Page 170 of Elemental Becoming

I can feel Thane behind me, his presence solid even inside the chaos, the bond burning inside me, his fire blazing against the darkness as he cuts through the shadows one after another, trying to reach me.

Somewhere far away, Thane is calling my name. But the rabid wind tears the words away before they can reach me.

Kieran is down. And I am losing myself to the storm.

The Elemental surge crashes outward, wild, untethered, brutal. It grabs at me, ripping strands from my braids, tearing pins from my hair. I hear the sharp rip of fabric as a part of my crimson dress is torn away, vanishing into the maelstrom. Wind claws at the remaining folds wrapped around my body. My earrings are wrenched from my ears, ripped away like fallen stars swallowed by the storm.

The power surges, uncontrolled and ravenous, clawing at my veins, tearing through me with a force too great, too vast, too much.

I scream.

It rips from my throat, raw and uncontained, echoing through the storm, through the battlefield, through the very fabric of my being.

The wind howls with me, spiraling into a violent vortex. Fire explodes outward, a blinding inferno scorching the air. Waterlashes like a thousand whips, twisting, uncontrolled. The earth shudders beneath my feet, fracturing, as though answering my pain.

It’s too much. Too much. I can’t hold it.

I am breaking.

I am becoming the storm.

I have wielded all four Elements before. So why can’t I align with them now?

Then it hits me.

I am bonded to Calryx. I am channeling at a level I never have before. This isn’t just me.

It’s us.

I hear Calryx’s voice in my mind, sharp and urgent.

“You must ground yourself! Listen to me! Breathe! Feel me with you! I am with you!”

I try.

Gods, I try.

But the power keeps building, cresting like a wave that refuses to break. And for the first time in my life, a terrifying thought crashes through me. What if I can’t stop it? What if this power isn’t something I control? What if it’s something I survive?

My heartbeat thunders in my ears. I feel lightheaded. Untethered. Weightless and impossibly heavy all at once.

“You are not alone! You and I are bound! We are one!”Calryx’s voice cuts through the storm, stronger now, fierce and unrelenting.“Virelya, you are stronger than this! Do not let it take you!”

The storm inside me still rages, but now I can feel her pushing against the chaos, reaching desperately for me through the bond.

And then, hands. Firm. Real.

Thane.

“Amara!”

His voice cuts through the chaos like a blade, sharp, commanding, pulling me back from the brink. I feel his grip on my arms, solid as the earth beneath my feet, even as everything else spins apart.

How did he get here? How has the magical tempest around me not injured him?

“Breathe!”

I gasp, but it doesn’t feel like enough. The storm rages around me, inside me, through me.