GOING WITH THE PROGRESS

*15 Weeks later*

*Woosh* "I cannot believe I am doing this! This... This is great!" said Takeshi excitedly as he grandly controlled the direction of the wind and steered it to his will, "Do not rejoice too soon, you are too slow at it! I would have already started making air cannons at your pace, still, it's nice to see you improving, Takeshi," Meral lectured while admiring Takeshi at the same time, *thud* "Hah..hah... i... need... seriously... a... Break" *drop*", Takeshi swooned as he asked for a break, *sigh* "Ok, Akira! you are next, show me what you can do, Meral called out to Akira, "Yeah, coming right up! Haaaaa!" *crackle*, Akira replied as she raised her arm CASTING a huge rock pillar, hey Meral San watch this!", Akira said as she pushed the huge rock pillar towards Meral with full force, "Ha. Nice try kid, but do not act all high and mighty, Takeshi just watch and learn!" said Meral as she formed a giant ball of air with one finger and shot it at the giant rock pillar, causing it to crumble into numerous pieces. Everyone, including Akira, was shocked to see how well Meral had mastered her element. *Clap* *clap* *clap* "Good job, Meral Chan, you seem to have grown fond of them, especially Takeshi, right?" the elder teased Meral. "Wha... What! N..No way I have grown fond of him? He... He still needs more prac... practice and needs to control his ele...elemental efficiency!" said Meral as she blushed so much that her face turned red, "Ohhh! It seems like we are having a lovey-dovey moment here..." teased Lia, to which Meral acted like a baby and ran back to her room.

"Do not worry about it, Takeshi, we were just teasing you, nothing more," the elder said in a calm voice, "It's okay, I am used to all this, so do not worry about it, Sensei.", Takeshi said in a quiet voice and suddenly The Elder noticed that the air around Takeshi was speeding up except for all of them, causing Takeshi to float on the ground without him noticing, The Elder shrugged it with a smirk and called everyone to the dining hall, but to their surprise the face of the dining hall had changed, it felt like it was a new room, "Woahh! Sensei, are you sure this is our dining hall?" asked Aaron as he looked around the hall in fascination, "Oh, do not be flattered by all this, the real surprise is waiting for you in your rooms, but you will check it out only after dinner, and this time the food was made by Lia!" said The Elder with a great sense of gratitude, *cough* *cough* "Yo. You mean Lia cooked all the food, oh dear God, please save us from the coming calamity," Aaron prayed as he suddenly felt a deadly aura looming behind his back, but still he accepted his fate, "She's right behind me, is she not?" asked Aaron as he sweated profusely, and everyone else including the elder nodded in agreement. The next thing that happened was quite obvious, Aaron was lying unconscious on his side, and everyone ate in silence, when the food came, they were amazed at the appearance of the dishes Lia served them "take a bite and tell me how it tastes" Lia said while cracking her knuckles, everyone silently agreed that the food was good, but in fact they regretted leaving the kitchen to Lia.

"Yum! This tastes really good, how can you guys not eat this delicious food?" said Akira as she gulped down the food, "I know right!, My cooking is like everyone else's," said Lia with pride in her voice. "Getting back to the topic at hand, how much do you think you learned from all those exercises to master the elements?" the elder asked as he looked at Takeshi and Akira. "Well, I can handle the earth element with ease, but as you said, Sensei, there are different variations of the earth element, I may need to learn some of those variations," Akira described briefly. "Ahahaha... as for me, I have some difficulties in handling these elements, but I am sure I will master them one day," Takeshi said confidently.

After having their dinner they went back to their rooms except for Takeshi for him it became a routine to always stay outside in the lawn sitting there and observing the moving stars but it was all interrupted by crackle sound in the woods,"Who's there! Come out right now!", commanded Takeshi in a firm voice when suddenly a strange figure appeared in front of him,"You... you have to master them... master the elements... become the One!", The strange figure mumbled as he slowly walked towards him but to his surprise the strange figure after walking a few steps took a stance and slowly told Takeshi, "The Wind... Its always unstable... make it stable... make it your own... don't bow to your inner fear... conquer it... and slowly take your stance and calm the wind's anger... from the ears to the lungs and from the lungs to your arms and legs... feel the wind's consciousness through your whole body.", explained the strange figure as he moved his arms like a carrier to the wind when suddenly Takeshi noticed few white spinning balls forming behind the back of the strange figure as he slowly slithered his body movements to that of the wind as if he and the wind were dancing, *inhale* "Hah! from ears to lungs!, Huah! from lungs to arms, Hyah! from lungs to your legs" *exhale*, The strange figure said as he swiftly moved his arms as if he was about to punch someone and using kicks so fast that it wasn't visible to the naked eye and which looked more like a movement of a snake than that of a normal leg and suddenly the wind pressure cleared which was eventually enveloped by silence, "How... How did you do that and why can't I!", asked Takeshi with excitement in his eyes, "You... You are different than the others... surpass them... surpass them and become the One!", said the strange figure as he vanished into thin air leaving Takeshi with so many questions, but to him the questions were not important, his control over the elements was. "One day... one day I will surpass everyone and become the One!", Takeshi said clenching his fist and went back to his room.

His encounter with the strange figure might be fate, leading him one more step ahead of his goal,i.e, to become the One!.

To Be Continued...