Morning broke like a whisper through the sky dimension, soft light gliding across the floating ruins. The trio stood atop a wide circular platform, a training arena suspended in the air by ribbons of wind.
Elder Zephyr hovered before them, mask gleaming.
Elder Zephyr:
"We begin."
His tone was no longer comedic.
No nagging.
Only the absolute authority of a being older than empires.
Helena straightened.
Isaac swallowed.
Kael hid behind a rock, whispering prayers to any demon deity who wasn't busy scolding him.
⸻⸻⸻
HELENA'S TRAINING - THE MEMORY OF LIGHT
Zephyr extended his palm. A soft spiral of wind lifted Helena gently into the center of the arena.
Elder Zephyr:
"Healing magic is memory.
To heal another, you must first understand yourself."
Helena hesitated.
Helena: "What do you mean?"
Zephyr's mask tilted.
Elder Zephyr:
"You draw magic from a memory that is not yours.
Borrowed knowledge is unstable.
You must reclaim it."
He moved his hand.
A sphere of compressed wind appeared around Helena — a dome that shimmered with faint ripples.
Inside it, visions flickered.
A woman with Helena's eyes. Older. Cloaked. Confident.
Casting healing spells effortlessly with a twist of her wrist.
Helena gasped.
Helena: "I've… seen her before. In flashes."
Elder Zephyr:
"Your soul carries echoes of her.
But you fear them."
Helena's hands trembled.
Helena: "I don't fear them. I just… don't understand."
Elder Zephyr:
"Understanding comes after acceptance."
He pushed the wind harder.
The vision-woman turned and looked directly at Helena.
Helena flinched.
Her breath hitched.
Then she stepped forward and touched the vision's hand.
Light flared—
A surge of warm magic flowed through her veins.
Her wrists glowed with pale gold — cleaner, sharper, more controlled.
Helena breathed in slowly.
Helena: "…I can feel her confidence."
Elder Zephyr:
"Good. Now shape the light."
And for the first time, Helena's healing magic formed a stable, perfect sphere.
⸻⸻⸻
ISAAC'S TRAINING - THE WIND REMEMBERS
Isaac stepped into the arena next.
Wind lifted him slightly off the ground.
Zephyr circled him like a storm studying prey.
Elder Zephyr:
"Your soul carries echoes not of borrowed magic…
but of a warrior, one so powerful, the world trembels of its existence."
Isaac felt his pulse jump.
Isaac: "Irithel."
Zephyr nodded slowly.
Elder Zephyr:
"You remember pieces of her.
But you fear them.
And fear breaks the wind."
He snapped his fingers.
The air around Isaac turned sharp — cutting wind blades spinning just inches away.
Elder Zephyr:
"Fight."
Isaac's eyes widened.
Isaac: "I— I don't know how—"
A sudden flash tore through his vision.
Irithel standing on a battlefield of shattered demon mountains.
Wind coiling like serpents around his blades.
Eyes burning with destiny.
Irithel's Echo:
Do not dodge. Command.
Isaac lifted his hand instinctively—
The wind around him stuttered—
shivered—
and halted.
Zephyr's mask straightened slightly — surprise.
Isaac exhaled shakily.
Isaac: "…I don't want to fight. But if this helps me find Lucy… I'll learn."
Zephyr raised his spear of condensed air.
Elder Zephyr:
"Then I will teach you the first law of wind."
"Do not resist. Harmonize."
He struck.
Wind lashed toward Isaac—
Isaac raised his arm—
and the wind curved around him like a stream around a stone.
Kael's jaw dropped.
Kael: "Holy—Isaac's becoming cool!"
Isaac felt something awaken — a faint instinct.
Small.
But real.
Isaac: "Zephyr… I think I understand.
Just a little."
Elder Zephyr:
"A little is enough."
⸻⸻⸻
KAEL TRIES TO TRAIN AND FAILS BEAUTIFULLY
Kael stepped into the arena, sweating.
Kael: "I too… would like to train."
Zephyr stared at him in silence for a solid three seconds.
Elder Zephyr:
"No."
Kael deflated.
Kael: "WHY?!"
Elder Zephyr:
"Because you are lint."
Kael screamed.
Isaac nearly fell over laughing.
Helena covered her mouth, failing miserably to hide hers.
Zephyr sighed — a long, windy sigh of ancient disappointment.
Elder Zephyr:
"Fine. I will teach you one thing."
Kael's eyes lit up.
Zephyr handed him a single floating leaf.
Elder Zephyr:
"Do not let this leaf blow away."
Kael puffed his chest.
Kael: "Easy!"
Wind immediately blasted the leaf into the stratosphere.
Kael shrieked and dove after it.
Isaac: "Why did he scream like he was being murdered?"
Helena: "Because that's the most Kael thing to do."
Zephyr: "I regret everything."
⸻⸻⸻
THE RESULTS…
A few days passed …
Helena sat calmly, golden light glowing around her palms like gentle wings.
Isaac held a blade of wind in his hand — tiny, unstable, but present.
Kael lay face-down on the ground, twitching, missing the leaf entirely.
Zephyr hovered above them.
Elder Zephyr:
"You have grown.
Slowly.
Clumsily.
Painfully.
But grown."
Isaac stood.
Isaac: "Thank you, Zephyr.
We really needed this."
Zephyr nodded.
Elder Zephyr:
"I trained you because the path ahead is dangerous."
"The girl you seek… is closer than you think."
Isaac's breath stopped.
Isaac: "Lucy?"
Zephyr raised a hand — wind spiraling into a map.
A drifting island flashed.
Red flames flickered over it.
Elder Zephyr:
"Someone sought her. Someone powerful."
"Go. Follow the burning trail."
" But for now, she is safe. For what she was taken, i do not know. But, if harm approaches her. I shall let you know."
" Now, keep training. Make preparations."
The training grounds beneath Skyreach Plateau shimmered with thin waterfalls of drifting air. The clouds beneath shifted like a soft ocean, glowing with quiet blue light. Elder Zephyr's silhouette floated a few inches from the ground, robes fluttering as if underwater.
He clapped once.
The air itself snapped into attention.
Elder Zephyr:
"Enough foolishness. You three have manifested abilities because your souls brushed against dimensional rifts. That means two things:
One, your potential is vast.
Two, you will die extremely fast if you remain idiots."
Kael raised his hand.
He was already bandaged from the last incident.
Kael:
"Uhm. Quick question, old man—"
Elder Zephyr:
"DO NOT CALL ME OLD MAN!"
Kael flinched violently and hid behind Isaac.
Helena suppressed a laugh.
Zephyr exhaled sharply.
"Fine. You may speak, fire hazard."
Kael:
"…fair…"
⸻
Zephyr further trains the trio as he found them unique and… it has been a while since he had company and he likes it.
HELENA'S WIND BLESSED HEALING
Zephyr floated over to Helena, circling her like a scholar inspecting a curious artifact.
"You, girl. Your healing magic awakened from echo-memory resonance. Forgotten spells echo inside your soul—remnants from your mirror self, perhaps. But your control is pathetic."
Helena lowered her head, embarrassed.
"I… I'm trying."
"Trying is for children. You will learn."
A gentle wind spiral formed around her hands.
Her healing aura thickened, becoming cleaner, sharper, faster.
Elder Zephyr:
"Your gift is rare. Wind can carry life as easily as it carries death. You may one day heal an entire battlefield… if you survive long enough."
Helena swallowed hard—but nodded with determination.
⸻⸻⸻
ISAAC'S WINDS THAT BLINK BETWEEN MOMENTS
Zephyr turned to Isaac next.
"You. The quiet one. Step forward."
Isaac took a breath and obeyed.
"Your soul is fractured… carrying echoes of another. A warrior with a blade sharper than storms. But you—"
Zephyr poked Isaac's forehead.
"—are soft."
Kael snorted. Isaac elbowed him.
"However…"
Zephyr's eyes narrowed.
"Your connection to wind is pure. Raw. Untrained.
You will learn the Wind Step."
The air condensed around Isaac's feet.
"Command the wind. Let it carry you. Do not force it."
Isaac inhaled slowly—
—and vanished.
A small shockwave burst as Isaac reappeared ten meters away, stumbling slightly.
Helena gasped.
Kael's jaw dropped.
Kael:
"BRO—! You—teleported!"
Zephyr groaned.
"That was NOT teleportation. That was a clumsy sneeze of wind alignment. Again!"
Isaac tried again—this time slicing through the air like a whisper.
An afterimage lingered where he had been.
Zephyr finally nodded.
"Yes. That is the First Breath of the Storm."
⸻⸻⸻
KAEL'S CATASTROPHE CALLED FIRE MAGIC
Now Zephyr hovered toward Kael with the same look someone might give a leaking explosive barrel.
"You.
Try fireball."
Kael puffed up proudly.
"Watch this."
He cupped his hands.
A flame ignited.
It flickered.
It sputtered.
It exploded.
Kael shot backward screaming, rolling across the ground while patting out his flaming sleeve.
Isaac facepalmed.
Helena sighed.
Zephyr massaged his temples.
"You are a disgrace to your element."
Kael stood up, smoking faintly.
"Let me… try again."
Isaac stepped beside him.
"Okay. I'll stabilize your fire with wind. Ready?"
Together they tried—
Wind wrapped Kael's flame.
The fireball refined into a perfect sphere.
Isaac exhaled—
"Gale Push!"
A pressurized gust hurled the fireball into the sky—
FWOOOOOM—KRRRRA-BOOOOM!
The clouds parted from the blast.
Zephyr blinked.
"…Unexpectedly impressive."
Kael beamed.
"I CALL IT—THE STAR OF KAEL!!"
"No," Zephyr replied instantly.
⸻
THE COOKING INCIDENT, AGAIN
Exhausted, they returned to the resting area.
Kael proudly volunteered to cook dinner again.
Isaac and Helena exchanged a terrified look.
Kael struck a fireball.
The pan exploded.
Half the training ground lit up like a signal flare.
Zephyr shrieked from across the plateau:
"STOP COOKING! STOP USING FIRE! STOP EXISTING NEAR FLAMMABLE OBJECTS!"
Helena had to extinguish everything using wind-soaked healing water.
Isaac coughed out smoke.
Kael held the charred pan proudly:
"…but I didn't burn everything this time."
Zephyr flung a gust of wind so hard Kael rolled across the clouds like a dropped potato.
The trio burst into laughter.
For the first time since the world collapsed, Isaac felt something warm.
Not fire.
Not Irithel's memories.
Just companionship.