The Chaos Rises (Elemental Academy Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  How often would hyza be able to restore him?

  It was possible the elemental had already used every bit of power it possessed in order to help him so far, but he needed to know. Tolan held onto the connection, focusing on everything beyond him and wanting to use everything he could.

  There was no sense of anything else.

  Ferrah squeezed his hand, and the rumbling came again.

  It was getting closer. The longer he waited, the more likely they were going to run out of time. He needed to hurry, but not move too quickly.

  The rumbling came again, even closer.

  He couldn’t take any more time.

  It was dangerous to wait when it came to that corrupt elemental. If he waited too long, he was going to have to have a confrontation, something he didn’t want to do, at least not until he had a better understanding of whether there was any way to prevent the elemental from harming him.

  The only other thing he could think of doing at this point was traveling by the warrior shaping. If he carried them far enough forward, they might be able to avoid an encounter.

  Whatever else happened, he was going to need to use a powerful shaping to get them out of here. He worried he wasn’t going to have that strength if he waited much longer, and reached for Ferrah.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  The sense of the corrupted elemental was close.

  There was a shimmering of the air, a sense of heat and steam, enough that he wasn’t entirely sure if it was just the corrupt elemental or whether it was something else.

  “Hyza told me it was a corrupt elemental affected by the same thing that influenced my mother.”

  He grabbed Ferrah and pulled on a sense of each of the elements, wrapping them together. Lightning crackled. The corrupted elemental lunged toward them.

  Tolan felt it as a shifting of energy. He was aware of it, but worried he wasn’t fast enough. The lightning was coming toward them, the energy along his skin surging, the heat and explosion enough to know he needed to wait, but if the lightning didn’t reach him in time, the corrupted elemental would.

  And the lightning struck.

  As it often did when it struck, there was a sense of calm. It was a strange thing to feel when lightning was coming to him, cascading around him, filling him with light and energy and almost a hint of pain. It lifted them.

  The corrupted elemental got caught up in the shaping, and was carried along too.

  Tolan glanced down. He could feel the elemental holding on to the shaping.

  It was a strange thing to be aware of, but the elemental was there, as if it was trying to drag itself along.

  He focused, turning himself downward, looking at the outline of the elemental. He couldn’t make out any details, only that it was large and rising and it seemed to radiate a sense of heat. As it did, Tolan knew he would need to find a way to keep it from reaching them. He pointed his sword down, sending a blast of shaped elements at it.

  It was an unfocused blast and he used everything he could, whatever else was remaining within him, pushing it into a violent streak of power and not wanting to have any sort of hold over it, just trying to dislodge it.

  There was a sense of pain when the shaping struck, and then the elemental was knocked free.

  The lightning shot them up and carried them a distance before setting them back on the ground. Tolan breathed out and held onto Ferrah, holding onto the sword, and he looked around at where they were.

  As far as he could tell, there wasn’t anything else around. It was nothing more than the bleak landscape of the waste, but they had gotten away.

  He waited, worried there would be the sense of the corrupted elemental and that there might be something more coming. His own shaping ability was beginning to fade, draining out of him, and in a short time, there would be nothing left. He staggered, dropping to his knees, trying to stay upright and focused, but he’d already used so much energy.

  Distantly, he was aware of a faint fluttering within himself.

  It was a stirring, but it wasn’t a stirring reminding him of what he could use when he was shaping on his own. This was a different sort, and it seemed to come from another place.

  Hyza.

  That connection filled him.

  It was a sense of strength, and it solidified within him. Tolan drew upon it.

  As he did, he was able to let that sense roll into him and fill him. He took a deep breath and nodded to Ferrah.

  “Will you be okay?” she asked.

  She kept her voice at a soft whisper, little more than that, and Tolan understood. Out here in the emptiness of the waste, even though there were no other sounds, there was still the concern that anything they might do or say would be heard. Whether it was the corrupted elemental or something else, he needed to be careful.

  “It takes quite a bit of strength to use that shaping,” he said. He licked his lips, finding they were dry, and he grabbed for his water bottle, tipping it back and taking a long drink. “At least here. In Terndahl…” It was different. Easier. Here it was as if he was fighting against some great power.

  “The last time you did a shaping of much power, you were out for almost a day.”

  It had been a day? Tolan hadn’t been aware it had been that long. The only thing he’d known was that he had needed to recover.

  “It’s not going to take me that long to recover this time. The elemental gives me strength.”

  “How?”

  “Through a connection between us.”

  She shook her head. “Oh, Tolan.”

  “It’s not like that,” he said.

  “I don’t know what it’s like, but I’m concerned about all of this.”

  Tolan turned behind him, looking at the waste, toward the direction from which they’d come. As he did, he could feel the energy of the corrupted elemental. It would be drawn to them, he was certain of it, and the longer they waited, the more certain he was they were going to have to find some way to stay ahead of it. It would mean he would have to avoid shaping. Shaping seemed to draw that elemental, to call to it. If they didn’t stay ahead of it, he would run the risk of the elemental knowing where they were and what they were doing. And if it knew that, would it call to others?

  Until he knew they were safe, he had to avoid using his ability to shape, anything that might attract the attention of the corrupted elemental.

  Tolan kept his arm around Ferrah’s waist, supporting himself. Every so often, she would glance over at him, and she did nothing to mask the worry in her eyes. She feared the elementals. She had lived in Par and within Terndahl long enough and had known the danger of the elementals long enough that she feared them.

  Tolan had lived within Terndahl for his entire life, and though he probably should fear the elementals—at least more than he did—he also recognized a need for their power, and knew what he felt when he was working with them. There was a danger to them that was undeniable, but there was something more, something he thought they needed to understand and be able to utilize.

  He forced a smile and continued forward, leaning on Ferrah.

  They needed to reach deeper into the waste to find the location of the Convergence. Until he had his strength returned so he could use earth sensing, they would have to trudge onward, stay ahead of the corrupted elemental, and plunge deeper in the waste than anyone had ever gone.

  14

  The day passed quietly. Tolan and Ferrah found a small outcropping of rock to rest against, staying as much in the shadows as they could. There were limits to how many shadows they could find, and without having much in the way of the tall fingers of rock they’d used before, there was no way to keep out of the heat.

  Still, it was better to rest during the daytime. It was hot, almost impossibly so. It seemed to be hotter than it had been before, and the longer they wandered, the more the heat began to overpower him. With a shaping of fire, Tolan suspected he would be able to tolerate it, but as it was, he was barely able to wit
hstand it.

  Ferrah did much better. Then again, Ferrah was strong, and she seemed to be trying to prove that to him, almost as if she didn’t want to reveal just how hard this was for her.

  They had enough water, but even that was beginning to grow scarce. Tolan thought they had brought enough supplies, and yet, the longer they were here, the harder it was to know if he should refrain from drinking. He wasn’t as hungry as he had expected. They should have brought less food and much more water. He could use a warrior shaping to return, but how much strength would that take?

  As he stirred awake, he looked around. The sun was beginning to fall, dipping lower in the sky. It wasn’t nearly as blasted hot as it had been. He shifted his cloak, keeping it around him, shielding his body from the rest of the sun, but he was sweltering within it. Given how far to the north they were, he would’ve expected it would be cooler, but it was still incredibly unpleasant.

  Ferrah sat up, looking around.

  “How long do you think we slept?” She looked up at the sky, her mouth pressed together in a tight line, and it seemed to Tolan that she was trying to work through the duration they’d been here.

  It was hard to know just how long it had been, but he suspected they’d managed to get in at least several hours. It hadn’t been a restful time. He had awoken every few hours, or perhaps even less, each time looking up at the sky and trying to ensure they were safe, trying to determine if he could detect anything of the corrupted elemental. So far, there hadn’t been anything, but that didn’t mean they would be safe indefinitely. The elemental was still out there.

  “Not long enough,” he said.

  “You haven’t recovered enough to use a shaping?”

  Tolan focused deep within himself. The sense of hyza was there, stirring deep within him. It surprised him that he was able to detect it so quickly. The more he pulled upon that sense, the more certain he was that it was there for him to use. If he were to reach for hyza and draw upon the elemental, he couldn’t help but feel as if he was doing something similar to what the corrupted elemental had been doing to him. It had drawn off his energy, pulling on him, draining him. If he did that to hyza, would he be sapping the strength of the elemental?

  Of course, the elemental had a different nature, a different connection to power, and it was possible hyza had an almost indefinite store of power. Even if he were to take a little bit of energy from the elemental, it might still have plenty to spare. Though he worried about overwhelming it, knowing the elementals had lived such a long life and they were so connected to the core power of the elements, he had to wonder if there was anything he would even be able to do to harm it. He didn’t want to tap into the strength of the elemental, but also didn’t want to be weakened.

  His own strength was there. He thought he might be able to call to each of the elements, and perhaps even to spirit, and in doing so, he thought that he might be able to use a warrior shaping to transport them if it came down to it.

  As that would draw the corrupted elemental, he didn’t know they wanted to do that quite yet. What he needed instead was to find a way to use earth sensing to track his way through the waste. He would have to be careful not to draw the attention of the corrupted elemental, but the more he thought about it, the more he began to wonder if he might be able to use the connection to hyza. The elemental had granted him that connection, and it was different than using his own shaping power.

  If he were to draw upon the elemental and use what he could of that connection, it was possible he might be able to reach for earth. Hyza was a mixture of earth and fire, and that connection should be enough.

  “Tolan? You’ve been quiet.”

  He shook his head, turning back to Ferrah. “I’m sorry. I’ve been thinking about the shaping. I told you about the connection to hyza, and how it lends me power.”

  “I don’t know that using the elemental energy is the right thing.”

  “The elemental wants me to use that connection,” he said.

  He was convinced hyza wanted him to share in that connection and that the elemental wanted him to use it. He pushed away everything else in his mind. He pushed away everything he feared. He pushed away the visions that lingered in his mind.

  The only thing he was left with was that deep stirring sensation, that connection to the elemental he felt within himself.

  Tolan held onto that sense, focusing on it, and drew upon that power.

  Thanks to the vision, he had the understanding and knowledge of what he needed to do. That lingered within him—if only he could remember enough to use it.

  It surged within him, filling him with an overwhelming sense of energy.

  Tolan continued to draw upon it, focusing, and he sent out an earth shaping.

  It was different than anything he had ever used on his own. This was something else, something grander than he would ever be able to manage without the elemental.

  Whereas his shapings were directed by what he had learned at the Academy, this was something that seemed to be deeper, a power that understood the earth, that understood everything around him, and it streaked away from him.

  It plunged into the waste, rolling outward. As it did, Tolan focused on what he was able to detect. There was a sense of energy out there.

  Surprisingly, the explosion of earth shaping that he used had been almost a circle. It created a ring around him, sweeping all around, and he was able to find the corrupted elemental. As the shaping passed over the corrupted elemental, he held his breath, worried that it might suddenly be aware of what he was doing.

  The corrupted elemental was behind them, but much closer than Tolan had expected. It was moving, though not along a straight path. The longer Tolan focused on it, the more certain he was he could trail after that sense, and he wanted to ensure he had a way of keeping track of the elemental.

  By using his connection to hyza, he thought he could hold onto it in a way that would enable him to keep tabs on the corrupted elemental. But that wasn’t all he needed to accomplish with hyza’s help.

  He shifted his focus, turning it outward, looking for any sense of the Convergence. There would have to be something out there, and he thought if anything would know where to find it, it would be the elemental.

  They were tied to the Convergence, drawn to it in a way he was not, and so it would have to be something hyza would know about. Had he thought about it in the vision, he would have asked.

  As the shaping slipped away from him, growing increasingly distant, he worried he wouldn’t be able to find it.

  And then he felt it.

  It was faint, a slight jarring on his senses, and yet he was certain that was what it was.

  There was a sense of power to it, of energy within it, and yet there was something else he detected about it, something troubling.

  He opened his eyes and said to Ferrah, “I found it.”

  “You found the Convergence?”

  He nodded. “I found it. And once we reach it—”

  Power exploded around them.

  He looked up, searching for evidence of the corrupted elemental, but there was nothing. The corrupted elemental was behind them, and yet, he still felt that sense of shaping energy.

  That meant it was something other than the corrupted elemental.

  He glanced over at Ferrah.

  She seemed to recognize something was taking place, and she scanned the horizon, though as he followed her, there was nothing he was able to make out. Whatever else was out there was beyond his ability to determine.

  It was power—he was able to feel that much at least, but he wasn’t entirely sure what the source of it was.

  He was sure it wasn’t the elemental. As he focused on earth, maintaining his connection to hyza, he could still feel the elemental behind him. It had not neared, and the longer he focused on whatever else was out there, the more certain he was that he was picking up on something else.

  Ferrah edged closer to him.

  He unsheath
ed the warrior sword and held it ready, prepared for whatever was coming. Looking around, he couldn’t see what it could be, and though he could feel the energy, he didn’t know where it was coming from.

  Ferrah shook her head. “I feel it, but I don’t see anything.”

  “I don’t see anything either.”

  “Can you sense anything?”

  Tolan pushed out with another connection to earth, using the shaping as he had the last time. Typically, when using earth in this way, there was no purpose for a shaping, but right then, he wanted to know if there was anything there and if he didn’t push outward with enough strength, he wasn’t sure he would be able to determine that. In the case of what he was trying to do, he needed to have access to all the energy he could.

  The shaping washed away from him, but he didn’t feel anything.

  The only thing he detected was the corrupted elemental. It was still there and making its way toward them, moving in a generally direct path. The corrupted elemental knew where they were.

  There was still something else out there.

  Could it mean there were other elementals? There was certainly the possibility other corrupted elementals had escaped, but hyza’s message had been about more than just corrupted elementals. There was something else he was supposed to know, and although he knew that, he also didn’t know just what that something was.

  What he needed was a different sort of power. For it to work, he’d need it to be tied to the elemental, not through him.

  Fire.

  If he used fire, he had to believe there would be some way to let it radiate out from him. Normally when he was using fire, there was no attempt to detect anything else within it, but in this case, Tolan didn’t know there was any other option.

  If he were in Terndahl or at the Academy, he might draw upon the other elements, including wind and water. Instead, he had to focus on the connection he shared with hyza, the flames burning within the elemental, and let that power wash outward in a blast of energy that struck the air, heating it.

  It streaked outward, flowing in waves and ripples of heat. The rippling energy reminded him of what the corrupted elemental had done.