to express his concern, Mink ended the futile conversation.

  NYAM RETURNED to the camp clean of any mud, but more haggard and weak than Mink had ever seen her. The Fire that Mink and Juré had prepared lapped up the Air with greedy intensity. Without a word, Nyam plunged her arms down under the logs. She let out a long, satisfied sigh and pulled out two fistfuls of embers, recovering quite quickly as she rubbed them on her arms and massaged them into her neck.

  “I just need to get my strength and then I’ll run back to the High Council and convince them to send a team.” Nyam kicked off her shoes and sat with the soles of her feet in the flames.

  “You can’t leave us here,” Juré protested.

  “We don’t have enough time. I’ll get there much faster alone.�
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  “Exactly. We don’t have enough time. Even if you could be at the Capitol by morning, the soonest a team could make it here would be at least four days from now. And realistically, it would take you two days at peak condition. Assuming the Machinists send a search and rescue team in two days, they could still have an army here before our team. Mink and I won’t be able to hold them off. I need you.”

  “They won’t find the scout or his vehicle. That’ll slow down their response, but I see your point.” Nyam lost herself in thought, rolling a burning log between her hands.

  Juré’s words made grim sense to Mink. The Machinists’ vehicles transported multiple people over long distances with great speed. Rift Ridge was closer to Freeland and, from Juré’s description of their imaging, the Machinists had better maps. The more people they sent, the greater the chance that some of them would have an Elemental affinity for Body or Water, in which case Juré couldn’t use any effects on them. Not favorable odds when Machinist weaponry could kill all Elemental types.

  “I’ll stay. We’ll send Mink,” Nyam resolved.

  “What?!” Mink and Juré replied in unison.

  “Nyam, it would take him five days to make it back. That puts us here by ourselves for sure when their reinforcements arrive. How long do you think we’ll survive?”

  “Mom, Dad’s right. I slept half the way here. I’ll get lost going back.”

  “I think I can put the Quick Legs effect on Mink,” Nyam said, growing adamant. She gestured toward the Great Barrier Range. “If he just heads to that point on the eastern horizon and keeps going, he’ll be in the Capitol early on the second morning.” Mink swore he remembered thick forests on those mountains.

  “Put Quick Legs on him?” Juré echoed. “That’s a self effect, not a target effect.”

  “Mom, you’re crazy. I can’t handle that kind of speed. I’ll wrap myself around a tree!”

  “Listen, you two. If either of you have another idea about how to get Mink to my brother any quicker, I’d like to hear it,” Nyam countered.

  Mink racked his brain. For the last two years, he’d been taking independent studies in Strategy and Tactics, lately focusing on unwinnable situations. Real life was so much harder than the classroom. Finally, he said with a shrug, “Let them get here first and have all the ore they want. I don’t think they’d be able to move the crystal anyway.”

  Juré rubbed his face and sighed. “We can’t chance it, buddy. From what I learned through the scout’s memories, they’ve exhausted almost all their resources. They’re desperate. The scout had seen maps of large ore deposits throughout Octernal. They plan on expanding eastward. With force.”

  The three of them sat in silence. Eventually, Nyam rose and started the process of making dinner. Juré followed. Mink needed time to adjust to the gravity of the situation. Not acting would mean war, and the end of the Elementalists’ way of life. All the same, if Nyam managed to somehow give him the Quick Legs effect, he doubted he’d be able to use it well enough to make it to the Capitol. If by some luck he made it back to the Capitol, having a team of Elementalists come to the aid of his parents in time seemed unlikely.

  Hypothetically, if Mink succeeded, the Elementalists could conceivably reach the geode in time. But they would still need to somehow get the crystal to the surface and find a way to move it to Octernal. Assuming that was possible, if war was inevitable, they would need a Tear of God in the Cradle of the Citadel to fend off and outlast the Machinists, just like they did sixteen thousand years ago during the Water Age. In that case, let them have all the resources they needed from Rift Ridge.

  “Tell me your plan, mom.”

  Nyam dished up a meal of stewed roots topped with shreds of seasoned roast meat. “First, I’ll put the Regenerative Cells effect on you to help ensure you make it all the way. I’ll follow that up with Tunnel Vision so you can focus over great distances and avoid obstacles. The tricky part will be the Quick Legs effect. I think I can change the wording of the chant to allow for adding the implementation.”

  “Turning a self effect into a target effect? If it works, you need to apply for a professorship.” Juré took a plate of food, clearly impressed by his wife, but no less confused.

  “I’ll keep that in mind if we get back home. I do remember Professor Whodly theorizing that all effects were originally self effects and the advent of implementations created target effects.”

  “Must have been in your grad school days. I don’t remember that.”

  “I had a sense of it when I touched the Tear of God. It felt like we are on the cusp of a new progression in Elemental use. Can you imagine being able to put Quick Legs on an Air User? Multi-Element combos? Anyway, I have to try. If it doesn’t work, our chances are grim to the extreme.”

  Mink swallowed a mouthful of food. “I trust you, Mom. If you think I can handle it, I’ll head back tonight.”

  “I need tonight to train you as best I can on speed control.”

  “Train me on the way. Once I know enough to handle the speed, you can come back to dad.”

  “That could work, Nyam,” Juré broke in. “He won’t reach the tree line until light, so he’ll have time to adjust.”

  “We’ll begin right after dinner then,” Nyam said, digging into her own plate.

  Mink had been on the receiving end of countless effects, but never one he could actually use. He liked the idea of running with super speed, the more he thought about it. He would finally know what it felt like to be an Elementalist. Between his mom and Dreh, he wasn’t new to the experience of traveling at great speed, just not on his own legs.

  “I’m going to record a report of the events for you to deliver, Mink,” Juré said. “When you get back, don’t tell anyone about this except the High Council. And only answer their questions with information that you can verify personally. Some of them may try to use this situation to their own advantage and will twist whatever you say to that end. Best to try not to say anything at all.”

  “I understand. I don’t think I would even know what to say. I didn’t really see or do much.”

  Nyam set her empty plate down and stood. “Just stick with that. You’ll know what to say. I should start Regenerative Cells now.”

  Juré selected a crystal from his travel pouch and walked away from the Fire. “You do that and I’ll record the report.”

  Nyam shook her hands and exhaled a long breath before starting her chant, a standard but advanced-level adaptation of the Materialization effect, Implant,

  “I bring Body into this world.

  My power makes it manifest.

  Newly formed flowing from your cells.

  You can change its shape to your form.

  My Body completes partial ones.

  By my intention be defined.

  My creation pauses when whole.

  No injury can be sustained.

  Curpo guides the Body’s power.

  Create Body upon my touch.”

  She took Mink’s face in both of her hands and held him for a second. He braced himself for something horrible, but it never came. As Nyam backed away, she was suddenly tired. Stretching her limbs, she picked up an ember and rubbed it briskly between her hands.

  “That’s a brutal one. I feel like you sucked the life out of me,” she said softly.

  “I don’t feel any different.”

  Nyam approached Mink and pressed the ember against his forearm. He howled and tried to pull away. Nyam released him and he immediately examined his arm. He couldn’t find any indication of a burn.

  WHY DID it hurt?” Mink rubbed his fingers over where the burn should be.

  “The pain will help your Body correct and protect itself at high speeds. You’re going to fall, cut yourself on branches, and maybe even puncture your feet. The more you reflexively avoid getting hurt early on, the better you’ll fair in the end.”

  So much for having fun with super speed. The burning had stopped as soon as Nyam pulled the ember away
. Intense as it was, Mink knew he could handle it. Still, what excitement he had felt gave way to dread. This wouldn’t be easy.

  “I’m ready to do the Tunnel Vision effect now,” Nyam said, tossing what was left of the ember back into the Fire.

  “Focal point brought within arms’ reach.

  Eyes can see over distances.

  The periphery is unchanged.

  What is focused on cannot blind.

  Light is the Fire which gives strength.

  Tunnel Vision upon my touch.”

  Mink squinted, anticipating a poke in the eyes. Instead, Nyam slapped the back of his head. To Mink’s relief, it didn’t hurt. She peered closely into his eyes. He backed up as she leaned in, but quickly realized that his mom hadn’t moved at all. It was his vision that had changed. Wagging his head, he became nauseous. He felt like he was looking through a telescope while maintaining normal peripheral vision.

  “This is horrible, Mom. Is this how you see?”

  “Not since before you were born. I have a more advanced vision enhancement. You move around and get used to it while I regain my strength for making Quick Legs a target effect.”

  Mink looked around for his dad. Juré motioned for Mink to come over to where he was. Mink noticed that his father appeared to slide closer and closer the faster he walked. Whatever he focused on looked like it was within arm’s reach. Using his peripheral vision for balance, he was able to jog comfortably once he was halfway to Juré. It wasn’t bad if he kept his head steady.

  He felt quite proud of himself for stopping a casual distance from his dad. Juré’s head looked comically large and Mink focused on the horizon instead to avoid laughing. Juré placed the crystal with the recorded message into a small leather pouch and tied it securely.

  “I need you to take this first thing to your Uncle Durren. He’ll know what to do with it.” Juré handed the pouch to Mink, who tucked it safely inside his travel bag. “How are you feeling?”