The Means

  Skye sat in the same chair across the master’s, a warm blanket draped on his shoulders, and a cup of steaming tea in his hands. The fire crackled at the hearth as the master’s rocking chair creaked.

  He felt numb. Not because of the cold, but because some enormous weight had fallen off his shoulders. Once more he recounted his story, this time including every detail. Ku listened intently, though the birds chirped in protest, insisting that Skye couldn’t have been at their house mere minutes ago.

  When he finally finished, Master Ku instructed Luccello to fetch a Prism Dahlia seed.

  “Pardon me, Master, but we only have the one!” Luccello objected. “Isn’t it too precious to waste on a guess?”

  “I have a feeling… this is what it was meant for,” Ku replied.

  The seed that Luccello retrieved didn’t glow, yet it refracted the light that struck it into rainbows painting the walls. Fixing it atop his cane, Master Ku channeled into it, making it sprout, then blossom, growing larger and more vibrant by the second until it eclipsed the size of Skye’s head.

  To call it gorgeous would be an understatement. The room pulsed with vigorous, kaleidoscopic colors: deep crimson reds, greens luminous as sunlit leaves, and blues brimming like an endless ocean. The grays vanished entirely, leaving only the stark contrasts of onyx black and pearl white.

  “What is this flower?” Skye asked with reverence, feeling the colors seep into his mind, each hue evoking distinct emotions as his eyes roved over them.

  “Take it,” Ku said, plucking the dahlia from his cane and holding it out. “Merge with it.”

  “Why?”

  “Just try,” Ku urged with a smile.

  Reluctantly, Skye accepted the flower. The moment it touched his hands, he felt its eagerness, its impatient urge to merge with him. When he finally did, his senses exploded.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Shapes dissolved. Objects evaporated. Only splotches of color remained, swirling and blending into one another, altering his understanding of reality. An immense orchestra sang in his mind; an army of violinists, harpists, and trumpeters played along with a horde of flutists, pianists, and drummers. There were instruments he’d never heard before, and voices he’d never imagined.

  “What’s happening?” he asked, though his voice seemed distant, like the echo of a faded memory.

  “Channel,” Ku’s voice rang clear through the cacophony.

  Skye didn’t need to push his fantasia. The moment he thought of channeling, his energy flowed into the dahlia, and everything happened at once.

  A powerful gust swept back his hair, and a spirited blaze almost singed his nose. A column of water doused him yet again as the flower grew larger, and the earth underneath him shifted, almost costing him his balance. Light and darkness danced together as lightning cracked and thunder boomed. Blood-red tendrils, molten earth, sparkling glass, and solid ice surged alongside mud and shadow.

  When it finally stopped, Skye was not the only one with his jaw hanging.

  “Can’t be!” Ka’ib cawed, feathers fluffed in disbelief.

  “Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!” Rico chirped, hopping excitedly.

  “That’s impossible,” Luccello muttered, shaking his head. “Not even Pairi has this range.”

  “He’s like you, Master,” Pairi observed, perching on the Ku’s shoulder.

  The master simply smiled at Skye.

  “What happened?” Skye’s voice echoed in his own head. “What is this flower?”

  “Unlike your city, which relies on mineral-based astra, most channelers in this Dunya use flora or fauna-based astra,” Ku explained. “The Seed of Dusk you consumed revealed your ability to merge with wooden objects. So I wondered what might happen if you merged with a flora astrum rather than inert wood.”

  Skye frowned. The plant had manipulated a dozen different elements. It made no sense. “What denomination does this flower channel?”

  “Omni,” Ku said, placing a steady hand on Skye’s shoulder and leaning down to meet his gaze. “Your ability isn’t limited to merging with flora-based items. You can control the element of any plant you bond with. You are what we call a prism.”

  The cogs in Skye’s mind whirred. In Troqua’s history, there have been few dual channelers, and only a handful had ever wielded more denominations. And yet, the flower had unleashed nearly fifteen elements, and Ku was saying it hadn’t controlled them, Skye had.

  “I could count on one hand the channelers with such range,” Ku said. “It’s truly a miracle.”

  “I can channel all the elements?” Skye asked, trembling with disbelief.

  “And then some,” Ku said. “Magic isn’t just about manipulating elements.”

  “But… why?” Skye’s voice cracked. “Why do I have this power?”

  Ku stroked his beard thoughtfully. “I don’t know. Sometimes, when a person has a great trial to overcome, they’re granted great tools. Perhaps you are meant to succeed.”

  Skye stared at the dahlia in his hands. Slowly, his eyes adjusted to the transformed room, and the music wove itself into his thoughts.

  “Master Ku,” he said. “Please tell me more stories.”

  ?????Days until Green Eve: 20?????