ATN 3: THE JAR IN THE MAZE

THINGS DON'T GO AS PLANNED

"Jay!" Gale said, wide eyed, "You must not. This is absurd. How will you take on the giants without your magic?"

"I can fight too." I said, "Just a little bit."

"But..."

"Sorry Gale, my decision is made."

"Okay, then." Gale said, "I should go. Now you know what you have to do?"

"Yes." I said, "Please don't tell Mom about this."

"My prediction is she already knows."

"Well, it was worth a try." I said, as I waved Gale goodbye. She ran on her four legs and disappeared behind the bushes. I turned to leave when I saw right behind me. Gerard Fritz stood there. "Have you lost your mind?" He asked.

"What happened?"

"Don't try to act innocent." He said, giving his hair a trademark flip, "I heard everything, when you were talking to that talking polecat."

"You did?"

"Yes."

"Then you know, I have no choice."

"There is always a choice, Jay."

"Then I choose to sacrifice my powers."

"Shut up!" Gerard shouted, "Your powers are our biggest hope in the war. Without that, we can't win."

"If we believe, we can."

"I will not..."

"You will not come between me and my decisions." I said, strongly, "No one makes decisions for me other than myself. Please, Gerard."

Gerard didn't say anything, but he wasn't convinced. I asked him to stay quiet about it. He promised me that, and left. I decided to gather my thoughts, since I was going to perform the most powerful magic I had ever performed.

I returned to the Citadel, and in the evening, I announced that I planned to break the curse at night, and as said by Mom, everyone had to be present in the beach, during the ritual. Gerard gave me the eye, as if saying 'Don't do it', but I had decided. I didn't tell anyone about this, and would have not let Gerard know either, had he not overheard me in the beach. But it was good to know that he trusted me and my magic. So, I trusted him with my secret.

Why didn't I tell anyone? Let us see. Oh, there is nothing to see. There was only one reason. Others would try to tell me why I shouldn't sacrifice my powers. But other than that, anything precious to give away would be either my friends, or my family. I was not going to give any of them up. So, my powers it had to be. And I didn't want others' thoughts clouding my brain.

As asked, everyone turned up in the ritual. I had collected some wood right after Gale had left, and had summoned fire as people started coming in. This was going to be my last magical spell. And this was going to be my big one.

I sat in front of the fire. I looked around, and saw everyone by the beach. As I was told, I had to put my blood into the element nearest to me, which was fire, to let the others recognize that I was the one trying to break the curse. Then, I had to call the elements with an elemental spell. I hated those. I remembering performing one in Delphi to kill Damysus. It nearly ended me. Elemental spells are tiring. But the job would be half done. The elements would recognize the one trying to break the curse, and since there would be many around me, the elements would draw energy from all of us, to heal the hole between the two worlds. Then, they shall ask for the sacrifice. I shall give it to them, as I see them heal the hole. That was the idea. I had to careful during the sacrifice, or the first thing the elements hear from any of us would be sacrificed.

I pulled out my knife, and looked at my friends. Iris was sitting on a chair, looking intently. She made eye contact, perhaps trying to read my mind. She didn't do it, but made it look like that. We got scared she would read our mind, and if we were hiding something, we would vomit it out. I quickly looked around. Dadai and Abhro gave me a thumbs up. Tina was watching intently, her mouth covered in tension. I wanted my sisters here too. I missed them so much. Actaeon was looking at me in an interrogative way. Rahul, Trent, Lucy, and the other Atlanteans were on the edge of their seats, watching on what's to come. It was if they were watching El Clasico. I looked for Gerard on the other side. He was standing behind me, just slightly ahead of Delilah and Urwa, still trying to tell me how wrong I was. I addressed everyone, and said, "This has to be done. So whatever I do here may not be liked by many of you, but the mistake has to be corrected. And as I made a mistake, I have to correct it. So, please don't try to stop me."

I took my knife, and made a cut on my right hand. I closed my eyes in pain, as blood started dripping out. And before it fell on the ground, I let it fall on the fire. Tina gasped slightly. It was so silent, other than the feeble sea waves and fire crackling, I could hear it. The fire rose higher. I closed my eyes, joined my hands and said the incantation, "Stoicheiakos therapeftis!" The elemental healing spell. I said the spell nearly five times. And finally, it worked.

My vision lost itself, as the picture in front of my eyes changed. In front of me, I could, now, see five people. The five of them kept changing forms constantly. One second they were men, in another one, they were women. The one on the left had it's full body blue. It was as blue as a swimming pool. It had white glowing eyes. The one next to it had a beautiful brownish colour on itself. It had a greenish tint in the upper parts of it's head. It had the same glowing eyes. Actually, now that I saw, all of them had the same white glowing eyes. The one next to the brown one had it's body colour grey. It was darker in some places, and lighter in others. Next to it, the one had no exact colour, or shape, just the eyes. The last one had a glowing yellow colour. I understood. These were the spirits of the elements. From my left, water, earth, sky, air, and fire. I heard all their voices, together, inside my head. They started in a male voice, but ended in female. They asked, "Can we channel the energy from people around you?"

"Yes. But mostly through me." I said.

My visions returned. I saw everyone in a very minute amount of discomfort. This went for about ten minutes. And then, shocking even me, the voices returned, this time, making itself hearable to all, "The sacrifice?"

People around me were shocked to hear such a voice, or voices. Even I had been taken aback, so I took a while to respond. Unfortunately, that while costed a lot. Gerard Fritz, son of Thetis, responded before me, ran close to me, pushed me aside, and said to the fire, "Eyes of Gerard Fritz, son of Thetis."

"No!" I shouted. I looked at the fire, and said, "That is not what I am sacrificing. Not..." I realized that the work had been done. Gerard fell on the ground. And so did I. I was losing all my energy, and was draining of to sleep. Right before my eyes closed, I gave a look at Gerard, who, with his last eyesight, looked at me, and said, "Sorry buddy, couldn't let you give away your magic."

And I lost consciousness.