by David Ekrut
“This is no small feat,” Jasmine said. Elwin took the excuse to look away from Zarah. His heart was still pounding.
“Neither is what you did in the square. We call that a wind thrust. You pulled in more than you could handle at one time. When you could no longer hold the power, it came out in a burst. Just as one must train his muscles to lift heavy objects, you must train your essence to handle more power. Think of it like lifting a heavy boulder. Maybe you have the strength to pull it over your head, but you cannot hold it there for long. In time, if you lift the same boulder enough times, your muscles will be able to hold it there. If you attempt to lift a boulder too heavy, then you could permanently damage a muscle.”
He gave her an annoyed look. She always seemed to speak in riddles.
She sighed. “In other words, it is alright to pull in some power of Air to hold, but never fill your essence unless you have a specific purpose in mind. Now, we have to find the right size boulder for you to lift. Does that make sense to you?”
No, he decided after a minute. It didn’t make sense, but he didn’t want to sound dim-witted in front of Zarah. So he shrugged and said. “I think so.”
“Now, close your eyes and relax your mind,” Jasmine said. “Be aware of the Air around you. It is a part of you and you of it. It is alive in your mind.”
Elwin did as instructed. With his eyes closed he could feel the Air around him. Starting with his hands, the cool Air flowed down his arms and pulsed with a vibrant energy. It covered his body and touched every corner of the room. He could feel it surrounding Zarah and Jasmine.
“I can see by your face that you can feel it. But I want you to pay attention. You will feel the power enter myself and Zarah,” Jasmine said. “Slowly, Zarah. There, Elwin, do you feel that?”
He did. It was as if the pulse flowed into where they sat. He said as much aloud.
“Good,” she said. “Very slowly, I want you to open up your essence.”
“Okay,” Elwin said. “How?”
“You must allow it to flow into you, like you did earlier, when you ‘touched’ it.”
Elwin focused on the pulse. It was like his own heartbeat. He was a part of the pulse. Slowly, he reached for it with his mind. His body began to pulse in rhythm with the energy, and it began to fill him. Slowly at first, then it came at him like a flood.
He could feel the vibrations from Jasmine’s voice, but he could not make out her words. He could sense the ripples of heat from the candles flowing into the Air. The moisture in the Air between each strand, each breath. Each sound was a ripple of power, from which he could draw. But he didn’t know how to turn it off. It kept coming and he didn’t know how to make it go the other way. It felt as if he was in a rapid river of Air and could hear nothing over the roar of the flows around him.
Then there was pain. From head to toe, he ached. He opened his eyes. Both Jasmine and Zarah were on their feet. Their voices sounded odd, as if coming from a well.
“Do something Mother!”
“Link with me.”
Elwin felt the flow of Zarah’s power join with her mother’s. It was like pouring two half-filled mugs into a larger decanter. Then he felt something seize hold of his flow of power and rip it from his grasp.
Pain wracked his body. Every inch felt as if he was on fire. He rolled off the sofa, grasping his head. The next instant the pain was gone, and he felt his body being lifted by an invisible hand. It eased him back onto the sofa. Neither Zarah nor Jasmine had moved.
She had lifted him with Air? He wasn’t sure how he knew, but the power that lifted him had come from Jasmine.
He sagged into the sofa. “What happened?”
He could still feel the power, but it was seeping from them, all three of them. The Air stirred around him as Jasmine emptied his essence. His muscles felt weary. Elwin wanted to close his eyes again.
Zarah plopped down next to him, sweat beginning on her brow. Her wide eyes glowered at him.
“I said slowly.” Jasmine’s jaw was tight, and her breathing sounded as if she had been running.
“I’m sorry,” Elwin said. “I tried to, but it just all happened so quickly.”
“It is alright.” Jasmine sat down. “We are linked now, which means I have control of your essence. You will still be aware of everything I do, but you will have no control.”
“Why did you not do this in the beginning?” Elwin asked.
“A person must already have power in one’s essence to initiate a linking. That was to be our next course of action had you been listening to me.”
“Oh,” Elwin said. “But we are linked now?”
“Yes,” Jasmine said. “Of a sort. What I did to you is called taking. This process has the same outcome, but it requires me to battle your will. Fortunately for us, you do not know how to guard against this sort of attack. Had you fought me, even a little, I might have failed in taking your essence.”
She was silent for a moment, watching Elwin. Her eyes did not hold any compassion.
“I understand.” He looked away. “I could have hurt someone.”
“You must focus at all times,” Jasmine said. “At least in the beginning. Someday, it will be the same as breathing. And flying through the air will be the same as walking or running.”
“You are so powerful,” Zarah said with awe in her voice. “What you held in your essence by yourself … it was so much. I was afr—”
“Yes,” Jasmine said. “Like I said before, Elwin has more potential than I have seen in some time.”
“Mother.” Zarah stood up. “Are you not worried about what Abad—”
“Young lady,” Jasmine said. “I am trying to give Elwin instruction. If you cannot guard your tongue, perhaps you should retire for the evening?”
Zarah sat back down and crossed her arms beneath her bosom. Elwin blinked as she cast him a look suggesting that he was to blame for her chastisement.
“Wise decision. Now, where were we?” Jasmine said. “Ah yes. Now that we are linked, I am going to use our combined essence to tame the power of Air. I want you to pay attention to every detail. First, you will notice that I have drained our essence to an amount I can handle without much thought. I can—”
“I noticed how you released some of it back into our surroundings without hurting anyone.”
“Very good. Now do not interrupt.”
Elwin felt his cheeks heat up. “Oh. Sorry.”
“The first task you will do on your own is exactly that. You will simply fill your essence and empty it. Before you are entrusted with this, you must observe me. Like I was saying before I was interrupted, I can handle the amount we are holding for long periods. However, if I pull in half again as much as I am holding, I will begin to have trouble just holding it. But I can always release the power harmlessly back into the air. Just as if you were to lift a large rock over your head, you can then ease it back down or drop it.”
“Now, watch closely …”
Elwin didn’t remember falling asleep, but he knew Jasmine had worked with him well into the night. He just remembered being exhausted one moment and standing next to his own body the next. To say it felt strange to look down upon himself was to say a dragon was a big lizard, but he had no words for the feeling.
He could see the slow rise and fall of his own chest. Both his sleeping form and the bed seemed smaller than he remembered. The room felt cramped to him here. Looking up, he could touch the ceiling. Elwin chided himself for wasting time.
Jasmine had said to meet in the common room. He brought the image of Poppe’s stage to his mind and imagined himself to be there. A moment later, he was there. Elwin jumped when he saw the two translucent forms standing next to the bar. One of the shapes stood a foot taller than the other, but neither stretched much beyond the top of the bar. After a moment, the details of both began to stand out
to him, and he recognized the two figures.
Zarah stared at him with a look of surprise and Jasmine blinked several times as her eyes followed up the length of his body, craning her neck to see his face. When her eyes met his, Jasmine said in a voice of icy calm. “How did you arrive here? Did you do it intentionally?”
“Yes,” Elwin said. Why were they acting so odd?“I did the same thing last night when I went to the forest. And again when I returned to my bed.”
“That is very good. It takes most of us many tries to be able to transport to other places with a thought. At least to do so intentionally is very good. You can only travel in this manner to places in which you are extremely familiar. With time you may be able to transport to people. But it is very difficult.
“Now, you will find that time does not pass the same while we are in the shadow realm as it does during the day. Time seems to move much more swiftly, so we must make efficient use of our time. Do you understand?”
Elwin nodded.
“Good,” she smiled. “First, you must know how to defend yourself here. Otherwise, you can be taken as I did to you earlier. You must learn to have two minds; one on your physical body and the other on your essence here.”
“Two minds?” Elwin said. “How am I supposed to do that?”
She gave him a reassuring smile. “It will come more easily than you think. When you walk, you are aware of your feet; even though, you are not focused on them. If you stub a toe or trip, your mind responds to the change and reacts. You will need to do so with your essence as well. If an elementalist takes you unaware, she can control your essence. The taking happens here in the shadow realm.
“Imagine a ship atop the water. An anchor on the ocean floor holds a boat in place, but the ship on the ocean’s surface is free to move. As I have said before, our body is like the anchor to which our essence is tethered. Like the boat, our essence is free to move here, even as our bodies move in the physical realm. Understand?”
“Yes,” Elwin said by reflex. Then he shook his head.“Um. No. What does this have to do with taking?”
“That is the right question,” she smiled. “Right now, your conscious mind is here. However, when your essence joins with your body, your consciousness joins with your body. But, your essence does not reside inside your body. It is tethered to your body and follows you.”
“Ah,” Elwin said, understanding. “Like the boat and the anchor thing.”
“Yes,” she said. “In the shadow realm our essence can roam very far.” Her eyes narrowed seriously. “Again, I cannot stress the dangers of this enough. Until I tell you otherwise, you do not go farther from your body than you are right now. Understand?” The word carried weight like a command rather than a question.
Elwin nodded with as much vigor as he could muster. Until he became Life bound, he wouldn’t move far from his body. Even then, he may not.
Her smile returned. “When you are awake, you still control your essence, but it does not stray far from your body. In time, you will learn to see with it in a way. Eventually, you will learn to send your essence out and see what the wind can see. This is called Riding the Wind. The other Elements provide other gifts. We will get to those in time. Once you can Ride the Wind, you will be considered a master in Air.”
Elwin frowned. Boats and tethers? His books hadn’t spoken of any of this, and she didn’t make much sense. How was he supposed to do any of this? He didn’t even know how to hold onto the power without hurting anyone. When was she going to show him that? Maybe he could just learn how not to hurt people and come back to the farm.
“Elwin?” Jasmine said. “Do you have a question?”
“I don’t even know what to ask,” Elwin said, not bothering to hide his annoyance. “Are we still talking about taking? How do I protect myself? How do I keep from hurting other people?”
“Patience,” she said in a calm voice. “A baby needs to be aware of his hand before he can learn how to use his fingers. He needs to understand how to move his feet before he can walk.”
Elwin snapped his jaw closed and tried not to look sulky at the subtle rebuke. A baby. Hmmph.
“Now,” Jasmine continued. “Your essence will need to be conditioned. When an elementalist attempts to take your essence, his essence grapples yours. For this reason, we will need to train you in hand-to-hand combat. Though many of the skills learned upon training your body will help you here, the converse is not necessarily true. Here you will gain the knowledge of hand-to-hand combat, but you must train your body to feel the motions in order to make proper use of the knowledge in the physical realm. Does this make sense?”
Elwin nodded. “I need to learn how to fight with my hands.”
Jasmine sighed. “That is the short of it. Yes. Our nights spent here will serve two purposes. First, we will teach you how to fill your essence with Air and release the Air back into the environment. Next, we will condition your essence for combat. Are you ready?”
Finally. “Yes.”
“Very good. Now, you must learn to control your breathing. This exercise will help you with control. Your essence draws the power, but it is your body that feels the flow of Air. Even though your soul roams here, you are still tethered to your body. Even if you cannot feel the strings that make it so, focus and you can feel your body.”
Elwin listened as Jasmine guided him through the process. He could feel his body in the room above. He could point to where he laid sleeping as if there were no walls. His chest was still rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. He could feel the warmth of the day waning by the sun’s absence.
“Now,” Jasmine said, “in a moment I want you to allow the power of Air to enter you. Then you will release it without use. But first watch me. Zarah, on my cue.”
Elwin could feel the Air enter Jasmine, then Zarah. But he could also see the effects. A white glow swirled around them and conjoined with their forms. After a moment, they became less opaque, and both began to glow softly. They held onto the power for several moments. As they released their hold on Air, they became translucent again.
“Your turn,” Jasmine said. “Did you see how it was done?”
“I felt it,” Elwin said. “I think I can do it.”
He took a deep breath, and he focused on his body as Jasmine had instructed him. He opened up to Air by touching the flow around him. More softly this time. Like opening a sealed door, the Air wanted to flow into him. But instead of opening the door wide, he cracked it, and the power came in at a trickle.
To stop the trickle, he stopped focusing on the flow. Unlike before, there was no ache this time. He felt as if he could run for miles. Looking around, the corners of the room became more crisp. His arm was more solid, but it did not appear to be glowing like Zarah and Jasmine had been. But, he looked up to see Zarah and Jasmine both squinting.
“Not too much, Elwin,” Jasmine said.
“This is a good amount, I think,” Elwin said. “I could probably hold this all day.”
“You do not feel strained at all?” Zarah said.
“No,” Elwin said.
Jasmine gave Zarah a look of rebuke and said, “Okay. I want you to attempt to release it. Do not under any circumstances push it. Do you know what I mean when I say push it?”
Elwin nodded. “I think that is what I did to the table.”
“Yes. Exactly. Now, releasing Air is similar to what you did to absorb it, but instead you turn the flow outward.”
Elwin felt the power inside him and allowed it to flow out of him. It was faster than when it came in, like letting go of a leaf.
“Very good, Elwin,” Jasmine said. “We have time for you to practice this task a few more times before first light.”
“Already? But I just fell asleep.”
“I told you, time seems to move faster here,” Jasmine said. “And it was already late when we r
etired for the evening. Now, are you ready?”
Elwin nodded.
“Very well. I want you to focus on your breathing. You can feel your body above …”
Chapter 6
The Journey
Sunlight spilled into the open window. The morning breeze of summer tickled the opaque drapes as it entered the small bedroom. The wind was cool. A nice contrast to what the day held.
Though, marching in the summer’s heat was the least of Wilton’s concerns. He was being ordered to march. Then he would be ordered to kill.
Kill or be killed.
Wilton pushed those thoughts from his mind, and he stared at his leather backpack resting on his bed.
He packed three sets of clothes and his life’s savings into his backpack. His father had given him the pack and a good portion of his money, and he had done the same for Feffer. Wilton breathed in a slow, steady breath and exhaled just as slowly.
I can’t believe the little snit is actually glad to be going, he thought. No. The word was joyful. Too young and naïve to understand what it meant to be a soldier. Feffer thought it all a big game.
“We could die.”
The thought of death stuck in his mind. It was said that in the end, a soul would return to the Lifebringer. He would then be judged by his deeds in life. Then, he would either be sheltered for eternity in the Lifebringer’s Hand or be cast into the abyss to spend eternity in darkness.
“I know I am a good person, but …”
Wilton looked at his pack again and debated, yet again, whether or not he should defect. He could make his way north through the Carotid Forest to Goldspire. From there, he could make his way to North Port and book passage to Alcoa. He could get a job in a merchant’s shop or on an outer farm.
But the rumors Wilton had heard did not make Alcoa a great prospect either. The war had not made it all the way to Alcoa City, but the southern lands were being overrun. Rumor said Kalicodon had been attacked as well. The Isles of Maards had yet to be touched, but from what he had heard, even they would join the war. The Blood Isle was not likely see the war, but it was the thumping Blood Isle. Cannibals and worse were said to live there. Was anywhere safe?