The Fire Within (Elemental Academy Book 1), page 23
He looked over.
“What are you doing?” Jonas whispered.
“What?”
“What are you writing?”
Tolan realized almost too late that he had been creating something with symbols reminiscent of those on the tower. He had seen other symbols similar, and it took him a moment to realize he was using the symbols found on the bondar.
He released that connection, but not before realizing the power that had been building seemed intensified by adding those symbols.
Tolan sat back and lifted the bondar, looking around the classroom while everyone else shaped. He rolled the bondar in his hands, running his fingers along the slick surface. He didn’t attempt another shaping during the class, not wanting to make another mistake.
When class was done, everyone filed out. Ferrah grabbed his arm and pulled him off to the side. Her eyes danced excitedly. “I saw what you did. You were shaping without the furios!”
“I was.”
“Why don’t you seem happy about it?”
“I don’t think I’m shaping the same way as you,” he said carefully.
“What do you mean? I saw what you did. It was a shaping.”
“Maybe. But it still depends upon me using the image of elementals.” Tolan glanced over his shoulder at the now empty classroom. Master Sartan stood at the front of the class, rearranging the furios and placing them back into the cabinet. A part of Tolan wanted to go to him to see what he could find out about his strange connection to the elementals but doing so raised the risk of learning that what he was doing was not quite right. Now he had a taste of success, he didn’t want to be told he wasn’t doing it the right way.
“Tolan?”
He waved her away.
After eating and a good night’s rest, they found themselves in their earth-shaping class. Master Shorav had said very little about the attack in the weeks since it had occurred, but that wasn’t unique. None of the instructors had spoken much about it.
Today was different.
Desks had been pushed out of the way, creating an open space in the classroom. Master Shorav motioned for everybody to take a position around the circle, having them standing so they could look at the rest of their classmates.
“Today, we will begin our work discussing elementals.”
There came a soft murmuring around the room. Some were excited, while others sounded more nervous. Everyone took a seat. Tolan sat between Jonas and Ferrah, and while he was interested, he was also nervous about what they might be asked to do. He didn’t necessarily want to experience the elementals.
“I have decided I’ve been protecting you far more than I should have,” Master Shorav said. “It does you no good to be protected from what you must learn to face.”
A shaping built, and in the middle of the circle of students, jinnar erupted from the ground.
People gasped and crawled back out of place. Several of the students attempted to throw a fire shaping. Tolan sat transfixed.
It wasn’t real. He could see that as well as feel it. There was nothing to the shaping that gave off the same sense of the elemental as what he had experienced in the courtyard.
“It’s only a shaping,” Master Shorav said.
The grouping of students gradually settled back down, and they took their places back around the circle. The image of the earth elemental remained, not moving at all.
“This is the rogue elemental that attacked. One of the things you will be asked to do when you leave the Academy is to offer protection to the rest of Terndahl. Shapers like yourself will be the defense between rogue elementals and others who have no ability to shape. The Council will demand that service from you. That is the price of your attendance here.”
The earth elemental flickered and faded as the shaping failed. When it was gone, Master Shorav looked around at the students.
“Do any of you know what type of elemental that was?”
“It was an earth elemental,” someone said.
Master Shorav shot a look of annoyance at them. “Very good, Shaper Lonea. I was hoping we might be able to be a little more specific than that.”
Silence fell around the room. Tolan debated. Did he answer? If he did, he risked people thinking he somehow had something to do with the elemental escape, but that was easy enough to explain. He had been spending a considerable amount of time in the library, enough that he should be able to convince people he had nothing to do with the attack.
“No one? I would have thought your previous schools of shaping would have provided you with some level of instruction on elementals. This is most disappointing.”
“The elemental is called jinnar,” Tolan said.
Master Shorav looked in his direction, and he nodded slowly. “Very good, Shaper Ethar. Yes. This is called jinnar. A highly destructive elemental of earth. It’s one that prefers rock in mountainous regions, and is limited in its ability to travel, but when it does appear, it is incredibly dangerous.”
Tolan thought about what he’d read about the elemental in the book, and it didn’t completely match up. And then there was what he had seen in his vision during the Selection. While he didn’t know how much of that was real, the elemental had moved quite rapidly. Maybe none of that had been real and had been implanted by Irina, but if it was real, it meant the earth elemental certainly moved fast. He remembered the chase through the forest and how he had headed toward the waste, trying to escape.
“How did it attack?” Thames asked.
Master Shorav tsked. “The elemental should not have been able to attack within the Academy. The shapings placed on the stone foundation should have prevented it, which makes us believe this was an incredibly powerful rogue elemental. The damage it was able to do was mitigated by the fact there were enough master shapers nearby to stop it, but one can only imagine what might’ve happened if that were not the case.”
Tolan didn’t doubt the strength of the earth elemental, but there was something about what Master Shorav had said that didn’t sit quite right with him. If the earth elemental had been that powerful, how was it that it had been stopped so easily? Maybe it was nothing more than the fact they were within the walls of the Academy and the fortifications placed there by master shapers over the years had suppressed it, but what if there was something else to it?
“Could it have been released here?” Tolan asked.
“Who would release a rogue elemental within the Academy?” Master Shorav asked.
Tolan could think of someone who might. He knew little about the Draasin Lord, but he thought the Draasin Lord would want to overpower the Academy; the shapers within it were a threat.
Then again, if that had happened, it meant the Draasin Lord had sympathizers here.
“We have had rogue elementals within the Academy before. Unfortunately, they grow increasingly common.”
“Why do you think that is?” Ferrah asked.
“We believe it stems from the fact we have not focused on the bonds the same way we once did. Shapers who preceded us were much more tightly wound to the element bonds, and using those bonds, were able to perform shapings we would struggle with.”
“Shapers have neglected the bonds?” someone in the class asked.
“The Academy has not neglected the bonds, and that’s all you need to worry yourself with. You are in a safe place to learn.”
It wasn’t entirely safe. Tolan had seen that firsthand. How many others would know about what had happened to the older students? Master Wassa seemed intent on keeping it quiet, which left Tolan thinking the other master shapers felt the same way. If that were the case, then they wanted no one else to know what had happened to Teddy and Janey. More and more, he felt convinced they had been injured by something more than a training accident.
“Now. If that is enough?” Master Shorav looked around the classroom before focusing on the center of the students. He created another shaping, this one smaller. The shaping took on the form of a pile of rocks, and Tolan again recognized the elemental.
Master Shorav asked for volunteers to reveal what they knew of this elemental, and no one offered it. Tolan glanced at Ferrah, who shook her head. She knew what he’d been doing and warned him off answering. Perhaps that was for the best. If he did continue to answer, he would have to answer questions about how he had learned as much as he had about the elementals—and why. It was easy enough to explain the last one, especially as jinnar had attacked the Academy, but anything else would be trickier.
“This elemental was once referred to as oshal. It looks harmless, but this elemental can do great damage, especially if you are unprepared.”
The shaping evolved and began to tremble. The ground beneath the shaping seemed to tremble with it, and though Tolan knew it was nothing more than the shaping that Master Shorav did, he couldn’t help but feel unsettled.
Master Shorav leapt to his feet. He looked around at the students. “Back up! All of you. Get back!”
Ferrah grabbed Tolan’s arm and they stepped back.
Something changed and the ground continued to rumble.
“This isn’t his shaping,” Tolan said.
“What else would it be?” Jonas asked.
He couldn’t take his eyes off the shape of the oshal. It hadn’t felt any different than when he had shaped jinnar, not at first, but now, the longer it cowered in front of them, the more Tolan felt as if it was solidifying and becoming more real.
That shouldn’t happen.
“He needs to release his shaping,” he said to Ferrah.
“Why wouldn’t he?”
“Maybe he forgot about it,” Jonas said. When Tolan looked over at him, Jonas only shrugged. “Master shapers don’t detect the use of power the same way you and I do. He might’ve forgotten he was shaping when this started.”
The ground continued to rumble and Tolan staggered forward. Everyone else was moving away, but he couldn’t. The moment they backed away from whatever was taking place here was the moment the elemental became destructive.
So far, the elemental had done nothing. He didn’t know whether that would change or not, but there had been no evidence of any destruction coming from it.
“Master Shorav?” Tolan asked cautiously.
“You need to get back,” Master Shorav said.
“Let go of your shaping,” Tolan said.
Master Shorav frowned at him.
“Your shaping of oshal. Let go of it before the elemental escapes.”
“The elemental can’t escape,” Master Shorav said. “Separating elemental from the bond—”
“I know. It takes strength and intent and a connection to the elemental along with the element. I am assuming you did none of those things, but that doesn’t change the fact that somehow, this elemental is starting to pull free from the bond.”
The longer they were here, the more certain of that he was. He could feel the pull. It was a different sensation than he detected from shaping, and reminded him of when he attempted to reach through the bondar while shaping.
Tolan approached Master Shorav. He ignored the chaos around him. Everyone else in the room had scrambled, trying to get away, but Tolan couldn’t. If he did, they would miss out on the opportunity to suppress this elemental. With no other master shapers here, he worried how deadly an attack would be. The attack in the courtyard had almost been too much and had almost taken out several of the students. What would happen if this elemental managed to get free?
Tolan reached Master Shorav. “Release the shaping,” he urged. He kept his voice low, and despite that, he still felt as if there were eyes on him, but that couldn’t be helped, not anymore.
“It shouldn’t be able to escape,” Master Shorav said.
“Maybe it’s nothing more than our imagination.” Tolan didn’t think so, but for now, he needed to convince Master Shorav to stop shaping the elemental. He didn’t know whether that would even make a difference, but it had to, didn’t it?
Master Shorav nodded, and the shaping dropped.
The rumbling persisted.
It had worked. Whatever they had tried had failed.
“Clear the students out of here,” Master Shorav said, motioning to the door.
Everybody took off in a run. Many were screaming. Tolan waited, not willing to leave.
“All students need to depart,” Master Shorav said.
“You can’t do this by yourself,” he said.
Master Shorav shot him a harsh look. “I am a master shaper. I am perfectly capable of replacing a rogue elemental into the bond, if that is indeed what we’re dealing with. Now go!”
This was not anything Tolan could argue with. When he turned, Ferrah and Jonas waited for him. They headed out of the classroom and stood just outside the doorway.
“We should keep going,” Jonas said.
“We need to know he’s okay,” Tolan said.
“You heard him. He’s a master shaper.”
“That doesn’t mean he can’t make a mistake,” Tolan said.
“I think Jonas is right. If this is a rogue elemental—”
“What if it’s not a rogue anything?” Tolan asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, what if this elemental was pushed out?”
“You were there. You saw what Master Shorav was doing.”
“I saw what Master Shorav was doing, but I also know he’s right. Everything I’ve been able to learn about the elementals tells me they wouldn’t be able to simply break free from the bond like this. Something happened.”
The rumbling intensified. Tolan started toward the door again but Ferrah grabbed his arm and pulled him away.
“Ferrah—”
She shook her head. “There’s nothing you could do.”
“I can shape fire,” Tolan said.
“And so could he.”
As they left the room, other master shapers appeared. Jory came first, racing from the upper sections of the tower. Master Sartan raced up the stairs with Grand Master Normandale, heading toward the classroom. Grand Master Normandale paused long enough to glance over at Tolan before hurrying into the classroom and disappearing from view. Another pair of shapers appeared as well, though Tolan didn’t know either of them.
When they made their way back to the dorm, it was a commotion of activity. Everyone there was talking about the attack. Tolan wanted nothing to do with that conversation and made his way back to their room, throwing himself on the bed. He lay back, staring up at the ceiling. He felt helpless, and though he knew he shouldn’t, he had wanted to do something—anything—to participate.
“There was nothing you could do,” Ferrah said softly.
“You don’t know that.”
“When you’re better trained, I’m sure they will include you, but until then…”
Until then, he wasn’t of much use. As much as he wanted to be helpful, and as much as he wanted to be a part of helping to suppress the elementals—especially as he had been reading about them and thought he understood just how dangerous they were—he wasn’t .
He got to his feet. “Where are you going?” she asked.
He glanced over. “There’s something I want to find out.”
Tolan headed toward the library. Before he even got there, he could feel the entire building had a restless sort of energy within it. Everyone had a certain chaos to them, excitement about the attack, and everyone was chattering about what had taken place. Word of a rogue elemental attack spread quickly.
Tolan didn’t stop until he reached the library. He glanced up at the desk at the front, looking to see who might be there. Thankfully, Master Minden was there, as was Master Jensen.
Tolan hurried up to the desk.
“How can we help you, Shaper Ethar?” Master Jensen asked.
“How many rogue elementals get freed within the Academy?”
Master Jensen frowned and scratched his chin. “There should be no rogue elementals within the Academy.”
“Why is that?”
“The Academy is designed to prevent the influence of a rogue elemental. The shapers of old have placed protections around the entirety of the Academy to ensure elementals don’t attack easily. And there are other sorts of protections designed to ensure the element bond is secure, especially here.”
“Why especially here?” Master Jensen fell silent. “Why especially here?” Tolan asked again.
Master Jensen glanced over at Master Minden, and she nodded before he answered. “The Academy is a special place. It’s what makes the Academy so useful to train you shapers. There are places where you are closer to the element bonds, and each of the towers is situated in such a way that it can draw even more directly from the specific element bonds. Tapping into that strength ensures shapers such as yourself have a pure connection.”
The place of power Ferrah talked about was real. Had they shared that with her? “Wouldn’t the proximity to the element bonds also allow the elementals an easier way out?”
“Not without some intention,” Master Minden said.
“What are you saying?”
“What I am saying, Shaper Ethar, is that within the Academy, there are no rogue elementals.”
15
Tolan continued his studies of the elementals, looking into anything he could find over the next week. The librarians continued to work with him, primarily Master Minden, who provided him with any book he might want on the elementals. Tolan studied them with a fervent curiosity, wanting to know everything he could.
“You need to get out of the library,” Jonas said.
Tolan looked up from his stack of books. The familiar stone-bound volume rested open in front of him, but so too did the books on the fire elementals, and water and wind. “There’s something going on.”
“Probably,” Jonas said. “But it’s not your—or my—responsibility to figure out what it is.”
He knew it wasn’t but seeing as how the master shapers weren’t willing to share with anyone what had happened, Tolan was determined to look into it himself.
“I only thought—”
Jonas laughed, his laughter too loud for the library and earning him a harsh silencing look from Master Stole sitting on the desk at the end of the room. Jonas lowered his voice and leaned forward. “I know what you thought. You can’t help yourself.”
