Page 106 of Rising Out of the Darkness
If I was completely honest with myself, my whole life I’d never felt like I’d been enough of anything.
However, here with my newfound family, I began to see that I had been going about this all wrong. Maybe we didn’t always have to be our own strength, or our own anything at all. Why would the gods create a world full of people for us to struggle by ourselves? Perhaps we were not created to ever do life alone in the first place.
“So, what are we going to do to protect our family?” I swallowed as my chest tightened. “And what are we going to do to protect Declan—to make sure that what happened yesterday never happens again?”
Liam’s mouth curled up. A smirk danced across Killian’s face. Nayla’s eyes glimmered with ferocity.
“We train.” Liam grinned. “We train you with all we have until you have all of the dynamis of this realm at your fingertips, Light Phoenix.”
A mischievous grin spread across my face.
“When do we start?”
They hadn’t been joking about the intensity of their training. We started immediately.
After Declan had shared the theory about emotions being the core of our dynamis, the four of them had begun testing out what other dynamis they could get in touch with. Killian had obtained the ability of fire. My eyes grew wide as blazing amber flame danced across his palm and through his fingertips. His emotions had always seemed so calm and collected to me. However, Declan had said that those who obtained this dynamis loved fiercely. It also explained why Eloise had Flame abilities as well.
Nayla had been working with Liam on wielding water, a dynamis we called a Tide. As she manipulated the water like a whip, my mouth gaped wide, then curled into a grin when she slapped Liam against the side of his face with it. Shortly after, he demonstrated his newfound Terran ability by breaking the ground underneath her, causing her to fall flat on her back.
The burst of laughter that came out of my mouth couldn’t be quelled. Unfortunately, it sealed my own fate. In one swoop, the ground shifted from under me and a wave of water crashed across my face as I fell. We wiped away the mud from our faces. Only Killian was left pristine.
“Don’t even think about it, Liam,” Killian growled.
A twinkle shimmered in Liam’s eye before he zephyred directly in front of him. With a wiggle of her fingers, Nayla shifted the ground underneath them and splashed them both with another round of water as they fell.
“Hey, whose side are you on?” Liam groaned, rolling off Killian as he swiped more mud from his face.
“Obviously, I’ll always be on the Light Phoenix’s side.”
I gave her a wink as we slapped palms.
“When have you been practicing that?” Killian snorted, finally standing up.
“A man has to have some secrets, right?” Liam rolled his gaze over towards Nayla, waggling his eyebrows at her.
Nayla’s tanned skin flushed a rosy red. I stifled my giggle the best I could.
“Alright, your turn, Freckles,” Killian said.
Nerves twinged in my stomach as I made my way over to the captain. His golden hair was darkened with mud, but his face shone with excitement. “Let’s see if we can get you to zephyr.”
Once the words left his mouth, I felt as though my face had turned seven shades of green. A deep laugh bellowed out of him.
“Don’t worry, Freckles, once you retch the complete contents of your stomach”—my nose wrinkled as he shrugged— “you won’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“Oh, boy, sounds like so much fun.”
Liam and Nayla both perched up against a tree, watching. Shoving the sleeves of my tunic up on my arms, I bobbed my head, signaling Killian to begin.
After excavating the last remnants of my stomach, and the millionth time crashing into the icy river, a frustrated snarl escaped my lips.
For hours, I’d tried to dig deep and find the emotions that would call to my Zephyr dynamis. My first attempts, I’d just ended up launching my Tempest winds, blowing myself backwards into trees, rocks, and the river. Eventually, I was able to make myself zephyr forward, straight into the river, again.Water and mud saturated my body, my cheek still swollen and tender from where I had zephyred myself face first into a boulder.
An exasperated scream fled my lips as I dug my fingers into the wet earth beneath me. Palming a rock, I chucked it with all my might into the river in front of me. The act eased the rage building inside me as it splashed into the water.
“Is it safe to come closer, or should I be cautious about you holding any remaining rocks?”
I tossed my head up to meet Killian’s gaze and was met with a mischievous smile, one that I couldn’t help but return. “You’re safe to sit, for now.” I patted the ground next to me.
