Chapter 14: Chapter Fourteen – The Five Elements

“First, I’ll teach you the secret of power: the knowledge of the five elements,” the she-Dragon promised with a jagged smile. “Now, mark well the rat. Do you see the water draining from his carcass?”

The teenager thought for a moment. “Do you mean his blood? It’s much like water.”

“Yessss,” the winged serpent hissed and then put forth one of her spear-like talons scratching a design deeply into the surface of the flat stone next to where the rat lay.

First, she made a rough circle, and from it, she drew four lines. Lastly, she encircled the lines with yet another larger circle so that it resembled a hub and its wheel joined together by four spokes.

“You’ve rightly said that blood is like water. It’s because blood is made from that element.”

Turning back to her drawing, she clawed a horizontal line into the stone slab at the end of the wheel’s left spoke. Up from this, she drew three straight vertical lines that ended in square-shaped swirls.

“Water is one of the five elements, and this is its sigil.”

The glyph reminded Wroth of the geysers near his home that sprayed water high into the air.

Again, she scratched a second horizontal line at the bottom of the wheel. From it, she drew three straight vertical marks coming up from the base line. “The next element is earth, and this is its sigil.”

This symbol reminded Wroth of the giant pillar-like plateaus of Fangland.

The she-Dragon gestured to the dead rat. “If you lay this beast in the field and leave him to rot, you’ll find that his body will turn to dust and stone, for all flesh is made from dirt and all bones from rock.”

She drew another line at the end of the right spoke. Up from this line, she scratched three parallel zigzags and then explained, “The next element is fire, and this is its sigil.”

With a nod, Wroth commented, “It does look a lot like fire.” He had seen flames dance upon the pools of lava within his homeland.

Wormtongue nodded her horned head and then continued the lesson. “As there is more than one kind of earth, so also, there’s more than one kind of fire. There’s fire like the flames of my breath, and there’s fire like the lightning that comes with storms and dances across the clouds. Within all of us, there are tiny bits of this second type of fire. Lay your hand upon the rat. Do you feel his warmth? There’s your proof that a fire is within every creature.”

Again, she scratched a horizontal line but this time at the top of the wheel, and up from this line, she drew three angular swirls that swept upwards.

“The next element is wind, and this is its sigil.”

The teenager looked at this new glyph and then gazed upwards at the swirling clouds. He rightly guessed that it was the wind that moved them.

“Like all of us, the rat took in and blew out wind before you killed him,” the flying serpent explained.

Lastly, she drew a fifth line in the center of the wheel’s hub. Up from it, she scratched three forked lines. The one upon the left angled to the left, the one in the center went straight up, and the one upon the right angled to the right.

“The final element is actually the first. It’s called Aether, and this is its sigil,” the she-Dragon said while pointing at the new symbol.

Wroth studied the symbol intently. To the teen, it looked something like a tree. “Please, Dragon-mother, tell me more about this element you call Aether. What is it?”

Wormtongue let out a throaty reptilian purr and then responded to his pleading. “I have shown you four of the five elements in the rat, but no matter how hard you look, you’ll never find the Aether. It is an elusive thing; seen and yet unseen. Aether is much like a shadow, and it flows through, infuses, and binds everything in the universe together.”

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The teenager’s thick brow creased with confusion. “But where does it come from?”

“The element of Aether proceeds from the Void, and it was by the Aether that all other things were made. What’s more, our world hangs in the very center of the everlasting Void, and so when the Aether expressed itself in its purest form, it did so as this glorious tree which you now see behind me. It’s a direct outflowing of untainted Aether, and for this reason it’s called the Aethereal Tree.”

The young man marveled anew at the Tree of Deepshadows. Suddenly it was more than a tree. It was Aether in physical form! The very power behind creation.

“If you eat the Aethereal fruit, you’ll feel its power surging through your body causing your mind to expand,” the she-Dragon promised with a flick of her forked tongue.

Wroth held out his hands eagerly, and as soon as she gave him one of the glossy black fruit, he began to eat without hesitation.

The fruit was syrupy sweet in his mouth, and truly, he felt a rush of energy surge through his body. However, unlike his father who became terribly sick after he had eaten, Wroth felt no ill effects because of the shadows he had inherited from his father and because he grew up consuming the black mushrooms which had their beginnings at the roots of the fell-tree.

As the fruit began to take effect, Wroth stumbled backward. At the same time, he felt as though his mind was beginning to expand, and all that the Dragon had told him started to make perfect sense. In that moment, the black and gray eyes he had inherited from his father were darkened with thick swirling shadows until every part of his eyes became like two pools of wet pitch.

“Now about that rat,” the flying serpent interrupted the teen’s abstract thoughts. “He’s far too small to satisfy my hunger, so I shall let you eat him,” she proclaimed with a tone that was meant to emphasize the charity she was showing him, and then she added, “So long as you promise to bring me a larger meal.”

Wroth nodded wordlessly while blinking his black eyes as if he was trying to wake himself.

“Now stand away from the creature,” she commanded. “And I’ll prepare him for you.”

Climbing to his feet, he quickly stepped a few paces away from the huge flat stone. As he watched expectantly, he fought to hide the appalled expression that threatened to betray his disgust. The notion of eating the rat was far from appealing to him.

Ignoring her pupil’s sudden lack of enthusiasm, the she-Dragon drew in a large breath. As she did so, her throat swelled causing the scales in that spot to bristle like a thousand obsidian arrowheads. Between these standing scales, a dark-red light began to glow within her throat, and then with explosive power, she vomited out an inferno of smoke and flame.

The dead rat was cooked almost immediately, and so Wormtongue was forced to turn the remainder of her flames upward until they were exhausted, for once a Dragon has begun to spew out fire, they cannot cease until the flames within their craw are entirely spent.

When Wroth saw this frightening display of her power, he trembled with renewed fear, but with this uncontrollable terror, there came also a strong feeling of exhilaration. This excitement was followed by a keen sense of veneration for the Dragon.

“Now eat.” She made her words sound like a request, but in her black heart, it was a command.

The young man approached the still smoldering rat with caution. Though he had eaten many of the black mushrooms and now a shadow-fruit, he had never eaten the flesh of another creature, even if it was only a pitiful rat.

After one last nervous glance at his new mistress, Wroth took his first bite of meat. He found the texture sickening, but he feared the she-Dragon far too much to let her see his displeasure. With a stifled gag, he took a second bite, and then a third, and a fourth, until he completely lost count. By the time he had eaten his fill, he had acquired a taste for flesh.

The flying serpent was well pleased, and she made it known to the young man by emitting a deep, rumbling purr.

Wroth licked his fingers and gazed with a satisfied expression at the half-eaten carcass.

“Now go and find me a more befitting meal,” she commanded with a forced sweetness. “And when you return, I shall teach you more secrets of power.”

The young man bowed eagerly and then made haste to find a meal more suited to her great size.

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