by Frank Morin
Connor shrugged. “I think her family caught up with her in Merkland. Hamish left a pretty cryptic note suggesting he and Student Eighteen were leaving with her family.”
Kilian grimaced. “I can’t think of a single scenario that might turn out well. With Hamish providing transportation, they could strike almost anywhere. I wonder what target they chose.”
Connor hadn’t thought much about that. Who was an enticing enough target that Hamish would have agreed to go without waiting to discuss the idea with Connor?
The only idea that came to mind ratcheted up his fear for them a thousand times, even though he tried to convince himself Hamish couldn’t possibly be that reckless.
He shared a glance with Kilian, who said softly, “If he takes them to Donleavy, I’ll kill him myself. But we can’t do anything about that right now. We need to get you stabilized.”
“How?”
Kilian stared into the fire for a moment before answering. “Few Petralists have ever ascended through the second threshold and survived. Only my parents and Tallan could even attempt the third. My parents were not good at sharing their past or the deepest secrets of affinity stones, but they had to share some once I ascended. I gathered additional bits and pieces from Harley and some of their earliest supporters.”
Connor shifted his chair a little closer, eager to hear more.
“As you have already discovered, the power that fuels our affinities is not generated by the stones we use. That power flows through the stones and they act like filters, making that power available to us.”
That confirmed what Connor had sensed, but he still found it disturbing. It undermined the fundamental definition of affinities. “How does it work? How do stones—”
“I don’t know.” Kilian sounded frustrated, as if he had asked himself the same questions thousands of times. “But you’ve already sensed the truth. Whatever that ultimate source of power is, it’s not a single entity. It’s fractured into different frequencies, sort of like light split by a prism.”
It had felt like that. “The two frequencies don’t get along, though. They felt like different colors in my mind. One red, the other more greenish.”
“I don’t sense them as colors, but your description is valid. I suspect there may be more than two frequencies, but the others lie outside of our ability to sense them.”
“So how come your affinities don’t short out like mine?”
“Despite how difficult this has been for you in recent days, perhaps this is the best way to learn. Until you experience it, it’s hard to grasp what we’re talking about. The thing you need to understand now is that different affinity stones are tuned to different frequencies. Most are tuned to the lower intensity power source, the red one. Trying to hold onto both frequencies at the same time is what’s creating that canceling effect.”
Connor frowned, hating the new complication. His affinities had always felt so natural. He felt a headache growing.
He’d found in the past that the more he tried to understand his affinities, the less effectively they worked. Going by feel and pure instinct had always served him best. That green-tinted frequency had thrown off his inner balance. It was like throwing berries into one of his mother’s nut-filled glory cakes. They might be great on their own, but together they wrecked the perfect balance of sweet and crunchy deliciousness.
“Why haven’t I had this trouble before? And why don’t the different frequencies seem to affect my primary and secondary affinities? If anything, they seem stronger than ever.”
“Because until now, you were tuned only to that red frequency. It’s like when Mattias taught you to see only one color as a Pathfinder, but imagine that’s all you were ever able to do. Now suddenly you can see another color. The second ascension tuned your senses to the higher green frequency.”
“So are any affinities tied to the green frequency?”
“I suspect porphyry may be, but my parents squashed all knowledge of porphyry so I can’t be sure.”
Connor nodded. “That’s how it felt, actually.”
“That would explain why it’s so wild and addictive and hard to control in the lower thresholds, but responds better now that you’ve ascended and tuned to that same frequency.”
“So how do I fix this?” Connor asked. All this talk of frequencies and colors and deeper truths of magic was all fine and good, but he needed access to his affinities again.
“Practice.”
59
Learning Can Be Scary
Kilian extended a vial of soapstone mixture. “I found it easiest to work with my strongest tertiary.”
That made sense. Connor’s connection with water was deep and personal. When he tapped soapstone, he felt one with the water in a way he couldn’t quite match with the other elements yet. He wasn’t sure he ever would.
So he downed the vial. As soon as he focused, Water stepped into view in his mind. He snatched for her hand, and for a moment his senses expanded into the room. A pitcher of water on a nearby table glowed in his soapstone sight. He also sensed a wooden tub of soapy water in the next room and several bottles of wine in a cupboard behind Kilian.
Water still wore her coat, covered in swirling, clashing red and green power. Where they crashed over her hand, the connection vibrated violently, and he managed to hold on for only a second before losing connection.
Frustrated, he looked at Kilian who was calmly tossing a globe of water from one hand to the other.
“I can’t get a solid connection,” he complained.
“Think back to the day you trained with quartzite with Mattias. How did you narrow your vision to only see a single color?”
Connor thought about that. “I sort of unfocused my eyes.”
“You stopped trying to see everything. This is the same principle. By touching both frequencies, you magnify the disruption.”
That sort of made sense, but it would probably work better if he saw Water as a simple gateway instead of a woman. He tried explaining to Kilian what he saw when he tried tapping soapstone.
Kilian leaned forward, looking intrigued. “I’ve never seen the elements in human form like you describe. They started as gateways, like we’ve practiced. Over time, my affinity has become such an integral part of me that I no longer see the elements as external forces. They’re more like invisible muscles that respond as easily as flexing my fingers.”
That was fascinating, but not entirely helpful. “I haven’t internalized my affinities so well yet, and I don’t want to wait a hundred years to figure it out.”
“No, we definitely don’t have that much time,” Kilian agreed. “But see if you can improve your vision. Can you separate the colors to different sides, then grip Water’s red hand?”
“I’ll try.” That was a good idea. Connor hadn’t realized he controlled how the elements appeared to him. They’d seemed to choose their own form, but maybe he could control at least some of it. Could stabilizing his affinities be that simple?
Connor closed his eyes and drew upon soapstone. Again Water appeared before him, her expression encouraging, her hands outstretched toward him. She seemed as eager to connect as he did. The problem was, as hard as he focused, he couldn’t get the two conflicting power frequencies to separate cleanly to either side of her.
So he focused on her left thumb and bent his entire will into seeing that one little digit clear of green power. He wasn’t sure how long he concentrated, but suddenly the swirling green power moved away, leaving her thumb clear. Connor lunged for it.
Even as he connected, the green frequency power swirled back across her thumb in a golden, crackling line that shorted out his connection. Water gave him an annoyed look, then faded from sight.
When he grumbled in frustration, Kilian asked, “Do you have to think about eating sweetbreads?”
“Around Hamish I do. If I’m not really alert, he eats them all before I get any.”
Kilian chuckled. “Well, for the purpose of this exe
rcise, imagine you’re eating a platter of sweetbreads alone. How hard would you have to focus to ensure you eat them properly?”
Finally, something made sense. “I just let myself do it. I don’t need to think about it.”
“Exactly. Try again.”
So he did. Unfortunately, walking with water wasn’t quite as second-nature as eating. He spent the next hour and a half trying to make it work. He had felt frustrated by the several minutes it took to learn to split light those weeks ago. That was ridiculously easy compared with trying to tune out the powerful green power frequency. It was just so enticing, so insistent. Part of him felt that if he could just understand it, he could connect with it and unlock far more power.
Unfortunately, Kilian was right. The more he focused on it, the less he accomplished. He proved that point dozens of times. Even when he succeeded in distracting himself by thinking of Verena while reaching out to touch Water, he only managed the briefest moments of contact.
Soapstone was tuned to the lower, reddish frequency. He couldn’t explain it, but he sensed it. And yet, the green frequency seemed to also want to claim her.
Eventually Connor sagged back in his chair, feeling exhausted. “I can’t manage more than a second.”
“It will take time. You’ll need to practice every day. That connection should improve until you can walk with the elements better than ever before. In fact, we need to meet every day to continue your training. Now that you’ve ascended, there are new nuances and abilities tied to many of your affinity stones that you must understand.”
“Soapstone doesn’t feel very different when I can connect.”
“That’s probably the only one that will feel that way. You ascended in soapstone first, so you achieved a far more intimate connection with it. You saw lesser improvements in your other affinities. Now that you’ve ascended with marble, you’ll find your connection with it has become almost as strong as soapstone. You’ll also discover that it no longer hurts to tap marble.”
“Finally some good news. I love marble spiciness.” Unfortunately tapping had always been a bit insane. The deeper he drew upon it, the more it hurt. He always feared that he’d accidentally burn himself to a crisp.
Kilian grinned. “I’ve never found anything else that quite matches up to it.”
Connor loved spicy food, and he would gladly taste marble all the time if it didn’t burn so bad.
Before he could dig a piece of marble out of his belt pouch Kilian said, “As important as practice is with the tertiaries, don’t forget your primary and secondary affinities. They are powerful tools that are unfortunately ignored too much by the very Petralists who could do the most with them.”
“What do you mean?” That sounded foolish.
“My mother and Harley in particular have always focused on the elements to the exclusion of most other affinities. So they trained me and Evander with a similar mindset. I like to think we fall into that trap to a lesser degree. One of the most important benefits of your ascension is that you can now tap two igneous stones at the same time without suffering double-tap sickness.”
“Wow!” That was great news. That limitation had always rankled. He’d discovered it the hard way shortly after establishing affinity with basalt.
He couldn’t wait to try them both together. What would it feel like to run with Strider speed, but protected by granite-hardened skin?
Kilian said, “There are other subtle new aspects to the primaries and secondaries, and they might prove critical when we face Harley or my mother again.”
“Harley seemed to like sandstone a lot. She somehow used it to melt buildings in seconds.”
“That was her invention and is one of her favorite abilities. I don’t know any other Petralist to accomplish much with it, other than perhaps Evander. He spent so much time with her while they were dating that he learned the trick.”
Connor gaped. “Evander dated Harley?”
He had thought Rory and Anika were a pair that inspired fear. Thinking of Evander and Harley together was like imagining an earthquake dating a tornado.
Kilian chuckled. “The match always seemed strange to me, but they made it work for a few years. When the war turned fierce and Evander hesitated to support my mother as completely as Harley demanded, they split. It wasn’t pretty.”
“What city did they destroy?” Connor asked, thinking about their recent squabble that leveled the Carraig.
“It was a small, seaside town. Used to be a gem of the Sea of Olcan. It’s nothing but piles of jagged rock now.”
And Connor thought he had family problems.
Kilian said, “I know you’re eager to go visit your girl, but before you go I want to teach you how to use one deeper aspect of basalt.”
“Can we run even faster now?” Connor asked, excited by the idea. He’d definitely need to get a helmet and goggles to protect from the wind and the bugs. Then again, he could now harden his skin. Just thinking about it made him itch to go running.
Kilian shook his head. “Just the opposite.”
The cryptic answer surprised Connor. Basalt was all about speed. “You mean, you use it to slow down?”
“Most Striders would feel offended to even consider the idea, which is why almost no one has mastered what I am about to teach you, but it could prove very useful. And the very fact that no one uses it means they won’t be prepared to defend against it. I’m showing you this to help open your mind to new, subtle, and potentially critical nuances to your affinities.”
Kilian drew from a drawer in a little table next to his chair a small pouch of basalt. He absorbed a little then passed it over to Connor. The exhilarating feel of basalt rushing through his system made Connor grin, and he had to fight to remain seated. One leg started to twitch, despite his best efforts to keep it calm.
“Basalt has an external ability which you can now access. Like other affinity stones, the external ability produces the opposite effect as the internal. It is available now because it’s tuned to the higher-frequency, green power source.”
Kilian gestured toward the fire, and it suddenly froze. The flames stopped moving mid-flicker and the entire fire seemed frozen in absolute stillness in a way Connor could not quite describe.
A second later the fire began flickering again, faster, as if trying to make up for lost time.
“What did you do?”
“It’s called Stilling. Concentrate the power of basalt in your hand, almost as if you’re about to purge, but then open yourself to the green power source. Focus on something external like the fire and push that power to it. External basalt acts like a smothering blanket, an invisible shackle that completely immobilizes your target.”
Wow. That sounded impressive, but also felt like a terrible waste of basalt speed. When Connor focused the energy of the basalt into his hand, it started to shake, his fingers quivering so fast they seemed to blur in front of him. His hand began to ache with the need to move and he suppressed a groan.
While tapping a primary affinity, he could feel both power sources rolling through him like endless waves of two very different oceans, but they did not interfere like they did when tapping tertiary affinities. Strange. He couldn’t explain it and didn’t dare question it, lest by focusing on it he’d invite it to not work. The red frequency touched his mind where he tapped basalt, fueling the unrivaled need to move and run.
He had to get rid of it. Holding that power condensed like that would tear his hand apart. So in his mind, he imagined turning away from the red power source and extending his hand holding basalt out the opposite window, the one connected to the green frequency. As soon as he connected basalt to it, the green frequency of power supplanted the red, snapping into connection and thundering into him with astonishing strength.
Amazingly, that didn’t dissolve his connection with basalt. It flickered for a second, and as the green power source locked onto it, the feel of it changed. The energy paused, like the coiling of a snake, ready to str
ike.
“Release it now, before it catches you in the effect.” Kilian urged.
Connor focused on the fire and cast that power out of his hand. The coiled basalt energy sprang away in an invisible stream, almost like his ethereal senses when he tapped elemental powers, and encircled the hapless flames.
Instantly they froze into absolute stillness. Since he was controlling it, Connor felt what was happening. The energy and heat of the fire dissipated into the enshrouding basalt, sucked away completely.
Stilling the flames was so much more than simply dousing the fire. That would leave the wood available to burn again in the future. Basalt stilling instead stole that energy, draining it away and leaving the fire empty, almost more an illusion than a real flame.
“Hold it,” Kilian ordered.
Connor did not want to. He could feel the energy draining away from the fire. But he held on as ordered and the energy drained away just as he expected. Five seconds later, the wood expired, and both the wood and the flames simply disappeared.
Shocked by the fire’s abrupt demise, Connor released basalt. All that remained in the fireplace was a small pile of white ash.
He had completely destroyed the fire.
“That’s horrible.”
Kilian nodded. “It really is, but it may prove useful.”
“Are you suggesting I try that on Harley?”
In some ways it was more terrifying than her sandstorm. That tore at things, reducing them to rubble, but basalt stillness simply robbed things of the ability to exist.
“I doubt you could maintain it long enough to kill her, but you might be able to use it in other circumstances. For example, I’ve used it here in the valley south the Altkalen to block a couple of eruptions that were threatening. When you learn to master this ability, you can actually draw into yourself the energy that the stillness robs.”
Connor doubted he’d ever enjoy sucking the life out of things, like the ultimate leech.
“I think you’ve absorbed all the deeper truths you can handle for today. Go check on your girl and we’ll speak again tomorrow.”