Maybe that was something he should’ve figured out before now. When they had realized he’d been Selected probably was about the same time they had come looking for him.
And here, after all these years, he had happy memories of his parents. Perhaps those were as artificial as a shaped memory, nothing that could be considered real.
“I need to go,” he said, talking to all the elementals and none. More likely than not, none of the elementals would respond to him. It was likely they were all bound to his parents and the others on this side of the mountain.
Even if he wanted to go, how could he? He’d seen how difficult it was to get into this place. Reaching here would require a shaping of the kind Tolan didn’t know if he was even capable of doing. Did he have enough power to do something like that?
He had a hard time thinking he did. While he had shaping ability, he didn’t have strength, not like what would be needed in order to get out of here. And it wasn’t just shaping ability, either. Even if he were able to use the elementals, he wasn’t sure they would be of much use to him when it came to accessing the kind of power necessary to get through the mountain.
The other alternative would be to shape his way free, to travel the way the shapers of old once did, but in that case, Tolan didn’t have the necessary strength.
A flicker of red, a flash of fire, caught his attention.
He looked in that direction, frowning to himself. Could that have been hyza? He hadn’t seen that elemental in quite some time, not since he had freed it from the elemental bond, and it was one he was surprised he hadn’t seen before now.
Tolan started toward it, trailing after the fire elemental, noticing the trail that the fire elemental seemed to make. He kept pace with it, not wanting to get too far behind, and as he went, he was careful not to track too closely, giving the elemental some space.
It led him beyond the meadow, and surprisingly, he found he was drawn back toward the mountain where he had been let into this place.
A sense of shaping caught his attention, and he turned.
Several shapers made their way toward him and Tolan hurried toward the rocks, masking himself within them. He whispered to earth, drawing upon an earth shaping, hoping the earth elementals would be willing to help conceal him. He didn’t want his parents to know he was here, contemplating escape. There would be time enough for that later, and he would rather have them not know he was planning anything just yet. Not that he had any way of figuring out how he could escape. Getting out of here would involve far more than what he thought he could do.
The voices drifted, muted by his shaping. He hurriedly turned the shaping inward, using the technique learned when he was in his Inquisition. It masked the shaping, hiding it. They passed by without noticing him.
When they were gone, a powerful shaping built, splitting the stone, and they headed into it. Tolan was tempted to chase after them.
If he would have, he would have to keep near enough that he didn’t end up risking getting crushed by the stone as it collapsed behind them, which was reason enough to not try. He didn’t know if he could be quick enough, and if it came down to it, he certainly didn’t know if he was powerful enough to withstand the stone as it collapsed around him.
Tolan released his shaping, turning to study the wall. Maybe there was something there he could uncover that would help him determine the way to get into it. If it was all about shaping, using the power of the elementals, that was something he thought he could do.
According to the vision he’d had of his mother, the shapers here didn’t have the same strength with the element bonds as those in the Academy or in Terndahl, which meant this was the kind of thing he should be able to do. He didn’t need considerable shaping strength in order to get through the stone. The one thing he did have was a connection to the elementals, and the necessary strength in that.
Only, as he focused on the stone, thinking of the earth elemental that would be necessary for him to be able to cross over, he wasn’t sure he even knew where to start. Which elemental would give him the necessary strength to cross?
Another flicker of red caught his attention and Tolan spun, looking to see if the fire elemental was really there or not.
He didn’t think it was his imagination.
Standing on the pathway, leading up to the mountain, was hyza.
The elemental was larger than when he had seen it last, though it could have been another elemental. There were plenty within each type of elemental, but he had a sense this was the same one that had escaped the bond, the same whose escape he had somehow facilitated when dealing with Aela.
“Why did you bring me here?” he asked.
Tolan didn’t expect there to be an answer and, indeed, didn’t get one. The elemental instead turned and loped off, heading up the side of the mountain.
Tolan frowned but decided to follow the elemental. It was mostly curiosity, but it was possible the elemental would have something he could learn from it.
He had grown to trust elementals when they guided him like this.
Scrambling up the side of the rock, he wished for a bit more strength, but it didn’t seem as if hyza was trying to move farther away from him. It was almost as if the elemental waited for him, taking its time, giving Tolan a chance to keep up.
As he scrambled along the rock, he kept looking up, searching for why the elemental would guide him. There had to be some reason for it, something he thought Tolan could find, but there was only more rock.
“I don’t think I can climb over the mountain,” he said, hollering up at the elemental. He didn’t know if hyza would even know what he was saying. And if the elemental did, he didn’t know whether there would be any recognition of it.
He continued after the elemental, climbing step after step as he made his way along the rock face. Every so often, a cluster of flowers or a small scrub of plants grew, but surprisingly, Tolan recognized their presence even before he saw them. It was almost as if he could feel them, their pressure pushing against his awareness, a combination of his sensing ability mixed with perhaps his elemental connection.
Tolan lost track of time and how long he was climbing. His arms began to grow tired, burning with the effort. He found himself taking breaks, and still he decided to continue. Getting down from here would be far easier than the climb. He thought he could shape himself down, using a combination of wind and perhaps fire, but he wanted to know why hyza had brought him here.
He had a sense hyza was waiting nearby, not trying to run beyond the pace Tolan could keep. Whatever the elemental intended for him was ahead.
Was it nothing more than a way to get through the mountains without trying to open the doorway?
If that were the case, that would be valuable enough. If he could find an alternative route, he wouldn’t need to be dependent upon earth shaping and someone willing to open the doorway for him.
That didn’t seem quite right, though. Why would hyza guide him this way? If it was a doorway, hyza would have other ways to travel.
There had to be something else.
Higher and higher they went. Heat was building, though it might only have been the heat from the climb. Sweat streamed down Tolan’s back and his hands were beginning to throb from gripping the stone. It was nearly a vertical climb, and though there were good handholds, it made for slow moving. It amazed him that hyza was able to climb so quickly, almost as if this was nothing. To an elemental, it was possible this was nothing.
Was it his imagination, or did the sun seem to be burning more brightly?
Tolan took a break. He looked up, his breaths heaving, and searched for hyza, seeing where the elemental had gone. He found it crouched on a small cropping of stone.
The elemental watched him, its glowing bright red eyes attempting to meet his.
“What is it you want me to see?”
A hint of a voice whispered through the back of his mind. “Patience.”
Had he imagined that or had the el
emental spoken to him?
Tolan cocked his head to the side, studying the hyza elemental. It had to be his imagination, didn’t it? There was no way the elemental had spoken in his mind.
“Patience?” Tolan leaned back, looking to the ground below.
He been climbing long enough and far enough that it was quite a way down. He couldn’t see anyone moving, and at this point, suspected his parents had begun to look for him. Would they have some way of tracking him, using their connection to spirit—or possibly even a bondar? He suspected there would be some way for them to find him. After all, they’d found him at the Academy. But if they had wanted to find him, they should have done so before now.
“I don’t have much patience. I’m away from the Academy. Away from my friends. Essentially a traitor to one side now.” Tolan met the elemental’s eyes, and though it felt strange to talk to the elemental, at the same time, he couldn’t shake the idea hyza was listening. If only hyza could answer him, then maybe this wouldn’t be so strange or useless. “And now I’m here. I’ve become the traitor I claimed I wasn’t.” Tolan breathed out heavily, shaking his head. “And maybe that’s not even the case. I want to ensure the elementals are safe, it’s just… It’s just I don’t know what the right way to do it is. I don’t want people to get hurt because we are freeing the elementals from the bond, but at the same time, I don’t want the elementals to remain trapped within the bond.” He looked up, shaking his head and laughing to himself. “I doubt you understand any of this. Lead on, hyza. I will follow.”
“Patience,” a voice whispered deep within his mind again.
This time, Tolan was certain he hadn’t imagined it, but why would he need to have patience?
More than that, he had heard the elemental.
There was no doubt it was the same word, and that it had been repeated.
The only thing he could think of was that hyza wanted him to hear and wanted him to understand, but what else could he learn from the elemental?
Hyza started back up the rock, and with renewed determination, Tolan hurried after, scrambling to keep up. He moved with renewed energy and found he was shaping, drawing upon earth to make him stronger, wind to make himself lighter, water to restore the pain in his fingers. Was he supposed to be doing that as he went? He wasn’t even aware of the fact he was shaping; it seemed to flow out from him almost instinctively, yet it felt right.
Every so often, hyza would wait for him, looking down as if to watch, and Tolan nodded, trying to signal to the elemental he was still there and keeping pace, but he didn’t know if he would be able to keep at it for much longer. Even drawing upon the elements, his strength was beginning to wane.
It was probably a good thing he hadn’t tried to follow the shapers into the doorway. If he would have, and the door would’ve shut, he’d have ended up crushed. There was no question he would’ve been squeezed by the stone, slammed into nothingness.
He realized hyza was missing.
He didn’t see where it had gone.
Tolan crawled forward, summoning a reserve of strength, borrowing from earth in order to do so. His hands throbbed; whatever shaping he’d used to restore himself had made them better, healing them with water so he didn’t have to suffer quite as much as he had before.
The rock ended.
Tolan pulled himself up and lay there, looking up at the sky, staring at the sun. It shone down on him, a perfect circle. No clouds were in the sky; nothing marred the crystal blue beauty. In some ways, it reminded him of when he had gone with Master Marcella to the ocean and she had tried to coax him into learning to shape water by forcing him into it.
It was the kind of sky begging to be seen. It was almost as if he could walk across it, though in this case, maybe it was more likely he could swim across it. If there was a Shapers Path, then he could easily imagine traversing it and feeling a part of something greater.
Then again, lying as he did on the ground, his back pressed into the stone, the wind whispering around his face, the heat overhead, and a distant sense of water burbling from a stream as it ran down the mountainside, he saw a very different sort of power. It was the power of the elements and the elementals. They came together here, a place of power.
A place of Convergence.
That was why his parents were here. They used this place of Convergence, drawing upon it in order to have even more power, but what else did they use it for? Certainly nothing that helped others. Supposedly, they were after the elementals, seeking to free them, and yet, Tolan couldn’t help but think any help they had given the elementals had been not nearly as honest as he thought they needed.
A sense of movement caught his attention and Tolan rolled.
Hyza perched across from him. The elemental was only a few paces away, looking much more like a fox than it had before. It had an enormous head, pointed ears, and elongated muzzle. Despite all of that, it was the eyes that always seemed to draw his attention. It was the eyes that glowed with power and strength and a sense of purpose. It was an emotion he wasn’t sure he shared.
“Is this all about freeing the elementals from the bond?”
The elemental stared at him. As his eyes seemed to burn into Tolan’s, he couldn’t help but feel as if the elemental was trying to communicate with him, to send word of something, but what? Tolan didn’t know if he was bright enough to detect it.
“Are you going to tell me I need to do everything I can to free the elementals from the bond, too? I’ve done what I can. I just don’t know there’s much more that can be done without harming others.”
“Patience,” a voice whispered once again, this time not quite so deeply in the back of his mind.
“Patience with what? With working to free you from the bond or with all of this?”
Hyza didn’t answer.
Tolan laughed to himself.
This was foolish. He was probably imagining the word he heard whispered in the back of his mind. It might be only what he thought he wanted to hear rather than what he heard. There was no way the elementals were truly speaking to him, was there?
After a few moments of lying there, not moving, collecting himself and trying to regain his strength, he crawled to his knees.
He stood looking over the ledge, down at the land his parents had claimed, lands they used as their base of operations, claiming the power of the Draasin Lord. And maybe they weren’t the Draasin Lord. Or maybe they all were the Draasin Lord, much like his vision of his mother claimed. Either way, all of this felt wrong.
Worse, the Grand Master wanted him to share more about the Draasin Lord, but Tolan didn’t think he could. Even if he disagreed with what his father asked of him, he didn’t disagree with their desire to free the elementals from the element bonds.
He turned back to hyza, but the elemental was gone.
Tolan was too tired to keep chasing it. He focused on fire, wondering if the elemental had disappeared altogether. Maybe this was nothing more than a game of chase, and he’d been caught up by the idea the elemental could talk to him, but in reality, there might be nothing here to understand.
As he sensed for the elemental, he could detect it nearby, not nearly as far as he thought it would’ve gone.
Tolan started after him. The rock sloped up a little bit more, not as much as it had before. It no longer required him to scramble vertically up the side of the mountain. He took a few deep breaths, steadying himself to be ready for whatever might come, seeing if the elemental was trying to show him something, but he needn’t have bothered. There was nothing he could detect. The only thing he was aware of was that hyza was in front of him.
Not just in front of him, but nearby.
Tolan took another step, following the path that wound between two rocky prominences. As he went, earth pressed upon him, wind gusted, and he hesitated.
There was a sense of significant power.
Where was hyza leading him?
He needed to approach more slowly. If there was someth
ing dangerous here, he needed to be prepared for it, needed to make sure he didn’t get caught up in whatever it was the elemental was doing. Until he had some way of effectively communicating with the elemental, it probably wasn’t safe to just blindly follow like this.
Another few steps. He pushed through the stone, scraping by on either side. The wind pushed against him, but Tolan managed to withstand it. Once he was through, he paused.
There was an enormous sense of heat nearby.
Where was it coming from?
He couldn’t tell, though he could sense it.
“Hyza?” He whispered the elemental’s name, wishing he would’ve stayed closer to it. At this point, he no longer knew what he might encounter. He had thought it was going to be nothing more than hyza, but what if something else was here?
Heat was the most prominent feature.
Not just heat, but wind. A hot wind. It swirled around him, threatening to lift him up. Tolan realized they were in some sort of valley within the mountain, with nothing but rock all around. Water trickled down the side of the mountain, from streams all around them. The wind that swirled created a vortex of sorts, starting from some unseen height and spiraling downward.
The only thing he didn’t really understand was the sense of heat.
Then a voice whispered in the back of his mind. “Patience.”
Tolan started forward. If he was to have patience, then hyza was still here, and if hyza was here, then whatever the fire elemental wanted to show him was here.
Could it be this sense of power? Was that why hyza had come?
Tolan paused.
Shadows began to move and he darted back, pressing his body against the stone, staring at the center of the clearing. An enormous shape unfurled, drawing itself out.
As it did, Tolan’s heart stopped, skipping a beat.
The shock at seeing what lay in front of him was almost more than he could bear.
A draasin, and an enormous one at that.
Why had hyza brought him here?
“Because I am the Draasin Lord.”
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The Wind Rages (Elemental Academy Book 4) Page 21