The midday sun hung high over Eldwood, its light filtering through the chapel's stone walls, casting dappled shadows across the training yard.
The air was cool, wind slicing between the stone walls.
Saria held her sword, her black ponytail swaying slightly, her face a stoic mask of focus.
Terya leaned lazily against a tree, her blonde hair catching the breeze, her green eyes glinting with amusement.
Leon stood in the center, chest bare, the smooth stone gripped in one hand, its faint pulse a reminder of the magic now coursing through him—fire, wind, and something new.
"Focus," Saria said, her voice firm and commanding.
"Start with a flame arc."
Leon nodded, his breath steadying as he pictured the fiery crescent Terya had taught him.
He hurled his hand forward, channeling Saria's fire through their bond, and a slashing wave of flame roared toward the hay-stuffed dummy.
It exploded in a burst of sparks, sending burning straw flying across the yard, the heat washing over his skin.
Terya whistled, her smirk widening. "If he gets any hotter, I'll have to sit on his face again just to keep him grounded."
Saria rolled her eyes, her expression unchanging, but she didn't object, her silence a rare indulgence.
"Now wind," she ordered, her tone sharp.
Leon shifted, drawing on Terya's airy pulse in his chest, picturing the cutting crescent she'd guided him through.
He slashed his hand, and a sharp arc of wind whistled through the air, slicing a second dummy clean in two, the halves collapsing in a puff of straw.
"Still got it," he said, a grin tugging at his lips, his confidence growing.
Saria nodded, her dark eyes narrowing slightly. "Now, combine them."
Leon closed his eyes, his heart racing.
He pictured their bodies from the night before—Saria's moans, Terya's teasing whispers, the swirl of heat and touch that had ignited his magic.
His arousal rose, a familiar spark, but now he controlled it, channeling it into his spell.
The bonds in his chest flared—fire and wind intertwining, no longer separate but one.
A spiral of flame and wind curled around his arms, crackling with energy, and he swung—hard.
The hybrid arc fired outward like a spinning blade of burning air, slicing through three dummies in a single sweep, the last one erupting in flames.
The yard trembled faintly, the air shimmering with heat, and the charred straw hissed as it settled.
Even Saria stepped back, her stoic facade cracking with a flicker of surprise.
Terya's smirk faltered into genuine awe, her green eyes wide.
"Okay… that was new," she said, her voice low, almost reverent.
Leon exhaled, his chest glowing faintly, a soft light pulsing under his skin where the bonds resided.
He wasn't just casting anymore.
He was becoming.