At your Sprite Festival, a wind sprite chooses you. Your first flight becomes a chase through the forest, and a mysterious blue creature hints at more magic to come.

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Imagine yourself waking up in the morning. You’re excited because today is a very special day. Today is the day of the Sprite Festival. Your Sprite Festival.

You get dressed, run downstairs, and eat your breakfast. When you’re finished, your mother approaches.

“Here, honey, we want you to have this.”

She hands you your backpack.

“My backpack?”

“Yeah, you might need it. We packed it with all sorts of extra things. Food, a blanket, spare clothes, your water bottle, of course, and enough trail rations to keep you going.”

“Keep me going for how long?” you ask.

“That depends how often you stop for second breakfast,” Dad says.

Beside his foot is his earth sprite, folding its rocky arms. It has a square nose and bright green eyes. Your mother has one too, though in her case it’s a flame sprite. It floats beside her cheek, a tiny golden creature with flickering hair. Earth and flame, two greater sprites, as they call them. And today, you finally have a chance to find your own.

“What if I don’t get chosen?” you ask.

“Well, then you keep meeting sprites,” your mom says. “The festival is an opportunity, but there are others.”

“And if I do?”

Your dad smiles. “Well, then plans may change quickly. That’s why we packed you the backpack.”

“How long did you travel for after getting your sprite?”

“Two years before I found somewhere that we both wanted to stay.”

“Nearly three for me,” your mother says. “Then I met someone who kept making excuses to repair the road beside my house.”

Your father looks down at his sprite. “The road needed work.”

The little rocky creature nods in agreement. You laugh, and your mother pulls you into a hug.

“All right, go and meet your new friend.”

You run outside, down the pathway from your house to the center of the little village where you live. Everyone’s gathered just off to the side, in the woods beside the village square. The forest is full of children exactly your age or, well, at least born in the same year. All of them carrying backpacks and looking ready to go on a possible adventure.

A cooking sprite sits on a baker’s shoulder, sniffing a pie. Nearby, a girl with a flower sprite sells garlands that bloom as she weaves them together. If you can imagine something, there’s probably a sprite connected to it. For example, a cooking sprite gives its friend a remarkable palate. A grass sprite can make a meadow bend beneath their hands. Those friendships last a lifetime, just like any other bond.

But you imagine standing before a wizard with nothing to summon except a particularly lovely lawn. You want the sort of magic your parents have. You want mountains, forgotten towers, and adventure that takes a long time to explain to others.

At the center of the forest, everyone gathers around an enormous old oak tree. An elder steps between its roots, leaning on a wooden staff. A green sprite with fern-like hair rides on his shoulder. He taps his staff against the ground. Small flowers open around his feet, and overhead branches shift aside, letting sunlight spill into the clearing. Obviously, this elder has a nature sprite, which is another kind of greater sprite.

“Welcome,” the elder says. “Today, you may meet someone who will share the rest of your life. Sprites, you see, have magic of their own. Humans, however, carry an energy within them that we call mana. When a sprite and a human choose each other, those gifts come together. Your mana strengthens their magic, and their bond opens the world of that magic, that understanding, to you.”

His sprite reaches down to touch his cheek.

“As your friendship deepens, so will what you can accomplish together. One bond is usually all a person will ever form. Though there are stories of people who share more than one, such friendships are extraordinarily rare. Most people can only bond to a single sprite, as they only have enough mana for one connection. Now, for those of you worried about not being chosen today, please don’t worry. Your friend may be waiting somewhere beyond this forest.”

The elder lifts his staff.

“For those who are chosen, listen to your sprites. They often lead their bonded companions where they need to be, perhaps towards adventure, or at least somewhere your gifts are needed.”

He smiles at the rows of backpacks.

“Your parents obviously understand. They won’t expect you back any time soon. They remember their own beginnings, and they’ve packed for yours. Your sprites will take care of you. You should take care of them, too.”

Then he turns his face toward the treetops.

“Sprites of the world,” he calls. “Come and meet those who may become your friends.”

For a moment, nothing happens at all. And then, an amber light appears between two roots. Something shaped like a curled leaf opens two curious eyes. And suddenly, all around the little clearing in the forest, sprites emerge. A pebble sprite rolls between your boots, while a creature made of silver thread drifts overhead.

“Reach out with your hands,” the elder says, “and, more importantly, with your hearts. Let them feel who you truly are.”

You raise one hand. You think of the places beyond your village. The distant hills, the rivers that you’ve never followed before. You imagine discovering what waits on the other side of the mountains, and you feel a breeze brush against your palm.

You look up, and a tiny figure floats before you, almost transparent, with bright eyes and hair that curls like little wisps of cloud. Its little feet never quite hold their shape. It studies your face, and it grins.

“Interesting, interesting indeed,” the sprite says. “Hmm, you have more than enough mana.”

Then it presses both hands against your fingers. A cool tingle travels up your arm, and you gasp. Suddenly, you can feel the air around you. Not just the air against your skin like, well, anyone could, but the air that’s everywhere. You feel the wind slipping between the leaves of the oak. You feel a warm current rising from a nearby rock that’s bathing in the sunlight. It feels more like discovering another part of your body.

You start to move your head back and forth and, well, somehow, you carry a little breeze with it. You move your hand, and the air moves with it as well. Suddenly, leaves rise around your body and start spinning around you in circles.

“Whoa,” you say, and your sprite begins to laugh.

“You like the wind, do you?”

Around you, other children are laughing too. One is holding a glowing water sprite. Another is watching tiny little mushrooms appear across a fallen tree branch. Obviously a lesser sprite. One connected only to mushrooms, but, well, a beautiful connection nonetheless.

You can barely look away from the little wind sprite above your hand. You can’t believe you have one. A greater sprite.

“So,” it says, “are we gonna go flying or what?”

You stare at it. “Flying?”

“Well, you’ve got a backpack. You seem perfectly ready to go somewhere. Let’s go.”

“How? How?” you ask.

The sprite looks at your boots. “Well, the first step is to stop standing on things.”

“That’s not very helpful,” you respond.

“Really? It always worked for me.” It studies your expression. “Right. Human. You’re new at this. Let me show you.”

The breeze gathers around your legs, and your heels lift up off of the ground. Then your toes. You float upward, your mouth open and hands spread out, trying to catch on to something. Below, the elder looks up and raises his staff in farewell. The trees sink beneath your feet, and soon you can see your entire village below. You’re flying.

“Actually,” your sprite says, circling your hand, “I’m doing most of the work.”

“Sorry.”

Wait, could he read your mind?

“Don’t be sorry. Just have a go.”

“What if I fall?” you ask.

“What a silly question. You are now connected to me, which means you’re connected to the wind, which means you are the wind. And wind does not fall. It moves, and now you can move with it.”

“Uh, well, I don’t know about that.”

“Just trust the wind. You and it are one. It will not let you fall unless you want to fall, of course. The worst that will happen is you will slowly drift down to the ground like a leaf.”

“I’m pretty heavy, though,” you say.

“Maybe. But maybe that does not matter anymore. You are wind. Wind. Let yourself be the wind. Feel the air holding you. Trust it. It will be fine.”

You close your eyes for a moment, and there it is. You can feel the soft pressure beneath your feet and around your body and, well, even somehow inside you. As if the wind or air filling your lungs is part of the wind or air that’s floating around.

You imagine yourself lifting upward and, well, you rise.

“I did it,” you say.

“Yes, now think of somewhere you’d like to go.”

You look toward a tall pine tree, and the air carries you forward, straight toward it. You lean left and drift around the tree. You lean right and circle back. Soon, you’re laughing as you skim above the forest, your sprite swooping alongside you.

You reach forward, and the wind answers. Trees blur beneath your boots. Your backpack presses against your shoulders as the air streams around you.

“Faster?” your sprite asks.

You grin, and for several wonderful seconds, you blast across the treetops at incredible speed. Then, something blue flashes below you. You twist down to look and suddenly stop.

“What was that?”

“What was what?”

“Down there, beside that tree, that blue thing.”

The blue thing looks almost like a sprite wrapped in a cloak of pale mist. Two bright eyes watch you from beneath its hood. You slow and drift down.

“Uh, hello?”

The figure tilts its head. Then it slips off of the branch and darts between the trees.

“Hey, wait!” you yell.

It looks back. You glance at your sprite.

“Shall we?” you ask.

Its grin widens. “Well, we may as well.”

You blast after the creature. It flies through the forest as you fly over the trees above it. You’ll have to get closer somehow, which means diving down into the trees. A much more dangerous place to fly, obviously, but, well, you could use the practice.

“Ready?” you ask the wind sprite.

“Ready,” the wind sprite answers.

You command the wind to allow you to drop down below the tree line. You catch sight of the little blue creature again and blast forward, this time carefully winding over branches, around trees, and, well, doing your best to dodge everything as the little blue spirit or sprite or whatever it is continues to dart around in the forest.

Soon, the trees start to disappear, and you blast out into a little clearing with a waterfall pouring down a rocky hillside. The little blue creature rises up beside it. You slow down at the bottom, looking up through the glittering spray of water. The little creature blasts straight into the water and follows the waterfall up and over the ledge.

You rise up in the air, catch a glimpse of the creature once again, and blast after it. It follows the river somehow, turning left and right as it goes at incredible speed. You try to follow after it as quickly as you can, blasting through the air and getting very used to this flying thing. It starts to feel rather natural after all.

Then you come to a lake, and the little creature dives down inside and disappears entirely. You lower yourself down over the water and scan left and right, looking for the little creature. Slowly, it drifts up in front of you.

“What are you?” you ask.

“You’re already taken,” the little creature says.

Then it blasts away and dives down into the water.

“Was that a sprite?” you ask.

“I don’t know for sure. Maybe, or maybe it was a spirit. Don’t worry, though. You already have me. One element should be enough, shouldn’t it?”

“What do you mean, one element should be enough?”

“Oh, nothing.”

“What are you going on about?”

“Well, you see, you are special. Your mana is very strong. So strong that you could easily have more than one sprite. Many more, perhaps, unlike most people.”

“Really? More than one sprite?”

“Yes, though, well, you should probably master one element before moving on to others, and I’m not sure I like the idea of… But, to be fair, I could tell you were different when I bonded with you.”

“You could?”

“Yes. It’s part of the reason I chose you. Your energy glowed stronger than anyone else.”

“Huh. So, you think that spirit thing might have been another kind of sprite looking for me?”

“Perhaps. But it is not time yet. We must continue training with the air and, to be honest, you are looking tired.”

The sun starts to go down and, well, you can’t help but admit that the little sprite is right. You are tired.

“Should we head home then?” you ask.

“Head home? That is a very interesting concept. We could, or we could continue to go where the wind takes us and make our home here for now.”

“What do you mean, go where the wind takes us?” you ask.

“Well, you are bonded to a wind sprite, and wind sprites enjoy going wherever we please. Staying in one place is boring. We prefer to explore new places, find new people, new adventures. People who could be helped. You could help people, you know. The power we have together is something that could help many.”

“Really?” you ask.

“Really. And the power I feel inside you could help many more if you, well, find others like me. But for tonight, I say we rest here.”

“Rest here, just under the stars?”

“Well, not exactly under the stars. Let me show you.”

The sprite leads you down to the ground, right beside the lake you were recently chased towards, or, well, chased some strange blue creature towards, anyways.

You land on the ground, and suddenly you feel the wind beginning to move around you, spinning around and around in the shape of a dome. You can barely see it. It looks a little like the air around you is shimmering, but you can feel it. The wind is moving in all directions at once. Different layers of wind, different layers of movement, all spinning around to create some sort of dome-like structure around your body.

“What’s this?” you ask.

“This is a wind home. It will keep out the elements and keep things perfectly comfortable around here. Any creature or, well, type of weather that tries to hit it will instantly be blasted away. It’s the way we keep ourselves safe while sleeping.”

“Okay. Well, I guess we have shelter. What do we do for a bed or whatever?”

“Why would you need a bed when you are the wind?” the creature asks.

“Uh… Are you suggesting I just float here?”

“That is exactly what I am suggesting. Floating takes no effort. Just lean back and rest yourself on the air.”

You close your eyes and allow the air to lift you up once again. Your boots leave the ground. You let your body tilt backward until you feel yourself resting on the air itself. The little sprite is correct. It doesn’t really feel like any effort at all. In fact, it feels very comfortable.

When your head feels like it’s hanging a little too low, you just, you know, build up the air beneath it, and it pushes it up to just the right place, as if you have a comfortable pillow below you.

You close your eyes, and with each breath, you find your muscles relaxing just a little bit more. And you sink down deeper and deeper into the bed of pure air. With each breath, you let go of the tension in your muscles. Your arms relax. Your legs relax, your shoulders drop from your ears, and your face softens into a nice half smile.

And before long, your mind is wandering off to thoughts of new dreams, new adventures, and new flights to come. The world is yours to explore now. And you’re, of course, curious about this possibility of more than one sprite.