Page 48 of When Storms Awaken

“There’s something I want to show you.” He stood, dragging me with him.

“What is it?” I asked, the chairs disappearing behind us with the wave of Nik’s hand.

“It’s a secret,” Nik teased, pulling me towards the pond that was no longer frozen over as it had been the last time we had visited the meadow. We stopped a short distance away, Nik raising his hands towards the water, palms out.

“Suscipe me ubi opus est ire,” Nik recited under his breath, his eyes closed.

“Wait!” I tugged on the sleeve of Nik’s T-shirt as he repeated the words, the ground before him starting to shimmer. He turned to me, his face creased in concentration.

“We can’t go to Istmere, I’m aStormshadefor crying out loud. They will kill me!”

“Not where we are going,” he replied, turning back to the opening portal. “Where we are going, there is no one. It’s deserted, I can promise you that much.”

The water before Nik turned to a shimmering clear blue, the areas to his left and right blurring into obscurity. I imagined the portal as a doorway that we would walk through, but beyond the shimmering gloss on the water all I could see was the stillness of the pond beyond.

“Take my hand.” He turned to me with his arm extended and I grabbed it without hesitation. “Stay with me.” Together we stepped onto the shimmering water as if it was solid ground, and we fell into nothingness.

Forawhileitfelt as if I was stuck in the ‘in between.’ There was nothing around me, no light, no taste, no smell. It felt as if I were trapped in a dark dream, one that I would wake up from and not remember. My eyes were open, but I saw nothing before me. That unending darkness came to a crashing halt as I felt myself falling with no way to catch myself. My stomach dropped, and before I knew it I was standing on the other side of the portal, wherever that was. I could feel my hand still in Nik’s as my vision came back into focus.

I turned, and the portal behind us was nothing but a patch of shimmering grass before it evaporated altogether. Wherever Nik had portaled us, it was breathtakingly beautiful.

We stood at the crest of a lush meadow filled with wildflowers and tall grass that swayed softly in the cool breeze. It felt more like spring here than it did back in the mortal world, despite us having a warm day there. At the base of the hill on which we stood I could make out an old city made of stone in the distance, its buildings nestled together closely. To the right was the water. At first it appeared to be a lake, but as I looked further, I could see that the mouth of the water opened up into a much larger expanse. Where did it lead?

Behind us were rolling grassy hills as far as the eye could see.

“What is this place?” I turned to Nik, my hand still held in his warm grasp.

“Welcome to Istmere,” he said with a smile, watching as I took in the vast landscape before us. Istmere was truly beautiful. It somewhat resembled the mortal realm, but it felt otherworldly, more innately magical. It was as if I could feel the magic deep in my bones, in every breath that I took. It was tingling under my skin, lifting the hair off the back of my neck. This was a place of power, that’s for sure. Now I understood how the meadow in Colorado was such a strong magical tether to this world.

“I figured we could practice some magic here,” Nik said, turning towards me.

“I can feel the magic here.” I placed a hand on my stomach and took a deep breath, my eyes fluttering shut. “It permeates everything.”

“It will be the easiest to control your magic here, in Istmere. I thought, why not bring you here to test out those Stormshade abilities of yours?” He grinned as he nudged me in the side.

“Your wish is my command,” I teased, forming a ball of flame easily in the palm of my hand.

“I see you’ve been practicing.” Nik raised an eyebrow.

“I have,” I replied as I turned the ball of flame into a whirling cell of water, then just as quickly I froze it into ice. “Now how do I call on storm magic?”

“It’s going to be similar to how you call on your elemental magic,” Nik explained, “you will feel it in your core. I can’t exactly say how it will feel because I don’t have storm magic like you do. But when I feel my shadow magic, I feel as if I’m tapping into a deep part of myself. My elemental magic is right there at the surface, always ready for me to call upon it. My shadow magic is hidden deeper in my core, it’s a spark of energy that has to be tapped into.”

I nodded and closed my eyes, trying to find that spark that he spoke of. Now that I had been practicing with my elemental magic I could sense it in my core readily, the feeling becoming familiar. I did as Nik instructed and searched a level deeper, trying to find a spark of magic buried beneath, as if it were hiding.

My brow furrowed as I focused. Just as I was about to give up I felt a spark of magic reach out to me, as if it were saying ‘I’m here.’ When I touched that magic with my mind I felt a rush of heat across my skin, as if a hot blast of flame was ignited right below the surface. I could feel my storm magic there, tucked away, waiting for me.

“Good, now hold on to that feeling.” Nik could see the moment I had found it, the lines on my face creasing in concentration. “Tap into it exactly as you would your elemental magic. It might be a little harder to coax out, but it will come when you call on it.”

I pictured the storm magic flowing out in a steady stream, not too much, but just enough. I wanted to start with something small. I had already created a vortex once in the laboratory in my dream, so I tried once again to create a small vortex of wind. I pushed that energy through my fingertips, pushing it left, then right, then left again, until I felt the wind at my fingertips begin to swirl.

I opened my eyes and there, at the tips of my fingers, was a mini tornado, swirling angrily. It couldn’t have been more than six inches tall, and it whirled and spun in the palm of my hand. My eyes snapped up to Nik’s as his darkened, a mischievous grin on his face.

“More,” he coaxed, his eyes focused on the small tornado I had created.

I pictured more energy funneling into the vortex until it bounced off my hand onto the ground, now standing a foot tall and whirling in circles around our feet. It kicked up dust and wildflowers as it picked up speed and intensity.

“Amazing.” Nik smiled, his eyes meeting mine.

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