The icy lake slowly faded behind them as the trio traveled onward, deeper into the mountain valley. Snow turned to mist. Trees grew sparse, and the air thinned until even breathing became a task.
Kyota glanced back at the path they had come from, only to find it had vanished entirely.
He frowned. "Hey, Wizard. These places… they're not normal, are they?"
The old man chuckled. "What gave it away? The fact you drowned and lived, or the talking lake?"
"I'm serious." Kyota narrowed his eyes. "Each place we train… it's completely separate from the real world. Like it exists outside time. You're hiding them. How?"
The wizard's eyes gleamed with a mixture of pride and warning. "They're portals to other realms, Kyota. Lost domains, reflections of elemental truths—sealed long ago to protect the balance. I've been granted access. But such power is dangerous."
Kyota blinked. "So you can just create entire worlds?"
"I don't create," the wizard said. "I reveal. These places already exist. I merely guide the worthy into them."
"And will I ever learn to do that?"
The wizard smirked. "Prove yourself, survive, and maybe—just maybe—I'll show you how. But be warned… those who peer too far beyond the veil often find things they weren't meant to."
Kyota remained silent after that, but the seed of curiosity had been planted.
Day 1: The Sky Realm
The wind realm was not a place—it was a feeling.
When Kyota opened his eyes, he was standing atop a floating island, suspended among endless clouds. The sky stretched in every direction. There was no sun, no ground—only light and drifting sky.
The wind was alive here. It laughed. It pushed. It tested.
One misstep and you'd be swept away into the void.
"This realm," said the wizard, his cloak billowing unnaturally, "was made for those who can listen. Not to sound, but to silence between sound."
Kyota turned in a slow circle. "There's nothing here. Just air."
"Exactly. Wind cannot be seen—only felt. It's the voice of freedom, but also the edge of chaos. If you try to control it, it will break you."
Day 2: The Fall
Training began with failure.
Kyota meditated near the cliff's edge, trying to sense the currents of mana swirling through the sky. His body was sore from the cold lake days prior, but he clenched his fists, ready for a new challenge.
"Focus on your breath," the wizard said. "Breathe with the wind. Don't fight it."
But Kyota's thoughts were too loud. Regret still clung to him from the fire and water trials. His breath grew shallow. His emotions surged.
A gust struck.
Kyota was lifted off his feet and hurled backward off the edge of the island.
"KYOTA!" Yuki screamed, sprinting forward—but the wizard stopped her.
He plunged into the clouds, the sky swallowing him whole.
But he did not fall.
Instead, the wind held him. Suspended mid-air like a marionette on invisible strings. It howled in his ears, not cruelly—but as if laughing at his fear.
He opened his eyes and realized: it didn't want to kill him. It wanted him to fly.
Day 3: Balance
Kyota learned to walk along ropes strung between floating rocks, balancing with his breath. Each step was a conversation with the wind—when to lean, when to yield when to stand firm.
Yuki watched from afar, hands clutched tightly.
"Why do you push yourself this hard?" she whispered when he returned, feet bleeding from the ropes.
He looked at her, tired but fierce. "Because if I don't… then people I love will die. And I refuse to let that happen again."
She didn't answer, but her hand briefly brushed his as he walked past.
Day 4: The Trial of Storms
That night, a storm hit the floating isles.
Lightning carved the sky like claws. The wind screamed in agony.
"This is your chance," the wizard shouted over the roar. "If you wish to wield wind, you must face its fury head-on."
Kyota stood atop the highest spire, eyes closed.
The storm slammed into him.
His body was tossed like a doll, hurled against the rocks, scraped, torn. But he held on.
He screamed back at the wind—not in anger, but in understanding.
"I know what you are! You're freedom… but you're fear too. You're the voice I tried to silence inside me."
The storm hesitated.
And then, like a mother's sigh, it softened. The winds circled him in calm spirals.
Mana gathered around Kyota's body, forming translucent wings of air behind his back.
Day 5: The Dance
Kyota began to move—not with resistance, but with rhythm.
He danced across the floating platforms, leaping from isle to isle, guided by wind.
Each step was effortless. The air no longer pushed him—it carried him.
The wizard watched, arms crossed. "He's beginning to flow with the breath of the world."
Yuki laughed, letting herself feel hope for the first time in days.
Day 6: Collapse
But progress invites pride.
Kyota attempted to create a spear of wind, forcing the mana into shape.
It backfired.
A violent backlash shattered the platform beneath him, sending him plummeting.
He barely caught himself mid-fall, blood dripping from his mouth.
The wizard arrived in seconds, standing mid-air. "You forgot the lesson. The wind is not meant to be caged."
Kyota gasped, "Then how do I fight with it?"
"You don't. You fight alongside it."
Day 7: Ascension
The final trial came at sunrise.
The island rose higher than ever before, into the upper skies where the wind was thin and sacred.
Kyota stood alone, facing the gusts.
He closed his eyes.
He did not summon the wind. He invited it.
And it answered.
It surged into him, not as a weapon—but as a part of him.
The cursed marks on his skin shimmered pale green. His hair lifted gently, eyes glowing with wind mana.
From his back, blades of air extended like wings.
He stepped off the platform—
And flew.
Yuki looked up, shielding her eyes with a smile.
The wizard nodded silently. "Three down. You're halfway there."