Fabiola shook her head. "Trust me. You do not want to go there."
Astrid poked at her friend. "She's just embarrassed about her family, is all."
Zack waved to everyone, and Renton signaled the crew of the ship to send them off. When their ship was far from the shore to the point their could barely make out the Astoria snowy mountains in the distance, Zack let out a breath he didn't realize had had been holding.
Yemiri, Astrid, and Fabiola had gone down in the cabins to get to know each other. Zack was standing on the main deck alone, save for the crew members. He reached into his belt pockets and pulled out two box-shaped lights, the leftover Tesseracts of Adjutant Nicolas Lagrand.
It would be almost a year since he gained his first Tesseract, and the old one had told him to be careful about absorbing them too close together. His instinct told him that it wasn't a big problem. He had gained considerable stability with the three animals inside him.
The other Tesseraact would be given to Yemiri. He had promised to never leave her side, but he didn't know if circumstances would force his hand.
Zack wanted to make sure she had a way of protecting herself. Though, Astrid and Fabiola had kept insisting that it would be their duty to protect the 'first wife' and that they would have to educate Zack on proper marriage customs.
It was all a little over Zack's head. With Yemiri around, she could simplify the matters so he could understand. But what he didn't need was for her to read to him anymore, at least not with simple words.
Zack put the Tesseracts away and took out the letter.He opened the letter found at the bottom of the statue of Morgoth, and read it out loud.
"Dear Zack, I'm proud of you for earning your freedom. There is nothing more important than freedom. I abhor any form of slavery, the greatest of which is the self-imposed slavery of the mind. As a reward for not just defeating an Elementalist much more powerful than you, but also for breaking the chains of your anger, I offer you three things: a lesson, a promise, and a warning. The lesson is to constantly question the nature of your powers. You are unique in your element. The second state should provide some entertainment for all of us. The promise is that the Farland is real, but not in the way you imagine it. And finally, the warning is to be careful of the Barrow King. His army is great and vast, but not nearly as dangerous as his mind. You have hard choices ahead of you, but it is important to always choose. Finally, it was very clever of you to offset your insanity with your body instead of your mind. -M."
Zack read the letter over and over again, memorizing it before casting it to the sea. He realized the boat was no longer breaking ice, and that the moving thing rippling against the boat was water. The beauty of it took his breath away.
He pulled out a Tesseract and stared at the brilliant light. Zack gripped the box and absorbed it. Instantly, he was flooded with a few random images that didn't make sense. A woman with a crown of crystals. Was that kemiite? A man shrouded in bones and darkness. A beautiful women caught in bed with a slave. Was this Lagrand's wife?
The images disappeared as quickly as they came. A blue, translucent screen appeared before him. Zack could finally read what they were.
Element: Flesh
State: Second
Sanity: 2 (3 due to Self-Stabilization Mutation)
Abilities: Alacrity (Snow Leopard/Snow Owl), Sharp Sight (Snow Owl), Night Sight (Snow Leopard), Strength (Trollbear), Strength (Snow Leopard), Claws (Snow Leopard), Focus (Snow Owl), Self Healing (Element), Absorption (Element)
Note: New abilities are afforded to Elementalists in their second state. User may now affect their element externally. Creation of new abilities will be cataloged in screens.
Zack was lost in thought as he read and reread the words, trying to make sense of them. Did Fabiola and Astrid have these visuals too? Probably. Once he gave a Tesseract to Yemiri, they'd figure it all out together.
A sailor teetered by Zack with a pained expression. He was holding one hand that had a large cut on it. Zack asked, "You alright there?"
The sailor nodded but grimaced. "Dropped a knife and caught it wrong. Captain said I should have been wearing gloves when cutting rope."
He was still bleeding. Zack had an idea. He walked over to the man and said, "Here, let me."
Confused and wary, the man still gave his hand to him. Zack held the man's rough hands. He reached inside for his own element and found the pool of power was vastly larger than it had ever been, more than three times the size as before. He hadn't felt physically stronger, but Zack felt like he had more control of his body, more command.
With a push of his power, he sent his element held inside him through his own body and into the man's. The sailor jumped back as he watched his hand rapidly knit together its own flesh. In less than two breaths, the wound was completely closed.
The sailor looked at Zack in awe. "What are you?"
Zack smiled. "I am the Flesh Elementalist."
End of The Flesh Elementalist, Book One
Feel free to read on for a note by the author, including different ways you can connect on social media.
...And don't forget to review this novel! Every positive review helps small indie authors make a living! Thank you in advance!
About the Author:
Outspan Foster is a writer, animator, and artist.
Born in the Philippines, he was adopted and grew up in the Buffalo, New York area.
His hobbies include latin dancing, vagabonding, skiing, snowboarding, playing guitar, painting, weight lifting, and boxing. Most of his writing career has been built off of prompts given to him by his readers and other writers, challenging him to transform the premise (however ridiculous) into a cohesive and engaging story.
Outspan is currently writing in the GameLit and Young Adult genres. His series and collaborations include: The Slime Series, The Flesh Elementalist, The Advocate Saga, and Anthem of Infinity.
To Readers,
PLEASE PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!
You are amazing and your positive reviews help out all authors, but especially small indie authors like me. Your reviews help me pay the bills. That's not a joke.
If all you can think of to say is, "This book was cool and you should give it a shot," that would be awesome!
Writing this book in a week was a little insane. For those of you who have been following me since the beginning, you'll know that my goal last year was to write as many finished works as possible. I had to put that goal off for other priorities, but it is now my priority once more. All the way to the finish!
So, look forward to Book Two of The Flesh Elementalist before end of January 2019!
Ways to connect with me:
1. Patreon:
If you're love my work and want to support me further, Patreon is a great way to do that. I get great support from readers and THRIVE off of reader interaction. In my Patreon, you can even throw me random writing challenges that might actually span into a whole book series. Nearly all of my books so far have been weird writing prompts. Hahahaha.
2. Website:
The links for my books can be found here and you can sign up for my mailing list. I don't do weekly or monthly mailers and rarely ever send anything. If I do, it's to let you know I'm dropping a new book!
3. GameLit Society Facebook Group:
I am here a lot. Like, a lot a lot. If you want to read a ton of really good gamelit books and ask for a specific type of gamelit subgenre, this is the place to talk with your fellow readers. Everyone here is cool. Except you Carl. jkjk
4. Email:
If you want to ask me a more personal question like if you want to be a beta reader, shoot me an email at [email protected]
Until Next Time (PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!!!)
Thank you so much for reading along with my story. I love interacting with all of you and receiving all of your feedback. I'll catch you around in Book 2 or in my Patreon!
-Outspan
Special Thanks To:
Bonnie Price
Squanto
The Flesh Elementalist Page 15