William:

"Please take good care of me if I get hurt, Ms. Evelyn."

"Will do. Now go kick his butt," Evelyn said, smiling at me.

I turned, smiled back, and told her, "Will do."

"Are you two done?" Malikor said with his arrogant voice.

I turned back to face Malikor and got into a fighting position. Malikor did the same. He yelled to begin. This time, I didn't charge in; instead, I just circled around Malikor. This seemed to throw Malikor off.

"What are you doing, brat? Are you not going to charge in like you always do? Are you actually trying something new? Please don't make me laugh. Just go back to your barbaric ways, throwing random punches until you land something," Malikor scoffed at me.

I stayed silent. The reason for me circling him was that I was trying to gather enough wind mana to use. Since I wasn't attuned to the wind mana, trying to form them together was hard. Those connected to their element can gather and release their mana at will; it's like breathing to them. But for those not connected, it's like trying to gather water from a dirty lake. However, with enough training, that changes. Instead it feels like getting water from a completely different lake, a lake still dirty but drinkable water. I'll never master the element, but I would be able to use it well enough in battle.

With the wind mana I had gathered so far, I charged at Malikor and threw a  right fist punch. He quickly sidestepped to the left and reached out with his right arm to grab mine. I quickly infused some of the wind mana into my left elbow and released it. My left arm went charging towards Malikor's face. He was surprised by my attack but still managed to use his right arm to block it. Even though he blocked my attack, I managed to send him back a little. Then, using some more wind mana, I released it into my feet and charged at Malikor. But this time, Malikor was ready for my burst in movement. He parried my right-hand attack, grabbed it, and cut it off.

I yelled, not because of the pain, but because using the wind mana would only catch him off guard once. My best shot at landing a punch on his face was gone. Evelyn came to me and healed my arm back on. She looked at me, smiled, and told me,

"That was awesome, Whisk! You managed to land a hit on him. Good job!"

I looked at her and thanked her. She got up and went back, while Malikor spoke to me,

"Tsk. You're trying to speed up your movements like I do, brat, but the way you're doing it is laughable. That one hit was your best shot at landing a good punch, but you blew it. Pathetic. Now that I know what you're doing, do you think I'm just going to let you gather the mana so easily? Prepare yourself. The only time you'll be able to gather the mana is when you're laying down while the girl heals you, brat."

I got up and started to gather the mana, but Malikor appeared in front of me and landed a punch to my stomach, then backhanded me, launching me. But before I hit the ground, he reappeared, grabbing me by the neck and slamming me to the ground, breaking most of my bones and leaving me paralyzed again. While lying there, being healed by Evelyn, spoke

"Whisk, instead of forcing the mana particles to gather and form as you want, ask them to come to you and ask them to form how you want. Don't force the mana particles."

"How do I ask them if there's no way of asking? The only way to control an element that you're not connected to is by forcing them," I said, lying there, almost healed.

"The way you're doing it is feeling all the mana and choosing the wind mana, then forcing it through you. Instead, feel all the mana, choose the wind mana, but don't force it through you. Just let them come to you. By doing this, you'll get more refined wind mana. Also, the more you do this, the more the wind mana will come to you willingly. At first, you'll have little, but by the end of two weeks, you'll have wind mana coming to you even if you don't focus on it," she finished and fully healed me.

Impressed by her knowledge, I got up and asked,

"How do you know so much about this?"

She smiled at me and said,

"I'll tell you after your fighting is done, Whisk.

I got up and did what Evelyn suggested. Instead of forcing the wind mana to come to me, I let it come willingly. By doing this, Malikor couldn't sense that I was gathering the wind mana, so he chose to stand there until I made a move. I started to circle him, trying to gather the wind mana, but none came. I could tell the wind mana was aware of my request, but it seemed to avoid me, as if scared. So, I decided to abandon that plan and started forcing the wind mana to come to me. When I did, Malikor quickly decided to attack. This time, I was ready and managed to parry his right-handed attack, making Malikor lose balance for a second. I tried to kick Malikor with my right leg, but I was too slow. Malikor used wind mana to regain his balance and avoid my attack.

Malikor and I just stood there, looking at each other. Malikor's face looked annoyed that I had managed to parry him, so I knew his next attack would be faster than the last. I tried to gather as much wind mana as I could, but I didn't even have a second to do so as Malikor teleported behind me. I tried to hit him with a backhanded attack, but again, I was too slow. Malikor kicked the back of my spine, breaking it in half. My body fell forward, and with my spine broken, I couldn't use my legs, so I just let Malikor do as he wished and tried to gather all the wind mana I could before my next fight. My body fell still, and Malikor teleported to me, picked me up by the head, and slammed me into the ground, creating a crater.

Evelyn came and started healing me while talking.

"Whisk, why did you give up so easily, and why didn't you use the method I told you to use?" Evelyn said with a tinge of disappointment.

"Because the wind mana was avoiding me," I said with a weak voice.

"Whisk, today and tomorrow the wind mana and all mana will most likely avoid you, so you won't be able to use it for at least 2 or 3 days. But please trust me, on the 4th day they will come, and when they do, you will understand how much better it is than forcing it."

"I don't have 3 days to lose. I have to start training with the wind mana NOW!" I said furiously.

"Whisk, please just trust me, have some patience. Instead, focus on how Malikor uses his mana," Evelyn said with confidence.

"Tsk, fine, but if I don't get the wind mana to come to me by the 4th day, I'm going back to forcing them."

"Thank you, Whisk, and I'm positive they will come to you."

I got up and started to practice Evelyn's method, but the wind mana avoided me. I got into my fighting stance, and my new plan for the next three days was to figure out how Malikor uses his wind mana and to see if the wind mana would come to me on its own.