Chapter Seventy-Nine: Of Earth and Water

  Ell’s senses flared to life, the tingling edge of her ability washing over her like a second skin. One glance was enough—neither Lara nor Loren had touched the power of Bronze One. Their auras were unmarked by the telltale signs of a Speaker who had learned their first Word of Power.

  “Stay back!” Ell barked, planting herself between the Tinkers and the oncoming chaos, her voice a sharp crack through the air. “Let us handle this! We’re not dragging your bodies out of here.” Her eyes blazed with command, leaving no room for debate. Lara started to step forward defiantly, but Loren pulled her back, fear tightening his grip.

  They sprang into action. “Silver One!” Ell shouted, her voice cutting through the tension like a blade. Stealth was no longer an option; they could only hope nothing worse lurked within earshot, or worse, that it wasn’t already interested.

  Alice’s hands flew over the pages of her spellbook, flipping through incantations with frantic speed, her fingers trembling as the urgency of the moment mounted.

  The elemental roared, its voice like the crashing of waves on a jagged shore. It lunged forward, its massive arm morphing into a towering wall of water. The force of it sent a spray of mist into the air as it came crashing down toward them. Jace ducked, barely dodging the deluge as it slammed into the ground, the impact rattling his bones.

  “Move!” he shouted, rolling to his feet just as the elemental’s other arm reformed, spiraling toward Dex with vicious speed.

  Dex twisted away just in time, narrowly escaping the elemental’s blow. The creature’s strike hit the dirt with a wet thud, spraying mud and debris in every direction. But Dex was already in motion, moving like liquid himself—darting left, then right, weaving effortlessly through the storm of writhing limbs. His speed was unnatural, a blur of motion, and his grin never faltered, cocky and sharp, even as the elemental lashed out again and again, each strike missing him by inches.

  Behind him, Jace and Ell stood firm, weapons drawn, a thin line between chaos and the tinkers. Jace’s breath was shallow and fast. Beside him, Ell shot a glance his way, her face set with fierce determination, a fire in her eyes.

  Just then, another massive wave of water surged from the elemental, crashing into Loren’s cart with the force of a tidal wave. Wood splintered, cracking in violent bursts as the cart was smashed to pieces. The horses reared and bolted into the woods, their terrified whinnies fading into the distance.

  The elemental reared back, its glowing eyes locking onto Dex with a hatred that radiated like heat. Its watery form coiled, poised to strike, and the fury in its gaze promised no mercy.

  “Come on, you oversized puddle!” Dex shouted, his voice dripping with mockery as he lured the creature further from the Tinkers. His laugh echoed in the wind, carefree and defiant, as he flipped effortlessly over a crashing wave of water. He landed with catlike grace, barely a sound beneath his feet, a smirk plastered across his face.

  The elemental bellowed in fury, a sound so deep it made the very trees shudder, the ground quivering beneath its wrath.

  Ell slipped through the fray, her movements a blur of afterimages, hands crackling with glowing energy. She flung bolts of light at the creature’s arms, attempting to drive it back, but every strike seemed to pass through it, barely slowing its advance.

  Jace slashed through one of the elemental’s limbs with his sword, the blade cutting clean through the water. But it was like slicing smoke—it reformed instantly, the creature seeming almost amused by the attempt.

  Ell’s voice was loud and martial. “Elementals don’t care about physical weapons! You need something to bind it—“

  “Any helpful hints, Alice?” Dex called out.

  “Working on it... but nothing useful yet. I’m not getting anything from Intuition,” Alice didn’t look up from her tome. “There’s got to be a spell in here somewhere.”

  Before she could finish, the elemental’s form shifted, its body stretching and swelling, becoming an even more dangerous, chaotic force. It roared, a deafening, inhuman sound, as water lashed out in every direction.

  Ell ducked as a massive blast of water ripped through a nearby tree, splintering it in half. Her eyes glowed a deep amethyst as she peered into the elemental, trying to pull anything useful she could glean from her Perceptiveness ability.

  “Got it! Its weakness is earth. We need earth magic. Alice, got anything in that book of yours?”

  “I’m looking!” Alice shouted, frantically flipping through the pages.

  Jace reached with his mind for Soul Sense, expecting the familiar tug of something—anything—solid beneath the storm. But the moment he touched it, his mind buckled. It wasn’t a soul he was sensing. It was madness. A chaotic whirl of fragments, broken and unmoored, spinning too fast for thought to catch. Trying to understand it was like trying to hold a tornado in your hands.

  With a flicker of determination, he snapped his aether into Soul Bind. The shadows leapt from him, slicing through the swirling mass like blades of ink. But the thing didn’t react like a creature should. Where the shadows struck, the watery form unraveled, dissolving without a hint of pain, only to slither back together, remaking itself in a new shape with a fluid, effortless malice.

  Jace’s pulse quickened. Whatever this was, it wasn’t going to play by the rules.

  “Marcus!” Jace barked over the chaos. The man had been standing back, watching, his fists clenched, electricity crackling along his skin. “We could use a little backup over here!”

  Marcus’s eyes narrowed, and with a calmness that bordered on arrogance, he stepped forward. “Stand back,” he warned, raising his hands toward the creature. Lightning arced between his fingers before erupting in a blinding bolt that struck the elemental dead center.

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  The creature convulsed, water splashing and hissing as the electricity surged through it. For a moment, it faltered, its form flickering—but then, to Jace’s horror, it absorbed the energy, its eyes flaring brighter. Now crackling with electricity, the elemental turned its gaze on Marcus.

  Oh, crap,“ Marcus muttered, stumbling back. His eyes darted between the creature and his own hands, confusion etched across his face. It was as if his brain couldn’t reconcile why his attack hadn’t even phased the monster.

  “Move!” Alice’s voice cut through the chaos, sharp and urgent. But Marcus stood frozen, his feet stuck to the ground by some invisible force—fear or disbelief, Jace couldn’t tell.

  “Jace!” Alice’s scream claimed his attention, her fingers weaving frantic symbols through the air. “I’ve got the spell! I can bind it, but you have to get Marcus out of the way, now!”

  Jace didn’t hesitate. In a heartbeat, he closed the distance with Soul Step, grabbed Marcus by the collar, and yanked him backward, just as the elemental’s electrified arm crashed down where Marcus had stood. Jace’s grip tightened as he pulled Marcus clear of the blast zone.

  “Let go of me,” Marcus said, his voice tight with indignation, as he jerked his arm free. His glare was sharp, but there was a flicker of something else—fear, maybe, though he tried to bury it beneath his bravado.

  “Less talking, more helping,” Jace snapped, releasing him.

  Alice’s incantation finished with a surge of energy. The ground beneath the elemental rippled and split, as tendrils of soil and roots shot up, wrapping around the creature’s legs. It shrieked in fury, struggling against the bonds as the earth pulled it down.

  “Got it!” Alice’s voice trembled with exhaustion, but the magic pulsed in her hands, holding steady. The elemental twisted violently, its watery form shattering and knitting back together, but the roots coiled tighter, pulling it down. Earth surged up from the ground, merging with the creature’s body, turning it into a grotesque mud golem, its once-fluid limbs sluggish with dirt and stone.

  “Physical attacks will work now,” Alice panted, her voice ragged, “but not for long.”

  Dex lunged forward, daggers flashing. He drove the blades into the creature’s side with deadly precision, each strike causing the elemental to ripple and shrink. “That’s right,” he grinned through labored breaths, “let’s see you pull yourself back together now.”

  The creature lumbered toward Alice, moving in slow jerks against the bindings, drawn to the pulse of magic radiating from her, but Dex kept it at bay with frantic strikes, each hit reverberating up his arm. Ell’s hands flicked out, sending bolts of crackling purple light that exploded against the creature’s face, each one blinding it further. It swung madly, its massive arms carving the air with reckless fury, barely missing Alice and Dex. The ground trembled beneath each wild swing, sending chunks of mud spraying in all directions as the creature roared in frustration, its heavy limbs sinking into the muck with each missed strike.

  Marcus stepped forward, summoning a bolt of lightning so fierce it turned the air around them static.

  He hurled it into the elemental’s core. The creature screamed—an awful, soul-piercing sound—as the electricity tore into it.

  But Marcus hadn’t waited for Dex or Alice to get clear, and the energy he unleashed was wild, overwhelming in its power. The bolt ricocheted, arcing toward them. The world seemed to slow. Without thinking, Jace tapped into his Soul Step. The forest blurred as he slipped between realms, time grinding to a near halt.

  With a burst of desperate speed, he lunged—first for Alice, then Dex—grabbing them both just as the lightning crackled past, missing by a hair’s breadth. In one fluid motion, he yanked them into the Otherworld, the crackling energy of the chaos left frozen behind.

  They reappeared a few feet away, gasping for air. Alice’s eyes were wide, her heart hammering so hard it thrummed through her fingers, tightly clasped in Jace’s hand. Jace collapsed to the ground, his Aether drained in a torrent from taking two others with him, even for such a brief moment.

  He heaved, struggling to catch his breath, his heart racing as though it might break through his skin. He attempted to stand, but his body felt like lead balanced on brittle stilts.

  “You... you didn’t have to do that,” Dex whispered.

  “Let’s save the ‘thank yous’ for later,” Jace croaked, his voice strained.

  Alice and Dex stood between Jace and the looming elemental.

  Marcus unleashed another bolt, this time more controlled, striking the elemental’s core with a crack of lightning. The creature recoiled, its watery form destabilizing.

  Ell moved in, hurling bolts of her own with deadly precision. Dex followed, his hands glowing as he sent a barrage of searing energy into the elemental’s weakening body.

  Alice and Jace joined the fray, their combined magic cutting through the swirling mass. The creature wailed, its once-mighty form buckling under the relentless onslaught.

  With a final, violent shudder, the elemental collapsed, its massive form exploding into a torrent of water. The muddy deluge crashed to the ground, leaving only silence in its wake.

  Ell stepped forward, brushing damp hair from her face, her eyes gleaming with adrenaline. “Not bad, Sparkles,” she teased Marcus.

  Marcus, still crackling with residual energy, scowled. “I had it under control.”

  “Sure you did,” Dex chimed in, wringing the water from his soaked cloak and wiping mud from his eye. “Nothing says ‘control’ like almost frying your own team.”

  Alice managed a weak smile, her hands still trembling from the spell. “Good thing Jace was paying attention.”

  “Guys,” Jace’s hoarse voice cut through the chaos like a blade, silencing their frantic energy in an instant.

  In the stillness, they heard it—Lara’s sobs, soft but sharp, like glass breaking. She knelt by the shattered remains of her grandfather’s cart, now barren of its horses, cradling a figure in her arms. The scene around them blurred as Jace, still barely able to stand, leaned heavily on Alice and Dex for support. They rushed over, hearts pounding.

  The man lying in Lara’s arms looked close to death. Blood seeped from his mouth, each cough wracking his frail body. Jace’s instinct was immediate—his hand shot to his inventory, pulling out a potion. But Alice grabbed his wrist before he could administer it.

  “That’s for Travelers, Jace,” she said, her voice steady but soft. “It’s too low-level for Citizens. It’ll only make it worse.”

  The man’s eyes fluttered open, weak but filled with something deeper than pain. He smiled up at Lara, his hand trembling as it reached for her face. “It’s okay, Little Button,” he rasped, voice thick with the weight of goodbye. “All stories end. Mine... mine only became worth telling because of you and your parents. I was just a side character, a footnote, but you... you gave me an adventure. I’m so proud of you.”

  Jace’s jaw tightened. Refusal flickered in his eyes. With a surge of desperation, he cast Soul Mend, channeling everything he had… but it wasn’t enough, like a candle’s light against the wind, his Aether running dangerously low.

  He tried Soul Tether, binding his life force to the man’s. But he was still too weak, barely recovered from the drain of carrying Alice and Dex through the Otherworld. His aether flared as he gulped down the potion himself, trying to channel the magic into the dying Tinker. He allowed his Health and Stamina to feed his Aether, but it still wasn’t enough, the tinker's wounds were too severe. He was fighting against an overwhelming loss of blood. His connection faltered—frayed at the edges. The health it transferred only bought the man a few precious minutes—nothing more.

  Jace’s heart was dense, like clay soaked in rain, heavy with endings instead of beginnings—a shallow breath of earth and water.

  “No,” Lara gasped, her voice breaking as tears streamed down her face. She clung to her grandpa’s still-warm body, her fingers gripping his shirt as if she could hold him there by sheer will. “You promised… you promised you wouldn’t leave me like Ma and Pa. You can’t go. You promised.”

  They sat there, helpless, the weight of inevitability crushing them. His breaths grew softer, slower.

  But then, something strange happened.