An arrow whizzed through the air and landed outside the bullseye of the makeshift target that was set up on the grassy field.

Thallios sighed.  He had borrowed the bow and quiver of arrows from Leiyu, who had nonchalantly pulled them out of his magical sleeve with seemingly infinite storage, and was doing target practice.  Although he had rudimentary training in sword fighting, archery was rather new to him.  The nomads of the Northern steppes excelled at it, and Leiyu had developed his archery prowess when he lived here several years ago.  They had ample time now that they were no longer traveling and Thallios had wanted Leiyu to teach him some skills, so Leiyu had suggested this.  They went to a field far from Sarangerel’s yurt, since they did not want Narantuya wandering around near them.

Leiyu stood a short distance behind Thallios, observing his stance.  Thallios nocked another arrow onto the bowstring and began to pull his arm back.

“Lift your elbow higher,” said Leiyu.

“Hm?”

“Can I show you?”

Thallios nodded.

Leiyu walked up to him.  “Keep your feet shoulder length apart, straighten your back, and keep this arm completely horizontal.”  

He gently lifted Thallios’ elbow so that his draw arm was parallel to the ground.  Thallios felt a slight tingle and his heart rate quickened.

“Try now,” said Leiyu.  Thallios released the arrow and it sailed through the air, hitting the bullseye.  His eyes opened wide and he beamed.  

Leiyu smiled.  “Good, keep it up, and eventually you can catch all of our dinners.”

Thallios made a face at him.

***

After the archery practice ended, Leiyu thought it best to resume fire magic training.  Thallios sat before a small fire and tried to focus while Leiyu sat across from him to supervise.  Thallios held out his hand and a small flame jumped and circulated above his palm.  He held his palm steady, trying to keep the flame under control.  He stared at it intensely.

Leiyu watched for any subtle signs of change in Thallios.  The memories of Thallios’ eyes turning golden yellow still made him anxious.

I promised to protect him, he thought, but I really don’t know what lurks underneath.  I hope we don’t end up fighting each other in the end.

Thallios also had no idea why his eyes changed color and was apparently unaware of the times it had happened.  He would only notice afterward that there were gaps in his memory.

Thallios closed his palm and the flame dissipated.  He smiled in relief.

“That’s good,” said Leiyu.  “You’re starting to have better control of it.”

Thallios stared at his palm and pondered for a moment.  “Leiyu, how long did it take you to learn wind magic?”

“Mm, not too long, but don’t worry about comparing yourself.  I have years of martial arts training and I’m used to cultivating my qi so it wasn’t that hard to learn to control the wind.”

“Cultivating your what?”

“Ah, qi…I guess you can think of it as a life force or energy.  In the Eastern Region, we believe that qi flows through all living things.”

“Interesting.”

“Anyway, don’t worry about your rate of progress with the fire magic.  You’re doing pretty well considering you only started recently.”

“Mm, thank you.”

Another gust of wind blew across the fields and their hair strands danced wildly.

“Leiyu?”

“Hm?”

“Do you think your parents were wind magic users too?”

“Mm, I don’t know.  Why do you ask?”

“My mother was the Fire Priestess, so that’s where my fire magic powers came from.  Lady Sarangerel said very few people can learn elemental magic and that you picked it up really fast.”

“Hmm…”

“Although wouldn’t it make more sense if you were a water magic user, since you’re from the Eastern Region?”

“I suppose I could have, if someone had specifically taught it to me.”

“Can a person learn any type of elemental magic if they were taught from a young age?  Like learning a language?”

Leiyu chuckled.  “Do you think about this a lot?”

“Well, I am trying to learn fire magic so I do wonder about the other ones sometimes.  Oh…maybe there’s a person out there who knows all four types!”

“That would be…frightening…” 

Thallios laughed softly.  “Yes, I guess that would be.”

***

The clouds slowly moved across the sky.  Thallios lay on the grass, gazing upward.  Leiyu sat down next to him.  The blades of grass swayed as another gust of wind coursed through the field.

A lone bird glided through the air overhead.  Thallios’ eyes followed it until it flew away into the distance.  He returned his gaze to the clouds.

“Interesting,” said Thallios.

“What is?” asked Leiyu.

“I couldn’t see that clearly from here, but it looked like a raven.  Something about it seemed odd though, but I can’t figure out exactly what.”

“Hmm…”

***

It was indeed a raven that Thallios saw, and the grim-looking bird continued flying above the fields for many miles.  It finally descended when it spotted the person it was seeking.

A man wearing black gloves and vambraces extended his arm upward.  He wore dark robes with a shoulder sash and had twin daggers strapped to his belt.  His chestnut brown hair was tied in a high ponytail that swept down to his waist and he wore tiny stud earrings with ear cuffs.  

The raven landed on his arm and cawed loudly.  He looked at it with his vibrant hazel eyes and grinned.

***

It was another quiet day in the Northern steppes.  Sarangerel played with Narantuya in front of her yurt while Leiyu meditated and Thallios practiced holding a flame above his hands.  Their horses grazed in the fields behind the yurt.

Suddenly, Sarangerel sensed something in the distance.  She picked up her daughter and stepped inside the yurt.  When she returned, she was carrying her bow and quiver of arrows.

“Leiyu, Thallios, could you watch Narantuya for a moment?”  She placed the child before Leiyu while Thallios closed his palm to extinguish the flame.

She nocked the arrow and let it fly.  As it arched through the air, it made a high-pitched whistling sound.  It flew so far that it was no longer visible.

A column of darkness and dust suddenly exploded upward in the distance.

“Earth magic!” she declared.

“From the Southern Region?” asked Leiyu.

She ran over to pick up Narantuya and held her close.  “They are approaching!”

Thallios froze and felt shivers run down his spine.  A mother and child will be in harm’s way because of me!

Leiyu seemed to have the same thoughts and turned to Sarangerel.   “They're after us, so you and your daughter should go now, as far away as possible!  We’ll head in the opposite direction to lead them away.”

With one arm holding her daughter and the other raised toward the sky, she sent a blast of wind magic in the direction of the ominous dark column.  The wind blast landed in the distance and swirled outward.

“I’ve set up a wind barrier to slow them down, but it will not last indefinitely,” she said.  She carried Narantuya past her yurt and mounted her horse.  “A pity we have to part again so soon.  Stay safe, my friends!  Perhaps we will meet again under more peaceful circumstances!”

Leiyu and Thallios went over to mount their horses.  Narantuya, unaware of the gravity of the situation, waved goodbye to them.  Thallios began to tear up.  He smiled and waved back.  Sarangerel and Narantuya then took off on their horse, while Leiyu and Thallios rode in the opposite direction.

***

As their horses galloped across the field, Thallios sensed something and looked up.  A lone raven glided through the air as if it were following them.

He shuddered.  Is that the same bird as before?

Leiyu glanced at him, seeming to sense his distress.

“Leiyu!  I think we’re being followed!”

Within seconds, dark waves snaked through the ground and tore up the soil around them.  The horses panicked.  Thallios was thrown from his saddle.  Leiyu gasped and leapt toward him to break his fall.  They landed roughly on the grass.  Dark waves and dust continued to encircle them.

Leiyu unsheathed his sword.  Thallios followed suit and drew his dagger, which elongated into a sword with the flick of his wrist.  Through the dark waves, they could see shrouded figures on horseback approaching.  The figures wore masks and wielded scimitars.

“Stay behind me,” said Leiyu.

The shrouded figures charged at them.  Leiyu swung his sword and blasted them with wind magic, which knocked them off their horses.  One of them got up and lunged at Leiyu with its scimitar.  Leiyu blocked the oncoming attack with his sword.  Leiyu and the shrouded figure began fighting each other.  Their blades clashed and sparked.

Another shrouded figure snuck up behind Thallios and pulled him backward.  He gasped.

Thallios! Leiyu panicked as he was still locked in battle with the figure before him.

Thallios’ eyes began to glow and he slammed his captor’s torso with the hilt of his sword.  The figure loosened its grip and Thallios broke out of its arms.  Taking his sword and charging it with fire magic, he spun around and slashed at the figure, cracking its mask.  The mask split into pieces and revealed a dark space where the face should have been.  Dust began to swirl upward from this cavity.  The figure then burst into flames and collapsed.

Thallios stared down at the burning figure coldly with golden yellow eyes.

Those eyes again, Leiyu thought.

A whirlwind of dirt twirled out of the burning figure and its shroud collapsed onto the ground.

Leiyu continued fighting the figure in front of him.  While their blades were locked together, he slammed his hand onto the figure’s mask and blasted it with wind magic.  The mask shattered and dust swirled out of the empty facial cavity.

What are these things? he thought.  Within seconds, more shrouded figures appeared through the cloud of dust surrounding them.  “More?  Where are they coming from?”

“They’re coming from the ground,” Thallios replied calmly.

“Huh?” said Leiyu.  Thallios’ voice sounds different.  It sounds almost…female.

“They’re being created from the dirt around us.”

“Then there’s no end to this!”

Thallios scanned the expanse of shrouded figures.

“Leiyu!  Can you generate a whirlwind?”

Leiyu looked at him in confusion.

“Generate a whirlwind and aim it toward them,” Thallios continued.

“Okay…”  Leiyu plunged his sword into the ground and held up two fingers.  Wind spiraled out from his sword.

Thallios walked forward until he was right next to Leiyu.  He held his palm upward near his mouth.

Then, he blew across his hand and a large plume of flame shot out from his palm.  The flame intertwined with Leiyu’s whirlwind and formed a fiery cyclone that tore through the swarm of figures. They burst into flames and dust floated upward from their shrouds.

Leiyu stared at him in complete disbelief.  “Thallios…”

Thallios turned and stared at him with eyes that glowed like burning embers.  The next thing he said made Leiyu’s blood run cold.

“My name…is Amara.”