Page 9 of Elemasters

Suddenly, that splitting pain from earlier returned in full force; knocking the wind right out of Dustin’s lungs. He braced against the wall as that psychic voice echoed in his skull again.

“What was once will be again. You must be ready for the end of all things,”

“Okay, where the fuck is that coming from?!” Chloe yelled, gripping the side of her head. She was clearly prepped to continue her rant, but something else caught her attention, “wait… what is that?”

Dustin shifted his focus to what she was pointing at; a circular stone altar had suddenly appeared in the center of the room, directly in the path of moonlight streaming in through one of the high windows. As he approached it, he noticed that a five-pointed star, almost like a pentagram, was chiseled into the surface, and on the point of each star sat a ring. They were fairly unassuming; each was a simple band of a solid color— red, black, white, yellow, and green.

“Oh man, you guys think these are worth anything?” Chris said, beaming as he approached the altar, “Mr. Liu’s Pawn Shop would probably pay a shitload for them,”

“Use your brain for two seconds Christian,” Bailey flicked his ear, “stealing from the haunted palace is probably the stupidest shit you’ve ever suggested,”

“But the ghost voice clearly wants us to take them, right?” James said, turning to Dustin as if he’d somehow have the answer, “don’t you think that’s why it led us here?”

“H-how should I know?”

James stepped a bit closer and gently took Dustin’s hand, locking eyes with him.

“You were saying that you had a feeling in your gut that we should come inside the palace. It also looks like you get hit harder by that voice in our head than the rest of us. If anyone should make the call, it should be you,”

Dustin immediately felt overwhelmed; like he’d just been bowled over by a tidal wave. Not only from James (THE James Zhang) holding his hand, but by the mere idea that someone would defer to him on anything. He blinked several times too many, before finally attempting to regain his composure and make a decision.

“I… I think we should take them. If nothing else, they might be a way out of this,”

James didn’t hesitate to grab the green one and slip it on his ring finger. Everyone held their breath, as if they were waiting for him to be struck down or something… but nothing happened. Dustin breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that he didn’t cause his crush to get cursed, before taking the black one for himself. It was too small to fit any finger other than his pinky, so he put it on and waited to see if he felt anything strange…

Nothing. Thank God.

Chris, Bailey, and Chloe took the remaining three next, and while Chris and Chloe were quick to put theirs on their middle and index fingers respectively, Bailey was hesitant. She just held it in the palm of her hand, staring at it intently like it was going to jump up and bite her or something.

“It’s okay Bailey,” Chris reassured her, holding up his hand, “see? We all put them on and we’re still breathing,”

“Y-yeah, I know. I’m just… I don’t know, just forget it,” Bailey said shaking her head like she was trying to physically dislodge her anxiety. After another long moment passed, she carefully moved the yellow ring down her thumb…

And then shit went crazy.

In an instant, Dustin found himself being pulled underwater; completely displaced from the palace and everyone else. He could see the surface; the moon teasing him from beyond the barrier as an impossibly strong current pulled him down faster than he could think. He never panicked underwater, not even once in his entire life. But now? He was completely out of his element.

He tried to calm himself down enough to remember what to do when caught in a riptide, but he couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe, and the deeper he went, the harder it was to even see. His lungs burned, his limbs ached, and the only thought he could muster was that he was going to die…

And he was going to do it without Chris.

But, before death could claim him, he felt the presence of someone else with him in the water. It was all at once reassuring and revitalizing, and that was before he laid eyes on the person.

The current slowed to a stop, allowing Dustin to float peacefully. He didn’t even feel like he needed to hold his breath anymore, though he wasn’t about to test that theory.

The water around him shifted and solidified until it became a humanoid shape. At first it was like a man-shaped bubble, but then the details started filling in; skin, hair, eyes, robes. When it was all done, Dustin nearly gasped at the sight. It was the single most ethereal man he’d ever seen; skin like porcelain, hair long and black as the starless night sky, eyes like a fox, and flowing white robes. He looked like he’d just stepped out of a Chinese period drama about concubines and imperial succession.

The strange man said nothing; he just stared at Dustin with a quiet intensity that drifted somewhere between determination and pity. He raised his hand and placed two fingers in the center of Dustin’s forehead, and then in an all-too-familiar voice, he spoke without moving his lips.

“You have accepted the role you were born to play. Fate spins along as it should,”

Chapter 4

The Static Age

Dustin shot up with a gasp, his heart jackhammering in his chest as he struggled to catch his breath.

His eyes darted around wildly, trying to survey his surroundings. He expected to find himself still within the halls of that weird palace… but instead he was in his bedroom. It took a few long, ragged breaths before his heartbeat found its regular rhythm again. He should’ve felt relief; he was back in familiar territory, surrounded by his L’Arc-en-Ciel posters, empty Monster cans, and…