Page 173 of Elemental Becoming

I inhale deeply, pulling the Elements upward in unison.

Fire leaps to my hands, but it is not wild now—it is controlled. Focused. Wind curls around me, bending fully to my will, feeding the flames until they burn hotter. Water gathers in the air, drawn from the shattered fountains, freezing into razor-edged shards awaiting my command. Earth hums beneath my feet, my bedrock.

The Elements don’t fight me this time.

They align.

I’m no longer struggling for control. I’m channeling them asthey were meant to be channeled.

The bonds I have with Calryx and Thane pull me into alignment. I fully submit to the combined strength.

Fire twists together with the wind, forming a spear of crackling Elemental energy. Water freezes around its edges, trapping lightning within. The earth beneath me shifts, rising through the fractured marble to stabilize my stance.

For the first time, I feel complete. Whole. Powerful.

“Get ready, Thane,” I call out, my voice stronger now.

Thane meets my gaze. He nods once. No hesitation. Only trust.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Valen, his staff a blur of motion, a weapon of fluid destruction. Every strike is calculated and controlled.

A shadow creature lunges. Valen twists, the staff whipping through the air, cracking against its skull with a sharp, resounding impact. Another rises. He spins low, sweeping its legs out from beneath it before driving the reinforced end of his staff into its chest, shattering it into nothingness.

His eyes meet mine, and for one brief moment, the chaos disappears. No battle. No screaming. Only my mentor’s belief in me.

He nods once.

I pull and pull and pull.

As I do, the air around me begins to still. I become the eye of the tornado, where everything feels as quiet and peaceful as approaching dawn.

The floor falls away beneath me as I rise several feet into the air. I throw my arms wide, the Elements merging and expanding within me.

I breathe in deep, feeling the raw power coalescing inside me.

And then I hurl the spear.

BURNOUT

TWENTY-THREE

Dragons are ancient creatures, wise beyond measure and bearers of magics greater than any mortal mind can grasp. Depending on your affinity, you know where your magics come from: a feeling, controlling, releasing, or grounding. But the magics shared through a dragon bond is something altogether different. I have seen riders spend years learning to channel it so they can use it effectively and not destroy themselves. Those who rush the process rarely survive it.

—VALEN’S JOURNAL

AMARA

The air shatters around it as the weapon streaks toward its target like a comet.

Then—something snaps. It doesn’t simply leave my hands; it tears through me like a string pulled too tight, then severed.

Still suspended in the air, my body seizes, a full-body tremor rolling through my limbs, shaking me down to my bones. My chest constricts as though something essential has just been ripped out of me.

The air in my lungs vanishes, stolen by the Elemental force tearing through me. I hit the marble hard. I can’t breathe. I feel lightheaded. Disconnected. As if I’ve left a part of myself behind inside the storm.

I try to stand, but my limbs buckle beneath me like a newborn foal struggling to rise.

“Amara!”