Several days passed, my mood slowly building from not being able to function to my usual passive discontent. Magic was helping with that, though. I was experimenting with the other basic elements, and having a blast doing it. Except for fucking Air.

According to the book, the element I was supposed to have the most trouble with was the one opposing my starting element, that being Water. This was a fucking lie.

Water? Not a problem. After doing the science work, I could pull moisture from the air, and control up to a couple of litres fairly easily, though I still slipped up a couple of times, resulting in unfortunate stains.

Earth? Easy. I could shape, control and combine small stones, turn a patch of stone into mud and back again, even turn small pebbles into sand. The science was fairly hard, but learning about rock types and structures was pretty fun.

I still wasn’t able to form an emotional connection to any of the other elements, but then again I hadn’t been trying that hard. The main reason? I was finding Air near damn impossible.

No matter what I researched, how hard I visualized the spellform, I couldn’t even form a piddly ball of air. It was like I was missing something obvious. Something right under my nose. But I hadn’t found it yet, and that was severely delaying my return to a good mood.

My father realized quite quickly what he had done, and even tried to talk to me a few times, but I wasn’t in the mood to hear it. He accepted that, I think. I didn’t even blame him too much, I had inherited his temper and it had taken me a lot of self development to master it.

For him on the other hand, all of his anger was channelled into hatred for magic, to an almost subconscious degree. Not that I was trying to make excuses for him, but I did understand him. That helped us get along, at least to a certain degree. The rest was my incessant lying.

Scowling as I failed to conjure even a small gust of wind I decided to take a look on the Weave for anything of interest. I hadn’t gone on it apart from to watch more videos and stuff. I even tried out a witches recipe for acne removal I saw in one video, and let me tell you that shit worked like a charm….get it?

I went onto a local news site, to check up on the area. Apparently there was something of an Arcane News Network for the magic underground of Los Angeles, a conglomeration of Wizard Division broadcasts, semi-professional reporters and local amateur journalists.

According to a Vulpen reporter a small air elemental had been seen in Beverly Hills, and was doing some property damage. Elementals were the elements given form, and acted like you would expect them to. Namely, not giving a flying fuck about anything near them as they went about their way.

They were a bit like spirits, dryads and naiads etc, etc. You could communicate and even reason with them, but don’t expect them to play by the same rules as humans do. That being said, Lira told me she could help me understand nature, so maybe an Air elemental could help with my block in understanding air.

Tho only question was, what did I have to trade, because I had no idea if elementals did IOU’s.

It was probably not a good idea to go to find an elemental by myself but hey what’s life without a little risk. I would miss the feed of info I could get from the Weave though.

Wait a goddamn minute.

If I’m a wizard, and being a wizard is like being the magical world’s engineer, then I could find a solution to this basic ass problem.

Gathering my thoughts, I realized I was in fact an idiot. Taking a few of the rocks in my room and the amethyst and coil I had already been using, I began with a bit of basic manipulation.

So far, I was only able to shape earth in my hands, the mental dexterity to reform a solid object without touching it currently beyond me.

“Ɛǟʀȶɦ”

I shaped the rocks into a smooth tile the size of a smartphone, and then moved on to the amethyst. It was actually easier to shape the crystal, it’s ordered nature only requiring a few nudges to fix any flaws I could discern. I pushed it into a vaguely diamond shape, sunk it into the top of the tile, and then re-wrapped the copper wire.

Finally, using some cast off amethyst I wasn’t skilled enough to reintroduce to the crystal, I created a smooth patina on the ‘front’ of the tile creating a screen.

Wizard smartphone. Hey, don’t give me that look, every good idea is just a slight improvement to someone else’s. I’d still need to create an operating system by hand, so cut me some slack.

After checking to make sure it worked, I made a slot in the back to hold the ‘seals’ I had already, and would collect in the future. Throwing on a hoodie and slipping my new…. Let’s go with Batman’s naming sense and call it a manaphone, into my pocket, alongside one of my seven azuralite shards, I was ready to go. At least, I hope so.

I took the metro to Beverly Hills, and then using my new creation, pulled up a live feed of the elemental’s recent sightings. It wasn’t that hard to track, what with the trail of focused destruction it left behind, tearing through one house and leaving everything nearby untouched.

After five minutes jogging and nearly banging into a telephone pole, I stopped. Not because I found the elemental, but because I encountered something else. More specifically, I was almost run over by the small vulpen reporter from the ANN. After picking myself off the ground, I decided not to hold it against the guy. He looked nervous as hell.

“Hey, you’re the guy from the Arcane, still reporting on the elemental huh?”

His nervous look vanished, replaced by a small grin.

“Yup, that’s me, William Emerton, but that’s Wiley to my friends. Let me tell you fella, I’m mighty relieved you’re…. in the know. It's a real faux pas for us reporters to be the cause of an awakening. I’d get bullied down at the office for a week or two, easy.”

This guy was either straight out of the 20’s or a comic book. Either way, I’m in.

“No worries Wiley, listen, you seemed to be in a rush, do you know where the elemental is?”

He looked at me a bit curiously before continuing.

“Yeah, apparently it was spotted like a half-mile away. Why, you’re not…. a reporter are you?”

I chuckled. “Nah, I just….”

Realizing that proclaiming I was a young wizard in broad daylight might not be the best idea, but deciding that I trusted this..hehe… wiley reporter, I leant a bit closer.

“Don’t spread it around, but I’m a young wizard, and I’m struggling with Air, so I figured….”

He started vigorously nodding, getting my point.

“Say no more, say no more. I’d like to come along with you, y’know, two heads and all that and besides, if you don’t mind me saying so…. wizards are good protection.”

Companion get, apparently. We jogged the half-mile in about 4 minutes, leaving me winded and Wiley looking a bit frustrated. I guess if I wanted to avoid the trope of wizards being unhealthy nerds, I would have to take up exercise. Or… I could probably make some kind of spell that stimulated my muscles in my sleep…. It would take Lightning, but I could maybe jury-rig a—

Just then, the wind picked up, breaking my train of thought. Wiley and I shared a look before whipping our heads towards the oncoming winds. Across the street from us stood what appeared to be a miniature tornado, with arms and a head, glowing yellow eyes the only distinguishing feature.

Wiley whipped out a notebook and a… quill… that appeared to be writing by itself. I started walking towards the figure, using my second best trick. I put on the mask of Charles, the mighty wizard, always aloof and snarky. It was the best way to hide Charlie, the idiot highly regretting this and wanting to run away very badly.

Remembering Nox’s introduction, I tried my best to imitate it.

“Elemental, I am Initiate Charles, and I greet you under the Ventralaxian accords. I would like to trade with you.”

Ehh, not perfect, but you do what you can. A deep thunder-like rumbling echoed around the street as the elemental turned to address me.

“Greetings Initiate. You may know this one as ‘Wind Sweeps The Plains’ it is the closest name your kind could pronounce. What would you trade with me?”

“I struggle with my connection to Air, and I seek the knowledge to overcome this obstacle. In return, I would offer this.”

I pulled out the chunk of azuralite I had brought with me. Apparently this was the wrong move. I swear I could hear Wiley wince across the street. The elemental swelled in size, it’s eyes taking on a menacing slant.

“Wizard, You will give me that azuralite right now, and I will make sure your death is quick and painless.”

I, of course, did the only reasonable thing. I ran hell for leather away from the thing, Wiley hot on my heels. I let him pass me, gave him a nod, and started feeling for mana.

The takeaway? It’s fucking hard to focus on minute details while literally running for your life. I was only left with something I had a better grasp on, Fire. What a time to test my fireball size.

“ʄɨʀɛ”

I called the largest fireballs I could into each hand, each the size of a basketball, glowing blue with the immense heat. I span around, hurling the flames at the elemental thundering towards us. When they hit, the elemental let out a roar, one of its tornado arms dissipating in the swirling winds.

I barely had time to see the result before my body started running again on auto-pilot. I seemed to have slowed it down, but that was assuming it couldn’t still fly. It could probably still fly. Hurtling down the side alleys behind Wiley, I realized the elemental wouldn’t follow us underground. Probably. Hopefully.

I grabbed Wiley’s shoulder and pointed at the metro station up ahead. Changing direction, we were only a few metres ahead when I felt a huge amount of mana being drawn in behind us. Shoving Wiley down the steps, I turned back to see a razor-sharp wave of air and dust speeding down the street, seconds away from hitting me.

I had seconds. Fine. I need safety. Earth. Come on. Stability. Strength. Peace. Calm. Coarse sand, smooth marble. Reaching out with the tentative emotional connection, I dropped to my knees and spoke.

“Ɛǟʀȶɦ”

Willing the road in front of me to rise up and form a wall to protect me, I closed my eyes waiting for the inevitable pain. When none came, I opened my eyes, astonished to see a rough wall of tarmac in front of me. Not wanting to wait around, I threw myself down the stairs after Wiley.

I collapsed onto the floor beside Wiley in the metro station, breathing heavily, that’s right. Just breathe.

….

Breathing. That’s what I was missing.

….

I started laughing maniacally.

“What the fuck are you laughing about?”

“Wiley, my friend, I got what I wanted and didn’t even have to pay the guy.”

I kept giggling, the passersby trying to ignore me as much as they could.

“You’re crackerjack, boyo. Showing an air elemental azuralite. You’re an absolute wackjob”

I sobered up fairly quick, as I wanted to know what the hell had caused this.

“Maybe I am Wiley, but how was I supposed to know Elementals hated azuralite”

He gave me an understanding look.

“Ahh, that’s my mistake, I assumed you knew what you were in for. Azuralite isn’t hated by all elementals, just the hardcore Air ones. It’s literally mana that’s been condensed. For the other elements, this doesn’t matter so much because they’re fairly mana dense, but air’s whole shtick is being light and airy. So when mana gets condensed, hardcore Air Manaborne get testy, claiming the mana is stopped from returning to the Air, and therefore stolen from them.”

I gave him a pointed look.

“That’s retarded. And how the hell do you know so much about elementals?”

He blinked a couple of times, before licking his lips.

“I, uh, well, I….may make some money on the side….trading….in an interesting tidbit or two.”

Got it. My new friend Wiley, the innocuous comic-book reporter, was also a shady information broker. What a world.

“Do you have a card?” I asked, fairly abruptly.

“Uhm, yeah…” he replied, shuffling through pockets before finally pulling out a battered looking card. It read ‘William Emerton, Reporter and Private Eye.” It also gave an address and had a foxy seal on it for contact on the Weave.

“I meant a card fo—”

“The world is a wily place.”

As he finished speaking, the card changed. It now read ‘Wiley’s Information Acquisitions’ and had nothing but a strange purple seal.

“Now, that’s cool as hell wiley.”

“Not as wily as it could be”

This time the card changed back, nothing but a regular business card. With a nod and a wink, Wiley started to walk away. I looked back at the card once again, and when I looked up he was gone.

The trip back was a real bitch. The adrenaline had worn off, and I was feeling like shit. I could’ve died so many different ways back there, that it was probably easier to count the ways I couldn’t.

When I got home, I didn’t speak to anyone, didn’t even revel in my revelation about Air, I just got into bed and fell asleep. You know what they say, sleep is the best medicine. Or is that morphine?

The following day I was up and about earlier than I had been this week, excited to unblock Air, and experiment with my new deeper connection to Earth. Here goes nothing.

Air. Gas. Hot air rising. Mist. Clouds. Airstreams. Breath.

“Ǟɨʀ.”

I gathered air into a ball in my palm, and marvelled at how it felt. It felt….way too good. What the hell was this? The air dispersed, blasting me in the face, but I couldn’t currently give less of a shit.

What was happening ? I could feel each of the elements, like they were calling me.

An itch I couldn’t refuse to scratch. I called a ball of fire, then earth, a perfect sphere melting out from my wall to rest above my hand beside the fire. I condensed the water in the air into another ball, this one resting above my other palm. Finally, as though of its own accord, though I knew instinctively that I was in control, a ball of air swirled into being beside the ball of water.

I felt euphoric. The air and water started to merge into a single sphere, the fire and stone doing the same. Now I had two spheres hovering above my hands one molten rock and the other a dense mist. The euphoria from before was dogshit in comparison to how I felt now. The two new spheres began to merge, eventually forming a writhing mass of bubbling, roiling liquid…. Something.

Guess what? I had no clue what to do next. Apparently this is where instinct fails me. I thought back to all my experiences with mana, and decided, screw it, if it works; don’t fix it. I focused on all the mana available to me, and pushed it into the sphere in front of me.

With a pop, all the mana sunk into the sphere, and it settled into a sphere of…. fucking azuralite. I guess that wily fox wasn’t lying. The euphoria from before vanished, and I felt… different. That’s the best way I could describe it. I tried to cast some magic, and the world changed. It was like I could feel the mana wanting to conform to my will.

I called Fire, and was about to flick my fingers, but before I could, I could feel the mana structure I was imagining simply form from the ambient mana in the air. A ball of flame appeared in the air beside me, and I could still feel its structure. I started tweaking it mentally, making the orb oblong, and watched, amazed, as the sphere copied it.

Level up?

I heard my name being called by my mother, assuming it was for breakfast, but I froze when I heard the name she called.

“Charlie, there’s a detective Nox here for you! He says it's about you joining the force!”

Stunned, I was visibly pale as I invited Nox up to my room, hoping to God he hadn’t heard about my….kerfuffle, yesterday.

“So, you’re fighting elementals now? Big step up. Do you have anything to say for yourself. Any explanation that would make you putting yourself in incredible amounts of danger to fight a literal embodiment of a force of nature seem reasonable? Anything at all?”

Luck of the Irish my hole.

“Uhm…. I made a focus stone?”

I won’t lie, seeing that perpetual smirk wiped off his face was even better than the euphoria from earlier.

“Charlie…. Tell me everything.”