Snowfall

by Brandon Cornwell

  “As we saw yesterday, manipulating the world around us does not require that we physically interact with it,” Rasul was saying. “By extending our consciousness and control of the elements outside of our immediate influence, we can create effects without our direct intervention. This can be done in several ways. The one we will be reviewing today is through the manipulation of energy within form.”

  He gestured to the stones. “I want each of you to select one of these and return to your places. Do so now.”

  While the rest of the Hopefuls rushed forward, Tika included, Amethyst hung back. Once most of the rest of them had selected their stones, Amethyst stepped closer and looked them over.

  A black rock with white patches on it caught her eye, and she picked it up. It was heavy, but not too much for her to move. The black material was smooth and glassy, but the white stone shot through it in several places. It looked like white quartz rock that hadn't crystallized; the fractal planes caught the cold light of the sun as she turned it back and forth.

  Amethyst carried the stone back to her place. She had an idea as to what she was going to make, though she wasn't sure how well it would turn out.

  Once the last of the Hopefuls had selected their stones, Rasul addressed them again. “Now, each of the stones you have chosen was selected for its ability to contain the energy of our element without shattering, which will make this lesson easier. Other minerals you may find in the world will be less easy to work with, though the principal will be the same.”

  Holding his hands out before himself, he pulled a mound from the floor of the crater. “Just as you channeled the essence of the mountain through the stone without touching it yesterday, you will do so again today. This time, I want you to twist the energy into a specific shape of your choosing. Instead of collecting energy inside the stone, I want you to bind it to the stone then draw it out. This way, when you form the energy, you will also form the physical world that it is a part of.”

  Rasul folded his hands inside his sleeves and focused on the stone he had pulled from the crater. Before Amethyst's eyes, the mound buckled and shifted, twisting as if it were being manipulated by some massive, unseen force. The side furthest from them rose up steeply, while the closer side pressed flat. On either side of the flat space the stone grew, and Amethyst could see that a seat was being formed.

  On the both arms of the seat, a fist-sized divot sank into the stone. Reaching into his robe, Rasul produced two heating stones. Holding one in either hand, he set them in the divots, and they flickered to life. He took his seat between them and laced his fingers together.

  “You may begin.”

  Each of the Hopefuls focused on their stones. Glancing to her right, Amethyst saw Tika kneeling in front of hers, eyes closed, holding her hands above it. The rest of the Hopefuls were doing the same, crouching on the ground, some of them sitting on the ice.

  Amethyst did not want to sit on the ice; she was tired of being cold. Taking a deep breath, she stepped to the side and closed her eyes. All around her, the amber light of the mountain sparkled as the other Hopefuls worked with it. Reaching out, she took hold of the energy with her will and drew it up next to her stone, envisioning a simple chair. As the light gathered beneath her, obeying her commands, she tried to figure how to entangle it. Frowning, she shook her head. She was tired of lagging behind the rest of the Hopefuls. This time, the magic would obey her.

  In her mind's eye, there was a spark of purple within her. She saw a shockwave of light spread from her and ripple through the ground, disrupting the amber energy of the mountain. She clenched her hands into fists and drew them upwards as if she were physically pulling the chair out of the ground.

  The ground trembled, and Amethyst opened her eyes. Before her was a perfectly serviceable chair. A wave of pride ran over her, and she drew a pedestal up from the ground, just as Rasul had done the day before. Now she had a platform to set her stone upon as she worked with it. Taking her seat, she looked around. All of the other Hopefuls were staring at her.

  The faintest smile gracing Rasul's lips. “Well done, Quartz,” he said. “Now, if you could return to the lesson...”

  One by one, the Hopefuls went back to work, and Amethyst joined them, doing her best not to smirk. Even Fredrick had looked surprised before the contempt returned to his face.

  Amethyst focused on the rock she had chosen. She could still feel the energy within her, as well as the power of the mountain. She channeled them both into the stone, imagining her horse, Lucidus, and it started to change. Four spindles extending from the bottom, lifting it up. At either end, protrusions of black stone grew out, one thicker and turning up, the other thinner and falling downward, feathering to resemble a tail.

  Next, Amethyst envisioned the white markings of her beloved horse. She passed her hands over the stone, shaping the energy within it. She could sense the material of the statuette shifting within itself and knew that it was working. She pictured Lucidus's head and mane, his deep, intelligent eyes, his slender but powerful build, in as much detail as she could.

  When she had finished, the stone before her was completely transformed. It was as if the image in her mind had translated perfectly into the figurine in front of her. Not only had it formed into a perfect representation of Lucidus, but even the white mineral had also moved around the surface to be in the right places for his markings.

  Rasul rose from his seat and approached her. He looked at her creation before asking, “May I?”

  “Of course.”

  Gently, he lifted the statuette off the pedestal and turned it in his hands as he examined it. Gently, he tugged on the legs, checking their strength, then set it back down.

  “That was remarkably well done, Quartz. You can continue to practice, or you can return to your tent as you see fit.”

  Amethyst bowed her head in acknowledgment. “Thank you, sir,” she said, catching Fredrick's glare out of the corner of her eye. His stone was only partially formed, taking on the shape of some beast – an orc or ogre or something. She couldn't tell.

  Tika was staring at the sculpture, having paused in her own work. “That's... that's the most beautiful statue I've ever seen,” she said softly. “How did you do it?”

  “I'll tell you tonight,” said Amethyst, picking up her statue. As much as she enjoyed being in Tika's company, she wanted some time to herself. She had an idea, and she needed to concentrate if she was going to get it right.

  ~~~

  Amethyst ducked into her tent, dropping a chunk of obsidian onto the pile of blankets. She picked up Tika's warming stone and quickly activated it, filling the tiny shelter with heat. She still had to be careful with it; she had more control now than on the first night, but she didn't want to break this stone as well.

  The piece of obsidian she had chosen was roughly the same size as Tika's – about four inches in diameter and glossy black, with thin bands of brown and gray running through it. By itself, it was a beautiful specimen, but Amethyst was determined to shape it into a tool she could use.

  Sitting cross-legged, Amethyst cradled the stone in her lap. Every time she tried to channel energy into obsidian, it grew unbearably warm. Hopefully this time, she would be able to shape it before it became too hot to hold. Drawing from the energy in the mountain, she focused it into the stone.

  The obsidian grew warm, but the heat was uneven. The irregularities in the surface grew hotter faster, quickly becoming uncomfortable, while the rest of the stone remained relatively cool. Amethyst envisioned the obsidian collapsing into a perfect sphere, just as her first heating stone had been.

  She felt it trembling in her lap, but it didn't change shape the way the other stone had. Frowning, she doubled down, pushing more energy into the obsidian. She picked it up, cupping between her hands, and gave the light inside of it a push, making it spin.

  When the glow of the energy was thoroughly purple, she forced it to bind to the stone, as she had before. The rock jumped in her hands, st
artling her, and she dropped it on the blanket. As it rolled to a stop, it was almost as if the spinning energy inside was pushing it along.

  Carefully, Amethyst reached out and lifted the stone again, feeling the forces tug on it. She concentrated her own energy into her hands, balancing it with what was in the obsidian. To her surprise, it started spinning in her hands, the irregularities smoothing into the rest of the piece, swiftly forming a sphere. She let her palms ride lightly over the surface, moving them back and forth over the spinning rock. Before long, it was smooth enough that she could run a finger over its hot surface without feeling any bumps or scratches.

  She released the energy that coursed through it, and the newly formed heating stone stopped spinning in her hands. It was still hot, though not enough to burn her. She focused on the stone, tethering it to the mountain's energies, and just like Tika's stone, it glowed with a dim light, radiating warmth.

  Amethyst thinned the tendril that connected the stone to the mountain, reducing the amount of energy that flowed through it. The sphere cooled, putting out less heat and light. She lay back and set the sphere on her stomach, smiling to herself as it warmed her. The more she practiced manipulating the element of Earth, the better she got. At this rate, she wasn't sure there would ever be a limit as to what she could do.

  Chapter Seven

  10th Waxing Moon of the Long Night, Year 4367

  Amethyst and Tika stood side by side, leaning against the stone wall of the temple. Almost none of the stools were being used at this point; they had been on the mountaintop for over a week, and everyone was more than a little restless.

  Simple loaves of bread studded with dried fruit were laid out on the serving tables. Amethyst had never seen anyone setting out the food, nor had she ever seen anyone clear them. It was all just done and waiting for them when they stepped inside to eat in the morning, and fresh food was laid out in the evening. For the first few days on the mountain, she missed having a midday meal, but by now she was used to it.

  Fredrick had grown more and more aggressive as time went by, heckling the girls whenever he saw them. Once, he had managed to convince one of the other young women – a plain-looking blonde girl from one of the cities in the Northlands – to share his tent, and the obnoxious noise that they had made that evening had kept everyone from getting enough sleep. If that was what it was like to sleep with someone, Amethyst would gladly pass.

  As they waited for Rasul to announce their daily training, Amethyst found herself eager to learn more. She had always been a quick study, but the subjects that were taught by the priests in Lonwick bored her. History, mathematics, and economy were interesting enough, but there was always a veneer of religion cast over the whole thing, and that held no interest for her. This, though – the arcane – was practical, useful, and powerful. Already, her mind raced with the possibilities. If she became powerful enough, the very mountains might even bend to her will.

  She had just finished eating when Rasul entered the room, and she stood ready with the rest of the Hopefuls. He looked around the chamber, noting the fact that few of the young men and women were seated, and nodded approvingly.

  “Today,” he said, “I do not have a lesson for you. Instead, we are going to climb to the final site of the Choosing. The highest peak of Mount Stromgard is our goal. The way is treacherous and will be colder than what most of you have ever experienced. Bring your tents, your heating stones, and what possessions you may need. Again, food and drink will be provided at our destination.”

  He made eye contact with every person in the chamber as he spoke. “Some of you may fall along the way. I tell you this now; if you try to save one of your fellows, then it is very likely that you will perish as well. We have spent eight days at the Temple of the Summit, so your bodies should be acclimated to the height of the mountain, but the air is thinner yet at the very peak. It will take everything you have to reach the top, and you will have none to spare for another. It may seem cruel, but my advice is to treat the fallen as if they were already gone.”

  The chamber was deathly silent when he finished speaking, and Amethyst felt a chill run up her spine. This was it. The Choosing was almost upon them.

  ~~~

  The pack on her shoulders seemed less overbearing than it had a week ago as Amethyst trudged up the steep hillside towards the peak of Mount Stromgard. Tika had told her about mountain sickness, where grown men would pass out if they climbed too high on a mountain too quickly. Rasul had been wise to have them stay at the lower camp for as long as he had; though the climb was difficult, she felt more able to make it than she had before.

  She risked a glance behind her, at the young men and women that followed. There were still eight, and ahead of her, there were still eleven, as well as Rasul. They hadn't lost anyone yet. As much as she disliked Fredrick, she didn't want to see anyone, not even him, die on the way to the Choosing.

  Far behind them, she could see the Temple of the Summit, standing lonely and isolated in the crater of the lower peak. There was a low point between the two parts of the mountain, where the clouds from the west flowed through and separated the two high points, making them look like islands in a sea of clouds. If the weather had been clearer, she might have been able to see all the way to Castle Lonwick.

  She turned back to the trail that had been cut into the snow by the passage of the climbers ahead of her and looked up. The summit was not far ahead – they should reach it within the hour. Her riding boots were not ideal for climbing, being smoother on the bottom than she would have liked. Some of the Hopefuls had brought boots with steel cleats on the bottom, and they were faring better than she was. She adjusted the strap of her backpack and pushed on.

  They were not far from the top when one of the Hopefuls ahead of Amethyst staggered to the left, falling to their side. The entire line paused, watching the place where he had fallen. The snow on the western slope of the ridge started to sag, a crack forming in the surface as it began slipping down the side of the mountain. Amethyst stumbled away from the growing avalanche, her heart leaping into her chest.

  Something grabbed her pack and kept her on the trail, and she fought against it. Had something become attached to her? Was someone trying to force her into the sliding snow?

  “Stay on the trail!” Tika's voice shouted at her over the growing roar. “If you don't you could fall down the other side!”

  Below her, the massive sheet of snow slid down the side of the mountain, tumbling in on itself and sending up an enormous cloud of ice crystals. They all stopped in their tracks, clinging to the trail and waiting for the ground to stop vibrating from the force of the avalanche beneath them. As it progressed down the side of the ridge, Amethyst could hear trees groaning and snapping as the wave of snow struck with unimaginable power.

  It seemed like forever before the roar subsided, leaving the remaining climbers huddled at the top of the now bald hillside. Rasul called out to them.

  “Hurry! We must reach the peak quickly, lest we trigger another snowfall! We will be safe at the summit! Go now, but carefully! Your lives depend on it!”

  Digging her feet into the packed snow, Amethyst started back up the hill, adrenaline fueling her steps. Large chunks of snow broke away from the ridge in the wake of the avalanche, gathering size and momentum as they rolled until they were torn apart, cascading down the mountainside through the devastation.

  As she neared the summit, the ridge slowly leveled out, running into the rounded top of the mountain's peak. There was no crater here, so there was nothing to protect them from the wind that tugged at her hood and stung her cheeks and nose. Ahead of her, on the north side of the uneven plateau, there was what looked like a huge boulder sticking up out of the surface with a wide crack in the base. Snow and ice-encrusted pillars surrounded the rising stone in a circle, their surfaces weathered and chipped from the ages.

  Rasul was standing at the base of the boulder, ushering the young men and women into the cavern. She could
not see where they were going as they disappeared, but she assumed they were descending into the mountain itself.

  When Amethyst reached Rasul, she was not disappointed. There was a stairway carved into the living rock, descending into the peak and curving out of sight. Carefully, so as not to slip from the ice on the steps and her shoes, she made her way down, Tika close behind her. As she traveled along the narrow corridor, the temperature increased, going from painfully cold to merely frigid. Her breath fogged in front of her as she kept moving forward, the path growing darker the further she got from the surface.

  Before long, she was proceeding by feel alone, sliding her feet carefully from step to step. She felt a twinge of empathy for the other Hopefuls – her eyes were much keener than theirs, yet here in the bowels of the earth, even she was blind. She kept her right hand on the inside wall of the stairway, making sure of each step before resting her weight on it.

  “Quartz, I can't see!” came Tika's voice from right behind her. “Are you still there?”

  “I am,” Amethyst said. “Slowly, come forward. Feel for my back, and hold on to me. Step carefully.”

  “How deep does this cave go?”

  “How should I know?” said Amethyst. “I've never been here before.”

  Amethyst paused, an idea springing to her mind. “In my pack, on top, there's my heating stone. Hand it to me!”

  She could feel Tika fumbling with the flap that closed her backpack, pulling out the smooth ball of obsidian. When Tika set it against Amethyst's shoulder, she reached up and took it from her. She focused on it, drawing the energy of the mountain up through her right hand from where it rested on the wall and poured it slowly into the stone. She didn't even need to close her eyes; it was so dark, they may as well have been shut already.