Josh let the shadows in his mental scenario swarm the group. He couldpicture what Cale and Mara would do easily. He'd seen how Cale fought in a teamduring the orc mission—weaving through the edges of the fight to let hisopponents chase him, taking them down as he could and providing assistance whenneeded. Truly like earth. A stable force he knew would have his back if heneeded it.

Mara remained out of the main fight, picking off the shadows with arrows. When those weren't enough, tricks joined her shots much like with Darren. Clouds of mist, exploding ice arrows, patches of frozen ground. She was the unseen danger of ice about to make an enemy slip.

A knot curled in his stomach as his imagined figure stood amongst the chaos, having no idea what to do. When he thought of a lightning fighter, he thought of someone darting around with quick, powerful blows. A ninja, maybe. He shifted his sword and shield, deep down knowing that wasn't right.

How could he be so oblivious to where he would fit in a team?

Because you always fought alone, Boomer murmured. Well, except against the louse, but you were a decoy there.

Josh's eyes flew open, but he squeezed them shut quickly and grasped at the mental image he'd created. Boomer, you're a genius!

I know I am, but, uh, care to tell me how in this case?

In video games—

Boomer chuckled. Video games again.

Josh scowled, then forced his face to relax so Cale wouldn't see. Yes, video games again. Look, in video games, there is this class that I always liked to play. It's called the tank in most MMOs.

What are MMOs?

Wow, Josh really had failed to teach his dragon about video games. Means I play with a lot of people at once. And whenever I would try to slay monsters with those people, some of us would have to keep the monster's attention. Those people were the tanks. The monster just attacks us while the others hack away at its health.

The more he spoke, the sillier he felt. Video games couldn't compare to the reality of having an ogre trying to beat him to death or a louse's painful sand blasts. Maybe video games felt somewhat silly now, but their terms led to the dots connecting.

He slid a single eye open. Cale watched him expectantly. Josh's shoulders slumped as he closed his eye again. He raised his hand between them. Here went nothing.

For my team, I am lightning. As he thought, his imagined self appeared in the midst of the shadows and charged at them. I move ahead, unrelenting like lightning through the sky. I am a light they cannot look away from, blinding them so they cannot see my allies behind me. I am a force they cannot stop, so they can only focus on me or be struck down.

Boomer didn't hide his chuckles, and even when the lightning zapped between Josh's fingers, he felt stupid.

His cheeks burned. He let go of the mental image and instead stared determinedly at the wall beside Cale. "Okay, I did it."

Cale smirked. "Congratulations. You can at least use a technique that a ten-year-old invented."

Josh felt even warmer at the jab. He glared. "I was going to say thanks, but never mind. You're still a jerk."

"Next time, don't snicker at someone trying to help you." Before Josh could retort, Cale pointed at his sword. "Your best bet is to channel the energy into that. Or your shield, I guess. You may know how to summon lightning now, but it'll be a while before you can control it with any level of proficiency."

Josh willed the lightning to go to his hand. When he felt nothing, he reimagined himself in the shadowy fight. The element rose up almost instantly and surged to his left arm. Blue sparks danced across the blade of his sword. He twisted his weapon around, watching with wide eyes as the energy moved along the blade.

"Many metals," Cale went on, "tend to reject magic. Iron has an especially strong refusal against it. Instead, we have to make weapons using a very rare metal—ildium."

Josh lifted his eyes from the sword, eyebrows drawn together. "Ildium? I don't think I've heard of that before."

"You wouldn't have. The different soul-bound groups claimed almost all of it because of its willingness to accept magic. It tended to melt if exposed to too much magic, so the blacksmiths of the past would mix the metal with dragon scales. Now, we have weapons like our swords that we can easily use with our magic."

"Huh." Josh examined his sword once more. It looked like any other one he had seen. Or did it shine more than others? Either way, he relaxed a little. Maybe he couldn't shoot lightning or anything, but he doubted monsters would enjoy being hit with an electrically charged sword.

Keeping his eyes trained on the metal, Josh cleared his throat. "Thanks for the help," he said. "And I'm sorry I laughed. It really does help."

"It's silly, I know. Like I said, I was ten, but if it helps, it helps." Cale pushed to his feet. He proceeded down the street with a small gesture for Josh to follow. "Learning break over. We have a lot of city left to cover."

That they did. Josh's parched throat cried in protest, but he followed Cale.

It took one house search, three broken vases, and five smashed crates before the monotonous boredom set in again.

"So, can you channel earth into your swords?" Josh asked.

"Technically, yes," Cale replied.

"Why only technically?"

"It isn't as useful as lightning."

"How not?"

"It can help if I'd rather club someone than use my blades' edges or if I wish to use it to block."

"Cool. Do you have to do that often?"

Cale sighed. He turned from the cabinet he rummaged through. His exasperated stare settled on Josh. "Speaking while searching is a distraction."

Josh frowned at the bed he had been overturning. "Maybe for you," he said. "I don't like the silence. Makes things weird." He shuddered to prove a point.

"Well," Cale began as he turned back to his task, "I need silence so please—"

A scream cut him off.

Cale rushed out the door first, Josh close on his heels.

The screaming continued. Josh flashed to the night before. Just like then, Aharon's screams acted as a guide as they pounded through the dusty streets. Only this time, they weren't asking for help.

The screams were wordless agony.

Josh strained his ears, listening for sounds of battle. Or, worse, Mara screaming. He struggled not to overtake Cale even if it would have been easy. He wouldn't rush this alone, no matter how much his insides yelled at him to run faster.

Aharon's cries wouldn't stop. They echoed off the ghost city, haunting Josh and Cale with their every step.

After what must have been forever, the building they'd left Mara and Aharon on appeared over the hill. Monsters didn't crowd the roof, but he couldn't see the others.

"Samara!" Cale called when they got closer.

"I'm up here!" Mara shouted back. Aharon's screams nearly drowned out her voice.

They didn't pause to continue the yelled conversation. Cale walked up to the building and placed a hand on the ground by the wall. It shuddered as his magic took hold, then burst upward. Slabs rose up by the house wall, each a little higher than the last, to make a staircase up to the roof.

Cale and Josh shot up the stairs.

Mara crouched in the middle of the flat roof, her bow in one hand and the other resting against Aharon's shoulder. The young boy curled up on the floor. His body trembled as he clawed at his head.

Josh had been wrong as they ran. Some of Aharon's screams did contain a single word.

"Moshe!"

"Moshe?" Josh looked at the others, but they supplied no answers.

"What happened?" Cale asked instead.

"I don't know. He was fine for the longest time, then he hit the ground screaming like this."

Aharon spasmed under Mara's touch. Tears streaked his cheeks.

Eli's image flashed over Aharon, and Josh's heart squeezed. He bent down beside Mara. "Hey, Aharon, we need you to talk to us. We can't help if we don't know what's going on."

Aharon whimpered. "Not enough. He can't do enough—Moshe!"

His eyes snapped open. They glowed a bright white, hiding any hint of his irises.

"Guys, get away from him!" Cale ordered.

Before Josh could even decide if he would listen, the light from Aharon's eyes flashed unbearably bright. Josh cried out, throwing his arms over his eyes.

He waited to feel something to change. The compacted roof to sandy ground, the breeze to a gust, cooled oasis air to sweltering mid-desert. Anything to indicate Aharon had teleported them again.

When he lowered his arms, though, only one thing had changed. They remained on the roof, but Aharon was gone.

"Aharon!" Josh shot to his feet. He twisted to scan the area, but he didn't spot the boy anywhere.

"Josh. Caleb." Mara grabbed Josh's hand and tugged in her direction. He turned to find her pointing in the distance.

He looked, and his mouth dropped.

A large building rose outside the city. It hadn't been there only moments before. It had a mostly rectangular structure, with a jagged surface as if the elements had eroded it over time. The only part intact was a smooth, slanted wall that led to the column-lined entrance. Large statues of dragons guarded the doors, two placed on each side.

And, almost a mile away already, a light-encased Aharon floated straight toward it.

Fun Fact: The word ildium comes from the Welsh word for yielding (since the metal yields so well to magic) ildio and the common metal ending -ium. Went with Welsh because my mind was on the Welsh dragon and was like "makes sense for them to discover a dragonic magic metal, right?

It's so fun when I get to just have Josh be a nerdy dumb dumb.  I need to remember to lean into that more often xD I also have fun having the conventional elements be reverse with their roles here.  Earth dude is more dps, and lightning dude is tank.  What a twist!  Speaking of a twist, looks like things are happening with Aharon 👀

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D It's in my bio if you'd like to join!