Round 2.

I do a quick turn through the air and try to get my bearings. Ever since Terra was here, I have been wheeling about in the sky, pondering. I think best when my wings are working. I know that my instinct should be right, and I should let it guide me to the right place, where I will find the crystal. Yet it is hard to know what to do, exactly. I seem to be gravitating towards a large peak in the distance. The location of the crystal? Who knows. But I might as well try looking there. The Air about me whispers in my ears, seeming almost to tell me a story.

As I flick my powerful wings once again and glide on the open currents, I feel something odd. Braking abruptly, I sit in hover. (No creature of such size as a Dragon can produce sufficient force with the wings to hover, except a Dragon. We've the strength of a charging buffalo, the eyesight of an eagle, the speed of a flying cheetah, and the agility of a monkey while in flight.) The Air about me is singing "danger" in my ears, and it has not lied to me before. Terra was right when she said I was close to Air-even for a Dragon. Air has always whispered to me, and it seems to be intensifying its assistance now.

I look for danger and see none. The sky is clear and cloudless. The sun is out and the whole of Weyrkinen is beautiful. I snort in puzzlement and start on, but a sudden draft gives me pause again. I cannot see, hear, or smell any sort of danger. So what is there? It must be an enemy as invisible as Air itself! I circle, grimacing my Dragon face in puzzlement and frustration. How am I to avoid or to fight an enemy that I do not know the nature of? Again Air whispers. What does it say to me? I cannot be certain, but to me it seems one word: Mars.

Terra said that the elementals of Mars wanted the crystal that I am looking for, the Air crystal. So-the one who lies in wait for me is an elemental? He or she must be dangerous in the extreme. I am fretting and nervously tightening my circles in midair. How to cope with this problem? A soft call of the Air turns my head in one direction. Giving the battle cry of my people, I dive at the spot indicated to me. But I am forced to rear back and pull in my wings as a whirlwind springs up before me. The enemy is visible now, a twisted and demonic form with leathery and jagged wings, baring its teeth at me and shrieking with rage. This has to be the Mars Air elemental, manipulating Earth Air to form the whirlwind.

Between myself and the first whirlwind, another springs into being as quickly as Air can move its currents into position. The Mars elemental howls with rage as the whirlwinds collide and cancel each other out. As the creature again attempts to raise a windstorm, the Air foils the idea, dissipating the currents of air that would aid the creation of another whirlwind. Then there is a tornado where none was before. The Mars elemental? No, for the creature becomes entrapped in the tornado. "Go," the Air whispers, and I do, shooting unerringly to the rocky crag where I know the crystal must be.

Panicking, I scrabble through the rocks and debris. Where is it? With anxious glances back at the battle, I wonder if I will make it in time. Will I? Finally, one clawed foot closes around a blue crystal. I do not pause to examine it. I tuck my forelegs to my chest and push off the crag with my powerful hind legs. Following the compulsion which now actually seems to be coming from the crystal, I zip towards the northeast. One glance behind me and I see that the Mars elemental has broken free and is following me. I fly faster, until even my large lungs are pressed for air.

Finally, my goal is in site: a circle of swirling blue lies before me, tempting me with promises of escape. I can almost feel the elemental's breath on my tail now. But with one last burst of speed, I speed into the blue circle, spinning aimlessly and listening to the howl of rage from the creature, trapped outside of whatever portal I have fallen into.