by D. N. Hoxa
Jespersen’s throaty laugh rang in my ears again as he approached me slowly. He was feeling amused again, but I didn't think I could bring myself to smile. So I just watched him from under my lashes and waited for him to get close enough so I could jump him. I never had the chance. Apparently, he was growing tired himself. He tried to act cool, but I could see his chest rising and falling rapidly and his left leg giving in every few seconds.
That’s why he did what he did next.
I felt the water change in nature, which was strange because I’d never felt it like that before. Before I could make sense of it, it touched me.
My katana and Bob fell on the floor as raw ice wrapped itself around my whole torso. Shocked, I watched it take away my ability to move my arms and to even breathe properly. The cold touched my bones and felt like it froze the blood in my veins altogether.
Jespersen laughed again. He was only a foot away from me now, but there wasn't a damn thing I could do about it. I was barely standing on my feet. The ice was heavy, not just extremely cold. My arms were pinned to my sides and my fingers up in fists when my chin began to shake violently without my approval.
“Not so brave now, are we,” Jespersen said with a sneaky smile. “Too bad you turned your back on us, Raven. So much potential…even I will feel sorry once I end you, and that doesn’t happen very often.” He then he put his index finger on his chin, pretending to think about it. “On second thought,” he said, looking at me again, “I won’t. Not really.” And he laughed again.
Raw anger wasn’t strong enough to break through the ice, but it managed to cloud my vision almost completely, and I couldn’t have that. No matter the situation I was in, I needed my mind cleared if I was going to get out of it. So I turned to water to help me calm down.
That’s when it hit me.
I could be really stupid sometimes, as I’m sure you can already tell. The ice that didn’t let me move was water. And what could I do to water?
I could control it.
With my eyes squeezed shut, I eagerly inhaled as deeply as I could. Shutting down my other senses weren’t too much trouble—I was exhausted. I concentrated only on what I could feel.
“I will take your pretty head with me, you know?” Jespersen’s voice reached my ears, as if from far away. “But first, I'm going to have a little fun with you. Right after I kill your silly friends here.”
My eyes popped open. I could still hear the others fighting, only faintly—the only reassurance that they were still alive. But I couldn't see them.
I looked at Jespersen’s cold, dark eyes. His face was only a few inches away from me, and he was leaning even closer. The energy he let out almost made my knees give.
“Master will be so happy to see your face again,” he said dryly, his cold breath blowing on my face.
When he stepped away from me again and raised his arms, I knew I was in for a lot more pain. The next second, five ice shards were on my face, pointy and deadly, a hair away from my skin. I gasped because I didn't see that coming. One really sharp shard was right in front of my left eye, and it hung on air, barely vibrating like it couldn't wait to pierce right through it.
“Let me tell you what will happen once you leave all of this behind,” Jespersen said, pacing around me.
I took deep breaths to try and calm my racing heart. My body needed to stop shaking, too. I was stronger than this. I was better than this. I had to go back to Ella, for God’s sake!
“The whole world will be ours,” Jespersen continued, his sharp voice echoing through the high ceiling. “Everything will be at our feet, just like it should have been from the very beginning.” He beamed with pride and arrogance.
I thought back to old Master Smith as my mind tried to clear itself out. I’d stood in the rain with him once, and he’d made me change its entire course. I’d managed to do that, hadn’t I? Because I was an Elemental. I could control water. And that’s what I focused on as Jespersen continued to preach.
“And do you know what we will do to the ones you now seem to love so much?” he said with a laugh, and I didn't let it break my connection. I needed every ounce of focus I could muster.
“We will kill them all,” Jespersen went on. “We will burn them, and freeze them, even skin them alive. We will tear their eyes out! But all that will come after I’m done having my fun with you.”
Then, very slowly, a shard touched the side of my throat before it broke my skin abruptly. I gasped from the cold pain as hot blood came out of me. I struggled to regain the control that slipped from my fingers, depending only on the adrenaline in my body to take the pain away.
“Don't you think Samayan will be pissed off if you kill me?” I played my last card to try and gain some more time.
Jespersen, after another one of his throaty laughs, faced me again. “No, little Raven. He won’t. And do you know why?” he said, smiling a sick smile that showed his perfect, white teeth. “Because he doesn't need you anymore. That’s right. He’s finally found a solution to that marvelous power of yours!”
“What power?” If I could keep him talking long enough…
“You don't know?” he asked, his voice high-pitched and extremely annoying. I couldn’t wait to rip his vocal cords from his throat. I would be doing the whole world a favor.
“How is it that you are so naive still, little Raven? How can you not know about the power that could destroy the skies, the one that is in your blood?!”
What the hell is he talking about? And why did he seem like he meant every word he said?
Panic again but for a whole different reason now.
“But that won’t matter anymore,” Jespersen said, and another shard pierced through the skin on the other side of my already messed up throat. “You’re going to die very soon.”
The ice-cold pain and the smile on his face brought bile to the back of my throat, but he was wrong. I wasn't going to die. I wasn't ready to die yet.
“You’re forgetting…t-t-two things.” I was still shaking from the cold of the shards inside my neck, and I made his fucking night by stuttering, but my words got his attention. Exactly what I was hoping for. The shard backed away just a little, enough for me to be able to breathe and speak properly..
“I am?” He raised his brows in amusement. “Why, enlighten me then.”
“First, I promised my sister I’d go back to her.” My body was hyperaware of every single drop of water in the room. The connection was there if I was strong enough to hold it.
Jespersen laughed with his hand on his chest like he couldn't believe what he was hearing. “And the second?”
“You forget...” I said, “that I can control water.”
He only had half a second to register my words, and when he did, his dark eyes grew wide with surprise.
Then, I let it go. All of it.
Every cell in my body that still had any energy left let go with me. I reached for the water that Jespersen had turned into ice and wrapped around me, and I asked it to dissolve. I asked it to release itself from the grip of the cold and become liquid again, become one with me. I asked it with my heart, with my mind, with my whole being. With hope.
It agreed.
The ice shards were the first to obey my command. They turned around at my request and flew at Jespersen, lighting fast. My advantage was that I didn't like to talk. When I wanted to do something, I did it. I didn't walk around and talk about it, and boy, was I glad.
I felt the second the first shard pierced the skin of Jespersen’s flawless cheek. He didn't even have time to gasp before two more went in his throat, and the fourth and fifth went through his chest.
My hands were finally free as the ice lost its strength. I called all the water around me and what was left of it in the fountain, too. I wrapped it around Jespersen’s body, much like he’d done to me. Difference was, I covered every inch of his body—and his head, too.
He was still standing, his eyes and mouth wide open, trying to control the wate
r before it suffocated him. Only seconds separated him from death now…
But then, the first layer of water, the one closest to him, began to freeze. I focused harder. Even with holes on his face, neck and chest, and with water blocking his breathing, the fairy was strong. The water resisted me, ever so slowly turning into ice. And the guy couldn’t even breathe!
He pushed the first layer that had turned into ice backward, and the water around him all spilled on the floor. I held on with everything I had, but it wasn’t doing the trick. Jespersen had his bloodied hands in front of him now, and he was watching the ice like it was the only thing that existed around him.
That inspired me. Even though I was barely standing on my feet, I could do it if I could just become water. I had to feel it in me like the blood that was rushing through my veins. My knees gave a violent shake in protest to my thoughts, like they wanted to say that they couldn't handle more. But they could, because I was going back to my sister.
I closed my eyes at the terrible sight in front of me, and along with a deep breath, I dragged the energy of everything that was around me. The water was confused, and it didn't know what to do first. Remain the way it was or turn to ice.
But there really was only one choice.
Stay the way it was. Liquid.
I let go of the breath I was holding and let my power flow along with it, with a renewed strength. It crashed violently onto the water.
The last string of control slipped from Jespersen’s grasp and the fear that now shone in his pitch black eyes satisfied me to my bones.
I smiled my evil smile again.
“See you in hell,” I said, and instinctively, my fingers curled into fists in front of me.
Every drop of water in the room crashed onto him.
Next, I turned to air like it was my best friend. And it was, in a way. All the elements were. They were me. The air obeyed silently, and it kept the water right where it was—all around Jespersen’s body.
Bubbles came out of his mouth and nose as he fought for his life and knew he was losing. He tried to swim up next, in a desperate search for air, but air was his enemy, too.
I watched him fight, and every second of it filled me with pleasure. Every part of me longed to watch him give his last breath to the water.
He did—right in front of my eyes.
Finally, I let the air and water go, and they dropped together with the lifeless body of Elijah Jespersen, the first dead Council member of the many more to come. I smiled. Victory was such a sweet, sweet reward.
Barely standing on my feet, I looked around me. First thing I saw was Thomas’s face. His eyes were filled with so many emotions that it made me want to break down—because fear was not one of them.
The second thing I saw was the shifter Royal behind him, still an unformed wolf. Thomas didn't see it. He was watching me. My heart got stuck in my throat.
“Thomas!” I called at the same time I ordered the air to blow.
A second too late.
The sharp claws of the wolf came out of Thomas’s chest right before wind took the odd creature up from the ground and threw it across the room. It fell hard against the stone wall that broke his neck from the impact. I ran with everything I had in me to Thomas lying on he ground.
Don't die, don't die, don't die, don't die...
His mouth was open, and he tried to draw in air. His eyes were wide as he looked at me. I dropped on my knees next to his head and pressed my palms on his wounds. I didn't want to accept that the claws had pierced his heart. Aaron would…I didn't want him to…
“Don't die,” I told Thomas as he put his hand above mine on his chest. “Don't you dare die on me, Thomas!” I don't want Aaron to experience the pain of losing a parent.
“Go back to...” Thomas was trying to speak.
“Don’t,” I pleaded. “Don't talk, save your energy.”
He was trying to shake his head and was blinking too fast. His eyes were already glossy… “Go back,” he breathed and didn’t inhale again.
“Come on!” I shouted at him and I pressed my hands on his bloodied chest.
One, two three, four...
But he was gone. His lifeless eyes were still watching me. They reminded me of the hate, the fear, the desperation with which they’d looked at me ever since I’d met the man. But they also reminded me of the emotion they had shown just a couple of minutes ago. They reminded me, and I shivered. Because Thomas had looked at me with hope. I reluctantly raised my bloodied hand and closed his lids.
Aaron.
I dropped on the floor next to him. I couldn't move my limbs. I’d lost him. I lost him, and now I had to tell Aaron about it. What was I going to say to him? My heart cried for the man that I not long ago claimed I hated because I didn't understand. I couldn't even begin to understand what it must’ve looked like to him. The Raven, the assassin who’d killed so many of their own people, the murderer who didn't give a damn about anything or anyone except for herself and her family. The girl who would probably rip his heart from his chest and crush it with her fingers. Star.
No, I couldn't even begin to imagine the feelings behind those thoughts. And he had always been right.
I pushed myself up on my elbows, and my eyes caught sight of it immediately.
There it was. Illyon. The White Book of Wisdom. The book that could give me answers.
It was just innocently lying there on the ground, under a piece of wood from the table Jespersen broke when he fell on it. I put my arms in front of me and dragged my body forward. I didn't know if I could get up on my feet, and I didn't have time to try. I didn't know where Arturo was, if he was dead or alive. But I needed to get my hands on that book.
And so I dragged myself. I passed the lifeless bodies of Jespersen and the Royal Guards, and I crawled up the two stairs. My body was a weak, bloody mess but eventually, I made it.
It was there, right in front of me, waiting for me. I admired the leather covers and the beautiful carvings on it, even though I didn't understand them. My eyes filled with tears because this was it.
After that moment, my life would change forever. Everything would become clear, and I would know. I would know what I was, and I would finally understand myself. A tear slipped down my cheek and onto the leather cover. I raised my bloody hand, and I touched it.
The second my skin connected with it, I felt the energy of it pulsating like actual blood ran through the book’s pages. It was so strong that I stopped breathing with a gasp. It was a living thing! It was the most powerful thing I’d ever sensed in my life. Not even Samayan could match the energy coming from the book.
Without wasting another second, I opened it.
What the hell?
The symbols printed on the yellow pages of Illyon were strange, to say the least. Each line and each curve reminded me of power, but I couldn’t understand it. Whatever those symbols—or letters—were, I couldn’t read them.
I panicked. How could I not read it? But as I flipped through page after page, I got the impression that the book was endless, and I would never, not in a million years get to the last page of it. It was infinity.
Soon, I stopped flipping and my heart stopped beating, too. Suddenly, I could read. A single page, but I recognized the letters.
Elemental, it said, in pretty, plain English.
I hesitated.
What if I didn’t like what the book said about me? This was Illyon we were talking about, and whatever it said, it would be the truth. A truth I would never be able to dance around. And what if that truth sucked?
I squeezed my eyes shut before the thoughts took over completely. I told myself that there was only one way to find out, that knowing something bad is better than not knowing anything at all. I made my eyes go to the first line, and I read, without bothering to breathe.
An Elemental is a vessel of the essence of Being. It is connected with the energy of everything that existed, exists and will exist upon realms. Immortal, but not undead,
it is the ultimate soldier, created only when the world is in need of balance, and its Guardian it shall remain.
Ultimately, an Elemental is a portal of the power of the Sky.
I dropped unconscious on the pages of the book.
23
——————————
Footsteps. My eyelids were unusually heavy. Where am I?
Whispers. Am I dreaming?
It was hard to breathe, too. Something hard was stuck under my chest.
I had no idea what the hell was happening.
A piercing noise went on in my mind. I squeezed my eyes shut as it gnawed at my brain, the pain unbearable. If I’d had the strength I would have shouted at it to stop. I would’ve begged it to stop. It was too much. I couldn’t hear a damn thing and just forcing air through my windpipe was a battle. I needed to relax. I needed to clear my head. I needed to…remember.
It all came crashing down on me with so much strength that I was surprised my head hadn’t split into two yet.
The book.
I was lying above the book. I’d killed Jespersen—a fairy. A Council member. Now, they were coming after me.
Footsteps again. Confirmed.
“Where is she?” someone said, but her voice didn’t sound like anyone’s from the Council. No, it sounded strangely similar to Grandmother’s voice.
But it couldn't be. She couldn't possibly be there, could she? Was she even allowed to leave the fifth dimension?
“I don't see her,” someone else said, someone that sounded terribly similar to Azazel. Were they really there?
I tried to move. Impossible. I inhaled and forced my eyes open. I needed to make a sound. I needed to make some kind of noise because I was lying behind the broken table, and they wouldn't see me if they didn't come close enough. If they were really there, of course, and not just a figment of my imagination. I needed to tell them that I had the book.
My heart faltered again.
It. The book had referred to me as an it, not a she. I was a vessel. Soulless, just like I always knew I was. Tears gathered in my eyes. I should’ve never read the stupid paragraph. Now, everything had changed, and it wasn’t for the better.