Summons

The waves came barreling into the shores of the beach. They receded only to come crashing back seconds later. It would have seemed strange to the locals for the sea to be so turbulent when no wind was present to push them. However, it was far too early for anyone to be wandering the small, lonely island of fishermen.

Covered with tall palm trees and surrounded by crystal waters, Lomi was a paradise. Birds bred their young in peace, away from poachers. The fish thrived in both the deep and the shallow waters by the shore, even the air was lighter than in the cities. It was that beauty and peace that drew Anahita to the land. Beauty never sustained anyone, though and except for the indigenous people, the land was sparsely populated.

The locals knew nothing of a keeper living among them. And she’d made sure to keep it thus. Times like this though, when the silence of her hut was too much, she felt the need to uncoil herself from the nitty-gritty of life.

Anahita approached the water. It shimmered a deep blue in the dim light of dawn. With a silent command, as though it was an extention of her hand, a lone wave came barrelling toward her. It did not knock her down as it would a mere mortal, instead, it wrapped around her like a cloak and she allowed herself to be pulled into the depth of the sea. A calmness overcame her and she breathed, allowing the water to wash away her tension.

Then, she felt it. A surge of power that made her suddenly aware of every single thing this body of water touched. She was attune with the water. It became a part of her or was it she who became a part of it? She had never grasped the concept. All she knew was that she’d been connected to it essentially, since the very first day the harbinger had chosen her as a child.

She swam or rather flowed towards the sea bed, watching, fascinated as the fish around swam to her, reveling in her presence. It never ceased to amaze her. Once, a great white had even tried to snuggle her palm. She chuckled lightly as she remembered her reaction to that encounter.

She lay down on the cool sand, her breath forming bubbles that floated upwards to the surface. She could see the water at the top brightening to a paler blue, indicating sunrise was near. It would soon be time to return. She reckoned she still had a little while to go. She would revel in it.

She slowed her breathing and with it her heartbeat. Eyes closed, she lay still until she was at speed with the sea. It was her and she was it, they became one. When fish swam in the sea, she felt it on her skin. When the wind caressed the surface, she felt it as though it was kissing her own skin. The shuffling of the sand at the bottom of the sea, the flapping of fins and tails, the wavy motion of the plant life against the water's current, she felt it all.

Peaceful.

Suddenly, Anahita felt a change in the water. A current that was out of place, moving in the opposite direction as the sea.

Something is swimming toward me, she thought.

Quick as lightning, she moved her hands, the water bending to her will, engulfing her in a large bubble. She turned to meet it head on and found nothing. She looked around frantically but, whatever had been there was gone. She knew she hadn’t imagined it, she could feel the after effects in the ripples but could sense nothing further. Whatever it was had disappeared completely. She Could not even sense its essence nor an imprint. One thing was certain though, it was a powerful creature, not only for its concealment but also for the speed at which it swam toward her. It had covered miles in mere seconds, a feat that even she could only muster when using the full potential of her primary element.

She looked to the sky as the water surface shimmered with the sunrise. She would worry about this later, now she must leave the beach without being seen. She was already a mystery to the locals who wondered where she had come from and why anyone would move to a remote island of fishermen. Her choosing to work in a local tavern and keeping her social life very mundane had kept most people from prying. Being found sneaking from the beach was far out of her routine and would only call for attention. The thought had her swimming rapidly to the surface and to the shores. Quickly, she slunk back to her hut making sure she wasn’t seen.

****

Eirik stood watching as the bird soared higher and higher in the sky until he could no longer make out its figure. The falcon had been his companion these past years. It had served as his courier for long. Together, they lived peacefully at the foot of a mountain in the gaur.

That peace was broken by yesterday’s encounter.

While he was out hunting in the woods around his cabin, a gust of wind stronger than he had seen in years had appeared out of nowhere. It travelled fast, covering miles in minutes. Just as he had prepared to meet it head on, it disappeared a few metres from where he stood. He’d remained crouched for a few minutes, waiting to see or sense something but it was truly gone. What he saw when he looked closer however had left him very confused. What baffled him now was not the speed of the wind nor the massive strength it had exuded. It was that in its path, it left no trees nor grasses uprooted, no part of the soil was upturned, nothing.

Impossible, he’d thought. A force that powerful should have left a scar on the earth, even he would have struggled to remain standing and he was keeper of the skies, named windbearer for his strong connection to the element and his unrivalled ability to shape it.

He’d checked every inch of land that was in its path, not a single pebble was out of place. He then concluded that whatever it was had been caused by unnatural forces. Without anything further to go by, he’d had no choice but to return to his cabin. He would reach out to his companions, perhaps they could shed more light on the strange occurrence.

Eirik had thought to contact Anahita for she seemed to always have an answer for everything. Her prowess for deduction far surpassed his and the others’ too but she was on a remote island far in the west, it would take too long to get an answer. The fourth keeper Alayni, residing in the dense forests of Drakh was closest to him but she was only a child keeper, barely over twenty years of age. Anything she’d know would come from the books of old. And so, it was decided. He would reach out to the first keeper, their chosen head.

As dawn crept closer the next day, he ascended to the highest peak of the mountain he resided and there he released his falcon, Fury, with a message to the one named earthbreaker, the immortal one, Calida, keeper of the earth.