Page 45 of Elemasters

Dustin felt the touch, but he didn’t react to it, or answer James’s question. He was far too focused on Chris.

The way his eyes had been locked onto the Lotus Garden without blinking since the moment the doors slid apart. The way he was furiously chewing his lower lip out of sheer anxiety. The way he’d shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie to hide how badly they were shaking.

“Chris… if you aren’t up to this right now, maybe we can try again over the long weekend?”

Dustin had barely gotten the words out before Chris’s eyes snapped to him, blazing with barely contained fury.

“I’m not scared of some fucking ghost visions or whatever! Let’s just get this shit over with so we can go home,” he barked, pushing past Dustin and the others and charging ahead into the Lotus Garden.

“Should we pull him out? Going in there with that attitude can’t be good for anyone,” Bailey wondered aloud, but Sima Yao shook his head.

“Once a Sage enters the garden, none of you may exit until the trial is complete. Step inside, it is time to begin,”

With that, Dustin took a deep breath and tried his best to still the storm of emotions swirling within him. He shared one last glance with the rest of the team, before the four of them stepped into the moonlit garden, the wall sliding closed behind them…

Chapter 17

Handle This

There were few things in life that were more unsettling to Dustin than not knowing what to expect.

As Dustin sat cross-legged in a circle with the rest of the group in the center of the Lotus Garden, his heart pounded in his ears. They were supposed to be meditating; “clearing their minds so they could transition into the illusory realm”.

But that was far easier said than done.

“This shit is so stupid,” Chris mumbled, his eyes still closed and pale flames flickering across his fingertips, “why isn’t anything happening?”

“Probably because you won’t stop fucking talking,” Chloe snapped, “we’re supposed to be concentrating,”

“I’m sure you bitching at me is super helpful,”

“Guys calm down, please,” Bailey cut in, “just breathe deep and clear your thoughts. Just like Sima said,”

Dustin tried to put their bickering out of his mind; closing his eyes and focusing on the sound of his own breathing. It quickly settled into a rhythm:

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

After a few minutes of counting his inhales and exhales, he realized something…

He couldn’t hear the others anymore, nor could he feel James’s knee brushing against his in their little circle.

His eyes snapped open, and instead of being met with the serene-yet-eerie atmosphere of the Lotus Garden, he instead found himself sitting in an entirely black void; the ground beneath his feet little more than a reflective surface similar to glass, but strong enough to stand on.

“Chris?! Guys, are you here?!” he called out as he scrambled to his feet, his voice echoing endlessly into the abyss that had apparently swallowed him whole.

There was no answer.

His pulse quickened as his eyes darted around, desperate to find something, anything to visually latch onto…

But the only thing in the void, was him. His own reflection, staring back up at him from where he stood. Its eyes locked onto him like a silent judge, ready to hand down the harshest sentence imaginable.

And then… it moved.