The Conduit's Key (Essence Wielder Book 4) by Dan Michaelson & D.K. Holmberg

Author:Dan Michaelson & D.K. Holmberg [Michaelson, Dan & Holmberg, D.K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ASH Publishing
Published: 2024-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirty

Dax followed Agatasha into the I’haran lands, feeling the change all around him and recognizing just how different everything began to feel. Some of this was tied to the strange energy that worked through him, and the difficulty that he now had trying to hold onto the essence that he wanted to grasp. Every bit of his focus went into attempting to maintain a hold over his essence, which he knew would eventually lead to him having a different, and distinct, difficulty with it.

Agatasha looked at him. “How are you managing?”

“Not as well as I would like,” Dax said. “I can feel some part of the essence continuing to flood out of me. It’s like there is a part of me that has opened, and it is releasing some of that power out.”

She nodded. “That has been my concern for you.”

“And I feel like I could, and should, be able to maintain a measure of hold on it, but I haven’t been able to keep that essence inside. When we were battling, and when I was helping you⁠—”

“You should not attempt to use transference like that again.”

“I only did it because it was necessary at the time,” Dax said, “not because I wanted to harm you.”

She was quiet for a moment. “Have you done that before?”

“Maybe a time or two. I have a friend who is concerned about me doing it, but only because she fears that having given essence like that means that I am somehow trying to act more like the Great Serpent. That’s not what I was doing.”

She nodded slowly. “That is not the concern that I would have. My concern stems more from the fact that you administering essence can run the risk of overwhelming a person’s ability to contain that essence. It is difficult to judge just how much a person can withstand.”

Dax hadn’t considered that aspect before.

“But I can see how much essence they are getting.”

“Perhaps. But have you seen the Nodaral River?”

Dax frowned for a moment, then nodded. “I have. It’s near my family’s holding.”

“That is what I suspected. And with what you have seen, have you seen it when the rains come heavily?”

Dax shook his head. “I suppose not.”

“Unfortunate. It can be quite lovely. Flowers grow in the meadow following the flood. It’s as if they are just waiting to be drenched, filled by the rains. But the river itself—that is the true marvel, at least for those who have a chance to see it. It flows violently at times. And when it does, when the rains fall, it can sometimes overwhelm the banks, spreading out into the flat land alongside the river. For those that live in the flats, like the flowers, it can be the lifeblood that they need. But for those trees and shrubs that grow along the shore, they can be washed away.”

Dax frowned. “I think I get what you are trying to say.”

“Good. It is difficult to be told not to do something that you think that you have a measure of control over.

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