Flashback ( PDFDrive )

shouldn’t be surprised. There are always consequences for playing
with the elements.”
“You’re saying this is a sixth element?” Magnate Leto clarified.
“Earth, wind, water, fire, quintessence, and . . . shadowflux?”
“The building blocks of everything we know,” Lady Zillah agreed.
“No one wants to see it that way. No one wants to be made of darkness
—not with the warped views we hold of it. Everyone would rather
sweep the knowledge away, bury it with the other bits and pieces that
don’t fit within the neat box we use to define our world. But that won’t
stop it from existing. Just like it won’t stop a few brave souls from
reaching for the sky, calling for that pure, raw darkness. I know I’ve
tried. But it resists me. Even now”—she waved her hand over Sophie’s
bandaged palm—“the echoes skitter away. But they embrace my
prodigy.”
She motioned for Tam to come closer and grabbed his wrist,
holding his hand over Sophie’s forehead. “Tell me what you feel.”
Tam closed his eyes. “. . . Nothing.”
“Don’t reach for shadows—reach for darkness,” she demanded,
pushing his fingers closer, until they were just a hairsbreadth away
from touching Sophie’s forehead.
His eyebrows crushed together.
“I still don’t . . . Wait.”
A shiver rocked up his arm.
“I remember that chill from earlier,” he said, with a slight chatter to
his teeth as he jerked his arm away.
“Remarkable,” Lady Zillah breathed. “I knew your power was
immense. But commanding shadowflux!”