“Nold, let him go!” Zalan raised his arms, threatening to blast him with lightning.

He was worried he would run out of air under the mound of sand.

“No! You will be silent and listen to me!” Nold ordered. “You are a fan of negotiation, yes? I will give you a generous offer!”

Zalan could barely believe his eyes. Nold was shaking with adrenaline, wind whipping around him in mixes with Elemental Sand swirling like a tornado. Nold had never spoken to him like this before. He had been stern before, but never this level of maleficent.

“Give your power to the Artifact, and I will let you both live,” Nold said, ice in his speech.

Zalan blinked, swallowing in shock. He hadn’t expected such a serious ultimatum.

“Let us live? Nold, what’s going on?” Zalan asked. It never crossed his mind that Nold had any intent to kill them before that point.

“I have given you an offer! Do you deny it? Did you wish to see Rep die today?” Nold challenged. He gripped his fist slightly and the mound of sand over Rep’s face closed in slowly.

“No!” Zalan immediately shouted. “No, I’m listening. You want me to use my lightning on the table, right? What does the Artifact actually do?”

“It does not matter whether you know what the Artifact does or not. The terms of negotiation will not change just because you have more knowledge of it,” Nold said, pointing to the golden table with a demanding finger.

“Negotiations aren’t supposed to be one-way,” Zalan said, his teeth grit in rage.

He could see now that Nold had been playing him the entire time they were on the island. Perhaps even longer. Everything he said was to nudge him closer to the center of the island. Ignoring the pirates. Rushing past traps. All directing him to this room. To this exact spot. He was desperate to get Zalan to use the Artifact, so it was the last thing he would do. Power continued to build around Nold. Fire, water, sand, and air spun around him in a dangerous twister.

“Why do you hesitate?” Nold demanded.

“Because you look like you’re going to fight me,” Zalan said sternly.

“Only if you refuse to do as you are told.”

“If you want a fight, there’s one thing you should remember…” Zalan flexed his feet in anticipation. He had a risky plan, and no time to think it through. “You taught me how to smite people.”

Nold snapped his neck up to the ceiling in shock. A moment later, the entire chamber trembled powerfully and thunder rang out distantly. Nold flinched, covering himself in several of his Elemental Powers to shield him. Pebbles fell, shaken loose from the ceiling. But no lightning appeared to jump down toward Nold.

Nold unbraced himself and lowered his protective barriers. He smiled and looked upward.

“Ha!” Nold gloated, beaming at the domed ceiling. “You failed!”

Nold lowered his head to look at his former student only to see he was no longer standing across from him at the table. At first, he thought Zalan had cowered under the table. He smirked to himself, glad to see Zalan knew his place. He knelt down and took a look, confused to find it empty. When he stood once more, he saw Zalan at Rep’s side. Nold had been fooled. Zalan had used his summoned lightning from above as a distraction to run without worry of an attack. He gripped a link in the chains binding Rep.

“Quick, Rep!” Zalan said urgently. “Was Nold lying about the Artifact? If I put energy into this, will it kill you?”

“Mmm!” Rep said, sounding quiet and distant under the sand covering his face. Zalan wasn’t sure he would even be able to understand through the chains covering his friend’s mouth.

“I don’t know what that means, so you better hope this works!” Zalan said, exasperated.

He let out a very concentrated jolt of lightning, zipping through the single point in the chain with enough intensity to break it. The Artifact stopped glowing and went slack. Losing all the numbness that came with the active Artifact, Rep began to shuffle it off. He brought his arms up to his head and dug himself out of the sand. He gasped for air and Zalan felt foolish for not having opened an airway before freeing him from the chains. He had been suffocating under the sand.

“Zalan!” Rep said, an immense relief on his face. To Zalan, he looked more grateful to see his friend safe than to be free from the Artifact. Zalan couldn’t help but smile a bit too, the gratitude washing over him as well. Rep’s facial expression changed in a flash and he shoved Zalan back.

A whip of flame and sand cracked between Rep and Zalan. The bits of sand that fell onto Zalan’s skin burned hot and he brushed them off quickly. The duo both looked up to Nold.

“What happened to him? I know he was a weirdo before, but this is full-on madman, what kind of Artifact does this?” Zalan asked, baffled as Nold spun his Elemental Powers around him.

“We were duped, Zalan. This has always been his true character. What we saw before was a ruse. I believe he is Morloch,” Rep said gravely.

The revelation hit Zalan like a ton of bricks. He threw his head to Rep in shock, then back to Nold — perhaps Morloch — who looked angrily upon Zalan. The elements picked up speed as they spun around him wildly.

“How do you know?” Zalan asked quickly, imbuing himself with lighting and watching his opponent closely. “Madam Hikma said he was on the island, but Nold was still outside Oriton at the time.”

“She said we would find him on the island. You told me that all you knew of this man was that he was a powerful wielder of Elemental Air. I witnessed him destroy The Aegeusson firsthand, using wind alone. He tore the ship apart. I tried to confront him when I located him on the island, but he disabled me in the Shackles of Stasis,” Rep explained.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

“What do you mean you confronted him?” Zalan asked. He was wondering if Rep tried to talk it out after seeing him destroy their ship.

“I hit him with Elemental Fire when he wasn’t looking and then he overwhelmed me,” Rep answered. Zalan felt that response was much more appropriate than his first thought.

Zalan almost slapped his forehead in frustration when he looked back at his former instructor. The wounds he noticed on him earlier were clearly burn scars. He had seen burn scars before, his mom had shown him when teaching him about ways to treat them. Why didn’t he realize it was from a fight with an Elemental Fire user? The fact his skin was pink and wrinkled should have sent alarms off in his head that he took fire damage. Something that would have been impossible up against Leviathans or while out at sea. He felt like such a naive fool to believe everything he was told.

Zalan inspected the tornado around his former instructor. The base was made of Elemental Air. Nold always had the power, he was just hiding it like he originally tried to hide his power over Elemental Water from them. The hidden Elemental Powers made more sense to him now. Four powers in one person was incredibly suspicious. Zalan couldn’t imagine how he acquired four. Zalan shook his head imperceptibly, in slight disbelief.

“Morloch?” Zalan asked the man he knew as Nold.

“I told you I knew exactly where Morloch would be on the island,” the powerful man presented himself grandly with his gloved hands. “My offer still stands. Blast a bolt of lightning into the golden table and I will let you both live.”

The tornado around Nold boosted itself in power and Rep began to take slow steps backward toward the water channel leading out of the chamber.

“Do not touch that table,” Rep informed Zalan. “It is a Transfer Table. It can take any attribute from you if you give it up. Morloch wishes to steal your Elemental Lightning.”

“No! Not steal!” Nold-now-Morloch corrected loudly. “The Transfer Table requires consent from both the giver and the receiver! Willingly give me the Elemental Lightning Power.”

Zalan turned to Rep who continued to step toward the Artifact-surrounded water. He shook his head to Rep slightly.

“We can’t swim away. Nold — I mean Morloch can just use his Elemental Water to pull us out,” Zalan said.

Rep nodded, but remained moving toward the water.

“What will it be, Zapan?” Morloch demanded. “Rep cowers away. Do you wish to fight me and forfeit your lives or give me the power and leave with your lives?”

Zalan ran both hands through his hair. This happened too fast. He wasn’t ready to take on Morloch so soon after discovering who he was. He was supposed to go in with a plan to take him down. And Morloch wasn’t supposed to be Nold. He was supposed to have both Rep and Nold’s help to take down the man.

He felt so stupid never having seen it before. There was the massive burst of wind when they saw the Basilisk at the Elemental Rage Tournament. The miraculous blade of air that had split the tsunami bearing down on them when chasing the Thalassic Terror. All the little times he felt gusts of wind whenever Nold was around and using his other Elemental Powers. And the fact that The Aegesson kept sailing in the right direction all through the night before the storm. It was Morloch, putting them on a fast track to the Island of Remains. Morloch was trying to get Zalan to the transfer table from the very beginning. He had been so eager to get them out at sea, and always toward the Island of Remains. Zalan could see why Morloch didn’t want to help save Captain Buttonwillow when he was trapped in the Thalassic Terror. It was considered a waste of time when the Transfer Table was at the end of their journey.

“Was this what you wanted my ‘help’ with? You just wanted me to waste my Elemental Lightning by giving it to you?” Zalan asked, upset.

“Not waste! I have many Elemental Powers! I can add yours to my arsenal to bring myself to peak abilities! Five Elemental Powers are all one needs! And Elementals are too stingy to make me whole. I can rule benevolently from Aetheria, coming to the surface to dispatch boons and justice to whomever the flying city passes by,” Morloch said. “Your lightning would be a means to making me seem a legitimate being from above! Someone who could literally smite the wicked! Man or monster!”

Zalan was feeling unexpectedly burned by the change in his instructor. This was true betrayal. He thought he had some working relationship with him. That while he didn’t fully trust him, he could see him as a teacher. But that was by design. Exactly what Nold wanted him to believe. It was all a ploy to create enough trust to bring him here, in this exact room. Nold was adamant on remaining in their company, no matter where Madam Hikma’s quests led them. But Zalan didn’t see that as the danger that it was. And Zalan had fallen for it, just like Yelsa had warned him about. The man was working him from the very beginning. Morloch the Manipulator. Zalan screwed his eyes shut and shook his head in consternation.

“But then why all the training!? I don’t… why would you make me better just to bring me here?” Zalan demanded.

“Stop stalling,” Morloch said coldly.

“Answer the question!”

Another crash of lightning rumbled the top of the chamber. Morloch raised an amused eyebrow. Zalan was still trying to zap him from above.

“The Transfer Table is limited in its ability,” Morloch began. “Once I am granted the Elemental Power, I can not enhance it any further. Whatever Wisdom it comes with is the maximum it will reach in my control.”

“So… you were just treating me like cattle?” Zalan said, his eyes wide with oncoming rage. “You were just fattening up my power until I was good enough to slaughter? That was why you were so focused on my training over Rep’s? That was the potential you saw in me? That’s why you were so insistent on me being able to call lightning from the sky!”

Another bolt of lightning shook the room from outside. This time a few larger pieces of the ceiling fell. They were swept up in Morloch’s tornado as they came down.

“There will be no slaughter if you come quietly,” Morloch said. “This is your last chance.”

“Like I could trust you to hold up your end of the bargain!” Zalan exclaimed.

“Bargain!?” Morloch barked a laugh. “This is not a negotiation! I have set the terms. Decide whether you wish to live.”

Morloch pointed to the other side of the table, waiting for Zalan to take his place. Zalan took another glance back at Rep. Rep was all the way at the edge of the water, his eyes remaining on Morloch. Zalan began to consider that maybe Rep really was scared. He couldn’t blame him in the situation. They had no idea what Morloch was capable of. He had four Elemental Powers already at his disposal. They never even got to learn his Level when traveling with him. Rep gave no indication of what they should do.

Zalan felt at the Homeseeker in his pocket with a light tap of his finger. He could activate it to escape, but it normally took at least ten to fifteen seconds to warp them away. If Morloch was able to hit them with enough power, he might even be able to take away the Artifact before it helped them escape. Or he could outright kill them like he had threatened them with. Zalan decided that his best bet was to approach the table. He would blast Morloch with as much electricity as he could, while Morloch expected him to deposit his Element into the Transfer Table.

Zalan took one last look at Rep, who nodded at him with confidence.

“It will be fine,” Rep assured him.

Zalan felt it was false confidence. He couldn’t see any way out that would definitely work. Nevertheless, Zalan nodded back, and began to make slow steps toward Morloch.

Morloch reduced the intensity of his tornado and smiled wide as Zalan approached.