The Fire Within (Elemental Academy Book 1), page 6
“Be careful. I know he’s already developing some affinity for wind, but when a young boy begins to discover shaping, strange things can happen.”
“You don’t have to worry about that with me.”
His father clasped his shoulders. “Don’t think you’re anything less than you are because you can’t shape. There have been a great many good and powerful men who weren’t able to shape, and that never made them anything less than what they were.”
His father’s advice was as good now as it was then. Tears started to well in his eyes and Tolan turned away. “I’ll be careful,” he said. “I love you.”
His father had already turned away and had started working on another stone carving. Tolan watched it for a moment, noticing he was using the shaping on the stone, and somehow there seemed to be a reverberation within the stone, but he pulled his attention away.
He paused in the kitchen long enough to see his mother and pull her into another hug before tearing himself away. He didn’t trust himself to speak, and his mother was distracted with her baking. Maybe she wouldn’t have said anything anyway. All of this was part of his vision.
It was no longer memory. Tolan had done none of this when he had come here before. This was in his mind. He reached the front door to their home, and he paused to look back at it one last time, letting his gaze sweep around the inside. Everything here was the way it had been. Comfortable. After his parents disappeared, he had been taken in by Master Daniels, allowed to apprentice and stay in the shop, but it had never been home, not the way this had been.
Tolan took a deep breath and stepped through the door.
There was a flash of light followed by incredible darkness.
When it cleared, he was standing once more in the room at the school. The three shapers stood on the raised platform, watching the others. Tolan looked along the line, suspecting everyone else had already escaped from the shaping, and was surprised to see only two others were looking around like himself. One of them was Velthan, and he glanced down the row of shapers and saw Tolan, his gaze narrowing into a glare.
Tolan turned away. As he did, he met Irina’s gaze. She looked at him with an expression similar to the one Velthan gave him, a hard stare accompanied by the strange itching along his skin. Was she shaping him again?
There was supposed to be some way to protect himself against the spirit shaping, but without a connection to the element bonds, he wasn’t sure he could protect his mind. Irina could do whatever she wanted to him, shaping him and drawing out the memory he’d had.
Tolan wanted to protect that memory. It was his and not meant for her. He wanted to keep those images of his parents, the memory of what he’d experienced, to himself.
Stay out of my mind.
If she was shaping him, she gave no sign she knew what he said. It made him feel better, though, and the itching seemed to ease.
Slowly, others awakened. Tanner came around, and he glanced over. “You made it?”
“It wasn’t a shaping test,” Tolan said.
“It was a shaped test.”
“I’m not sure that makes a difference. What did you see?”
“The day I first discovered I was a wind shaper,” Tanner said, smiling.
Tolan remembered that day. When Tanner had discovered he was a wind shaper, he had nearly torn the door off the school. The instructors were prepared for such possibilities and had both fortified the door to prevent it from being ripped free, but they also were ready for any of the students to develop a shaping potential. Tanner had been surrounded by instructors, and everyone had congratulated him.
“What did you see?”
“My parents.”
Tanner frowned, glancing over at him. “Your parents?”
“It seems like they wanted us to experience something that made us happy. It’s been years since I saw my parents. Seeing them again made me happy.”
Tanner started to say something but Irina shaped herself back down to the ground on a gust of wind and came to stand in front of the row of shapers and Tolan.
“Those of you who have passed will move on to the next step in the Selection. You have done well. Only a small percentage of those with the ability to shape will ever pass the first test.” She looked at each of the remaining shapers in line, and Tolan realized the others were missing. Where had they gone? Her gaze lingered on Tolan the longest before moving on to Tanner. “The next test will be more difficult. It is a test of potential. Each of you will be assigned a task, and you will need to complete it, and if you do not, you will not move on.”
Tolan wasn’t entirely sure what he expected, but he certainly didn’t think she would move along the line, tapping each person on the chest with her long finger. As she went, each person gasped again, and when she reached him, her gaze lingered on him until her finger slammed into his chest.
There came a flash of light and he found himself gasping.
When his eyes opened, he was in a forest.
Not just any forest, but the forest outside Ephra. It was as it had been before the elemental had destroyed a massive stretch of it. The air was silent, with no sound of birds singing or insects chirping. There was nothing. It was almost as if there was a heaviness to the air. A weight.
This was shaped. All of it.
Was this a memory, or was she creating a vision much like she had the last time?
He was to be given a task, but what task would there be?
Power bloomed around him. He felt it tingling on his skin. It was similar to what he’d experienced with the rogue elemental, but this had a different texture to it. Was it a shaping? He wasn’t always attuned to shaping, but maybe in the vision it would be clearer than it normally was.
Tolan stepped forward. The forest blurred past, trees streaking past him. As he did, he knew this was nothing more than a vision, even though he had known it before. When he stopped, he looked around the clearing he found himself in. The light had faded and it seemed as if the moon shone down from above, starlight twinkling in the sky. A soft breeze flowed through the trees, pulling at the leaves high overhead, creating a rustling that disturbed the silence around.
Why was he here?
The sense of tingling along his skin intensified.
This time, he was more certain it was not a shaping. It was an elemental.
Was his assignment to find the elemental? The Academy certainly wanted their shapers to know how to contain them and to force them back into the bond, so perhaps part of the testing involved knowing how to find an elemental, but what could he do if he came across it? He had no shaping ability.
The pressure on his skin increased, building with accelerating power. Whatever elemental was here was growing stronger. Power exploded.
The ground rumbled beneath him.
An earth elemental.
Tolan could only stare. In the middle of the clearing, the ground began to separate and a creature of stone erupted, coming to fill the clearing. The power he had been feeling increased, and it radiated from the elemental.
The elemental turned toward him. It looked vaguely humanoid, with arms and legs of thick stone and a long face. Somehow, Tolan was aware the elemental recognized him.
A scream sounded from within the forest.
He frowned. He recognized that scream. Tanner. He was sure of it.
The elemental blocked his way. Somehow, he would have to get past the elemental in order to get to Tanner.
He didn’t think he could go through the elemental and had no way to push the elemental back into the bond, and—knowing this was nothing more than a vision, so he had no need to do so—he decided the alternative was to run around it.
Would he be able to do so?
When he had stepped forward before, the trees of the forest of blurred past him. Maybe the same thing would happen this time.
Tolan took a step.
Everything streaked past him. Colors blurred, but it was mostly browns and blacks of the forest. When he stopped, the forest had changed and the trees were more widely spaced than they had been before. Tolan looked around, searching for Tanner. He was certain he’d heard him, but where was he?
There was nothing.
The forest around him remained silent, the same sort of silence as when he’d first come to the forest.
Maybe the scream had only been his imagination, but he didn’t think so.
Rumbling came from beneath him, building through the earth, the rumbling that seemed like thunder or an avalanche. He felt it through his bones, and the shaking jolted him. If he stayed here, the earth elemental would catch him.
Where was Tanner?
He took another step, and again there came the sense of blurring, everything moving past him faster and faster until it stopped.
He was still in the forest, but now the trees were not nearly as tall as they had been before. Beyond the edge of the forest, he could see an empty field stretching far into the distance. The ground was brown and barren. Bleak.
The waste.
Now he knew this was nothing more than his vision. He’d never ventured through the forest, and certainly not far enough to visit the waste. None in Ephra ever traveled that far. Most knew better, knowing it was dangerous to venture too close to where people feared the Draasin Lord called his home.
The rumbling continued to build behind him, pursuing him.
If he took another step, he would head out onto the waste, and even in the vision, Tolan didn’t want to risk that. There had been the threat of danger in the last vision, and had he not been careful, Irina claimed he could be trapped. Maybe the same sort of danger was possible here.
Unless all of this was part of the test? Were they trying to see if he was drawn to the wastelands? What would they do if they knew he had ventured this far through the forest? Would they believe he sympathized with the Draasin Lord, the same way people feared that his parents sympathized with him?
He had the sense that he didn’t want Irina to believe he was a sympathizer. With her spirit shaping, it wasn’t too hard to imagine that she would be aware of what he’d experienced, and if she was aware of that, would she use it against him?
Tolan turned. It meant heading back into the heart of the forest and risking himself against the earth elemental, but at the same time, it meant going back for Tanner. Wasn’t that the reason he had headed this way?
There came another scream.
It was different than before, and there was something in it that reminded him of his mother.
He’d never heard his mother scream, so he didn’t know whether it was her or whether Irina was somehow shaping him to make him fear that it was. It was possible either answer was true.
Another scream came, the same as before, though this time, he knew it wasn’t his mother. The scream came from out in the waste.
Tolan had every intention of going deeper into the forest and seeing what he could find of Tanner, but on hearing that scream, one that seemed to draw him out into the dangerous wastelands, he felt compelled to go after it.
And maybe that was part of this test. He had to make a choice.
Would he go after his friend—a wind shaper of some skill—or would he go after this other person?
It was possible the other scream was part of the test, a way of determining whether he would go after the Draasin Lord, although it was just as likely someone really needed help.
The only thing he knew was that this test was a task.
The ground rumbled, heaving up behind him. He turned to see the massive stone elemental blocking his way into the forest.
There wasn’t a choice, not anymore. He had to go after the other person. Even if he didn’t, he didn’t think he could escape the earth elemental. The creature was moving quickly—far more quickly than he could—and he was stuck.
Tolan took a step toward the wastelands.
A flutter of nerves nearly stopped him, but Tolan pushed through it. What choice did he have? He needed to get to whoever had screamed.
When he stopped, he stood beyond the edge of the forest. He turned slowly, taking in the landscape, noting the hard, dry ground with nothing growing on it before finally looking back at the forest.
It stretched impossibly far behind him.
This was something different than a spirit shaping. It had to be. He had no idea how Irina had given him this vision. She was a bond shaper, so it was possible she had been there before, but how was she able to give him that image?
There was no one here.
Tolan turned slowly, looking for the sound that had drawn him out, and saw nothing other than the emptiness of the waste.
The ground rumbled again.
As the stone elemental erupted, Tolan sprinted, making his way back toward the forest, trying to get around the elemental. Pressure from a shaping washed over him, but he pushed through it, ignoring the sense of the shaping as he streaked toward the elemental and exploded on the other side. He looked around for evidence of whoever had screamed but saw nothing.
Though there might not be anyone in the waste for him, he could return to the forest for Tanner.
Another step carried him to the edge of the forest. Another brought him back within it. A third brought him to the clearing where he had first appeared.
Tolan looked around, knowing he didn’t have much time before the earth elemental reached him, but there was nothing.
He moved carefully, sweeping in a circle as he looked for Tanner. He had to be here somewhere.
As he made a steady circle, the rumbling in the ground that came from the earth elemental continued to build. He tried to ignore it but how could he? The power coming from the elemental was too much. It pressed on him, trying to force him into the earth with it. Tolan struggled, straining against the effect of the elemental.
And then he saw Tanner.
Some sort of shaping had him trapped in the forest. There were others lying with him, forced into the ground the same way Tolan had nearly been forced down. He grabbed for Tanner, dragging him free with a scream.
Tanner didn’t move. He didn’t breathe.
He had to get him out of the forest, but he also wanted to help these others.
He grabbed the next person trapped by the shaping and pulled them free. As it had been with Tanner, he struggled to do so, straining to tear them out of the shaping that had them trapped in the ground. This one was a woman, and he pulled her free with something like a snap.
The next person was Velthan.
Tolan hesitated only a moment before grabbing him and pulling on him, tearing him free from the shaping. He worked quickly, one after another, dragging them all out of the ground, tearing them away.
As he did, he realized it wasn’t a shaping at all. It was the earth elemental.
It had to be nothing more than a vision. This wasn’t real.
And if it wasn’t real, he wasn’t beholden to fear. He didn’t need to worry about whether or not he could shape and force the elemental back into the bond. All he had to worry about was removing the threat of the elemental.
When the rumbling exploded and the earth elemental stood in front of him, Tolan strode forward and pushed with all his might upon it. The elemental was solid, and he strained for a long moment before the elemental toppled over, exploding into dust.
Tolan sank to the ground, but only for a moment. He still had to help these others.
He reached for the next trapped person and had begun to pull on them when light flashed brightly before fading into complete darkness.
“I’m not done!” Tolan cried out. “I still need to help the rest!”
When he opened his eyes, he was back in the room.
Irina stood in front of him, watching him.
Tolan tore his gaze away from her, not wanting to be caught up in her attention, and glanced over at Tanner. He was still out, though he made soft moaning sounds. The others along the line of people with him did the same. Tanner opened his eyes, a glazed look on his face as he searched the room.
Tolan turned his attention back to Irina. “What’s the point of this?”
He looked away from her and saw the severe-looking woman guiding some of the others away from the testing area. It might have been a coincidence, but the people Tolan had found in the forest and pulled free from the earth elemental were all left in the room.
“Those of you who have remained have shown great courage. It is rare to have so many survive that stage of testing,” Irina said, fixing Tolan with a hard-eyed gaze. “The next phase in the testing will be the most difficult. It is the one you will have the least amount of control over.”
She started at the opposite end of the line and this time, she used both hands to tap on both heart and forehead. The shaping that came from her could be felt all the way down the line. No one gasped when she touched them. Instead, they simply collapsed.
As they collapsed, the woman came and dragged each person away. One by one, they were removed until she reached Tolan. Even Velthan had been brought away, presumably having failed his Selection. After Tolan, there would only be two others.
She studied him with interest as she tapped him.
Tolan didn’t even have the chance to react. The shaping struck him more quickly than he could account for, and it washed over him. Pain surged through him, almost incapacitating. Strength started to leach out of him, but he fought it. Words couldn’t express how he managed to fight it, only that it seemed to come from deep within.
Irina watched him for a moment before moving on. When she tapped Tanner, he collapsed. She reached the last one, the dark-haired woman Tolan had rescued from the forest, and like all of the others, she collapsed.
When she was done, Irina made her way to the raised platform and focused her attention fully upon Tolan. “It is done.”
“What is done?” he found himself asking.
“You have been selected.”
4
Heat drifted up from the floor, likely shaped, giving a comfortable warmth to the small room Tolan now found himself in. He’d been here several hours, waiting for someone—anyone—to come in and explain what had happened. It had to be a mistake. There was no way he could have been selected.
