Page 161 of Elemental Becoming

The room tilts. The air thickens. Dread coils around my ribs, suffocating.

With a sharp flick of Thane’s wrist, flames roar to life in his palms, golden fire exploding against the encroaching darkness. The blaze reflects violently in his eyes as he turns toward me.

“Stay close,” he orders.

His voice is even, but something lethal lurks beneath it as he grabs my hand again. More to himself than me, he mutters, “How the fuck did they even get into the city, much less the castle?”

But I’m already moving.

I thrust out the hand not gripping Thane’s, calling the wind to me. It answers instantly.

Air whips violently around my body in a furious gale, my skirts and hair snapping wildly around me. Torches lining the walls flicker and bow toward me as though drawn by my presence.

Four Elements. Four weapons.

A shadowed figure lunges. I twist sharply, sweeping my arm through the air. Wind slams into the creature, hurling it backward into a marble column with a sickening crunch.

Where is Lyra? Garrick? Valen?

My heart clenches, but I don’t have time to search for them. I have to trust they’re fighting. Surviving.

Thane hurls a stream of fire into an attacker. Flames engulf the creature instantly, but five more surge through the smoke completely undeterred. He snarls low in his throat, shifting his stance as fire ignites across his forearm, blazing up his skin in a violent arc.

Dropping my hand, he moves. Faster than a thought. Faster than fear. A weapon forged for this very moment.

He swings—a devastating punch wreathed in golden fire—and the nearest shadow warrior bursts apart on impact. The flames burn hotter. Burn pure. The creature shrieks as it disintegrates, its form unraveling into nothing.

I barely have time to process it before another wave of shadows surges toward us.

“Get back!” Thane shouts as he spins, forcing me behind him.

He flicks his hand. A blistering stream of golden fire eruptsfrom his palm, scorching a path through the shadows. They scream as their forms shrivel and dissolve beneath the flames.

I barely register the chaos around me—the screams, the clash of magics—before I’m already moving.

Valen’s training clicks into place, muscle memory and instinct taking over. I reach out with my mind—the Air answers in an instant. A fierce gust surges across the ballroom, slamming into the shadows in a howling wave and hurling them so hard against the wall, exploding on impact.

Others gather, slithering toward the guests, hungry for more.

I need to do more. I have to do more.

I release Thane’s hand and stretch my focus deeper, down into the marble beneath my feet and toward the grand fountain at the center of the ballroom.

Earth answers first.

Stone erupts from the floor, jagged and sharp, spearing three advancing shadows. They dissolve into black mist.

Water follows.

It rises into the air, twisting like liquid silver as I shape it into razor-edged shards and launch them forward. The shards rip through the shadows, piercing them and scattering their forms into black vapor.

Then I reach for Fire.

Heat surges through me.

I snap my hand forward, and a whip of flame lashes across the ballroom. It cracks through the air, wrapping around a shadow’s torso before tightening. Fire races across its form, consuming it from within. The creature erupts into a column of flame and dissolves into ash before it ever reaches the floor.

The remaining shadows recoil, hissing as the firelight chases them back.