“With what he has done. With what he intends.” She turned toward him. “The influence he placed upon earth is still there. I’m not entirely sure what he did, only that he influenced it in certain ways. Given what you have done previously, I’m afraid you are going to have to return to the earth bond in order to understand it.”
“I don’t know that I can do so and return. I need to be… well, me. Tolan Ethar. Master of spirit. It’s long past time that I dedicate myself to it.’
“If not you, then I don’t know who. There is no one else who can, Tolan.”
He could already imagine what Ferrah might say. “How am I going to be safe?”
“You will have something you didn’t have before.”
“I almost lost someone through this, Master Minden.”
“We all must sacrifice,” she said softly.
Tolan studied her, wondering what she’d sacrificed, and what he would have to sacrifice before all of this was over. “What if I can’t?”
“Then we might fall.” She forced a smile. “I am hopeful we won’t, but it wouldn’t be the first time much has been lost. Mankind has gone through this cycle with the elements and the elementals before.”
Tolan sighed. He could feel Ferrah through the connection to spirit. How would she feel about this conversation? “I don’t know.”
“You must. It’s more than about you, Tolan.”
“Before, I didn’t know that I could be cut off from the elements quite like that. Before, I didn’t know that there were elementals I needed to be concerned about. Before, I didn’t know that—”
“What do you think the lizard represented?”
“I don’t know. It was a lizard in a painting.”
“You have some idea, though.”
“Spirit,” Tolan said.
“Is that what you think, or what you know?”
“I don’t know. I have a hard time believing that there’s a spirit elemental. In all the time I’ve studied them, and all the works we’ve researched, there’s been no sign of a spirit elemental.”
“Perhaps it was there and we didn’t know it,” she said.
“Because somebody shaped it so that we wouldn’t know?”
Master Minden nodded to the painting. “Perhaps it was only there when we were ready for it. You ask what you have this time that you didn’t before, and what I tell you is that you have a connection to spirit. Not only have you proven that you have a way of reaching toward the spirit bond that didn’t exist before, but I think by connecting to the power within this portrait, you tapped into something else—and possibly even freed it.”
Tolan stared at the painting and shook his head. “I thought these were just paintings.”
“Most of them are. Others…”
She shaped, and as she did, there was a power that flowed into one of the portraits. Tolan felt the energy coming back at him. It was the power of an elemental.
Master Minden withdrew that shaping, and the sense of the elemental retreated.
“Others are something more, Tolan. In the case of the portrait you worked with, I think you released a spirit elemental back into the world.”
“How? Why?”
“The how I think you know. The why is much more difficult to answer. I suspect the reason you were able to do so was because it was needed.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means we must be concerned. Very concerned.”
Master Minden turned her attention back to the portraits, staring at them.
Tolan had no idea what to say. “Ferrah will be disappointed,” he said softly.
“Then help her understand. Help her see what must happen. Help her see what would be lost if you did not do this.” She looked over to him, her milky eyes clearing a moment. “This is bigger than the Academy and Terndahl, Tolan.”
Bigger than them, which meant that it was bigger than him and whatever struggles he’d been having with Ferrah. He hoped she understood. “I will learn what I can from you.”
“I’m afraid you must. The last time this spirit elemental appeared was when the world was nearly destroyed. I shudder to think of why it has returned.”
Grab book 2 of The Elemental Warrior: A Fading Fire
The true spirit master remains at large. Tolan might be the only one able to stop him, but he must find the truth within himself first.
The element bonds, for so long the primary way to reach the power of the elements, have been tainted. The threat Tolan has long feared has revealed himself but escaped before his plan could be stopped. Now Tolan and his allies must travel beyond the waste to search for answers.
The journey again takes him away from his teaching responsibilities. Now that Tolan has gifted the knowledge of spirit to other spirit shapers, he's no longer certain he's the best spirit instructor, especially not when another exists who's so much more skilled with spirit than him. If he's not the spirit master for the Academy, then how can he best serve the Academy?
Another attack beyond the waste forces his hand. What he finds are more questions and a plot deadlier than anything he's ever faced before. Tolan struggles to stop Var, but how can he stop a master spirit shaper who knows everything he does?
Author’s Note
Dear Reader,
Thank you so much for reading The Shape of Fire. I hope you enjoyed it. If you would be so kind as to take a moment to leave a review on Amazon or elsewhere, I would be very grateful.
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All my best,
D.K. Holmberg
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Series by D.K. Holmberg
The Dragonwalkers Series
The Dragonwalker
The Dragon Misfits
Elemental Warrior Series:
Elemental Academy
Elemental Academy: Spirit Master
The Cloud Warrior Saga
The Endless War
The Dark Ability Series
The Shadow Accords
The Collector Chronicles
The Dark Ability
The Sighted Assassin
The Elder Stones Saga
The Lost Prophecy Series
The Teralin Sword
The Lost Prophecy
The Book of Maladies Series
The Book of Maladies
The Lost Garden Series
The Lost Garden
The Shape of Fire Page 29