The Fire Within (Elemental Academy Book 1), page 12
“No? I think there’s quite the story. You don’t have to tell me about it now, if you don’t want to, but I would like to hear it.” Tolan stepped back and Ferrah reached out, grabbing his arm to keep him from running. “Did you really see an elemental?”
He licked his lips. “I really saw an elemental.”
She smiled. “See? Even if you don’t think you belong, the fact you saw an elemental—something no others can claim—tells us that you do.”
He found himself smiling. “Please don’t tell anyone else.”
“Even Jonas?”
Jonas was a friend, but would he understand? Tolan didn’t know. Maybe if he had more time with him, he might be able to answer that with certainty, but for now it was simply easier to keep that part of him hidden.
“Even Jonas, for now.”
The disapproving look Ferrah gave him was almost enough to change his mind. He probably shouldn’t be keeping things from Jonas. He had already proven himself to be a friend—and had shown the potential to be a good one.
“I’ll tell him eventually.”
“You should. I know he would understand. And I know you’ll have an easier time if you open up with others about what you can and can’t do.”
Tolan reached into his pocket and ran his fingers along the furios Jory had lent him. When he pulled it out and flashed it for Ferrah for a moment, her eyes widened.
“You took that?”
He shook his head. “Jory let me borrow it.”
“He let you borrow a furios?”
“He knew I wasn’t able to—” He lowered his voice, chiding himself for almost making a mistake of speaking too loudly. ”He knew I wasn’t able to shape,” he said. “He wanted me to have an opportunity to stay and study. I’m to give it back when I reach fire.”
“See?”
“See what?”
“See that others are already proving they would help you. You don’t have to keep this to yourself.”
“Not everybody’s going to be as understanding as you.”
“If the masters are willing to work with you to ensure you learn what you need to remain at the Academy, then why should you care about someone like Draln?”
“Who said I was talking about Draln?”
She shot him a look. “Who else would you be talking about? He’s an idiot. You know that.”
“He might be, but he’s an idiot who can already shape three of the element bonds.”
She shrugged. “It’s not as exciting as you would think.”
He nodded to her and they started off down the hall. “What’s your story? You’re nearly as capable as Draln, but you don’t act as arrogant as him.”
“What’s there to act arrogant about?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Only the fact there’s no way you’re going to fail here.”
“You know how many people actually fail at the Academy?” Ferrah asked as they reached the end of the hall and started down the stairs.
“They made it seem like most people failed.” The warnings had been so dire that he feared there would be lots of failures.
“The masters at my school told me it’s pretty rare for students at the Academy to fail. There are exceptions to that, but then again, there are always exceptions. Didn’t you have master shapers at your school who trained at the Academy?”
Tolan thought about Master Daniels and Master Salman. Both had trained at the Academy. He had never talked to them about their experiences here, but mostly that was because he had never expected to have an opportunity to come and train here, himself.
“There were master shapers in my hometown,” he said.
“But you never spoke to them about the Academy.” Ferrah sighed and shook her head. “I should’ve figured that. Well, the master shapers where I was have told me it’s uncommon for students to fail. Even when they fail, every effort is made to ensure they have the ability to adequately shape one of the element bonds well enough to be of use to the Academy. Those who can’t are the ones forced to serve, but even they aren’t forced to serve in the way you probably fear.”
“They are made to be servants within the Academy?”
“Have you seen any servants?”
Tolan shrugged. He hadn’t, but there had to be some around here. The Academy wouldn’t take care of itself without having help, and the meals they’d had were prepared by someone. He didn’t think they were shaped into existence, but then again, it wasn’t that doing so wasn’t possible.
They reached the main level within the Academy. Voices drifted in from outside.
“Come on. Let’s go join Jonas outside and get ourselves some fresh air.”
Tolan followed Ferrah outside. His heart felt a little lighter than it had before, and he didn’t worry quite as much about her having discovered the secret of his shaping ability—or lack thereof.
They found Jonas with a large grouping of students in a courtyard just outside the Academy. He was sitting on a bench, watching while the students—most of them older, as Tolan hadn’t seen any of them in his classes—stood around in a circle, working at a shaping.
“There you two are,” Jonas said with a smile. He winked at Tolan. “I was beginning to think you might have gone back to the room…”
“Jonas, you’re disgusting,” Ferrah said.
“You know, I’ve heard that before.”
“I’m sure you have,” Ferrah said.
Tolan was watching the students working with their shaping. They had incredible control over it as they shaped, each person taking turns generating a massive burst, and as they went around the circle, not only could Tolan feel it, but he could practically see their shaping.
“What are they doing?” he asked.
“It’s called Imaginarium,” Jonas said.
“It has a name?” Tolan asked.
“Of course, it has a name. Look at what they’re doing.”
Tolan continued to watch but had no idea what it was the older students were doing. They were shaping, but for what purpose?
“I can’t tell what it is they’re doing.”
“Watch them a little bit,” Jonas said.
Tolan focused on a blonde-haired woman. Dressed in a forest green gown, the shaping that built from her was powerful. She used earth, and as he had some ability with earth sensing, he could feel the way the shaping built, coming from deep within her and rumbling out. As it did, a figure sprang out of the ground, taking the shape of a bundle of branches before moving a few steps forward and then disappearing altogether.
The others gathered around her clapped excitedly.
“That was an impressive one, Janey.”
Janey took a playful bow. “Good luck rivaling that one,” she said to the man standing next to her.
He had a shock of brown hair and deeply tanned features. Crystalline blue eyes shone, and a playful smile quirked his mouth. “Just because you have some ability with earth—”
“Some?” she asked, elbowing him in the side.
“Fine. More than some. But let’s see what you could do with this.” Wind swirled in a tight spiral and a fire shaping joined it, leaving the wind sparking. Much like the other shaping, this one seemed to take on a shape and form and spiraled out, as if trying to crawl away from the shaper. It lingered for a few moments in the air before fading into nothingness.
“I still don’t understand what it is they’re doing,” Tolan said.
“They’re trying to create elementals,” Ferrah said, disgust filling her voice. “Don’t they know better?”
“Know better? This is a game.”
“Some game,” she said.
“You don’t have to take it so seriously,” Jonas said.
Ferrah turned to him, anger flashing across her eyes. “I don’t? Don’t you see what it is they’re doing?”
“I see they are playing with shapings. It’s nothing more than that. There’s no harm in it.”
“Unless the elemental manages to escape,” she said.
Jonas laughed, and several of the older shapers glanced over. He only shrugged as if to apologize. “The elementals can’t escape, not from a shaping like that. These aren’t real elementals.”
“How do you know what’s real and what’s not?” Ferrah asked. She jabbed him in the chest and Jonas winced, jerking back and giving her a look that feigned hurt. “How do you know what they’re doing isn’t simply drawing on the elementals within the bond that are trying to escape?”
“It’s a game,” he said. He turned to Tolan. “Can you tell her this is nothing more than a game?”
“I’m not sure she’ll believe me. Besides, I’ve seen an elemental.”
He said it too loudly. As soon as he did, he realized his mistake.
The man who had mixed fire and wind spun and turned toward Tolan. “Wait. What was that?”
Jonas stood and pointed at Tolan. “My friend here has seen an elemental.”
The group of older students all shuffled toward him. There were six of them, and they all were at least a year or two older than Tolan, but age didn’t necessarily matter at the Academy. It wasn’t so much about a shaper’s age as about their potential.
“You saw an elemental?”
Tolan flushed and glanced at Ferrah, but he got no support from her.
“What was it like?” This came from one of the others near the back of the group.
“I…”
“He didn’t see an elemental.”
Tolan recognized that voice. He looked over to see Draln making his way out of the shadows. Three other first level students were with him, and they laughed.
“I’ve seen him in our classes. He can barely shape. He needs to use the bondars for everything.”
“Just because he’s not the same shaper as you, doesn’t mean he didn’t see an elemental,” Jonas said.
“Which elemental did you see?” Draln asked.
The older students looked at him. Janey watched him, almost as if he was a puzzle she wanted to try to solve, and the older man standing next to her still had the playful smile on his face.
Tolan shifted where he stood, wishing he hadn’t been so stupid. This was not the attention he wanted. “It was a fire elemental.”
“There are dozens of fire elementals,” the man said. “Which one was it?”
“I don’t know.”
“We’ve only been here for a week,” Ferrah said.
“He didn’t necessarily have to know, but the master shapers responsible for replacing the elemental back in the bond should have known. If he really was there, he would have heard from them what kind of elemental it was.”
“The master shapers didn’t know.”
The students all chuckled. Tolan flushed.
“See? He hasn’t seen an elemental. What kind of master shapers would they be if they don’t even recognize an elemental?”
He clenched his jaw, biting back what he wanted to say. Anything he might say now would only end up with getting him drawn deeper into Draln’s antagonistic prodding, and Tolan didn’t want to do that, but, did it really matter if he revealed what happened?
“The master shaper was sent back to Amitan for a refresher,” Tolan said.
There was a collective gasp.
“What’s a refresher?” Jonas whispered.
Tolan glanced over. “The way I understand it is he didn’t recognize the elemental and he upset Irina, so she sent him back to Amitan to work on a refresher. I don’t really know what exactly it is.”
“Irina?” The older student asked, stepping toward Tolan. “As in, the Grand Master Irina Folarre?”
Tolan nodded.
The man whistled.
“What is it, Teddy?” Janey asked.
“The Grand Master is rarely seen outside of Amitan. If she was there, then whatever happened was… terrible.”
“It was a rogue elemental,” Tolan said.
Teddy grinned at him. “It would have to be some sort of serious rogue elemental for her to get involved rather than the Trackers. Usually they go after the rogue elementals. And you were there?”
Tolan nodded.
Teddy whistled again. “If you were there, I’d love to see what you can do.”
“You’d love to see what I could do with what?”
He motioned to the other students. “With this! Imaginarium. It should be easy for you. Most of us have to create what we think an elemental would look like, but since you’ve seen one…”
Ferrah grabbed Tolan’s arm. “Don’t do it. It’s dangerous.”
Jonas grabbed his other arm and pulled on him. “The only thing that would be dangerous is if he wouldn’t do it. There’s no harm in imagining the elementals. It’s almost like you think he has the ability to tear an elemental from the bond.”
She shot him a look. “Haven’t you wondered how the elementals escape from the bond? How do you know it’s not just like that?”
“Just like what?” Jonas asked.
“Just like this game. How do you know pulling an elemental from the bond isn’t basically the same thing?”
Jonas shook his head. “Really. We’ve been here a week and you think Tolan can tear an elemental from the bond.” He turned to Tolan and leaned forward. “You need to do this. If you want to keep Draln from harassing you, you have to be a part of this. Besides, it’s not often that the older students invite first-year students—and only a week in at that—to play,” he said in a soft whisper.
Tolan looked over at Draln. He didn’t want to be a part of it and considering he had practically no ability to shape, any attempt to be a part of the game would lead to him embarrassing himself. If he did, he would reveal his inability to shape to more than just Ferrah.
Draln seemed to latch onto the fact that Tolan wanted nothing to do with the Imaginarium game and started laughing. “He’s scared.”
Teddy and Janey and the others all watched Tolan.
What could he do? If he got there and wasn’t able to show any ability to create an elemental—or shape at all for that matter—what would they say?
Maybe he could chalk it up to his nerves.
And he didn’t have to reveal he couldn’t shape. He could tell them he was shaping but he wasn’t able to draw an elemental out.
He started to stand and Ferrah continued to hang on his arm.
“Tolan—”
He leaned toward her ear. “I’m just going to pretend. Nothing more.”
“You don’t have to. It’s okay for you to say no. Sometimes, courage is walking away.”
Tolan smiled. “You sound like my father.”
“I don’t know how to take that.”
He shook his head. “I don’t mean anything bad by it. I’m just saying it’s the sort of thing he would have told me.” He patted her hand. “It’s fine. Really.” She let him go and he joined the group of older students with Teddy on one side of him and Jonas on the other. Tolan glanced over at Jonas and he shrugged, smiling.
Draln stood outside the circle, watching.
“Well?” Teddy asked, nodding to Draln.
A satisfied smirk crossed Draln’s face and he stepped forward, joining the group of others.
“Have any of you ever participated in Imaginarium?” Teddy asked.
“I have,” Draln said.
“He only thinks he has,” Jonas muttered.
“You two?” Teddy asked, looking over at Tolan and then Jonas.
Tolan shook his head. “I’ve never heard of it before just a little bit ago.”
“Well, the rules are pretty straightforward. Your job is to create a shaping that draws upon at least one element bond and solidify it so we can see your shaping. You saw what Janey did with hers?”
Tolan nodded and Janey gave a satisfied smile.
“That was a talented piece of earth shaping,” Teddy said. “It takes quite a bit of power to make something visible like that. I followed with fire and wind, but mine didn’t last long enough. The key is how long your shaping can last and how real it looks to us. Everyone sort of votes.”
“Votes?” Tolan asked.
Teddy shrugged again. “It’s a consensus more than anything else. We each make our best shaping, and the person whose shaping is deemed the best wins. Now, if you can get someone else to feel your shaping…” He smiled broadly. “That’s considered a win. We haven’t had anyone quite like that.”
“And by feel the shaping, you mean—”
“I mean the elemental you’ve created actually touches someone else.”
Tolan could feel Ferrah’s eyes on his back, and the disapproving way she would be looking at him. How could she not? She didn’t want him to be involved in this in the first place, especially not now she knew about his lack of shaping ability, but even more than that, she didn’t want him drawing an elemental out, however imagined it might be.
“Janey will start.”
She nodded. Once again, Tolan could feel the way her earth-shaping built. It started from within her and spread down to the ground. This time, rather than a bundle of sticks, the stone of the ground coalesced into something physical, enough that Tolan could only stare at it. It reminded him of the stone elemental from his vision during the Selection.
It took a single step before collapsing and fading back into nothingness.
“That was good,” one of the others on the other side of the circle said. She was a dark-skinned woman with shoulder-length hair. Her deep brown eyes watched Janey but didn’t carry the warmth of her comment. Was there bad blood between them?
Janey only nodded. “You’ll get your chance soon, Reina.”
Teddy was next. The last time he had attempted his creation, he had used a combination of fire and wind, and Tolan thought he might do the second, but water pulled from the air, thickening. Though he couldn’t see it, Tolan could feel him add a touch of earth.
A sudden question struck him. Why should he be aware of the shaping like this? He was not strong enough normally to detect shapings, but for some reason, he was able to detect the earth shaping.
Maybe it was that they were at the Academy. Maybe it was nothing more than that.
The elemental looked like little more than a translucent person hovering in the air. It moved just a little, but not far, and not as far as his last shaping had, and then it faded, disappearing into nothingness.
