To Become A Master

Subject: To Become A Master Wed Sep 17, 2014 10:30 am

Elegys	The Airbender’s journey had been a long one. Following his discussion with Vaatu, he had left the Spirit World and returned to his body. He waited for a few days on Kyoshi Island before a ship arrived, and he took it to the South Pole, searching for a Spirit Portal. The main one at the actual pole was closed, but after meditating there he had located a close one, out in the Tundra. He had made his way there instantly, disregarding the warnings that the Water Tribe members gave to him about the danger of it. He had arrived in one piece, albeit a bit cold, and passed through into the Spirit World with ease. He wore his normal attire, yet was once again bare from the waist up. He had met Galaad quickly, and their training had begun. ”Almost! Do it again, but this time, move your feet more!” Elegys let out a soft growl before breathing out slowly to calm himself. He stood upon a seemingly endless plain of grass with Galaad behind him, apparently teaching him to Master his Airbending. His tuition was certainly different compared to the one he had received at the hands of the Monks, but it seemed to be working well for him. The Airbender stepped forwards and turned on his heel, releasing a slight wave of air from his arm as he brought it over his head in a circular motion. It began to swirl around him slowly, barely noticeable in the bright light of the Spirit World. He brought his other leg around to counter-spin and released another wave from it, joining the second on circling his body. His arm came up until his forearm was parallel to the ground and he released a short blast from his hand as it pointed downwards. He stepped up lithely, managing to hold himself upon the thin strand of air that he had previously released. It seemed to harden beneath his foot to hold him, but he only maintained the pose for a mere second. He spun on the spot while air forced out of his body and he floated gently onto the higher slice of air that he had first expelled. As he stood on it, it began to rise slowly with Elegys balanced precariously upon it. ”Feet!” He jumped quickly away from the piece of air he had been standing on, just as it collapsed into nothingness. He landed on the ground on one leg, the other bent and folded across his opposite knee as if in a sitting position. He let out the breath he had been unaware of holding and bowed, as he did after working on any of his forms. ”Excellent work! I would say that’s thirty-six, wouldn’t you?” Galaad said, moving closer to his pupil. Elegys turned to look at the spirit, a frown on his face. ”Ah, I see something is amiss; you’ve mastered all of the forms, but you don’t think yourself a master, correct?” The Airbender nodded. For some reason, he had always thought that after completing his trials he would feel some kind of power awaken from within, something other than the profoundly normal feeling that he currently had. He scratched his head. Was this truly Mastery? It didn’t seem like it. ”Of course,” the Spirit said. ”There are other ways to attain Mastery. Surely you are aware of the second path – to create and master your own technique?” Once again the Airbender nodded. In his youth he had tried, just like all young Airbenders do at one point. Alas, it had been for nought. Every idea he had come up with had already been done, and almost always resulted in a better technique than Elegys’. He sighed, looking into the distance, consumed by his thoughts. Lightning flashed on the horizon. He found himself counting the seconds as he used to as a child, gauging the distance of the actual lightning strike. ”One mile,” he said passively, after hearing the distant peal of thunder after five seconds. The Spirit, however, looked intrigued. It moved into the Airbender’s vision, and Elegys turned his attention to it. ”How do you know such a thing? Has your mastery brought attenuation to the Spirit Realm?” Elegys couldn’t help but chuckle. ”It’s just something I used to do as a kid. Sound travels slower than light, so you can guess at how far away lightning hits by the delay from the thunder – five seconds is about a mile.” And then, a weird feeling overcame the Airbender. Curious, he turned to look at Galaad and raised an eyebrow. ”How is thunder formed, Galaad?” The Spirit seemed to be in deep contemplation with itself for several seconds. Elegys debated sitting down to wait when it spoke. ”When lightning is formed, the sudden increase in temperature and pressure causes the air around it to expand rapidly, creating the sonic shockwave that is thunder. Why do you ask?” Delighted by the reply, Elegys stepped away and turned his back on Galaad. He pushed his hands down by his sides, breathing out slowly. He concentrated hard, more than he had for any of his trials so far, ignoring the comments from the Spirit. He began making wide circles with his arms, overlapping them at several points and trailing air from behind them. Galaad had gone silent now, for which Elegys was pleased. The circles he made began to gradually get smaller and smaller until it was only his wrists and hands moving around each other, the air contained between them. And then he suddenly brought his hands together, squashing the air between them. He reached inside for all of his potential power, gripping at the air that he could feel writhing between his hands, begging to be free. In one smooth motion, he pulled his hands apart and spread his arms to their full stretch, pulling the air with it. The result was a faint crack, but Elegys couldn’t help but smile. It had worked; he recognised the sound, as faint as it was, as the tell-tale thunder after a lightning strike. He looked up at the Spirit, smiling broadly. ”Time to practise my new technique, I think.”
Mood: Training Condition: Spirit	Link: Character Sheet

» Tanu and His Master: Training (need someone to be Tanu's master!)
» In Search of a Master
» Training with a master
» Character Templates
» Master Hadogo (Kanoei)