The fire within elementa.., p.5
The Fire Within (Elemental Academy Book 1), page 5
Tolan stepped into the entrance to the school.
The building was three stories tall and made completely of shaped stone. Archways that wouldn’t otherwise have been possible, created a grand entrance, and the foyer stretched the entirety of the three stories over his head. Tolan found his gaze drawn to the ceiling, marveling at the intricacy of the stonework, amazed at what shapers had managed. This was one of the buildings in Ephra that had been meticulously maintained. Then again, the school likely used shapers they trained in order to maintain it.
“You aren’t one of our students,” a stern-faced woman said as he entered. She was dressed in a formal black robe and had gray hair only a shade lighter than her gown twisted up into a tight bun atop her head.
“I’m not one of the students, but I came to support a friend of mine.”
“The Selection is a closed process,” she said.
Tolan frowned and reached into his pocket and pulled the form out, scanning the page again. Much as he’d thought, it made it clear that any could attend. He flashed it at the woman, pointing to the page. “It says here that I can be here. I don’t have to be in the school.”
“Anyone can attend for the chance of Selection, but it’s not an open event.”
He debated turning around and simply waiting outside, but if Tanner wasn’t selected, he might not remember Tolan had even come. And if he was selected, Tolan wanted to be here for it.
“Fine. Then I have come for the Selection.”
The woman glared at him. “You understand that you will fail.”
“Most assuredly,” he said.
“And those who fail to progress have a spirit-shaping placed upon them. You won’t remember ever coming here.”
He smiled and nodded. “It doesn’t matter. I came to present myself for the Selection.”
The woman glared at him again before finally waving her hand at him. “Then go in, but even a weak attempt at the testing will be difficult. You will likely suffer.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time.”
He shouldn’t be so cavalier with her, but he couldn’t help himself. And more than likely, he wouldn’t remember what he said to her anyway.
She fixed him with her stern expression but he only smiled.
“Follow me, then,” she said.
She motioned for him to follow and guided him away from the entrance. Tolan continued to stare, marveling at the way the earth shapers had formed everything, from the ceiling arching overhead to the pillars that seemed to support the entire structure. Everything had a sense of power to it.
Would it be like that in other shaped buildings throughout Ephra? He hadn’t the opportunity to visit too many places that had been shaped. As he wasn’t a shaper himself, he wasn’t often invited to such places. Even though Master Daniels was an earth shaper, he hadn’t used his skills to do much more than fortify his woodsmith shop. Tolan had never asked him about why he had not.
They passed through a doorway with a door seemingly carved from an enormous slab of stone. He glanced at it for a moment before continuing down the hall with her. She moved at a brisk clip, not giving him the opportunity to remain behind and stare for too long.
She stopped at the end of the hall. “Even though you aren’t a shaper, I will tell you the same as I tell everyone else who comes for testing. Beyond this door, you will find challenges you have never imagined. You will find yourself tested in a way you never have before. If you succeed, you will be granted access to one of the most prestigious places in all of Terndahl. If you fail, you will return, not knowing what has transpired. Those who attempt and fail time and again have no memory of this, other than a vague recollection of pain and failure.” She regarded Tolan for a moment. “I trust you will not choose to attempt this Selection again.”
“I don’t know. It depends on how this goes.”
She stared at him before turning away and pushing the door open. She stepped aside and Tolan entered the room, his gaze sweeping around it. The room was enormous, easily three times the size of Master Daniels’ shop, and the ceiling stretched two stories overhead. It was ornately decorated, much like everything else within the school had been, and from where he stood, he thought he saw patterns worked into the stone, though he couldn’t be sure.
His attention was drawn away and he looked over to a line of shapers all standing before a raised platform upon which three people stood. His stomach sank when he realized Irina was among them, but Orank was not.
“Are Inquisitors always a part of the Selection?”
The severe woman stared at him for a moment. “Who said anything about an Inquisitor?”
He nodded to Irina. “She’s an Inquisitor.”
“If you know she’s an Inquisitor, then you already know what you will be subjected to. It is too late for you to withdraw, but you might be able to step aside and have your memories of this eradicated before this goes too much further.”
Tolan saw Tanner in the line. He stood near one end, his wavy brown hair pushed back, and he rocked from side to side, a sign that told Tolan how nervous he was. Maybe Tolan’s presence here would help reassure him, though it was just as possible Tanner would be worried—or irritated—that he’d come.
“Nope. I think I’m content with facing my Selection.”
The woman frowned at him. “Then go join the others.”
He walked forward hesitantly. As he did, doubt began to creep in. What was he thinking? The paper had said any were allowed to enter the Selection, and he had foolishly thought that meant he could watch. He should have simply turned away. There was no shame in doing so, and it might have been better, and certainly easier, to have done that. At least that way, he didn’t have to worry about having his memories shaped away from him.
As he approached, he could practically feel Irina’s gaze lingering on him. He made a point of looking away from her and instead turned to look at the other two on either side of her. One was the man he’d bumped into the night before. Much like Irina, he was dressed in a crimson robe that hung to the floor, a silver crest on his breast that Tolan couldn’t completely make out. The other person was another woman, though younger than Irina. She had golden hair and a pleasantly round face with a hint of a smile twisting her lips.
Maybe not everybody at the Academy was as terrifying as Irina.
He took his place, squeezing in between Tanner and one of the other shapers, an older man he didn’t know. The man glared at him for a moment, and Tolan shrugged.
“What are you doing here?” Tanner hissed out of the corner of his mouth.
“I thought I could come and observe.”
“Observe? Why would you think that?”
“The Selection said it was open to anyone,” Tolan said. “I wanted to show my support for you.”
“Like this?”
“I felt bad about the way we left things last night. You know I want you to reach the Academy.”
“Tolan—”
“If we are all gathered, then the Selection may begin,” Irina said. Her voice was a harsh monotone, and there was something within it that sounded almost like a chant, as if her manner of speaking the words mattered as much as the words themselves. “Those who have presented themselves for Selection, please take a step forward.”
Tanner shook his head. “You don’t have to do this,” he whispered before taking his step forward.
Tolan stared at Irina. If she was the reason he was going to have to find another job for the next few months, maybe this could be his revenge for what she was going to put him—and Master Daniels—through. “I really do,” he whispered, following Tanner forward.
“You have all gathered for Selection. Being selected to the Academy is an honor that few are offered. If you are selected, you have no choice but to accompany your Selector, and from there, you will be shown the intricacies of the element bonds and will learn to control them in ways your school has not yet taught.”
Tolan smiled to himself. The school hadn’t taught him anything, but he suspected Irina knew that. What must she be thinking?
The way she stared at him, almost as if focusing her attention solely on him, made it seem she was none too pleased by the fact he was even there.
“Even when you accompany your Selector, you may still fail. Not all are fit for the Academy. If you reach the Academy and fail, you will face a different future. Those who come to the Academy and lack the capacity to reach and understand the element bonds must stay and serve the Academy. Failures become servants.” The words hung in the air, almost a threat. “Consider this your last opportunity to change your mind. You will be spirit-shaped, and you will never recall the fact that you did not go through with the Selection. None will know, save the Selectors.”
Tolan looked along the line of shapers, wondering who, if any, would turn away. He saw Velthan near the other end of the line, standing near Percy and Barton. He wasn’t surprised all three of them had submitted themselves for Selection.
Irina waited a moment, leaving the words hanging in the air. It took Tolan a moment to realize they had been shaped and that was the reason they seemed to hover there.
A younger woman near the middle of the line of shapers took a step forward. She shivered and held her jaw tilted up. After she did, two others followed her lead, an older man and another woman. Tolan didn’t know any of their names, though he’d seen two of them before.
“There is no shame in recognizing the danger of failure.” The severe woman gathered the three and guided them to the back of the room. “The rest of you who remain will be tested. You will experience hardship. And if you fail, you will not remember the events, but may recall the feelings you experience.”
“Are you sure you want to do this?” he whispered to Tanner.
“Stop,” he said.
Would he do the same if he had the opportunity to go to the Academy to train? Knowing failure was a distinct possibility, and that if he failed, he might end up as a servant within the Academy, might make him do the same as the other three.
Tolan had no expectation of success, so he didn’t worry about failure.
Irina stepped away from the raised platform, floating to the ground on what must’ve been a shaping of air. “The first test will involve looking within yourself,” she said, starting toward the line of shapers. “You will have your mind turn inward, and as you do, you will see things you have wanted to forget. You will experience memories you have tried to suppress. And if you come out of it, you will pass on to the next test.”
If they came out of it? What would happen if they didn’t?
Irina started at the opposite end of the line. She tapped a finger on the shaper’s forehead. The person gasped and Irina moved on. She made her way along the line, doing the same over and over. Each time was the same, or near enough as to be indistinguishable. Everyone sucked in a breath and then fell silent.
Tolan was vaguely aware of the effect of her shaping. It was the same tightness along his skin that he’d felt while in Master Daniels’ shop, and it left his body tense. He hadn’t been afraid of what they would subject him to before, not expecting he would have any ability to pass, but if she used a spirit shaping to force his mind to look inward, he didn’t necessarily need a shaping to experience that part of the test.
She reached him before he was fully ready. Her face was unreadable and she reached toward him, her long, slender finger stretching toward his forehead, seeming to approach him slowly.
It gave him far too much time to think about what he might experience.
And then she tapped his forehead.
Darkness surged around him and he blinked, opening his eyes.
When he did, his breath caught. It was his home, or it had been his home, many years ago. He took a step forward, and though he knew he was in what had to be a spirit shaping, he felt as if he moved. Everything around him seemed real.
The smells were the same. That was what struck him first. He noticed his mother’s cooking, the scent of fresh bread and roasting meat filling the home. His mouth watered and a pang of sadness struck him. It had been years since he had smelled her cooking. Overtop the smells from the kitchen were the familiar odors of his childhood home. The spice from the lantern and the oil his father preferred. The slightly musty notes from their furniture. The flowers his mother liked to keep in vases, leaving a sweetness in the air.
The sound of humming came from the kitchen and he headed in. He knew this wasn’t real—it couldn’t be—but if he could see his parents again…
“Mother?”
She looked up as he entered the kitchen. Her arms were coated in flour and she smiled up at him, dusting her hands on her apron. She stepped around the counter and came over, slipping her arms around him in a hug. When he was younger, he had often pulled away, long since having outgrown her hugs, but this time he didn’t. He allowed her to squeeze him and he breathed in her scent.
This wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real.
“Tolan. What are you doing here? You were still supposed to be at school.”
He swallowed. “We got done,” he found himself saying. Maybe this was a memory, and these were the words he had said, but he didn’t remember having this experience with his mother before.
“If you’re done with school, then go and visit with your father. I’m sure he could use your help.”
Tolan could only nod. He wanted to linger in the kitchen with his mother, wanted to stay with her, to have those moments, but he wanted to see his father just as much.
He headed through the kitchen, following the familiar path he had always taken, and reaching the back of the building where his father had his shop.
Seeing his father was just as hard as seeing his mother. It had been at least five years since he’d seen either of them, and the last time he’d seen them, he hadn’t known that he would never see them again. He had memories of them, but whatever it was that the Inquisitor did to him to force him back into his mind made everything feel so much more real than simply a memory.
His father leaned over a piece of stonework, sending a shaping into it. This was a memory—Tolan was sure of it. He remembered coming out and seeing his father working with the stone, and for the first time being aware of the shaping his father used. Most of the time, he hadn’t known when his father was shaping. His own ability with sensing hadn’t been enough. He had always struggled in school to detect even the most potent shaping, but for some reason, he was able to detect what his father did today. It was the first time he felt as if he might be able to understand a shaping.
“Father?” His voice caught as he spoke.
His father looked up. Several days of scruff had grown on his cheeks, but it did nothing to mar the warm welcome he greeted Tolan with. “I imagine your mother asked if you weren’t supposed to be in school,” he said with a smile.
“She did, but it got done early.”
His father set aside the piece of stone he was working on. Tolan glanced down at it, never quite certain what it was his father worked on, though he noticed a symbol on this one shaped like a triangle, other symbols within it. His father had a weak potential with earth shaping, enough that he never struggled to find employment, but he wasn’t anywhere near as strong as someone like Master Daniels.
“Did you get out early or did you just leave?”
Tolan couldn’t remember what he had done. Had he left school early on this day? Both seemed to think he was home far before he should have been, which made it possible that he had come home long before school was done, but he wasn’t one to skip out on school, so he wasn’t sure why he would be home.
“What are you working on?”
His father glanced down at the table. In his shop were all sorts of instruments designed to help him with his carving. For the most part, his father did all of this as a hobby, not selling all of his carvings. It wasn’t that he couldn’t find buyers. His father was nothing if not incredibly detailed with his work, but he always said that he did these for himself and not for others.
“Only a little project your mother and I are working on together.”
“Together?”
His father looked up and met Tolan’s eyes. “We do work on things together, you know.”
Tolan smiled. “But she’s a water shaper.” And like his father, she was not necessarily a powerful water shaper, but she had skill. Sometimes, strength didn’t necessarily equate to skill. He’d seen that often enough with his mother to know it was true. Other water shapers would come to their home to discuss various shapings from time to time, though the same could be said about earth shapers coming to his father.
“Which is why we work so well together. Water and earth.” He smiled.
“Can I see it?”
His father reached for the carving and set it on a high shelf, out of reach. “It’s not quite ready, Tolan. I promise you that when it is…”
Tolan looked back at his father. As he did, he felt the overwhelming desire to remain here, to stay with his family. They had been gone for so long, and he missed them so badly that he wanted nothing more than to stay.
But he knew he couldn’t. Just as he knew this wasn’t real. Despite how solid everything felt around him and how much everything felt as if it were real, he knew it was not. This was a memory—a shaping—and for him to move on, he needed to step out of it.
More than that, if he didn’t, he remembered the warning that he might be trapped.
He could see the appeal. If the other shapers walked back and saw something like this, a memory where they were happy—truly happy—he could see them getting stuck.
“Father… I have to go.”
His father frowned. “Why would you have to go? I thought you said you got done with school early?” There was a hint of a sly smile playing across his face.
“Tanner asked if I could go with him. We were going to explore the ravine.”
They did that often enough that it wouldn’t attract any attention, but Tolan wondered if he had said those words at this time or whether it was something he said only in this memory.
