by Rachel Rener
Instead, I replied, “I’ll be right behind you,” stifling a sigh as I kissed her forehead. She gave me a wistful smile before turning to follow them down the hall.
After quickly brushing my teeth and throwing on a sweater, I knocked on the door next to ours. A moment later Eileen and Sophia, both still wearing bathrobes, emerged. “What’s going on?” Eileen asked, rubbing her eyes.
“Emergency meeting of Parliament. They want us there, too, right now.”
“It’s, like, the butt-crack of dawn,” she muttered. “What could be so important?”
Sophia gave a small jump as something buzzed in her pocket and pulled out her phone. Her face scrunched into an expression of concern, and then alarm, as she read the incoming message.
“What?” I asked, moving closer. “What’s wrong?”
“Look,” she replied, showing us the alert on the screen:
Attention!
Level-three Auromancers urgently needed for emergency dispatch unit. Information to follow. If not presently at local Chapter, please join mandatory virtual Assembly with Minister and Parliament commencing in ten minutes.
Link details below. Travel imminent.
Threat level: Red.
My own phone buzzed. I looked down to see the same message flashing on the screen, this time addressed to any and all available Level-three Pyromancers.
“Oh my God,” Eileen gasped, staring at her smartwatch. “I just got an alert addressed to all Asterian Terramancers, but ours is Level-two and higher. Mandatory travel for all able-bodied members between the ages of sixteen and sixty… What does this mean?” She stared at me with wide frightened eyes.
My jaw clenched. “It means the Asterians are gathering an army.”
***
“At approximately six-fifteen Central European Time, we received a call from a previously unknown insider within Obsidian,” Mr. Gauthier spoke from the stage, the same stage where Kaylie had sparked an upheaval, Mei Saito had abruptly resigned as minister, and Aspen had reluctantly taken her place – all less than thirty-six hours ago. I sat in the front row of the crowded auditorium with Sophia, Eileen, and Savannah while Ori, Mei, and the rest of Parliament – minus the four absconders – stood in a solemn line onstage. Aspen, clad in her leather jacket and jeans, was standing at Gauthier’s right, looking quite small in comparison.
There was a restlessness in the air. I could feel the audience watching her, waiting for her to address them, but she had deputized the Paris Chapter’s Security Chief to speak on her behalf. He’d received all of the information first-hand, she’d argued, and would be better suited to convey such complex intel.
I stifled a frustrated sigh.
“Because of security and safety concerns,” he continued, “I cannot disclose our informant’s name. But they are well-trusted and currently risking their life to gather and share this intel with us.”
“Kumiko,” I breathed.
“It has to be her!” Eileen whispered fiercely. “I never believed that she would abandon us like that!”
“I will get right to the point,” Gauthier’s voice rose above the increasing chatter of the audience. “As we speak, Obsidian Terramancers are preparing to dispatch to Yellowstone National Park, located in central United States.”
To my left, Savannah let out a loud snort. “Why? Are they going to try to recruit Yogi Bear?”
“There, within the national park, resides the largest active supervolcano on earth – one capable of causing mass destruction, perhaps even total annihilation of the planet.”
Savannah blanched. “Oh, f—”
Startled gasps from the crowd drowned out the rest of her comment.
Gauthier, whom I’d only recently learned was a Level-three Terramancer himself, waited for the chorus of alarmed voices to settle. “This volcano, should a natural, caldera-forming eruption occur, would smother the United States in burning ash; nearby states would fall prey to pyroclastic flows, and the global climate as we know it would be irrevocably altered. However,” he turned to give Aspen a meaningful look, “a supernaturally spurred eruption could trigger the end of humankind as we know it.”
At that utterance, the audience fell completely silent, as though a massive bell had tolled, its somber reverberation signaling our impending deaths. I don’t know what my friends’ reactions were at that moment. My jaw hung open while my hands clenched the armrests as though I were dangling from a precipice. I couldn’t force my lungs to take in air, couldn’t call to mind the facts and snippets I’d learned over the years about the Yellowstone volcano. I just went… numb.
“We do not know the full extent of their plans. Our informant could only tell us the immediate what and when. Whether they plan to cause local, isolated destruction, or trigger a volcanic winter, we cannot say. However, I…” he trailed off, looking to Aspen again. She gave him the smallest shake of her head and took a small step back. He sighed. “I wish I could tell you that this is the worst news.”
“Oh, God,” Eileen whispered. Meanwhile, Sophia was covering her face, regarding the French Chief of Security through the slits of her fingers as though watching a horror movie.
“As we speak,” he continued, “forty-two world leaders, including the French prime minister, are convening in Washington, D.C. for the U.S. president’s Global Climate Summit.”
“Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Eileen moaned.
“Our informant tells us that a team of Obsidian Electromancers have assembled in Washington. At least two of them have infiltrated the president’s Secret Service team. We believe it is Obsidian’s plan to incapacitate these leaders – whether by Mnemonic Manipulation or Corporeal Electrocution, we cannot say. But it is timed to occur at the exact moment that Obsidian’s Terramancers trigger the largest supervolcanic eruption humankind has ever seen.”
Sophia was shaking her head in disbelief. “They’re going to cause massive chaos and destruction, all while our most powerful leaders are totally incapacitated.”
“So they can rise from the literal ashes,” I muttered darkly.
Aspen leaned forward to whisper something to Mr. Gauthier. Several moments later, he nodded and turned back to the microphone. “I should add that, again, we do not know their ultimate intentions, as they share this planet along with the rest of us. But based on certain literature that has been circulating the most extreme Elemental supremacist circles, as well as information from our own minister that was obtained at the hands of her Prelate captors several years ago, we have reason to believe that they plan to trigger a natural holocaust while they themselves take sanctuary below ground. Once non-Elementalist populations have been crippled worldwide, Obsidian Auromancers will be standing at the ready to clear the air and allow their fellow Elementalists safe harbor to return to the surface…” he cleared his throat. “Where they will find that much of humankind has been… eradicated.”
Shouts of fear and anger filled the auditorium. Cries of, “My grandchildren!” “Our homes!” “What does this mean?” and “What can we do?”
There were also a growing number of indictments being hurled at Aspen: “How could you let this happen?” “What’s the matter with her?” “Do something!” and “Why is she just standing there?”
My eyes trailed to my wife of less than twelve hours, standing there alone on the stage. Her hands were clenching and unclenching, something she only did under extreme duress. Not only had she probably heard the accusatory cries, but with her empathic ability, she would have felt the emotion behind them too. Every pang of anger. Every shiver of fear. Every single negative thought floating around that massive room, all coalescing into a violent Electrical storm that she alone would bear the brunt of. And she was all alone, braving the tempest at a vacant helm. I rose from my seat and approached the stage. Gauthier noticed but made no move to stop me. In one swift movement, I pulled myself up and over the edge, quickly making my way to Aspen.
Breaking from the line of Parliament members s
tanding at the back of the stage, Ori was already in the process of doing the same. We stood on either side of her like sentinels, unable to protect her, not from this. But at the very least, we wouldn’t let her suffer alone.
She glanced up at me with an anxious expression, the unspoken question reflecting in the deep pools of her eyes. Wordlessly, I nodded my response. With a heavy sigh, she squeezed my hand, and then Ori’s. Then, straightening her shoulders, she strode forward and tapped Gauthier on the shoulder. He stepped aside graciously. And rather swiftly.
“Everyone—” she started to speak into the microphone. But the audience had worked itself into a furor, and no one was paying attention to the stage anymore. She tried again, this time using Auromancy. “Everyone, please, if you would just—”
The loudest, highest whistle I’d ever heard shot through the crowd like a whip, stunning everyone into frozen silence. I spun around to find the source of the noise: Mei. Apparently, she was a gifted Wind-wielder and whistler. “Please, Minister-sama,” she gestured humbly. “You have their attention now.”
“Th-thank you,” Aspen stuttered, then turned to face her subdued audience once more. “Everyone. I’m… I’m so sorry. I can feel the terror in this room. The desperation. The anger. The fear you carry for your loved ones. And I share all of those feelings with you. We’re all safe here—”
“What about our families?” someone shouted. “Our friends?”
“My dog!” someone cried.
“—we’re all safe here,” Aspen repeated, “but that doesn’t mean anything if our loved ones aren’t.”
My eyes dropped to the floor. Evelyn. Robert. My mother… Oh, God. She and Sarah had just moved five hundred miles away from the nearest Asterian Chapter. What would they do if the sky suddenly turned black and the world slowly suffocated? Sarah had already spent enough time in darkness, in fear, let down by the very Elementalists who were supposed to protect her. I could feel my hands clenching into tight fists.
“What we’re asking you to do isn’t fair,” Aspen continued. “You didn’t ask for this. It’s not your fault this is happening. But we are all special and unique – gifted in ways so many others aren’t. Does that make them any less?” she asked. “Does that make them deficient?”
Some audience members shifted uncomfortably.
“No,” she replied firmly. “But it does make them more vulnerable.” Her shoulders rose and fell as she took a deep breath. “My father…” she started, her voice cracking, “…Um, my father always told me that we must protect those who are weaker than us. Those who are less fortunate, less privileged. It’s because of him that I… that I had wanted to be a doctor. To serve those that I could.”
Ori glanced at me, his face mirroring the broken expression I knew we shared. Had wanted. And now couldn’t. Not anymore.
“It’s time for us to put the training we’ve received through the Order to good use. It’s time for us to protect our planet, each other, and the billions of people who share it… Please,” she entreated, “I know it’s not your job. And it’s not your fault. But it is our responsibility. Please help me protect this planet and the future of those who share it. I can’t do it without you.”
A long beat of silence ensued as every person in that room considered her words. No one had to explain what was needed when she asked for help. The cryptic messages we received earlier now made perfect sense: Fire, Earth, and Wind summoners would be heading to Wyoming. Lightning and probably Water wielders would be needed in Washington. And there was absolutely no guarantee that any of us would be returning home. Or that we’d even succeed.
I approached the podium from Aspen’s left. “I’m here,” I told her softly.
“We’re here,” Ori amended, taking his position at her right.
“Paris stands with you,” Gauthier announced, stepping forward.
“And Tokyo, of course,” Mei stood beside him.
“Denver stands with you!” Eileen, Sophia, and yes, Savannah, called in unison.
“São Paulo as well!” the Brazilian Prime Representative shouted from the back of the stage.
“Beijing is with you!” the Prime Representative from China echoed, spurring a large group of Chinese audience members to stand and cheer.
“Madrid for the Pentamancer!” another group stood.
One by one, Chapters and individuals alike began rising from their seats, shouting proclamations of support and affirmation. None of us missed the handful of people skirting for the exits, rushing home to be with their families, to be sure. But when all was said and done, thousands of Asterians were standing, more and more by the minute as newcomers filed into the auditorium as they arrived from their incoming flights and trains. They’d all traveled from around the world to witness their new Pentamantic minister, and were now vowing to fight alongside her.
I put my hand on Aspen’s shoulder and squeezed it tightly as I whispered, “I’ve never been so proud of you.”
She closed her eyes and clasped my hand, fingers trembling as the audience continued to shout cheers of support.
“Madam Minister,” Mr. Gauthier spoke softly as he covered the microphone with the palm of his hand. “There is one more thing to discuss before your departure. But not here.”
She nodded mutely.
“Everyone,” Gauthier spoke directly into the microphone, “Please remain in the auditorium for further instructions. Transportation has already been arranged through our private air fleet, and further logistics will be detailed on the way. You will all have time to call your families and make arrangements during your absences!” he added, just before Daichi took his place at the podium to lay out the bullet points of their strategy.
Gauthier rushed offstage, whispering furiously to Aspen as they made their way to the wing. I looked over my shoulder to find our friends in the audience, making a sharp motion for them to follow us when I did. Then I jogged to catch up to Aspen and the rest of Parliament as they shuffled offstage in different directions. I couldn’t imagine the amount of planning that went into something like this – Kaylie’d had months, perhaps years, to formulate this beast of a plan. Whereas we were scrambling together a feeble offensive in mere hours.
“What?” Aspen’s voice carried from just ahead.
Breathless, I caught up with her just in time to hear Gauthier drop the phrase “Terramantic nuclear bomb.” At that, she, Ori, and I all stopped dead in our tracks, giving Eileen, Sophia, and Savannah just enough time to screech to a halt behind us.
“What did we miss?” Savannah demanded.
“Terramantic nukes,” Ori murmured, wide-eyed and pale as he stared at the Frenchman.
“What?!” came the ladies’ synchronized chorus.
“We cannot let this become further known,” Gauthier cautioned, motioning us to the far side of the wing. “The rumor alone would cause widespread panic. Chaos. Perhaps even mass suicides. But we have received a report that Kaylie was, at one point at least, looking into commissioning a Terramantic nuclear bomb. I want to emphasize,” he quickly added, “that this has not been substantiated. Our source is relying on hearsay, which can always be fabricated. Now, we are working to confirm the verity of this rumor—”
“And if it’s true?” I managed to sputter.
“Then Obsidian would be capable of a true, global-scale annihilation that no amount of Auromancers could dispel.”
My eyes trailed to Aspen, who had fallen to the wayside of our group, one arm gripping the elbow of the other.
“Okay, so, let’s just riff for a minute here,” Eileen interjected. “Now, I’m familiar with the abstract theory behind these hypothetical weapons, and, uh… it’s scary A.F. You’d basically need a highly powerful Terramantic mad scientist – or more likely a team of them – manipulating Earth elements at an atomic level to create Plutonium. Or Uranium. Or, you know, some yet-to-be-discovered radioactive element that could destroy the entire world with one faulty electron.”
“That is co
rrect,” Gauthier replied.
The solemn, knowing look the two of them subsequently shared sent a chill down my spine. By this point, every face present in our top-secret corner had frozen in varying shades of horror.
Gauthier held up his hands in a pacifying gesture. “Before we let ourselves get carried away by hypotheticals, I want to stress that our source was under the impression that Kaylie may have initially been spreading this rumor herself in order to stoke fear.”
“Well, that’s good news,” Ori muttered, his shoulders relaxing a notch.
“Not necessarily.” Gauthier’s expression was as solemn as I’d ever seen it. “Because that brings up yet another piece of bad news.”
“Which is…?” Aspen raised her eyebrows.
“Kumiko has informed us, with complete certainty, that Kaylie is missing.”
“Kusss-emec,” Ori hissed.
“You’ve got to be kidding me!” Savannah groaned.
By now, our newfound minister was pacing back and forth several feet away, as deep in thought as I’d ever seen her. What I wouldn’t give to see inside that mind of hers at that very moment. As for my own, it was still working to piece this new information together in a way that would somehow make sense.
“It would seem that there was a coup within a coup,” Gauthier explained in a low voice. “One of Kaylie’s top lieutenants, a young Wilder from a powerful Australian tribe, has seized control of Obsidian from the inside. The man has fervent support from his people, most of whom are extremely powerful Electromancers, and all of whom are religious zealots. And…” he trailed off, loosening his tie as he did. Beads of sweat had accumulated above his brow despite the chill in the auditorium.
“…And?” Savannah interjected right next to my ear, making me flinch.
“Kumiko tells us that this man is… that is to say, she’s fairly certain…” I stared at Gauthier impatiently, actively biting the inside of my lip so I wouldn’t shout obscenities.
Savannah, on the other hand, conveniently said what we were all thinking. “Archie, spit it out already!”