Legacy - Christopher Pastrana (books to read in your 20s TXT) 📗

coast of Duzee was nearly uninhabited due to the lack of usable shoreline. Cliffs hundreds of feet high covered most of the coast and prevented harbors from being built. Only one city had been successfully constructed into the cliffs and that was the port city of Elgin.

            More beautiful than any city on the lesser expanse, the Elgin port was taken over by Wanve early in the war. Due to the water systems on top of the cliffs and the numerous waterfalls nearby the water elementalists never lost ground after taking the city. Hundreds of battles were waged upon the plains but only after tens of thousands of men died did the wind master turn his attentions away from the port and west, towards Icilee.

            Reinhardt was beginning to have problems staying still. Every step Reinhardt took felt harder than the last. His entire body was shacking with anxiety and he had no idea why. His end goal was all he could think about now, an obsession that plagued him. No longer bothering to eat or sleep he just forced himself to walk.

            As time passed so did the sun and the moon, endlessly dancing in the sky. Reinhardt could feel his feet bleeding now, but he didn't care. If he stopped moving, as he had countless weeks ago, the simple anxiety became painful until he started in the correct direction again. Luckily for him there were many roads running in the direction he was traveling.

            Pushing his way through a thick patch of branches Reinhardt realized that the trees had ended, finally. With most of the planet uninhabited by humans there was very few places that had been cleared of trees. His encounter with a creature as rare as a dragon was dumb luck, since only a few hundred dragons lived at any time. From what he had gathered in conversations there were a few billion humans on the planet, but they gathered in major cities where the masters could protect them better. With untold numbers of strange creatures living in the darkest reaches of the planet it was impossible to know what you would run into if you took the wrong turn.

After searching the horizon carefully he didn't see anything that made the place stand out. The beautiful green grass was an impressive change from the dead brown leaves that had layered themselves to the forest floor. Walking had been a challenge, the wet leaves left his feet moist and over time it made them bleed.

            Wind started his cloak dancing playfully and for the first time in a while he felt calm. Finally able to think clearly he realized that the strange pushing anxiety had completely left him. He had never felt so good before, and that worried him.

Walking further away from the trees Reinhardt began to see that the acres of grass began to disappear in the distance. Water became visible and Reinhardt began to see that the drop off was actually a cliff, and what he thought was only a slight decline was, in fact, a much larger drop.

            "So this is an ocean." The beautiful scenery was impressive. He had never seen anything in Icilee this magnificent. Miles of water stretched from the coastline out into nothingness. As a child he'd heard stories of the ocean and many of the creatures it held. Most of the creatures were nothing more than fish, but merchants and other farmers spoke of great daemons lurked within the depths. The one that scared him the most as a child was of a dragon that hunted near the island groups that made up Wanve. It was said to strike ships when they became caught in the waves nearby an island. He thought what scared him was the randomness of it all. With thousands of islands creating the Wanve bridge, the only way to travel from the greater to the lesser expanse.

            It would take someone almost two months to travel across the whole mass without flying, and at any time this creature could take your boat down into the blackness within moments, never to be seen again. Threats to the species is what lead to the creation of the elementalists thousands of years ago. The need to compete with giant sea monsters, shadow hounds and worst of all dragons, created a dire need for a more powerful race.

            In the back of his mind images of the deep waters had been driving him for months. The sound, the feel, and the life of this place had been drawing him closer. Moving to the edge of the cliff Reinhardt looked over at the vast ocean below. A sense of unease washed over him when he where the distant roar was coming from. Light seemed to vanish into the center of a vortex, the turning and raging waters sucking the light itself away from the sky above. He didn't know why but that's where he needed to go.

            The roar of the water vibrated deep within his chest. Something strange caught his attention. Reinhardt used his mind to reach towards the vortex, he could feel an almost lifelike presence lurking there. Though it was different than he was used too he could sense something controlling the waters making them turn and spin wildly. Trying harder to take control of the waters he was pushed away easily. Whatever was moving the vortex was no mere elementalist.

            Scanning the horizon Reinhardt couldn't see anything capable of helping him reach the center of the vortex. Deciding to throw caution to the wind Reinhardt leaped from the cliff and into the sky. If whatever was drawing him here wanted him they wouldn't let him die or at least he hoped.

            As he fell through the air towards the water below him he wondered if this had been the best course of action considering he couldn't swim. Mentally shrugging he chuckled as he hit the waters and was swept up within their currents.

Silence of the Void

    Waking in a daze, Reinhardt tried opening his eyes. Still fuzzy from almost drowning he had to fight to see much of anything, instead he relied on his sense of touch. The dirt under his hands left long streaks as he moved to get up. Everything around him was strangely dry, even his clothes didn't have any water on them. Considering how he had come to find himself where he currently was, he was confused. 
         Finally able to see in the dim light he was curious to find out how he managed to get inside of a cave. Turning around to look at where he thought he had come from it wasn't a surprise to see that there was no way out. Not being able to hear the roaring of the water outside left an eerie silence within the small cave. A fuzzy feeling washed over his body when he finally got to his feet.
         Bracing himself with the stone wall Reinhardt moved slowly in the only direction the cave went. It didn't take long before a faint light became clear. The cave stopped and opened into a vast cavern. In the center of the cavern the floor gave way into an abyss. Making his way to the edge required some courage. Reinhardt made sure his balance was correct before leaning forward to look over. All the light from within the cave died away and, similar to the vortex that brought him here, it vanished inches from the surface. Not even a sliver of moment or sound lived within the void.
         The sudden Tap, Tap, Tap from below him made Reinhardt stumble away from the edge in time to miss a blot of lightning that shot past him and into the ceiling. Quickly gaining his balance Reinhardt turned back to the void with his fists up. Realizing the gesture was pointless he lowered his arms and waited.
         From inside the darkness a figure rose. Having no distinct shape, it looked like black water rising before him. The faint flicker of the torches in the room reflected off the surface of the mass, but he couldn't see his own reflection.
         Reinhardt realized that it wasn't liquid at all but actually a strange type of fabric. Points started to spread from the ball and slowly flowed towards six pedestals lining the top of the room. Moving like water the cloth rippled over the rock and stone of the ceiling. The already dark room looked like it was being swallowed.
         When the black flow had reached it's resting spot, the cloth began to clump together, growing, and shaping itself. Almost as if he had been watching water flow the cloth had taken on the forms of humans, enveloped in heavy, dark robes. Each form looked identical and not a single face could be seen under their hoods. The strange mass in the center of the room was now clinging to the ceiling, and Reinhardt was strangely reminded of a droplet of water. woven together into a single form Reinhardt was hands down the most creepy thing he had ever been in his life.
         Not being able to see their faces didn't hide the feeling of him being watched. Reinhardt knew he was the center of attention in this room. The silence was stressful and it felt as if it wasn't going to end. No longer moving, the six figures just watched patiently for something to happen.
         One of the creatures started tapping a cane on the pedestal in front of him. The same Tap, tap, tap, rang through the cavern as before, but this time a wall of water shot from the darkness, arching through the air until it was cascading towards him. Completely off guard by the speed of the attack he reached out with his mind and grabbed the water, forcing it to part in the middle, and forced it to pass by.
         Reinhardt's second hand shot back above his head and caught a ball of fire roared that had suddenly sprung to life from somewhere in the darkness. Another succession of tapping brought his attention to the void. Searching for the feeling of water, Reinhardt almost missed the subtle movement of the earth underneath his feet.
         Dodging to the side, the head of a spike flew towards him. With a snap of his shoulder, the Dragon's tail sprang to life, cracking the rock spike into pieces. Focusing on everything around him he felt the air stir awkwardly. Grabbing hold of the strong metal cable, he kept it from retracting back into his armor. Using his momentum Reinhardt forced the tip of the dragons tail to spin freely through the air around him. As the strong blade of wind flew towards him he kept the attack from fully condensing and cut it to pieces with the spinning tip of his Dragon's tail.
         Before he had time to recover another attack came, and then another. Matching each attack as it came Reinhardt was barely managing to keep himself out of the path