The Water Ruptures

by D. K. Holmberg

  Then again, had he failed to reach another bond, he wouldn’t have been able to continue on in the Academy. He would’ve been sent away, or perhaps offered a chance to continue to train, though only holding his singular ability.

  “When do you think we’ll begin the Selection?”

  She clenched her jaw before turning her attention back to him. “It’s the same as what I told Master Salman. We have to wait until the Inquisitor arrives.”

  “When do the shaping schools get notified?”

  “Why?”

  “Only because I ran into a friend of mine.”

  “A shaper friend of yours?”

  “A wind shaper. I think some earth. I don’t know what else he can shape.”

  “If he can reach wind and earth, then he already has potential.”

  “He wasn’t Selected the last time.”

  “Then perhaps he is not a strong shaper.”

  “Does strength in shaping have anything to do with the Selection?”

  “It’s a part of it. Not all of it, but definitely a part.”

  As he sat back, leaning and looking over at Master Marcella, Tolan wondered which Inquisitor they would be assigned. The question didn’t last long. The door to the tavern opened and Master Irina entered.

  Tolan looked over at her but knew better than to say anything. What was there for him to say? Would he question her openly about any connection to Master Daniels?

  When she saw him, the corners of her eyes tightened. She took a seat and regarded Tolan for a long moment before turning to Master Marcella. “We will begin the Selection in the morning.”

  4

  Standing on this side of the row of shapers during a Selection felt considerably different than the last time he was here. When he had been here before, Tolan had been nervous, but it wasn’t the kind of nervousness that came from any real fear of failure. There was no real thought he would succeed, so he hadn’t worried about the possibility of failure. For that matter, he hadn’t really wanted to succeed.

  And now he watched from a different position, a place where a row of students, all longing for the opportunity to train at the Academy, stood before him.

  The door opened at the back of the room and another entered.

  Tolan stood motionless and when Velthan came closer, his eyes widened slightly when he took in Tolan. He mouthed the question, but Tolan could only stand and smile.

  Others began to file in, one after another, including Tanner. There were several Tolan knew, though not nearly as many as he thought he would have. He couldn’t help but wonder who would pass. Maybe none of them.

  When the entire line of students was situated, Master Irina spoke up. Her voice was sharp, and it carried on a shaping of wind. Tolan could feel the way she manipulated the shaping, maintaining it, ensuring everyone within the room could hear her.

  “You are all here with the intention of passing Selection. The process is arduous and involves three steps. You may all choose to abandon your pursuit now, and you will not be looked down upon. Many have come before the Selection committee and have decided their hearts weren’t there. They have decided that perhaps this wasn’t the time for them. Others have come and failed, and when you fail, you will have no memory of this.”

  A soft murmuring came over the line of students. It seemed they were all suddenly reminded of the fact they were spirit-shaped if they failed.

  “Only a few of you will pass. That is the nature of the Selection, though there are times when none pass through and others when many pass through. The Selection is beyond the control of the Selector.”

  He found that surprising. Why wouldn’t the Selector able to guide the Selection process?

  Master Irina continued, taking away the questions. “For those of you who move on, arduous study awaits you at the Academy. You will be tested. Many will fail. Those who do not are destined to serve the Academy.”

  Tolan could feel Velthan’s gaze upon him and he turned, meeting the other man’s eyes. More than anything, he hoped Velthan failed. He simply wasn’t a man he wanted to deal with at the Academy.

  “If you would like to take your leave, this is your last opportunity. If you fail to do so now, the testing will begin, and for those of you who fail, you will no longer recall anything of the testing process.”

  Two people peeled off, and a shaping built from Master Irina. They headed out of the room, a glazed expression on their eyes, and he realized she had shaped them already.

  The amount of power she had impressed him. Even more impressive was that he had somehow managed to not succumb to it.

  “The testing begins now,” Master Irina said.

  As she said it, a powerful shaping built from her.

  Tolan remembered his own experience with the first part of the Selection process and remembered all too well the memories that he had. What must these people be experiencing? What sort of memories were they having?

  Tolan stood with his hands clasped in front of him, and after a while, a shaper fell, collapsing to the ground. Another one fell. And then another. Master Marcella motioned for him to help, and he grabbed the fallen, dragging them out of the room, where a pair of shapers from the Ephra school of shaping waited for them. He hurried back, heading toward the others, and continued to grab the fallen shapers.

  After a while, there were no other shapers who had fallen, and Tolan returned to his place at the front of the room. He glanced over at Master Irina and recognized the shaping she held continued to build. Whatever she was doing was powerful, and it was potent enough she maintained it while watching the inside of the room, sweeping her gaze from one person to the next. Was she shaping each person?

  Perhaps that was part of the testing. Maybe she was using some shaping in order to determine who was here.

  He knew she was a powerful spirit shaper—she had to be, as the Grand Inquisitor—but she was holding onto a shaping, shifting it from one person to the next, and doing so without any evidence of strain.

  Slowly, everyone in the room began to blink, opening their eyes. Tolan was not surprised to see Velthan and Tanner still in the room. How many times had they gone through a Selection and failed? Probably more than they were aware of.

  Was there any way for those who had gone through a testing and failed to realize they had? Or were the memories forever gone, taken from them as part of the spirit shaping?

  “The next step in the Selection will be difficult. You will find you are tested in ways you have never been before. You will look outside of yourself, and those of you who succeed will move on to the third and final part of the Selection.”

  There were still nearly twenty people in the room, more than Tolan remembered from his own Selection, enough that he wondered if perhaps there wouldn’t be several moving on to the Academy.

  He should be pleased by that, and yet, the idea there would be some who knew him left him unsettled. One of the things he had appreciated about his Selection was that no one had known him when he reached Amitan.

  Another shaping built from Master Irina, and it swept over the shapers, moving from person to person, power radiating from her. As it did, several of the shapers began to fall again. Occasionally, they would twitch, and Master Marcella rushed forward, a shaping building from her.

  A water shaping, Tolan realized.

  There had always been rumors a Selection could be dangerous, and he had wondered how. If there was some way to get injured during a Selection, he was observing it.

  He and Master Marcella continued to drag the fallen out of the room. He didn’t know if there was a spirit shaping done on each person, but most had collapsed, so he wondered how much they would remember anyway.

  Seven remained. All were standing. Tanner and Velthan were among them.

  “And now we enter the last phase of the testing. For those of you who have survived this far, this last part of the testing is perhaps the most difficult.”

  She walked along the line and tapped each perso
n on the forehead.

  One by one, they fell.

  They all remained motionless. Tolan wondered if perhaps that was all of it or if there was more to the shaping than that.

  He glanced over at Master Marcella, but she was watching the Selection. This might be the first time she was seeing it from the other side as well.

  As powerful as Master Marcella might be, he didn’t think she had the ability to shape spirit, and so she would never be the primary Selector, not the way Master Irina and the other Inquisitors were. She was serving a role similar to what Jory had served when he had helped with the Selection.

  “These five,” Master Irina said, motioning to five of the students, including Velthan.

  Tolan’s stomach lurched as he realized Tanner wasn’t among them.

  It meant Tanner had failed the Selection.

  Unfortunately for Tolan, Velthan had not.

  How long would it take Tanner to realize Velthan was gone? He wasn’t entirely sure how shaping worked for those who weren’t Selected. Maybe they wouldn’t remember anything, or maybe he’d remember coming to the Selection and not being chosen. Or perhaps he wouldn’t remember he had once known Velthan. The other possibility—that memories of Velthan himself were wiped from his mind—seemed the most difficult. In order to do that, the spirit shapers would need to have incredible control, enough to remove specific memories. Tolan wasn’t sure how well the spirit shapers were able to control their shaping, but that seemed beyond what he expected of them.

  Tolan took his place next to Master Irina, who crouched next to Tanner. Her shaping built, letting Tolan know she was performing her spirit shaping on him.

  “How much of this will he remember?”

  “This is your friend?”

  Tolan nodded.

  “He will remember very little.”

  “What of the other shapers?”

  “We don’t conceal the fact some shapers are Selected. He will know that these five were chosen.” She swept her gaze along the row of shapers. Other than Velthan, he didn’t recognize any of the others. “There is value in having this many selected. They will believe it likely they will be chosen the next time.”

  “Why is that a good thing?”

  “Because the Academy needs for shapers to strive to reach us. We need for others to recognize there is an opportunity for them to join our ranks. In order for them to do so, they have to feel their effort has merit. Trying and failing while you see others succeed is definitely valuable.”

  She nodded to him and Master Marcella, and they were prompted to lift Tanner. Tolan carried him back, looking down at his friend, wondering if he would see him again. He needed to be prepared for the possibility he would never see his friend again.

  The last time he was here, he had been taken away quickly, with barely any opportunity to say any goodbyes. The same would happen this time. He wasn’t sure which side of the Selection he would prefer to be on.

  They returned and grabbed a young woman, hoisting her and carrying her out with the others. When he returned to the main room, the other five were starting to come around. Velthan and grinned when he saw Tolan.

  “We passed?” he asked.

  Master Irina nodded. “It was a good year for Selecting in Ephra,” she said. “Most years, we have only one or two come from each place. In the case of Shaper Ethar, he was the only person. You will have only a brief period of time to say your goodbyes. Gather a few items and you will be escorted out of the city, where we will continue our journey.”

  Master Irina nodded at Master Marcella, who guided the others away but left Master Irina with Tolan.

  “Come, Shaper Ethar. We will meet them at the Shapers Path.”

  “You’re not going to help?”

  “The other part of the selection process does not require my intervention. Master Marcella is perfectly capable of coordinating things from here.”

  They left the room and went back out on the street. Master Irina made her way through the city, reaching the edge and then hurrying outward. When they approached where the Shapers Path would be found overhead, she barely paused before shaping herself up and overhead, landing on top of the Path.

  Tolan stuck his hand in his pocket, pausing as he reached for his furios and using it to summon a shaping, drawing power from it as he launched himself into the air. A part of him wanted to try using earth, but he decided against it, not knowing if he would have enough control. It would be better to wait and practice on his own to see if there was any way to grow more competent.

  When he landed on the platform next to Master Irina, she studied him. “You have been particularly difficult for me to study.”

  “I don’t know if I should be thankful or not.”

  “It tells me you have potential, Shaper Ethar.”

  “And by potential, you mean the ability to shape spirit?”

  “It’s possible. Many who have the ability to shape spirit develop that later in life, and those who do develop it later in life will often be stronger than those who are born to it.”

  “Are you trying to shape me now?” he asked, feeling her shaping building.

  “Are you aware I’m shaping?”

  There was no sense in denying it. “I can feel when you shape, though I can’t tell what element bond you’re reaching for.”

  “That is a unique gift to possess. There are many powerful shapers who never have such abilities. The fact you do, and without much control over your connection, tells me you have much potential.”

  Tolan studied her, debating how much he wanted to say to her. He had an opportunity, standing here with her, just the two of them, and wondered if perhaps he could find out what she knew.

  Taking a deep breath, he decided it was best just to say it. “I presume the Grand Master told you about what happened with Master Daniels?”

  She frowned, her lips pressed together tightly. “Unfortunately, he did.”

  “Unfortunately?”

  “It’s unfortunate he decided he needed to abuse his abilities in such a way.”

  “Did you know he was a spirit shaper?”

  “Master Daniels was not a spirit shaper.”

  She said it with complete conviction, and while he wouldn’t put it past her to lie to him, the way she said it, and the fact she seemed completely convinced, left him wondering if perhaps he had it wrong.

  But then, there were other ways of reaching spirit. He had seen a spirit bondar, and while it took the ability to shape each of the other elements, that didn’t seem to be Master Daniels’ ability, either.

  Unless he had hidden it.

  He thought back to what had been in his parents’ home. Bondars.

  If Master Daniels had known of them, Tolan had to wonder if perhaps he had used them.

  “Did you know I was there when Master Daniels attacked?”

  “The Grand Master and I don’t have any secrets, Shaper Ethar.”

  “None?”

  “It would be dangerous for the Grand Master and the Grand Inquisitor to have secrets between themselves.”

  “Where have you been since the attack?”

  “I’ve been trying to find answers,” she said.

  “About why Master Daniels decided to start working with the disciples of the Draasin Lord?”

  She looked past his shoulder. “I’m not convinced he was working with the disciples.”

  Another shaping built, and Tolan realized the new Academy recruits were arriving. He was disappointed, wishing for more time to continue his conversation with Master Irina, but even if he did, there probably wasn’t anything more he would be able to learn from her.

  Other than the fact that Master Daniels had hidden his ability with spirit from her.

  Either he had an ability on his own, or he was using a spirit bondar. Either way, it meant there might be others who didn’t necessarily shape spirit on their own but were suddenly able to do so.

  What would happen if he tried to use spirit in such
a way? Would he be able to control a bondar well enough to be able to do so? He doubted it. He struggled with trying to summon a single element and couldn’t imagine trying to summon more than one at a time.

  As the recruits for the Academy arrived, Tolan stood next to Master Irina, watching them. They were all eager, similar to some of the other recruits he had met on the Shapers Path when he had been guided the Academy.

  Velthan was the most boisterous. “I can’t believe we’re on the Shapers Path. I never thought we’d be granted access to it. Can you believe it, Kristin?”

  He looked at a dark-haired woman standing next to him, and she smiled at him. “I can’t believe I was Selected. And on my first try!”

  Velthan’s face soured. “We don’t know if it was your first try or not. For all we know, this was our fifth or sixth try. I suspect this was my first, though.”

  Tolan smiled to himself and shook his head at them. Maybe he shouldn’t, but it felt good to antagonize him, if only a little.

  What if part of the reason he had been Selected was because a spirit shaping wouldn’t work on him? Master Irina might not even share with him if that were the case or not. Was the Selection designed to detect those who had potential with spirit?

  That seemed an odd reason for the Selection. There had to be a benefit in searching through Terndahl and finding those who had the ability to shape spirit. The Inquisitors had always been valuable to the empire, and without some way of finding them, there wouldn’t be any additional way of adding to their ranks.

  “How long do we have to go to reach Amitan?” one of the others asked.

  “The journey is not so far, but you must be prepared for what you find there.”

  Tolan smiled to himself again. What would they think when they reached Amitan? They’d probably be as impressed as he had been. He had been amazed at just how much had been in the city, and just how powerful the shapings were.

  Master Irina guided them along the Shapers Path. They walked quickly over the path and away from Ephra. As they did, Tolan glanced over his shoulder, looking back. A sense of a shaping built from within the city, though it was faint, weak, and it left him wondering whether it came from Tanner.