The Chaos Rises (Elemental Academy Book 6)

by D. K. Holmberg

  As the strange serpent elemental approached, Tolan pushed out through the spirit orb, trying to soothe the elemental.

  It wasn’t going to be enough; the strange elemental was powerful.

  Somehow, his mother had bound it, forcing it to serve her, and he would have to find a way to overwhelm that. Not only overwhelm it, but he needed to draw the serpent elemental toward the Convergence.

  The Draasin Lord could do it.

  Tolan used a warrior shaping—probably the last one that he would be able to do until he left the waste—and landed atop the Draasin Lord.

  “We need to head toward the Convergence.”

  “Are you sure that’s safe? The Guardian remains confused.”

  Tolan nodded. “I think we can save him.”

  The Draasin Lord roared and started flying, though he did so slowly enough that the serpent elemental could keep up. Tolan held onto the spirit orb, focusing a shaping through it. As he did, he realized that the elemental was trying to latch onto the power coming from that orb. Trying to feed on it.

  It made sense. He thought that he understood what would be needed.

  The elemental was twisted, but it was also separated from the bonds in a way that made it so that he would not be able to serve as the Guardian.

  Once this was done, he would have to find a way to restore the bondar, to restore the Guardian, and then…

  Tolan glanced out over the boundary of the waste. From there, he thought that he knew what would need to happen. Always before, it had been a challenge of heading across the waste, of trying to see what existed out on it and whether there was a reason for it. Now that he had a sense of the reason, he thought that he would have to find out what was beyond. He would have to find why his mother had wanted to remove the separation that protected the people of Terndahl from whatever was there.

  The elemental trailed after them. When they crossed over the border of the waste, Tolan breathed in, the surge of power flowing into him once again. He pushed outward, holding onto a connection to the twisted elemental and feeding it.

  It continued to follow, but it slowed.

  “This isn’t going to work,” Tolan said.

  The Draasin Lord roared. “Then I will have to try something different.”

  He dove.

  It happened suddenly, barely giving Tolan a chance to react. The Draasin Lord streaked toward this strange elemental, and with talons spread, he grabbed the elemental. The Draasin Lord slapped his enormous wings, taking to the air, and the elemental writhed, trying to get free. The Draasin Lord held tightly, and they rocked from side to side as they flew, streaking toward the elemental village.

  It was visible in the distance.

  Hopefully Ferrah had completed the restoration of the bondar.

  “I’m going ahead to see if everything is prepared.”

  The Draasin Lord roared.

  Tolan used a warrior shaping and took off in a burst of lightning before coming to land within the free elemental village.

  Ferrah was there. He could feel her through his connection to spirit, and he hurried toward her. She was near the Convergence, and she wasn’t alone. Master Minden was there, looking down into the opening.

  “Did you find him?”

  “We did, but he doesn’t know that he can restore this. This wasn’t his bondar,” Ferrah said.

  Master Minden tipped her head to the side before looking back. “We don’t have much time.”

  Tolan glanced down into the cavern opening up to the Convergence. He was going to have to help.

  Landing next to his father, he looked at him. “Can you fix this?”

  He pushed out with spirit, testing to see whether his mind was clear of his mother’s touch, and was reassured that it was.

  “I’m trying, but there is too much damage. Your mother was thorough when she came here. She needed to separate this. Why did she care so much about damaging this bondar? All this does is augment power. I suspect that is why the elementals have been drawn here.”

  A broken bondar, along with the Guardians attacked in the waste, left Tolan thinking they were connected. That was what his mother had said. She had needed to damage this Convergence to free the Guardians. To truly stop her, he would have to repair it.

  Tolan pushed out with spirit, trying to probe and see if there was anything that he might be able to uncover from the damaged bondar, but even as he did, he could tell there wasn’t anything that he thought he could do to fix it.

  What they needed was people who understood the bondars.

  He thought that he knew what they could do. Jumping to the top of the opening, he called to Master Minden. “We need to find as many of the villagers as we can. They all know how to work with bondars.”

  She glanced at the sky again. “We won’t have much time.”

  Tolan followed the direction of her gaze. The Draasin Lord was sweeping toward them, flying gradually toward the village, though he was moving slowly, not nearly as quickly as he had before, perhaps because the strange serpent elemental clutched in his claws still struggled to get free. How much longer would the Draasin Lord be able to hold him?

  “This is what we need to do.”

  He nodded to Master Minden and the two of them disappeared on a warrior shaping.

  When they landed in the heart of the waste, the other master shapers were there, gathering the villagers together.

  Tolan stepped forward. “Who of you are the best with bondars?”

  The villagers had a dazed look to their eyes, and some of them were battered, injured, with blood coming from wounds on their heads or arms. Slowly, a few hands came up.

  Tolan grabbed them, surging on a burst of warrior shaping lightning.

  He landed back near the Convergence. “Help him,” he said.

  The others took a moment to adjust to the sudden change, and then they turned toward the Convergence.

  Master Minden appeared, five others with her.

  There were a dozen people working on the Convergence, all of them trying to repair the bondar.

  Tolan was going to have to help. He didn’t know as much about the bondars as the rest, but he understood the purpose of the bondar here, and because of that, he thought that he could contribute to the restoration of this particular bondar.

  “Show me what I need to do,” he said to his father.

  “It is going to be difficult to show you.”

  Even with the others, it was going too slowly. They were injured. Weakened. Tired.

  The only way would be if he knew what they knew.

  There was a way to do that. It would be difficult, but it wasn’t beyond him. He had seen shapings like that before, and he believed he could do it. Now that he had the spirit orb, he might even have enough power. Even without it, he had the Convergence.

  Tolan grabbed for the spirit bondar and pushed out through it, connecting to his father, connecting to the others. “Show me.”

  Understanding flashed in his mind. The villagers, along with his father, all had a knowledge of bondars that was far greater than what he had gained in the short period of time that Tolan had been working with them. He could see what needed to be done, but he could also see just how much work it would take in order for them to accomplish it.

  They wouldn’t be able to do it before the Draasin Lord appeared.

  There was one possibility.

  If he were to shape it.

  Doing so would take considerable power, but perhaps that was the key.

  Tolan stepped into the Convergence.

  He ignored the shout of someone behind him—possibly Ferrah or Master Minden. He could feel power flowing through him. In doing so, he let it fill him, replenishing him in a way that he needed. After the attack, and after having spent as much time in the waste as he had, he needed that restoration. He could scarcely imagine what it must’ve been like for the Draasin Lord to have spent so much time out on the waste, separated from the elements and the element bonds in
the way that he had been.

  Tolan let that power fill him, and he pushed it away from himself. He used the knowledge from all of the villagers, from his father, and it filled his mind. The understanding of the bondar, along with the memory of what he had seen when he had been here initially and had uncovered the bondar around the Convergence, gave him what he needed.

  He pushed outward, using a shaping of each of the elements, adding spirit to it. There was resistance.

  As it faded, something changed within the Convergence.

  It was a powerful connection.

  Tolan felt as if he were tapping into something different—something greater. When he had stepped into the Convergence before, he had a sense of power, but he didn’t have a sense of anything like this, certainly nothing like he did now. It was almost as if he could speak to the Great Mother.

  That power connected not only to the Convergence here, but spread beyond, away from here, stretching toward something else. Understanding filled him, overwhelming him, and he tried to reach for it…

  Darkness came near him.

  Tolan opened his eyes, and the Draasin Lord dropped the serpent.

  His father and the others would be in danger. Tolan used a surge of the Convergence, sending it shooting up toward the elemental. It captured it on a fountain of power. Holding onto that, Tolan could feel the way that the serpent was twisted, torn free from the bonds. With the understanding gained by standing within this Convergence, he knew what needed to happen. Fire and earth. He forced them into the elemental, bridging that connection again, and the fighting ceased. Power flooded into the elemental.

  The Draasin Lord hovered above him, and the fountain of Convergence struck the Draasin Lord as well. That power filled the Draasin Lord.

  Tolan held onto it, uncertain how long he needed to do so.

  A little longer, a voice from some distant place said. It seemed to come from the Convergence itself, almost as if the Great Mother was speaking to him.

  Tolan held onto it and felt a nudge when he needed to release that power.

  He did so slowly, the fountain of the Convergence drawing back toward him. The Draasin Lord grabbed the serpent elemental, carrying it back above, and settled to the ground.

  Tolan remained standing within the Convergence for a moment, and then took a deep breath.

  He stepped free. His father was there, handing him a robe, and Tolan nodded to him gratefully. He looked around. The others stared at him, but he ignored them, turning to his father.

  “I’ve never seen a bondar formed in that way,” his father said.

  “I wasn’t sure if it would work, but we needed to work quickly.”

  “I wonder if that is how it was formed in the first place.”

  Tolan sighed, wondering the same. Now that he understood, and more than that, now that he knew the nature of forming that bondar, he wondered if he could do something similar in Amitan and elsewhere.

  There was a reason for this bondar. That was what mattered. If he could understand the purpose behind the bondar, why it connected to the waste—a place without power—and understand the reason why there was so much power concentrated in this place of Convergence, perhaps he would know whether or not forming a bondar like that was the right decision.

  For now, he felt as if they had succeeded.

  “She forced us to help,” his father said softly. “I remember flashes of it. Nothing more. Bondars that hold power.” He shook his head. “Worse, I wanted to help. She made me want to help.”

  “We stopped her for now, but she got away,” he said.

  His father sighed. “I don’t know if her escaping or you being forced to destroy her is the better outcome.”

  “She’s not done with what she’s planning.”

  “I will help. We all will. This time willingly.”

  “It might mean you can no longer remain separated from Amitan and the rest.”

  “If that’s what’s required, perhaps it’s time.”

  Tolan glanced up. “There’s something else that I’m going to need your help with.”

  “What is it?”

  “Reforming an ancient bondar.” He glanced over at the Convergence, thinking about the Guardians. They would have to understand what had been damaged there, but even in the spot where the Draasin Lord had rested, there had been a residual of power. “Seeing as how you have done that once already, this should be no problem.”

  He shaped himself out of the cavern and came to land near Master Minden and Ferrah. They were both standing near the Draasin Lord. He stood over the serpent elemental, which remained motionless.

  Tolan started toward the elemental. “Didn’t it work?”

  “The draasin hasn’t moved since you finished whatever shaping you were doing,” Master Minden said.

  “I was just recreating the shaping that had been used around the Convergence before. I didn’t do anything more than that.”

  “It was a powerful shaping. You have now stepped within two Convergences. Most never experience even one.”

  “It was necessary,” Tolan said, feeling as if he had to defend himself.

  “I suspect that it was.”

  Ferrah took his hand, and they approached the serpent elemental. His mother had given a name to it, but everything had been so confusing that he hadn’t been able to focus on that.

  The Draasin Lord stood over top of the elemental, looking down at it.

  “Will he survive?”

  “He is adjusting to the connection.”

  “The connection?”

  “He has been separated for quite some time.”

  “I know what that’s like,” Ferrah said.

  The Draasin Lord looked at her and snorted. “It is difficult.”

  “We will restore the bondar for him. That is, if he is willing to resume his role as Guardian.”

  There was a stirring and the serpent elemental swiveled, turning toward Tolan. He had glowing eyes that reminded him of the draasin, and there was a sense of incredible power from him. Tolan thought that he understood why this creature would have been chosen.

  “I will retake my place if they will have me.”

  The Draasin Lord roared.

  There was a moment when Tolan didn’t know what to say, but then the Draasin Lord took to the air, circling overhead. The serpent disappeared, diving into the ground and then shooting back up, flames streaking along its body. The two of them headed away from the village. Toward the waste.

  A bolt of lightning appeared, and the Grand Master joined them with each of the master shapers who had gone into the waste with them. They looked around, their eyes wide. Tolan scanned the village around him and realized that the elementals were starting to return.

  Restoring the Convergence was bringing them back.

  His mother had used the villagers, not the elementals. They had disappeared when the Convergence had been damaged. It tied to the Convergence on the waste, but also to these elementals. Tolan would have to learn why.

  There was much he would have to learn.

  The Grand Master looked at Tolan, who sighed and said, “This isn’t over.”

  “She’s gone, Master Ethar.”

  “She’s gone, but I know what she plans now. I don’t know who she’s with, I don’t know what purpose they have, but I know what she intends.”

  He looked out over the waste. For so long, the waste had been viewed as something dangerous. Something deadly.

  Could it be that it was actually something helpful—even protective?

  Until he discovered who his mother was working with and what they wanted, he would have to protect the waste. He would have to defend it.

  They all would.

  Now they knew about these bondar orbs that would allow shaping out there on the waste, he at least had a glimmer of hope they would succeed.

  Eventually, he would have to move beyond the waste. He would have to find his mother. And he would have to find who she served.

&n
bsp; He feared those answers.

  Ferrah squeezed his hand and he turned away, looking at the elementals, the shapers all around him, and he thought that for now, they could have this moment.

  The last book in the Elemental Academy series: The Elements Bond

  The key to finding the one responsible for the attack on Terndahl involves crossing the waste, but is Tolan willing to risk the tenuous peace they've achieved for revenge?

  Now a master shaper, Tolan must serve the Academy but he understands the risk his mother poses. While others want to study the power out on the waste, Tolan sees the need to look beyond Terndahl. His mother remains at large, and they still don’t know her ultimate goal.

  When a chance encounter while traveling with the Draasin Lord reveals something unexpected, Tolan realizes he must expedite the plan to explore beyond the waste. What he finds there changes everything he knows about the elements—and the elementals.

  The final book in Elemental Academy series.

  Looking for a new series?

  The Dragon Misfits series begins with Ice Dragon!

  When a mysterious stranger brings word of a dragon, Jason’s whole world changes.

  The northern mountain village offers protection from the threat of dragons, but is a difficult place, especially for a misfit like Jason Dreshen. His days are spent hunting for food for his family, praying for warmth, and trying to hide his strange silver eye that grants him dragon sight.

  When a stranger visits during the local Freedom Festival searching for a different kind of dragon, everything changes.

  Forced down the mountainside, Jason learns the truth of powers he’d only heard about in rumors. While running from deadly Dragon Souls, he finds he might have more of a connection to magic than only dragon sight. In order to save himself and stop the Dragon Souls, he must learn a truth about himself that leads him closer to the one thing he fears above all others: dragons.

  Somehow, he might be the only one able to protect them from the Dragon Souls, but how can he protect what he hates?

  Ice Dragon is the first book in The Dragon Misfits fantasy adventure series.