5 The Wind

Cameron wakes to intense pain shooting across his body. Wind swirls around him making small cuts here and there as blood begins to drip of his body.

Green lights appear above Cameron and as he sits up they gently float out the rear of the wagon. Pain clouding his judgement Cameron follows the lights hoping out the back of the wagon. Behind him he can hear wagons stopping and George's angry yelling but he ignores it making his way into the woods after the light.

Moving deeper into the woods the wind surrounding Cameron begins to propel him forward. As he moves faster and faster he soon reaches a speed his legs can no longer keep up with, causing him to fall heavily to the forest floor. As he lays there a multitude of leaves, small branches and insects falls to the ground around, evidently dragged along by the same wind that pushed Cameron.

As if displeased by his lack of movement the whirlwind around Cameron speeds as it begins cutting into him again. As he lays stunned from the fall unable to move the winds rotate faster and faster the cuts on his body deepening from scratches as they cut deeper into the flesh. Just as the pain gets to the point that Cameron starts wishing for this life to end the wind is sucked away from his body leaving only a light breeze lightly brushing against him.

Looking up Cameron sees perching on a branch above him an owl like bird with beautiful green and white feathers. The creature is fairly small only about twice the size of an ordinary owl but that doesn't help alleviate Cameron's fears when it speaks.

"Welcome to the forest young traveler, may I ask where you got these wind elements from?"

Cameron's only response being a weak groan made the owl cock his head and give an almost curious look.

"What have you done to yourself traveler?" With a short hum of birdsong the owls eyes began to glow a deep green. After several seconds the eyes lights no longer shine revealing a pair of brown humanlike eyes. Visibly excited the owl hops on his branch for several seconds before saying "What a unique case, human but with our core energy! Still human or not it's my responsibility to teach the young ones to control their power. Now my names not important you can call me elder, that's what all the fledglings like yourself call me. Not paying attention! Oh right your wounds."

The elder owl whistles a long lively birdsong for the span of a few seconds. As he does a cool breeze wraps around Cameron and begins sinking into his injuries. Wherever the breeze touches the wounds close themselves in a mystical otherworldly fashion.

After a few seconds but for what Cameron felt much longer the song came to an end. As it did Cameron stood from his place on the ground and opened his mouth to the thank the elder but before he could utter a word, the elder startes teaching as if what he just did was nothing.

"You can't see it yet becuase you haven't learned wind sight but, gesturing to the space next to him with a wing, this is your core energy."

"What is core energy and how could I as a human have it? Aren't humans naturally inept at magic with only the most talented able to rely on catalysts to activate the magic around us. " Cameron asks.

"Core energy is produced by the magic core that so rarely appears in the races of magical beasts. For it to show up in a human like you is infinitely interesting, especially seeing as how it appears totally natural. I know some of you humans have been putting magical cores and organs into their bodies to gain strength and control over the elements around them, but you appear totally natural as if you have always had core energy, you even have a core to go with your core energy!" As the elder speaks he gets more and more excited until he begins hopping on the tree branch again as if he can't contain his energy.

"The core is not just a channel to control the elements around you like how you foolish humans cast magic. It carries an inborn magical energy of its own, in my case and yours it seems that energy is the wind element. It is this personal energy that is rejecting you and were it not for me controlling the element no doubt kill you. Unfortunately for you there is only one way to master this energy, practice."

"So the reason for me moving objects with green energy before, that was my core energy? Is there any limit to this core energy?"

"Of course not!" The elder laughs "Your core energy is produced by your core, that same core dictates the limit of how much energy you can control at once.Thats not usually a problem for us wind element users though. Oh cores have element types but that much should be plenty obvious after all some creatures can breath fire while others can shoot lightning."

With the expression of a focused student Cameron asks "This wind element can you explain it with more details?"

"You could say it's the most abundant element of all seeing as how wind is everywhere. This is both it's greatest strength and weakness. Strength becuase it is always available for use, yet also its weakness becuase its nearly impossible to find a large concentration of wind elements. Now i've explained the basics so the rest will be up to you young traveler."

Waving his right wing in a dismissing motion a green light taking the shape of a bird in flight dove into Cameron's head. "I've left you the same knowledge our fledglings receive. Should you survive you can come and seek me out in the center of the forest for more knowledge." Having said this the elder with a burst of wind flies out of view in an instant.

Twisting his fathers ring for good luck Cameron tries to focus and control the core energy flowing back into him after the elder released it. For several minutes he stands tall with a calm expression on his face as the air around him remains completely still. Hearing a loud roar of a magical beast in the distance cameron's concentration wavers for a moment and the winds as if angered by his attempt to control them began to rip Cameron apart.