Mastering the Wind

With the sounds of city ushered, and the night sky dominating upper environment, the Archon wandered off into wilderness.

His head was full of thoughts. Looking back at it, whenever he fought against some specific foe, such as Karma or Vaj'Rin, there was always -something- that was lacking. Something that did not allow him to immediately overpower his enemies, something that allowed a room for mistake.

A room that could prove Zaruma's downfall, one day. That cannot be allowed.

'The control...'

That's it. Certainly, he had speed to match, and he wielded the winds efficiently, but... did he wield them good enough? Everytime he could surpass the limits of human speed, every single time he moved as fast as he can, and yet this technique slipped from his grasp.

Every. Single. Time.

This lesson ought to be something to educate him on controlling the wind, something to let him -become- the wind. Such required a clear mind and focus.

And so Zaruma settled himself on the ground, preparing.
(Zaruma)

The Archon gave a glance to the night sky, a pair of crimson hues wandering up to glance at the moon. It reminded him of Choi, of a servant of the Moon that had perished while serving the Tempest. If he were to honour the bond that the two shared--

He must overcome this weakness. Zaruma had certainly grown more powerful ever since, but there was still a way to go.

His eyes were closed, his mind was focused. To truly understand how to move like wind, he had to -feel- it better. It would be no mere manipulation at this point, no mere magic that would prove itself to be just as easily dispelled as it's evoked, no.

Zaruma must take a step further. He must become the Tempest that he claims to be.

Unlike the typical Fell Wind that usually graces the Archon, this time around he had a smoother, gentler wind surround him, much like the mother would embrace her son; it was a long process of bonding with the element of nature, the force of it. The bond thatwas yet to grow and strengthen.

Much like the time when he nullified the friction, the winds began to shroud him, covering every single inch of the Archon's body; to avoid sliding about on the ground due to having no atmospheric resistance, he had to levitate himself, bringing just slightly above the ground.

The winds embraced him. Now it was the time to embrace back.
(Zaruma)

There was a change.

But not to his surroundings, no. Much like bending his own mana circuits, forcibly bonding them to the nature of wind, to have them accept this change - all to become the wind that he aspires to be.

It reflected on his body too. Instead of the usual skin tone, his hands acquired an odd transparency to them, much like becoming the embodiment of wind. Instead of the usual body mass he had, everything felt so light and easy to move. It was the feeling of true freedom, of touching something otherworldly - and being touched back by it.

He reflected back on the fights he had with Karma and Vaj'rin specifically, and the weakness he discovered with Sibri - he could not be fast enough to keep up to his foes, to always be right next to them. If they were quick on their feet, that only promised trouble to Zaruma.

And that was something to work on.

He opened his eyes. With a glance down at his hands, his eyelids went wide at the mere sight of what he has become. Was it truly him, or was it the side-effect from embracing the wind so closely? But he knew that he had not to fret, it was all natural.

After all, the Elemental Demons are quite oft the literal element they are... all that the Archon had to do was to remember his roots. Perhaps becoming the Wind once more was the answer to his struggle.
(Zaruma)

The Archon's movement was fluid, moving like the wind itself once he floated from his place.

It was smooth, traversing the lands without an error, even passing through the leaves that belonged to some leaves; instead of shoving through them like a physical entity, he left a brush of the breeze, much like representation of nature's force.

But grasping the transformation into Tempest itself was only one thing, and he had to learn how to control it properly. Without further await, his gaze shifted towards nearest tree, and silently, without much bother, he appeared right next to it.

How? He moved like a wind, after all. Propelling himself with a push after another, much like the thrusters function, the Archon worked on reducing the friction at the same time too; the air infront of him was sucked in, creating a temporary vacuum, if only to propel Zaruma through it to avoid a loss of speed due to friction.

However, generating such power was not the problem, no. With the mastery of his element, it created no issue for the Archon to create such a thing; the real issue was control.

That's the reason he avoided rising to fly in the sky. It was much more challenging to fly at such incredible speed amidst the trees, working to avoid collision with any of them.

Gladly, he was successful.
(Zaruma)

With each tree evaded, with each passing moment that he used to only increase his speed, the Archon was truly pushing himself to his limits. Despite such incredible speed that he achieved, despite the entity of such power that shifted through the woods--

To a possible onlooker, it appeared as if a powerful current of wind passed through, carrying the tree leaves, pieces of grass and dirt behind, like the Tempest itself passed by and bothered the land in its wake.

A force of nature, no less.

Zaruma was making the necessary steps in order to further hone and develop his ability- but perhaps he knew it all along? It came natural to him, much expected from Ventus Demon, and only now he was managing to slowly unveil the true strength of his roots.

The power to control speed, friction, atmospheric resistance, becoming the wind itself and more. All of those factors contributed to achieving the speed that surpassed any magi standards or norms.

But something was lacking. His technique was not perfect.

No matter how much he pushed and accelerated himself, no matter the fact that friction was nullified, no matter that atmospheric resistance was null and he became embodiment of wind--

There was something that stopped him from achieving true speed, one that would move him so fast that he would become unseen. There was a clue, connected to the outbursts of magic, but yet he had to ponder.

The Archon's magic was dispelled, forcing him to return to his previous physical state. For now, he had to think this through.

And likely return later to practice more.
(Zaruma)