Serenity Academy

Chapter 25: Sylph

Night was cold, all of the wood was far to wet to allow him to make a proper fire, so he pulled a small blanket from his pack and tried to curl up into it.  Sleep was very restless, the sound of the storm kept him awake almost more then the cold.  The fear of magical beasts attacking him also made his mind unwilling to sleep properly, luckily for Kyroth though nothing attacked him that night.  

Light spilled into his cave, causing him to stir from his semi-sleep.  Pulling the map out he was glad to find he was more then halfway to the academy.  What he was not happy to see was what looked to be a river between himself and the academy.  It could take a great deal of time to find a way around it.  Kyroth cursed the fact that he was not able to swim, if he could then the river would be just a minor inconvenience.  

Packing his blanket back into his bag he took off at a rather brisk pace ignoring the roar of pain each time he took a long stride.  He had been warned that overusing the augment spell could cause some serious damage to his body but he did not see any other choice in the matter.  The rain had stopped luckily but the wind was strong, causing him to fight just to run in a straight line.  I guess that was something to be expected from the territory of wind.  

Three hours passed, as Kyroth slid to a stop at the edge of the roaring river.  From the looks of it the storms had caused it to became even more dangerous.  Debris of all kinds floated by swiftly, knocking into each other sending water flying about.  The wind had no died down at all during the entire three hours, if anything i had gotten worse.  

Pacing for a few minutes he muttered to himself, the width was to far, he would never be able to jump across it even with his wind augmented legs.  "Crap."  Kyroth hissed as he kicked a rock, watching it skip across the water.  "I guess I have to wind step it."  sighing at the thought of it.  The spell was easier to cast now, but with the wind as strong as it was it would be hard to keep his footing.  He did not think that he had enough time to try and find a bridge or other way across either.  

Making sure everything was secured onto his body he spent the next fifteen minutes absorbing all the mana he could, he would need it.  The green aura coated his legs as he took a running jump trying to get as far as he could in a single bound.  Focusing on his downward decent he formed the small spinning disc of wind just as he foot hit it.  Letting the momentum and force push him into a crouched position he pushed off with glee, the feeling of flying through the sky wiping away most of his fear.  

Two more jumps and he was half way across the river, naturally of course his luck ran out, the wind swept down the river knocking him to the side causing him to spin around.  He thrust out his mana trying to form a wind step to grab but instead he just landed on it.  The pain ripped through his ribs as he landed on it causing the breath to rip from his body.  Water rushed towards his face as he fell unable to pull his mana to cast anything. 

Cold water caused the little air he had gotten into his lungs to be expelled, the swords and packs dragged him quickly down.  The current spinning him around disorienting him as darkness surrounded him.  Kyroth could not tell which way was up or down, all he could see was darkness, fear completely gripping him as he was carried down the river his body flailing.  

This was it, this is how I will end.  Kyroth thought to himself as he stopped struggling and just let his body flow with the current.  He could not believe after everything he had went through this would be the end.  What little light he could see in the water was fading as he started to lose consciousness.  Just before his eyes closed however, Kryoth noticed a brilliant green light coming from what he could guess as the bottom of the river.  

Pain ripped him from the darkness as it felt like a hurricane was ripping through his lungs.  Sitting up he coughed water spewing all over the place, everything was blurry still as he continued to hack and cough gasping for air.  Looking around he found himself inside of a cave, strange and familiar symbols were etched into the walls.  Everything was bathed in a emerald glow as he continued to gape at the symbols.  

Movement caught his eye as he turned to see a woman floating in the air, made of what looked to be pure wind mana.  She giggled a little at him, her hair floating as if she was underwater.  "I am so glad you made it."  She stated, her voice sweet and silky.  She soared around causing a mini tornado that completely dried Kyroth's wet clothing off.  

"You, You saved me?"  Kyroth asked inspecting his now dry clothes.  He had no idea what she was, or eve how he had not died in that river.  

The innocent smile returned as she flew right up to his face.  "Yup, I sensed you unique mana and decided to investigate.  Glad I did or you would be a goner, had to send a high blast of wind into your fragile body to get you to cough out the water."  Backing over she twirled before sitting down on a rock, pebbles moving around her feet.  

Kyroth was trying to take it all in, placing his hand on his forehead.  "Wait, what do you mean unique mana.  I just have wind mana."  Kyroth finished a look of utter confusion on his face.  

A sly smile crossed her lips, "It is hard to explain, but your mana is unique.  I met another man who had similar mana, but it was so long ago.  It is hard to keep track of time when you have been around as long as I have."  The petite female figure stated scrunching her face hard in thought.  

"Well, what are you?"  Kyroth asked, not really realizing that he was being quite rude with that question.  

Instead of anger the woman laughed hysterically.  "O you humans and your ignorance.  I am a Sylph.  Basically sentient mana, there are versions of us in every mana form.  We are ancient and quite powerful.  I could probably keep your mana supply sustained for several weeks of constant heavy use before it would deplete."  She stated wistfully deep in thought at the last part of it.  

"So kind of like the wind golems?"  Kyroth asked, more to himself then to her.  It was hard to wrap around mana having a mind of its own.  Slowly he stood up grimacing as he did, Kyroth was honestly surprised he could even move after everything he had been through.  

This actually caused slight anger to appear on her face.  The air in the room felt more dense as if it would crush everything inside of it.  However as quickly as it came it went away with a cooling breeze.  "I guess you could loosely compare us, however we are pure mana and very intelligent where as they are not.  

Kyroth thought of that for a minute and smiled.  It was interesting to find something so rare and powerful.  "Strange, I figured I would hear about something as unique and powerful as a Slyph."  

"We were hunted to near extinction.  The last of us with the help of the first Headmaster... that is right, you mana reminds me of his... I think."  She was lost in her own thoughts before she shook her head.  "He was always so nice.  He helped us find hiding places, told us to stay hidden until we were needed."  She finally finished.  

"Wait what, the first headmaster... what the hell."  Kyroth stammered, pushing back his disgust of them being hunted.  It was not hard to see why, if someone could harness even one of these they could do devastating, or probably wondrous things.   "He had all the elements, I have only wind how is that even close to the same?"  He almost shouted.  

Rolling her eyes, which was kind of weird, she spoke.  "Do I look like a all knowing being, your mana is very similar to his, that is about all I can say for certain."  

It hit Kyroth like a swift kick to the face.  He had to get back to the academy, frantically he started to try and find a way out of the cave.  "How long have I been in here?  I need to get to the Academy, I have too."  

The sylph looked to be lost in thought as she tapped her finger to her lips.  "I am bad with human time, but I think its been about three hours, or four."  She was not sure for someone who had been alive for so long time was relative.  

Kyroth continued to search around the room not finding any way to get out.  "Here."  The sylph stated holding out her hand, as soon as Kyroth took it a green orb surrounded them and they started to rise into the air.  He had not even noticed it when he opened his eyes, but they rose quickly then darting off to the side taking a convoluted series of tunnels until light could be seen.  

They rose up a several hundred feet, showing to Kyroth that they were at least on the Academy side of the river, at least a quarter of a mile from said river.  The two gently landed back on the ground as the orb vanished leaving them in a clearing, the hole they had left hidden very well between a series of boulders.  The rain had went back to a slight sprinkle, it actually felt kind of nice.