But you’re here now, I whispered to it.
Aether comes when the need is great, but remaining here was never fate.
I understood it then. As if I had a conduit to its thoughts. The most powerful Element in existence, and it was only called upon when the world was imbalanced. What a dichotomy. Such beautiful power and strength, but for the majority of the time, it lived in seclusion. Alone. Apart from the rest.
Aether, I heard Earth sigh.
Aether, Water added.
Oh, Aether, Air offered next.
We have missed you, old friend, Fire simply said.
They weren’t talking to me; they were talking to Quintessence. An Element as important as they were in keeping the world in balance. As special as every single living thing on this planet.
The enormity of the moment hit me. I staggered, reaching out a hand to steady myself against the tent’s ties. Thousands and thousands of years had passed since Aether was last here. Many millennia, maybe. I don’t know. We’d come across no Athanatos who remembered the last Aether being called forth. So long the Element had been lonely. So long it had suffered in rejection. Been alone.
But to be here, the world needed to be imbalanced. Someone like me needed to be created. Aetheros needed to be in trouble.
The cruel reality of its isolation left me humble.
I’d felt alone before, but never to this stunning magnitude.
Oh, Aether, I said inside my mind, tears streaming down my cheeks. It’s funny how perspective matters. My troubles were nothing compared to this Element’s.
And yet despite that separation, I sensed no bitterness in Aether. I felt its sadness mixed with joy at being returned. But I also knew it was tempered with a loneliness that would never be completely filled in the short amount of time it would be here.
Because Aether couldn’t stay. The Elements needed to be balanced. The Reckoning might be over, but Genesis was still watching. We’d made progress, the Ekmetalleftis branches had reunited, to a degree. But there was more to be done.
The Amazon for starters.
I turned around and looked toward the horizon at my back, expecting to see nothing, to be reminded of what we’d lost, and instead got the shock of my life.
Trees, vines, undergrowth, birds, bees, butterflies. A large section of the Amazon had returned.
“Huh,” I said on a breath of utterly shocked air.
“Ah,” a voice said from behind me. “I see you’ve found your little creation.”
I turned to look up at Theo, who smiled down at me with tired but so very proud eyes.
“Earth was rather greedy, no?”
“It did this?”
“You did it, Oraia. Earth simply borrowed your power.”
Talking of power…
“Quintessence has Awakened.”
His smile didn’t as such dim, but something of worry entered his eyes.
“I thought as much.” He indicated the shooting stars, still falling in a magnificent display of beauty.
Then his eyes dipped to my stomach. To our child who grew there. I moved my hand and rested it against the somewhat flat surface, emotions tumbling through me at an alarming speed.
We were one step closer to the sacrifice. One step closer to losing something precious.
I swallowed thickly.
“Why do you think Aether Awakened?” Theo asked, obviously trying to distract me.
I sniffed, unattractively, and wiped my eyes on my bandage. My arm didn’t hurt so much anymore. There were simply too many sensations running riot inside me for pain to register at that moment.
I looked back toward the Gi, spotting Isadora amongst them chatting comfortably. Mark was talking to Pisces. Hip was making Sonya laugh. Gi, Nero, Aeras, Pyrkagia, human and Alchemist. They were all here. All representative of their branches.
“Balance,” I said. “Harmony.” This is what being Aether means.
This is what not being alone means, Quintessence said softly.
How could something so real, so beautiful, be so painful? I ached for the lonely Element. I ached for Theo and me and everyone here who had lost somebody.
“Balance,” Theo said contemplatively. “You’ve always pushed for that.”
I had, but I hadn’t realised just how much it would mean. How the humans needed to be present. How the Alchemists fitted into this somehow, too. I wasn’t sure what their endgame was. I had no idea why they wanted me so much. And although we had representatives of all areas of our society present, the fact that Pyrkagia still had its corrupt King worried me.
Pyrkagia needed to be addressed. The Alchemists needed to be faced. But we weren’t alone, anymore. We had allies. Friends. Comrades.
Never two, always one. Alone Aether must face the sum, Quintessence murmured.
It means you, doesn’t it? I said with sudden clarity.
Yes, Aether.
The shaman’s riddle had never meant me.
What about the sacrifice? I asked.
A gift is given that you bear. You need not think on it with fear. Time will pass and you’ll see, that being Aether was meant to be.
How could sacrificing something so very precious be a gift? I didn’t understand. And I was sure that Quintessence wouldn’t tell me. It sounded too much like the Aeras shaman.
More riddles.
Theo ran a hand down my spine and leant in to kiss my temple. He breathed deeply. The stars fell. Our people watched on in awe, and then the campfire flared, sending sparks up into the air, matching the brightness of the meteorites.
“Incoming,” Nico called out, staring at the blaze as a Fire communique was started.
Aktor spun around and raced to the flames. “Kleitos,” he murmured.
Then the sounds of people screaming reached us through the Fire.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Aether Took Us All
“Kleitos!” Aktor yelled.
“They are here,” a disembodied voice said through the fire. “They are here.”
“Who?” Aktor demanded as we crowded around him, drawn to the horrific sounds of people dying.
“The Alchemists,” Aktor’s contact in Pyrkagia cried. “We are doomed, my friend. They are here.”
Nico swore. Theo’s face was stark in the glow of the fire. I noted absently that the stars had stopped falling. My eyes met Isadora’s across the campfire. She hid her emotions well, but I noticed she hadn’t baulked at Mark’s presence as he neared. As if drawing strength from his proximity.
“How many?” Aktor was asking the flames as they roared.
“Too many. We are outnumbered.”
A shocked gasp filled the air. Many of the Gi had closed in as well. I glanced around warily at their tired faces, unsure if they’d use the moment to strike. Unable to rouse enough concern for our safety when lives in Pyrkagia were being cut down.
The sound of crying and whimpers could be heard through the fire. Something clanked. Something boomed. Water gurgled. Or, at least, I assumed it was water, it could have been something else.
Blood, Water told me.
I let out a startled breath.
How bad is it? I asked.
Aether, it moaned.
Aether, Earth cried.
Aether, Fire and Air agreed.
I lowered my head. Stared at the hard packed ground. Closed my eyes and listened to the sounds of death. How many were dying? How many Alchemists would it take to wipe an entire Ekmetalleftis branch out? Why were they doing this now?
Is it a trap? I asked my Elements.
The question was met with silence.
The Alchemists wanted me. They’d found me on Table Mountain when I’d slept after Nero Awakened. Aether had now Awakened, and sooner or later I’d need to sleep again, too. Why had they acted now when they could have waited for me to dream?
Did it have something to do with Gramps? He hadn’t visited me in that last dream visit. Had their presence and his lack of presence done something?
My grandfather was a wily old man. He’d survived this long pretending to be something he was not, living in the enemy’s camp. Had he set a trap for them? In my dream visits.
It didn't matter. People were dying. Pyrkagia was dying. One look at Theo and I knew, trap or no trap, we’d be going back to Auckland.
The screams had died down, but that could have been because Kleitos, Aktor’s contact in Pyrkagia, seemed to be waning. The communique was only staying open because of Aktor. I could feel his Stoicheio flaring, desperately trying to keep the connection open.
“He is gone,” Isadora said.
Aktor shot the woman a look of such pure fury I was surprised she didn't burst into flames where she stood. I’d never seen the old butler deliver such a look of anger before. His gnarled fists were clenched, his eyes blazed gold. In his rage, he looked young again. His wrinkles smoothed, his back straight, his face hard and unforgiving.
“He is gone,” Isadora repeated, not showing a reaction to the depth of emotion that greeted her. “Sever the connection before they use it to find us.”
Aktor breathed deeply, fighting an internal battle only he could see. Theo stepped closer to his servant and friend and laid a hand on his shoulder.
“Dora is right,” he said, softly. Then spoke a torrent of quiet words in Greek.
I didn’t understand them, but when Aktor let out a half-stifled sob and accepted the support of Theo’s arms, I turned away. I didn't need to speak Greek to understand grief when I saw it.
So much death. Humans and Athanatos alike. Only the Alchemists had survived relatively unscathed.
Is this what Aetheros wanted? The Alchemists to win?
He has every right. That’s what Aeras and Gi had told me on top of Table Mountain. The Alchemist who’d been attacking me had every right to call on their power.
This is not balance, I said to Aether.
Aether is for balance, as Air is to breathe, the Element said in reply, not needing to repeat the rest of the prophecy. Balance, harmony, peace, survival. That’s what the shaman had told me. Air, Water, Earth, Fire. All four delivering what the world needed.
One, two, three, four, Aether whispered inside my mind. The fifth makes it so much more.
And what has that got to do with the Alchemists tipping the scales in their favour? I demanded.
The scales tip, balance is lost. Our world needs Aether at all costs.
I threw my hands up in the air and let out a frustrated sound, garnering the attention of those standing about the campfire trying to plan an attack on Pyrkagia.
Theo’s eyes met mine. Gold flared in their depths. I thought perhaps the gold would not leave until Pyrkagia was safe again.
I wondered briefly if anyone would ever be safe again.
“What is it?” Theo demanded. “What have your Stoicheio told you?”
Several pairs of eyes bore into me. I noted some of those belonged to the Gi. I hadn’t addressed their grievances yet. I wasn't sure now was the time. At least, that’s what I told myself. The Gi could be mad at me all they liked; they were no longer dying.
“It could be a trap,” I said, thinking that was perhaps the most pertinent information.
“We know,” he replied, steadily. I sighed. Of course, he would have thought that. He was good at navigating a political battlefield. And what the Alchemists were doing was nothing short of a political battle.
They wanted power. They wanted the Athanatos to pay. They wanted to be Aetheros’ chosen.
“They’re attacking Pyrkagia because they can’t get to me,” I said, thinking aloud. Gramps had done something to my dream visits, I was sure of it. The Alchemists were trying to draw me out the only way they knew how.
By harming my Thisavros’ family.
Anger coursed through me, and for a moment, gold flared from my eyes, too. Theo smiled; it was all teeth. Athanatos, no Pyrkagia, did like their mates to be full of Fire. Full of passion. And what is anger but a form of passion?
“We’re going, aren’t we?” I said into the silence that had followed my statement. Theo nodded. “Do we have a plan?” I asked, hopefully.
“Yes,” Theo announced. I almost relaxed a little. But Theo had not stopped smiling, and it was a little scary. “We end this now,” he said. “We end what started millennia ago. We end what should never have been allowed to flourish.”
The Alchemists. And their stolen powers.
Balance. Harmony. Peace. Survival.
Theo saw the argument forming on my face before I’d even voiced it.
“Cassandra,” he said, and I started laughing. It wasn't pretty. He often used ‘Cassandra’ when he had a point to make.
“Theo,” I said, raising a hand to stall him. “I love you. You’re my Thisavros. But I am Aether. And genocide is not the answer.”
He crossed the small space between us and looked down at me; a plethora of emotions crossing his face and then being shut down by that Athanatos mask they so often wore.
“My people are dying,” he said in a low growl.
“The world is dying,” I said back softly.
He stared at me for a long moment and then his shoulders slowly began to relax and his breath left him in a sad sigh, and his eyes closed as pain briefly marred his features.
“This will end now,” I said, touching his arm and gripping him tightly. “I’m not sure how yet, but it will end now. Just not with all the Alchemists dying.”
His lips twitched, and he opened his eyes to stare into mine. Gold blazed, but I had the feeling this gold was not fuelled by ire.
“So, I can kill some of them, then?” he asked quietly.
I smiled. Then let out a huff of breath which was almost a laugh. Nothing about this was funny, but Theo looked so earnest.
I reached up and cupped his cheeks, then lifted onto my toes and kissed his lips softly.
“Balance,” I said, my mouth brushing against his. “Harmony.” Another kiss. “Peace.” Kiss. “Survival.”
“And what are the Alchemists fighting for?” Theo asked, wrapping his arms around me. “Do you think they seek balance? Is harmony a consideration when they attack en masse like this? And what of peace, Oraia? For them, there is only survival.”
“They want the world to survive,” Mark suddenly said, breaking into our little bubble and reminding us we had an audience. A rather large audience I noted when Theo and I pulled apart.
“The world?” Theo pressed, staring hard at my brother. “And they seek this by gaining more power?”
“In their mind,” Mark said levelly, holding that Athanatos glare, “you do not deserve it. You have squandered it and forsaken your god.”
“They steal what is not theirs,” Nico said with a growl.
“They have every right,” I announced and received a shocking amount of snarls in reply.
“Casey?” Theo asked.
I sighed. “The Elements. They have said on occasion that the Alchemists have every right to call on them,” I explained.
“Possession is nine-tenths of the law,” Nico said. “Isn’t that how the saying goes?”
“Bah,” Isadora huffed. “They are thieves.”
“And yet,” I said, “all four Stoicheio dance for them.”
“This is getting us nowhere,” Aktor suddenly growled. “Pyrkagia is burning.”
I’d heard the Fire Elementals use that saying before. Sometimes when Pyrkagia burned with passion and Fire. And sometimes, like now, when it was being destroyed by it.
Theirs was a volatile Element. No wonder they sought the calming influence of the Gi.
“We must go now, or all will be lost to us,” the old butler advised.
“And our plan?” I pressed.
“Let the Fire burn,” Aktor announced.
I arched my brow at the old man. He held my gaze steadily and let me see his Pyrkagia flare.
Aktor had hidden depths, but then, if you made it to twenty-five thousand years old, then you sure
as freaking hell had to have hidden depths to survive.
“OK,” I said, “if none of you is prepared to approach this rationally, I’ll tell you how this is going to go down.”
“You tell ‘em, Sis,” Mark drawled off to my side. I spared him a brief scowl; he wasn't helping the situation.
I turned my attention back to the Athanatos before me.
“I go alone,” I said.
Silence. And then a dozen people began shouting at once.
“Are you mad?” Isadora’s voice rose above the rest briefly.
“That’s not what I thought you’d suggest,” Mark said sounding betrayed all of a sudden.
“I go where Aether goes!” Pisces boomed.
“Just try to stop a Pyrkagia returning home right now,” Nico snapped.
It was his statement I addressed first.
“Can you use lightning to travel?” I enquired.
He opened his mouth, closed it, and then turned to look at Hip. Hip was gazing off into the distance, a shaman-like stare to his eyes. White bathed the ground before him. Slowly he turned towards the action, his gaze skimming over an expectant Nico and landing on me.
“Aether is for balance, as Air is to breathe,” he said. I guess I had his vote.
Nico tried Mark next, and although my brother was pissed at me, he still met my gaze before he answered. A look of regret crossed his features.
“I can take two, maybe three with me,” he advised.
I didn’t say anything. I couldn’t force my brother to remain behind. I couldn’t contain his Stoicheio. The Areas could, and maybe Hip would if I asked. But doing that to me had only made me rage when I’d been in Machu Picchu. So, how could I turn around and do the same to my brother?
“That would be me,” Theo said.
“And me,” Isadora added.
Nico tried to argue the point, and Aktor started speaking rapidly in Greek. Pisces simply threw down his spear and made the ground shudder.
“This is insanity,” a Gi suddenly said.
Reluctantly I met her gaze. She looked a little like the Basilissa had looked. But not batshit crazy. Although, how would I know? She could just be better at hiding it.
I sucked in a breath of air and said, “I know it sounds crazy, but it’s me they want. And if we’re to achieve balance, I need to know why.”
The Tantalising Taste Of Water (Elemental Awakening, Book 4) Page 24