A Fading Fire

by D. K. Holmberg

  “Are you relieving me from my responsibilities as the spirit master?”

  The Grand Master chuckled. “I think that would be a disservice to those who have begun to take on a connection to spirit. Do you realize we’ve had far more students connecting to spirit over the last few years since you have become spirit master than we had in the decade before?”

  Tolan frowned, shaking his head. “I suppose that I didn’t know that.”

  “I’m not so sure that it is anything that you’re doing, though perhaps it is. Perhaps you have a natural gift. Or perhaps something with spirit changed. Either way, I wouldn’t relieve you of your duties until we know. Though, I must admit there are some of the Inquisitors who would see you removed from this post.”

  Tolan grunted. He could think of several of them. “Thanks, I guess.”

  The Grand Master chuckled. “There was no insult intended, Master Ethar. You are critical to the functioning of the Academy. It’s just that I know you have other areas where you can help.” He looked around the room. “I’ve often wondered if I should have encouraged you to take up a position within the library. Perhaps as a librarian, you might have had the time you want to pursue these outside interests.”

  “Maybe,” Tolan said.

  “But I do feel that would have been an unfortunate loss for our students studying spirit.” He looked up, smiling at Tolan. “At least, until recently. Now that you have gifted spirit to so many others, perhaps you would prefer that we allow someone else to become the Master of Spirit?”

  Tolan looked over at the students. If he were a librarian, he would be much more free to pursue his outside interests, and he wouldn’t be burdened by the need to teach. He wouldn’t have to deal with the Inquisitors quite as much, either. At the same time, there wouldn’t be an instructor willing to work with the students to demonstrate the elementals. To teach about runes in the way that Tolan knew them. There wouldn’t be an instructor willing to demonstrate bondars. That was one thing he did that so few others were willing to do.

  “I think the students would lose something if I weren’t teaching them.”

  The Grand Master pressed his lips together before pushing his glasses up on his nose. “You might be right. At least for now, I think you need to be freed to pursue what must be done. Until we have Roland in check.”

  “Who will teach?” he asked carefully.

  “Not an Inquisitor, if that’s your concern.”

  It had been, though Tolan wasn’t about to admit that to the Grand Master. “Who, then?”

  “One of your students has demonstrated enough skill that I suspect you could permit him to teach, if only for a little while. Considered it a mentorship.”

  “I don’t know how pleased Velthan will be to continue my teachings.”

  “Each instructor has their own technique, Master Ethar. You must know that. Let him teach as he would, and when you finish this, then you can return and offer the students the value that you have.”

  Tolan just nodded. “That might be best.”

  “Just make sure this is taken care of quickly.”

  “I will,” Tolan said. “For me to do it, though, I’m still going to need your help.”

  The Grand Master frowned at him.

  “I would ask Master Minden, but as she is incapacitated, I think that you would be the best alternative. If I do this, I think we can prevent Roland from poisoning the element bonds.”

  Which meant he had to go into each of them. He just didn’t know if he was ready.

  13

  The power that Tolan could detect was far more than he would have expected. As he focused on fire—he chose fire because he had connected to it before the other elements—he could trace his way down into the fire bond, thinking about the connection that was there. In doing so, he realized this was something he should have done before. He probed, allowing his connection to flow downward, detecting the power that existed within the bond and feeling how that energy rolled outward from him.

  It carried him along.

  Unlike with the earth bond, where there was a sense of power that dragged him deeper and deeper, with the fire bond, there was a sense of heat and power and it pressed in upon him, practically demanding that he pay attention to it. He tried not to focus too much on that power, focusing instead on what he could detect, but all he could feel was the sense. All he could feel was the power that was there.

  Perhaps there was something more.

  Tolan let that sense carry him down.

  As it did, he felt the energy dragging him deeper and deeper, the power that was forcing him into the fire bond, carrying him along.

  That power dragged something deeper and greater than anything he had been aware of before. In the distance, there was a bright surge of light. Tolan focused on that brightness, thinking about what he could see, and he held onto his awareness of it, wondering whether or not there was something more that he might be able to uncover from it. The bright light blasted with a sense of heat and energy, leaving him worrying about what he was going to find. Perhaps lava or fire or steam. Anything might be more than he could tolerate.

  In the distance, the glowing light became even brighter. Tolan headed toward it, letting the fire bond carry him downward. As he traveled, he looked around. There were no other elementals, not the way that there had been within the earth bond.

  Could whatever had happened to the earth bond have been isolated?

  When he reached the flame, he tried to hold himself in the air, trying to keep from allowing himself to be drawn into the fire. He had no idea whether the heat and fire would affect him here, and having no other way of trying to protect himself, Tolan didn’t know if it was even safe to consider going down into the flames.

  He looked around. As he had suspected, a field of lava flowed. It was enormous. Heat radiated from everywhere and the lava rippled as it flowed away from him. In some sections, it seemed almost as if the lava had cooled, but in others, it splashed outward, flames shooting into the air.

  Tolan had no idea whether he would be injured if he were to be splattered by lava. Within this place, he was separated from his body, connected to the fire bond itself, but not necessarily fully protected. He worried what would happen if he were consumed by the flames.

  As he pushed away from the lava, he found flames shooting upward. Much farther from that, there was a sense of steam that shot up from the ground, smoke streaming around it. Everything and everywhere he went was a sense of great power.

  Tolan ignored that sense, instead focusing on fire itself. As expected, there was a sense of spirit bound within fire.

  In the distance, he found a sense of pressure.

  Tolan hurried toward it, guided the same way he had been with the earth Guardian.

  The sense of the Guardian filled him. Tolan began to pull upon spirit, twisting it the same way he had with earth, using that connection to guide him.

  Much like with earth, as he mixed spirit, he could feel the way that the Guardian bonded now to spirit. It seemed almost as if spirit and fire guided him, as if the two wanted to be unified within the Guardian. He mixed them together, forcing them toward the Guardian, feeling the surge of energy as it exploded through him. As it took hold, he could feel the energy washing over him, almost more than he could manage.

  Tolan had to find his way out of the fire bond. He retreated, letting that power pull him back down, toward the lava, and then from there, he found his way back out. He used heat and fire, blasting his way beyond.

  Gradually, he could feel everything shifting.

  Then he was free.

  Tolan opened his eyes in the middle of the Convergence. The Grand Master was there, watching, waiting, but doing nothing else.

  “Did it work?” the Grand Master asked.

  “It worked the same as it did with earth.”

  “Why do you think that should be?”

  “I don’t really know. I have no idea why there would be such a change. I
won’t be able to know for sure if it did anything until I do the same with the other element bonds.”

  “You intend to return?”

  Tolan closed his eyes, thinking about the other bonds and whether there was anything that he might be able to do. He worried about delving too deeply into the bonds, and he worried about what would happen if and when he were stranded. There was still the concern that something might happen that would lock him in the bond, unable to escape.

  He still had the memory of what had happened the first time he’d gone into the earth bond, and how he had nearly gotten stuck. It terrified him, and he worried about what would happen if it were to take place again.

  This was what he needed to do.

  Tolan focused on water. “Keep an eye on me?”

  “I’d rather help, but I’m afraid I don’t know that I can. Not with this,” the Grand Master said.

  Tolan turned his attention to water. It flooded through him. He felt water all around him, sweeping him under.

  He worked quickly, reaching for the bond, then feeling for the Guardian. Once he was there, he began to add spirit, quickly unwinding it and merging it with the Guardian. Experience made it far more rapid of a process, and when he was done, he powered back out before heading down into the wind bond.

  This time, as he plunged into the wind bond, he could feel the energy and the swirling power all around him. By the time he reached the Guardian, he knew exactly what he needed to do and started to unwind spirit from the bond. In doing so, he began to add it to the Guardian, thinking that it was much easier now that he understood what was required of him.

  There came a surge of pressure pushing against him.

  Tolan frowned as he tried to push outward, using what he could hold onto in order to push against that power. Energy flooded away from him.

  Wind continued to oppose him.

  Tolan wound spirit more tightly into wind.

  Only, that was part of the problem.

  When it came to wind, there wasn’t anything that could be done tightly. He thought about how to weave it together, the way that the other elements were bound together, and for a moment, he wasn’t sure if he was going to be able to use that sense of spirit as effectively as he had with the other elements.

  Then he felt spirit starting to take hold. It surged, pressing against what he was doing, and there came a familiar surge of power. Tolan waited, holding on to spirit, locking it into place. The pressure against him faded.

  Then it was done.

  When he resurfaced into the Convergence, the Grand Master watched him. “Is it done?”

  Tolan nodded. He was tired, almost a physical sense that wiped through him. “It’s done.”

  “Then we should see what changed.”

  Tolan stepped out of the Convergence and the Grand Master was there, a plush gray robe in hand. He held it out for Tolan, sweeping it around him. He took it and held onto it. He hesitated for a moment, but then he sagged, falling to his knees.

  He was tired. So very tired.

  Tolan tried to get up and tried to open his eyes, but the effort he’d used left him feeling unable to keep his head lifted. He took a deep breath, focusing on that power and on everything around him. Then he collapsed.

  The Grand Master was there, trying to help him up, but Tolan wasn’t strong enough.

  He looked over at the Convergence. With that, he thought he should be able to call upon a little bit of extra power. Even as he attempted to do so, there wasn’t any way to withstand what had taken place. He could feel himself fading.

  “The Convergence,” he whispered.

  “What about the Convergence?”

  Tolan tried to move, but he wasn’t able to get himself up. He could barely think. He could barely do anything. He felt as if all of his energy was fading.

  “I need to be in the Convergence.”

  “I’m not sure if that’s the right answer, Tolan. If you go into the Convergence and try to draw upon more power, I don’t know what will happen to you.”

  “The Convergence,” he said again.

  He felt as if he had to get into the Convergence, as if he needed to so that he could better understand what had happened to him, and to find a way to get to safety. What he needed was the ability to draw upon a little bit more power. All he needed was energy.

  Getting into the Convergence would help.

  It had to.

  The Grand Master sighed, but then with a surge of earth shaping, he dragged Tolan to the edge of the Convergence and then into the silvery liquid once more.

  Power flooded through him.

  There was something about that power which felt different than it should. Tolan floated within the Convergence, some part of him taking on the energy all around him, letting it fill him with a sense of power.

  He breathed in and out, taking steady breaths, and with each one that he took, he could feel something about him changing. He worried that he wasn’t going to be strong enough to recover, but he was going to keep trying, and…

  As he focused on that sense of energy, he could feel the way that it filled him. It was spirit mixed with each of the elements. Still, there was something more.

  He tried to reach for it.

  “You need to stop trying to shape,” the Grand Master said.

  Tolan didn’t know if that was true. He felt as if he needed to keep trying to shape, as if he needed to keep working to better understand what was happening and had happened to him. He felt as if he had to use that power in order to better understand the energy here.

  “I feel as if I need to be shaping,” he said softly.

  “You’re holding onto too much power. I feel it, and I see it.”

  The Grand Master stood at the edge of the Convergence, looking toward the middle of it.

  What was it that he could see?

  Tolan opened his eyes, looking all around the room. He could see power. Light glowed all around him. It erupted from him. He radiated a bright white light, much like he had seen when he was with the lizard.

  Spirit.

  All of that energy was there, and all of that was tied to the power of spirit.

  Was I drawing upon spirit while staying in the Convergence?

  His strength gradually began to return. Glowing with light as he was, he had to wonder if perhaps the lizard was giving him some sort of power.

  Could I connect to that lizard?

  The lizard seemed to appear only when it wanted. He didn’t come around when Tolan wanted. Tolan focused on the Convergence and the power here. All he needed was another moment and then…

  Energy threw him out of the Convergence.

  Tolan hovered in the air above the Convergence.

  “Relax,” the Grand Master said. “I’m trying to move you away, but you’re holding yourself up there.”

  He took a breath, focusing on the energy of the Convergence. He wasn’t shaping. Somehow, he was suspended in the air above the Convergence, but he wasn’t doing anything.

  “This isn’t me,” he said.

  “You need to relax,” the Grand Master said again.

  What if I shaped?

  If he were to shape, then maybe he could guide himself to the side of the Convergence. Tolan used a shaping, drawing upon earth and fire and wind, trying to draw himself to the Grand Master.

  Shaping power flowed from him.

  Within that shaping power, he could feel something else. He could feel that there was some additional source of power. All he needed now was to try to use it to guide him over to the edge of the Convergence.

  The shaping failed him.

  Even though he could draw upon the power of shaping, and he could call upon the energy that was here, he wasn’t able to reach the edge of the Convergence. He was stuck, hovering in the middle, the power that was here holding onto him.

  “I can’t move,” he told the Grand Master.

  The Grand Master built a shaping, and it swept toward Tolan.

  D
espite that, some power held onto him, wrapping around him, keeping him from moving.

  “This isn’t your doing?”

  Tolan shook his head, but even in that, he wasn’t able to fully move. He remained suspended in the air.

  He was separated from the power of the Convergence. He could draw upon power, but he wasn’t able to do anything with it.

  Stranger still, there was a sense of something else changing around him. A sense of energy was beginning to drift away from him. A sense that he was starting to fade.

  “Wait here, Master Ethar,” the Grand Master said.

  Tolan didn’t have anywhere that he could go.

  Once the Grand Master left, Tolan remained suspended in the air, the power pulling upon him. He could feel energy sweeping out of the Convergence, and there was something else to it. It was almost as if it was trying to work upon him. Power seemed to draw down from him, and Tolan worried that he was going to lose his connection to shaping. Not only that, he feared he would lose his connection to the Convergence.

  He continued to focus on his power, but it began to fade.

  He began to fade.

  Something was changing, though he had no idea what it was.

  As his vision drifted to darkness, Tolan tried to claw for power to hold onto, but he failed. There was nothing more he could do.

  14

  There was darkness all around him. It seemed a stark contrast to the bright white light of the lizard. As Tolan looked around, he could see nothing but an emptiness. That emptiness seemed to consume him, pressing in upon him, filling him. Tolan tried to call upon each of the elements, but they failed.

  What had happened?

  His mind seemed scrambled and he had vague recollections of what he’d been doing. He had tried to help the elements, and he had tried to do whatever he thought was necessary in order to save the Guardians, mixing spirit within them. He had used considerable energy, and now he was beginning to fade.

  The darkness all around him seemed to swallow him.