From Flame and Ash

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  They came at us in waves. Literal. Waves.

  I had never seen such brutality in something that was meant to be so beautiful.

  When I was younger, I had been fascinated with the waves on a beach much like I had been fascinated with the undulations of flame. Although fire had always called to me more, water had still pulled me. But then again, so did a gentle breeze and the feeling of the earth between my fingers as I planted seeds.

  All those moments, all of those elements when I had thought I was only human came at me so fast, it was as if I saw my life flash before my eyes. I had been drawn to the elements without even knowing that was what called to me.

  But right then, it wasn’t about Fire or Air or Earth.

  It was about Water and how it came at us, in one swift blade of death, demise, and destruction.

  It wasn’t a trickle.

  It wasn’t a drip, drip, drip.

  It was a wave.

  And though we all threw up our hands, using our Wielding to try and protect ourselves and each other, it wasn’t enough.

  Arwin and Wyn both raised their hands up high, a wave of Earth blocking some of the initial impact of the Water.

  The ground beneath me shuddered, and I pushed my hands forward, palms out, to lend my own strength and Earth Wielding.

  I was stronger than Arwin, but not as skilled as Wyn yet.

  But I thought maybe I could help.

  Sweat dripped down my brow as the wave, a massive tsunami, started to crawl over the wall of Earth that we had made.

  Easton cursed under his breath and added his own Wielding to ours. This time, flames danced up the wall. When Teagan joined Easton, the flames leapt and evaporated some of the water coming at us, but it wasn’t going to be enough.

  Although fire could heat water, water doused flame.

  And while I added my own Air Wielding to the mix of Earth and Air to try and lift up some of Easton’s Fire, it wasn’t enough.

  The earth trembled and caved in.

  And then the water was on us.

  Easton grabbed me by the waist and tossed me to the side as the initial wave slammed into the others. I landed on my hands and knees, both grateful and annoyed that he’d been so quick to move me out of the way. By the time I got to my feet, I was shaking, and my hands were dirty and bloody from the impact.

  With so many powerful Water Wielders pitted against us, I wasn’t sure how we were going to survive this. I wasn’t sure who this League was.

  Nor did I know what they truly wanted.

  What I did know was what I didn’t know. Whether our efforts would be enough.

  I only had a second to glimpse Wyn, her dark hair blowing around her face from the sudden gust of air made by the wave crashing to the ground in front of us.

  And then she was swept away, her eyes wide as she looked over at me, her mouth parted. She couldn’t even let out a scream as she was knocked off her feet. And I couldn’t see where she had gone.

  I reached out to her, but then Easton was suddenly in front of me, his hands up, creating another wave of Earth Wielding.

  “Stop panicking and do something. We just need to get through the first assault, and then we can get to the League. But do something, Lyric.”

  The sharp rasp of Easton’s words was like a slap, and I was thankful for them.

  I had never seen anything like this before, and it had rattled me to the point that I was making mistakes. I wasn’t focusing on how to protect us. Instead, I was focusing on how we were all going to die because we weren’t strong enough.

  But that was a mistake. And I knew it.

  So, I nodded at Easton and let out a breath. “Okay. What can I do?”

  He glanced at me, an odd look in his eyes. I didn’t know if he was proud of me or honestly just tired of me. Because I knew I hadn’t been helping.

  “Arwin is searching for Wyn. Teagan is going to work with Fire. I’ll work with Earth. You work with Air, we’ll do what we can. Just breathe, Lyric. Keep fighting. No matter what.”

  I glanced over my shoulder just for a moment to see where Arwin was running down the side of the newly-made river through the Spirit territory.

  Somehow, the Water Wielders had changed the landscape of the territory itself as they kept sending wave after wave at us.

  Easton threw up one arm and pushed out his palm, and then whipped up the other. Each time a new wall of Earth Wielding slammed into the wave of Water Wielding, the resulting mess was mud, a slosh that made a sickening sound as it slammed back to the ground. It made an almost sucking sound as if it were going into a vacuum as the water receded into the earth.

  And then they were at it again, the elements slamming into one another.

  I added my Air Wielding to both Easton’s on one side, and Teagan’s on my other.

  My Air slid under the Earth wall that Easton made, lifting it a little higher so it could slam over the Water wave like a cap, bringing it down to the ground with a nearly deafening splat.

  And then I used my other arm, splitting my resources to lift the Fire that Teagan Wielded towards the water itself.

  Yes, the water doused the flame, but not before it was forced to stop due to the sheer heat of the fire.

  Even as I worked, I noticed that my Wielding worked better with Easton’s than it did Teagan’s. Was it because Easton was the king and therefore stronger? Or was it just because I had worked with Easton like this before? I didn’t know. All I could do was keep moving, one palm out and the other raised to the sky.

  My left palm faced the Earth mound that Easton Wielded, my right palm turned up as I moved both arms so I could help both men with their Wielding. I had learned this from the others. Even from reading the book that Rosamond had given me. Yet it wasn’t enough.

  My arms shook, and the power within me felt like it wouldn’t be enough.

  And still, the Water Wielders kept moving closer.

  One step. A wave.

  Another step. A wave.

  And then another.

  And another.

  The water receded before coming at us once more.

  And I screamed again.

  The waves slammed into us, breaking through our defenses.

  Wyn was back, somehow making it to the front of the battle with Arwin at her side. But she was screaming since we were now in a sea of our own, no longer standing on the Spirit territory side, but within the wave itself.

  We were drowning, suffocating, and I didn’t know how to save us.

  Teagan swam through the white caps, shouting as he tried to get to Wyn.

  She had one arm up in the waves, trying to keep afloat as she used her other to hold Arwin up. The young Earth Wielder had somehow been knocked out. Blood ran down his face from a large gash on his head.

  There were rocks and stones in the water, not from our Earth Wielding but from the sheer velocity and force of the wave the water had created when it slammed into the Spirit territory’s land.

  I was treading water, trying to stop swallowing buckets full as each wave slammed into us.

  I didn’t feel strong enough, I felt like we were losing.

  Another wave came at us, and I wondered if the Water Wielders were actually going to use the entire sea of the Water territory itself to drown us.

  Another small swell came at me from behind, surprising me, and I went under.

  Easton’s screams reverberated in my ears, and I looked underwater, my eyes wide even as they burned.

  I couldn’t see much, only wave after wave, the dark blues mixing with the turquoises and light blues of the sea itself.

  There wasn’t rain, wasn’t any actual wind other than what the waves themselves made.

  So the sunlight coming directly from both territories stabbed into the water, creating a kaleidoscope of colors under the surface.

  I could see Teagan thrashing as he swam towards Wyn and Arwin.

  And I saw Easton reaching for me, trying to come to me, but the League seemed to
know that we needed each other.

  Because they sent more Water at us, more Wielding to separate us.

  I couldn’t breathe.

  My lungs burned, and my whole body shook as I tried to swim to the surface, only to be pulled down deeper.

  The pressure made my ears pop and my eyes hurt, but I kept kicking, kept reaching for the surface. I was afraid I was going to die here.

  That I was going to drown.

  Terrified that I wouldn’t survive to do what others thought I could.

  I would never find out what the true prophecy meant. I would never find out what the other three elements felt like.

  I would become nothing, and all because these Wielders were more powerful than I was. I wasn’t enough.

  I reached up, trying to find a way to the surface, trying to suck in air even though there was nothing for me to breathe.

  I didn’t have gills, I couldn’t magically become a fish or a mermaid like Braelynn had become a cat. I could do none of that.

  I wasn’t a Water Wielder, and I didn’t know how to create an Air bubble to breathe underwater like I had read some Air Wielders could do.

  I could do none of that.

  I was dying. Drowning.

  Another wave hit, and I was suddenly thrust up into the air, just enough that I could gasp a breath, choking as I spit up water, the action sending hot pokers down my throat. And then I was slammed back under again, only this time, I wasn’t alone.

  All of my friends were underwater, as well. Each of them trying to use their Wielding to protect themselves.

  But we couldn’t do it, not on this border, and not with so many fighting against us.

  They wanted us to die.

  They wanted me to die.

  And then something inside me snapped. Not like the other times, not when it was like a lock clicking into place.

  No, this was as if the lock itself had shattered, not into a million pieces but just enough that I could feel water trickling out of the crevices, filling my body as if I had been empty before.

  My fingers tingled, and my eyes opened. Suddenly, I wasn’t drowning anymore.

  I was the Spirit Priestess.

  I would protect those who couldn’t defend themselves.

  But first, I needed to save myself. I needed to rescue my friends.

  While I was still underwater, and even though my lungs were on fire since I needed oxygen to breathe, I held out my hands and screamed.

  It was as if a volcano had erupted beneath the waves and I was at the center.

  Bubbles rose from my skin in rapid succession as if I were boiling, but I wasn’t hot, wasn’t even warm. In fact, I knew my lips probably had to be blue at this point, my body was so cold I was shivering, but it didn’t matter.

  I had unlocked my third element.

  I was Air. Earth. And now I was Water.

  I could fight back.

  And the League would lose.

  I knew I was probably going to use too much power, I was already using too much just by staying under the waves. But I would survive, and it would be enough.

  It had to be enough.

  I pushed out my hands, my palms facing forward, my fingers spread, and the water moved.

  I had no idea what I was doing, but I was operating on instinct, and I just knew that this was right.

  The Air and the Earth and the Water mixed within me, fighting each other for dominance, smashing into one another.

  I didn’t know how to fix that right now, but I knew that control would come.

  First, though, I had to make sure my friends stayed alive, and then I had to destroy those who had come to kill us.

  There was no sense of what was right or wrong just then. There were only the elements, the Water itself. I could hear it screaming in my ears, a siren’s song shouting at me that I had to obliterate those who had come to murder us. Who’d come to drown us.

  I knew that there were other ways to Wield Water. Ones that could tear the moisture from your skin and your actual cells. But these Wielders hadn’t done that.

  They had used sheer force and brutality. Therefore, I would do the same.

  And they would fear me.

  I didn’t know where those thoughts had come from or even if they were mine, but it didn’t matter right now.

  I pushed the water away, back at the Water Wielders.

  They were screaming, shouting.

  The heat around me burned.

  It wasn’t from Fire Wielding, though. It wasn’t even from within myself.

  It was from the sheer power and beauty of the Wielding.

  My eyes were open, but I didn’t blink.

  The League members looked at each other and then me, their arms outstretched as they tried to move the water back, but they were never going to be strong enough. Not at this first show of Wielding, not with my first temptation of the darkness. The abyss.

  I pushed out, slamming the water that they had used against us at them.

  They screamed. They writhed. They reached out, trying to control what they had once been able to touch and Wield, but they couldn’t do it anymore because the water was mine.

  All of this was mine. The world around me would be mine, and they would call out to me in infamy. They would beg for forgiveness and mercy. But it would never be enough.

  Arwin was still on the ground, bleeding and unconscious. Wyn had him cradled in her arms, trying to resuscitate him. I didn’t know if he was alive or dead.

  The League would pay for that.

  Teagan was standing above her, his arms outstretched and Fire dancing along his skin as he readied to use his Wielding. But he wouldn’t have to. Because I would be the one to destroy those who came at us.

  Easton stood apart from me, staring at me as if he had never seen me before.

  He hadn’t, not like this.

  Because I was the Spirit Priestess, and this was my power.

  I lashed out at the Water Wielders, and they screamed. They drowned. They couldn’t fight back.

  And then…they were gone.

  Dead, by my hands. As they should be.

  As quickly as the power had come, it slid away from me, shocking me back to reality, into the cold.

  I blinked, my teeth chattering as I looked up at Easton.

  “What? What just happened?” I asked as I fell to my knees, my whole body shaking, my bones rattling, my soul…empty. Yet not.

  Water surged out of my pores as if it were seeping from my body itself.

  Air seemed to puff out of my fingertips violently and sporadically. I couldn’t control it.

  The earth shuddered beneath my feet, cracking in some places. I looked up at Easton, trying to control my power.

  Those thoughts earlier hadn’t been mine. I knew that now. None of that had been mine. Sure, the Wielding had been, but none of the rest. It’d been too much, and somehow, I had broken.

  I didn’t want to kill. I’d only wanted to protect those who needed it.

  But I had done it.

  I had used power. So much. And I couldn’t control it.

  Somehow, something had changed within me. And even in those few moments, I didn’t like it.

  “Lyric. Shut it down. Control it.”

  Easton shouted at me, but tears just poured down my face, a mixture of air and dirt and water, all my Wielding. I was scared.

  “I can’t. I…can’t.”

  “Lyric. Do it.” And then he was in front of me, gripping my shoulders.

  I pulled away.

  I was terrified. I was going to kill them all. I couldn’t control it. Those thoughts I’d had before, hadn’t been mine. The feelings weren’t mine. Or maybe they were, somewhere deep down. It was all too much. I couldn’t do this.

  I couldn’t do any of it. I felt like I was going to blow. Crack. I wasn’t going to make it.

  None of this had been mine before, but now this was mine to take.

  This was my consequence.

  And I c
ouldn’t handle it.

  I couldn’t control it.

  I could do nothing.

  Chapter Sixteen

  My body felt as if it were breaking, shattering from the inside out. Every inch of me ached, burned, then cooled and heated again.

  I couldn’t control the power within me. I felt as if it were trying to control me instead. I had no idea where that voice inside me had come from. Had no idea what I was going to do about it.

  But I was afraid that if I didn’t find a way to release all of this excess energy and figure out how to control what was inside me, currently breaking me apart piece by piece, cell by cell, it wouldn’t matter that I didn’t know.

  Because nothing would matter, and I wouldn’t be here anymore.

  I looked over to where Wyn and Arwin sat on the ground, both of them bleeding. Teagan stood over them, trying to help them up.

  Arwin was at least blinking now, so he was alive.

  But whatever sense of relief I got from that was gone quickly.

  Because all I could do was focus on the fact that I couldn’t breathe. That my hands were shaking, and I couldn’t stop the elements within me from trying to break free.

  Easton came towards me, leaning in even farther, whispering to me—though he could be shouting for all I knew. “Breathe, Lyric. Just push through it. Focus.”

  “I can’t,” I called out. “I can’t. I can’t do anything. Why won’t it stop? The two were working just fine. Why is three so much?”

  “Because it’s different. It will always be different. They’re layered on top of one another. It amplifies the effect of all. But we’re going to get you out of this. Just breathe.”

  Panic slammed into me, choking me, gripping my throat and heart until I couldn’t handle anything but Easton’s voice. “I can’t. It’s too much. The water…it’s falling from me. Why can’t I stop it?”

  I was still on my knees, shaking. I looked down at my skin and sucked in a breath.

  Water poured from my pores as if I were drowning from the inside out.

  I could feel it dripping from my hair, but not because I’d been doused in water, because it was coming from my actual scalp.

  My Air Wielding continued to puff out of my fingertips, even out of my elbows and my shoulders. My knees and toes.

  I was a teapot, set on steam, and I couldn’t stop it.