Approaching Wind

At the Silent Pass. I stood there with eyes closed and focused on the wind. Suddenly I could feel something coming with my senses and without thinking avoided it. I opened my eyes immediately and to my surprise, saw nothing. I looked around but I could see nothing. I thought 'Maybe one of the birds tried to attack me but just flew up when I evaded its attack?'.

It was possible but the birds never attacked me before. I checked my surroundings one more time and went back to my training. I closed my eyes and again focused on the wind. I canceled out the occasional bird cries and other noises that were faintly in the background in order to hear only wind. After a while, the same situation happened. Something was coming towards me and out of sheer reflexes, I avoided backwards. I immediately opened my eyes and looked up but saw nothing again.

I check my sides and nothing was there either. Quite frustrated, I shouted "Who is there? Show yourself!" but there was no answer. I decided to try again and lure that thing out. I would pretend to be focused and wait to see if something is after me or just wants to annoy me.

I closed my eyes again and stood there motionless. I was now focused on everything but the wind. I was trying to pick up anything that was getting closer to me. I stood there for 30 minutes then an hour and nothing. I opened my eyes and shouted "What the hell is this supposed to mean?". I searched the area, I looked at the cliffs and the ground. I even checked out the birds that flew through the air once in a while.

'Everything is in order, there are no hidden holes in the cliff face nor are there any places to hide on the ground. The birds don't care about my existence as usual… Just what the hell?' I thought to myself. I took couple of minutes to calm my mind and thought 'I will just continue with my training, probably it was a small animal playing tricks on me. It should be gone already'.

I again stood motionless with my eyes closed focusing fully on the wind alone. The wind blew from on side or the other and would sometimes put me off balance but I persevered and focused even more. Then it happened again. I could feel something coming towards me. I opened my eyes but saw nothing. 'This is weird, I saw nothing. It should not be an animal in that case. If that is true then… it is the wind!'.

I stood there dumbstruck 'Is it really the wind? Is it possible I managed to actually sense the wind?' I thought. I was really excited because if that turned out to be true, then it would mean that it was possible to predict the wind and therefore my new art would also be possible!

I wanted to try it out again but I was too excited about that discovery. I decided to return to our shelter for a bit and maybe go and hunt with Shelly to calm my mind a bit. At the shelter, Shelly was not around. I decided to wait and relax a bit, maybe even read a book. Yet nothing seemed to work, I was too excited about the discovery I've made that day. About an hour later, Shelly returned but didn't bring any prey. Probably it hunted something and just ate it as it thought that I will return at evening or night again.

When Shelly saw me, it was a bit surprised but still ran towards me. I smiled and said "You probably returned from a hunt but I need to ease my mind somehow. I discovered how to predict wind and I will not be able to practice that if I can't focus properly. Follow me as we hunt once more". Shelly had no real issues with that. It would never pass an opportunity to get more meat.

We went deeper into the forest and searched for suitable group of animals. We weren't scared of the lower tier variants like black wolves or black bears but a group that contained higher tiers variants such as silver wolves or silver bears were more tricky and dangerous.

These parts of the forest were not as bad as the ones we lived in through the winter. Sometimes we would encounter a group of variants but mostly lower tier. We didn't search for long and found ourselves a group of bears that consisted of 10 black bears and 8 normal bears.

We hunted them without any problems and I took care of the butchering. With our bags filled we returned to our shelter to have some lunch. After the lunch I said to Shelly "I will go back to the pass. If you want, you can follow me there as well. Trying out different environments would be also a good training for you. I can put a mask on you and we will see how you fare against strong winds, with your vision sealed".

Shelly was a bit reluctant to go. It would hunt by itself and improve while training with me but Shelly was also lazy by nature as any turtle would be. Shelly preferred to simply eat and then sleep or rest for the remaining of the day.

After thinking it through couple of times, Shelly finally nodded its head and followed me into the Silent Pass. I put the vision sealing mask on Shelly and said "Try moving in the pass with the mask on and see whenever you are able to". Shelly nodded and slowly made its way around the pass. I on the other hand stood motionless with my eyes closed. I tried to get the same feeling I had when I managed to predict the wind. I knew it would take my maximum focus.

The sound around me disappeared. Only wind was left, whistling through the air unperturbed. Suddenly I felt something coming closer. This time I didn't evade, I simply let it hit me. "Whoosh" the wind blew past me. I became excited and opened my eyes. "I can sense the wind!" I exclaimed loudly. This proved that my new art was possible but there was a major drawback. I had to focus entirely on the wind. In battle, I wouldn't be able to accomplish that. No enemy would give me the time to just close my eyes and focus for a while to determine the wind.

Yet I was not disappointed. 'That is just the beginning stage of the skill. being able to sense the wind is just the tip of the blade. I have much to learn, if I really want to control this' I thought.