The Wind

It was time to start the real training.

Ragan and Emre were in the backyard. Unlike the beautiful front yard which held the garden and the flower tree that Emre had formed his foundation at, this area was practically grassless. It was worn down to almost gravel-like dirt. It would definitely hurt to fall on the ground. Unlike the soft grass, this was just rough dirt with sharp stones.

Ragan had crouched down and placed his hand upon Emre's back. Mana came from his fingertips and began to flow along with Emre's mana flow.

"This is all of a boost I can give you. My mana is full of the wind element. With the little bit I gave you, you should be able to get a better feel for it." Ragan had explained.

Emre nodded. It was easy to feel the mana that was not his own. Ragan's mana was dense and full of wind while Emre's was pitiful and only carried traces of radiance. Even so, he focused on the wind element and nodded again without thinking as he tried to memorize the flow. Soon enough his own mana overtook Ragan's and he could no longer feel it.

"The elements we wield hold different meanings for each person. In my opinion, wind is the strongest element." Ragan started as he walked in front of Emre. "When I first learned that wind was my element, I was actually irritated."

He opened his palm and a small whirlwind of air began to twirl violently in his hand. Although it was small, Emre still felt the power behind it. It was a roiling mass of destruction.

"I had hoped I'd get the destructive power of fire or the crushing pressure of earth."

He closed his palm and the whirlwind dissipated.

'Wind is powerful.' Emre said with confidence.

He had seen the type of devastation wind could cause. Although not in person he had seen tornadoes on tv and the amount of destruction that was left in its wake. These people did not have tv so only those who had actually seen something like that with their own eyes would know for sure.

Ragan's brows lifted a bit at Emre's words. He had never met a child who was this confident about the power of wind. Most children would've thought the same as he had when he was young. The greatest known Knights were usually men that wielded fire or earth elements. Most kids aspire to be like them one day.

Of course, this is not a child, well, a child to him at least, that seemed to know much about the Kingdoms. He was a dragon with a better understanding of nature than a humanoid ever would.

"Yes, wind is powerful. But as I said, everyone views their own elements differently in some way. While I view my wind element as strength, there might be someone who views their wind element as speed."

Emre nodded as he listened. How did he see wind? As strength or speed? Maybe he saw it as destruction like a tornado? Emre couldn't help but furrow his brows as he thought for a moment. He didn't get much time though as Ragan spoke up again.

"I can teach you about wind magic as much as I can. But it's up to you to figure out what your wind will be." Ragan then spread out his arms. "Now feel the wind. Feel how it moves and what it means to you."

Emre watched him for a moment before spreading out his wings. He closed his eyes and he took a slow breath. He felt the breeze as it pushed and pulled his wings. It almost felt like the wind was asking him to take flight. A small smile curled upon his dragon face before opened his eyes and ran past Ragan.

With just a few quick flaps he flew into the air. He recalled the peacefulness he had felt when he formed his foundation and looked down as he began to circle the clearing. Ragan was watching him with his hands on his hips.

He gave another quick few flaps of his wings and he went even higher. He could see the vast mountains and the stretching horizon. He had never gone this high up. He flapped more before he suddenly stopped and hovered. He couldn't tell if it was warm or cold up here. But he felt like he could see everything.

Every mountain and valley surrounding them. He could see the river where he had met the corruption's not far. Inhaling he felt the wind enter his chest and when it left as he exhaled.

'Ha!' He laughed to himself before he tilted his body down.

He dove, his wings closed against his sides as he started to shoot down toward the clearing like a bullet. Before he reached the height of the trees he spread his wings back out and soared along toward the river before turning back. He was fast and powerful. Wind was both strength and speed to him…

That's what he was thinking. But if he really thought about it, it really wasn't just that. No, it was even more. It was everything! Wind allowed him to do what he could never have done in the past.

He started to head back down toward Ragan who was patiently waiting for him in the training area. Emre started to lower himself down back to the ground.

'Ragan, I think I already know what my wind is.' Emre said as his feet gently skipped upon the ground as he landed.

"What is it?" Ragan seemed to believe him.

'My wind is freedom.'

Ragan actually looked stunned for once. He had never heard that before. He didn't ask others often, anyway, but when he did it was always strength, speed, or even pressure. Freedom was a new one to Ragan but his surprise quickly disappeared.

'If there was no wind I wouldn't be able to fly freely and without restraint. Without wind, I wouldn't be able to go wherever I wanted to go. So it's my freedom. It's my freedom to be strong, fast, and more.' Emre added on.

"Your wind is good." Ragan said with approval.

Emre felt satisfied with himself and nodded happily at Ragan's words. He was sure of his words. While it might take him longer to find out what the other elements will be for him, wind for sure was one he had been thinking about the most.

"Since you know your wind it will be easier here on out." Ragan added on. "Now, shall we start?"

'Of course.' Emre nodded eagerly.

"Okay. Follow my movements."

Ragan lifted his arms up and began to move them in a rhythmic motion. Almost as if he was trying to stir the air like someone would fold dough. Emre sat back on his hind legs and lifted his small dragon arms and began to try and copy the swaying movements.

"The easiest way to start is learning how to move the air to your will. Once you know how to move wind around you, you will be able to do things like this." Ragan suddenly jerked his hands forward in a pushing motion.

The wind Ragan had been manipulating burst out toward Emre. Emre closed his eyes as the wind blew into him and almost knocked him over. He had to regain his balance by placing his hands back onto the ground.

"Now, your turn." Ragan stated as he began to do the motions again as a guide.

With a huff, Emre could only lift his arms back up again and sway them in the same movement. It was a bit stiffer because he could not move his arms in the same way that Ragan could, but if he focused on the air his hands were pushing through, he could gather the wind mana that was floating around him.

He tried to remember the feeling of the wind mana that Ragan had provided before and started to attempt to gather the mana around his hands after circulating it through his body. His wind was freedom. He didn't confine the wind to him and force it to his will but instead let it flow freely around his hands at its own pace.

Emre silently wondered if the wind would allow him to manipulate it. Only then did wind mana begin to naturally form and work along with him. He could see it beginning to swirl and twist around his arms as it had done with Ragan. But unlike Ragan's which was more violent, this wind felt more like silk that danced in his grasp.

"Now try to condense it. Once you've done that, push it toward me." Ragan spoke.

Emre listened but didn't remove his focus from the magic dancing about his arms. He changed his motions and began to move the mana toward a single spot. Almost like he was trying to gently gather tiny leaves to one spot in a pond without any of the leaves going under the water.

The mana began to slowly form into a ball. It was a loose ball at first, like a ball of yarn that wasn't properly rolled with strands flying out in all directions. He struggled to get every strand in and knew that if he were a human that he would be sweating bullets right now.

"Relax, Emre. Don't rush it. Remember your wind." Ragan interjected, noticing his troubled face.

Emre forced himself to relax, realizing that his arms had tensed and his movements were rushed. Closing his golden eyes, he let out a small breath before beginning to move more fluidly. As fluidly as his canine-shaped arms could, at least.

His wind was freedom. He couldn't force it into a ball or into one spot like he had been trying. He had to do so fluidly and allow the mana to move on its own with simply his urging. It was like he was silently asking for a favor as the wind began to slowly move to form into one space at his call.

Once it was together enough he pushed it forward as Ragan had done. Although not very powerful, the wind rushed forward and tousled Ragan's hair before freely dispersing into the air once more. Emre let out a sigh. Turns out freedom wasn't exactly easy to use.

Wind was free-flowing in nature. He could not force it to his will. That meant that he needed to move according to its will too. A team effort, in other words.

Ragan opened his mouth to speak but Emre had lifted his arms again and was trying it again. His arms swayed and he had closed his eyes again. He felt the movements with his arms and each time he felt any odd resistance he would change the movements to comply with the new flow until the flow was moving smoothly without any restrictions. It was a different pattern than Ragan had been doing.

It took longer than he expected, but he finally found a flow that worked with him and the feelings of the wind. In the back of his mind, he thought it was stupid that he was going to these lengths, but it was almost like something inside him was telling them this was right. That listening to the wind too was what he was supposed to do. This was the flow that he needed to use from now on.

Then he changed it again. The wind mana that had gathered around him was now happily dancing along his arms and hands this time as he condensed the wind into one spot. His eyes opened and he pushed it forward.

This time the gust was stronger. Ragan even closed his eyes as the wind ruffled his hair and clothes before it gladly dispersed back into the sky above.

[ Skill learned, Wind Burst ]

Oh, it said learned this time. Usually, it was skill gained. Proud that he had gotten the hang of it he smiled at Ragan who was running his fingers through his hair.

"I should have put my hair up." He complained as he picked through a knot.

'How was it?' Emre asked eagerly.

"It was good. You learn too quickly."

'Is that a complaint?'

"No, I just realized that this won't take as long as I thought it would. I should have thought about the fact that you were a dragon and I didn't have to hold your hand through it like I had to do for other people in the past."

'You trained people in the past?'

"Of course! I was an army official. They made me do tons of stuff." He stated. "But now I'm as free as your wind… kinda."

'Kinda?'

"Yeah. They come every once and a while to bug me."

'Sounds annoying.'

Emre couldn't imagine trying to live out a peaceful life only for people to come knocking on his door to ask him to go back to work. He wondered if the attack on the village Ragan had mentioned was the breaking point for him leaving the army.

'Hey, you said that you helped fight off an invasion of corruption?'

"I fought the dark creatures, yeah." He answered before turning his palm to face the sky. "But you can ask me about that after we continue this."

Emre had to push away the questions bubbling in his mind and copied Ragan.

"Since you know how to gather the mana into one spot now, try to have it form at your palm without using the flow of your arms this time." Ragan instructed.

Emre's eyes narrowed at Ragan before closing. He gathered the mana around to his body and silently asked the wind mana he collected to travel through to his hand. The wind obeyed happily and began to form a small flow on his small dragon hand. It was a very weak gust compared to the whirlwind spinning in Ragan's palm, but it was a start.

"Okay, now try spinning it like me." Ragan said.

Focusing he tried urging the wind in his palm to spin. It was slow but after a moment it started to pick up quickly. Unlike Ragan's that resembled a tornado, Emre's was spinning more like a ballerina. Happy and elegant but still strong. The presence of it wasn't as intimidating as Ragan's, but he got the base idea of it.

"Now sharpen it."

'Sharpen?' Emre sounded shocked as he looked up at Ragan.

The whirlwind quickly formed from a circular torrent into an arrow-like shape. Sharp and thin. With a flick of his finger, the wind arrow shot from his hand and whizzed over Emre's head. Emre followed it with his eyes and watched as it impacted onto a tree.

Emre expected it to just stick in the bark like a normal arrow but when it landed he flinched at the loud boom as it bore a basketball-sized hole through the tree. His golden eyes widened and he looked back at Ragan.

'You want me to do that?!'

"Yes. It probably won't be as strong as mine but that is the idea."

Turning around Emre stared at the tree and then at the small dancing whirlwind on his palm. Sharpen… His eyes focused on the wind mana as he tried to refine it. First to turn it and then make it smaller and more powerful. Like a drill that cuts through wood planks.

The wind wavered at first but Emre managed to recover the shaping before trying again. Slowly but surely it had formed into a similar shape to an arrow. Emre held it there for a moment not sure how he would make it shoot out while maintaining the shape.

The mana right now was moving to his will, but he could tell that it wanted to move forward due to the spinning rotation. He tried to copy Ragan's actions and flicked his finger while urging the wind mana forward.

It flew out, with feeble feeling power. It still soared out farther than he had expected as it hit the same tree as before. The impact wasn't very loud but it bore into the bark for a second before dissipating. Emre could even tell from here that the hole he left was tiny.

[ Skill learned, Wind Arrow ]

As great as learning that was… The power behind it was weak. He let out a puff of breath before turning his head to look at Ragan.

"Why do you look so disheartened? You're doing better than the beginner mages in the army."

'I just feel like I could do even better than that.'

"That's what practice is for. Just because you're a dragon, doesn't mean that you're going to be perfect and strong at the very start."

'I know that.'

"Then do it again. Practice."