The Wind's Lesson

The Trial of Wind and Flame

Time stretched like molten glass - an entire incense stick's worth passing as Drakon remained imprisoned within the wind's relentless grip. Each attempt to break free proved futile; Dawnbreaker's slashes found only air, his fiercest flames extinguished by the swirling tempest. His breath came in ragged gasps now, muscles burning with exhaustion, the once-proud Martial God disciple reduced to desperate defenses against nature's fury.

Then -

A flicker of white in the storm's chaos caught his eye.

A single dandelion seed.

It danced gracefully where wind blades sharp enough to slice stone whirled, yet remained untouched, unbroken. Drakon's draconic pupils tracked its impossible path - how it yielded without surrendering, how it flowed with the current yet maintained its course.

"Oh...so that's it," he whispered, the revelation cutting through his fatigue like dawn through stormclouds.