Elemental Courage

by M. W. McDonald

  “But I thought…” Dyaina started.

  Owen waved her off saying “Brolin took credit for everything I did. He used my abilities to claim Enchanter of Earth status. I didn’t find out, nor was I told until after his death. I suppose it was his sacrifice to make, be he wouldn’t have contributed much to the binding of Khorynn. You would have died to achieve the same result we now have today.”

  “But she’s my…” Dyaina trailed off then finished, “It was my responsibility.”

  “I know who she was,” Owen said a reassuring smile spread across his face. “She knew who you were too. She wouldn’t have let you sacrifice yourself anyways. It would have meant the destruction of your bond, and ultimately, her death.”

  “I’m so sorry Owen,” Dyaina said as she hugged him again.

  “So if Brolin wasn’t an enchanter of earth,” Brian stated, “then you…”

  “Indeed, I was the first enchanter of the earth school.” Owen finished the statement for him. His smile was disarming, and it was freaking Brian out.

  “And who is this?” Owen asked looking at William.

  “This is my son, William,” Dyaina said with pride in her voice. Owen outstretched his hand again, and William took it. Immediately, Owen’s pupils dilated as he fell into the pit of William’s reserves. Owen’s face darkened, and his face grew stern. He withdrew his hand.

  “I understand now, why you came back.” Owen looked at Dyaina and David in turn. “Can he control it yet?”

  “In a matter of speaking,” Dyaina said slowly unsure of what words to use.

  “Explain,” Owen said sharply.

  “I died. “ Dyaina said. Alex looked at her in awe, unaware of William’s power; William’s ability that led to her resurrection. Owen looked at William and then back at Dyaina and David.

  “How dead were you?” Owen asked. Brian was going to toss out a joke but thought it better to leave this one alone. Instead, he took a more serious approach.

  “Full essence collapse and release,” Brian said confidently.

  “And you brought her back?’ Owen asked, looking at William.

  “Yes…” William said, backing away from the big man. Alex was struggling to absorb the entire situation.

  “How?” Owen asked insistently trapping William’s legs in the earth and bringing him up to his eye level. He knew how it was technically done, but was never strong enough, nor stupid enough to try it himself.

  “I felt her energy in the room and trapped it,” William said simply. “I saw Brian trying to heal her and tried to do it myself.”

  “Where did you get the energy for such a huge task?” Owen asked skeptically. “He channeled it from the rift directly,” Brian spoke on William’s behalf. William appreciated his input greatly. Brian continued, “I am not sure he knew what he was doing. It seemed more like an instinctual reaction.”

  “No one in their right mind would channel that much energy at once,” Owen said. He didn’t believe it for a second.

  “He lost his mother, she died in front of him while he was connected to her mind. Being in his right mind had nothing to do with it.” Realizing that Owen needed physical proof, Brian turned to William. “William, please turn around and lift up your shirt.” The earth crumbled away from William’s legs and allowed him to move once again.

  William did as he was asked. He lifted his shirt exposing the webbing of raw flesh across his back where the rift energy collected the price for its use. The electricity had torn and gouged his skin creating scars upon scars on the boys back. They were healing, but they still stung when the air hit them. Owen’s piercing gaze softened as he pulled William’s shirt back down for him. He leaned forward and spoke in a tone and volume that only William could hear.

  “I am sorry I doubted you, William. My hat is off to you. I would have done the same thing for her, had our situations been reversed. She means more to us than you could possibly imagine. Anything I have that can help is at your disposal.” Owen patted William’s shoulder, and his body shook with the heavy contact.

  “Let’s go inside and finish this conversation over some food,” Renai said, breaking the somber mood with her lighter tone.

  “Food? Food is good.” Brian said perking up. “Is there a clear path to the fridge?”

  Owen looked at him confused.

  “Never mind.” Brian shook his head.

  Owen and Renai led them to an end of a canyon. Owen muttered a single word and swung his arm as a massive stone door in the canyon itself revealed his enormous home.

  “You are all welcome here.”

  28

  The shade had eaten. The two tiny morsels held back its wrath, barely. It hungered more than ever now. It had spent tremendous amounts of energy escaping the flame attacks from the other fire shaman, and even more on the hunter in the clearing.

  “You should have listened to me.” The voice in the pendant was angry; the red gem glowing. “You are too weak to kill even the weakest of the Archmage’s companions now.”

  “We will destroy him. We must feed.” The shade spoke, urgency in its voice. It concentrated trying to locate the power of the Archmage and its companions, but the shade felt nothing. Its range was extreme, exploring the unique shamanic energy in most areas of the world if its victims were not wearing limiters.

  “You will have to make some concessions then, feed on all shamans. Use as little energy as possible, conserve it, and feed off of those who cannot defend themselves.” The pendant glowed menacingly.

  “Yesss.” The shade hissed, the simple plan spoke of very little honor, but rather the simple animalistic need for food. “Yes.” The ethereal voices echoed as it sank into its own shadow once more.

  The mass of shadows moved swiftly across the city to the most extensive collection of energy that it could feel: a prison. The walled structure of the prison would act as a feeding bin for the shade. Its eyes narrowed as it leaped from dark recess to dark recess, traversing long distances until it saw the structure. As it approached, it was able to filter out the essences that felt most appealing. There were many low-end shamans here. They were totally unaware of the powers they could possess if they had only been taught about them. What resonated from within them was rough and unpolished glimmers of essence that teased and tugged at the shade. They seduced the darkness with their delectable variations. They would be able to see the shade, but do very little against it. It waited for nightfall and then the carnage would begin.

  29

  The inside of Owen’s home was to everyone a sight to see. Marvelous crystalline figures lined the halls that they were walking through. They seemed to radiate with peaceful inner light as Owen passed them. David and Dyaina were walking alongside Owen, talking in low voices. William was unable to make out any words.

  “I could tell you what they were saying if you like,” Renai said as she moved next to William and took his arm.

  “Uh… No thanks. It’s probably about me anyways. I would probably be afraid of what they were talking about.” He was more than slightly uncomfortable with Renai holding his arm, seeing as Owen flew off the handle at David when he didn’t do anything in the first place.

  “Yeah, they are talking about you alright. You are quite something. Very few people have impressed Owen, and you have his respect in spades.” She smiled at him and squeezed his arm.

  “You’re really tense, don’t worry. You are safe here.” William smiled, he recalled hearing David say the same thing about his apartment before it became a pile of debris and flame. As if reading his mind, Renai spoke again. “Owen is one of the most powerful enchanters of any time period. He has more interest in protecting people than hurting them. This home is deep within the rocks themselves. Only Owen can open the door. He enchanted the entire surrounding cliff faces to retaliate against any elemental conjurations used in this place unless used in specific areas of the home.”

  “Sure beats one of those home security systems,” Brian said from behind Renai.
She smiled.

  “Sure does. About 80 years ago we had a few enchanters of shadow, fire and…I can’t remember the other one. They hired Owen for some elaborate focus work. They were some of the most beautiful pieces of metalwork I have ever seen him create. Anyways, the enchanters tried to go back on their deal, in this very hall actually. When they put on the foci and focused their energy, these walls closed off to protect Owen. The statues you see lining these halls came to life and destroyed each one of them.” William looked over his shoulder at a statue, which tilted his head at him in acknowledgment.

  “Wow,” said William amazed. He walked closer to one of the statues. They were more brilliant up close. Each facet of the crystals radiated calming light. “These are beautiful.”

  “Were these always here?” Alex asked, staring at the soft dancing light within the nearest statue.

  “For as long as I can remember,” Renai replied. “Owen carved them himself. Each one took him a few years. He calls them his kids.” She laughed a little.

  Brian looked back from where they came, they passed at least thirty statues to get to their current spot, and he looked down the hall going the opposite direction and saw at least twenty more.

  “He must have the patience of rock, pardon the elemental pun,” Brian said. Renai just smiled.

  “He really is something else. You will find no more terrifying an enemy or a more loyal a friend than Owen.” She squeezed William’s arm again. She spoke to him in a whisper.

  “Except you my boy.” William blushed, and Renai laughed softly.

  “Just because you can bring people back William, doesn’t mean you should commit suicide by seducing this poor woman. Need I remind you what nearly happened to your father?” Brian smiled at William as he spoke loud enough for Owen to hear. Owen stopped at the end of the hall as it opened up into a massive circular chamber and waited for the others to catch up. William and Renai walked up to Owen.

  “So you are hitting on my woman?” Owen said with mock anger in his voice.

  “N-no I would never.” William stuttered.

  “You mean she isn’t good enough for you to hit on?” Owen teased him some more. Renai just smiled.

  “N-no I mean yes, I mean she is beautiful but I wouldn’t …” His voice trailed off, figuring it best to stop while he still could. Renai laughed and kissed William on the cheek softly before taking Owen’s massive hand in hers. “He’s a sweet boy. Take it easy on him Owen, he did bring Dyaina back after all.” She winked at William.

  “You’re right it would be a shame to kill him before I trained him,” Owen said laughing. His free hand smacked William on the back making him lurch forward from the impact.

  “You can relax here. No one will hurt you permanently.” Owen walked to the middle of the massive chamber. Two massive rock pillars were in the center of the room flanked on all sides by smaller rock formations. If it weren’t for the domed rock ceiling, it would look like a craggy earthen landscape.

  “This is my training chamber. You are all welcome to use it. If it needs to be reconstructed, let me know.” Owen said.

  “I can’t use my…” William started. “Things find us that way.” Owen smiled at the boy. “They won’t find you here. This room is my design. I employed the same knowledge I use to create limiters to create this room. The walls and ceiling of this room are lined with limiter crystals. What you do with them is up to you, but they consume the energy you release so that no one can track it.”

  “That’s how you were able to stay in one place for so long,” Dyaina said.

  “Yeah, I hate moving, packing and all of that is not my style. This seemed like a better alternative.” His broad smile was warming.

  “Because of this room, we are both much more precise with our abilities,” Renai said as she looked at William then at Brian and Alex. Owen closed his eyes a moment and raised his hands, waves of earth rolled outwards from his body as they smashed into the two largest columns. Rough stone golems emerged from them. The constructs of stone plodded up to Owen.

  “Show them to their rooms,” Owen spoke commandingly. The golems bowed and beckoned for them to follow. William looked at his mother, and she nodded at him. “Get some rest, William, I need to talk to David and Owen.” Owen looked at William. “You have a long day ahead of you William, get some rest.” The golems took the men down impossibly long hallways of polished stone. Natural water flows seeped and bubbled down the walls and out of sight. The air smelled damp but was soothingly pleasant nonetheless. They left behind luminescent algae that lit some of their walkways. The first golem stopped and beckoned for William to enter. The door to the room looked out of place with the rest of the stone, it was ornately carved with a oversized handle. William expected the door to weigh a ton as he pushed it open, and it probably did at one point. It was so perfectly balanced on its hinges that it felt nearly weightless. He turned to the other men.

  “Thank you for everything guys.” He said, genuinely humbled. The men nodded and followed their golem to their respective rooms.

  William turned and surveyed the room. The chamber itself was more substantial than most homes. In the center of the room was a massive bed, surrounded by stone. The rock was so heavily polished that it looked soft. An ornate stone bedside table was at one side of the bed, a large glowing crystal on that table lit the room. Its light bounced off the tall rock ceilings. The room had most of what you would expect in a hotel suite, with two significant differences. The first being the lack of windows. With their geological location, windows would be hard to pull off. The sound of the natural trickles of water over the stone made up for that. The second was that every bit of furniture, from the table to the bathroom at the other end of the room, was made of the same incredibly polished stone. It resembled a dark granite in the refined area with amber and garnet flecks and looked like a dark sandstone in the areas where it wasn’t polished. William looked at the bed, and he realized once again just how tired he was. He sat on the edge of the bed and lifted his heavy legs onto it. The mattress felt incredibly soft. It was like he was on a cloud. He lay back on the bed and fell asleep almost instantly. The bed slowly enveloped him and began caring for his wounds. The peace of sleep took the worries of the past few days and whisked them away. He fell into the deepest sleep he could remember, knowing his mother was alright and maybe, just maybe, everything would be okay.

  30

  Owen waited for the golem’s thudding steps to fade down the hallway before turning to his remaining guests. David and Dyaina were looking around the vast training chamber admiring the multi-colored limiter stones. Owen ran his hands through his short brown hair and then sighed as he held Renai’s hand and began walking towards the elaborately carved archway.

  “Please follow me,” Owen said over his shoulder. “We have much to talk about.” They walked down another hallway lined with onyx-eyed statues. They were the same brilliant crystal. The master craftsmanship was visible in every facet. They were larger than the figures in the first hall. Where they were roughly the size of a small child, these were easily as large as Owen himself.

  “These are truly magnificent,’ Dyaina said. “Did you carve them yourself?”

  “I did,” Owen replied as he stopped walking for a moment to place his hand on the nearest statue. “These are the physical representation of a culmination of hundreds of years of work.” The crystal glowed warmly around Owen’s hand. Owen closed his eyes and looked to be silently conversing with the statue. His broad brow furrowed in thought as his hand lowered.

  “They are afraid,” Owen said, his deep rich voice, now impossibly soft.

  “Afraid of what?” David asked. He couldn’t imagine anything that could rattle these immense constructs.

  “Of William?” Dyaina asked Owen. Owen nodded quickly before he turned around and continuing on his previous path down the beautiful stone hallway. His face was knotted in thought as Renai, and their guests followed.

  The hall quickly ope
ned up into another cavernous chamber. Intricately carved figures spiraled up hewn stone steps that encircled the room leading to even more anti-chambers and the ever-present master stonework. Unlike the previous chambers and hallways of silky dark tones, this place was worked out of a vibrant, rich dark red stone. The real beauty of this rock was brought out in Owen’s polishing process. Brilliant gold flecks laced the grain that was exposed. The soft glow from more crystals in the ceiling lit the entire room. The light seemed drawn to the gold flecks, and the reaction was a surreal dancing light effect that gave the room a dreamy feel. Owen walked up to a large circular rust-colored table that had a hearty, comfortable feeling to it. He pulled a robust chair away from the table and easily held it for Dyaina to sit in.

  “Please be seated,” Owen said. He waited for Dyaina to sit and then pushed her up to the table, and proceeded around to another chair and pulled it out for Renai. She smiled and thanked him. Owen held a large open hand and motioned David to another chair.

  “Please, sit.” He paused and waited for everyone to be seated before he sat. “How long has he been using his abilities so recklessly?” Owen asked Dyaina.

  “He has only used them once to my knowledge. He just turned 18, so he didn’t have access to his abilities before then.” She replied evenly.

  “Just once?!” Renai asked, cutting Owen off. She was unable to believe an utter amateur was capable of such a powerful display of energy without some training. Owen shook his head.

  “That kid has massive rocks,” Owen chuckled a bit. “Or extremely keen instincts. Either way, he is a danger to himself and everyone around him until he is trained.”

  “I will train him,” Dyaina said defensively.

  “I don’t think so,” Owen said quickly. “He needs training you cannot provide. He needs to be tested and stretched to see exactly what he is capable of.” He smiled at Dyaina trying to make her feel more comfortable as he explained himself in greater detail. Renai saw the pain on Dyaina’s face as Owen continued. Renai hoped Owen would handle this correctly. Owen’s people skills had been lacking over the years.