In 313 CE I was enrolled as a cadet in the Air Force of Hallifax's Centre for Aeromantic Engineering. I was studying the craft, undertaking an apprenticeship required of all young Airmen before they were properly admitted to the warrior caste. We took to the arena for trial spars, made meek little wind-walks from Hallifax to Estelbar, and endured painful lessons in meteorology in a freezing cold hangar. We lived in fear of the untamed hellions of Gaudiguch, who we never engaged, and in awe of our elders.
It was after one of Captain Shedrin's seemingly endless lectures, droning on in an unchanging crystalline monotone about the principles of barometric pressure that I stepped outside into the chilly morning air, idly flicking frost from my wings and straining to draw some warmth from the recently dawned sun. I'd been standing in the Assembly since before the light broke, cold and stiff, and now felt like getting some well deserved exercise. While I truly felt like using my wings, and I would before the flight was ended, I knew the importance of practice. I took a deep breath, letting the frosty air into my lungs, owning it, becoming one with it, and chanting my mantra on exhaling.
“I am the wind.”
I took a step but my foot didn't come down, finding purchase instead on the air, and I used it to thrust myself upwards while I formed the wind into solid eddies beneath me. I skated higher, rising above the perfect symmetry and meticulous construction of Hallifax's crystal spires. I looped and I whirled, as graceful as a dancer, performing intricate aeronautic manoeuvres over the grand Collective of Hallifax. One of these manoeuvres landed me about halfway up the Spire of Lawgivers, at which point I was overtaken by a flight of whimsy and decided it was time to use my wings. Launching off my aerial perch for a final time, I twisted into a lazy back flip and tucked my wings in as I came out so I could head straight into a dive. As I hurtled past the Spire's platform, I quickly flared out my wings, banking sharply into an inverted corkscrew whose widening spirals I pealed out of so I could soar through the lobby of the Centre, turning myself so my wings were near vertical and slightly tucked to avoid collision with the disconnected panels pretending to be walls. Once clear to the other side, I flipped on my back and coasted through the open sky, thinking of what might lay in store for the day ahead.
“Saleo!” A voice broke through the morning calm, carried to me on the winds. A delighted grin stole across my face at the sound of that voice as I righted myself and wheeled through the air to where I knew Nynia would be. Surely enough, there she was, my beautiful angel, standing amidst the glimmering pillars of the Beryl Company Tower's crystal gardens. She was a petite little trill, slender and almost sprightly, with a pixie-like face, a cute button nose, large, expressive eyes, and soft, downy head feathers curled up at the ends. Her wings were large for her size, with fluffy, pure white feathers dappled faintly with shadows and pillowed on her back like clouds.
“Saleo!”She called again, looking off to the skies opposite to the direction I was approaching from. My gleeful grin guiding me, I stretched my arms out in front of me and stilled the winds to buffer the sound of my approach. Once more she called out to me, still unaware of how close I was. “Saleeee!” Her call turned into a cry of surprise as I swooped in from behind, wrapping my arms around her waist as I barrelled into her and hauled her skyward with me.
“All right Nynia, guess who,” I said, the smile on my face leeching into my voice. I shifted my shoulders to allow her the opportunity to spread her wings and join me in flying doubles.
“Oh Saleo, you're awful,” she giggled, then began to flap her wings strongly in time with mine, matching a rhythm I wasn't even aware was there. She reached a hand up to ruffle the azure feathers gracing my head. “So, my love,” she said cheerily, “what did you have in mind for the day, aside from kidnapping me?”
I loved hearing that voice of hers. She played it like an instrument, beautiful, melodious tones blending together in exquisite harmony, with every word sounding like a song meant to entrance my ears. She had good cause for it of course, since both of her fathers did prestigious work for the Hallifax Philharmonic Symphonium, and that would mean if anyone had the right to speak in perfect vocal tones, it would be her. I knew even at that point that she would be destined for a career in music, but since this was before the awakening of the Voice of Crys, she spent her days ostensibly practising Aeromancy, but more often practising tailoring as a creative outlet. She also made a great companion on the days I went hunting, something I intended to take advantage of whenever I could.
I leaned my chin against her head feathers and began to bank us towards the base of the Beryl Company Tower so we could head into the Lower City. “Now now,” I asked, “can I kidnap something that has already given itself to me?” I let her go as we came close to the platform so we both could land properly, then I took her hand and pulled her close to me. “I thought today we could go out for a walk and a picnic.”
Nynia's face brightened at the suggestion. “Ooh, I think that would be great. I'll get us a basket ready.” She gave me a quick peck of a kiss on my cheek before delightedly running off to the stairs that led to the Crystalline Bakery, our favourite little shop. I laughed a little at her eagerness, since I knew it was more because she was getting to spend time with me than because we were going to find a nice place laze in the sun and eat pastries. I chased after her and caught up in time to find her pointing at me as the baker put lobster stuffed scones and thunderbird shaped cookies into a neat little basket for us.
Arm in arm we went off together, leaving Hallifax and heading off into Avechna's Teeth, partly for the adventure of something more rugged than Ackleberry Highway and partly for the exercise of hiking the mountains. We were headed for Tolborolla Valley, which was about as beautiful a place for a picnic as a person could find in the Basin of Life, although camping out in the trees of the Serenwilde Forest had its perks, too. We laughed and we chatted about this and that, teasing each other, whispering sweet words, and holding hands like the young lovers that we were. We even engaged in a few Aeromantic displays, with hers being quite a bit more beautiful than my focused, martial talents.
However, the joyous excursion did not last even long enough to make it to Tolborolla. We had just finished comparing notes on how to raise a thunderbird and what we were feeding our hatchlings, and Nynia was trying to give me a lesson in how to write love poems, when a sibilant hissing sound came from the rocks around us and set my hairs on end. I grew quiet and let Nynia chatter on, gripping my crystalline staff tightly and trying to sense what it was that worried me so badly. It wasn't long until I found out.
The first of the dracnari raiders jumped out in front of Nynia, brandishing a scimitar wickedly as she screamed in fright. He opened his vile mouth to issue some demand or threat, but I gave him no chance, quickly thrusting my staff at him and sending a bolt of lightning smashing into his chest, the terrorizing look changed to one of shock and surprise. Three more raiders emerged from their hiding place to aid their fellow, and I knew that I was going to need more power than just my staff. I quickly sent a mental call out to Kilat, my young thunderbird, then I whirled my staff around, sending clouds flying everywhere and revealing another raider who was still trying to hide.
Holding back a grimace at the thought of fighting five raiders, only one injured, I spun in a circle with my arms outstretched, forcing the light clouds I had just created to become true condensation and filling the area with billowing fog. I closed my eyes briefly and began to focus on expanding my senses through all the clouds. “I am the wind,” I whispered as I saw in my mind the positions of all those in my clouds. The wounded dracnari was scrambling to his feet as two others approached a terrified Nynia, one tried fruitlessly to hide again, and another approached me. But within my demesne, I was the Wind Lord, and I intended to use it to my fullest advantage. I raised my arms and sent a bolt of thunderous lightning crashing down next to the dracnari coming at me, narrowly missing but still sending him scrambling. The wounded dracnari was up now, and he jumped in my direction, breathing a gout of flame at me. I winced at the heat and flame, calling on a warm west wind to blow through and soothe my wounds. Then I raised my staff at the leaping dracnari, flinging him into the sky where I caught him with strong winds and threw him hard back down to the ground.
As I exulted over the power I held within my little domain, and my skill at pulling off these techniques I had only recently learned, I failed to see one of the raiders sneaking up on me, his brutish form moving with surprising alacrity. I made a mental note to bring a cyclone or the like down when I could to slow them as his scimitar slashed into my robes, cutting into me despite the enchantments on my robes. I winced in pain and crumpled before the attack, unused to such assault. As I struggled to stand, I felt the calming presence of Kilat entering my demesne, and a soft smile stole across my face.
“Kilat, help me!” I cried, and in response my young thunderbird chirped violently, breathing in deep as the dracnari attacking me turned to look in astonishment, then coughing up a blistering ball of electricity that zapped the raider, crackling through his nervous system and paralysing him. Kilat trotted over to me, butting me softly with her head. I placed a hand on her back, and used her to help me stand up again. I was brandishing my staff menacingly as I watched two raiders carefully, when a muffled scream forced me to suddenly turn around.
“Nynia!” In my haste to eviscerate these lizards I had completely ignored my girl, and now she was being dragged away by a burly red dracnari who had her wrapped in his arms, struggling against him and trying vainly to buffet him with her wings and smacking him to no avail. Cursing my foolishness I began to run after her, but a shriek from Kilat told me I had made the wrong decision, and suddenly I found myself thrown to the ground by the two raiders I had been watching. As I felt Nynia and her captor leave my demesne, my anger flared and my wings followed suit, knocking my assailants off balance and away from me. I let the winds lift me from the ground as my demesne responded to my fury, the clouds within turning into an ominous darkness rippling with thunder and lightning. A foul miasma billowed amongst the angry clouds, seeping into their lungs and choking them from the inside. I pointed my staf at one, commanding the clouds themselves to solidify around his neck, a deadly pressure squeezing tightly and cutting off his air supply.
With that one finished I turned to his companion, just in time to see the curved blade he hled coming down at me. I swung my staff up, bracing it against my hands and narrowly blocking the blow. I strained against him, focusing all of my fury into pushing him back. I needed to get after Nynia, and I wasn't about to let these desert scum stop me now. Responding to my feelings, Kilat rushed forward, slamming her into the dracnari and knocking him enough off balance that I won the contest of strength, flinging his sword back and smashing my staff into his head with an angry peal of thunder that knocked him to the ground.
I took no time to finish the dracnari off, instead vaulting on to Kilat's back and spurring her skyward. Flying through the skies over Avechna's Teeth, I kept my eyes sharp on the rocky road beneath, looking for the burly red dracnari dragging my cloudy white angel away with him. I saw them then, heading into a narrow tunnel in the mountains, and I sent Kilat into a dive, levelling out as we reached the cave enterance. It must have been quite a sight to the dracnari, running through a darkened tunnel, the only light coming from the crackling busts of energy flickering off the angry beast chasing after him, two yellow wings and two azure flaping in unison, bearing down on him like a miniature Air Lord. Certainly, it was enough for the disheartened wretch to release Nynia as I swooped past, dropping to his knees and hiding beneath his hands. I grabbed Nynia in my arms, pulling her onto Kilat's back and urging my poor, overburdened beast to just get me out of the tunnel. Never one to let me down, Kilat flashed forward much more strongly and we burst out of the tunnel into the day light where I could spur her into the sky again, dismounting so she could get some respite while I held Nynia in my arms and comforted her as I slowly flapped to a rocky perch on a cliffside.
“Nynia, honey, are you alright? I fought them off for you.” The concern was evident in my voice, and she threw herself into me, holding me tight and shivering against me.
“Thank you, Saleo. I was so scared there when he grabbed me, but I knew that you would come for me. I didn't think for a second that you'd lose to those things and be unable to save me.”
Even with her voice trembling, she sounded beautiful and melodious, like wind chimes. I smiled softly and kissed her head, silently releasing my hold on my demesne and urging Kilat to return to the stables of the Crystal Keeper after a job well done. Then I noticed that despite everything, Nynia had held on to the picnic basket for dear life. Carefully I took it from her and laid out the stuffed scones, cookies, and tea, and we settled in to relax from the days adventure under a clear, blue sky.