Forgotten Elements

For the next few hours, I not only tried contacting Magnus again as I put distance between myself and the body, but I tried all of my friends—multiple times. I even tried Wyatt and Gemini. With a frustrated sigh, I shoved the crystal in my pocket since the definition of insanity was doing the same thing over and over, and expecting a different result.

I eventually emerged from the forest and came across a canyon. The ground was a rich brown-orange dirt, teeming with life, but there was something out of place that sent shivers down my spine. Walking along the edge before a half-mile-deep drop-off, I searched for the source even though I knew I should ignore it.

It had to be over a half hour later when I discovered the source of the disturbance—another thread of that same magic that was like a black void of energy. I suspected this was what threw off the natural magic of the realm, but I had hoped I was wrong. If I were smart, I’d run in a different direction, but I didn’t. Even though I figured this would lead to another body, I needed to know for sure. Sticking my head in the proverbial sand wouldn’t keep me alive if there was something out there killing us.

Like the moron in a horror movie, I followed the trail down the narrow and steep path into the canyon. Not only was I following a trail that most likely led to a body, but in the dark, no less. The bright moon, which was almost twice as big as ours, lit up the night.

As I trekked down the side of the canyon, I trailed my hand along the jagged surface of the wall since the path was just wide enough for me to walk down. I didn’t worry about the path crumbling or losing my footing with how connected I was to the earth.

As I neared the bottom, I followed the glowing black thread with my gaze and found a crater in the ground. It was hard to tell from my vantage point, but I was pretty sure I could see bright blue, and given the terrain, that color had no business being here.

I kept my pace slow as I stepped onto flat land and approached the body. All the while, my focus remained on my surroundings, listening for any out-of-place sounds or anything that indicated I was being watched. With this being the second body I found today, I quickly learned you couldn’t be too careful.

The crater was nearly ten feet wide and five deep, containing another mummified body, this one a man. Based on the state of his torn and bloody clothes, he fought back against his killer. Even with my enhanced eyesight and the light from the moon, I still strained my eyes as I stared at the blood stains.

It was hard to tell, but the blood appeared fresh.

Ice skittered down my spine, not only because of the implication but because of the confirmation that came a few seconds later when I felt the presence of an elemental. From my quick, non-probing scan of their energy, I couldn’t sense anything dark or capable of sucking the life and magic from someone. Nor did it match the elemental energy at the last site, which I still didn’t know whether or not it had been the woman’s since I wasn’t familiar with her energy signature.

I remained facing the body, pretending I was too occupied to notice the approaching elemental. They didn’t reach out with their magic, probably because they assumed it would alert me to their presence, which was why I too, held off from connecting to the elements to attack them.

Never before had I wished to have some sort of weapon, any weapon. I’d take one of Ander’s heavy-ass swords. At that moment, I hated Magnus and that stupid no-weapons rule. Especially when I heard the faint sound of a weapon being unsheathed. The sound was subtle, and had I not been focusing on every little sound, I would’ve missed it.

Had I not thrown myself to the side, the dagger would’ve landed in the middle of my back. I wasn’t completely spared though, the dagger landed in my thigh and hurt like a bitch. My skin and blood sizzled everywhere it made contact, and my connection to the elements was weakened.

Fucking iron. Where in the hell did this fucker find an iron dagger in this realm?

Gritting my teeth, I yanked out the dagger, ignoring the blistering and throbbing pain in my leg. I whirled around to face my attacker, cocking my hand back as I did so. Once I had him in my sights, I let the dagger fly. The thing had been weighted horribly, with the blade way heavier than the handle. As a result, my aim had been wonky, and the dagger buried itself in his stomach rather than his chest.

Still, that had to hurt like fucking hell.

It was clear he hadn’t expected me to not only notice him sneaking up on me but to recover so quickly. I guess Ander’s insane and grueling training sessions were finally paying off. There had been so many times where Ander had us fighting through the pain, telling us in life and death situations, we wouldn’t have a time out.

I didn’t give him a chance to pull out the dagger as I crumbled the ground under his left foot. His balance was thrown off, and he fell. I was relentless with my attack and connected to the rocks on the wall beside him and broke off several chunks, sending them crashing into him.

I didn’t check whether or not he was dead or just lightly maimed. Rather than attempt running up one of the steep paths on the walls, I remained on the flat ground as I sprinted away from the body and my attacker. My bare feet were being shredded by the small rocks littering the ground, but I barely noticed it with the adrenaline pounding through my body. I would usually use my earth magic to remove all obstacles in my path, but I didn’t think it was wise to waste my energy on that. I’d rather save it in case another elemental decided to attack me.

After several minutes of sprinting, I pulled out the iridescent crystal from my pocket. Without thought, I searched for the energy signature of Parker. While I had tried calling each of my friends multiple times earlier, I only tried him once. But now here I was, running for my life, and he was the first one I thought to call. Not Magnus, Ander, or Reed.

A big part of me didn’t expect to be able to reach him, so when he answered not even ten seconds later, I stumbled.

His curly hair was damp, as was his face, which was showing a myriad of concern upon both seeing my face and probably with how I was sprinting. “What’s happened?” He asked, skipping the pleasantries, his voice serious in a way that I’d only heard a few times.

Despite running for my life and having just been attacked by someone I was pretty sure was a part of this retreat, flutters formed in my stomach upon hearing his voice. I was still terrified, but a part of me was reassured that he was now involved, which was stupid since he was in another realm.

Unlike with our wristbands, the projected image above the crystal wasn’t private; anyone around me could’ve seen Parker’s face, but that was the least of my worries. If someone was close enough to see Parker, they were close enough to kill me.

“Something is draining all the magic from elementals and killing them. I was attacked by another elemental.” I kept my explanation brief since I was still sprinting, and my breaths came out in harsh pants.

“Is the other elemental dead?”

“I’m not sure.” I glanced back, not seeing or sensing anyone, but that didn’t mean anything. Up ahead on the wall to my right was another path leading upwards that looked a little wider and less steep, so I took a risk and ran toward it.

“Have you tried contacting the sorcerer or sorceress still in the realm?”

I spared a glance at him as I ran up the path, my eyebrows pulled together. “I’ve already tried,” I said, rather than waste time asking about Fletcher still being in the realm. It didn’t matter where he was; he hadn’t answered any of my calls.

“That’s not great,” Parker muttered, looking offscreen for a moment. “Harmony, I want you to discard all the crystals they gave you. Now.”

Shock flooded my body at hearing him say my name—he so rarely ever did so—and I realized I liked it.

“What?” I didn’t have the brainpower to process the meaning of his words.

“They don’t tell you this until the end, but during the retreat, a sorcerer or a sorceress remains in the realm to track you and to interfere if something goes wrong. So either they are in on it, or they’re dead. Either case, you need to get rid of any crystals they gave you.”

My breaths were now burning my lungs from running up the path and trying to keep up a conversation at the same time.

“Stay off the paths or anywhere they’d expect you to go. I’ll be there soon, and I won’t come alone.”

I would’ve sighed in relief if I weren’t breathing so hard. The thought of not being here alone gave me some hope that I could make it through this alive, especially if my friends were joining him.

“How will you be able to find me?”

His lips twitched as if I asked a funny question, the barest traces of amusement lighting his eyes. “Oh, don’t worry. I’ll find you.”