“Not a very picturesque finish. I don’t think he’ll cut it Selena.”

“Oh, come on. The kid’s only been here three days and you’re already nitpicking. Did he show any interesting affinities?”

“Lightning. Although I think it’s actually electricity. It’s too early to be sure though. There’s something else there too. Not many lightning harmonisers can brawl like that.”

“Too early to know his affinities, but not too early to say you don’t think he’ll cut it? Hmm.”

“Don’t insu-”

“This better not be because he doesn’t like poems.”

…

“Yes, it’s because he doesn’t like fucking poems alright! But that’s a perfectly valid reason to reject a student. He shuns the siren’s song, and for that alone I'd rather not have him by my side. Lest his presence taint my poetic spirit.”

“Why are you always like this?”

…

“He’s waking up. Quick, practice time! Try to remove only the last minute or so. Sweep away our last words; they're not for his ears to hear.”

----------------------------------------

The hardwood pressed into Jay's cheekbone, his eyelids seemed glued shut, but he gradually mustered enough will to open them.

He appeared to be in an office, if the office had been decorated by a kid who really loved boats. The floorboards were made of the same wood that coated tranquillity tower, the walls too.

A kid who really loves boats and mahogany.

Several portholes dotted the walls, each somehow showing a different view. All of them at sea. Shelves, lined with crystals of varying sizes and appearance lined the room.

A woman with sky blue skin sat silently with her back to the wall, eyes closed in meditation and her navy hair tied above her head. Wearing a loose purple robe, she cradled an apple sized crystal in her lap. Her face reflected quiet contemplation. Jay wanted to ask her where he was, but instead he sat up silently, not wishing to disturb her. The crystal in her lap flashed periodically. It looked like a miniature storm cloud was trapped inside.

His attention was drawn back to the pensive woman when her eyelids slowly opened. She didn’t say a word as her eyes, yellow and cat like, ran over Jay. Her face still locked in neutrality.

“How did you find the test?” she said. She gently placed the crystal to one side.

“It was… Something.” Jay said. Not wanting to go into a rant about how much it sucked to get electrocuted by a giant electric eel, or how tedious climbing towers over and over again was. If the mysterious woman sat in front of him was the storm sage, immediately complaining wasn’t a good look. “How did I do those things? I’ve never been able to punch like that. Or see, or hear, or think like that.”

“It’s because you’re in the storm sage’s domain. A powerful harmoniser’s personal essence can bleed into others if, no offence, they aren’t particularly strong. You borrowed some of his power to complete his tasks.”

If that was what he could do just by using the sage’s power, how powerful was the sage himself?

“I’m Selena by the way, and you did well, regardless of whatever he’s about to tell you.”

BANG!

Jay whipped his head to the side as a cloud of grey smoke began to billow from behind the desk. The sulphurous odour drew a fit of coughs from Jay's lungs. Selena pulled a silk cloth from her pocket and held it over her mouth and nose. The smoke cloud swirled, eventually dissipating to reveal a stocky silhouette of a man stood still in a dramatic pose, eyes closed, his hand half covering his face.

When the smoke fully cleared, Jay got a more detailed view of the figure that probably was the storm sage. He wasn’t as tall as Jay, falling a couple inches short, but the storm sage had him convincingly beat in the width department. The barrel-chested man wore deep blue silk robes that looked strangely like a two-piece tracksuit.

The sage’s brilliant white beard covered a sun-speckled, coffee-brown face. It was immaculately oiled and styled with the moustache’s corners curled into spirals.

“Rhymes and verses are the essence of a sailor's song. They carry with them the winds of time and the pulse of the sea.” He said. His deep, booming voice echoed through the room and Jay felt the floor reverberate beneath him.

The storm sage opened his eyelids, but no eyes met Jay's own, just a starry expanse. As if the sage’s eye sockets were portals to the night sky rather than mere houses for eyeballs. Jay sat, entranced, for a moment before he noticed the storm sage’s smug smile.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

“Why did you come here kid? I don’t think the path of the storm is for you.”

Jay clenched his fist and tried to keep himself calm. After all he'd went through, he still wasn’t enough? Did he not complete every task the sage had given him? Jay bit his tongue and tried to be polite. This might just be another test.

“I came here because I need to get stronger. I just got here, and I have to fight a Goldenback gorilla in five days. As I am now, I see no way to win. My home world had no concept of Harmony, essence, or anything like that. I need to learn. A friend told me I might have a storm affinity, she told me that I should come here to ask for guidance.”

“Hmm. It appears my reputation precedes me.” The storm sage said as he walked towards the desk. The folds on his tracksuit crashed like waves with every step. “Maybe you’ll get some competition soon Selena.”

Selena rolled her eyes but remained silent. The sage sat on the corner of the desk, it must have been very well made, as it didn’t even budge when the heavy-set man pressed against it. He picked a marble up and tossed it into Jay's lap.

“Watch over this, it’s a replay of your test, I’ve made a few comments. Come back to me in three weeks with your thoughts on it.”

“Three weeks! My fight’s in five days! How does this help?” Jay shouted. Holding the marble in the air.

“Patience.”

The sages voice didn’t bounce around the room this time. It swallowed it. As if the very fabric of the universe bowed its head to the sage and waited. The walls didn’t just vibrate. They quaked. Beneath the storm sage’s pressure, the entire room trembled. The floorboards squeaked as Jay was pushed into them, buffeted by winds as he looked up at the sage.

There was no anger in the sage’s voice. No annoyance or disdain. Only pure authority.

“What is Harmony?” the sage asked. The winds calmed down, but the pressure remained. Digging into Jay, pinning him still. The storm sage’s nebulous gaze bore into him. It let Jay know the question wasn’t rhetorical.

“Finding one’s place in the world and moulding the world in one’s image.” Jay said. Regurgitating what he’d learned mere hours earlier.

“Textbook. Inoffensive. But not incorrect. It’ll do. Harmony is as you say, but it’s so much more. It’s infinitely more. Harmony is the Wind Whisperer, working at a ships helm, charting a course through the Shattered Spine’s floating isles. It’s the meditating young master, building his infinite peak to join the millions of giants he stands on the shoulders of. It’s the Frontiersman, hunted by evolution, desperately daring to carve a modicum of tranquillity from the chaos-stricken paradise he calls home.

“It’s the tapestry of the world, tying every single creature into existence together. It’s the colour of life, bringing meaning to a meaningless existence. It’s the eternal struggle of sapience, biting and clawing a space for yourself in this savage waste we call existence. Hoping to the heavens that your presence can possibly mean something. Anything.”

Jay tried to hide his blank expression from the sage. He knew some of those words. But he had no idea what the storm sage was talking about.

“You have no idea what I’m talking about. And that’s okay. Because to you it doesn’t matter. This is my window to the world. The Romantic sage that grew up in a Stormhaven whorehouse and sailed to every island in all the world’s oceans before ending up right here in front of you Jay.

“A teacher can show you how to swing a sword, he can show you the steps you need to avoid impaling yourself. But can he ever teach you to fight? No. The only way to learn is through battle. You said it yourself, the first half of Harmony is “finding your place in the world”. If I held your hand through that, then your place in the world would have my back covering half of it.

“Is that what you want?”

Silence hung low and thick throughout the room. Jay rolled the storm sage’s marble in his fingers as he pondered the old man’s words.

Hidden behind all the poetry, sassy text boxes and theatrics, Jay saw reason in the storm sage. Maybe he was just a good speaker, but it felt like he truly believed he couldn’t, in good faith, train Jay.

All the good faith in the universe wouldn’t protect Jay from the wildly swinging limbs of a gorilla though. Jay needed something more concrete.

“You make a good point, and I’m truly grateful for your insights. But all this long-term thinking is worthless if I die in that arena.” Jay said, almost pleading with the storm sage. “I have a fight to the death with a gorilla in five days! I’m just… a guy. I can’t shoot explosive fireballs from my hands, and if I swung a sword, I probably would impale myself. I need help.”

Jay sheepishly awaited a response; he’d laid it all out on the table, now his fate rested in the storm sage’s hands.

The sage stood resolute, unmoved by Jay’s words.

Jay's head sunk, but a slight cough from Selena made him look her way.

“Most people do receive guidance or follow a mentor, but most people don’t win their debut as a massive underdog. Most people don’t fight a Goldenback gorilla for their second fight. I don’t think you’re like most people Jay. I don’t think you should even try to be.”

Jay sat in contemplative silence. He knew the gorilla would be tough based on Akira and Lyra’s reactions, but he hadn’t thought of it this way. Maybe he was only matched up against one because the coliseum thought he could win?

The sounds of the storm sage rummaging inside the desk pulled Jay out of his thoughts. The sage pulled out a pen and paper and started writing.

“That was magnificent Selena! You’re a natural. I knew I made the right choice with you!”

“You can record your memories at will. Why are you writing it down on a piece of paper?”

“Where’s the Romance in that? A true poet yearns to see his words immortalized in ink.”

Jay reeled at the sudden tone shift. Sure, this conversation was deathly important to him, but he was probably just another E grade scrub seeking guidance to these two.

The storm sage winked at Jay through his starlight eyes. “Watch the replay kid, there's a lot to learn from it. Come back in three weeks and show me what you’ve learned.” He snapped his fingers and before Jay could even respond he was outside the tower again.

His backpack sat in front of him. Inside were a set of silk tracksuit robes, identical to the storm sage’s, except in red.

Red’s your colour kid, take these! If you come here wearing Flaming Tomb clothes again, I’ll feed you to the eel’s big brother. See you in three weeks!

----------------------------------------

“Do you think he’ll win?”

“Hmm, not sure. He looked like a madman against the eel. Did he even use essence in that fight?”

“He did, you just didn’t pick up on it because he wasn’t using it through me.”

“What?”

…

“There's a storm brewing around that kid. I’m worried. But I’m not sure if I should be worried for him, or worried for everyone else.”