Bound Magic and the Gods' Secrets

1. Esther

ESTHER

This is when I feel most like myself. Empowered. Unstoppable. Certain.

My left boot glides through the loose sand, and I ground myself as the magic passes through me, a delicate dance between nature and how I’ll utilize it as a weapon.

Goosebumps erupt along my skin as I draw in the magic and identify what element my opponent is blessed with, readying myself to connect with it and use it against them.

When I breathe out, I let loose a feral smile as I say my single-worded chant, “Link.”

My connection to his magic is immediate as my invisible chains latch on, ready to replicate it against him.

I might not be able to produce magic organically, and I am technically an exception to the laws that ordinarily bind us to the magic in this world, but I sure as hell have made it my mission to become one of the most powerful greers to ever have lived.

The flow of water rattles within me, quietly sloshing, waiting for my command as I direct my hands toward the ocean and gather its weight on an invisible string.

My mind catches on silent enchantments, like reading an old, beloved textbook.

What starts as a calm ease within me turns into a living entity as I bend the water to my will.

I refocus on Master Kain, who stands across the beachfront with ample distance between us, silently imploring me to come at him with all I have. A moment passes, and I appreciate the dawn as the sun glistens, a bead of sweat already dripping down my brow.

Small water droplets suspend in the air, glistening like marble against the sunrise.

This is our training space and domain, my master always careful to ensure nothing can get out as much as nothing can get in.

To the naked eye, the protective barrier erected is invisible, but I can feel it, like a buzzing limitation all around.

The old man’s lips begin to move rapidly as he chants.

Today, I take from his previous lectures and wait patiently instead of making the first move, mostly out of frustration with the same outcome every other time.

With almost fifteen years of training with Master Kain in the water element, I still haven’t bested him or unlocked my first element out of the six, so I can use its magic freely.

Game on, old man. As if he’s heard my cocky thoughts, a wave the size of half our domain erupts from the ocean and barrels toward me.

Wordlessly, I bend the collected water that serves me into a vortex, and it acts as a barricade when his force smashes against mine, immediately buckling my knees. I can no longer see him, but it’s not my eyes I hunt with. Connected to his magic, I can sense his movement and use it to my advantage.

I strike out with one hand, commanding sharp droplets of water to shoot toward him, which forces him into a quick defense.

Adrenaline pumps through my veins, and the connection to the water rolling in my lower stomach tries repeatedly to shift back to an easy, comfortable flow as I force the magic to act differently.

I can sense the old man moving, and I follow my water bullets to track him as they leave explosive sounds in their wake.

“This is taking too long,” I grit, irritated by not hitting my mark as I expand my water vortex, pushing against his crushing wave.

I’m not sure if it’s sweat or sea spray that dampens my face, but I exhale a frustrated breath as I allow my magic to explode.

The moment I do, my vortex breaks through his crushing wave, and a sheet of glistening water hangs suspended in the air against the backdrop of the sun.

For a moment, I can only hear my heavy breath as if time pauses, and I search for him, finally free of his magic’s weight and distraction.

The water splashes down onto the sand, and when I finally spot him, the smile slips from my face. “Fuck.”

I should’ve known he was only using the water wall as a distraction.

I try to gather more of the sea, but the moment I connect with it, I’m hit with a ball of water and thrown across the coarse beach.

My fingers dig into the sand, and I try to gain purchase against the chafing terrain like a feral cat digging her claws in.

My boots drag behind me as I try to stop myself from sliding, until I finally come to a standstill on all fours.

When I look up, I blow a lock of red hair that’s come loose from my braid out of my face.

I click my tongue, irritated, but barely have any time to regain my composure before I’m on the defense again.

The shape of a water dragon twists from the ocean, an inorganic, smooth form. The soulless beast is the height of six stacked men, tunneling out of the water majestically as it reflects the orange hues of the sun.

Master Kain speaks rapidly; he’s most likely been chanting from the moment he used the water wall as a distraction. My stomach swells as I regain my control of the water, forcing myself to ignore the nauseating creep from where I lost control because of my impatience.

Fuck, there’s not enough time.

His dragon dives for me, and I lift both hands, rising to stand as I connect with the soulless beast itself.

I lean forward in an attempt to touch the tip of its nose, a much easier way to bind something to my power.

Realization dawns, and Master Kain attempts to pull his dragon back, but he’s a fraction too late.

The weight of my power settles into my stomach like an anchor the moment I physically touch it.

With blue hues of old text running in the back of my mind, I blow over its nostrils, silently commanding it to sleep.

The tip of its nose and its bared fangs begin to crystallize, and I encourage the frozen particles to stretch farther over its body, until the beast is ripped from my grasp, tugging at my stomach and immediately forcing bile to my throat.

I do everything to shove it back down as Master Kain reclaims his soulless beast.

For all my strength and ability, he is, after all, our kingdom’s strongest greer and the king for a reason.

If it weren’t for my ability to use only a one-word chant as an advantage in speed alone, I might have never been a worthy opponent for him in the first place.

But I wonder if that’s also why he decided to train me privately—not only to keep my identity hidden but also to challenge himself.

I might be able to connect with all six elements; fire, water, earth, air, metal and spirit, unique only to an omni greer, but I’m limited to only use the same that my opponent harbors.

My one-word chant might give me access to an ancestral line I know little about, but I will never be able to use the elements freely until I figure out how to unlock each one.

Unfortunately for me, all other omni’s are dead, but with what little information I know, unlocking each is unique to the omni greer.

Even with the advantage of speed from not having to chant like other greers, it can still feel futile against someone so well versed in power and tactical knowledge of warfare.

I shove the taste of bile back down, refocusing and forcing the magic back into a ball at my core, as I recenter myself and sweep both hands up, contorting the ocean that’s already frantically moving to shift into my own soulless beast. I connect both my stomach and heart to the ocean sensing it’s subtle pulse, imploring it to become my weapon, and me, its master.

My belly expands to accommodate the strength and size of the water snake I pull from it.

Water flickers from its tongue over the shoreline as its slender belly continues to rise.

It’s ragged and rough, rising from the shifting waves.

It’s not like Master Kain’s soulless beast, refined and polished.

No, my conjuring’s always look ungodly, with rigid backs and spikes, leaning into my innately chaotic magic.

The sound of breaking glass ricochets within the domain, and frozen scales quickly melt to the ground as Master Kain breaks the enchantment I cast on his dragon.

I point my hand toward my teacher, commanding my snake to strike.

It’s movement is fluid, constricting around his dragon and savagely biting into its neck.

Water pools out of it as the dragon attempts to shake it off.

Master Kain starts a new chant, his lips rapidly moving, unflinching as if the bites to his dragon have no effect on him whatsoever. Though blood doesn’t show, it still hurts like a bitch.

The dragon’s head unnaturally twists until a second head forms. I call back my snake, but quickly, the second dragon head bites into my soulless beast. The instant its fangs break into my snake, I drop to my knees, impaled by the same crushing force on my own head.

I vomit as I’m struck with a force that feels like a heavy kick to the stomach, the invisible chains that connect me to his magic falling limp.

Losing all control of my soulless beast, I acknowledge my hasty defeat.

Both our magical manifestations collapse, creating unnatural waves as the sea tries to find its balanced rhythm once more.

I heave again, my hands shaking and tears springing to my eyes as I groan in sickening defeat.

Pieces of the apple I’d eaten this morning make an appearance, and I internally curse myself for losing once again.

The soulless beasts might not be real, but the raw power that rivals two fighting is overwhelming like any physical blow.

Though only temporary. For those who aren’t powerful enough to conjure them, it’s a hasty defeat.

Master Kain once told me the soulless beast often reflects the greers nature and the fact that I can create one at all, even without mastering the water element is praise worthy. Right now, I feel anything but.