by David Ekrut
“Everything,” Jasmine said. “People feared the Elements, but without elementalists, we would be powerless against the dragonkin. The Shadow Wars killed many elementalists on both sides and ended many fears with the birth of the Guardians of Life. Becoming Death bound was outlawed, but the damage had been done. As you know, our power is passed through bloodlines, and over time, we began to grow weaker. We have seen fewer elementalists gifted in two Elements than in any other time. Taming three is as rare now as four was before the Shadow Wars.”
The trees and bushes opened to a stretch of sand that surrounded a pond. Jasmine stopped at the edge of the pond and turned toward Elwin. Beneath the clear water, Elwin could see countless fish of multiple colors swimming in schools.
“This is where you come in,” Jasmine said. She looked at him for several moments without speaking. Despite his best efforts to meet her gaze, he found himself fidgeting.
“You are he who is True.” Zarah’s voice beside him caused Elwin to jump. He had forgotten she was there until she spoke.
“What?” he said. “What does that even mean?”
“A true elementalist can tame all four Elements,” Jasmine said. “Even before the Shadow Wars, such gifts were rare, but none have existed since the time of Abaddon. Until now.”
Elwin tried to work moisture into his mouth, but swallowing didn’t help. When he spoke, his voice came out a croak. “What does it mean?”
“Few can agree on all the implications,” Jasmine said. “This is why I hesitate to tell you of the prophecies.”
Elwin threw his hands in the air. “Then why did you ever mention it at all?”
“Because,” Jasmine said in a serious tone. “There is one point upon which all scholars agree.” Jasmine licked her lips and took a deep breath. “Once a true elementalist comes again, it will mean the Awakening is upon us.”
Elwin stared at her for a moment. The Awakening? That was a children’s tale. If a child misbehaved, the dragons would take him in the night. The Awakening was no more real than wyvern or gnomes. What creature could sleep for three thousand years and survive?
“The Awakening is real,” Jasmine said as if reading his thoughts. “The dragonkin will rise. And you are at the crux of it all.”
“No,” Elwin said. “I don’t believe it. How can I be at the crux of anything? I’m a farmer.”
“You may have been raised a farmer, Elwin. But you are from an old and noble bloodline. Bain Solsec is your father. I have confirmed it with Thirod Alcoa, king of the nation of Alcoa. You are the Son of Bain.”
Elwin backed away from her, shaking his head. “No, I don’t believe it. How can you confirm it? He’s never met me.”
“It does not matter,” Jasmine said. “He is aware of you and has trusted you into my care. What matters is that you are a true elementalist. The dragonkin will come during your lifetime. And you need to be ready.”
“But what am I supposed to do? If the dragonkin are real, what does it have to do with me?”
“The prophecies are not clear. Most scholars believe that whether you act or not, the dragonkin will rise. If you Awaken them, then you will bring about a new order. If someone else Awakens them, then the world as we know it will end. And another will rise.”
“Someone else?” Elwin said. “Who? Bain?”
“I do not know. There will be at least one other true elementalist. Maybe more.”
“I don’t understand. If there will be more … more like me, how do you know I am the one that needs to wake them? It could be—”
“It is you,” Jasmine said in a firm voice.
“But how do you know?”
“Because I know.”
“How?” Elwin said, not attempting to hide his frustration. “How do you know?”
“Because I have faith in the Lifebringer.”
Elwin stared at her at a loss for words. The Lifebringer? What kind of answer was that? He had faith too, but he couldn’t see how faith made him the destroyer of all Arinth. He opened his mouth to say as much, but Jasmine spoke first.
“Because the alternative is not possible. I am not sure how many true elementalists there will be. Many assume there will be no more than two for the simple fact that even one seems improbable. The prophecy says there will be two, but it also says powers lost will become like new. Some believe this means there will be many like you. Perhaps we will rediscover the Words of Power. This is not known. However, it is widely believed that one such true elementalist will be bound to Death. If he Awakens them, we are lost. You are pure of heart, Elwin. I must believe that you are the one to bid them rise. You must be the one.”
He looked away from her. Why had he asked? He didn’t want to know about the prophecies anymore. Jasmine had to be wrong. This had nothing to do with Elwin.
“Who came up with these prophecies anyway?” Elwin asked.
“The prophecies were said to have come from the Librarian of Tanier. Legends say the Librarian could see all possible futures and wrote the prophecies to give Arinth hope for the future.”
“Hope?” Elwin asked. “How could dragons rising give anyone hope? Where is this Library?”
“Sometime before or during the Shadow Wars the great Library of Tanier vanished. There are many theories as to what happened to it. The most prominent being—”
“Never mind,” Elwin said. “I don’t care. I’m not going to wake any dragons. Ever. If they are even real.”
Her gaze hardened, and she crossed her arms beneath her bosom. “I understand that you are upset, but you will mind your tongue.”
“Upset?” Elwin said. “I was upset that I lost my new book. I was upset that you wouldn’t let me see Feffer after his injury. I’m upset that I’ve been training for two months, and I have still learned nothing. You just told me that I will bring about the end of the world. Upset? Upset?”
Elwin sat hard on the sand.
Zarah knelt beside him. “You have not been listening,” she said. “The Awakening is not the end. It is the beginning.”
“Enough,” Jasmine said. “You need to train. Whether you choose to believe in the prophecies or not, you have already begun to fulfill them. The Lifebringer save me, you will be ready.”
“Fulfill what?”
“Enough,” Jasmine said with such force Elwin flinched. “When I feel you are ready to hear more, I will tell you more. We need to open your mind’s eye further. You have made remarkable progress in these few tendays. Even when your thoughts are distracted you can make it to the third stanza. Though you have much work to do, I feel you have gained enough control over your essence that I am comfortable moving on to the next step.”
She turned to Zarah. “You will be included in this lesson as well. Sit next to Elwin.”
Zarah settled her skirts into the sand next to Elwin without so much as glancing at him. What had he done to upset her? Nothing. He hadn’t done anything. Elwin didn’t write any thumping prophecy. Some librarian did that. And apparently, he hadn’t done a very good job with it. After all, no one could agree on what the thumping thing said.
“Pay close attention,” Jasmine said.
Elwin felt the Air stir the moment Jasmine opened her essence. Wisps of white light gathered around her and disappeared as the power fused with her.
“It is necessary to continue the flow through your essence even as you use the power. You must remain mindful of your essence. Remember, your essence will become exhausted as you tame the Elements. If your essence becomes exhausted while you are in flight, there may be no pond to break your fall. Now watch me.”
As the breeze became stronger, more lights began to fuse with Jasmine’s essence and vanish. A moment later, Jasmine’s feet lifted a pace above the sand. The light began to leak from her eyes.
“Going up and down is the easy part,” Jasmine said. “After you master
this, I will show you how to go forward and backward. It is a matter of altering your will. The flow of Air is not what sustains flight. The flow of Air is essential, of course, but your consciousness is what guides the Elemental power. This is why you must master your mind’s eye. Feel what I am doing through your essence. The vibrations from my flow of power can be felt by your essence much in the same way you can see me with your eyes. Focus.”
Elwin did as told. But, in truth, he didn’t have to focus. He could feel the pull of Air flowing around her body to lift her. Elwin thought he could replicate her actions in a similar way he could reproduce the fighting forms by watching Jasmine or Zarah go through the motions.
Jasmine reduced her flow and her feet eased back to the beach.
“Now,” she said, “Who wants to tell me how it was done?”
Zarah opened her mouth to answer, but Elwin cut her off. “I don’t know if I can tell you, but I think I can show you.”
“Very well,” Jasmine said. “Proceed.”
“What?” Elwin said, not bothering to hide his shock. She had not let him do more than open his essence to Air and release the power. Having the permission granted so casually had taken him off guard.
“I said, I want you to show me. Go on.”
Elwin stood up, a sudden feeling of excitement creeping onto his face. He smoothed the grin away with his hand. This was no time to look like a country bumpkin.
Then he took a deep breath and focused on the Air. Feeling the power all around him was much easier than trying to move his essence, and by now opening his essence to Air was a simple exercise. As it filled him, his heart beat faster. This was the part where he had always pushed it back into his surroundings. The palms of his hands began to sweat.
The breeze around him felt cooler. He could taste the spray of the water and smell the scent of bark from the trees. Forcing his breathing to slow, he willed the Air from his essence. Flows surrounded him slowly and became a part of him as if he had grown a new arm or leg. Or wings.
Before attempting to lift himself from the sand, he worked on maintaining the balance of Air going through his essence. He could feel his essence drain as the flow of Air surrounded him. But, he could balance the amount he tamed by leaving his essence partially open to the incoming flow.
“Here goes,” he said.
He willed the flows surrounding him to rise. His feet lurched from the ground, and he found himself falling a dozen paces upward. Not again. No. He wouldn’t allow himself to panic. He focused on the Air around him and in his essence and realized significantly less Air remained than when he had started a moment before.
His memories darted back to the day of the solstice festival, and it became clear to him. He remembered thinking he had grabbed the Air to lift him. And he had. He had pulled Air through his essence to fly, just like he did at the moment. To fall, all he had to do is not pull more Air into his essence. If he pulled too much, he would go up, but he need enough to sustain his flight.
Trying to judge how much had been required to go this high, Elwin opened his essence to what he gauged to be the right amount of Air and let it fill him while willing himself upward. His stomach lurched as his body jerked another dozen paces upward.
Halving the amount of Air, he repeated the process. This time he only went up a few paces. He continued this process a few more times until he didn’t go up or fall. Air surged through him, sustaining his flight.
Then he looked around.
More than twenty paces below, he saw the pond. Red and yellow leaves mingling with the green, announcing the coming fall. He was higher than many of the trees, but the tallest redwoods still hovered above him. They were sparse enough that he could see the castle beyond the garden.
His already rapid heartbeat began to feel like thunder in his chest. Below him, Zarah was on her feet staring at him in stark disbelief. He couldn’t believe it either. It felt amazing.
“I did it,” he called to her. “I’m doing it!”
Jasmine nodded, the corners of her mouth turned upward in the briefest of smiles.
“Now,” she called up to him. “Can you come back down?”
Elwin thought about it for a moment. “I think so.”
Unlike going upward, he didn’t have to will the flows to take him up. He simply had to lessen the amount of Air flowing through him. His body eased back toward the sand. When his feet touched, he sat down and released the remaining Air. Sweat touched his forehead, and he found his breath labored as if he had run a league. His heart still thundered in his chest.
“Very good,” Jasmine said. “The fatigue you feel right now is normal. In time, you will become more efficient at taming the Air necessary to sustain your flight. The amount you used just now is far more than you will need with practice.” She turned to Zarah. “Would you care to try?”
She nodded, but her face had paled.
“You can do it,” Elwin said.
Zarah’s scowl could have peeled flesh. “I know I can. I have been waiting for permission to do this for at least a year.”
She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath with a look of determination gleaming in her eyes. A moment later, a breeze stirred and Air fused with her essence. The flows surrounded her and for several moments, she didn’t move. Elwin could feel the adjustment in her taming the moment it happened. Zarah’s feet lifted from the beach with much more control than Elwin had demonstrated.
Her body rose no more than four paces above the pond and hovered in place like Elwin had. A smug smile crept onto her face as she looked down at Elwin. Then, she lowered herself back to the beach without a flourish.
Jasmine nodded in approval. “Very well done Zarah. Perhaps, I could have let you learn this sooner. But, if your father had his way, you would never learn to fly.”
Zarah’s smile faded at the mention of Zaak, and her chin rose a few notches. She crossed her arms beneath her breasts and puckered her lips in a sulky expression.
“In any event,” Jasmine continued, “waiting has proven no harm. Now, I want you both to practice a few more times before Lord Lifesong meets you for sword training. Elwin, you first. This time, I want you to ease yourself from the shore. Careful now. Follow my instructions … ”
Chapter 12
A Direction
Bain sat up in his bed.
The words, “Seek him in the nation of islands,” hung in the air like a dissipating fog.
The Father had not come to Bain’s dreams in years. Not since he had shown him where to find the Book of Erudition. Bain would be a fool not to listen to the Father. The book had led Bain to the castle of Abaddon and to his position of power. And of course, there was the Father’s other gifts. He would be nothing without those.
And now he had a direction.
Hours remained before first light, but near-on fifteen years had been long enough to wait. Bain dressed and shouted orders to Bertavan, his manservant, as he hurried toward his war chamber.
Taming Fire and Death, he untethered the wards around the double doors and entered and walked to the massive, stone table that stretched across the room. A miniature replica of the known world protruded from the top.
In several places on the board, wooden figurines in the shape of skeletons had been placed in areas of Bain’s control. Hundreds of black-robed figurines rested on every major city in every nation. Each had a number carved into the back of the head, matching a corresponding name in the ledger lying open in front of him.
Even while he dominated southern Alcoa, his agents gathered intelligence to conquer others. He had taken many of the cities south of the Tanges River and could finish them if he continued his current stratagem. Of course, those plans would have to wait.
His eyes settled on the group of islands to the west. Somewhere in the cluster of islands far south of the Blood Isle, called the Island Nations, someone
held his son. After she had stolen Elwin away, Athina had returned such a short time later, so he had never considered a search so far west. Travel by sea would take a quarter to a third of a year to reach the islands. And, the islands were scattered and many. Searching them would have taken years. And likely still would.
Why had the Father not been more precise?
No. He would not question the Seeker’s wisdom. The fault was his own. None of Bain’s agents in Alcoa or elsewhere had found his son. All these years, Zeth had failed in his search for Elwin, because Bain had sent him north to scour Norscelt and Kalicodon. At last, Bain now had a direction to send his hound.
Bain looked back to the ledger. Who all would he send to conquer the islands? Some must stay behind. Losing ground to Alcoa was not an option. He simply needed to hold their advance.
Fasuri entered wearing only his small clothes and saluted. The man’s bald head accentuated his gaunt face.
“My liege.”
“Sit,” Bain said. “You are from the Island Nations. Correct?”
“Aye,” Fasuri said taking a seat. “I was born in Napri. It is amongst the smallest of the islands.”
Bain nodded. The smallest island far to the west. Athina was wise.
“I am changing course for our savants, and I want you to lead them. Zeth’s orders will supersede yours only in matters of finding my son. This is what I would have you do …”
Chapter 13
Regrets
A man follows his destiny like a leaf blown in the wind.
At times the wind is a soft breeze, carrying its passenger to some quiet place, where the gentle hand of nature caresses him as a mother does her child. There is peace in this haven, where the traveler is at one with his destiny.
A storm is most vicious when it finds one in his haven. This storm is like a living force, the Tempest, who ensnares her unwary prey. With all the fury her name implies, she thrashes and tears apart what is safe, unfettered by the damage caused. In her wake, she imparts to her lowly victim knowledge that strengthens and binds, destroys and rebuilds, brings love and harbors hatred. It is in this place where a man is made or unmade.
