The floor of the small cabin creaked as we walked in.
“Go sit down Mydrn,” I told him and pointed to a chair. He did as instructed.
Castor’s arms were folded across his chest and he looked down with a stare that pressed in around me. The bond was tight between us.
“Castor,” I swallowed. “At my birth, the seer saw me only using water magic.”
“Right, that’s why you are a maiden to Empress Lorena.” He said confused.
“Right.” I nodded. “But the seer didn’t see everything…” My voice faded off.
“What? That’s impossible.” Castor’s voice was louder than it should be.
“Castor please,” I said walking towards him.
He backed away. “What are you talking about?”
“I…I can…do more than water magic…” My voice was low. I steadied myself against what he would say.
“What kind of magic can you do?” His voice was shaking.
I looked up at his face. Running my hands through my hair. “Just…earth…” I paused. The bond tightened uncomfortably. Painfully.
“Just earth?” He asked
I looked down at my feet and kicked at the air. I mumbled. “And fire.” Again the bond strained. A horrible pain began to radiate in my chest.
He sighed. “Anything else?”
I looked up to the sky and sighed. “Air.” The bond twinged again.
“Briar.”
“I swear that’s all!” I rushed to say. Feeling the bond tighten, though I didn’t understand why.
Castor’s breath left him in a sharp exhale, like I’d punched the air out of his lungs. His eyes flicked over me, my hands, my stance, my face, searching for a lie I wasn’t telling.
The bond twisted again, a sharp, hot pull beneath my ribs.
“Briar…” His voice was barely a whisper now. “Why does it hurt?”
“I don’t know,” I said quickly. “I don’t, Castor, I’m not trying to hide anything from you.”
“You already did.” His jaw clenched. “You hid this.”
“I didn’t hide it,” I snapped, then winced at my own tone. “I didn’t know how to say it. I didn’t know what it meant.”
He took a step toward me. The bond pulled tight, like a rope burning between us.
“Briar,” he said again, softer this time. “You can’t have all four.”
“I know,” I whispered.
“No, you don’t.” His voice cracked. “No one can have all four. That’s not, Briar, that’s not possible.”
“I didn’t ask for it!” My voice rose, sharp and desperate. “I didn’t want it. It just, happened. It’s always been there. I just… didn’t use it.”
The bond pulsed, a painful throb that made me press a hand to my chest.
Castor’s eyes widened. “You’re hurting.”
“So are you,” I shot back.
He swallowed hard. “Because the bond is reacting to something it doesn’t understand.”
“I don’t understand it either!”
Silence crashed between us.
Mydrn shifted nervously in the chair, but neither of us looked at him.
Castor dragged a hand through his hair, pacing once, twice, like he was trying to outrun the truth.
“Briar,” he said finally, voice low and shaking, “this isn’t just rare. This is, this is something else. Something dangerous.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.” He stopped pacing and faced me fully. “People with two affinities are legends. Three is unheard of. Four—”
He broke off, staring at me like he was seeing me for the first time.
“Four is impossible.”
The bond snapped tight again, a sharp, searing pain that made me gasp.
Castor flinched as he felt it too.
“Why is it doing that?” I whispered.
He shook his head. “Because the bond reacts to truth. To fate. To what we are to each other.”
My stomach dropped.
“What are you saying?”
He stepped closer, slow, careful, like approaching a wild animal.
“Briar,” he said, voice barely above a breath, “the bond is reacting because you’re not just a water maiden. You’re not just a girl with too much magic.”
His eyes locked onto mine, violet and terrified and certain.
“You’re something else entirely.”
The bond pulsed once, deep, resonant, ancient.
Mydrn whispered from the chair, voice trembling.
“I felt it too… when she touched me.”
Castor’s head snapped toward him. “Felt what?”
Mydrn swallowed. “Like… like she wasn’t just one thing. Like she was… many.”
The bond surged again, a wave of heat that stole my breath.
Castor turned back to me slowly.
“Briar,” he whispered, “something’s wrong.”
“I know,” I said, breath shaking. “I don’t understand why it hurts.”
“It’s not reacting to earth,” he said slowly. “Or fire. Or air.”
“Then what is it reacting to?”
He shook his head, stepping closer despite the pain. “Something you’re not saying.”
“I told you everything!”
“No,” he said, voice breaking. “You told me everything you know.”
The bond snapped tight again, a deep, resonant pull that felt older than either of us.
Mydrn flinched in the chair. “It feels like… like something else is inside you.”
I froze.
Castor’s breath hitched. “Briar… what else is in you?”
I opened my mouth.
Nothing came out.
Because I didn’t know.
But the bond did.
And it was screaming.
Castor took a step towards me. “I can try seeing your future to find out.”
I stepped closer to him. “Okay.”
Castor closed the space between us and placed two fingers on my forehead.
A bright white light filled the cabin around us.
Castor fell back. Breathing hard.
“Briar…you don’t control four…you control five.”
“Five?” My voice cracks.
“Spirit is the fifth.”
“Spirit?” My voice sounds small. The word barely left my mouth. It felt too big, too heavy, too impossible to fit in my throat.
Castor pushed himself upright, bracing a hand on the wall. His chest rose and fell in sharp, uneven breaths. He looked at me like he was seeing something ancient wearing my skin.
“Briar…” His voice shook. “Spirit is, Briar, it’s not an element people have. It’s not something you’re born with. It’s…”
“I don’t understand,” I whispered.
The bond pulsed again, a deep, resonant ache that made my knees weaken. Castor winced as if he felt it too.
“You’re not supposed to understand,” he said, almost to himself. “Spirit is the element of the soul. Of fate. Of truth. It’s the one that binds everything else together. It’s the one that reacts to…”
He stopped.
“To what?” I demanded, stepping toward him.
His eyes lifted to mine, violet and terrified and full of something I couldn’t name.
“To destiny,” he breathed.
My stomach dropped.
Mydrn shifted in the chair, eyes wide. “I felt it,” he whispered. “When she touched me. It was like… like something inside her was looking at me.”
Castor swallowed hard. “Spirit isn’t just power. It’s awareness. It’s a connection. It’s…Briar, it’s the rarest element in existence. Only one kind of person has ever been able to use it.”
My heart hammered against my ribs. “Who?”
Castor hesitated.
The bond tightened, sharp and demanding, like it wanted the truth dragged into the open.
“Castor,” I said, voice trembling. “Who?”
He exhaled shakily. “Soulborn.”
The word hit the air like a blade. The Forest of the Forgotten had called me that once.
I shook my head. “How do you know that name?” My blood going cold, remembering a night not long ago in the Forest of the Forgotten.
“I saw it” he said, stepping closer. “Briar, the bond reacted because it knows. Your magic reacted because it knows. Spirit doesn’t lie.”
“I’m not Soulborn,” I insisted, backing away. “I’m not—I can’t be—”
The bond snapped tight again, pain flaring through my chest so sharply I gasped.
Castor reached for me instinctively. “Briar—”
“Don’t,” I whispered, holding up a hand. “Please. I can’t—”
My breath shook. The cabin felt too small, too bright, too loud. My magic stirred beneath my skin, all of it, water humming, earth shifting, fire warming, air tightening, and something else
Something deeper.
Something ancient.
Something that felt like a second heartbeat.
Castor’s voice softened. “Briar… look at me.”
I did.
And the bond pulsed, not with pain this time, but with recognition.
“You’re not cursed,” he said. “You’re not wrong. You’re not broken.”
His voice cracked.
“You’re becoming.”
I swallowed hard, tears burning behind my eyes.
“Becoming what?” I whispered.
He stepped close enough that our foreheads nearly touched.
“Everything you are meant to be.” he said.
And the bond thrummed as if it agreed.