Atlantis du El'a stood between her mates Oberon and Tajor in the Grove of Assembly. Closing her eyes, she struggled with the raw power surging through her veins. She knew that she needed to get her magic under control or lose all control and become Werekin. As she named her greatest fear in her mind, the magic eased somewhat giving her relief and knowledge that the more she feared the harder it was to control the magic.
Startled from her thoughts by the rousing cheer of the crowd, Atlantis glanced around and was surprised that she missed the ceremony of her friends Ascension to Queen-ship. Pushing her magic out in front of her tuning it to a colder breeze she parted the crowd of Elves in front of her and walked forward to stand before her Queen.
"I, Atlantis du El'a Chieftain of the Clan Sky Elf, do solemnly acknowledge a pledge made to He Who Went Before, to guide you and protect you, my Queen Hadrese."
Hadrese stared down at her blue-skinned friend, relative, and now guide, swallowing the lump in her throat, Hadrese replied, "Your vow is so acknowledged and gladly accepted, go in peace."
Atlantis bowed her head and then again at the waist, allowing her forehead to scrape the dais on which the new Queen was standing; gracefully, Atlantis took a step back and melted into the crowd, slowing walking backwards to stand beside her Life Mates.
Other Elves came forward offering advice, help, guidance as appropriate each Clan Chieftain came forward and pledged loyalty to the new Queen and that of their Clans.
Atlantis felt a tickle in her mind and turned to stare at her daughter, who giggled. Atlantis thought to her Wee One, "I have to go to Rowan of the Elementals for training. Be good while I am gone and I'll see you tonight!"
Her daughter bobbed her head up and down and tinkling laughter echoed in the Grove. A transportation orb appeared in front of Atlantis, who touched it and disappeared.
Opening her eyes, Atlantis felt a strong pulse, looking around she noticed only gray walls, but the walls looked like they were alive, gray slightly tinged with red. The room was oval and the ceiling disappeared into inky blackness, darker then anything she had ever seen.
Rowan appeared in the room and he regarded Atlantis and said nothing. Crossing his arms he sent out a stream of elemental magic and allowed it to float beside Atlantis, allowing him to gauge just how much magic she had received in her Gifting. He staggered back. Her magic zinged along the his stream of magic causing a backlash, sending him flying, crashing into the wall and slumping to the ground.
Stunned Atlantis rushed over to Rowan and in a raspy voice said, "Rowan what happened. Are you alright?"
No reply. Swallowing, Atlantis isolated her Sky Elf magic and blew it over the crumpled body in front of her, probing to see if any permanent damage had been done. No indications of anything physically wrong, immediately, Atlantis knew that it was all mental damage that had hurt Rowan.
Slowing she probed into his mind seeking for a way around his walls, nothing, no holes even in shock, she was completely blocked out.
Sighing, Atlantis sat back. She decided not touch him because she didn't yet know all the ways her magic could lash out. In her mind she replayed the connection that zapped Rowen unconsciousness.
Falling into her mind, Atlantis followed the new magic to the well in her mind where it was stored. Using her metaphysical eyes she looked into the cauldron of Elemental magic and studied the swirling patterns trying to sort out what each color meant and maybe how it would affect her use of the magic.
Each Clan had their secrets on how to control their magic, they didn't reveal those secrets to other Elves, not even Life Mates understood how the magic worked, some would pick up techniques on how to find holes in their Mates minds so they could slip in and out of their Mates minds at will, but not how or why their Mates magic worked.
Instinctively, Atlantis knew that the magic she was seeing in her mind had the secrets of each Clan stored into its color-coded streams. The only color that was missing was the Clan Sky Elf, she didn't need to know how her own magic worked so it was missing or was it?
Atlantis closed off all of her innate magic except for a small pinhole, and she gently pushed a speck of Sky Elf magic through the hole and allowed it to interact with the Elemental magic she held within her mind. The roiling mess she saw stopped writhing and began to untangle itself and assemble in an organized circle.
It took Atlantis a little while to figure out that her magic was assembling in the same pattern as the Ascension symbol that was given to the Elven King or Queen except instead of being a burn, this symbol was alive.
Gently Atlantis prodded a stream of Water Elf magic. She heard the gentle roar of the ocean waves crashing into the distant shore. She felt a heartbeat. What was that? Slowly she followed the stream of magic to the source of the heartbeat. It was the Water Clan Chieftain. She was astonished with her findings. In that moment, she knew that she could kill anyone of her fellow clansmen with a single thought. Mentally, she steadied herself and slowly withdrew along the line of magic she had followed back to its origin in her mind.
Swallowing, Atlantis gingerly touched the cord of magic that was of the Forest Elves. She heard the soft buzzing of the forest. She felt Elves and Humans and Others walking on the forest floor; animals burrowing within the arms of Mother Earth. She heard the hallow thumping of a heartbeat, this time she didn't follow it as she knew it would be the Clan's Chieftain.
She plucked at the Air Clans line and was surprised that the name was incorrect, they were called the Zyphers, which literally meant west wind. Why west, wondered Atlantis. She smelled the forest, water, molten rock, earth, pollens from different trees and plants. She could tell which direction the winds were blowing, the temperatures in each air stream. She knew where it would storm next, how much rain would fall, and if lightening would strike the ground.
Her metaphysical eyes rounded in discovery. Each clan was part of the whole and the Elementals held it all together. No wonder you never made an Elemental Elf angry, they could cause floods, earthquakes, ice storms, they could cause strife and catastrophic disasters by pulling on all the magical cords they held within themselves and depending on how violently they pulled would decide the magnitude of the mess they caused.
Atlantis said out loud, "I can never hunt again."
Rowen came to the conscience state to hear Atlantis mutter, "I can never hunt again."
"That would be correct Atlantis du El'a."
Hearing Rowan's pronouncement, Atlantis replied, "I have the Elemental magic controlled, but how do I tie it off so I won't loose control of it again?"
"Find the end of the magic that is still loose, it is only one end, knit it to your magic and you can call on it at anytime just like you can your own Sky magic."
Atlantis didn't rely. She was looking for the magical thread that was dangling from her live Ascension symbol. Little did she know the destiny she was about to assign to herself, but she would find out, and it would not be pretty.
Copyrighted. April 2010 by Georgia Lee Jones. All rights reserved. Any copying of this information without the consent of the author is illegal and considered theft.
