Elementalist: The New Inheritance

by Seever, Tyler

Admiral Song placed her long fingernails under the prince’s chin and lifted it up to meet eyes with him. “You were always so gullible,” she said, kissing his left cheek. Her kiss left a red print on his cheek. “It was what made you so appealing to me in the first place.” Admiral Song motioned the guards to take the three men off.

  “DARTHIA WILL BE HERE FOR ME!” Prince Gael shouted as he was pulled down the hall.

  “You will release me and Lenthean, or your nation will be met with war!” the prince’s voice trailed down the hall.

  Kethar and Rendall were pulled away with relative ease compared to the Darthian prince. Admiral Song turned to Lenthean. “Are you doing all right, Lenthean?”

  The boy nodded as he rubbed his throat with his hand. He stared down at the headless bodies bleeding all over the floor.

  “They intended to kill you, Lenthean. I did what I had to.” She sheathed her Katana and gave the boy a kiss on his cheek. The woman bowed before Lenthean and left the room. With every step were pattering sounds from tracing in the pools of blood. Kethar’s goons who Lenthean had come to know on his journey to Der’ Tanel lie dead before him. Lenthean felt sick at this violence. Lenthean had heard the prince, which was concerning to him now more than ever. If Lenthean didn’t act now, there would be war. More deaths, more destruction. Tensions were on the rise, with no signs of turning back. He had to make his decision soon. Very soon.

  33: The Decision

  “You kneel before me and plead. Why is this?” Erendar asked from his throne. Lenthean stood at the top by Erendar’s side. He looked down to the kneeling Kethar, Rendall, and Gael. They were surrounded by guards.

  Kethar and Rendall said nothing, looking down to their knees on the velvet carpet. Gael spoke up to the lad standing by the throne, “You are allies with them, Lenthean? What have you become? I misjudged you to be pure of heart. You too seek to silence the world?”

  Erendar raised his hand. “Save your breath, old friend,” he said to Gael. “Lenthean has seen with his own eyes that I am not who you and other monarchies claim me to be. For all I know, you three men could have been here to slaughter this boy.” Erendar pointed to Lenthean. “We respect this Elementalist for what he is. Not our own ideologies that make him out to be someone inherently evil, all because the Shadow God selected him as his Elementalist. That would be an unfair judgement of character.” Erendar looked to his left. “Excellent work for detecting their entry, Admiral Song.”

  She bowed her head of long, blonde hair. “Long live the Brotherhood,” She said. She took two steps back.

  Kethar lifted his bald head and snarled.

  Erendar looked at him casually. Erendar sat reclined in his throne with one leg up and one leg down. “What is it, Kethar? Something you would like to share? Hmm?”

  “That boy promised. He promised me, and he broke his word.”

  “Hmm,” Erendar said. He casually looked over to Lenthean. “I am amazed by you, Lenthean. You have some tolerance, you know?”

  Lenthean raised an eyebrow. “Tolerance for what?” the boy asked.

  Erendar shut his eyes and turned his head away. “Well, after all, I’m surprised you aren’t at Kethar’s throat right now.”

  Lenthean responded, “He hasn’t done nearly enough to deserve any harm.”

  Erendar raised an eyebrow and eyed the boy queerly. “You say this even with the death of your father?”

  The throne room was frozen. And silent.

  Lenthean felt tingles down his back. Everyone in the room was connected by one feeling: shock.

  Gael quietly murmured, “For once . . . Lenthean . . . Please . . . Do not listen to him.”

  But it was far too late.

  “My father?” Lenthean choked. The sound of Lenthean’s swallow was loud and unnatural.

  “Mmhmm,” Erendar nodded and gestured with an open palm to Kethar.

  Lenthean looked over to Kethar. “You—you are the reason my dad is gone? You—you were the reason he died all of those years ago?”

  Kethar lowered his scarred, bald head. “Shadow One . . .” Kethar’s deep voice was edged with sorrow.

  The room was frozen. All were silent. Erendar turned not his head, but his eyes. Lenthean felt a power coming over him. A dark energy. An absolute rage. His body was paralyzed with it. His fists began to quiver. His lip shook. His eyebrows angled down with fury. The veins in his forehead pulsated. The boy had felt this feeling before—when he was leaving home and his mother and Zuthar at the news of his father’s passing. He was losing control, and he didn’t care.

  “You—you . . .” Lenthean stammered. “You and your goons killed my father?”

  Kethar looked back up at Lenthean. “Shadow One, forgive me. I—I only . . .”

  Lenthean bared his teeth; his breathing was heavy.

  Gael spoke, “Lenthean, no. Don’t.”

  “SHUT UP,” Lenthean barked at the kneeling prince.

  “So why, then?” Lenthean demanded. “Why did you kill my father? Was it your greed? Was it your typical lust for power that you itch for? Well? Tell me!”

  “My boy . . .” Kethar uttered.

  Lenthean thrust his hand into the air with gnarled fingers. Kethar’s shadow sprung from itself and latched onto his own throat. Kethar gasped and choked for air. Lenthean’s face twisted with ire and intent to mame. The youth squeezed his fist tighter and tighter. Kethar’s face and bald head were turning dark purple as he gasped for air. His head was bound to pop like a bubble.

  Lenthean growled, “Do not call me your boy!”

  Lenthean threw his fist repeatedly in front of himself. As a result, Kethar’s face violently smashed into the floor with each movement of Lenthean’s fist. Kethar’s skull cracked and split with each impact. Lenthean screamed words of madness at Kethar. Blood splattered the floor, and Kethar’s limbs went limp after several minutes of being pounded into the pavement. Tears of pain, vengeance, and ire flowed from the boy’s eyes.

  Lenthean finally loosened his grip.

  It was clear now.

  Kethar was dead.

  The boy had taken the life of Kethar the Bounty Hunter.

  His hands shook violently with his rage and shock. He let out a screech of anger and fell abruptly to his knees. Lenthean opened his palms outward; tears pummeled them. Kethar’s body vanished into the shadows beneath him, and his body slipped away into blackness forever.

  Tasty . . . hehehahaha . . .

  Lenthean noticed that the room was nearly black at the mercy of his power. The light slowly faded back, as did Lenthean’s composure. Prince Gael’s face was appalled and terrified. Erendar’s eyes were wide. The guards quivered behind their polearms. All in the room quaked at the mighty Shadow Elementalist’s power.

  Rendall wept. “N—n—no! Master! Why! Why, oh why, did the Shadow Elementalist eat you? He ate you! Oh, Kethar . . .” Rendall sobbed. “Be at peace with the God of Shadows. . . ”

  Lenthean cried. His hands shook. He wept as he watched them tremble before his eyes.

  Gargonath, another ruler of Der’ Tanel, burst through a door at the commotion. He looked at Erendar. At Lenthean. By the looks of it, he understood what had happened from all the blood on the floor.

  Lenthean remembered being a boy. He remembered all of his dreams and aspirations in Fredrickstown. He had wanted to make a difference in the world. He had wanted to make a difference in just one person’s life. This was not how he ever envisioned it would be.

  Lenthean looked over to Erendar.

  “I can’t do this anymore.” Lenthean shook his head in grief. “Let us end this,” Lenthean said. “Let us end this hate. This suffering. This war. Let us end the death. I cannot forgive myself for this. Purge it from me. Purge it from the world. I will do anything.”

  Erendar rose from his throne to face the boy.

  Lenthean finished with, “I accept your offer. Let’s change the world.”

  ---

  “You did what?!” Lenthean’s mother
exclaimed.

  “I don’t know what’s going on with me, Momma. I just—I just—”

  “You killed him?!” his mother shouted.

  Lenthean wept. “I didn’t mean to. I was just so . . . angry! I couldn’t control it! I don’t know what came over me!”

  Before the lad could react, his face was angled at the wall and his cheek was stinging hot red where his mother hit him. Lenthean turned his tear-filled eyes back to her. She looked at him with empathy and pulled him in closely for a hug. He wept on her shoulder.

  Ayla started, “Lenthean, it will be all right. Not even I knew he was responsible for your father’s death.”

  Lenthean sobbed heavily. “How could I have murdered him? How did that come over me? I just, ugh.”

  “It’s okay, honey. What is it?”

  “I just wish there was a way to talk to him.”

  “To your father?”

  “Yes.”

  She put a hand to his cheek. “You are more like him than you know.” She sniffed and wiped tears from her eyes. “All he wanted was for the world to be at peace. I know you have a pure heart, Lenthean. You didn’t mean to kill that man. I know you didn’t. But it doesn’t make it okay.” Her words made him fall back into her shoulder as her shirt was dampened with his tears.

  “I just don’t know how that could have come over me. The way all those people looked at me in there. Even Erendar, an Elementalist, looked terrified of me.”

  “It’s okay, Lenthean,” she hushed him. “Everything is going to be okay. Shhh.”

  “Everything is going to be different now.”

  “Why is that, Lenthean?”

  “Erendar and I are going to bring the world to peace.”

  She looked concerned yet intrigued. “Honey, how are you going to do that?”

  “Erendar is to manipulate people’s souls through me.”

  Her concerned expression deepened. “Manipulating souls? How do you two expect to do that?”

  “We’ll do it with my ways of the Shadows. I will extend my grasp to the shadows of all people across the world. And he will latch on to their souls through my grip.”

  She pulled away from her son and looked disgusted. “You two are going to do what?”

  “We’re going to work together to change their souls to no longer desire war or greed.”

  “Hold on, Lenthean. You two are altering people’s souls? Do you hear the words you are speaking to your mother?”

  “Yes, but I am all out of options. I have one goal: to save the lives of all people. And this is the best way to do it.”

  “But Lenthean, are you not at all bothered by the fact that you are changing the very thing that makes a person who he is? Do you not want to think this through? This is not something you rush into and figure out after you have done it!”

  “Mother, I have one goal. I want to make a difference in the world. Erendar is right. And you were right about Erendar. The rest of the world has it all wrong. I cannot allow people to kill each other any longer. Not after what I just did. Something needs to be done. And the rest of the world is too selfish to realize that fact.”

  “Lenthean, don’t let Erendar persuade you in your decisions. Make your own decisions.”

  “Momma, this is my decision. Erendar only helped me find it. He told me the people of the world wouldn’t remember their lives before the change.”

  She gasped in disgust. “You plan on wiping away these people’s memories? Who they are?”

  “No—I just—I just am going to change their longing to wage wars or desire wealth. It’ll be better for the world. I will save the world from itself.”

  She shook her head. “My son, you were right. Who have you become? Erendar has altered your mind! It is time. Let us go home. I have made my decision. Let us resume our lives in Fredrickstown. Together! I am ready. And you are coming home with me. Erendar will at least pay you, I’m sure. And I’m almost certain he will keep his end of the bargain by paying for my and Zuthar’s safe livelihood.”

  “No,” Lenthean commanded. “This is my duty now. I am going to do this. I’m going to make this sacrifice for the world, and no one is going to change that.” Lenthean turned and stormed from the room.

  “Lenthean!” she shouted. “No!”

  The boy was determined. No one would have to lose their lives anymore. He was willing to do anything now. No one would need to live in fear. Fear. The very thing he represented. No one, and I mean no one, will have to endure this fear that I wield within me. This burden of hate. Let us rid the world of it. Let us rid the world of . . . me, Lenthean thought. No more bullies. No more violence. No more greed. No more war.

  Lenthean knew that everything was about to change forever.

  34: Before the Fall

  The butterfly fluttered its wings in the sunlight. Its vibrant yellow wings splashed the dark-desaturated room with much-needed color. The boy watched this. He lifted a hand to guide the butterfly down, where it landed on his palm. The tiny legs tickled his open hand as it journeyed for his fingertips. The butterfly prepared for flight. Its legs were extended and waiting for the trickle of wind to caress the tips of its wings for a graceful takeoff. It flew free in the light beam of the window in the room, leaving a distinct butterfly shadow beneath it in the air. Lenthean watched the shadow mimic the actions of the butterfly through his tear-filled gaze only to find the citrine creature concluding its flight on the stone floor of his suite. He watched it, longing to fly away with the creature. The boy nearly sobbed at the simple sight of this beautiful insect.

  The creature inched its way to the door. When the door opened, Erendar stepped on the beautiful butterfly. While Lenthean knew Eredar’s slight was unintentional, the boy grimaced.

  “Lenthean, my son,” Erendar said with outstretched arms. The boy sat up and wiped the remainder of the moisture from his cheeks. “I take it you aren’t dealing with this commotion so well; am I right?”

  The boy admitted, “No. I am not.” He rested his elbows on his knees and looked to the ground.

  Erendar spoke. “Your mother has requested a safe journey home and provisions for her life in Fredrickstown. I am here to tell you that she will receive that, and more.”

  “Good,” Lenthean said with a nod.

  “But I cannot allow her to leave. Yet.”

  Lenthean looked up to Erendar. “Why not?”

  “I care about her safety, my son. I presume you do too, no?”

  “What does this have to do with her safe journey home?”

  Erendar nearly chuckled. “It has everything to do with it, Lenthean. This is why our quest is so urgent, for you and me.” He knelt by Lenthean. His height was still well above Lenthean’s, even though the boy sat on a bed. Erendar’s presence was commanding even while he was kneeling. He spoke down to Lenthean from his position. “We need to enact our plan soon. Elementalist to Elementalist, I must tell you. Darthia is already marching for our nation.”

  Lenthean didn’t look at him. Erendar maintained his position and continued to whisper to the lad slowly.

  “We don’t want your mother to encounter danger or harm on her journey home. I don’t want her to, nor do you.”

  “Acting now will prevent all of this?”

  “Think about the lives you could save, Lenthean. Not only now . . . but for all time. Think about the safety of your mother. Should we not wait until you and I have rid the world of violence? Before we ship her home?”

  Lenthean looked up and met Erendar’s eyes. Erendar’s smile spread like wildfire, and his eyes were obviously pleased. “And besides, my son, she has had quite the change of heart as of late!”

  “She has?” Lenthean asked.

  “Indeed! She told me she knew of you, her son. She knows what you need most. You need space to think on your own. You are a man now, she says. She says she feels much more comfortable traveling home once you have done your part of creating world peace—and she was wrong to question otherwise. Not to wor
ry at all, Lenthean; I spoke with her, and she understands everything now.”

  Lenthean gained composure. He felt pleased by Erendar’s words. “May I see her now?”

  “You may . . . but she told me this: time is of the essence. Not one more life should be lost. She said you should spend your time learning so we can go back home to Fredrickstown sooner.”

  Lenthean nodded. He thought to himself of the words Erendar spoke, and he believed they were words his mother would speak.

  “We need to give you a lesson or two on your shadow abilities now, don’t we?”