My friends backed away, wary. Even Tamura looked worried, and I couldn't blame him. The soldiers from the Pit had their weapons out, but none dared venture too close. Only Hardt remained close to me. Too close.
"Eska, what's happening?" His deep voice was edged with panic.
I turned to look at Hardt then, moving with tiny jerking motions, like a bird fighting against restraints. It took every bit of will power I had to contain the magic of the Djinn. My eyes flashed, my hair floated about my head like a black shroud. My skin was glowed with the power.
"Stay back." The words hissed with power I couldn't hope to control. Only, I had to. I had no other choice. Either I controlled Aerolis' power, or it destroyed me and everyone else along with me. So, I bloody well controlled it.
This creature is trying to tear me from you. There was strain and panic both in Ssserakis' voice.
You are a mockery. Aerolis roared. We should have crushed your kind the moment the Rand created you.
Do it fast, Eskara!
The voices in my head merged into a cacophony of noise I couldn't understand. Aerolis was attempting to take control, to wrench it from me. Ssserakis was there to stop the Djinn with shadow and cold and walls of resistance. But Aerolis was too much. His power too great. Everywhere Ssserakis tried to stop him, the Djinn shone a light so bright my horror couldn't help but wither away. Even with all my power, even with Ssserakis and our strength combined, Aerolis was still too much.
A part of me wondered if this had been the Djinn's plan all along. This was what I had learned from his memories, that Sourcerers could act as a home for the Djinn. They had done just that in the final battle of the War Eternal. This was how the last of the Rand had been slaughtered, with Sourcerers under the control of the Djinn, and weapons forged from the only prison that could hold them. We had made a deal, Aerolis and I, but now he was here he wanted control. I realised then, he was no different than Vainfold. He may have colluded with Mezula, a plan they forged to be the very last of their kind, but he had not forgiven nor forgotten. He wanted vengeance, even knowing it would kill him as well.
The Djinn are mad. The Rand are mad. It is a madness woven into their very core, their very essence. Conflict is in their nature. They are connected in a way we cannot understand. Linked so intrinsically that they cannot exist without the other. Yet they cannot stop fighting. The war between them is as eternal as they are, and even knowing that the outcome can only ever be mutual destruction, they will still pursue it with a determination even I cannot match.
We often use the word madness to invalidate another's opinion. In the case of the Rand and the Djinn, it is acceptable. They are madness. And so is their fucking war. I didn't know it at the time, but the Iron Legion sought to bring them back to the world. To fix it by repopulating the Rand. It was an act that could only rekindle the War Eternal, and just like before, it would be those of us caught in the middle who would pay the heaviest price.
I could not contain Aerolis' power. But I could control it. First, though, I needed to amplify it even further. The Source I held in my left hand was not large, the size of a cherry, though ridged in some places and sharp in others. It would not go down easily, and it would be worse coming back up. It would also kill me in mere minutes. Time is never on our side. For us mere mortals time is disease, slowly eating away at us. It cannot be stopped, nor bargained with, nor even slowed. When I popped the Source in my mouth and swallowed it down, tensing at the pain and gagging on the blood as it scratched my throat, I felt time take notice. It was not Chronomancy that put me on the clock, not this time. It was Geomancy.
Attunement does not dictate what type of magic a Sourcerer can use, but rather their resistance to the destructive effect of holding a Source inside. I am not a Geomancer, but I can use that school of magic. It's just that it will kill me much faster than the ones I am attuned to. Rather than days before rejection starts, I had minutes. Little time, and so much to achieve. Aerolis' attempts to subjugate weren't making things any easier. But the Djinn would be the architect of its own destruction if it continued, and I would carry it out. After all, its power was at my command now, and along with the Geomancy Source, and the knowledge of combining magic to strengthen it, I was in no mood to suffer Aerolis' tantrum.
Reaching up with my left hand, I grabbed hold of a piece of Do'shan. Not a physical action, but rather something magical. I was combining Kinemancy and Geomancy and amplifying the result through Aerolis' own magic. I shouldn't have been able to move a hair at that range, yet I could feel the rock of Do'shan. I could sense the tiny fissures and faults. And with a sharp tug, I pulled a section of the mountain free. It was not a large chunk of rock I sent falling to the earth below, at least not in perspective. There was an entire mountain floating above me and I ripped free a chunk no larger than a few houses. Of course, it didn't need to be that large. I was proving a point. The spectacle worked. Everyone took notice, even Aerolis. We all watched the rock fall, the impact felt through our feet as it struck the ground and sent up a cloud of dust and dirt.
What are you doing? The force of Aerolis' rage staggered me and I nearly collapsed to my knees from the assault. I must have looked so strange staggering about like a drunken fool, the conflict was all inside, invisible to the others. I could feel the strain the Djinn was putting on Ssserakis, and how close my horror was to being overcome.
"Stop fighting me, Aerolis!" I hissed the words through clenched teeth as I reached my hand up once more and clutched at another section of Do'shan. "We made a deal. Either you honour it now and we all walk away happy, or I will tear your city from the sky before trapping you inside my own stone coffin!" To emphasise my point, I tore away another section of the mountain, letting rocks as large as manor houses fall to the ground. It was an emphatic display of power, and it cost me more than I was willing to admit. I couldn't let the Djinn realise that I would succumb to rejection long before I ripped even a tenth of the mountain out.
You carry an abomination inside of you!
I snorted. "It's a horror. My horror. And Ssserakis is welcome here. You are not! So, overcome your prejudice and stop fighting me. Help me save your people, Aerolis."
The soldiers from the Pit looked caught between awe and the need to bolt and run. I could feel the fear on them, and Ssserakis was feeding on it to help in its struggle against the Djinn. My own friends looked as close to running as the soldiers, and I will admit that hurt a little. Even Hardt was tensed as though ready to launch into a sprint at a moment's notice.
I felt the struggle cease as Aerolis pulled back from Ssserakis. There was hatred there, enmity built upon anger and disgust. They could hate each other all they wanted, just as long as they put it aside to obey me.
You should hurry, terran. Aerolis' voice was smug inside my head. You don't have long. He wasn't wrong about that. I could feel something hot and wet dripping from my left ear, and my stomach was starting to cramp. Still so much to do, and so much time wasted on petty, useless conflict.
Turning back towards the Forest of Ten, I stretched out a hand again. I could feel the Geomancy, the connection to the earth around me. I could feel fissures beneath my feet, and lines of power snaking through the dirt. I gripped hold of a chunk of earth beneath a section of the forest and lifted. Caked dirt rumbled and shifted, ripping free from its surroundings. Roots tore as the trees were pulled free from their deep connections. Then it all started to shake. Earth crumbled away, crushed in my magical grip. Trees toppled, falling back down to the ground. It all just fell apart in my hands.