The Lightning Conjurer

by Rachel Rener

  Have faith in yourself, Rowan. More than anything, these people desperately need a leader.

  I nodded as I surveyed the clearing, which was once again awash in flickering torchlight. In the abrupt absence of the storm, a stillness had settled upon the crowd. Hundreds of arms that had been poised for battle slowly lowered and mouths that had been sputtering with vitriol began to close as everyone looked upon us in stunned silence.

  Well, almost everyone.

  “This isn’t over!” Lucas’s scream echoed against the shattered trees and broken terrain. “These people aren’t yours! There can only be one Pentamancer to rule them, and that Pentie is me!” He flung a bolt of Fire-infused Lightning at me, which I calmly deflected into the sky. As he began to pace before me like a restless tiger, I strategically maintained my position in front of Eileen and Sophia, my gaze trailing to Aiden and Ori, who were both beginning to stir. It took every ounce of willpower I had not to run to Aiden’s side – the old Aspen would have immediately done that, but Aspen the prime minister could not.

  With newfound resolve, I used the wind to carry my next words to the hundreds of people who were planted in the wreckage before us: a mix of Asterian, Obsidian, Wilder, and even a hundred or so wide-eyed National Guardsmen, who stood at the far end of the clearing, weapons drawn but not cocked. I could only assume they’d been deployed by the president, since our people had taken the tremendous risk of filling him in, at my request.

  “You’re not a Pentamancer,” I replied, keeping my chin held high. “The earth doesn’t move for you – you told me that yourself while you were hijacking my head.”

  Gasps and cries erupted in the clearing, sending a ripple of confusion coursing through the crowd. Lucas stared at me in mute horror, struggling to formulate a response. Meanwhile, a flutter of movement just behind him made my heart swell. Aiden and Ori were helping one another to their feet, shaky but whole. As our eyes met, I flashed Aiden a warm smile. His entire body seemed to melt with relief, making me wince; what exactly had Lucas done with me while I was out?

  Understandably, the rest of the crowd was far from placated. All told, there had to have been a thousand people gathered in the clearing by that point. And no one looked particularly happy after the false Pentamancer bombshell. As their general indignation and exclamations of disbelief continued to grow in both volume and fury, Lucas appeared to have finally settled on a response: vigorous denial.

  “Of course, I can move the earth,” he announced, gesturing to the small crowd of blond, sun-weathered Electromancers that were perched at the very edge of the chasm directly across from us. “Just ask anyone! My entire tribe has witnessed it, heaps of times!”

  “Prove it!” someone shouted from the opposite end of the crowd. “Show us!” That triggered a cascade of echoing hollers, many of which shared similar sentiments.

  When the cries finally died down, I crossed my arms, meeting Lucas with a level stare. “I agree with them. You’ll have to prove it. After all, you wouldn’t want anyone here to harbor any doubts about your Pentamancer status… would you?”

  He muttered something along the lines of, “Filthy, stupid Jezebel,” before he turned his back on me to concentrate on a patch of charred, smoking dirt ahead of us. After a long moment, the smoking debris began to glow; then, a few moments later, the partially molten rocks hovered above the ground, levitated by superheated air. “There, you see? Now—”

  “You didn’t manipulate the earth itself,” Eileen shouted from her front-row seat on the ground. “Not a single pebble.”

  “Agreed. That was all Pyromancy,” Aiden spoke up, the edges of his voice hoarse and ragged.

  “And Auromancy,” Sophia added. “And not particularly impressive Auromantic skills, at that.”

  “Your boy’s a counterfeit Pentamancer,” Ori shouted at Lucas’s people. “He’s been mixing Fire and Wind to make it look like he can control Earth… but he’s no more a Terramancer than I am, since I can’t even identify quartz!”

  “Liar!” Lucas screamed, hurling a searing blast of Wind toward Ori that Sophia quickly blocked.

  He and Aiden came to stand on either side of me, while Eileen and Sophia rose from the ground to stand behind us. Savannah’s body was gone, undoubtedly airlifted by Sophia to rest in a safe place.

  “You have no claim to the Asterian Order,” I told Lucas calmly. “Though, if Obsidian wishes to keep you, they certainly can.”

  “We don’t want him!” a woman’s voice shouted from the crowd. My eyes widened as they landed on Kaylie herself, who stood in the middle of the crowd, peaceably sandwiched between Mei and Kumiko. “We want you, Rowan… preferably in a world where we’re free and welcome.”

  While many enthusiastically agreed with her, Kaylie’s unexpected endorsement sparked a resounding series of boos from a cluster of a hundred or so Elementalists that had gathered alongside the remainder of Lucas’s Electromantic tribesmen. They were all die-hard Obsidian members – many of whom had followed Lucas into the clearing to watch him kill me – and would no doubt support their leader until the end. Though vastly different in appearance, everyone in their newly-formed faction wore matching scowls on their faces.

  “Excuse me!” a sharp voice rose up from the back of the clearing. One of the National Guardswomen stepped forward, her right hand cupping her ear as though listening through an earpiece. “Regarding the part about being welcome, the president says, ‘that’s a distinct and highly-desirable possibility.’ He’s watching remotely with several members of the Asterian minister’s taskforce and has asked me to convey to Ms. Fulman that she and her followers have his full support… politically and militarily.” She said that last part with an air of solemnity that did not go unnoticed – particularly by Lucas, who emitted an indignant growl.

  For a split second, no one else said a word as hundreds of Asterians – whose ancestors had been confined underground for the entire millennia-spanning history of the Order – considered such an unprecedented declaration… And then, all at once, everyone started screaming and cheering, flinging their arms around one another in triumph and disbelief. For a brief moment, I couldn’t tell who, in the larger group at least, was Asterian and who was Wilder or Obsidian – they were all just people. Hundreds of relieved, overjoyed people.

  But as the echoes of their celebration resonated through the forest, the hairs on the back of my neck began to stand on end. Lucas was trembling before me, shaking and seething with an anger that could only belong to a man who had never been denied a single thing in his entire life. Flames and Electricity simmered into the flux of hot air that began churning around him, fed by the fury of his humiliation and temper.

  “You promised me a fight,” he spoke through gritted teeth as the clouds above us simmered with Lightning.

  “You won’t win,” Aiden warned, placing his hands on my shoulders protectively.

  “I never lose!” he spat, channeling every ounce of rage he carried into the Elements he wielded. A swirling tempest was rising up behind him, swirling Fire and Ice, Wind and Lightning into a massive tornado that sucked up rocks and broken boughs like pebbles. It whirled and roiled, rising higher and higher to tower above the entire clearing. Ahead of us, my throat caught at the sight of hundreds of Asterians standing their ground, arms raised above their heads to protect their non-Elementalist sisters and brothers behind them.

  My friends moved in closer, with Sophia dutifully shielding us from the maelstrom of ash and hail and broken debris that tore past us, feeding the roaring cyclone that loomed overhead. With the brute force of a hurricane, it spun and wobbled like a top about to collapse, sucking in anything and everything unfortunate enough to be nearby as it did.

  I snatched one of the glowing sparks out of the air, feeding it Wind to bring a torrent of Fire to my hands. Not far ahead, Lucas’s last remaining faction was spreading out to face the rest of the crowd, their own hands blazing with Elements.

  “You have to go help them!” I
shouted to my friends.

  “Not a chance!” Eileen yelled.

  “Elementalists will never be able to live alongside Defects!” Lucas screamed, shrouding himself in Fire and Lightning as his tornado grew more terrifying and out of control by the second. “Nor should we! You’re all maggots, the lot of you!” he shouted. “Maggots who will very soon be squashed beneath my runners!”

  Spurred by some invisible signal, about a dozen of his cultists split from the rest of the group and charged toward the van, which Teruyuki and his people were still surrounding. The Ancients stood at the ready as a barrage of attacks flew toward them – as well as the highly unstable nuclear bomb they guarded.

  “Protect the bomb!” Mei cried, leading a cluster of soldiers from the National Guard to help defend the Ancients.

  Meanwhile, the rest of Lucas’s acolytes began hurling attacks at the larger crowd, including my mother and Ted. I pivoted in my spot, my reflexes screaming at me to help them.

  Don’t worry about us! Mom’s voice blazed in my ears. There are four Electromancers hiding in the trees behind Lucas. I’m doing everything I can but you must stay on your guard!

  As if on cue, an onslaught of Electromantic assaults came flying straight at me, invisible to nearly everyone else but Lucas. I flung out my arms in defense, barely deflecting them in time. The air around me sizzled with Electricity, letting me know another attack was on the way.

  “They’re attacking Aspen!” Ori yelled from behind me. “Those four blondies in the trees!”

  Falling into formation on either side of me, Ori, Aiden, Sophia, and Eileen hurled their own counter-attacks into the forest, their Elements blazing past me like comets. Meanwhile, Lucas wasn’t fazed. With spheres of various Elements hovering in his hands, he started flinging attack after attack – not just at me, but deep into the crowd. Just as I blocked a powerful Ice attack that would have resulted in severe frostbite at best, one of his Fireballs slammed into the chest of an old man who was fighting off two Obsidian extremists.

  “No!” I screamed, sending a torrent of Water in his direction to douse the flames. From the corner of my eye, I saw the fire disappear, but there was no time to check on the man or even call for help. Lucas cackled gleefully as balls of Lightning, Fire, and Ice hurtled toward me almost too quickly to deflect, particularly as my eyes were flitting from the clearing to my mother and my friends, then back to Teruyuki and the other Ancients. Their presence alone had been a miracle in and of itself, and yet here they were, dutifully defending the non-Elementalist bomb squad that was trying to dismantle the weapon, all while Lucas’s cultists accosted all of them with nonstop physical and mental attacks.

  “Aspen!” Aiden shouted at the same moment a searing ball of Fire entered my vision. Before I even knew what had happened, I was knocked to the ground. I looked up to find Aiden’s nose millimeters from mine, his elbows pressed to the dirt on either side of my head. “Don’t worry about them!” he rasped, his full weight bearing down on me as another attack landed inches away, this one made of electrified Ice shards. “Surviving, preferably by kicking this guy’s ass, should be your only concern right now!”

  “He’s too strong!” I tried to gasp, but then his lips were on mine, silencing the doubt from my mouth and my mind. A screaming plume of electrified Fire whizzed inches overhead, which Sophia gracefully pivoted back towards Lucas.

  “You can do this, Aspen!” she called to me.

  “Don’t focus on anyone else but him,” Aiden growled, his voice still hoarse from shouting. “If you cut off the head of the snake, the rest of the serpent goes with it.” He leaned down once more to kiss me deeply. “I love you! Now stay with me!”

  I barely had the breath to reply as he hauled me to my feet with one hand, deflecting another one of Lucas’s attacks with the other.

  “Eyes forward!” he shouted, then turned to help the others protect me. Three of the four women who hovered behind Lucas were still standing, their attacks fierce and unwavering. Eileen cried out as a searing branch of Lightning flew at her feet, sending molten earth and debris sky-high.

  “I got you, Eileen!” Ori shouted, flinging a spiraling torrent of Electricity at her assailant.

  Doing everything I could to tear my eyes away from the people I loved and everyone else I’d sworn – and was failing – to protect, I focused my attention on Lucas, who was summoning a surge of Lightning to his fingertips while Fire, Ice, and Wind raged all around him, creating a nearly-impenetrable barrier. His Quadromantic cyclone surged and twisted behind him, picking up speed while growing to colossal proportions.

  “Hey Pentie,” Lucas called, bouncing a ball of Fire in his hand like a baseball. “Did you know that you need Electricity to cross the trans-dimensional plane? Too bad pathetic drongos like you never make it there!” he sneered, his taunts barely audible over the roar of his creation. “I hope you’ll enjoy an eternity of agony in the great void! Give all your dead mates my regards!”

  With a terrible cry, he unleashed his monster. The tempest of swirling Elements wreaked a trail of carnage across the earth, destroying everything in its path – including two of his own tribesmen who got caught in the cross-hairs.

  Gusts of Wind came barreling through the clearing as I summoned them, fusing together to create a towering cyclone that nearly rivaled his. As our two storms collided, a shattering explosion of thunder sent ripples throughout the entire forest, rocking me to my core. Sophia managed to protect herself and the others while my own arms barely flew up in time to shield myself. I sank to my knees as more torrents of Lightning rained down upon my dwindling shield, my skin blistering from the heat of his attack. He was so angry, so full of hate and ire – how could I defend myself against someone who had but a single lifetime to lose in a religion that promised infinite lives?

  When Lucas’s telltale ultraviolet attack seared into my vision, I sank deeper into the ground, my battered, exhausted body failing me. I’d expended more energy than I ever had before, pushed my injured body to the brink of its mental and physical limits – and yet my seasoned foe wasn’t flinching. I felt my body pitch forward, the ground rising up to meet me.

  Do not surrender, Barish’s voice commanded me. You have not been defeated yet!

  I don’t know if I can do it, I whimpered as that merciless, all-consuming light began to take hold, threatening to overpower me.

  Though you’ve fought and railed against it, my child, the time has come to rise and face your destiny.

  I didn’t have the strength to reply. Someone was wrapping their arms around my waist, trying to help me stand. I didn’t need to open my eyes to instinctively recognize Aiden’s touch.

  Rise, my child. You must take your worthy place among our history’s heroes.

  A deep, soothing feeling embraced my mind while strong, loving arms encircled my body, lending me the strength to stand. As I pressed one bare, bleeding foot to the ground, and then the other, the blinding light that had threatened to take hold of me shattered into pieces.

  With my own vision slowly coming back into focus, I risked a glance at my friends who had spread out to encircle me, each protecting me with everything they had. Elements raged and seethed all around but within the onslaught, I felt the warmth of Aiden’s Fire, the invigoration of Ori’s Lightning, the grounding pull of Eileen’s Earth, the soothing protection of Sophia’s Wind and Water. Tears blurred my vision as I thought about Savannah and her fierce, unyielding determination. And, as ridiculous as it was, as my fingers reached into my pocket to brush against the last remaining cookie crumbs, I felt the overwhelming, unconditional love of my grandmother… and felt a pang of sadness for Lucas, who had never known such tenderness and care.

  When my full sight finally returned, it was as though I was seeing the world for the first time. The five Elements swirled before me, not as a raging tempest, but each as a distinct, glowing thread that yearned to be woven. And as those radiant threads swirled around me, calling to me, they did not r
ob me of strength, but rather granted it.

  Without thinking, I reached out and grasped two of the strands, weaving Wind and Fire to create crimson ribbons of flame that licked at my skin and warmed my blood. A cool sensation brought my gaze down to the earth, where Water from the soil was lapping at my bare feet, soothing the cuts and burns. My veins coursing with adrenaline and forgotten power, I raised my arms to the sky, each adorned with garlands of Wind and Fire, and summoned the Water from the ground. It burst forth from the soil in shimmering drops, surrounding me from all sides like strings of diamonds. The earth rumbled beneath my feet, stabilizing and supporting my trembling legs while glittering plumes of raw minerals billowed in the air around me, creating an endless possibility of matter to be woven.

  And from the west, where power lines towered far above the forest, something was beckoning me like an old friend.

  Come, I whispered silently.

  Like a violet whip cracking across the sky, Lightning bounded to my fingers, sizzling and popping in the frigid night air. Catalyzed, the Elements swirled around me in liquid ribbons, braiding and intertwining until their individual weaves were indecipherable; Fire, Water, Lightning, Wind, and Earth all melding together to form a type of magic I’d never seen before. It hovered between my hands and all around me, glimmering and splendid, magnificent and ineffable – a sixth element I couldn’t name, but my soul somehow knew.

  “Beautiful,” I heard Aiden whisper behind me.

  I stared at the newborn magic swirling around us in awe, both humbled and entranced. It surged and swelled in great silver torrents that encircled my entire body, gleaming with an ancient power that both called and answered to me.

  Ahead, Lucas’s legion of Elements roiled and churned around his body, which was contorted with pain and fury. He was channeling a colossal amount of energy, fighting against the Elements instead of surrendering to them. Flames lashed and Lightning snapped while shards of Ice tore at his skin and clothes. The wind yelped and howled as it clawed at his battered body. But he didn’t relent.