Page 74 of The Eye of the Fifth
‘Let us try something else,’ Naal said hastily, and Kyra could have sworn there was a smile on her voice. ‘Feel the mountain beneath you. The earth that holds your body. Let it ground you. Notice the steady pounding of your heart in your chest, the consistency of its beating.’ Naal’s voice was a breeze in itself, and it had a serene effect on her nerves. Like a sedative potion.
How did she do that? Kyra knew she was being difficult… how did Naal remain so patient with her?
She exhaled all the breath from her body and put a hand to her chest, feeling for the pulse beneath. It softly thumped against her hand as if to say,I’m here. You’re not alone.
‘Good, Kyra,’ Naal whispered. ‘Now feel for the magic residing in your blood. What does it feel like?’
Pulsating with her heartbeat was something else. Something fresh and sparkling. Her excitement peaked as shefeltit, could feel- ‘A tide. It’s like… a moving current of… of lightning.’
‘Yes. Now, open your eyes,’ Naal said. Kyra obeyed, and there really was a smile on the Air Warden’s face now. Not mocking, but proud. ‘What you felt then was your magic, right at the source. Many forget that, as they usually learn how to wield it at such a young age. But your magic is new to you. I imagine it felt quite strong?’
Kyra nodded.
‘Naturally,’ said Naal with satisfaction. ‘The greatest magic users are the ones who understand what it means to be fully in their body. As a fighter, I imagine that sensation comes fairly easily to you.’
‘But Warden magic is different?’
‘Not only different, but opposite in its origin. The Elemental magic entrusted to us by the Mothers, as Wardens, comes directly from your soul. It is your spirit, the essence ofyou, that connects you to the divine. To Roheia.’
Kyra absent-mindedly tapped her fingers on her knee.
‘Close your eyes once more,’ Naal instructed. ‘I want you to envision your Earth magic as an orb of light, right in the centre of your chest. A continuously moving sphere of energy.’ Naal paused for a moment and it was quiet save the soft breeze as Kyra willed her imagination to yield to the Air Warden’s prompts. ‘What do you see? What do you feel?’
Nothing. A big fuck all. ‘It’s… I can…’ she started, but then exhaled with frustration. ‘Nothing, Naal. I can’t see or feel anything.’
‘Patience, Kyra. Try again.’
Patience.But she was not patient. She never had been. Perhaps it was a learned thing, for her grandmother certainly had very little of it.
How was she to be patient, when she had just under six months to find an ancient crystal that she was beginning to believe was entirely mythical? How could she find patience when her brother’s freedom rested on her shoulders? And how would patience help relieve the impossible pressure of being a Warden at the start of a damned war, whose powers had only just come forth?
Stirring in the pits of her soul, the monstrous creature appealed to her with a grin.Let me out… let me out…
‘Easy,’ Naal said softly. ‘Be gentle with yourself.’
Kyra gripped her knees tighter. The monster writhed. Beaming light seeped through her closed eyes.
‘Kyra, you cannot allow it to control you,’ Naal said sharply. ‘Come back to yourself.’
‘How,’Kyra managed to croak.
Tremors began through her body. Frustration turned to undiluted fear as the monster clawed at the vines trying to keep it contained. It reared with excitement, victorious that she was acknowledging it, letting it shine through every crack and crevice of her broken soul-
‘It doesnotcontrol you, Kyra,’ Naal urged. ‘I need you to calm down.’
‘I can’t…’she breathed as her chest heaved up and down. Sweat trickled down the side of her face but she was frozen. Not from the cold, but paralysed with fear.
Her eyes flew open, and that white light assaulted her vision. But the light itself…
It was coming fromher.
The monster had her. Was using her, grinning with malice at its ability to render her powerless.
‘You cannot fear it!’ Naal cried, but her voice sounded faraway now, the wind that swirled atop the mountain no longer caressed Kyra’s skin, the snow no longer holding her in its icy embrace.
She soared through nothing to somewhere else, somewhere safe.
In a clammy, dark cell lit with a singular torch on the wall, she landed.
