The feel of the magic in the air here is much, much stronger than at Granny's. I mean, I knew that was going to happen, she even told me it would, but it's still coming as a bit of a surprise. The comforted look on Drake's face and the gentle way his tail swishes tells me that he likes it, too. We were able to feel the start of it after lunch the first day of the trip, and it's only grown stronger since.

Now, here, at the town itself, the feeling is immense.

One thing I find interesting about this feel, though, is how I can actually tell it's charged with the power of the wind. The air feels cool, without being too hot or too cold, but perfect for a summer afternoon. Despite the dying power of the wind, there's a gentle breeze as well.

I guess the influence of the Wind Crystal means that the effect isn't felt here first, rather than being felt here first.

There's exactly one inn here, meant specifically for those coming from out of town. Rather than stopping there, though, Drake and I leave the team of adventurers as they make their way there. They plan on visiting the Wind Guardian tomorrow, after they've rested, to ensure they're at their peak for when they attempt to undertake the trial.

The trip after I explained things to them about how the travel was safe went much more peacefully, and they were even courteous to me today. I know they're bothered by the fact that I won't show them my face and the deeper, gruffer voice I've been using to talk with them, but they've come to accept that some people are just not going to be how they want them to be.

After departing the party, I begin walking through town, taking note of the imitations of the Wind Crystal decorating the town. Bluish-white crystal insignia adorn most shops and the flags hung up everywhere, and miniature versions of it are set into street lamps, normal light crystals inside. With those, their light is still yellow, but the crystal they're inside filters the light to turn it into the bluish-white of the Wind Crystal.

I'm sure that might make things look strange to me at night, due to not being used to such coloration in the light from the light crystals.

"Where are we going?" Drake asks as we pass by a fountain with many imitation crystals set into it.

"To the Wind Shrine," I answer. "It's a little out of town."

"Oh," he says.

I lead Drake out of the back side of town and back into the woods, following another trail for twenty minutes, before we arrive at a temple of white and grey stone, the Wind Crystal insignia and miniatures everywhere here as well. We ascend the steps and reach the large, wooden doors, which are closed at the moment.

They also don't open when we try to push them open, meaning the Wind Guardian probably locked them.

"Drake," I say. "Would you mind knocking?"

"Knocking?" He points at the knocker on the door. "With that?"

"No," I say. "With your fist. Just pound as hard as you can, you'll need to in order to be heard from a distance. Don't stop until the door opens, either, or there's a chance you won't be heard if she's not moving around."

Drake nods, then starts pounding on the doors, causing them to shake with every strike. He keeps up a consistent rhythm, and after about two minutes, we hear the beam that's probably holding the door closed slide away. Upon hearing that, Drake stops knocking, and a moment later, the left door is opened a crack, revealing the face of a woman in her thirties with light brown hair and sapphire-blue eyes looking at us.

"Hi, Macy!" I greet my cousin, pushing my hood back enough so that she can see my face. "How are you?"

"I was pretty sure the bar was going to snap!" She exclaims, pulling the door open more and appraising Drake. "He doesn't look like he's old enough to even be in the System."

"No, he's old enough," I say. "He's linked in."

"How old are you?" She asks. "You don't look old enough to be that strong."

"He has 23 Strength," I say. "He's actually the reason I came to visit. We need to do the trial."

"I'm sorry," she suddenly looks at me apologetically. "Even if I believed for one moment that you had the ability to do it, I-"

"Have begun to deny all entry," I say. "Because the power of the wind of the world seems to be fading, and you think it's linked to the Wind Crystal, much like the issues with the other Elemental Crystals, which all started up around the same time."

She gives me a stunned look.

"That's actually why we need to do the trial," I tell her. "Can we come in? We can explain."

"Yeah, you can," she says. "Where's the rest of your team? I doubt you're already a high enough Class to do the Trials."

"It's just us," I tell her. "Drake's powerful enough on his own, he basically solo'd the trial for the Crystal of Power, I mostly just helped him get through the traps."

Macy steps to the side, allowing us to enter, and she quickly closes the door, then shifts a lever to one side, causing the heavy wooden beam to emerge from a slot on the side and slide back across the doors, the end of it entering a slot on the other side.

It looks like it cracked a little. Drake really is pretty strong.

"Come on," Macy says as I push my hood down. "Let's go to the kitchen, I'll fix us some tea to drink and you can explain… what the heck you meant."

Macy leads us through the empty, but massive hall to the staff area. In the kitchen, Drake and I sit at the table and my cousin fixes us some tea, the three of us silent as she prepares it.

"You two probably didn't stop on the way here, either," she says. "I was getting ready to make dinner when I heard the pounding. I'll fix some stuff up for you two as well while you explain things."

"We're on a quest to save the world," I tell her. "To do that, we need to charge up a Crystal of Power with all four elements, then Drake is doing something to fix whatever the problem is. I'm not actually sure what, the meteor dragon didn't see fit to tell me. Apparently, we have about ten years before the world dies."

Macy gives me a confused look.

"Meteor dragon?" She asks.

"A hundred thousand years ago," Drake says before I can explain how we met. "My people, the dragons, saw this world. It was a barren, toxic waste. No life could exist here. They opened a portal up to it and created the Elemental Crystals, setting them into four temples, one in different parts of the world."

This is news to me, Drake hasn't mentioned any of this before. It seems like he's in an explaning mood, too.

"The Elemental Crystals," he says. "Were used to clean this planet and to regulate the elements of the world. The air was purified, the terrains were altered, oceans, rivers, and lakes were formed, and more. Continents didn't exist back then, but the Ancient Elders created them. They created life and brought it here, they created the humans and the spirits of this world, modeled off of other worlds' peoples. They created the two spirit realms as well, where the spirits would have power of their own so long as they were inside of them."

"There were no ley lines," he continues. "Veins of magic running through the world. Because of that, people couldn't use magic, not initially. They knew it would take many thousands to hundreds of thousands of years for natural magic to fill the world, for ley lines to develop.

"And so," he continues. "They created the System and the Dungeons, put in the rules for what would be considered Ruins. It would allow people to increase their magical power and their mana in one way. They knew that most people would rely on those, but that from time to time, there would be people who would also work on training their magic and learning spells without the System. It is those people who would generate some of the changes needed. People like Nate's granny."

Because she trains her power immensely and doesn't really use Skills, her magic can be considered naturally-developed. That's important to the world?

"However," Drake says. "They knew it would probably takes hundreds of thousands, possibly millions, of years for developed magic to really have an effect. So they created the Crystals of Power and made some slight alterations to the Elemental Crystals, creating the Elemental Trials as a gate to accessing them for anyone but the Elemental Guardians.

"When a Crystal of Power is charged and used," he tells us. "It's full of natural magics. The Elemental Crystals radiate it out, which is why people who grow up near them from families that did for generations tend to have higher magic and mana naturally. They cause the areas around them to be full of natural magic, which has an effect on those nearby."

This is stuff we heard before, but did Drake already know all of it, even before we were told? Was it only news to me?

"The same thing happens with Crystals of Power," he tells her. "They knew that it would reduce the time necessary down to maybe only a hundred thousand or so years, maybe two hundred thousand. Though their hope was that people who lived in areas with Crystals of Power and the Elemental Crystals would develop and train magic on their own, they forgot to factor in what people were like. Rather than doing that due to how difficult it was, they relied on the System. They still do.

"And that's where the problem is," he tells Macy. "The reason the effects of the Elemental Crystals are fading isn't because of the Crystals of Power being charged. In fact, the effect the Crystals of Power have helped delay this. It's the fact that the amount of natural magic in the world is low.

"Had things developed as the Ancient Elders expected," he tells her. "There would be enough natural magic in the world today to keep the Elemental Crystals charged. The System relies on the natural magics of the world. The more people who are linked into it, the more power it needs. And there are millions more people today than there were hundreds of thousands of years ago."

Even if only a small percent of people link into the System, it still drains the power needed to support it. Without the development the ancient dragons expected to happen, there's not enough power to make up for it.

"Honestly?" Drake asks. "The Ancient Elders expected the System to not be used much by this point. They mostly expected the Dungeons to be in use for harvesting resources rather than training, because they expected most people to rely on magic that they developed and trained. The more natural magic in the world, the easier it is to train magic, after all. But again, they forgot how people are, and that's caused the predicament the world is in."

Macy is silent as we both take in the full explanation. Drake's people basically created this world, and they created the heavens and the underworld, too. His people created the Crystals, the System, everything.

He mentioned that our world isn't as advanced as some others. Based on his story, I'm assuming his ancient ancestors put in the rules that bind even dragons after they finished things. They also probably created the rules to make the portals one-way, which would explain why there aren't any dragons here except for Drake.

Assuming that's all true, then is it possible that his ancient ancestors did something to prevent our world from advancing too far in technology? Now that I'm thinking about it, we've had mostly the same technology for centuries. His people probably expected this to be a magic-based world and didn't want technology I can't even fathom coming into it.

"So," I finally speak up. "What does you needing to charge a Crystal of Power have to do with fixing this? I know you aren't powerful enough to do what the ancient dragons did."

"The Ancient Elders," he corrects. "They're more than just ancient dragons, Nate. Their power puts them above the gods of many worlds. There's only one left, and the only reason I knew how to make the ritual stuff and was allowed to be there was because she'd essentially adopted me and taught me stuff."

So he's basically royalty to the dragons? Even if only adopted? That explains why an outcast could attend such an important ceremony.

"That doesn't answer my question, though," I say. "What does you charging a Crystal of Power have to do with this?"

"Hm," he thinks. "There are two reasons, really. The immediate one is that if a dragon undergoes one of the Elemental Trials, it'll give the respective Elemental Crystal a charge. You can't do the trial if you don't have Seeker of Crystals and if someone in the party doesn't have a Crystal of Power."

"Why does that matter?" I ask, and he gives me a confused look. "A dragon going through it, I mean. You aren't anywhere near powerful enough, after all. There's no way you could just recharge the Elemental Crystals."

"It's not about the magical power," he states. "But the power of our essence. I'm a dragon. My essence is far, far more powerful than yours. That means I hold the potential to become many, many times more powerful than any other being on this world. If I complete the trial, the Wind Crystal will draw out about a tenth of my essence. That should be enough charge to last it another thousand years, provided I do the same with the other three Elemental Crystals within a decade. Otherwise, the unbalanced nature of the elements will send the world into ruin within maybe twenty or thirty years."

Note to self: make sure Drake completes his journey within a decade.

"Wait," I realize something. "The essence determines how powerful you can become? If you lose forty percent of your essence-"

"I'll be fine," he tells me. "I'd still have the potential to become far more powerful than any being of this world. I'm a dragon. I could lose ninety percent of my essence and still be able to become more powerful than gods. I'm not sure what will happen when my essence is drawn out of me, though. I might get sick or weak for a little bit. It shouldn't hinder the quest too much, though."

"Okay," I relax a little.

He seems like he's accepted this sacrifice of his. I'm sure the essence is more than something which determines how powerful we could become, though. What else is he sacrificing for this quest? His home, his old life, his form, his potential power are all major things already. But his expression tells me there's more that he's sacrificing which he isn't saying.

"What's the other thing?" Macy asks Drake, and I give her a quizzical look. "He said there were two things. The first is a temporary fix. What's the other?"

"Not as important as the immediate fix," he tells her. "The draw on my essence happens after completing the trial, but I still ask that we be allowed to charge the Crystal of Power after, since I know that's separate."

"If you doing it will charge the Wind Crystal," Macy says. "Then I see no problem with it, Drake. As long as you are honest."

"Granny says," I tell Macy. "To trust Drake when it comes to things related to the quest. I honestly hadn't believed him until we spoke with her. She knew the truth and his quest before he even approached."

"The only reason I'm believing it is you," she tells me. "While we don't know each other that well, my great-aunt has praised you many times. If you state it's true, then I'll accept it. Yes, you can both do the trial, and charge your Crystal of Power after."

"Thank you," Drake says.

"By the way," I tell her. "Hovering Heights appears to have been affected pretty bad, they sent a team out two years ago to train up, and they finally managed to make it here in the hopes of doing the trial, as it's quite likely their home will become unlivable if things continue to decrease. We met them on our way. Knowing there's going to be a temporary charge, I'd say that it's not needed, but it might take time for it to start to affect their home."

"It will," Drake confirms. "Unless I complete my quest, then the negative effects caused by the weakening of the Elemental Crystals will slowly reverse back to how the Ancient Elders set things. I'm not sure how long the quest will take, so the quicker fix would be best."

"I see," Macy says. "After hearing the explanation – as difficult to believe as it is – I'm going to say it's okay. But I'll tell them it's an extreme exception, and that the Oracle herself told me to allow it."

"Thanks," I tell her, then realize something and look at Drake in shock as he sips on his tea.

He gave a full explanation, a whole backstory. Without us needing to continuously prompt him and try to pull everything needed out of him. I guess because it had to deal with the quest, and he knew that we might not have been able to access the trial without him doing that.

"What?" Drake looks at me, curiosity clear on his face.

"Just thinking," I say.

"About what?" He asks. "You were staring at me."

"About whether or not it's inappropriate to have sex in the Wind Shrine."

Macy starts laughing.