“My parents included me in their work. What sort of work did your parents do, Ethar?”
The way he said it, and the disdain in his voice, led Tolan to wonder just how much Draln knew about him.
Tolan had been careful not to reveal too much about himself here. He didn’t want anyone to question his allegiance to the Academy the same way they had in Ephra. Considering the fact he had so much experience with the elementals, there was even more reason to keep to himself.
“My parents were craftsmen,” he said carefully.
“Craftsmen? I suppose at the border of Terndahl, you people think you need totems and other sort of magical items to ward off the Draasin Lord. Unless you’re one of those who celebrates the Draasin Lord. I hear there are plenty like that out where you come from.”
Tolan gathered his things and stuffed the page into his bag before getting to his feet. “Velminth isn’t that much better, Draln. You come from a logging city.”
“I might come from a logging city, but my family owns the sawmill. My parents were both shapers who came through the Academy. What does your family own?”
Tolan glared at him, biting back any retort that would end up getting him into trouble. He didn’t want to anger Draln any more than he already had, and would rather just have the other man leave him alone.
He glanced at the two with Draln, Horace and Nevern, both shapers of moderate skill who had the ability to easily reach two of the element bonds and were quickly working toward a third. He decided to head on his way. It was easier.
“We’re going to have that duel soon, Ethar.”
Draln laughed as Tolan left, relieved he didn’t have to hear anything else they might say—for the time being.
He debated heading back to the student quarters, but there was plenty of time yet before he had to go to his session with Master Marcella. She would push him, and he didn’t look forward to the way she might make him shape, so he would rather take some time to himself.
How long had it been since he’d been to the park outside the city? There had been no further rumors of disciple attacks, so Tolan believed they were safe. Why not go and relax, ignore everything else?
Tolan wound through the city, passing a few carts moving alongside the road, ambling quickly, and hurried past people working. Some of the storefronts were occupied by shop owners attempting to coax people along the street inside. Many had their doors wide open, inviting the warm breeze, and from some of them, Tolan noted the smells of food, leaving his stomach rumbling. The Academy fed him well, never leaving him wanting, but there were some foods out in Amitan that he couldn’t find within the Academy.
Resisting the urge to go into some of those shops, he found himself heading toward the remains of the palace. Since the attack, he hadn’t come here, and now realized he should have done so before. As he neared, he saw there was already construction, the palace rising up once again, shaped into existence. Five earth shapers worked, the power they were wielding incredible, and he was surprised to note Master Marcella among them. Tolan watched, noting how they pulled stone from the fallen remains of the palace and joined them together. The shaping caused the fallen sections to fit together perfectly, as if they had always been intended to go that way.
A hasty fence had been erected, preventing anyone from getting too close, but even with that, most people out in the city kept a generous distance, almost as if they wanted to avoid upsetting the master shapers.
What purpose would there have been in destroying the palace?
That was what troubled him most of all. The attack on the Shapers Path had been an attempt to destroy the protections around the city, but the palace didn’t provide any sort of protection. The Academy served that role, but why then would the disciples of the Draasin Lord have attacked the palace?
He wouldn’t get the answers. The Grand Master would keep that from any student. Tolan continued to watch, amazed by how quickly the structure of the palace was rebuilt. Already, the central section had gained some form, resembling what had been before, though there were distinct differences. Whereas the previous palace had ornate and decorative features, this was smooth stone, though Tolan didn’t know if they would add that decoration later or if were going to leave it off. The shape of it was different, too. While he hadn’t visited the palace before, he had seen it from a distance. This was more of a circular shape, rather than a central structure with arms leading off it.
He continued to make his way around the boundary, watching as they continued to build. The power from the shaping reverberated, surging as the shapers worked. Were there only five earth shapers working on the palace? Maybe they were taking shifts. He’d have to ask Master Marcella about the palace when he met with her, though she’d likely view it as something he didn’t need to worry about.
As he continued to make his way around the fence, a sense of shaping came to him, though it wasn’t near the palace construction. Surprisingly, Tolan could tell it was a mixture of fire and wind, two unexpected elements so close to the building site—unless the shapers were using it to fortify the palace in some way?
He didn’t think so. From what he could tell, it didn’t seem as if the shapers were aware of it.
He still had time left in the day so he wandered, deciding it was time to return to the park. It had been too long since he’d gone, and he wound the long way, sweeping out from the edge of the city and reaching the forest. He knew he probably shouldn’t do this but continued meandering until he found the park and jumped over the wall to take a seat next to the tall finger of rock at the center.
He focused on a shaping. Fire, as that was what came easiest for him. When he’d come before, he had focused on his shaping but this time, he imagined a connection to saa.
The connection burst into existence, flames dancing around him much faster than before. Tolan released that connection hurriedly. He had shaped so easily—almost too easily. Had he been holding onto the furios? He didn’t think so, but could have done so without realizing it. He’d intended to try it without the furious this time.
Reaching again for his connection to fire, he envisioned saa again. He’d not used the elementals when he’d come before, though why not? That was how he shaped.
This time, the elemental burst into view, dancing in front of him, a flame hovering above the grasses.
Tolan released the connection. That was much clearer than he expected.
He looked around but there was no one here, and certainly no one watching.
Was it him—or was it this place?
Once again, he started to focus on his shaping. As he did, he used saa to envision a shaping, and there came a fluttering within him. He’d felt that fluttering before when imagining elementals.
The fluttering seemed as if it were answered, like a bell tolling and reverberating.
The reverberations came from above.
Tolan looked up and realized the shape on the top of the tower had started to glow. He’d been to this park many times since discovering it, but this was the first time he’d seen anything change.
He released his shaping, getting to his feet and looking up at the tower.
What was that?
He hurried back to the wall and took a spot on top of it, looking toward the sculpture. As usual, the grasses had reformed, showing no evidence of his passing. He’d never given that much thought, though he probably should have.
Tolan focused on a shaping again, but from here, there was a much slower response. It came, but not quite as easily as it had when he had been so close to the sculpture. He reached for the furios, squeezing it, drawing upon the image of the elemental, and saa surged into existence, but much weaker than before. He looked to the top of the tower, but there was nothing. No sign of any glowing. Just the tower.
Tolan didn’t think he’d imagined it.
Moving back to the tower again, feeling foolish as he did, this time, rather than focusing on a fire elemental, he focused on an earth elemental
—not just a shaping. There were dozens of earth elementals he knew, and he tried to think about which one would be the least likely to cause any problems.
Oshal.
It was nothing more than a stack of rocks, and while it could be powerful, Tolan doubted he had the necessary strength to do anything with it. As he focused on it, the ground set off rumbling, and suddenly, the elemental started emerging.
There had been no hesitation, no delay as there usually was when he attempted to shape. It was just the appearance of the elemental.
Could the park be something more than a peaceful place to practice? Could this tower actually help him shape?
17
Darkness surrounded him, a pitch black that enveloped him, and Tolan ignored it, focusing on the image of the elementals as he had been doing for the last hour. The tower pressed up against him, the sense of stone nearly overwhelming, and he thought about wind, letting it come to him.
A swirling gust spiralled around him, circling around the entirety of the tower, before he released it. The fact he had managed to succeed reaching wind had been a minor miracle. Reaching water had come as a shock, too.
That meant he had managed to reach each of the elements.
But then, he hadn’t reached the elements at all, had he? He had reached the elementals. And he hadn’t done it on his own. He had done it near this tower, the structure that somehow had given him a connection to those elementals. Maybe this somehow tapped into the Convergence deep beneath the ground, but he had nothing to tell him that was actually the case. The other possibility was that it was some sort of powerful bondar. With each elemental he focused on and called, his familiarity with it increased.
Why today, though?
It felt wrong to have such an easy time reaching those elements. Even more so than with the bondar, sitting here, drawing upon whatever power existed here, had allowed him to reach for a connection he had never known. Not only was it easy to come and reach for fire—and he had gone through every single fire elemental he could think of, other than the draasin—but it had become increasingly easy to reach the other elements.
There was some part of him that was tempted to see if he could summon a draasin.
Tolan wasn’t even sure whether he was drawing real elementals or whether this was simply imagined. If it wasn’t imagined, then he was actually shaping, connecting to the element bonds, something he wasn’t even able to do in the Academy.
Continuing to practice, he went from elemental to elemental, sticking within one of the elements as he did. Right now, he focused on wind, summoning and releasing, getting familiar with the various forms of wind, then switching once again to water. It amazed him when a mist streamed down his face, drawn from the air itself. Even more so was when he had managed to make rain begin to fall from the cloudless sky. And then there was the water that bubbled up from the ground, causing him to jump to his feet. If he were anywhere else, close to the ocean perhaps, he might have wondered if he could control udilm, an elemental only found in the ocean.
Marcella had said he had no ability to shape water. This was more than no ability.
He leaned back. He was tired, both physically and mentally, drained from the hours he’d spent here. A part of him wondered whether he should reveal to his friends that he’d come here, but they would likely warn him against coming to a place like this.
Because it was hidden deep in the forest outside the city, they would have suggested he should have stayed closer to Amitan. Tolan didn’t fear coming to the forest, though given the attacks that had taken place in the city, and the warnings the Grand Master had made, all suggesting people should remain within the city, perhaps he should. But then, there was nothing here that left him feeling as if he was in any danger.
Then again, if he hadn’t come here, he would never have discovered this. And this left him feeling as if he could finally shape. If he learned enough, he would pass the testing.
Maybe this was nothing more than a dream. Maybe crossing over the stone wall had put him into some sort of trance, forcing him to believe he could do something he couldn’t actually achieve. A spirit shaping, perhaps. If so, Tolan was content having it. More than anything else, he thought a dream like this would allow him to finally feel as if he had the ability to shape.
The stack of books he’d taken from the library depicting the elementals remained in his satchel. He had gone through them one by one, flipping through the various pages, using a shaping of fire he had been able to maintain in order to see in the dark.
There was one he shouldn’t try.
Tolan glanced up at the top of the tower. He had discovered when he focused on one of the elementals, one particular pattern glowed. He wasn’t able to tell which pattern it was, not without climbing up the side of the tower, and from the wall, there was no sign of what he had done. He suspected they were tied to each of the elements and wished he had an opportunity to tell which shapes represented which elements. Most likely, they were runes, and if he could uncover the key to them, maybe he could use that knowledge to help him understand the bondars? And then, the knowledge he was learning here could be translated to the bondars, and onward from there to being able to shape without them.
He shifted around the edge of the tower, reaching the section representing fire. It was the section that had glowed first for him, and as he sat there, he started envisioning the draasin.
It was dangerous, and the one he had never attempted before, but why shouldn’t he try to reach for it? It was nothing more than his way of shaping, not as if he was actually freeing these elementals. Each time he released that connection, the power was tamped back down, as if this tower was simply allowing him to augment his imagination, or perhaps somehow allowing him to tap into some different power.
Ferrah would warn him against this, even more reason not to reveal to her or Jonas that this place existed. And he had wanted to bring her here, but perhaps that would have been a mistake. They didn’t need a place like this to be able to shape. They had the bondars, and with those, they were able to do far more than he could. But then, with this place, he was able to shape more than they were able to do.
He focused, drawing upon the connection to fire. He had enough experience with fire and the way that the fluttering within him needed to coordinate. He needed to reach for the fluttering first, then began to visualize the draasin, though in this case, he focused on a smaller image, not wanting to draw forth a massive draasin that might escape control if it were real.
Slowly, the fluttering continued, power burning within him, and Tolan sat upright, watching as the shape softly glowed, taking form, growing larger and larger.
No. That wasn’t what he wanted. He didn’t want to create an enormous draasin.
He released the shaping but the draasin continued to emerge, growing larger and larger, the fluttering within him continuing to stir. Regardless of what he did, that fluttering continued, and he fought against it, trying to push it down.
Tolan began panicking.
If he was actually releasing a draasin, there would be no way of controlling it. He had no idea what he was doing and feared he had made a mistake. He grabbed his books, everything he’d brought with him and went racing toward the wall. When he reached it, he jumped on top of it, and the connection suddenly was severed.
The stirring within him gradually abated, and he breathed out heavily.
He had almost released a draasin.
He had no idea if it would truly have been unleashed, but he needed to be far more careful with this place. Not knowing what this place was, or what power was actually available here, he couldn’t risk the possibility what he was doing was real.
He jumped back down, heading back into the park. He didn’t want to be done, not yet, but at the same time, maybe it would be better if he were. As he neared the tower, he looked up. The symbol for fire continued to glow, even though he was no longer holding onto a shaping, and he didn’t feel that fluttering deep within
him the same way he had before.
He continued to look around, worried he had made something of a mistake. There was no sign of the draasin, nothing that would tell him that whatever he might have shaped was real. As much as he might want to continue to practice, he needed to head back. He was tired, and shouldn’t remain here.
As he backed away, he watched the top of the tower. The glowing began to fade, finally disappearing altogether.
At least that had happened. Thankfully, there was no more glowing, nothing that suggested he was still holding onto some shaping, and he continued backing up toward the wall. When he reached it, he climbed up to the top and scrambled over.
Tolan hesitated for a moment before turning and heading back toward Amitan. The path through the trees was easy to follow. As he made his way back to Amitan, he thought he heard a crunching.
Tolan spun, backing up toward the darkened trunk of a nearby tree. He pressed against it, and as he did, he scanned the forest, looking for signs of movement, but there were none. If only he had some connection to earth shaping, but out here, away from the tower, he didn’t.
Could he use earth sensing?
Most of the time, his earth sensing came with being able to determine species of wood—something valuable when he had been working with Master Daniels. He had been slower than Master Daniels, and wasn’t sure now would be much better. What he needed now was to know whether there was someone else in the woods with him.
Focusing on earth, testing his connection to it, he pressed through the ground, straining to see if he could pick up on someone.
At first, he detected the trees. There were hundreds throughout the forest, and surprisingly, it seemed as if the roots were all interconnected, but from there, he was able to detect something else. A nearby animal crept through the forest, although it did not come close to him.
There had been stories of the disciples, but there hadn’t been any more attacks and he hadn’t seen anyone outside the city.
Tolan continued to delve deeper into the sense of earth. He pressed farther than he had before, and as he did, he found himself reaching through the same strange fluttering he’d felt when near the tower.
The Earth Awakens (Elemental Academy Book 2) Page 20
