David stood in the middle of a field that was open as far as his eyes could see. This wasn’t where he had been attacked, but he struggled to feel reassured by that fact. When he had first moved in to the house, he had requested a large open space where he could cast spells without worrying something might get destroyed. Julia, presumably, had provided this place. It was his first time here since the encounter with the mana worm, and he was more on edge than he had expected to be. 

Still, it was bright out, and no one – or nothing – else was here. Too much time had passed since he had been able to practice, so he did his best to set his unease aside.

Starting off slowly, he closed his eyes and tried to feel the magic around him. Most of the others could take their time with spells. While he was able to use rituals, the circumstances that called for elemental magic often required a certain amount of urgency. Casting quickly was thus the norm. Speed was something to be practiced, but this was also one of the rare chances to savor the magic.

The energies all around seemed particularly suited to air magics. That fit well with David’s mood at the moment. Fire and water were flashy, and he wanted something more relaxing. Tweaking a small bit of energy slightly, he felt a breeze spring up. He fed it power until it was a strong gust pushing on him. Only then did he pull out a small sphere from his pocket. Without opening his eyes, he tossed the sphere into the air and moved the gust around to catch it.

If he focused, keeping the sphere aloft would be easy. The challenge was to keep it up while doing other things as well. Once he was convinced the sphere was secure, he split the gust into two. One he used to keep the object off the ground; the other he guided into a swirl before shaping it into a proper – albeit small – tornado. Finally, he directed the gust to deposit the sphere into the center of the tornado where it was spun around.

Satisfied with his command of the air, he stopped everything and let the sphere fall. Once he wasn’t focusing on his spells, he felt as though someone or something was watching him. There still wasn’t anything nearby, but the feeling wouldn’t go away. Telling himself he had done enough for today – and not believing himself – David decided to return inside. There would be time for more practice later, after some rest.

It was much later when he realized that he had lost the sphere.