A New Beginning In A Mana Apocalypse

All of us looked at Annitte surprised.

"What? The havens have been around for hundreds of years. Do you think that in all that time we haven"t had people we wanted to strip of their abilities? Many ways have been tried, nothing worked. You might not have realized it yet, even with several of you becoming t.i.tans, but the awakened and twisted are not humans. The difference for the awakened might seem miniscule, but it is true nonetheless. Once you have awakened it is just as hard to return to being a normal human as it is to change a twisted back into a human. When he has recovered he will begin to gather mana again, with that mana his body will restore his core, then his abilities. It will be a slow process, but when it is done he will be like a newly awakened. He might lose a tier if he wasn"t a green, and fire might become the hardest element for him to wield, but he will eventually regain his power."

Felicia smiled then cried again leaning into Annitte.

I wasn"t as happy, whether it was him or the elemental, they had attacked my wife, hurt her, and scared her. I squeezed Grace in my arms. Maybe I was being vindictive, but I felt he needed more of a punishment.

"Leave it." Megan told me as if reading my mind. "We can decide if he needs further punishment later when we understand more."

I frowned at her. "Megan, this can not continue." I told her seriously. "This is my haven, whether it is right or not, I can not stand to allow anyone to hurt my wives whether on purpose or by accident. I also can not allow everyone to continue to be rude and disrespectful towards me. Even your brother." I told her.

Megan frowned at me searching my face as if she was trying to see how serious I was. "Is this because we a.s.sumed you wanted to take her as a wife?" she asked.

I shook my head. "You are my wife, you have every right to be involved in that. However that doesn"t apply to Michael. If she was his wife or even girlfriend I would be willing to let it slide with my history. Yet, given what you said and how she reacted, she isn"t his woman and he still came at me ready for a fight over her just because I touched her shoulder." I told her.

Megan sighed closing her eyes.

Grace shifted in my arms looking into my eyes for a moment then kissing me. "I"m fine now." she told me softly giving me a wane smile that did nothing to convince me.

Do you still have the elemental?" Annitte asked interrupting us.

I gave her a glare but looked into my s.p.a.ce pocket, I spotted the elemental, it had absorbed all the fire energy that was present and had shriveled into a small red orb.

I nodded opening the s.p.a.ce pocket then collapsed the s.p.a.ce pocket forcing the elemental into the tunnel. As soon as it was out of the s.p.a.ce tunnel I closed it the grabbed a hold of the elemental. Given how it reacted to my ability earlier I wasn"t worried it could hurt me.

Oddly instead of retreating from me as it had before it almost seemed to cuddle into my hand.

We all looked at the elemental curiously.

I activated my fire ability, as soon as I did the fire elemental rushed into me somehow shifting into my inners.p.a.ce and rushing into my elemental ability. It was the complete opposite of how it had responded to the activation of my ability. I was so surprised that I hadn"t even prepared for it. By the time I realized what was happening it was already done.

I felt the fire elemental merge with my fire ability, it struggled for a bit then settled in like it was in its new home. Then the ability connected me with the elemental. I staggered as our minds, or maybe essence was a better description touched. I could feel it as if we had bonded. It thoughts and emotions were simple it wanted to eat, grow stronger, and be safe.

Then as if the lights had been switched on I could feel the others. Five other elementals in my mind, much weaker than the fire elemental. I shook my head for a moment trying to understand what was going on. As I struggled my elemental ability shifted becoming the elemental lord I had been looking for. The information in it changed. The ability had repressed itself until I was ready for it, but the appearance of the fire elemental had changed that. As an elemental lord I had an elemental of each element under my control, feeding from my energy and slowly becoming stronger giving me more control over the elements. My best guess is that before my fire elemental wanted to absorb or consume the newborn fire elemental. Then when the fire elemental was brought back out of my s.p.a.ce it had grown strong enough to fight the fire elemental inside of me for control, consuming or absorbing it then taking its place.

I had no idea how to feel about that. Because of my ignorance the fire elemental that was a part of me been replaced, yet I wasn"t sure how it worked with elementals. Had the two become one or had the new one killed the first one? If so should I feel bad for it?

"Daryl?" Grace called out worriedly as she tightened her arms around me.

"I"m fine." I told her shaking my head again and pushing the elementals thoughts into the back of my head.

"What was that?" Megan asked me looking at me worriedly.

Everyone was watching me, most were concerned though Felicia seemed wary while Michael looked smug.

I gave him a glare that made him take a step back sweat breaking out on his forehead.

"The fire elemental woke mother"s ability." I told Annitte looking at her for a reaction.

I saw a reaction, shock, disbelief, and oddly enough fear.

"Wait, you powered up? Again?" Michael asked incredulous.

I smirked at him then summoned out the fire elemental. It responded immediately floating around me like a bright red will o wisp. Looking at it I thought it would be great if it could look like a hot little fairy, a fire version of Tinkerbell would be awesome, yet from the elemental I got the feeling that it didn"t have enough strength for that. Yet that meant that when it was stronger it could right? All of them could? DId that mean I could have my own elemental pixie hollow.

I was getting ahead of myself. The fire elemental was still pretty weak, but it had one trick it could do that would leave an impression. I told it to burn hot.

The fire elemental"s glow intensified then waves of heat started to roll of of it. It glowed brighter and brighter giving off more and more heat with each moment until it felt like we were standing by an immense bonfire. Then I told it to stop and return. It was just a demonstration, there was no need to use up all of its energy.

I didn"t answer Michael, but I didn"t think I needed to anymore. I was still p.i.s.sed at Nathan for hurting Grace, but for his part in helping me awaken my elemental lord ability, I could let off with waiting to regrow his abilities, no matter how long that took. Well maybe I intended to visit and syphon off a bit of his energy once or twice.

Looking back to Annitte I saw her quivering, and it wasn"t from excitement.

"Annitte?" I asked curious as to why she was acting that way.

I took a step towards her but she immediately took two steps away.

Karen grabbed my arm then squeezed it gently drawing my attention. I looked over at her to see her staring at my sister suspiciously. "Let us handle her." she told me then looked ot Megan who nodded in response.

"I will come too." Grace told them.

Karen and Megan nodded.

I kissed each one quickly then watched as the three of them moved to Annitte guiding her away. My sister seemed too eager to leave.

I had no idea what her issue was, but maybe it was time to find out what was really going on with her. Her appearance had been rather convenient and her story was nearly impossible to confirm.

I pulled Kayda close and turned my attention back to Nathan. Michael had disappeared leaving Felicia alone waiting for her brother to be healed and wake up. Hardly the way to impress a girl in my opinion, no matter how irritated he might be with me.

The waiting felt like it took an eternity, especially as Kayda was getting a bit frisky. She started teasing me in subtle ways that were nearly unnoticeable to others but were driving me crazy. Her smug feelings were coming through the bond so I knew it was intentional rather than accidental.

Finally Caly held out a hand to me which I took and gently helped her to her feet as she declared Nathan healed. She left some of the bruising as it would fade on its own after a few days.

As soon as she was on her feet Nathan began to stir then opened his eyes. Time for some answers.