Focusing on my power, on the magic deep inside me, I pulled the elements out. The twin forces of life and death, along with fire, water, air, and earth. Tugging on each thread, they erupted from my fingers with a rush of color. Wrestling with them, I forced the colorful magical threads to comply, and weaved them around one another, moving my arms to help me focus my mind until they were braided together. Then I released the magic into the world. "I call on the Gods to appear before us!" I yelled, as I pushed my power into the fabric of the realm, into the very source of it all. The primal essence of the universe. My mates then released a burst of their own magic and called out to the Gods, and through our bond I felt their power surging and strengthening mine. We were all connected, with

