Elemental Courage

by M. W. McDonald

  “How is that possible?” William asked; he was being hit with a vast amount of otherwise fantastical information any sane person would have a hard time digesting. Had he not been riding on the back of a giant wolf as it was being said, he was unsure if he could have believed any of it.

  “When we were at our peak in history, our predecessors made deals with the powers that be. The contracts that were made extended our lives immeasurably, with one caveat. As rift wolves, the rift recharges us. We are, in essence, immortal as long as we have access to a rift every few days to recharge us. Without rift energy, we would simply pass our essence back into the cycle of life. When a person is born with a rift affinity, they are absorbed by one of the rift wolf clans and taught about our ways and our responsibilities. Only the truly gifted can actually physically take the wolf form. Being born into this has a hefty price to be paid though.”

  “What price is that?” William asked, thoroughly fascinated.

  “When the child is absorbed, they are removed from the presence of both parents. In Michael’s case, I was already a Rift Wolf elder in my clan so I could watch over him, but Michael has yet to meet his mother. Normally training is strictly enforced, and the first parental visit is around the 200-year mark. Sometimes the parents aren’t immortal even when the child is, so the inevitability of their parent’s death in their absence is a pain the child has to deal with. Michael hasn’t been ready by our laws, not until very recently.” David stopped talking abruptly as he sensed his destination approaching quickly.

  “Brace yourself, Will. We are here.” David willed the portal open, and they all passed through it before it collapsed shut in a spark.

  8

  Through his concentration, Brian heard the crackling familiarity of a rift opening and closing in the room behind him and assumed it was David back to drop some more informational bombs on him. Maybe he rifted the Pope out of his shower this time. Brian smiled to himself as he once again went back to trying to infuse some type of essence back into the beauty in front of him. His first treatment lasted almost 18 hours, and he was now in his second. She seemed to be stable, and the color began to come back into her face at least, but Brian’s medical experience taught him that he shouldn’t count out complications just yet.

  David had left towards the end of the first treatment, and the silence didn’t help the long hours. When he took a moment to replenish his fluids and energy for round two, he swiped a pair of pants and a loose fitting white button down shirt from David’s closet. Loose was perhaps an understatement as David was much taller and broader, but Brian tucked in the remaining shirt tails anyways. He also grabbed a radio with a CD player that he set down on the table next to the sofa. He was greeted by a full volume rendition of Sweet Child of Mine by Guns N Roses. Now through the sixth song on the CD, David came in briskly with two younger men in tow.

  “How is she?” David asked immediately moving to the back of the sofa as he brushed a lock of hair away from her smooth face. Brian turned down the music.

  “Stable at least, but we are not out of the woods yet,” Brian replied with a learned caution he obtained from years of medical care. He didn’t want to get too many hopes up, at least not yet.

  “Mom!” William yelled as he came around the sofa and saw his mother, quickly kneeling at her side. Brian looked over as he continued his infusion, seeing the teen tearing up at his right hand.

  “You must be William,” Brian extended his hand in greeting. William took it and shook his hand gingerly. Brian’s pupils instantly dilated, his spirit felt the enormous pit that was William’s reserve. It easily dwarfed his mother’s, and Brian wondered precisely what David had gotten him into. Brian was always sensitive to the energies of others but the last few days had started to fray his nerves.

  “Thank you,” came a gentle woman’s voice. Brian realized it was Dyaina’s within his mind. She had been conserving her energy, waiting for her son to arrive. He was now acting as the unknowing medium. His hands, one shaking William’s and the other resting on Dyaina’s abdomen, were now linking them together.

  “Thank you,” the voice came again. “For everything Brian, you may stop the infusion now. I have enough for what is left to be done.” The blue glow around Brian’s arms and hands stopped. He didn’t remove his hand.

  “William, can you hear me?” William’s head snapped straightforward.

  “Mom?” came William’s voice in the blackness of the mental connection.

  “You learn quickly, Will.” She said with pride in her voice. He picked up this means of communication without batting an eyelash, and that was promising.

  “Mom, are you ok?” Worry was raw in William’s voice.

  “No, I’m not.” She spoke softly, and exhaustion was clear and heavy in her voice. Brian immediately began the infusion again, the blue glow starting anew.

  “Brian, it’s ok. I am losing it as fast as you can put it in.” Brian’s eyes grew misty.

  “But I-,“ Brian stammered.

  “I know you have questions, and I wish I could answer them, but right now I need you to bear witness to what I am about to tell my son.” Brian was silent for a moment.

  “It would be my honor.”

  “Will, you asked me what a shaman was. I must tell you now. As you know, life is not what people claim it to be.” She paused letting her words hit home. “A shaman is someone who can see or feel how the elements of our lives are linked together. Truly gifted shamans can manipulate the form of whatever element they find most comfortable. For Brian and me, that element is water. We can destroy or heal, as Brian has proven; miraculously keeping me alive until you got here. There are good and bad shamans just like good and bad people. Good water shaman and evil, you do understand what I am saying don’t you?”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “I was an enchanter of water, the first and hopefully not the last. Enchanters are the highest rank of the shaman in any one element. We are more powerful because we sacrifice portions of ourselves to make our magic, our element, stronger. In essence, we enchant our element with our life forces. As you can see, that has some side effects.” Dyaina paused, her voice slowed noticeably.

  “Mom, please rest,” William begged her.

  “Those shadows that were after you, they were ebon blade assassins. They are the assassins of Khorynn. A fanatic cult of followers aligned mostly with the element of shadow and the chaos it leaves behind.”

  “What did they want?” William asked he wanted his mother to rest.

  “I think…They wanted you…” Her voice cracked and gave out for a moment. Dyaina was quick to compose herself. “You are an Archmage. You have been since the day you were born. You have the potential of manipulating all of the elements. In time you will be able to beckon to every one of them.” Brian was blown away. She was talking of a millennia-old, if not older, a prophecy about a child born that sends out a ripple of awareness around the world. In a nutshell, the prediction said that the child would be born to accomplish what the four enchanters could not. Therein lied the rub, it could be read for the benefit of good or evil. Such is the way that prophecies work. To the shaman aligned towards good, this child would destroy evil, or Khorynn herself. To those aligned to the evil side, this child would pick up where Khorynn left off and bathe the world in shadow and death. Either way, it’s no wonder they sent so many assassins!

  “I am out of time,” tears now formed on her face, her body growing paler by the moment. “I’m so tired. I love you so much, William. Stay close to David; he will take care of you.” Her voice was a barely audible whisper now. “He is your father.” With that, she was gone. Brian felt her go, felt the completeness of her passing; he even felt her energy passing over his head. William broke from Brian’s hand, tears streaming down his face.

  “NO!” William yelled sadness stabbed at him far worse than the rift ever could.

  “NO! You cannot die.” Brian stepped away as William sobbed into his mother’s shoulde
r. The edges of his eyes sparked quickly then faded. Brian looked at David and shook his head.

  “I’m sorry David, she wouldn’t let me try anymore.” David’s head bowed, and he hit the ground on both knees. Michael was hugging him. Brian looked over at William; he was sobbing uncontrollably now. The floor around them began to vibrate. He put his hand on William’s shoulder, hoping to comfort him somehow. William’s head snapped to meet his gaze, his eyes white hot and crackling.

  “I won’t let her die!” A blast of force emanated from William, slammed into the three men, launching them across the room. William was desperate, he was so angry, and he hurt so much. William put his hands on his mother’s stomach like Brian had done as he was healing her.

  “What was Brian doing? Why isn’t this working?” William's voice was screaming in his own head. Brian had fought his way back to the sofa and used the couch itself as a windbreak, the waves of force still poured from William’s desperate frame. William looked up and saw him then.

  “Show me how to do it. Show me how to heal mom!” Brian shook his head.

  “I can’t, it’s not something I can explain, it’s just something I have always known how to do.”

  “What do you do, please?” The tears came quickly and evaporated as the electrical bolts that danced along his eyes lapped them up immediately in small puffs of steam.

  “I feel out what’s damaged or injured and I ask my element for energy to help me,” Brian said matter-of-factly.

  “So you just need energy? And all you do is ask for it?” Brian nodded sadly.

  “With all my being,” Brian added. William’s brain was going a mile a minute. If energy was all he needed, then he had an idea. His mother said he could beckon to any element he wished. He hadn’t had any training, he didn’t know how or what he should do; he didn’t care. William wouldn’t let his mother die. This had to work. He looked over his shoulder at David and Michael, who were still fighting the waves of force.

  William concentrated and felt just how hollow and empty his mother was, felt a vast pit where he assumed her energy came from, the center of her being. His mind manifested it as something he could understand, a sprawling dam.

  “That was her reserve,” Brian’s voice came to him in the blackness. William looked up and saw Brian holding her hand as David watched from behind him, tears streaming down his face.

  “I couldn’t patch it completely, I am so sorry.” Brian’s tone was devastated.

  “You get your energy from around you right?” William asked quickly.

  “I ask for it with every fiber of my being.”

  “I must try.”

  “I understand,” Brian stepped back. David looked at Brian then William shaking his head.

  “You can’t give up, you have to try something!” David sounded as desperate as William was a few moments ago.

  “He’s not giving up, look at him look at his aura,” Brian said in a whisper. William had both of his hands on his mother’s stomach, and his limiters were tossed on the floor, his head was in the V made by his arms. He was concentrating so hard, willing anything able to spare energy, to send it to him. He had a thought in that instant.

  “Open a rift!” William shouted, not realizing that the reason he had to yell was his own doing. He tried to calm down, and the waves of energy stopped.

  “Why? What would that accomplish?” David was angry and sad, he didn’t mean to snap at William, but he did anyway.

  William shot him an angry glance, sparks of energy surged from his eyes small lightning bolts tickling his cheeks.

  “Please!” William begged. David and Michael shifted into their wolf forms. “I need it open as long as you can give me. David didn’t understand why but something in the recesses of his mind told him to go through with it. He howled a panged anguished howl that tore the air like a clap of thunder. The rift tore open more slowly than the previous ones. David and Michael willed it open, grasping the edges of the portal with their minds in a desperate tug of war to hold it open.

  Brian knew instantly what William was trying to do.

  “You can’t channel that much energy, William!” He ran around the sofa and grabbed Dyaina’s cold hand again.

  “Do you hear me?” Brian was yelling in his mind now. “You will burn out like a light bulb.”

  “I won’t give up, I will help her.” Brian was frightened by the amount of resolve in this kid’s voice. And by god, if this kid is willing to do whatever it took to save his loved one then who was he to try and stop him.

  “Then let me help, she means a lot to me as well.”

  It happened then, William asked for energy from the rift, the portal wobbled and stretched as the rift fought the call. The gateway did not release its powers to him. He tried again, his body tensed and vibrated but still, the entrance refused. Something snapped in William’s mind. Nothing and no one would stand in his way of him helping his mother. He demanded the energy this time, bending the crackling energies to his will. The portal started to close as David and Michael strained against it. The portal was fighting William. The rifts were never meant to stay open this long. Just then, a bright bolt of pure energy burst from the breach and slammed into William’s back. It scorched the air, tendrils of power poured from the bolt licking at the floor, charring it.

  Brian realized that William’s aura was astounding and that he was witnessing a small glimpse of what this boy could do.

  “Dear God!” Brian felt the terrifying energies fill William’s reserves. William was grunting in pain and exertion. The rift snapped shut, its bolt gone. White arcs of energy raced across William’s body, He finally let that energy go into the abdomen of his mother. The force of so much power so quickly destroyed any semblance of a reserve she had torrents of power wiped her slate clean. Brian clearly felt the jagged edges of the destruction.

  “What have you done?” Brian asked in his mind. David and Michael watched the two men over Dyaina’s lifeless body. They saw the brilliant energy transfer but were completely unaware of the telepathic conversation.

  “Mom always said that if you can’t fix what has been broken, then build another.” It registered with Brian as he felt her center develop again, slowly at first, then exponentially. William transferred energy at an incredible rate. Brian tried to focus William’s powers as best he could. He struggled to maintain some semblance of control of the vast quantities of energy. William had filled the void faster than Brian could have ever hoped to. Brian felt the basin of her power growing, the flush coming back to her skin. The energy from William’s own body cascaded down his arms until Dyaina’s body couldn’t hold anymore. With one final jolt, her back arched pushing her abdomen hard into his hands; wisps of electricity crackled along her body. William gave everything he could, and he passed out. His body released its hold on the excess rift energy. The tremendous agony of channeling rift energies took him to the now familiar land of unconsciousness.

  9

  It sat shrouded in a blanket of shadows. The energy wave came at it in a rush. It blew through the great obsidian hall like an electric gust of wind. The shadows around it broke away from the ornate black robes as the pendant around its neck emanated a brilliant red glow, forcing the blast to go around the hooded figure. The robed one tilted its head upward as if sniffing the air.

  “This energy…” It spoke slowly. “Energy” Other voices from beneath the hood echoed the first.

  “It’s an Archmage,” the new voice spoke, echoing softly from the blood ruby. The pendant’s face pulsed red as it continued. “It will destroy you unless of course, we kill it first.” The voice whispered hints of a smile were buried in the rich, seductive feminine tone. The figures robe seemed to exude pure liquid shadow as the runes along its length swirled and pulsed quickly.

  “You must find it. Find the Archmage before it’s fully aware!” The voice was urgent, seducing the survival instinct of the robed-one.

  “Must find it,” the numerous voices echoed, t
railing off. The glow from the pendant faded. Its agenda had been planted into the shades mind like shards of glass. “We must…Kill it.” The shade began to sink into the abyss of its own shadow. The voices from within the darkness started to chant.

  “Want destruction…Need destruction. Destroy!” The Shade disappeared into the blackness as the mass of shadows raced out of the hall to seek its prey.

  10

  The shockwave traversed the globe in seconds. Every being aware of the elements felt the tingling on the backs of their necks, felt the charged breeze and saw the prismatic hues bathing the sky as it passed.

  No one could pinpoint where it had come from, but every shaman was able to feel it. The more powerful observers knew that this was an omen. Good and evil would be compelled to find out just who or what could produce so much power, let alone release all of it. The prospect of that person still living after releasing so much energy would stab at the instincts of every shaman- good or evil.

  Shamans as a culture were a secretive people, Khorynn’s ceaseless extermination of her ancestry forced most elemental factions into hiding. Now: there was little to no social interaction between different element users and as a precaution any coexistence with a shaman of an element other than your own was advised against. There is an instinctual attraction amongst shaman to form communities within the same elemental attunement. Knowing another shaman was of an opposing school could quickly become a recipe for violence and disaster. Now the energy shockwave revealed shamanic lineages to each other. Water shamans with their fiercely swirling eyes saw fire shamans with appendages wreathed in ethereal flame, Earth shamans saw wind shamans and so on. All over the globe, people that had been standing next to each other gazing at the passing energy wave suddenly turned on one another in suspicion and fear. People who had been friends for entire lifetimes, now suddenly realized they were of different elements as the ripple passed over them, exposing their hidden practices rending their relationships in seconds as age-old teachings and habits stubbornly took over.