Elemental Blitz

14

The tension in the room was thick, but Rael’s mind was buzzing, already processing every piece of information his father had just dropped on him. His mother’s legacy, the Vael’Thor, the shadow magic that flowed in his veins—this was the truth he had been searching for. But there was something else. A bigger threat. The growing weight of destiny pressed down on his shoulders, and Rael wasn’t sure if he wanted any part of it.

Jerman stepped forward, his face weary but firm. “There’s more, Rael. You need to know about the Azure Sky.”

Rael blinked, confusion flashing across his face. “What the hell is the Azure Sky?”

Jerman sighed deeply, rubbing the bridge of his nose. “A new faction, built within the Kiston Kingdom. They’ve grown in secret, dedicated to wiping out the Vael’Thor and any traces of shadow magic. They see it as a blight, an infection that must be purged. They came to me not long ago, promising that if I joined them, they would keep you safe.”

Rael’s blood ran cold. “And you turned them down?”

“Of course I did,” Jerman said sharply. “They’re fanatics, Rael. They don’t want peace. They want annihilation. And they don’t care about collateral damage. If you joined them, you’d be nothing more than a weapon in their eyes, just like the academy tried to make you.”

Rael’s fists clenched at his sides. He could feel the familiar stir of magic bubbling beneath his skin, the patterns of the Prismatic Cognition flashing in his mind’s eye, and the shadow whispering in the background. He wanted to scream, to hit something—anything—but he was interrupted by the unmistakable sound of steel clashing in the distance.

Rael’s heart dropped. He and his father locked eyes.

“Ah, s**t,” Jerman said, grabbing his sword and strapping it to his side.

Before Rael could respond, the door burst open, and a blast of elemental magic ripped through the small house. Rael instinctively threw up a shield of air, deflecting the worst of the impact, but the force still sent him and Jerman sprawling to the floor.

“Get up, boy!” Jerman shouted, already back on his feet, his sword gleaming in the faint light. “We’ve got to fight our way out of here.”

Rael staggered to his feet, his mind racing. The air outside crackled with the unmistakable hum of magic—both shadow and light—and screams filled the air. People he had known his whole life, his neighbors, were running for cover as elves who had to be Vael’Thor agents, cloaked in their dark robes, unleashed shadow magic upon the village. The Kiston Kingdom, soldiers, clad in bright blue armor, who had to be Azure Sky, responded with blasts of elemental fire and lightning.

It was chaos.

Rael followed his father out of the house, his Prismatic Cognition flaring as he scanned the battlefield. The patterns of magic shifted wildly, almost too fast to track. The Vael’Thor agents moved like shadows, darting between buildings, while the Azure Sky soldiers formed tight ranks, launching volley after volley of destructive magic. In the center of it all, Assex burned.

“Rael, stay close,” Jerman barked, cutting down a Vael’Thor agent who had rushed him with a blade of dark energy. His father moved like a man possessed, his sword cutting through enemy after enemy with brutal efficiency.

Rael summoned a storm of wind and lightning, ripping through a group of Azure Sky soldiers who were preparing to unleash a devastating fireball on the village square. Their screams were lost in the roar of the storm, but Rael didn’t care. His focus was on survival—on keeping his father alive.

“Help! Please, somebody!”

Rael’s head snapped toward the sound, his heart clenching. One of the villagers, a woman he recognized as his father’s friend, was pinned beneath a collapsed beam, screaming for help as the battle raged around her. Without hesitation, Jerman sprinted toward her, his sword raised to defend against any who dared attack.

But as Jerman reached her, a figure emerged from the smoke—a Vael’Thor agent, his hand crackling with shadow magic.

“Dad!” Rael screamed, but it was too late.

The Vael’Thor agent unleashed a bolt of shadow directly into Jerman’s chest, sending him crashing to the ground beside the woman he had been trying to save. Rael’s world froze.

“No. No!” Rael sprinted toward his father, his vision blurring with rage and fear. He didn’t hear the rest of the battle, didn’t see the flames, didn’t feel the heat. All he saw was his father’s blood pooling beneath him, staining the dirt. He unleashed a blast of wind that sent the Vael’Thor flying, screaming into a burning building on pure instinct.

Rael dropped to his knees beside Jerman, his hands trembling as he pressed them to his father’s chest. The little healing magic he knew flared, desperate and wild, but the wound was too deep. Too much shadow had torn through him.

Jerman’s eyes fluttered open, and he reached up, grabbing Rael’s hand with a strength that was quickly fading.

“I’m… sorry, son,” Jerman rasped, his voice barely audible over the chaos. “I… I tried.”

Rael shook his head, his heart breaking. “Don’t you dare die. Not now. Not like this.”

Jerman’s grip tightened for a brief moment, his eyes locking onto Rael’s. “You… you have to be stronger than me. Don’t… let them control you. Do what you can for our town.”

And then the light in Jerman’s eyes faded, and his body went limp.

Rael knelt there, cradling his father’s lifeless body in his arms, the world around him crumbling. His father was gone. The man who had raised him, who had sacrificed everything to protect him—was gone.

And something inside Rael snapped.

The magic that had always flowed through him—the Prismatic Cognition, the elemental forces he had wielded with such control—became something else. Something darker. The shadow that had always whispered at the edges of his consciousness surged forward, filling him with raw, unchecked power.

Rael’s head snapped up, his eyes blazing with a mixture of prismatic light and dark shadow. The battlefield came into sharp focus. The Vael’Thor agents. The Azure Sky soldiers. The people who had turned his village into a graveyard.

They would all pay.

Rael stood slowly, his hands crackling with energy. The Prismatic Cognition was no longer a tool—it was a weapon. And he would wield it without mercy. Almost as a after thought, he flicked his wrist and the collapsed beam flew off his father’s friend. That was all the attention he had for the poor woman. He had murder to commit.

The nearest Vael’Thor agent turned toward him, his face hidden behind his hood. Rael didn’t hesitate. With a flick of his wrist, he summoned a wave of pure shadow, crushing the agent into the ground with enough force to shatter bone. The man didn’t even have time to scream.

The Azure Sky soldiers tried to regroup, but Rael was faster. He twisted the air around them, forming a cyclone of wind and lightning that ripped through their ranks, scattering them like leaves in a storm.

For the first time, both sides began to retreat, their eyes wide with fear. Rael could feel their terror, and it only fueled the rage burning inside him.

He was on no one’s side. He served no master. The Vael’Thor. The Azure Sky. The academy. Rozlyn and her mystery group. They had all tried to control him, to use him. But now, his powers have fully awakened along with a primal force.

But now, they would learn to fear him.