Conquering The Unbroken

Chapter 5

"Do you have your titanium?" Renit asks.

I open the jacket pocket to show him the titanium bands. He nods, silently thanking me for being thorough, and for one last time, he drags a hand through his hair. A nervous habit, I've noticed, and one he uses to stall himself from going any further with the task at hand.

Once again, we're standing near the cliffsides. The only spectators in Arego are Bren and Tesha standing in the shadow of a building, their arms crossed over their chests. Everyone else, whether rebels or ordinary witches in search of safe harbor, is hidden within the streets and buildings. They were warned that a storm was coming today, and it would not be an ordinary one caused by natural events.

The banished prince of Esaria, Renit Marron, the king's weapon, will bring destruction to Arego once more. But it's not the same destruction he caused last time—months ago during his father's orders. This time, he'll be trying to quell his power with his Grounding; me. Although this brings back memories of loss, Arego is still standing and is more alive than ever. It doesn't have the same feel; everyone is out for revenge but the heart is the same. The village is a safe place.

"Renit, it'll be fine," I reassure. "If anything happens, I have titanium. And Bren can step in if he needs to."

"Fine," he grumbles. "But don't let him stab me in the back when you're not looking."

I roll my eyes and with an urgent wave of my hand, force him to start the long process of Grounding his storm. Renit glances one last time back at the village in hopes something forces him to stop what he's doing and help a random rebel, but no one is coming to his aid today. After not being able to use his power for so long, he's grown scared of it. Not only that, but his power is more and more impatient every day there isn't a proper Grounding established. On more than one occasion, his veins have glowed with lightning and his eyes, bright already, turned molten.

With a deep breath of smoke out through his nose, Renit can normally calm the storm's rage. But not for long. He needs a proper Grounding and with one more establishment of my power taking down his, we'll be in the clear. Renit will use his storm without incident; a goal the king had months ago. No one knew we'd be training on the other side of alliance.

Our powers are constantly reaching out for each other, Renit's especially, so the day has come where we finally bring them together. They'll be able to mingle and learn each other. It won't be the gentle, fluttering interactions they're used for. Today will be about fighting for dominance between the two strengths and my power of ground will have to be the winner; the storm cannot prevail. Otherwise, we've failed.

Finally, once he realizes there's no stopping this, Renit closes his eyes. The ocean breeze pushes at the back of his head and flutters his clothes. The endless expanse stretches out behind him and before I lose myself in the beauty of this sight, I blink myself back to reality and relish in the weight of the titanium bands in my pocket. More than one, for additional precaution.

Renit exhales through his mouth and tips his chin towards the sky. I've never seen him work before, not completely, so this is a first for me, too. He's worked on this power for three hundred years, only to have it go against him, and today is the day we fix that.

I glance back at the village to find Bren already watching me from a distance. Tesha is already bored; she picks at her nails with one foot pressed against the wall behind her. My childhood friend, on the other hand, is watching me warily. He's never seen this progress in action before, he doesn't know what we went through those months at the castle, and he worries it won't work.