A Song for Winter: Element - Wind

Chapter 3: Element - Wind

    Every member of the Wintersong is born with the original winter song in their soul. For some, the winter song manifests as dance or a feeling but for William, like most, it manifested as a cold mournful melody. Wintersong witches are drilled from birth to feel the magic around them and to manifest their version of the winter song. Once the witches can call upon the winter song reliably from their soul then they make their witch focus and the real training begins.

In ancient times Wintersong witches were left in the ice wastes with only the clothes on their backs and their magical foci. That practice had long since been abolished and replaced with less perilous training however William was also a Drackonas. Clan Drackonas' long-standing tradition of blindfolding and binding the wrist of their sons before dropping them off in the wilderness to toughen them into hardened warriors was still in practice. Katherine Wintersong, William's mom, tried to protest but William's father, Odin Drackonas, insisted on not excluding his son from clan traditions. So blindfolded and bound William was left in the ice wastes with nothing but his clothes and his witch knife.
  
     Once William realized he was completely alone he nimbly maneuvered his dagger out of his belt and used it to saw through the bindings on his wrists. Hands freed William and removed his blindfold to find that he was truly lost and alone. Barren frozen lands stretched as far as the eye could. The only noise that broke the silence was the frigid winds echoing across the wastes. Hefting his dagger above his head with his left hand and drawing it in an arc William tried to call to the spirits of ice and snow by whistling a few notes of the winter song but no answer came.

    Night fell as William desperately tried to get the spirits to answer him but no answer came. The already frigid temperatures plummeted even further. Being raised in the north William was quite cold resistant but even he was starting to freeze. Desperation was setting in as he gouged a large arcane circle into the frozen ground. Swearing William pricked his finger before smearing his blood across the circle. Angrily whistling the notes of the winter song while drawing his dagger through the air calling out for any spirit that would answer him. The arcane circle began to light up slowly outlining the runes that made up the geometry of the enchantment. 

    Snow began falling heavy as a blizzard suddenly set in all around William. Winds buffeted the folf as he desperately tried to maintain his spell. As his feet froze to the ground his magical circle continued to light up as he continued his incantation. Eyelids heavy with ice and his body about to give out on him William finished all the notes of the winter song that he knew and for a moment there was nothing. As William struggled to draw in a breath his arcane circle lit up completely with a brilliant blue light and a burst of wind as sudden inspiration struck the beleaguered folf. He need not control the snow and ice to survive. It was the spirits of the sky he needed to call to. 

Drawing forth the mystic energies in front of the arcane circle William started with a small cylindrical hole in the storm by bending the air around himself. Using the wind William began to slowly push the blizzard away from himself. As he pushed the storm away from himself, William used his newfound control of air to alter the ambient temperature around himself in order to save himself from freezing. Multiple times throughout the night William whistled the winter song and drew up the ancient magical powers in his blood to use the powers of the sky to survive till morning. 

As the morning sun peeked up over ice barrens, William was physically, mentally, and magically exhausted. The power of the skies was not the element he had hoped would answer him on this trial but he was happy all the same. He knew air and wind would serve him well as he was already formulating different spells and incantations that would turn his new powers into a deadly weapon. Calling to the spirits to point him back towards his home, William followed a slight breeze that led him on his long lonely walk home. 

Upon arriving home William was subjected to the coming of age ceremonies of both clans. Clan Drackonas greet him with a warrior's feast and drinks before presenting him with a new set of armor and a sword and ax of his own. Afterward, Clan Wintersong formed a circle with William in the middle as they all channeled their collective magical power around and through each other to unite them all as one. Now an adult by both clan’s standards and with the power of the skies at his call William was ready to stand in defense of the ice lands.

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