Forgotten Elements

Over the next two weeks, I followed the marked-off path on the map to the different terrains. I swam to one of the islands. While the water of the ocean wasn’t elemental, the magic from it was different from the oceans in the human realm or even ours. As I swam, I noticed there was an edge to it that came when a storm was approaching, and I worried I wouldn’t make it to the island when it hit. The island was almost three miles away from the mainland and for other Mythics, the distance may have exhausted them, but I was able to tap into my magic, manipulating the currents to ease the physical exertion.

The currents of the water became stronger, and harder to tame as I neared the island and saw a flash of lightning, soon followed by a booming crack of thunder. The rain held off until I was crawling onto the sand of the beach. I would’ve laid down to catch my breath, but it wasn’t safe to be on the beach during a storm like this, even for an elemental. It was a stroke of luck there was a cave nearby on higher ground. I waited there the rest of the night as the storm raged on.

For the next two days, I explored the many caves on the island, finding uncut crystals growing along the walls. The magic seeping from them was pure and untouched, more powerful than any crystal I’d ever seen before. If any of our enemies found these caves and absorbed the magic, it would lead to some disastrous consequences for us.

I didn’t take any of the crystals or attempt to absorb any energy from them, leaving everything as it was before I found it.

I’d realized early on that the days and nights of this realm were longer. If I had to guess, I’d say they were twice as long. It was hard to tell time without my wristband, and it took me a while to adjust. Several times, I caught myself reaching for my wristband to check the time or to see if I had any messages, only to remember I wasn’t wearing it. Having the iridescent communication crystal as a backup helped, and every so often, I’d recheck to make sure it was still in my bag. Even with the possibility of it not working, it helped ease some of my worries.

While I never felt more centered, at one with the elements, I couldn’t stop from missing my friends and family—really, they were one and the same since I considered my friends as family. Every once in a while, I’d picture how each of them would react to each area of land and the antics they’d pull to pass the time.

The supplies I’d been provided were a sleeping bag and a thermos—but unlike the ones that were enchanted to always have fresh water, this one I had to refill. No food was provided, and I had to find my own, using my knowledge of plants and my connection to the earth to differentiate between fruits I could eat and those that were poisonous.

Everything so far was going according to plan and without a hitch. I hadn’t run into any of the others, which was impressive since there were so many of us, and not everyone always followed the rules. I once heard a rumor that a couple of elementals hooked up out here many years ago during their retreat. Somehow, Magnus found out and showed up in the realm, dragging them back home and ending their retreat early.

It was baffling to me that they wasted such an amazing opportunity when they could’ve just waited. I would never be dumb enough to even attempt a stunt like that. Yes, desire occasionally flooded my body, especially when my thoughts drifted to Parker at night when I was trying to fall asleep. Several times, I woke up from sex dreams about him and had a deep-seated throb between my legs. But even so, I’d never risk Magnus’ ire to satiate the need. Not only that, but I was beginning to think Parker would be the only one to ease the ache.

The first day here, I was relieved to be rid of him and to finally have space from him. But soon, I found myself missing him. I’d even settle for seeing that stupid smug smirk as he teased and taunted me. I even missed hearing his voice, even when he was saying things to wind me up. There was a good chance that as soon as I saw him again, I’d remember why he annoyed me.

My peaceful and relaxing retreat came to a crashing halt when I discovered the body.

I was walking down a trail leading down the mountain when I noticed something out of place. Something was disturbing the natural flow of energy, something that shouldn’t be here. I sensed a thread of magic leading away from the trail and toward the grass that came up to my chest. It was hard to describe, but rather than give off pulses of energy that would allow me to possibly figure out what made it, the magic gave off no energy. Which wasn’t possible. All magic gave off energy. I didn’t get the impression that it was hidden, because nothing was ever truly hidden. Magic always left traces, so I would know if this was tampered with. At least, I thought so.

I knew I probably should’ve ignored it and continued down the path, forgetting about it and enjoying the rest of my retreat. But with all the strange things I’d seen this past year, I couldn’t. I had a bad feeling about this and now, I had to know the cause otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to relax or focus the rest of the time I was here.

Wandering off the dirt path and into the grass, I followed the thread of magic that was invisible to the naked eye, but when I tapped into my elemental magic, I could see a pulsing black line that was as thin as a strand of hair. The thread led me over a mile off course, and as time went on, I began smelling the barest traces of decay in the air. And unfortunately, this wasn’t the decay that came from death in nature. Not only had I not come across any dying vegetation or trees in this realm—which wasn’t surprising in the least with the amount of magic and elementals living here—but I also would’ve been able to sense it. I hadn’t. I didn’t think it came from a dead body though; the decay didn’t smell fresh. I’d had the unfortunate experience of seeing dead bodies firsthand, and I knew how they smelt. The rotting scent was something I would never forget, and I didn’t smell that here.

As I continued following the trail, the scent grew stronger and stronger until I stumbled upon a dead body. The grass surrounding the body had been burned away, leaving nothing but ash. I’d been right; the body wasn’t fresh. Its skin was shriveled up, looking like a mummy.

This wasn’t right. How did this go unnoticed? And why was there a thread of unusual magic leading to this body? Not only that, but the scent of burnt grass still lingered in the air. This grass was burnt recently, and it hadn’t been an accident. There were traces of elemental magic here, and it couldn’t be more than a couple of days old.

The bright green of the body’s clothes drew my attention and had me frowning. With the state of the body, the clothes shouldn’t look like that. They were covered in dirt, ash and grass with a few tears in them, but that was it. However, that wasn’t what held my attention; I recognized the outfit. The girl that had sat next to me at the table all those weeks ago had been wearing it. I remembered thinking how that jumpsuit was a little too nice to be wearing on the retreat. Everyone else had been wearing layered clothing, not knowing what to expect from the weather.

I couldn’t see her face since she was lying face down on the ground, but I recognized the white hair, despite how it was no longer shiny and full of bouncy curls.

Steeling my nerves, I covered my hand with my sleeve and flipped over the body. Her eyes were completely gone, looking like they had been burned from her skull. I had no clue what could burn out someone’s eyes without burning the rest of their face. Other than in the eye sockets, there weren’t any scorch marks on her face. Nor was there any indication that this was done by an elemental, like what happened to the grass. Not that I believe an elemental could’ve been able to do this.

I held my hands over her body, trying to see if I felt any residual energy or magic that may indicate who or what could do this.

This couldn’t possibly be right. I felt nothing.

Not only did they not leave any magical signature, but the body no longer held any traces of magic. I’d be the first to admit that I wasn’t an expert in dead bodies and how long the magic lingered, but I knew it was longer than a couple of weeks. It was how our kind were able to identify bodies that were too disfigured to identify by sight. But somehow, that residual magic wasn’t here. I couldn’t come up with any theories as to how this was possible.

Other than knowing she couldn’t have been dead for more than two weeks, I had no way of knowing how long she’d been out here. Whatever happened to her was far from natural. It was like the life and magic had been sucked from her.

I’d been standing around this dead body for way too long, whoever killed her could come back or was possibly still here, watching me.

Had I been led into a trap? There had been a distinct trail for me to follow. Why else would there be a thread of magic?

I moved away from the body like it was contagious. As I took off toward the dirt path, I kept a close eye on my surroundings, seeking out any sounds that were out of place or magic that didn’t belong to the realm. I didn’t allow the lack of signs that I was being followed to placate me. Whatever killed her wasn’t to be underestimated. Nor was it something I wanted to face.

It would be nice to have a weapon on me; too bad we weren’t allowed to bring any. From the scary stories elemental children would tell each other growing up about the retreat, it made sense why we weren’t allowed to have any weapons except our magic. My elemental magic was usually a good weapon, but she had the same magic I had, and look at what happened to her.

The path back up to the trail was steeper than I remembered. Which only proved how little I’d been paying attention to my surroundings earlier, too busy focusing on the trail leading to the body. The killer could’ve been watching me, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed. A shudder worked through my body at the thought. Being anywhere near whoever killed the woman was terrifying and something I didn’t want. Not while I was alone.

When I was far enough away, I would call Magnus. Finding a body seemed like an emergency.

My quick pace picked up when I caught sight of the dirt path. Paranoia kept plaguing me, and I couldn’t be sure if it was my intuition telling me I was being stalked, or if it was all in my head. Since I wasn’t too keen on being the next victim, it was best to assume it was the former.

Running down a fairly steep mountain was not ideal, but the thought that I was part of history in the making—that years from now, elemental children would be telling the story about the group that was all mysteriously murdered—spurred me to keep running.

I didn’t slow down until I reached the base of the mountain several miles later. My breaths were harsh, but I didn’t take this as a time to rest. I retrieved the iridescent crystal from my bag and infused a sliver of energy into it, feeling it warm up within my hands.

This didn’t work exactly the same as our wristbands: you didn’t have to connect the magic of this crystal with whoever you wanted to contact first—all that was required was that you were familiar with their energy signature. But as a result, not only was the connection not secure, but like I said before, it wasn’t stable. Case and point, the damn thing failed to connect to Magnus. Not once. Not even three times, but six. I tried six times, even going as far as walking another mile for the last try, hoping a change of location would help. It didn’t.

I kept following the marked-off path on my map since I didn’t know what else to do. When I eventually came across a dense forest and slowed to a stop. The dark green—so dark it was nearly black—tree tops were so densely packed that light couldn’t make it through them. Had I come across this forest yesterday, I would’ve noticed the calm magic coming from the trees and how the ground was teeming with life from the vegetation. But that wasn’t the case now. Even though there wasn’t a single trace of any dark or malignant energy, the knowledge that there was something in this realm that killed an elemental, left me feeling on edge. Call me crazy, but going into a dark forest didn’t seem like the smartest of plans.

Pulling up the map once more, my stomach pitched when I saw my path lead straight through, and if I wanted to go around it, that would be at least a ten-mile detour. The thought of going off the path again made me anxious since that was how I’d discovered the body in the first place.

After taking a deep breath and giving myself a pep talk, I entered the forest, and hopefully, I wouldn’t end up being killed.