“Oh,” I said. “Yeah, I think I get it now.”
“I don't,” Water said.
“Because you're an idiot,” Fire said.
“Cease the fighting and answer my question!” Taroc roared.
“Death is pure energy,” Air said. “But he is also a powerful consciousness. When he bound himself to Aranren and, briefly, to Ember, he became akin to the soul in your body, Lord Taroc. Pure energy cannot be destroyed. It takes no damage and cannot be contained. A soul, however, can be damaged and contained.”
Taroc and I stared at each other as the implications of those words sank in.
“Dear Goddess,” Taroc finally whispered. “We can kill Death.”
“Not exactly,” Air said. “I said damage, not kill. Souls cannot be killed, but they can be tainted. Damaged. But what we need to focus on is the containment part. A soul is contained in a body. Death can now be contained as well.”
“And how will that help us?” I asked.
“We will teach you how to contain Death within a shell of our magic and then the Goddess will take him from this world.”
“The Goddess will take him?” Taroc asked. “So, this is her plan?”
“Partially.”
“Hold on,” I said. “The last time I encased the Corrupter in a shell of elements, I came close to killing him.”
“No, you didn't,” Fire drawled.
“But if I got good enough at it, as good as I'd need to be to trap Death, wouldn't that kill Aranren? He'd be encased in elemental clay.”
It went silent.
“I'm bound to Ara. Are you saying that Aranren and I have to die?”
“What?!” Taroc snarled.
“No, we're not saying that,” Air said.
Taroc sighed in relief, and I started to relax.
Then Fire added, “You don't have to die, but Aranren does.”
“What?!” I screeched. “No. No fucking way. No.”
“He is already prepared to die, Ember,” Air said gently.
“No,” I said again. “I promised him that I would get him free.”
“To die would be freedom,” Earth said.
“No, it fucking wouldn't,” I growled. “There must be another way.”
Silence came again.
“Perhaps,” Air said at last.
I let out my breath. “All right. I'll take that. What would we have to do?”
“It would be risky and complicated,” Air said. “You will have to train harder, Spark of the Goddess. Master every intricacy of the Elements. Only then will you be able to use our magic—combined with Spirit—to draw Death out of Aranren and into an elemental cage instead of caging him inside Aranren. Then, just as we planned, the Goddess can take him.”
