The Earth Awakens (Elemental Academy Book 2)

by D. K. Holmberg

  “That’s a terrible game.”

  Jonas shrugged. “What can I say? We were kids. We would try to convince others they were birds or sheep or sometimes even water. Those easily persuaded would be the most fun. As we connected with our shaping ability, we would sometimes add elements to it, making them believe.”

  “What’s your point?”

  “My point is, we don’t know what a spirit shaping does. It allows the spirit shaper to know another person’s thoughts, but it also supposedly lets them influence them. Can you imagine what would happen if the Grand Inquisitor used that on us, forcing us to do whatever she wanted?”

  “How do you know that’s not the purpose of the Selection?” Tolan asked.

  “Because I wanted to be selected since I first learned to shape,” Jonas said. “That’s my choice. Coming to Amitan and to Terenhall has been my choice. I know that’s not shaped. I know that’s not something she placed in my mind. And I know that’s not what one of the other Selectors did to me.”

  “What if there were other things they did place during the Selection?”

  “We won’t know until we keep training,” Jonas said.

  Tolan leaned back. He couldn’t shake the sense that somehow, he was avoiding a spirit shaping. It had to be more than simply the fact he was connected to spirit, though he believed that was a part of it.

  As much as he wanted answers, and as much as he hoped his friend would have them for him, he didn’t think Jonas cared. He had wanted to come here, and nothing was going to convince him he hadn’t. Not even the possibility some of this had been shaped.

  13

  Tolan whistled softly to himself as he wound between the trees. His voice drifted off, carried by the wind, and he could almost feel as if he had some great connection to it. Sitting in the park had been relaxing, and as it was now time to return to the classroom, he was heading back. He had no interest in missing any of his classes. There might be something he could learn in them.

  A strange sound caught his attention.

  Was that the sound of a branch cracking?

  He froze, listening. The wind seemed to whisper differently than it had before.

  He looked around, unable to shake the sense something was off.

  Glancing all around but not finding anything, he started forward again.

  As he went, a strange sense grew. It came through his connection to earth, and as he picked up his pace heading through the forest, wandering away from the park and back to the city, he thought he detected something.

  Every time he spun, looking behind him, he found nothing.

  Just his imagination.

  But then, the idea the disciples of the Draasin Lord were in the forest was enough for his imagination to fill him with fear.

  The strange earth sense remained.

  He started running. Even running, there was that feeling of pursuit.

  Every so often, he glanced over his shoulder, seeing nothing, and when he plunged through the border of the forest and into the city, relief swept through him.

  He ran the rest of the way back to the Academy, and all the way up to the water classroom. He sat there, breathing heavily, and as everyone filed in, taking their seats and the class began, he couldn’t shake the strange fear that had filled him. It was anxiety mixed with the sense of what he’d seen during the last attack, and how he was convinced he had seen Master Daniels. Though he and Ferrah had searched through the entirety of the city as much as was safe to do, there had been no additional sign of him.

  Tolan remained convinced it had been Master Daniels, except the man he knew and remembered hadn’t had that kind of power.

  Maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe that wasn’t Master Daniels, but if not, it was someone who resembled him.

  Jonas elbowed him and Tolan swiveled on his chair to look over at his friend.

  “Aren’t you going to pay attention?” he whispered.

  Tolan flicked his gaze to the front of the classroom. Master Wassa was droning on about some technique of shaping, and it was one they were all expected to utilize, drawing on the power of the bondar.

  “I am paying attention,” he whispered.

  “No, you’re not. You’re staring off, and I’ve seen that from you often enough to know there’s something bothering you.”

  “What’s the point?”

  “What do you mean? The point is, you will attempt to shape through the bondar, and eventually you will master water. Isn’t that the point of being here?”

  Tolan considered telling Jonas he was never going to reach water, and regardless of how many times he might try to shape through the bondar, it simply wasn’t going to work for him. And yet, if he did share that with Jonas, all he would do was admit he had failed.

  “You’re right,” he said.

  “I’m right about what?”

  “About me needing to pay attention.” At this point, it seemed he would be better served spending his time in the park. At least it was peaceful there.

  “The nature of water is such that there are different flows within it,” Master Wassa was saying. “Some of you will reach water in its gentler forms, while others of you will need to feel the full assault in order for you to be able to manage it. And even when you can reach it, some of you will require that water flow within you before you can use it in any sort of way.”

  Tolan certainly knew what it meant to have the power of water slamming into him, but what did he mean about allowing the sense of water to flow through him?

  Maybe he wasn’t expected to understand.

  “Today, I would challenge all of you to search for the gentle form of water.”

  “How are we supposed to find the gentle form of water?” Tobias asked. He was younger than most and had quite a bit of potential, but unfortunately—at least for Tolan—he had a preference for Draln and was one of his frequent hangers-on.

  “There are many ways of reaching the various types of water. When we are dealing with the gentle form, I would suggest we think about a burbling brook, or a soft waterfall, or even the mist sprayed up from the sea.”

  “All of those are different?” Tobias asked.

  “All forms of water are different, and all take a different touch. When you begin to understand it, you can begin to understand water. Some of you may never reach water in its fullest form, but for those of you who can and do, you will be rewarded by the kind of strength other elements cannot easily match.”

  He pulled a tray out from one of the shelves along the wall and set it on his desk. He motioned for them to come forward and claim the bondar if they needed it. Only a handful within the class still required the bondar, Tolan being the only one needing it for all of his classes.

  When Tolan had grabbed one of the bondars and taken a seat, he rolled it in his hand. Water was different from the others, but what was no different was the fact he had never managed to convince water to be effective for him, regardless of how much he could try.

  “Did you hear they still don’t know who attacked the capital?”

  Tolan glanced over to see Draln leaning over his table. The other two sitting on either side of him had their focus on him. Only one had a bondar, and Tolan wondered why Draln tolerated Cassie and her inability to shape water without it. But then, Cassie had wavy black hair and a curvy figure, so maybe he understood a little bit. And it wasn’t as if Cassie had no abilities. She was particularly powerful with earth, and he’d seen she could hold onto a significant wind shaping as well.

  “I can’t believe someone managed to destroy the entire palace,” Lauren said. He was a little older and had a slight figure along with a sharp nose. His eyes seemed set almost a little bit too close together, but despite that, Lauren was an incredible shaper, rivaling Draln.

  “It was the disciples again.” Draln looked around the room and Tolan averted his gaze, not wanting to be seen looking and listening.

  Jonas was caught up in his attempt at shaping, unmindful of the fact Tolan
hadn’t even tried to shape through his bondar. He hadn’t heard anything from anyone else in the city, not enough to know how others had received the news of the attack. Most probably, they didn’t even know anything about it, nothing other than that it had happened. With the Shapers Path, the master shapers would have been able to conceal the fact the city had been attacked, but when it came to the palace, there was no concealing it.

  “Again? We don’t know there was an attack before.”

  “I told you what I heard,” Draln said.

  “That’s what you heard, but Master Gilbren said there was no damage to the Shapers Path. I even went—”

  “You don’t think the masters can restore the Shapers Path? Who do you think created it? It’s invisible to anyone else, so it would be relatively easy for them to restore. What I’m talking about is something far more difficult to hide.”

  “Why do you think the disciples would attack the palace in the first place?” Lauren asked.

  It was the same question Tolan had. There would be no reason to attack the palace. It didn’t disrupt anything unless they thought that by attacking the palace, they would somehow disrupt the rule within Terndahl, but all it had done was shift part of the ruling of the country into the Academy.

  “It’s a show of strength.” Draln raised his hand and water coalesced above it, forming a ball. He swirled it, rotating it slowly, and then with the flick of his wrist, it went streaking toward Tolan and exploded in a spray.

  Tolan jerked his head toward Draln.

  “What was that about?”

  “A demonstration of what you have to look forward to.”

  “Is that right? Am I supposed to be impressed you will throw water at me?”

  “Just wait till that water is scalding hot and scorches your skin off. It doesn’t take much to take that little bit of water and mix it with a little heat…”

  The moisture in his clothing began to burn and Tolan swore under his breath, focusing on the furios and drawing the heat out of the water and into the furios. At least he had enough control over fire shaping to do that. It had the added benefit in that it dried out his clothing, and he glanced over at Draln.

  “Thanks. You should really try a little harder if you intend to throw me off.”

  “Don’t worry, Ethar. I fully intend to take care of you when we have our duel.”

  “Are the two of you done?” Master Wassa asked.

  Tolan glanced over, not having realized Master Wassa had been observing them from the side. Had Marcella told Master Wassa about Tolan’s inability to reach for water? It wouldn’t surprise him, and as much as he wished she wouldn’t, maybe it would be a blessing. He could focus on other tasks during the class time. He had shown the ability to reach earth once, and though he hadn’t managed to do it again, and certainly not in a time when he needed it, the fact of the matter was that he thought he could reach one of the other elements. If he could get wind to answer, then he would be still quite accomplished, and more so than most of the shapers living in Ephra.

  “I’m sorry, Master Wassa.”

  “Save your experimenting for the student section. The classroom is for you to focus on the tasks I have assigned. And I would like you to focus on finding gentle water, Shaper Ethar.”

  A flush crawled up his neck and raced toward his face. Being called out like that left him wanting to do nothing more than disappear from the room, to go off and hide, but he couldn’t. He was stuck here until the end of the class session.

  He turned his attention back to the bondar, focusing on what he could think of that might be a gentle water shaping. Master Wassa had suggested a burbling brook or a stream, and now he had been thrown into the ocean, he had some idea of what mist spraying off the waves felt like.

  He started to think about the elementals of water and tried to imagine which of them were gentle. None came to mind as such. Maybe water didn’t have a gentle elemental, but Master Wassa believed there was some way of shaping in a gentle fashion.

  “You should be more careful before your duel,” Jonas said.

  Tolan glared at him. “You do realize the only reason I’m forced to do this duel is because you set me up for it.”

  “I didn’t make you do it. You agreed to it.”

  “You didn’t tell me a shapers duel would involve fighting to the death.”

  “It’s not going to go that far. Look at him. He’s a skilled shaper, but he’s still nowhere near as powerful as some of the master shapers. He can use each of the elements and reach into their bonds, but what you’re suggesting is he somehow has the ability to harm you using that. That simply isn’t possible.”

  “I think you’re overlooking something important when it comes to Draln.” Tolan kept his voice low, not wanting the other man to listen in, but if he were using a wind shaping, there might not be anything he could do to prevent Draln from being aware of what he was saying. “When it comes to him wanting to harm me, there might be an element of creativity that will do just as much.”

  Jonas gaped at him. “You’ve been talking to Ferrah, haven’t you?”

  “I asked Ferrah to help me.”

  “Figures.”

  “Why does that figure?”

  “Because you didn’t come to me.”

  “That upsets you?”

  Jonas shrugged and pulled on a water shaping, letting it flow over him and across his hand before cupping it in his other hand. “I’m not upset. It’s just that I grew up around him, you know? I’ve always been second best in Velminth. As much as I tried to develop my shaping, my talents never progressed nearly as quickly as his.”

  “Which is why you wanted me to have a duel with him?”

  “He’s already beaten me. I thought maybe you’d have a better chance.”

  Tolan set the bondar down, turning his attention to Jonas. “Is that what this is about? You’d lost to him, and now you want to see if I can do better? I don’t have the same capacity with the element bonds as you do, Jonas.”

  “Maybe not the number of element bonds, but you have the ability to use fire in ways I don’t think even Draln can do.” Jonas looked over Tolan’s shoulder and stared at Draln.

  Tolan hadn’t noticed how much Jonas actively hated Draln. He knew they’d never gotten along, and that there was an element of agitation between them but seeing this sort of hatred on his friend’s face was unexpected.

  “Ferrah said I need to have some creativity. If I can’t overpower him, she thinks there might be other ways of beating him.”

  “I hope so.” He took a deep breath and tore his gaze away from Draln and flashed a wide smile. “Either way, he’s not going to do anything that can hurt you. Like I said, when I had a shapers duel with him, there wasn’t anything he did that was more than painful.”

  “How painful?”

  Jonas didn’t answer, turning his focus back to shaping water.

  “Jonas? How painful?”

  “I did have to visit a water shaper, but I’m sure that won’t happen to you.”

  Draln laughed, and Tolan couldn’t help but feel as if he had heard Jonas talking. He forced thoughts of Draln out of his mind and focused on the bondar, trying to see what he could do with water. He went through the different elementals he could imagine, going from one to another, and with each one, there was no sense of the familiar fluttering he felt when he called upon hyza and the fire bond. Perhaps it was a matter of finding the right elemental, or maybe it was exactly as Marcella said and he truly had no ability with water.

  But then, he once had created moisture along the bondar. That had to matter.

  He and Jonas passed the rest of the class in silence. Every so often, Tolan would try to listen in to Draln, but he realized they had muted their conversation, likely shaped so he couldn’t listen. It wouldn’t take much to do so, a subtle shaping of wind that would wrap around them to prevent their voices from carrying. It was the kind of shaping he wished he was able to do.

  When they wer
e done, Tolan replaced the bondar on the tray at the front of the class. He lingered, others in the class heading out in front of him, and Jonas waited by the door. Ferrah had already disappeared, though that wasn’t entirely unusual. She had her session with her master, and Tolan knew she liked to be on time, which meant getting there early.

  “What is it, Shaper Ethar?”

  He glanced over at Master Wassa. “Do you believe all shapers have it within them to reach each of the elements?”

  “We have proven through the years that most shapers have the ability to reach each of the element bonds, but whether they do or not is a different matter altogether. Part of what we put each of the students through is the Selection, a process that helps us determine whether someone will have the potential.”

  “How does the Selection help determine someone’s potential?”

  “It’s a complicated process,” Master Wassa said. “And one that has been fine-tuned through the years. Over time, the Inquisitors have discovered various aspects of the Selection that are more insightful than others. The fact you’re here, Shaper Ethar, is enough to know you have that potential within you. The real question is whether you have some way of unlocking it.”

  He looked around, but the classroom was empty. If he couldn’t ask Master Wassa, who could he ask?

  “The mentor I was assigned seems to think I won’t reach water.”

  “And why is that?”

  “Because I don’t have much potential with the bondar, and her attempt at a sort of shock awakening of my ability didn’t work.”

  Master Wassa set his hands on the desk, clasping them in front of him. He looked up at Tolan, frowning down his nose. “What sort of shock are we talking about, Shaper Ethar?”

  “She brought me out to the ocean, and she—”

  Master Wassa touched his hand and a wave of shaping washed over him. It was cool, and with it came a passing of the anxiety that had been filling him. All of that simply dissipated, disappearing.