Himalayan Heights
The world was silent above the clouds.
Snowfields stretched like sheets of silver flame under the rising sun, the air so thin that even time seemed to pause.
In that sacred emptiness stood Ishita, wrapped in crimson aura, breath misting in the cold.
Across from her, Li Wei floated cross-legged on air, his robes whispering with silver light. The faint hum of his Soul aura made the snowflakes dance around him.
> "This place," he said softly, "is where the world forgets its noise.
To hear your own flow, you must first drown in silence."
Ishita closed her eyes. The mountain wind bit her skin, but her heartbeat echoed deeper—fast, uncertain.
> "Master Li Wei," she whispered, "I can feel it inside me… the Scarlet moves on its own. It's like it's alive."
> "It is alive," Li Wei replied. "Aura is not power you command. It's a river that moves through you.
Try to cage it, and it floods. Flow with it… and it carries you."
He raised his palm. "Begin."
---
Aura Flow Control
Ishita exhaled.
Her aura flickered—first faint, then fierce—until scarlet mist spiraled from her hands, wrapping her body like a storm of silk fire.
The ground steamed. Ice melted around her feet.
Li Wei's calm voice cut through the roar.
> "Four anchors: Heart, Crown, Hands, Earth.
Feel them align. Aura flows only where balance lives."
For a moment, it worked—her aura circled in rhythm with her breath, pulsing with life.
But then a thought intruded—fear, memory, loss.
The rhythm shattered.
A crimson pulse erupted outward.
BOOM!
The valley quaked. Snow peeled off cliffs.
A mountain ridge cracked open as a red fissure of raw energy ripped across the frozen land.
Li Wei's eyes narrowed. With one hand, he drew a half-circle through the air.
A translucent barrier formed—pure Soul energy—stopping the avalanche mid-fall.
Tons of frozen death hung suspended above them, frozen in time.
Ishita fell to her knees, gasping. "It's too strong… I can't—control it—!"
Li Wei's voice was calm, unshaken.
> "You can. But you're fighting the storm instead of learning its song."
He waved his hand. The snow fell gently again, blanketing the valley in silence.
> "Every wielder fears their element. Fire burns. Ice kills. Sand devours.
But your Scarlet doesn't destroy—it reflects. It shows what you hide inside."
Ishita looked up, trembling. "Then why does it always hurt?"
Li Wei turned away, his eyes on the red sun peeking over the horizon.
> "Because truth always does."
---
The First Spar
He stepped onto the snowfield, aura shifting from calm to sharp, like the edge of a blade.
> "Enough talk. Fight me. Learn by falling."
Ishita blinked. "Now?"
> "Now," he said simply.
The air thickened.
Scarlet flared from Ishita's palms—wild and radiant.
Li Wei's aura shimmered blue, serene yet immense.
Soul versus Scarlet.
The first clash split the clouds.
Ishita lunged, leaving red afterimages across the air.
Li Wei sidestepped effortlessly, his aura redirecting her strike like wind parting flame.
> "Too loud," he said. "Power does not need to scream."
She gritted her teeth, drawing both hands together. The scarlet condensed into a blade of light.
> "Then listen to this!"
She slashed.
The Crimson Veil Slash ripped across the field—an arc of molten aura that tore through stone and ice alike.
Li Wei countered with his open palm.
> "Azure Dragon Fist."
Blue aura surged outward in the shape of a roaring dragon.
It collided with her crimson blade—blue and red spiraling, devouring one another, light scattering through the clouds.
The shockwave shattered a nearby peak.
Snow turned to vapor.
Ishita was hurled backward, skidding through the ice.
She coughed blood, aura flickering.
But her eyes blazed.
> "I almost matched you…"
Li Wei landed softly, arms behind his back.
> "You almost felt it. But your aura still shakes with fear."
He knelt beside her, placing a hand on her shoulder.
> "Tomorrow, we begin again. You will learn to flow, not fight."
---
The Scarlet Wind
As Ishita bowed her head, the wind shifted—scarlet threads trailing behind her, whispering faint voices of the fallen.
She looked toward the horizon.
Far below, through the veil of clouds, she saw faint crimson mist spreading across the valley floor.
Li Wei's gaze followed hers.
> "They are coming faster now. The demons move where aura gathers strongest.
Our time is short."
He turned to her.
> "Learn, Ishita.
For when the storm comes, only those who understand their flow will survive it."
The mountain fell silent again.
Snow drifted like ashes.
And deep beneath the ice, something old stirred — a faint, guttural whisper that no wind could carry:
> "Scarlet… awakens…"