The Element

By the time I stepped outside, the leaves were already on fire. Since the turn of the season they had been a vibrant display of reds and yellows, but as soon as the flame settled down upon them they erupted into a breathtaking picture of amber and gold. Breathtaking, not because of the beauty of the colours, nor because of the awesome speed at which the small flame spread. But breathtaking fear. 

It could have been me. 

It should have been me. 

If I’d been a good person, if I’d have told the truth, I’d have saved her. But I can’t be a good person, because it’s more important that I am a good witch.

The stake that holds her raises her several feet into the air; high enough that everyone in the bustling crowd can witness her demise. The leaves, engulfed in flames, cover her ankles, and she screams desperately as the heat climbs higher, snatching at her skirt.

Her name is Sally. She’s a perfectly pleasant girl, though perhaps a little dull. We shared several classes at school, but if it weren’t for her sister, Kassandra, she’d be the type of person whose existence I’d be easily able to overlook. 

She was a nice girl, though. A nice girl who didn’t deserve death, and certainly not death by flames. She deserves to know the truth about the circumstances surrounding her sentence, and the peace of knowing that the place she is heading to is better than here. 

I close my eyes, and whisper the words to her in a way I know only she will hear. I see them travel across the winds and journey into her ears. I know she has heard them, and I know she understands, because, despite the ever rising flames that claim her skin, she stops screaming and closes her eyes. 

Seconds before the fire swallows her whole, I swear I see a smile. 

Through the flicking gold, I see Kassandra, standing beside her mother and other siblings. Her face is lined with the agony of bereavement. I’d like to think her mourning is genuine, that she cared even the slightest for her innocent little sister, but if that were true her focus would be trying to kill herself rather than trying to kill me.

I lock eyes with her across the fire for just a few seconds. Her dark eyes harden with hatred, as I’m sure mine do too. And I leave quickly, before Sally’s body turns to charcoal. 

It’s a shame, really, that magic doesn’t run in families, like it did in the good old days. If it did, Kassandra would be next to face the flames, and it would make my job a whole lot easier. 

My job is to protect the Element. Her job is to destroy it. 

Each of us are the last of our covens, for now at least. The Element tells me that another will join me, but she won’t be born for another three years. So, until then, I’m on my own. And I am weakening. I can’t be weak. I need a renewal. 

I walk through the tunnel of multicoloured trees that line the path from the town centre to the Bay. Crisp leaves crunch beneath my feet and a soft breeze blows more along the pavement ahead of me. It would seem like a lovely day if it weren’t for the smell of burning flesh and the audible lamentation of Sally’s mother. 

I try to shut out the latter sensations, and remind myself why it had to be this way. I have to protect the Element. Sally’s mother will recover from the pain of losing her daughter, but without the Element, pain will be a constant companion for everyone. 

The Element is the lifesource of Earth. All that is good derives from its energy. Without it, darkness and destruction will rule. There will be no escape from it, not even in death. 

But no matter how many times I remind myself of this, guilt still whispers angrily into my ears. 

As I walk, I relive the moment this guilt became mine.

*** 

Students spill from the school like water from a broken dam. Among them, Sally. I walk ahead of her, but she skips along quickly to catch up. 

“Ella, wait!” she says. 

I don’t even slow down. “Hey, Sally. What’s up?”

“I uh…” she says, breathlessly, “I just wanted to say thank you for your help today.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” 

“It’s just that I’m really not great at maths, and-”

“It’s fine.”

I stop, but only to briefly check the road is clear before I cross. At this time of day cars and buses sit in wait at the edge of the street, and I have to stretch my neck out to check the coast is clear.  

It all happens in only a matter of seconds. 

I step into the road, and Sally follows. She shrieks. I look up just in time to see the car speeding towards us. I drop to the floor with my arms protectively over my head, but Sally throws her arms outstretched in front of her, as if her feeble hands can stop the impact of the oncoming machine. 

There are panicked cries from the onlookers on the street, cries which only intensify as the car goes hurtling into the air, spinning 180 degrees and landing on its hood a hundred feet down the street. 

It was obviously magic. But it wasn’t obvious that it came from me. 

People came to an agreed conclusion quickly. Sally was an outcast, an easy scapegoat. Her trial lasted less than two hours and it was a unanimous outcome. She was a witch, and she should be burned at the stake. 

She wasn’t a witch. She was innocent. 

***

The Bay is several miles long, and quiet at this time of year; quiet enough that as I step out onto the golden sands I feel my resolve fade and I relax a little. 

There is something wonderful about the unchangingness of the Bay. The only thing that differs throughout the seasons is the colours in the sky. Whether winter, spring, summer, or autumn, feet will still sink into the sand and waves will crash gently against the shore. 

No matter what goes wrong, no matter what changes, the Bay will always be here. And so will the Element. 

A warm glow intensifies within me as I move closer to its nesting place, like it’s welcoming me home after a long time away. It’s been over a month since I last came for a renewal. I’ve needed it for a while, but Kassandra’s eyes have been watching me too closely to risk it. Now, with the distraction of her sister’s death, it’s finally safe to come. 

I follow the Bay all the way to the end, where the sand meets jagged rock and the sea splashes fiercely against a sandstone wall. A quick glance behind me, then I lock my fingers into the sharp grooves above my head. My feet find secure holds in the rock that were carved out by my ancestors years ago. 

I shift along in small, careful movements. The rock presses into my fingers. It used to be painful, but my skin has hardened and now I barely feel it. Water sloshes just inches beneath my feet and sprays over my ankles. In the summer it’s a refreshing sensation, but right now it’s too cold to appreciate. 

After a couple of minutes of sideways movement, I lower myself down a little and push off the rock, landing with a splash into the freezing waters. Ahead of me is the entrance to the Element’s cave; a tunnel about half a mile long which terminates in a small cavern. 

At its entrance, the water that fills the passage is so deep that I have to swim, but a little way on I’m able to touch my toes against hard ground. I wade through the water with heavy, weighted strides, begrudging the effort that I wouldn’t have needed to put in had I made this journey just a few days ago. 

When I emerge inside the cavern, I am drenched. Droplets of ice-cold water fall from my trembling, aching body like a tiny shower of rain, and my legs stiffen as I take steps toward the Element. 

I can barely see it in the pitch black room, its faint green glow is only just bright enough to hint at its location. Naturally, I filled the room with candles months ago, and use the last of the magic left in me to set them alight. 

They flicker madly from the wind that whips through the tunnel and circulates around the cavern, and their orange glow, normally beautiful and warming, serves as a chilling reminder of this morning’s events. 

But all the angst and tension fades when my eyes land upon the Element. No larger than a pebble, it’s incredible that something so tiny can be so powerful; that it can be responsible for all that is good and pure in this world. Perhaps if it had been bigger, there’d be less evil to oppose it. 

The emerald glow that emits from its core radiates all the more brightly as I draw closer. It knows me. It knows my need and welcomes me. 

I take a deep, thankful breath, and stretch out my fingertips to touch the stone, but before they reach their destination I am halted by an abrasive voice from behind me. 

“Fancied a swim, did you?”

“Shouldn’t you be mourning your sister?” I say. 

“Ah, Ella, and there I was thinking you knew me better than that.” 

Kassandra is bone dry. Her black hair dancing around her shoulders in keeping with the flickering flames. 

“Running a little low on the old magic, are you?” she says, almost casually.  

I don’t respond. Instead I back up a little, my feet pressed against the stone pillar on which the Element sits. I feel the invisible tether tying me to it. It demands I protect it. It demands I serve my purpose. 

Kassandra starts to move. Her arms folded across her chest, she takes large strides around the perimeter of the cavern. I move too, but never away from the Element. I keep my back to the pillar, my hands touching the stone behind me, my eyes fixed permanently on Kassandra’s black pits where her soul ought to be.

“Pity really,” she says, “that after all this time you still devote your life to that little thing. That little thing that doesn’t even give you enough power to complete the job it demands of you. It’s rather cruel if you think about it. Don’t you realise that my King gives me more than I could ever need? He could do the same for you, you know.” 

“Your King,” I say, spitting the word, “is nothing more than a vile, evil, pathetic… Devil, that wants nothing more than to destroy the Earth and everything in it. And that includes you, Kass-”

Her mouth twists with a sadistic smile, and she throws her hands out in my direction. I see the magic leave them; see it travel like particles of dust through the air toward me. But in the split second it takes to reach me, I lift my hands to my open mouth, and swallow. 

Her magic hits me with the power of a pleasant summer breeze, and I smile knowingly. 

“What did you just do?” she demands. 

I feel the Element scrape the sides of my throat as it makes its way down, but it’s not at all painful. In fact, all of the pain, all of the discomfort that was previously retained in my body disappeared the moment the Element touched my tongue. 

Now I am strong. Stronger than her. Stronger than the darkness.

I am the Element. And the Element is me. 

“What did you just do?” Her scream echoes satisfyingly around the cavern. I’ve seen her angry more times than I can count, but I’ve never seen her scared. I’ve never seen her shaken. Not until now. 

“If you want the Element,” I say, “you’re going to have to slice it out of me.”

Her nostrils flare and through gritted teeth she growls her last words. 

“It would be my pleasure.”