The Elementalist: Sky City (Book One)

Chapter Eleven: Revolution

In the days afterward, Ben would try his best to describe the feeling of thousands of gallons of water landing directly above his head, but he could never quite find the right words. He couldn't describe the crushing feeling–the cascading water upon him. He later came to the conclusion that it was merely a feeling no one could ever know unless they'd experienced it themselves.

The pressure, and unrelenting weight of the water, compressed him. But in that microscopic moment, where one second of error could be fatal, he did not lose focus. Before the water could crush him, when it had only just touched the very top of his head with waves falling down his white jacket, past his fingertips, down to his boot and the metal machine he stood upon, Ben's mind expanded. He imagined again, as he'd done before at the stream, the cool water of the arctic. He pictured ice at its most basic form–the crystals and mirage of the frozen water as it solidified.

Seas of ice as blue as the snow drift effortlessly expanded in real time, surrounded him as he breathed in the cool air. His body imagined the numbing sensation of swimming in the water of this arctic, and soon it no longer needed to imagine. It felt real, yet not, all at once.

Only a millisecond to react.

And like the crick before, or the wall of earth he'd ran through so stubbornly, Ben could feel himself a slave to instinct and knew wholly what to do and how to do it.

The cool waters guided him.

"Ben!" Wade yelled from the crowd as a cascade of water rolled down Ben's body in an instant, solidifying as it did.

The sharp, slick crack of water freezing echoed through the suddenly still town as Ben stayed at the center of the still falling waterfall. He grinded his teeth in pain and concentration, but soon it all stopped. With the water emptied and the wooden tower smashed on the ground, all that was left was a cone of ice—a pyramid of blue with the machine frozen stiffly at the base and Ben squarely stuck in the middle. A clear blue statue had been made in the street, as large as a small building, with its imprisoned things inside like an ice-globe. Not one drop of water had escaped Ben's display of power, and the street remained as ashy and dry as ever.

"Ben!" Wade yelled again, running between everyone to reach the ice.

He placed his hand against it, feeling just how cold it was, and shivering with complete fear. His best friend needed his help, he felt, but he had absolutely no idea how to get him out.

Not one person, citizen or soldier, moved a muscle besides Wade. There are rare moments in peoples' lives, so great and so powerful in scope, that nothing, not even a battle can turn their attention from. There was stuck in all a wondrous amazement, both in their eyes and bodies. And while Wade worried about his friend frozen at its center, they did not. Before them, frozen in glory, was this generation's Elementalist–the fact was no longer deniable. To them, Ben was more than fine.

Wade wasn't so sure though.

"Move!"

Wade looked to see the source of the shout and saw Fred sprinting from the destroyed base of the water tower. Her legs pumped hard and fast at the ground, and she ran much like a professional runner at a race. The thick wool of the clothes she wore slowed her down, but only by the smallest amount. The ax she had used to chop down the water tower was still held firmly in hand, and with a running jump, she vaulted herself at the ice and thrust the blade into the pyramid. A satisfying clink occurred as it sunk in, followed by silence.

Falling and stepping away, Fred looked up through the thick ice at the blurred image of Ben, still completely still underneath. The same worry that haunted Wade eats away at her as well. Ben's body remained firmly frozen in place, and only barely visible through the crystal blue of the ice.