Page 148 of Gift from the Nexus

My body sways as my vision swims and suddenly, I’m seeing multiple of my men. There’s at least eight of them and when I stick my hand out for someone to grasp, to ground me, I can’t tell if I’m reaching for the real one or the duplicate.

“Shit,” Corentin hisses as he presses his hand firmly to my chest. “There’s no room for any air, Caspian.”

“Fuck. Move,” Caspian demands and I feel him cup my cheeks in his hands. “Stay with me, Primary, stay with me.”

“Cas…”

I don’t know if I can. The water isn’t obeying me either. The moment he said what was happening, I tried to command it out just as I would all my other elements, but it doesn’t respond to me like they do.

It’s wilder, more rapid.

“Draw it out of you. Command it up out of your lungs and through your mouth rather than your hands if that’s easier. Or make your air suck it out. You can do this, Willow.”

Caspian’s tone is petrified as his fingers twitch against my cheeks. Through the pain of suffocating, I feel him now more keenly than ever before and a sad, watery smile crosses my face. I’ve waited quite some time now to feel him pulse through my chest, my heart, and it seems the first time could possibly be my last.

“Don’t think like that, little warrior. Fight. Fight it,” Tillman gruffly orders through the emotion clogging his throat.

I’m trying to. I’m trying so hard, but it’s…

“No, don’t fight, little wanderer,” Draken says softly as suddenly it’s his hands holding my face rather than Caspian’s. His warmth circles me in a protective blanket and I want to honker down in it.

“Draken, what the—”

“Don’t fight. Let it be free. Water can’t be restrained. It flows both broken and whole. Sing your lullaby and let it go, little wanderer,” he murmurs against my lips, then backs away from me rapidly like he knows something’s about to happen that the rest of us don’t.

Regardless, I listen to him, his instructions, because my chest swells just a smidge with his words.

Air, Earth, Water, Fire so bright,

Four Elements pure and right.

Air we breathe, wise and sweet,

Earth stands strong, soil beneath our feet.

Water flows, broken and whole,

Fire’s warmth feeds the soul.

Remember these with joy and cheer,

The elements become one, the world becomes clear.

As if my body is a poorly constructed dam, water crashes through me with the ferocity of a flood. It flows out of me with no restraint, no direction, and circles me in a globe that continues to grow.

The more that pours out of me, the easier it becomes to breathe, to see, and finally, I stand on shaking legs. With my arms outstretched, the wild rapids continue to shoot from my palms, adding to the massive water ball I’m encapsulated in, and the desperate breaths I take seem to only strengthen them. All I can do is ground myself in the soil and let it be free. Let it surround me.

All the other times I had an element break free, I never had to completely deplete it for it to listen to me. But this elementis so, so different than the others. It’s like it’s stretching itself out from being so restrained for so long. As the last drop slips through my finger, I finally feel its connection snap in place. It’s instantaneous and I know now, it’ll listen to me.

This little element here is deadly but also beautiful.

Turning around inside the globe, I drag my fingers through the cool liquid, smiling, mesmerized. If it decided to just burst, I’d be done for. I don’t believe I could get myself out of this much water in time or with the help of all my other elements.

As if my elements took that thought as an opportunity to show me different, with no warning, and no command from me, all four of them burst free together.

Suddenly, I’m shot through the top of the globe on a pillar of stone and my air blows around me, drying me off. Purple and red flames surround me in the warmth of a fireplace while my water slithers around my body.

The four of them work together as one, taking complete control of this situation, raising me higher and higher into the sky. The more into the air I climb, the more power they build, the more forceful they become. Just like the moment at my tree when my Memoria stone touched my skin, I feel like they’re hitting me at once, but instead of it being painful, it’s freeing.

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