The Chaos Rises (Elemental Academy Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

As it did, the other man collapsed. He twitched, kicking, and then fell still.

  Tolan glanced over his shoulder and realized it was Master Minden holding onto the shaping.

  “What was that?”

  “That is me separating him from his ability to shape.”

  “What?”

  “With the right shaping, I can separate him from his ability. Given the nature of the attack and the way I felt his mind, there was no reason for him to maintain his ability to shape.”

  “I didn’t realize such a thing was possible.”

  “It’s not something widely known.”

  “Do the Inquisitors know about it?”

  She glanced over at him, shaking her head. “No.”

  “Does my mother?”

  “I don’t know.”

  If she did, Tolan could only imagine how she would use it, the way she would draw upon that power, manipulate it so she could continue to cause chaos.

  The sense of shaping began to build again, and Tolan looked up, realizing there was someone else out there.

  He had forgotten there were two more people, and as he looked up at the opening, he focused on them, thinking about what was going to happen, but he didn’t even need to worry. Master Minden built another spirit shaping she sent past him, sweeping up. There were two thuds as the shapers collapsed.

  “Grab them,” she said.

  She held off, and he could tell the effort of the shaping, the effort of everything she had been doing and using, had overwhelmed her. Despite that, she was still powerful.

  Tolan had to wonder if there was anything he might be able to learn from the spirit shaping she had used. He probed into Master Daniels, testing. A barrier of spirit covered the other man’s mind, solid, thick, and separating him from power. He was unconscious, Master Minden’s shaping keeping him from getting up and running.

  Tolan sent him forward, scooting him along the ground on a shaping of earth.

  He grabbed the other two and brought them down on a shaping of wind and earth, then carried all of them into a small room, leaving them on the floor.

  They didn’t deserve a bed.

  His mother might be gone, but they were here.

  Master Minden leaned against the wall, her eyes closed, her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Master Minden?”

  “I will be fine,” she whispered.

  “Is there anything I can do?”

  “Yes. You can find your mother.”

  “How?”

  “Unfortunately, I don’t know. But I fear where she’s gone.”

  Tolan breathed out. He could feel the energy in the air, and he wondered if there was any way to trace where his mother had gone.

  As he thought about it, he climbed out, heading to the rooftop. From there, he could look out upon Amitan, but that wasn’t what he wanted to do. Even though the city spread in front of him, a sense of power was bursting from shapings all over, and an incredibly powerful one not far from him suggesting a testing—and he had to wonder who was testing, whether it was Ferrah, as his mother had suggested. He ignored all of that. He focused instead on that sense of energy, on that power he could detect, and he sent that sweeping away from him.

  If there was anything he could find, if there was any way to use that power, to identify whether she had gone someplace else in Terndahl or someplace beyond there, he would need to find it.

  He could feel the direction.

  It headed north.

  Toward Ephra.

  But it wasn’t just Ephra.

  Toward the waste.

  7

  Tolan looked across the bars. It had surprised him there was a prison within the city, though he realized it probably shouldn’t have. There had to be some way of restraining those who would act on behalf of the Draasin Lord. He was surprised, however, that there was a prison within the Academy.

  “Why?” he asked, staring at Master Daniels.

  Master Daniels watched him, a sense of shaping energy coming off him, though it was incompletely controlled. In this place, surrounded as he was by the bars, by the runes marked on the walls and on the metal, and by the gentle flow of water along with the fire crackling nearby, Master Daniels was confined.

  Tolan didn’t know how long he would remain that way.

  He’d already, more than once, proven himself capable of causing great danger to the Academy.

  “Why. There are so many reasons why, but I suppose the most important one is that it was necessary.”

  “It wasn’t necessary,” Tolan said.

  “You are inexperienced.”

  “You’d be surprised at my experience.”

  Master Daniels watched him, a hint of a grin lingering on his face. “Perhaps I would be. Perhaps you have seen more than I would’ve expected. You certainly have impressed her.”

  “How long have you been serving my mother?”

  “Do you think she’s the one I serve?”

  “She must be. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have come here.”

  “Do you think she’s the one in charge?”

  Tolan stared, but he knew better. His mother was not the only one in charge; there would have to be others. Or perhaps not. Perhaps there was only one other—chaos. If that were the situation, he would have to try to understand just who was responsible and what it was going to take to stop them.

  “You serve chaos.”

  “You say that as if you dismiss the idea.” Master Daniels took a step toward him, and it took all that Tolan had in order to avoid taking a step back, away from him. He didn’t want Master Daniels to know how much he still intimidated him. It stemmed from his time working under him. That feeling had been made worse when Master Daniels had attacked Amitan and Tolan had barely survived. “You who have forged a connection to the elementals that has not been seen in many years would dismiss the idea of serving an elemental of power like that?”

  “Chaos isn’t an elemental.”

  “It is an elemental no different than that of fire. Earth. Wind. Water.” With each element he mentioned, he pointed to the runes responsible for restricting his ability to shape.

  “Where did she go?”

  Master Daniels laughed bitterly. “I think you already know where she went. I think you fear where she’s gone.”

  “I fear the darkness within her.”

  “As you should.”

  “If she frees chaos, everyone is going to suffer.”

  “No. If she frees chaos, balance will be restored.”

  “That’s what you think you’re after?”

  “That’s what I know I’m after. I understand the nature of what is needed. I understand the nature of this balance, and I understand just what we must do in order to achieve it. You have not learned enough.”

  “I’m a master shaper now.”

  Daniels cocked his head, studying Tolan. “Interesting. I think she never expected that of you.”

  Tolan wanted to say it didn’t hurt to hear his mother would not have expected something from him, especially knowing what he did of his mother, the way she was willing to attack, the way she had used him. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling, that unsettled sensation, that troubled feeling within him that came with the idea his mother had dismissed his potential.

  Master Daniels watched him, sneering at him.

  “You’re going to stay here, confined, and when the Inquisitors come, you will know real questioning.”

  “I don’t fear the Inquisitors,” Master Daniels said.

  “Perhaps you should. We have tested them. They no longer serve my mother.”

  He really should start using her name, and he really needed to stop calling her his mother, no longer acknowledging that role. She was something else.

  Tolan had a hard time feeling that way, though.

  Despite what he knew she’d done, the memories of her from his youth were still there. He knew those memories might be false, shaped memories, spirit placed upon him to have him serve h
er, but still, he couldn’t shake that feeling.

  Daniels took a step back. “You might believe you have removed the threat of the Inquisitors, but I can assure you that you—”

  “You can assure of nothing,” a voice said.

  Tolan turned. Irina approached. She was dressed in a heavy traveling cloak, and lines were deep along the corners of her eyes, irritation shining in them.

  “You’ve returned,” he said.

  She cocked a brow at him. “I didn’t realize I needed to answer to you.”

  “I just thought…”

  He should have known better. Even though they were related, even though there was a connection between them, it still wasn’t what he would have wanted.

  Irina might be connected to him, might be his grandmother, but there was no relationship between the two of them.

  “I myself have tested the other Inquisitors,” she said, turning to Master Daniels.

  “And who has tested you?”

  “The Grand Master.”

  As she said it, Master Daniels watched, his lips pressed together in a tight frown. “Is that supposed to impress me?”

  “I have no interest in impressing you. The only thing I am interested in is sharing with you that you will be remain here until we have the answers we seek.”

  “I don’t have the answers you want. I was never that person. She kept that from us.”

  “She?”

  “My mother,” Tolan said.

  Irina glanced toward him before turning her attention back to Master Daniels. “Then she has made a grave mistake. She might have thought she could keep knowledge from us, but I suspect her touch remains upon you.”

  Spirit began to build, and Tolan could feel the way the energy was growing off Irina, sweeping away from her toward Master Daniels. As she held onto that sense of spirit, sweeping it toward Master Daniels, Tolan tried to focus on the nature of the shaping, the energy she was using, and he recognized what she was doing to him. She was probing for information.

  He didn’t know if it would be effective. He had no idea about the nature of some of the spirit shapings and in that, was thankful he hadn’t been required to use that much spirit during his testing. If he had, he doubted he would have succeeded. More likely than not, he would’ve failed that aspect of his testing. With spirit, Tolan had strength, and he had a certain brute force, but he didn’t have the necessary finesse he needed.

  As that shaping layered over Master Daniels, he kept waiting, watching for information, for anything she might be able to uncover, but even as he focused on it, he wasn’t able to come up with an answer as to what she was finding.

  Perhaps there was nothing.

  Master Daniels stared at her defiantly.

  “He knows nothing,” Irina said, stepping back.

  Master Daniels grinned. “Did you think I would lie to you? I know better than to challenge you, Irina.”

  “You know very little. If you knew better than to challenge me, you never would have sided with her.”

  “There was a time when you sided with her,” he said.

  Irina glared at him, watching him. “She was my daughter.”

  “Was, or is?”

  “The woman she is now is not my daughter.”

  Irina turned away, sweeping out of the cell, leaving Tolan staring at Master Daniels, a question burning in his mind.

  Was there anything he could uncover from this man? He doubted it. When it came to Master Daniels, Tolan’s shaping of spirit ability was not nearly as skilled as hers, and he doubted he’d be able to do anything she could not.

  Still, he watched Master Daniels, looking to see if there was anything he might be able to uncover.

  “Go and chase after your master,” Master Daniels said, laughing darkly.

  Tolan stared at him for a moment, debating what he wanted to do, but there really wasn’t anything to say to the other man. He had no interest in arguing with Master Daniels, and really, all he wanted was to question him, to find out if there was anything he might be willing to explain about what he’d done and what Tolan’s mother might intend.

  As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything he was going to be able to determine.

  “I’m going to stop her,” Tolan said.

  “I’m afraid you won’t be able to do anything to stop her.”

  “This chaos, this dark elemental she’s been working with, I will make sure it doesn’t continue to cause problems. I will ensure it’s stopped.”

  Master Daniels cocked his head to the side, smiling darkly. “What makes you think you are more powerful than something that has existed for millennia?”

  “It’s not about being more powerful than it. It’s about understanding.”

  “And what makes you think your understanding of the elements and the elementals is greater than that of those who preceded us?”

  He smiled again, and Tolan backed away.

  Perhaps the other man was right. Perhaps all of this was a mistake and there wasn’t anything he was going to be able to do. He had no idea whether he could stop this darkness, this chaos his mother had intended to unleash, but he believed there was something he could do, some way he could react.

  It was a matter of finding it.

  “I understand the elements greater than most who are around now.”

  “Perhaps you do. That doesn’t change anything. Just because you understand the elements doesn’t mean you will be able to do anything to eliminate what happened. Just because you have this knowledge doesn’t mean you will somehow be powerful enough to be able to prevent the elementals from finally being ruled by this power.”

  “I think it does.”

  “You can go on thinking whatever you want. I’m telling you what I know. And what I know is what I’ve experienced in the time I’ve served.”

  “Served my mother, or served the darkness?”

  “You act as if they are so different.”

  “My mother was separated from it.”

  “And yet she still serves. Do you really think you are strong enough to separate her—or any who choose to serve—from chaos?”

  And perhaps it was the choosing to serve that was the most important aspect of it. Despite everything else, his mother had made her choice. She had elected to serve chaos, and because of that, there wasn’t anything Tolan was able to do to stop her, and certainly no way for him to separate her from her connection to it. He had thought he had and thought that by placing her in the Convergence, he’d been able to unsettle her, but that didn’t seem to be the case.

  Now it no longer mattered. All that mattered was that he had to understand what, exactly, this chaos was.

  Stepping away from Master Daniels, Tolan returned to the small antechamber outside the prison cells. He was surprised Irina remained.

  She studied him, a deep frown on her face. “You were tested.”

  “How do you know?”

  “There is something of spirit that changes within a person when they are tested. It’s how those of us who are Inquisitors recognize the master shapers.”

  “I was tested.”

  “I presume you passed. Otherwise, you wouldn’t have been with the prisoner.”

  Tolan nodded.

  “Interesting. I must admit I wasn’t expecting you would present yourself for testing so soon.”

  “I did it because I had no choice.”

  “We all have choices, Tolan.”

  “Tolan now, not Shaper Ethar?”

  “Now that you are a master shaper, you get to decide what you want to go by. Would you go by Master Ethar, or would you go by Tolan?”

  “I suppose I would just go by my name.”

  “Perhaps you should.”

  “He serves willingly,” Tolan said, glancing toward the door separating him from the cells.

  “Unfortunately, I think most of those who serve at this point do so willingly.”

  “I thought…” He shook his head. “I suppose it doesn’t rea
lly matter what I thought. It doesn’t matter that I thought he was touched by the shadows and that was the only reason he had been twisted to serve chaos.”

  “Some people are drawn to the darkness,” Irina said.

  “I wish my mother wouldn’t have been.”

  “She was always drawn to understanding power. It was what made her skilled when she was here, and what made her such a talented Inquisitor. It was why I should have been prepared for what she did.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  “I don’t understand why she betrayed us, either. All I know is that she did. She became something she had not been before, someone who wanted only power. And because of that, she lost her way.”

  “I wish there was something more we could have done for her.”

  “I wish the same. I lost my daughter all those years ago, and to be honest, I never expected to see her again. When she returned, when I realized she still lived, I…” Irina closed her eyes. “I never knew about you. I never knew about your father. She had disappeared, and she must have come back, but she did so in a way that hid what her true motives were.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Not as sorry as I am.”

  He watched Irina for a moment. “Did you find anything of the Convergence?”

  “Not as much as I was hoping to. I recognized there were Convergences scattered throughout the countryside, but I haven’t been able to find anything within them that is beneficial to me.”

  “What have you found?”

  “We did not expect to find quite so many places of Convergence as we have discovered. We thought that what was in Amitan was the only one, but there are others. Several others.”

  “Par?” Irina nodded. “Ephra?” She nodded again. “Let me guess: Most of them are on the outskirts of Terndahl.”

  “Most of them.”

  “Are there any that aren’t?”

  She watched him for a moment. “Not that we have discovered.”

  “Why do I get the sense that troubles you?”

  “It should trouble you, too. We thought we understood the nature of power here, and we thought we understood just what we would find, but the more we searched, we began to recognize things aren’t at all what we had once believed.”

  He breathed out a heavy sigh. “I didn’t expect them to be what we believed,” he said. “I expected we would find these Convergences were scattered.”