text: Terra tilted her head to the canopy of stars over the glade. A cool wind blew from the trees surrounding her, covering the area with the energy of the earth and stars. She stretched her arms overhead, the silver bond around her wrists sparking in the full moonlight. Your energy is mine. “This tribunal is called to order,” Alinta said from her throne on the north end of the circle. Her dark form glowed with the fire of her magic, warming the space in front of Alysia. “Alysia, you are charged with magic negation. How do you plead?” Terra’s brown eyes glinted. “Not guilty.” “How can you say that?” Zephyrine said in her whispery voice. “You clearly stole our magic for your own gain. How else can you explain how we fade while you strengthen?” Terra stiffened in the coldness emanating from Zephyrine’s wispy form. “I’m of the earth. My power is from the alignment of life. If you’re out of alignment with your element, then you aren’t using your energy properly.” “We’re talking about magic, not your mystical energy,” Maren's smooth voice washed over Terra. “I am of the water. How can you explain why the tides are running low? Or the streams are running dry?” Terra channeled the earth's energy through her feet, fortifying herself against the binding of her sisters’ accusatory forces. “You’re out of alignment.” “We form a symbiotic circle,” Alinta said. “Fire, wind, water, and you, the earth. It’s impossible for three of us to be out of alignment and one to overpower the others. The nature of the world is balance, but that balance has been disturbed. Earth is strengthened in direct proportion to our weakening forces. Explain yourself. What have you done?” I rise. Terra silenced the thought. She could not reveal herself. The cosmic forces needed more time to complete the cycle of redistribution. “I have done as I always did, living in alignment with the power of the earth,” Terra said. “You are my sisters. You know that my strength comes from the living world, not from the elements. I have only what the universe chooses to give to the growth and sustenance of life.” A golden light streaked across the sky. Terra smiled. If it chooses to give more, then I will gladly take it. “The skies are strange with new lights, and the planetary forces are shifting,” Maren said. “This is no natural phenomenon. We feel it in our elements. There’s been a shift in the cosmos, and our magic reveals no other enemies or disruptions from without. That means that the problem is from within.” She leaned forward, pressing the force of her cold presence against Terra. “Except for you. You’ve grown stronger these past months, and more vibrant. It’s as if you discovered some secret that you did not share with your sisters.” “There are no secrets. We’re bound to one another as we are bound to this planet,” Terra said. “We share access to the same knowledge, power, and energy.” “Magic,” Zephyrine hissed. “Your magic is simply a redistribution of energy,” Terra said as she willed the energy from her wrist bond through her body as another gold light flashed across the sky. “The only difference between us and the mortals is our ability to manipulate that energy through the will of the mind and body.” “This is blaspheme,” Maren said. “We hold this world together. We keep order in nature. If not for us, cataclysmic forces would have destroyed the planet, the people, and this entire system eons ago!” “The earth only exists for us,” Alinta said. “We keep the balance. We direct the forces through this world. We hold the key to the light of life and existence. Without us, they are nothing!” “You are becoming nothing through the abuse of your energy,” Terra said. “Has it occurred to you that the reason you wane isn’t some dark threat, but the sullenness of your soul?” “You are a heretic and a thief,” Alinta said. “How dare you accuse us of tainting this world with our magic? You are the one who needs to learn your place.” She stood, casting her red shadow over Terra. “We will hear no more of your lies. I proclaim you guilty of magic negation and heresy. I sentence you to the dungeons of purgatory until you repentant and rehabilitate enough to rejoin our forces.” Terra smiled. “You mean until I’m more firmly under your control, but you forget one thing: one of us cannot control the others. We only control our elements.” A firey finger flew through the sky. Terra stood up straight, inhaled deeply, and raised her cuffed fists in front of her. “Your energy is mine. You control nothing of this world anymore.” Rise. White light burst from the cuff, breaking it off Terra’s wrist. The light swirled around Terra, jolting her with the full energy of the system. She stretched and exhaled deeply. A gust of wind erupted from her, knocking Alinta, Maren, and Zephyrine to the ground. A band of light bound the three to the ground. White light and wind swirled around the glade. Terra expanded her awareness from the natural world to the universe above, adding the cosmic energy of expansion to the swirl and harnessing it to her will until it swirled and contracted into a single point in her hand. She walked to the three forms of her sisters on the ground and kneeled in front of them, holding the sparkling energy against her heart. “The problem isn’t that I was guilty of anything. The problem is that we’re just too different. You choose to use energy for the magic to keep this world under your control. I choose to harness the energy to evolve the planet and all of life upon it. I don’t seek to rule this world. I seek to liberate it.” “No, that would be chaos!” Alinta said. “Mortals don’t know what do to with this power!” Maren said. “It must stay hidden with the ancients!” Zephyrine cried. Terra stood and held up her hands. “This was not meant to be under any person’s control. This creative energy is a gift to all.” She opened her hands, releasing the energy to the sky. The ball expanded and spread over the glade, widening as it rose into the sky. The stars overhead sparkled, raining their energy over the earth. “It’s time for this world to break free of your tyranny and rise into the joy of freedom.” “What have you done?” Alinta asked. “You offered up our essence. We’ll die!” Terra took another deep breath, savoring the deep scent of the earth. “I offered only what was already given by the supreme power. Humanity was meant to grow, not stagnate under our power. The energy revealed the ancient knowledge that they were meant to rise while we were meant to blend and sustain the elements. We set this world in motion. After creation, we were destined to maintain it, not rule it. I merely set things right.” “I will drown your selfish ambition!” Mara cried. “I command the air to suck your energy dry!” Zephrine rasped. “You will burn for this!” Alinta hissed. Terra smiled as she looked at the sky. “All is as it was created to be.” She took a last look at her sisters'. “What this new reality becomes for you is entirely up to you. You can continue to drown, suffocate, and burn the world. Lie there and fade, or rise and embrace the new reality. The choice is yours, as it always was.” Terra inhaled deeply, breathing her strength over the glade. “My choice is made. Yours is upon you. I pray you go in peace, but the same freedom lies before you. Use it as you will. Just remember that it always comes back.” The light holding the sisters down swirled into the sky, releasing them as Terra walked into the trees, the glow of her form blending into the life energy of the woods and rising into the sky as she passed into the world beyond.