Forgotten Elements

The inside of the home was simple but full of personal touches, vivid colors, and comfortable-looking furniture that gave a homey vibe. The woman was a ball of energy, pacing like a caged tiger in the living room. “This is my mother, Thea, and my father, Atlas,” Damon said, gesturing at his pacing mother and his father who was leaning back against a wall, carefully watching us.

“Harmony,” I said as I hesitated in the doorway.

Damon gestured at the purple sofa for us to sit. It wasn’t a normal one: there weren’t separate cushions, but one giant connected cushion. The back came up to my neck, not that I’d be resting against it. With a normal sofa, I’d easily be able to sit with my feet touching the floor and my back resting against the cushions, but not here. I was nearly two feet away from the back. If I sat with my back against the cushion, my feet would be dangling off the edge. It was almost like a short bed of sorts but with a backrest. It was an awkward piece of furniture, in my opinion.

I opted to keep my feet on the floor, wanting to be able to stand immediately should something happen.

“No offense, but how can they be your parents when they look nothing like you, and you’re a sorcerer.” I knew I shouldn’t have randomly blurted this out, but I couldn’t think about anything else. The longer I stared between the three of them, the more confused I became. It was just as Parker said, I sensed two different types of magics coming from the men. Thea was the least confusing, with her magic being pure summoner. I may not be able to sense her spirit animal anymore with how she shielded it, but I could feel the wild, untamed magic.

Their magic held a similar cadence to the keys, which only cemented my theory this was all connected.

“My mother is a sorceress,” Thea said dismissively—still pacing—as if that answered my question. It didn’t.

“Genetics in our world are different from yours,” Damon answered as he took a seat in a chair across from us—this one more appropriately proportioned. “Human genetics were introduced to your kind thousands of years ago and changed many things.”

Every Mythic knew we all had a human ancestor down the line. His answer made me a bit confused though, since he said “introduced” as if Mythics existed before the select humans were chosen, but that couldn’t be right: that was how we were created. I must’ve just misunderstood Damon and took his words the wrong way.

I wanted to ask more about their kind and the similarities between them, us, and the deities—which, if they were like Emmy, they hated them. Why hadn’t we heard of them in the legends—other than the cursed sisters—and why were their writings similar to the deities?

“How did you find your way to our realm?” Damon asked before I could ask any more questions.

“We weren’t aiming for this realm or any realm in particular. We were trying to get away from an imploding realm. I honestly didn’t give a shit where we ended up,” Parker answered, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands.

Atlas cocked his head to the side as he pulled his eyebrows together. “An imploding realm?”

“Yep, some genius chose to pull all the magic from a realm,” I said, rolling my eyes.

“Tell me everything.”

Thea remained pacing, only pausing every once in a while to share a loaded look with Atlas. They had a silent conversation when I told them about the desiccated bodies and also when I mentioned the traitor elementals killing other realms. To my surprise, they only interrupted when I mentioned the retreat, having no clue what I was referencing. Atlas briefly mentioned elementals spent time connecting to the elements in the days before turning twenty-eight, but that didn’t take more than a couple of days. I wanted to ask more questions but now wasn’t the time.

“Do you remember the symbols?” Damon asked, rubbing his jaw.

“A few,” I said hesitantly.

“Can you draw what you remember for us?” Damon stood and retrieved a slab of white crystal that was surprisingly light when he handed it to me, reminding me of the crystal table tops at our favorite restaurant. “Use your finger.”

I did as he suggested, and sure enough, a glowing black line appeared on the surface. Once I was done adding what I remembered, Parker added several more and even added extra lines I missed on a few of them before handing it back to Damon.

His parents looked over his shoulder at the symbols, sharing yet another look. If I didn’t know any better, I would’ve thought they were communicating and not just by sharing looks. Maybe they were; it was clear they could do more than the rest of us.

“Damn”—Thea said a lyrical sounding word that I had no hope of deciphering—“for making stupid changes to our languages.”

What? Before I could get distracted, thinking about her muttered comment, Damon spoke, rubbing his forehead with a sigh. “It’s hard to know for sure without the entire spell. From the looks of it, this is a spell designed to summon all the elemental magic of the realm to one central spot, making it easier to drain the realm. Just as you said, but there is no way a Mythic could survive all the magic of a realm—even our kind would struggle with its sheer amount.”

“Whoever is draining the elementals could’ve taught them the spell, having them do all the hard work of stealing the magic of the realms, just to suck them dry afterward,” Thea said as she resumed her pacing. “It’s more efficient and doesn’t put them at risk when the realm implodes.”

Atlas pursed his lips as he considered the writing some more. “Odds are half of them won’t make it out of the realm alive, that is if they don’t die before the realm crumbles,” he murmured, almost like he was talking to himself.

“Do you have any ideas on what species this thing could possibly be?”

“Based on what you’ve told me, I doubt it’s a Mythic,” Damon murmured as he set the crystal slab on a nearby table.

“Not a typical Mythic, yes, but what about one that’s gone through a metamorphosis?” Thea asked.

“What do you mean by metamorphosis?” Parker asked, speaking for the first time in a while.

“It’s as the traitor said.” Thea paused and turned to look between Parker and me. “To evolve into something new, first you must destroy what was. While she sounds crazy, this wouldn’t be the first time someone has evolved into something new in their quest for more power. Many of our kind have transformed into different kinds of monsters over the years.”

“You’re talking about the—well, I don’t know the actual word, but I think it means tainted. Black eyes, with black veins,” I said, taking a leap that the tainted and parasites were once their kind.

Damon nodded as he said a couple of words in that lyrical language, saying what I assumed were their names. “I’ve heard about the prison realm being wrenched open. I warned them not to put them in there,” he muttered the last part, talking more to himself as he wiped his hands down his face and took a deep breath.

“Does this mean it is a Mythic?”

Damon gave me a long, considering look. “Will you let me take a look inside your mind at the bodies and the magic trail? It’s the next best thing to seeing and studying the magic for myself.”

“I can show you instead,” Parker quickly offered before I could agree, and I got the feeling he wasn’t offering to be helpful but to keep Damon out of my head. His protective instincts were already going wild, and the bond had just formed.

Damon shook his head, pursing his lips. “She’s seen the bodies, and with her being an elemental, I believe her take on their magic will be more beneficial. Don’t worry, I will only look at the memories regarding the bodies, nothing else.”

Despite having just met this man, he seemed sincere and like he wasn’t working an angle. I wasn’t naive, I knew it was dangerous to let a stranger in my mind, but if there was a possibility we could gain answers, we had to take the risk. We needed all the help we could get.

I grabbed Parker’s hand and gave a quick squeeze. “It’ll be alright,” I whispered to him before nodding at Damon.

Parker remained tense as Damon took a seat on the table in front of me, holding my gaze as he gently took my free hand. A jolt of ancient magic ran through my hand the moment he made contact. I didn’t pull away as his magic skated over my skin since I didn’t feel anything malevolent in the magical signature.

He hadn’t said or done anything to suggest he cast a spell, but already, I swore I felt his presence on my mind. “Okay, Harmony, I want you to think back on the bodies. Think of the trail of magic and the lack of an energy signature.”

I did as he asked, closing my eyes and picturing the scenes. After going through the details as slowly as I could, my eyes drifted open as Damon’s eyes refocused on me, having glazed over before.

“I can’t be too sure without seeing the bodies for myself, but it’s conceivable that they were killed by something that was once a Mythic. It’s hard to know for sure with how their magic is a sucking void that is always hungry for more. I’ve never seen anything like this before.”