The Chaos Rises (Elemental Academy Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Are there runes on the other places of Convergence we have uncovered?” She watched him, something almost eager in her eyes.

  “I suspect there are but we just haven’t found them.”

  “What if you’re wrong?” Irina asked.

  Tolan ignored her, looking down at the ground. He didn’t see anything obvious, but everything within him told him there would have to be a rune here for each of the elements, especially with the nature of the structure that had been formed here. Why have this over a place of Convergence if there weren’t the markings that were needed in order to help control that power?

  “Do you see that?” Ferrah asked.

  “What am I looking at?”

  “Everything.”

  She frowned as she studied the ground, her mouth turned in concentration, and Tolan stared, trying to get a sense of what she was getting at. There wasn’t anything he saw.

  She noticed something, though.

  Ferrah pushed higher into the air and Tolan followed, chasing her.

  When he looked down this time, he could see the Convergence was in the center of the city. Arranged around it were buildings, but it was not the buildings that caught his attention. It was the street that wound around them.

  “There are runes here,” he breathed out. He looked over at Ferrah. “How did you see that so quickly?”

  “I have been looking for places of Convergence my entire life.”

  “That’s exactly what we need.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t really know. I’m still trying to understand just what my mother thought she would find here.”

  Tolan dropped to the ground, Ferrah and Irina following him. He headed back into the chamber, and once at the center of it, he pushed out with spirit along with each of the other elements.

  This time, he added a hint from the runes surrounding the building.

  The power built and swept through him, and he pushed it down toward the Convergence.

  The room began to shift.

  Somewhere nearby, someone gasped.

  The center of the chamber, the stones he was standing on, started to spin, sliding in a spiraling pattern.

  Tolan shaped, taking to the air and holding himself in place.

  As he hovered there, the ground where he had been standing opened up beneath him.

  The Convergence was down in the darkness.

  Tolan lowered himself toward it, the air shifting and becoming cooler as he did. There was a hint of something within it. Musty, almost. He breathed it in, and while doing so, wind whipped through, whisking away his attempt to try to understand.

  Elemental wind.

  Power swirled around him in a different way.

  Tolan looked over. The translucent forms of several different wind elementals were there, all working around him, almost as if they were trying to protect him.

  Warning him.

  He turned to Ferrah. “I get the sense we aren’t supposed to breathe in the air here.”

  “The wind elementals?”

  He nodded, pointing to where they swirled, though he wasn’t sure if she could even see them. His ability to make out the wind elementals was limited, mostly because of how difficult they were to see, as translucent as they were.

  Turning his attention to the Convergence, he could tell it looked no different than the others he’d seen. There was a sense of power, a rippling of grayish liquid, all surrounded by stone. Tolan made a circle of it, noting the runes placed in the stone, some of them so small he was barely able to see them. The nature of the work that had gone into creating these runes was incredible. It was unlike any other pattern he had seen before. Even in the other places of Convergence, the intricacy of the work was not nearly like this.

  “When you found the other places of Convergence, did they have anything like this?” he asked Irina.

  She stared at it, crouching down in front of one section of the pool, tracing her fingers above the surface. She used a hint of shaped energy as she did, letting it flow out from her, and as it touched the stone, it began to glow, spreading out in a sweeping arc all the way around it.

  “Nothing like this,” Irina said.

  “What do you think the purpose of it is?”

  “A bondar,” his father said as he descended what had become stairs. The stone that formed the flooring from up above was now a wide stairway. He stared at the pool, his gaze drifting from that and to the runes, shaking his head. “We knew there was something powerful here, but we never saw it.”

  “What do you mean that you never saw it?”

  “We didn’t know this was here.”

  “Then why were you here?”

  “The elementals were always drawn to it. We thought it was important to them and because of that, it was important to us.”

  Tolan frowned. Could they really have been so ignorant?

  He had seen ignorance even in Terndahl when it came to the elementals.

  “We call these places of Convergence. At first, we believed they were infrequent. Rare. There is one within the Academy in Amitan, and another within Par, along with two others Irina has uncovered, but none of them like this. They tap into something deeper. Something greater.”

  His father crouched down, tracing his hand along the surface. “The detail to this bondar is like nothing I’ve ever encountered.”

  “It’s more than just runes?” Irina asked.

  “What is a bondar other than just runes?”

  “I thought you said the bondars were designed in order to help connect to the element bonds.”

  “They do, but they tap into the power of the runes in order to connect to the bond itself.”

  His father continued to trace his hand along the surface of the stone, almost as if he was able to feel something beneath it. Given his father’s ability with creating bondars, it was possible he was able to do that.

  Tolan had made bondars. He understood what was involved, and he had some experience with doing so, but even with that experience, even with that knowledge, creating something like this would have taken an enormous amount of time.

  “Are they shaped?” Ferrah asked.

  “Even if they are, the concentration that would have been involved in shaping these would have been more than what anyone alive today would be able to do,” Irina said.

  “They had a different kind of knowledge,” his father said.

  Tolan continued his circling around the Convergence, but he didn’t detect anything.

  If this was a bondar, then it would be tapping into a greater source of energy than any other bondar he had found. When he had formed the sword, that bondar had been incredibly powerful.

  Why here and nowhere else?

  The only thing different here was the free elementals.

  That had to be connected somehow.

  “Was Mother ever here?” he asked his father.

  His father looked over, getting to his feet. “I don’t even know.”

  “Can you find anything?” Tolan asked Irina.

  She glanced at him, studying him for a moment before shaking her head. “I can use spirit in many ways, and I can sort through your memories, but what you’re asking is beyond me. She has created a jumble. Not only in his mind, but also your own. I suspect if we find our way around the entirety of the city, we will find the same. Her influence is everywhere.”

  Maybe there was a way to find out. He had to reach for the elementals, but so far, there was only one he could consistently speak with, at least at any given time.

  Tolan focused on hyza, calling that awareness of the fire elemental to him, letting that sense flow within him. Filling him.

  Was she here?

  She was unable to find this place. It eluded her.

  She knew what was here.

  She recognized the keys to power. Much like you did.

  His mother had come here, and she had been searching for the Convergence, but she had failed to find it.

  At
least as far as hyza had said.

  What would have happened had she found it?

  You see the way it is concentrated. She would have been able to use this place.

  Use it? How so?

  Do you believe fire is separated from fire?

  I believe there are elementals that are separated.

  Separated, but that does not mean separate. Fire is fire. What is heat but fire? What is steam but an extension of the flame? What is smoke but the remnants of fire? All of it is connected.

  You’re saying this place is connected to other places of Convergence?

  There are some places that are useful in ways others are not. You would not call to smoke when you wanted to cook. You would not call to the mist when you wanted to drink.

  How are those other places used?

  They are no longer used the way they were meant to be.

  How are they meant to be used?

  What do you see here?

  I see the power. I see the bondar. I see the runes.

  What else do you see?

  Elementals.

  That is the difference.

  Hyza retreated, and within his mind, Tolan could practically feel the elemental disappearing. The bondar was meant to provide a certain power to the elementals.

  Why here, though?

  This land was separated from the others, made difficult to reach, and it was a place where the elementals were allowed to be free.

  Separated from the bond.

  Many of the wild elementals had come here, but what if there had never been elementals bound within the bond in this place?

  Could that be the key?

  The bondar was nothing but a way to reach for the element bond.

  And in this place, the elementals were drawn here.

  Tolan opened his eyes and looked over at his father. “Have you seen the elementals coming here frequently?”

  “As far as we can tell, the elementals always come here. Why?”

  That had to be the key. “I think this ties the elementals to the element bonds. I’m not sure why that’s important. Yet.”

  There was still the matter of the hint of darkness he saw within the elementals. It was subtle and was no different than the hint of the darkness he saw within his father. Still, even though that darkness was there, he didn’t behave as if he was somehow influenced. He might have been touched by it and knowing the way his mother had used him, she most certainly had done something to him, but perhaps it had more to do with this land than anything else.

  It was an answer he didn’t have, but what he did know was that his mother had not reached this.

  “I think we need to head back to the Academy,” Tolan said.

  “I have not gotten what I need,” Irina said.

  “What do you need?”

  “I would ask your father’s permission to remain behind and study this place.”

  His father frowned. “What do you intend to do?”

  “I find all of this fascinating. With Master Ethar and Master Changen now fully capable of assisting the Academy, I think my time would be best served here.”

  Tolan wanted to argue, but perhaps it would be best if she stayed. Irina might find something that would help her understand the nature of what was here—and perhaps she would uncover something Tolan had overlooked. He might have a connection to the bondars, and he might be able to effectively use spirit, and he most certainly had opened up the space to allow them access to this place of Convergence, but he didn’t have the necessary patience Irina would have.

  Tolan still wasn’t entirely sure what it was that his mother was after, but more than ever, he was convinced it was tied to places of Convergence.

  She had come here thinking she might be able to find an answer, and when she had failed, she had disappeared for a time.

  Where had she gone in that time?

  That was the answer he didn’t have, and that was the answer he thought he needed to uncover.

  The only question was whether or not he could do so before she succeeded.

  20

  The warrior shaping brought them back to Amitan in a flash of lightning.

  When they landed on the rooftop, Tolan hurried through the building, passing along the wall of portraits, pausing for a moment. Now there were different elementals than he had seen before. In one of the portraits, he saw three draasin flying in the sky, their shadows stretching along the ground. In another, there was something looking like a serpent made out of water, swirling through it, and in another, he saw something that looked similar to jinnar, though larger, if possible.

  “What is it?” Ferrah asked.

  “Just another modification to the portraits.”

  “I still don’t see anything.”

  “I still think that in time, you will.”

  “What happens if I don’t?”

  “Then perhaps you weren’t meant to connect to the elementals.”

  “I know you want me to.”

  “It’s not so much a matter of wanting, as I am beginning to wonder whether or not we all need to connect to them.”

  “Why would we need to? You’ve seen the way the elementals can attack. I know what you experienced over there, and the Great Mother knows I experienced something similar, but over here? The elementals have been violent.”

  Tolan nodded as he continued along the hallway, staring at the portraits before pausing and looking back at her. “What was that?”

  “You’ve seen it. You know the reason the Academy has trained to suppress the elementals back into the element bonds. You’ve seen the violence out of them.”

  He had seen it, and that was his concern when he’d been around things like the Keystone. When he had freed the elementals, he had worried about how people might react. Even before he had done that, there had been wild elementals. He thought back to what he had seen at the edge of the waste when he and Ferrah had started their journey what seemed like ages ago. He had found hyza then, sending it to the free lands.

  That seemed significant, though as Tolan thought about it, he wasn’t entirely sure why that should be. The elementals had been more agitated when they were freed from the bond here, though would they be just as agitated in the other land?

  If they weren’t, why not?

  He could imagine a connection between the bondar around the Convergence having some impact on it, but what else would there be?

  They started down the stairs, Tolan still lost in thought, and when they stepped out into the main hall, he crashed into someone, catching himself briefly to look up.

  “I’m sorry about that,” he said, stepping back.

  Almost too late, he realized it was Draln. He shoved Tolan, forcing him back.

  “Ethar. What are you doing? You and Changen have been missing your classes lately. I thought you’d finally gotten kicked out of the Academy for your failure to adequately shape.”

  Tolan glanced over at Ferrah, smiling at each other. “That’s Master Ethar. And Master Changen.”

  “Master?” he sneered. “Neither of you would be able to test for master. They would have announced the testing.”

  “Would they? Perhaps they only announced it to those they deemed ready.” Ferrah grinned at Draln.

  Tolan turned his full attention to Draln. “Now I’m a master shaper, I do think you need to be a little more careful, Draln. You wouldn’t want me to be the one to set a punishment for you.”

  Draln looked at them for a moment before shaking his head. “Neither of you are—”

  “Master Ethar. I would speak with you; do you have a moment?”

  Tolan looked down the hall. Master Minden was there, standing near a small alcove shadowed by a sculpture.

  Tolan flashed a smile at Draln before heading past him.

  As they were out of earshot, Ferrah leaned close. “How long do you think it will be before he requests his own testing?”

  “Not long. Draln will likely figure out what’s required.”


  “He’s probably going to pass.”

  Tolan looked over his shoulder. Draln watched them, irritation on his face. It wasn’t that the other man was unskilled. Far from it. Draln was an incredibly gifted shaper, and because of that, he was likely to be promoted to master shaper quickly. It was just that Tolan worried about what would happen when he was.

  “I hope he chooses to leave the Academy when all is done,” Tolan said.

  “What does it matter?”

  “I suppose it doesn’t.”

  “After you find your mother, what do you intend to do?”

  There was more within the question than just what she asked, and he knew she was trying to find if his plans involved her, but right now it was hard to think of anything other than simply figuring out what had happened to his mother and what she was planning on doing.

  When he reached Master Minden, she had a stack of books in one arm, and the milky film over her eyes seemed to have cleared a little bit. “I wasn’t expecting you to return quite so soon,” she said.

  “We wouldn’t have, but I don’t have any real answers.” He looked around the hallway. There were other students making their way through the hall, many of them first-level students, though some were older. In the distance, Tolan caught sight of another student he would much rather not have any interactions with. He’d had enough of Velthan when they were in Ephra. He was surrounded by three others, all of them looking as if they hung on his words.

  Maybe he should go over to Velthan and torment him with the fact he was a master shaper. Velthan wasn’t nearly as gifted as Draln, and Tolan at least had the hope he wouldn’t be promoted to master shaper. “I can tell you about it, but perhaps not here?”

  Master Minden nodded and motioned for them to follow.

  Once again, she guided them down, sweeping toward the lower level and into the room where the Circle would meet.

  She used a shaping to open the door, which came open slowly with a soft hiss, a sense of power radiating out from it as it did.

  When they stepped inside, the lanterns gave off enough light for them to see by, but this time, they were alone. She closed the door, turning toward them and pushing outward with a shaping of wind and water, sealing off the entirety of the room.

  “You’re not expecting anyone else this time?”