Enkind E11

“What are you doing here?” A surly looking man asked Terrance as he arrived at the Mountain and Earth guild.

“I was given this,” Terrance said as he walked up to the man. He held out the token given to him for excellence in the Earth challenge.

The man’s eyes grew big at the sight of the token, and he took a respectful step back.

“Through the door, down the hall, left at the suit of armor, right at the library. Go up two flights of stairs, take a left, head back down three flights of stairs and drop down through that ladder at the end of the tunnel.”

“What?” Terrance said, blinking in confusion.

“Your appointment, go to where I said and someone will be there to guide you.”

“Can you repeat those directions?”

“Nah, takes too long. Pietro come here.”

A scrawny boy a couple of years older than Terrance ran over, an earth rat trailing behind him.

“Take him to the token chamber.”

Without a word Pietro took off, Terrance hurrying to keep up. They headed up down and around, Terrance thought they were going in circles but eventually, they came to a hole in the floor.

“There you are, just hop down there. The master will be waiting.”

With that Pietro turned and scurried off, his rat following close behind him.

Terrance stood eyeing the hole for a moment, but then climbed through and down to the floor. They were in an arena filled with a multitude of earth elementals and earth creatures.

An enormous drake lay in the far corner snoozing, griffins, gnomes, and other earth creatures meandered around or sat sleeping as well.

He found himself drawn to the drake, crossing the floor, he walked right up to the creature’s scaly face and stood examining its awesome presence.

“You have good taste,” a voice said from the gloom behind him.

Terrance turned as the guild master Eric Daniels ascended from the ground behind him.

“So you survived, I thought you died taking the hit from that elemental. You are tougher than you appear.”

Eric Daniels walked around Terrance looking him over.

“And where is the girl who was with you? Didn’t she get a token as well?”

“She was taken by the head of the Field and Forest guild.”

“What?” Eric Daniels exclaimed, “She hasn’t tested with them yet. Why did they offer her a place? Are they trying to poach my acolytes?”

Eric Daniels paced back and forth muttering to himself.
“It wasn’t that sir, the Field Fairies came when Melody needed help. They think that Melody already linked with one.”

“The what?”

“The fairies that came and healed everyone and destroyed the elementals. The Field and Forest guild assumed she had linked with one of them, so they claimed her for their guild.”

“That’s impossible, no one can link with a fairy.”

Eric Daniels glared at the ceiling for a moment before wiping the disgust off his face.

“No matter, I still have you. How about my offer, would you like to link with one of the creatures here?”

“The tournament is not over yet, don’t the rules say to wait for the tournament to finish?”

“Normally yes, but every Guild master is given a few tokens to allow early linking. That token in your hand marks you as one of those lucky few. Look around, take your pick. I would start with the drake, you might be able to link with the beast. An elemental will only link with someone of equivalent power to itself. I tried linking with the drake but the creature was not interested. Let’s hope you will have better luck.”

Terrance walked over to the drake and placed his hand on its head. He gave a few practice breaths before reaching in, the same way he did with an elemental amulet, and reached for the creature’s core. He felt the drake, it eyed him curiously, magic flowed between them and almost clicked, but something kept the bond from sealing. He could sense the drake just on the other side of the barrier, but he couldn’t get through. He tried for a few moments more but gave up in frustration.

“I thought you had closed the link there for a moment,” Eric Daniels exclaimed, “too bad. But there are plenty of powerful creatures here for you to link with.”

Terrance walked from creature to creature, each time the magic formed the beginning of the link but something stood in his way. Finally, after going through all the creatures larger than a stone dog he stopped, looking confused.

“I don’t think I can link with any of them.”

Eric Daniels glowered, “I think you are right. Doesn’t make sense though, you used the earth magic so fluidly. As if stone was a part of who you were. How could you not be able to link with one of these creatures? You nearly did with all of them, I thought at first that you were scared so you weren’t filling the link but to do that with all of them. No, for whatever reason you can not link with Earth elementals.”

Terrance looked around, wondering what he should do now.

“It is too bad, I thought you would make a place for yourself here.”

“I thought I would as well. I am sorry for having wasted your time.”

“You didn’t waste my time Terrance, you’re joining my guild just wasn’t meant to be.”

Eric Daniels grinned at Terrance, “Whatever you link with, the elemental will be powerful. Whichever guild you end up in don’t go lower than a stone dog. Anything beneath that is not worth your time. You would do better to head into the trials unlinked than to go with a stone rat.”

“Pietro linked with a stone rat.”

“Pietro barely contains any magical ability. He is too weak in character. He is stubborn though, that counts for something.”

Looking Terrance over he said, “You did well at the air tournament as well didn’t you?”

“I placed second, behind Melody.”

“Let’s go talk to Cheneth, I gave you the token already, you might as well use it to link with one of her air elementals. An air elemental would be better than nothing.”

Terrance tried to keep the sadness from showing on his face, but he couldn’t quite keep the sadness away from his face. He had a family tradition to uphold, but there was nothing he could do about his failure. The stone elementals wanted nothing to do with him.

“That would be fine sir, not as good as stone but air would be a worthy link”

“Well said, let’s go.”

A beast flowed out of the ground at Terrance’s feet. The creature had horns and claws, but the creature was not a dragon. Terrance had never seen anything like it.

“What is that thing?”

“This is my beast Kendel, we found each other in the mountains. Like I said, you would do better to go into the trials unlinked rather than descend to the level of a stone dog.”

Eric climbed on and motioned for Terrance to join him. They flowed into the earth, becoming one with the ground. After a long and confusing length of time, they emerged, near the top of a cliff that jutted out of the ground.

“This is the home of the Air and Breath guild. Let’s see if Cheneth will be amenable to your linkage.”

They entered the Air and Breath guild, the palace was light and airy, the halls were filled with holes that let air flow through. In a huge courtyard, they found Cheneth.

“Terrance comes to claim a Token, Cheneth.” Eric Daniels called as they walked up to where Cheneth was cleaning her link partner, a griffin. “Would you be so kind as to lead us to your menagerie?”

“Tokens are for guilds to give to open the storehouse of their own guilds Eric Daniels.”

“Not so fast Cheneth, that is not wholly true. We never said that we can not give them to those we find acceptable in another element, it is just not customary to pass up those who we see as having real talent.”

“And why are you giving up this real chance?”

“To tell you the truth, it’s because he tried and failed with my elementals. He scored second in the air trials, I thought he might as well try here since I can not keep him. You should appreciate that, you gain an edge by my loss.”

Cheneth gave Eric Daniels an appraising once over before turning to Terrance.

“So, Eric Daniels says you are talented. Hold still let me breathe on you.”

Terrance was confused by what was happening, but he decided to go along with whatever she was doing. A breath of air surrounded him, touching him, engulfing him. The breath rushed into him and through him. Cheneth gasped after a moment, “Such power. This is my gain indeed.”

She turned and touched Eric Daniels cheek, “Thank you for this, I will not forget.”

Eric Daniels blushed slightly but shook his head, “No thanks needed. He is a worthy candidate and you are a good guild master.”

Cheneth took Terrance and Eric Daniels through a series of open bridges until they came to a stone plateau covered in air elementals.

“Pick wisely Terrance,” Cheneth said.

“Good luck,” Eric Daniels said with a grin.

Terrance approached elemental after elemental, starting with the strongest, but stopping before the air cats. Each time he a link form, but he was unable to complete the bond. He sighed in exasperation.
“This is not going to work, they won’t link with me either.”

Cheneth approached him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Do not worry Terrance, you are not finished yet. Though you have not linked with my elementals, you will link tonight. Come, sweet talker, let’s take Terrance to the rest of the guilds, maybe one of them will have the elemental that will be fit for Terrance.”

“Not even a horse would link with me. I don’t deserve to be linked.”

“Have you heard Eric Daniels’s story?”

“I have not.”

“We were in the same year, ten years ago we went through the same trials you are going through. He did well in all the competitions, though he didn’t do as well in air I remember.”

“You were so beautiful jumping from pillar to pillar your performance distracted me and I tripped.”

“Sure, sweet talker.”

Cheneth turned back to Terrance smiling, “Anyways when our group came to link nothing would bond with him. He was too powerful for them you see. He was not strong enough for the drake, but none of the elementals wanted him because he was so powerful, they knew he would draw too deeply from them. So they refused. This may be the reason you can not form a bond.”

“Who is the sweet talker now Cheneth? You are making me blush.”

“Let us go to the Fire and Spark guild, maybe they have a place for young Terrance.”

They spent the rest of the evening going from guild to guild, in every place Terrance thought he had completed the link, but something kept him from finishing the bond. With each stop more and more guild members followed them so that by the end they had all of the elemental guilds at the guild of Field and Forest.

“What is this,” Alexa asked as they all approached, “Why was I not informed of a meeting of the guilds. I feel I have been placed in a place of weakness by these actions.”

“Calm down Alexa,” Eric Daniels started, “We have an unusual request of you. Allow Terrance here to try to link with your elementals. Here is his token.”

“Why are you asking this of me, and why have all of these Guild masters come with you?”

“I gave a guild token to Terrance, but he was not able to link with my stone elementals.”

“He came to me next and was unable to link with my Air creatures.”

“He couldn’t link with my Fire warriors.”

“Or with my Water friends.”

“So you see Alexa, we came here.”

“If he failed so many times then he will not find success here. He is probably too weak.”

“He is not weak,” Cheneth broke in, “I have tested him. He is too strong. His strength is like a stone mountain, a hurricane as the storm front reaches land, a fire flowing through dry forest, a wave that rushes up far onto the land, a sprout that grows into a tall tree. He has light and darkness, ice and magma. He even has the spark. But he has not linked with any of the elements we still have access to. So we come to you, allow him to try your elementals. He would be a strong boon to your guild.”

“You have tested him? Fine, I can’t turn you away. Come in, try your best with my creatures.”

“Terrance? What are you doing here.”

Melody walked through a doorway, looking confused at the crowd. She shrank back into herself as the other watched her.

“You were right about her,” Alexa whispered, “Just needed to get her alone, and she was a fountain of strength. I have never seen anything like her condition. She is the reason I am allowing this, you saw her value before any of us did.”

They walked through fields and forests until they came to a clearing. Nature elementals roamed around gently swaying and singing. Terrance felt like he might be better off not having these elementals, but he didn’t say so.

Nothing changed here however, he walked from elemental to elemental, the link formed but did not fulfill. After a time he turned back to the waiting guild masters, “I can not do it, I will have to go into the mountains unlinked.”

“Unlinked, but not alone,” Melody said, “We will go together.”

“Thank you, Melody,” Terrance replied, “I do not want to be a burden but I fear if I go alone I will never rejoin my family.”

A Field fairy flew through the crowd, landing on Melody’s shoulder the fairy buzzed around her for a moment and then landed on Terrance’s shoulder. She curled up and fell asleep almost at once.

“Well Comet likes you, you have to come with us,” Melody said with a grin.

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