Instead, he was simply reiterating past advice. All four Stoicheio were needed for balance. And I had a hard task ahead that would involve something I feared.
I realised, in that split second, that there was much that I feared. I turned my head and looked at Theo. Losing him was perhaps the greatest fear of all. Would Aetheros ask that of me?
Would the world?
“Rain and wind. Fire and stone. Aether wields all alone.”
My eyes shot back to the shaman. Somehow he knew what I’d been thinking. At that moment, I truly despised the old man. I hated that his riddles kept saying the same thing.
Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum.
Damn it! But I was sick of doing this on my own.
“No!” I said resolutely. “I refuse to believe that.”
The old man just smiled. Crooked. Toothless. Knowing.
Theo’s hand settled in mine, softly squeezing. His warmth and reassurance doing little to lower my blood pressure. Anger bubbled beneath the surface. Like a volcano threatening to erupt. I let a sharp breath of air out, and then another. And then the room began to spin.
“Theo,” I said in warning, but when I turned to look for him, he was gone. I blinked down at my clenched hand, which had held Theo’s only seconds before, but it was empty. The darkness inside surged.
My eyes found the shaman across the fire pit; alone, no Hip.
“All right, old man,” I said angrily. “Start making sense.”
“Or what?” he asked.
I was so surprised it wasn’t a riddle, I just stared. The shaman started cackling. Then he was up on his feet rummaging in a box of God alone knows what at the back of the room. I blinked through the smoke that swirled around my face, and thought about getting up and seeing what the shaman was up to, but getting to my feet seemed unwise right then. My body was dangerously swaying.
The shaman turned back to me and threw a handful of herbs into the fire. The flames flared a bright blue, and then an emerald green, followed by a blindingly bright, sunlight yellow. I shielded my eyes from the blaze, coughed into my forearm as the incense started to clog my lungs, and then toppled over sideways. The cushions puffed out little black feathers as my body fell onto them in slow motion. I watched as the feathers drifted to the ground before my eyes.
I couldn’t move.
I couldn’t speak.
I couldn’t even swallow.
I was sure that was dribble sliding down my chin to land on the stone floor.
“A brief time our Aether is here,” the shaman said through the smoke and flickering flames. “Eternal, though, the legacy she must bear.”
“Please,” I mouthed. Tell me something I can use.
He said nothing. The room continued to spin. The flames continued to flicker. Dribble continued to run unchecked down my chin.
He’d given me nothing. Absolutely nothing I could use to fix this mess. When I awoke from this little session, I’d be exactly where I was when we’d walked in here. Alone. Lost. In the darkness.
I’d expected the shaman to be difficult, but I’d also hoped that he would help. He still believed in Aetheros. He still spoke for our god. He knew what needed to be done, I was sure of it. But he couldn’t, or wouldn’t, share that knowledge with me.
I was truly alone in this, I realised. Even when there was someone right there who could help. It was up to me to work this out. Physically, I’d have Theo. As long as no one took him away from me, that is. But psychologically I was on my own, lost in eternal darkness.
Was it the fear of not knowing how to end this that the shaman spoke of?
God, I had so many freaking fears.
And nothing the shaman had said helped.
“Just let me go,” I mumbled, unsure if he’d understood my words. Uncaring if he hadn’t. I’d had enough.
The shaman shuffled into my field of view and crouched down without any indication his old bones pained him. He cocked his head to the side as he surveyed me. Smiled that gap-toothed grin. And then reached out and ran a gnarled old hand over my hair gently.
“Eternal Aether, rest here,” he whispered. “Your journey’s end on earth is near.”
Oh, that couldn’t be good, I thought. I blinked, and then he was gone. As was the fire and the smoke and the smell of cloying incense.
And suddenly I was in the throne room with the Aeras King.
I staggered. My balance off for more than one reason, as the Basilissa squeaked out a sound of surprise and the Rigas roared in fury.
“Guards!” he shouted, and a multitude of heavily armed men ran into the room. “Seize the intruder!”
Knives, clubs, strange looking serrated wooden swords and star shaped stone mallets appeared in thick-fingered hands, and then they were rushing toward me.
I took a step backwards, knocking over a brass pot full of sweet smelling water. Petals floated on the top, the smell of their luscious scent wafting up to my nose. The Gi in me inhaled. For a brief moment, I felt centred.
And then a sword was thrust at my neck, and a mallet was raised above my head, and a knife left the hand of the closest guard to approach me.
I fell on my butt unceremoniously. A breath of expelled air left me in a grunt. Scurrying backwards, my hand found the water from the upturned pot, a petal sticking to my palm and my fingers becoming soaked. I screamed. The knife glanced off my shoulder, slicing skin. Blood dripped down my arm and mixed with the perfumed water.
And Nero surged.
It wasn’t the smell of the ocean. It was crisp and clean, like a mountain fiord or a glacial river. Like the rain that falls from the heavens and washes away the dirt that films the world. Like ice and ozone. Spring water and fresh dew. A mix of more than just one type of water source, and underlying it all was Earth.
I couldn’t wield my Gi, but I recognised it. Just as I recognised the Pyrkagia that rose on the flare of excitement that filled me. Just as I welcomed, but couldn’t touch, the Air that swirled around me.
Water danced before my eyes, playfully enticing me to join it. Droplets sprinkled themselves around the room, bouncing off first one mesmerised guard and then another. Delicate arches of crystal clear liquid ran off the tips of swords and the edges of star-burst mallets. And then the smell of the petals that had floated on the water inside the brass pot joined in on the crisp scents in the air.
I laughed. It felt more freeing than I had been in months. I stood up and spun around, letting the Water tickle and tempt, tantalising me. I opened my mouth and tipped back my head, the ceiling obscured by heavy clouds that opened up and began raining.
I drank Water down, sipping at its bounty, savouring its clean and fresh taste, welcoming its rejuvenation. I danced with the Element, accepting its invitation. Relishing its chill touch.
Ice sculptures appeared throughout the throne room, ethereal and magnificent. The guards stood frozen in their positions, but they weren’t encased in ice that I could see. Still, a fissure of fear slipped through me. I couldn’t see the King and Queen, but I heard the Rigas bellowing.
Yet, despite any fears, I continued to dance. Swaying, I drank and tasted, hummed my delight to the rain drops.
As my arms opened up and my body spun in ever increasingly faster circles, the clouds let out a deluge that threatened to wash the Aeras village away down the mountain. I choked on a mouthful of Water, and then another and another, and suddenly I couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, just felt myself drowning. Water gurgled, or it could have been me. Ice cracked, but I thought perhaps it was the part of me already broken. Someone screamed.
It took a moment to realise it was me.
My back bowed, my arms and legs disobeying any orders, my head tipped back, and my mouth filled up with Water. I stood outlined in brilliant blue glacial rivers that ran through a room where they simply shouldn’t exist. Slowly dying, slowly slipping into unconsciousness.
My body finally giving up the will to fight and letting the Water
win.
I knew what this was. I should have been thankful. The Aeras shaman hadn’t abandoned me; he’d forced the Awakening. But fear stole all reason and doubt filled my mind, and the black abyss of darkness swelled inside me.
Rest easy, Aether, a new voice intoned in my mind, in amongst the drops of rainwater that tinkled. You are Awakening. We must guide you now.
Relief didn’t come with confirmation. The room was almost completely full of water now. Barely enough space near the ceiling to gulp in any air. But although I could see the guards kicking their feet frantically, and the Rigas attempting to hold the Basilissa afloat with all those voluminous folds of material in her dress, I was rooted to the floor of the throne room completely submerged.
I stopped fighting. I stopped struggling. Water stilled, making the room appear one big mirror. Faceted lights splayed out around me, jewel-like hues dancing and swaying when the water itself was so very still. I reached up and stroked through the liquid, then calming myself further, took in a breath full of Water.
The refracted lights twinkled around me, dazzling my eyes and making me blink. Spots began to appear before my eyes, dancing. Making me take a step toward the light. Tempting me. Tantalising me. I licked my lips, which seemed ridiculous submerged underwater, but my tongue tasted sweetness and flavours that couldn’t simply exist.
I sighed.
The Water rippled as if a pebble had been thrown into its centre.
And then the room suddenly drained completely dry.
I spluttered and shook and tried unsuccessfully to drag air into my flailing lungs, as I crouched on the floor on all fours, staring at the now inexplicably dry marble beneath my fingers. Guards groaned, and the King said something in Greek. The Queen thankfully replying.
And Nero whispered, Welcome Athanatos. Welcome, Aether. Welcome home.
My three other Stoicheio joined in, and it was only as the final Element welcomed me that I realised I could touch, I could reach, them all.
I slowly stood to my feet, just as Theo rushed through the now open door, and faced off against the Rigas.
He glowered from above, standing before his throne, looking down on the sorry state of his guards, and the woman who had caused so much chaos.
“You attack us in our own throne room?” he yelled.
Then without further warning, he struck.
Lightning arced towards me in a type of slow motion that for a moment intrigued. I stared at it, cocking my head to the side as it made its slow progress ever closer…and then I smiled.
Lifting my hand, I caught the lightning strike, and then watched dazedly as I threw it up into the air and sparks flew like brilliant fireworks.
Someone gasped. Someone screamed. Many cowered.
And then the Aeras shaman cheerfully said from behind me, “Aether puts on quite a show.”
Chapter Eleven
And Lightning Struck
“Aether?” the Aeras Rigas repeated, his eyes blazing white, matching, I should think, mine. He flicked a shocked glance toward the shaman, who had moved farther into the room, almost standing at my side. “She has Awakened all four Stoicheio?” he asked.
“Rain and wind. Fire and stone. Aether wields all alone.” The shaman certainly did like emphasising the “alone” part of this gig. Every opportunity he was given, he took the chance to remind me.
I stared across at the wizened old creature; if my look could have killed, it might well have. The shaman simply chuckled but didn’t meet my eye.
“She wields Air,” the Rigas said, almost as if to himself.
“She came to tell us,” Hip explained. I hadn’t seen him enter the room, but then, I hadn’t seen the shaman enter either. For all I knew, they had flashed here on lightning. In the same manner as how the shaman had delivered me into the King’s clutches, at a guess.
“Yes,” the Rigas said in reply to Hip. But there was no softening. Whether he felt embarrassed that he’d overreacted, I couldn’t say. But he was certainly acting all-powerfully regal.
Never question a monarch. Especially an Athanatos King.
“And the water?” the King asked.
Hip flicked a nervous look around the room. The shaman started humming. The Aeras Rigas turned his still white eyes on me. I felt, more than saw, Theo shift closer.
“I needed help Awakening the last Element,” I said, refusing to apologise for my failings. I’d done enough of that already.
Besides, I kind of felt a little all-powerful myself right then.
“Indeed,” the King murmured. I had the feeling he didn’t quite know what to do with me.
“There has been no permanent harm done,” Theo offered, his tone matching the King’s; princely.
“I rather think that is debatable,” the King argued.
“Any action here was not intentionally undertaken,” Theo countered.
“But it did occur in my throne room. In the presence of my Queen.”
“Oh, for crying out loud,” I exclaimed. All eyes turned toward me. “The world is dying out there!” I flung my hand out in a vague direction meant to convey anywhere but here. “Pyrkagia burns. Gi are rotting. Nero have risen from the sea. And you’re hiding up in the clouds, pretending this doesn’t concern you. But it does. It most certainly does.”
“We have done nothing to contribute to this Armageddon,” the King said mildly. “We will not be drawn into a fight we did not begin.”
“But you did,” I said softly. “You all did. You all turned your back on Aetheros. On each other.”
“I will not listen to this,” the King announced. “You have no say here.”
“Do I not wield Air?” I demanded. “Am I not Aeras too?”
“You are Aether,” he said simply. “This is your war to wage.”
“The Alchemists are using lightning,” I added. “Using Aeras as a means to manipulate Ekmetalleftis. Will you not guard your own Stoicheio from misuse?”
The King paused. “They have always stolen from Athanatos. It is to be expected they would steal our lightning too.”
“And give it to the Nero?”
He’d partially turned away, but I had his attention then. The Rigas spun back and stared down at me.
“Explain,” he demanded in a haughty, regal tone.
“You are addressing Aether,” Theo suddenly growled. “Aetheros’ chosen. Show some respect.”
Okaaay; hadn’t seen that coming. I blinked at Theo’s resolute face and felt someone shift beside me. My head swung towards Hip, who was now standing at my shoulder. The shaman next to him.
Their show of solidarity was unexpected. Well, maybe not so much the shaman, he had been the one to trick Water into Awakening after all. But Hip nodded when our eyes connected, and then straightened his shoulders and looked at the King.
The tide had turned. And it had only taken a room full of Water to achieve it.
I’d felt broken before, part of me irreparably damaged. But it wasn’t so much that I’d failed to Awaken all four Stoicheio myself that had made me feel so alone and lost and drifting at sea. It was the fact that one part of me was missing. As if it should have always been there.
I hadn’t realised that was the case. All my Elements had simply arrived when they felt like it, and I’d assumed that was just how it was meant to be. But seeing the change in Hip. The excitement in the shaman. Theo’s reaction to the Aeras Rigas’ disrespectful demand. I realised that what had been damaged had been a missing thing.
They had all called me Aether. But until this very moment, I hadn’t been.
The weight of what was expected of me settled on my shoulders. It was heavy. I took a deep breath in. Felt the world shift slightly.
Yes, I had all four Stoicheio now. I was officially Aether in everyone’s eyes.
But still a hollowness existed; not exactly darkness, but a hazy void begging to be filled with something else.
I forced my attention back to the Rigas; existential dilemmas aside, I needed
Aeras to back me.
“Your Majesty,” I said. He was a King. “The Nero are being manipulated. I am certain of it. I don’t know their reasons for seeking me out, for leaving Atlantis. But they used lightning to reach me. Lightning you did not provide. The only other explanation is the Alchemists. And if so, why?
“I am Aether,” I announced, even if part of me knew it was not yet over. Four Stoicheio I might have, but something was still missing. Regardless, I’d use the title in any way I could to establish backing.
And right now, I needed this King.
“I am Aeras,” I added. “I am Nero. I am Pyrkagia. I am Gi. The Alchemists are playing a dangerous game, one that affects all Ekmetalleftis from all branches. They are not my enemy alone.”
The desire to check the shaman on that last statement was overpowering, but the Rigas was my goal right now. I forced myself to remain standing, facing off against a King who prided protection of his kind above all else. It didn’t matter what the shaman thought, in this, I could not be alone.
The Elements needed balancing. I had no idea how to achieve that. But I’d start by bringing Air back into the fold. I’d start here, because of the shaman. Despite his insistence, I do this on my own.
“I grant that you are Aeras,” the Rigas finally replied. “Welcome in our village. And you are indeed Aether. Your role a heavy burden. But I cannot risk more than that.”
He’d acknowledge me, but not back me. At least, not in the manner I needed.
Frustration swelled within me, tightening my chest, making fists of my hands.
Then Hip stepped forward.
“My King,” he said formally, bowing in a show of respect. “It is the wish of the shaman that we help Aether. That we offer our blood for her sacrifice to come.”
Oh, that did not sound good at all.
The King bristled. Hip continued.
“The shaman has seen this for centuries. Known of Aether’s arrival. And also our own part in this war that she must wage and win. To deny his advice and direction would be to deny who we are, where we come from. Aetheros may have left this world, but are we not still his children?”
The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4) Page 10