The Lightning Conjurer

by Rachel Rener

  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a body drop to the ground – the same man who’d openly questioned Lucas a few moments ago. I gritted my teeth soberly; that’s where the electricity had come from. A handful in the crowd had noticed the man fall, but most were too preoccupied with the violent inferno that was churning above us.

  The head of the colossal snake was rising up, up, up above the trees, its white-hot scales blazing and roiling with the ferocious temper of its young summoner, who stood several yards away with a maniacal sneer on his face. With a defeated sigh, I cast my measly ice dagger to the ground; it wasn’t going to do me any good here. The heat was smoldering off of Lucas’s thirty-foot monster in unbearable crimson waves that cast an ominous glow across our entire swath of forest, letting me know just how very far we had traveled inside it. Sparks rained down from the sky and the air grew thin from the continuous combustion. Then the fiery vertical slits of the serpent’s pupils trained directly on me. I barely had time to cry out as its tail lashed in my direction without warning, sending a plume of Fire streaming across the clearing.

  I’d like to say I parried the attack with gallantry and grace, but my reflexes were pitiful; after all, I’d spent the last four years practicing cerebral Electromancy in a cushy medical facility, not training for mortal combat. I barely had time to snatch the frost from the ground and cast a makeshift shield that all but evaporated into steam before the flames even connected with it. Predictably, Lucas’s creation didn’t falter; the scorching tip of its tail whipped back around with lethal ferocity, aiming for my head. Letting out a shrill yelp, I dove out of the way – but I wasn’t fast enough. Searing agony exploded from my calf as I landed in a winded heap. Screams ensued as a nearby grove of evergreen trees burst into flames, forcing dozens of Lucas’s own followers to fling themselves out of the way.

  On sprawled hands and knees, I peered over my shoulder, gasping in horror. The skin on the back of my leg had been scorched away, leaving an angry, blistered slash of blackened tissue. The wound was bad enough that it would almost certainly require a skin graft… if I ever made it out of there.

  Across the clearing, the vociferous shouts rang out as the surrounding forest burned. Whether it was in support of my impending demise or not, I wasn’t exactly in the position to inquire.

  All the while, Lucas was sauntering toward me at a leisurely pace, knowing victory wasn’t far away. “I grew up with these in the bush,” he said, gesturing to his creation from behind shimmering curtains of superheated air. It made his illuminated face waver and contort like a deformed apparition. “This not-so-little bastard is called a taipan, the most powerful and deadliest of all the snakes. Just about everyone they bite dies, including my birth mother. But not me,” his face contorted into a sneer. “I lived through the agony. Because I’m a warrior. Because I’ve spent every moment of my life conquering the living hell of the outback and the brutal Elements. Unlike you, I rose up to face my destiny, not run from it like a gutless wonder.”

  Invigorated by a sharpened gust of Wind, his fiery monstrosity rose up and prepared to strike again. The flames were so bright, it hurt to look directly at them. But I couldn’t tear my eyes away.

  He’s right. The shameful realization swept the air from my lungs, leaving me clutching at the hollow of my throat where my mother’s tanzanite pendant lay. My entire life, all I’ve done is run.

  “Just look at this useless bird!” Lucas shouted to the crowd. “This is the mighty Pentamancer of the Asterian Order? She’s pathetic! This isn’t even a fight!” Flames blazing, his gargantuan snake reared its diamond-shaped head, preparing to strike. “You’re not worthy of being called a Pentamancer!”

  It’s true. Tears burned in my eyes. I’m not. I’m just an imposter who has no idea what she’s doing.

  With a sneer of disgust, Lucas flung an arm over his head. The snake’s massive jaw opened wide, exposing a lashing tongue of flames and simmering pointed fangs. Inside its gaping mouth, crimson fire roiled and churned in a mesmerizing, almost liquid manner, sending staggering waves of heat rolling off of it with a suffocating force. As I stared up at it from the ground, paralyzed with defeat, a memory flashed before my eyes: Years ago, while training with acquaintances I barely knew and a stranger who claimed to be my godfather, I’d goaded Aiden into coming at me with everything he had… eventually, he’d relented. The immense power he unleashed was like nothing I’d ever seen; as the explosion of flames rushed forward to envelop me, bearing neither pity nor mercy, all I could do was stare in frozen horror.

  Four years later, nothing had changed. I was once again utterly powerless in the face of such an attack, for of all the Elements, Fire is the fiercest and most furious; it rages with all the burning passion of the Pyromancer who wields it, and when unleashed, it cannot be tamed. I couldn’t fight Fire with Fire. I was underprepared. I was overpowered.

  I was unworthy.

  A gentle breeze fingered the tendrils of damp hair that had been strewn across my face. You’ll never find a more powerful ally than Wind, Sophia’s voice repeated softly. And it was true. That day in the field, it was Sophia – our willowy, delicate, soft-spoken Sophia – who vanquished that fire with nothing more than a gentle breeze.

  Feel it. Smell it. Breathe it. Open yourself to it. Clear your mind of all other thoughts.

  It occurred to me, as I was sprawled on the ground in a charred, undignified heap waiting for death, that I had nothing to lose. And so, for the first time in weeks – if not years – I did what the memory of Sophia had instructed me to do: I cast away the doubt, the insecurity, the constant worrying, and all the self-sabotaging thoughts that had been plaguing my mind from the moment Ori had set foot in my mother’s house, allowing my mind one single moment of peace.

  And in that brief, heavenly silence, instinct took over.

  When the deadly taipan lunged from the sky, my palm flew up to meet it. The wind came roaring into the clearing, just as it had the fateful day that tornado saved my life. With a high-pitched howl, the gale slammed into Lucas’s attack, wrenching all the oxygen from the surrounding air. The serpent’s blaze was immediately snuffed out of existence, leaving its master Fireless and gasping for breath.

  After smothering the residual fire from the grass and trees, gusts of Wind swirled around my body as though welcoming me back. In that moment, I was flooded with a raw, exhilarating sensation I hadn’t felt in years. When was the last time I’d used my powers for something other than rote necessity – boiling water, or hurling snowballs, or reconnecting neurons in dissected brains? I’d let my powers grow dormant over the years, believing that I didn’t need them, didn’t want them. In doing so, I’d lost a part of me along the way, the part of me that was fearless and powerful and untamed. And now that I remembered what that felt like, I wanted more.

  Lucas staggered to his feet, clawing and gasping for breath while his crowd – which appeared to have thinned substantially even in the last ten minutes – stared at me with incomprehensible looks in their eyes. Even the trio of Australian Vanna Whites were regarding me warily.

  “What’s the matter, Lucas?” I called. “Is the air too thin for you?”

  After a brief moment, his coughs turned into wheezing laughter. “Alright, Mother Teresa, good on ya. Doubt you’ll be so lucky the second time around though.”

  Something rustled behind me; I whirled around just in time to see gleaming spears of ice lunging at my back. I once again cast my panic aside, sweeping my hands in front of me. A split second later, a refreshing cloud of mist whizzed past me, spraying my flushed face with cool water. Spinning on my heels, I reformed the vapors to create a gleaming spear of ice that sailed straight toward Lucas. This time, he was the one who was caught off-guard. Hurling himself out of the way, he crashed into one of his blondes, then shoved her roughly aside as he jumped to his feet. She sailed into the crowd, where several people caught and helped her up. Not one of them looked particularly happy. Or impressed.

&n
bsp; “It doesn’t have to be like this, Lucas,” I called. “You and I can both be home by midnight, if you drop this right now.”

  His eyes cut across the clearing, where I distinctly heard the sound of distant voices. Had the Asterians found us in time? Could I have actually been that lucky?

  “By the way, how did you manage to get so many powerful Electromancers in your cult, anyway?” I asked, both stalling for time and genuinely, morbidly curious.

  “It runs in the genes,” he muttered, obviously distracted.

  I crossed my arms in front of me. “But not everyone, right? What happens to those who don’t have Electromantic traits?”

  He shrugged. “Blokes who lack the genes or stamina get their ‘nads lopped off. Birds are sterilized or exiled – their choice.”

  Horrified, my eyes trailed to Lucas’s Australian clan, which presently made up about a third of Obsidian. There were far more women than men, nearly all of them blonde and under the age of forty. The men had a wider age range, with the oldest being somewhere in his sixties, but all appeared small in stature, a full head shorter than the women – the effects of forced castration.

  “Save your pity,” Lucas sneered. “They don’t want or need it.”

  The sound of distant voices was growing louder. Desperate, I tried to think of another way to stall for time, knowing my window of opportunity was rapidly dwindling.

  “Lucas, I—”

  The purple glint in his eyes was the only sign an attack was coming. I tried to brace myself, but I wasn’t fast enough; that same horrible light once again flooded my vision, bleaching out the entire forest. I staggered backwards as Electricity crackled painfully in my head, but I couldn’t cry out. A furious scream clawed at my throat where it caught and stuck, permanently trapped.

  Get out of my head!!

  Your mates are close, Lucas’s voice thundered in my ears. They’ve brought an army. I won’t be able to beat them, not while you still live.

  “Good!” I actually managed to gasp. The blinding, paralyzing light in my eyes intensified until I was inwardly screaming in agony. But my lips wouldn’t budge. Not my mouth, not my toes, not a single finger. I’d been possessed by the devil himself, and no amount of internal power I drew seemed to be enough to exorcise the demon from my mind.

  You put up one hell of a fight, but with the help of my lovely servants, it’s all of us against one, peach. And you’re about to be flogged.

  So much for a fair fight! I snapped, my own voice beginning to sound faint and distant compared to his.

  We both knew that was never gonna happen, doll-face. Because I’m not totally confident I can kill you between now and their arrival, I’ll just have to let your friends do the dirty work for me. It’ll be better for my cause, anyway. I couldn’t see a thing, but I could feel his oily smirk in my head. Here, he added. I’ll even give you a front row seat.

  The blinding light obstructing my vision dimmed, allowing me to just barely make out the purple, bleached-out forest that surrounded us. It was like seeing the world through a clouded lens, with the exposure and brightness turned all the way up. Directly ahead of me, the thinning line of Lucas’s people, those that still remained, were watching me with puzzled expressions on their faces.

  All they see is you, little Pentie, standing still as a statue. When your friends show up in a minute or two, they’ll all watch in horror and confusion as you inexplicably go insane, taking out as many people as you can in the process. Hopefully they’ll take you down themselves. If not, they’ll witness me, grief-stricken and tearful, as I dutifully cut you down and save the day. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to stop ‘Kaylie’ from setting off the bomb, which will conveniently detonate the moment my new followers and I move safely underground. Pretty bonzer, right?

  With the only autonomy I had left, I started hurling vicious curses in my head that would have made Ori himself blush.

  “Aspen!” a voice shouted.

  Shh, shh… Lucas hushed. Look, isn’t that your boyfriend plowing through the trees now? Why don’t you say hello?

  No! I tried to cry out. Don’t you dare!

  “Aspen!” Aiden cried again as he tore into the clearing, followed by dozens – no, hundreds – of Asterians.

  See all those leading the charge? They’ll all be dead soon.

  No! I was shouting. No, no, NO! But my voice was growing dimmer and dimmer in my own head, as though something – or someone – was trying to drown it out completely. If only I could remember who…

  If only, possum! Ha! If only you recognized your own strength. Without that bloody conscience of yours, you truly would be the most powerful human on earth. Even more powerful than me, I’ll admit. But no worries. Let’s have some fun unleashing that raw power before they kill you, shall we? I need all those loyalists of yours to cark it, anyway. It’s just so much better if you’re the one to do it.

  From twenty feet away, I witnessed the joy and relief washing over Aiden’s face as he and a dozen other familiar faces sprinted toward me. My body raised its arms as though beckoning him – and then a savage roar tore across the forest as the earth split in two. The fissure zig-zagged across the clearing, taking down everything and everyone in its path – including Aiden. I vaguely registered his eyes widening in horror as he and a dozen others tumbled to their deaths into the crumbling abyss.

  Beauty! a voice crooned between my ears. So, this is what it feels like to move the earth. Ah, but don’t tell anyone my secret, little possum. It’ll be ours to share in the minutes before you die.

  With that, chaos erupted.

  Chapter 33

  tore through the forest, fearing the worst. We’d been searching for hours. She’d never met with Kumiko. She wasn’t at Obsidian, either – that entire organization had cleared out hours ago. And perhaps worst of all, there really was a bomb – but Kaylie didn’t have it. Despite the residual anger that simmered between our organizations and our vastly different end goals, we’d agreed to form a temporary alliance with her and her followers in order to stop the true madman that threatened to destroy the world. It was a risk, one we had no choice but to take.

  “We’re here,” Ori’s voice crackled in my ear as my boots thudded against the ground. “The summit is secure. We would have been here sooner, but the number of people requiring memory wipes was more than we’ve ever dealt with at one time.”

  “And the president?” Mei, our once-more acting minister radioed from her helicopter.

  “Zhang, Jeffries, Frank, and a small containment squad are with him in the situation room now. He and his top aides have retained their full memories of the event, as you requested.”

  “It is as the minister requested, Ori-san. No matter what happens, we must carry out her wishes.”

  I tuned out their voices as I ran. Fire was close; I could feel it. But it wasn’t Aspen. Whoever controlled those flames was a formidable Pyromancer… and likely completely unhinged, based on the inferno that called to me from miles away. But that was nothing compared to the fury I’d unleash if he’d touched even a single hair on her head. I gasped and nearly stumbled as a gust of Wind tore past me, blowing against my back with the force of a gathering hurricane.

  “That’s Aspen!” Sophia cried from close behind.

  I pushed my legs harder than I’d ever pushed them before, terror and adrenaline fueling every bounding leap. I didn’t bother to see who was with me and who’d fallen behind. I had one thought in my head and one thought only: I had to get to her in time.

  The wind picked up speed. I shouted Aspen’s name, praying she’d hear me. No answer. As I staggered into a large clearing of trees, I could sense the violent conflagration that had raged here just moments ago. For a split second, I was gripped by panic; was I too late?

  But then I saw her, standing in the middle of the clearing, seemingly in one piece. A rush of relief, like nothing I’d ever experienced before, flooded my senses. She was here. She was alive… But she wasn’t alone.
My eyes narrowed at the sight just ahead: a small crowd of a hundred or so Elementalists, clearly distressed by whatever they’d just witnessed. And he was there, standing three feet away from my wife. The sick bastard that had orchestrated this whole ordeal after somehow forcing her to lie to us – however the hell he’d managed that.

  “Aspen!” I yelled again, pumping my legs as hard as I could to get to her.

  She turned to look at me, her expression oddly impassive. I gritted my teeth so hard it hurt. What had she suffered through while we floundered in the city for hours, looking for her? When she opened her arms to me, my heart melted. She was alive. My legs hadn’t let me down.

  I pushed harder. Thirty feet… twenty feet… she was so close—

  A cry escaped my lips, lost in the screams that shattered through the air as the earth itself opened up to swallow us whole. The last thing I saw before plunging into the endless fissure was her eyes, glowing as though fire burned behind those amethyst windows. “Aspen!” I tried to croak as my own screams overtook me.

  There was no answer.

  I fell for what felt like minutes, all the while bracing for the impact that would undoubtedly kill me. After an eternity of plummeting in slow motion, a gust of Wind came roaring into the abyss, encircling my body. With the delicate precision that only Sophia herself could employ, I was gently airlifted out of the interminable trench, then planted back onto solid ground where Eileen, Ted, Archenbaud, and a handful of other Terramancers were kneeling against the earth.

  I fell to my knees to join them. At least until the world stopped spinning.

  “What the hell just happened?” Ori shouted as he skidded into the clearing along with Elizabeth and hundreds of others piling in from our massive convoy. “Who did this?!”