HE HAD THOUGHT it last night, but now, walking to the left end of the Sanctuary, he experienced just how large the castle was. According to Mara, as the main Paladin base, it had to be that big on the off chance that all the Paladins had to gather together.

"How many Paladins are there?" Josh asked.

"Around fifty at any given time," Mara replied. Her fingers danced as she walked, flecks of glowing snow weaving between them. "There's only about ten up here while others stay at the Sanctums."

Josh chuckled. "So most people up here are just normal then," he mused.

"Or retired." She shrugged at his quizzical look. "After about sixty or seventy, the bond is too much for a human soul to sustain. And speaking of souls..." The snowflakes vanished as she gestured ahead of them. "There's your next class."

An arching hole broke up the monotony of the hallway about thirty feet from them. With his goal in sight, Josh picked up his speed. He examined the room on the other side of the opening. Well, room wasn't the right word. It had a ceiling and walls, sure, but everything else looked like it had been plucked right from the Sanctum. Trees and shrubs sprouted from the grassy terrain. Rocks created a semi-circle around a small pond in the back corner. He thought he even heard the chirping of birds.

Despite the pocket of nature within the Sanctuary, what drew his eyes the most was the Asian man splayed out in the room's center. His eyes were closed, leaving the rise and fall of his chest as the only sign he wasn't dead.

"Is... Is he asleep?" Josh asked.

"I wish," the man replied, making Josh jump. His eyes remained closed. "But no, I was waiting for you."

"Oh, uh, sorry." Josh glanced at Mara. "Were we late?

The man finally opened his eyes and turned his head toward them. He grinned at Josh. "No," he said, then rocked into a sitting position and tucked his legs under each other. "I was early. Now, how about you join me down here?"

Josh hesitated, but when Mara walked over and sat, he slowly complied. The man watched, his head cocked to the side and his thick brows drawn together. After a moment, he extended a hand.

"Hello, Joshua Davidson. I am Hisato. I will be your magic teacher," he said, beaming. Somehow it just seemed right on his face, like he was meant to always be smiling.

It took Josh a moment to remember how to shake hands. Magic teacher? He glanced at Mara. The excitement must have shown on his face because she held a hand over her mouth, but she couldn't hide the way her eyes smiled. He grinned back. If this was only the start of the afternoon class surprise, he couldn't wait to see the rest.

"You can call me Josh," he said, shaking Hisato's hand. "I'm very excited to learn."

Hisato nodded his approval. "The best student is always the one eager to gain knowledge." He leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. "Let's start with this. I called it magic, but do you actually know what we are doing?"

"Oh, uh..." Josh opened his mouth, then closed it. "Well, something about light and dark. Able to make the elements do what you want. And, uh..." He shrugged helplessly.

Hisato considered for a moment. "Not bad. You at least grasp that we manipulate the elements." He stretched out his arms, motioning to their surroundings. "What is around us?"

Josh glanced around. This had to be a trick question. "Nature?"

"Precisely," Hisato said to Josh's surprise. "Nature at work. Nature thriving. Nature constantly giving off elemental energy."

As he brought his hands back down, he seemed to drag water from nowhere. He stopped his hands in front of him. Small rings of water floated above both of his palms.

Even after all the times he had seen Mara summon ice, Josh couldn't help but gape.

"So..." Josh groped at his thoughts, trying to piece them together and ignore the urge to just stare. "Things just existing gives off energy, and you guys are able to use that energy once it's around you?"

Hisato nodded. The small water rings started to spin over his hands. "Do you have any guesses as to how?"

Josh squirmed. He hadn't expected the lesson to turn into a guessing game. "I thought maybe special words since I've heard the others say some weird stuff, but you didn't say anything just now, and when I blasted light, I didn't have to say anything, so it is kind of confusing."

Hisato's lips twitched higher, his eyes sparking with amusement, but it somehow didn't come off as mocking. "There's a lot of intricacies with how our magic works, so it only makes sense that it would be confusing. You must understand many things that only come from this world. For instance, energy isn't just a thing that is given off from people or nature existing. Energy is a living force."

As he spoke, the water squirmed and rippled, then darted around like bullets ricocheting off unseen walls. Josh gulped as he stared. "Then how do you control it?" he asked.

The water merged together, freeing up one of Hisato's hands, which he used to point at Josh's chest. "Humans can do it because of the bond. Have you heard yet how dragons first came to be?"

"Yeah. Cale told me yesterday."

Even though Hisato had asked the question, he looked surprised by Josh's answer. "Very good, then. Well, Elementals and humans used to be the only creatures known to have souls, at least until the Elementals created the dragons. It is believed that when the Spirit gave the drakion its gift, it created the dragons' abilities to extend their souls and connect with the elements. So, when humans become soul-bound with dragons, they gain this ability as well." Hisato paused, considering. "But you don't exactly know what a soul is, do you?"

Josh shrugged. "The thing that gives life? I think it's just best to assume that I'm not sure on any of this stuff." He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck. It felt warm.

"Knowing what someone else believes is essential in helping them understand, and you never know if you're right," Hisato said. "Don't discard your own thoughts, because they're helpful either way, and as I've said, this is information people can only start to understand as they learn more about the dragonic part of the world."

Right. He was still learning. Still, Josh's embarrassment lingered as he dropped his hand into his lap. "So, what is a soul?"

Hisato made a waving gesture in Josh's direction. "Everything you are," he said. "Your desires, your beliefs, your emotions, your thoughts, your passions. They all come together to form an internal force that gives you life. So, as you can see, you weren't actually wrong."

"Oh." Josh sat up straighter at that. "Awesome!"

Mara chuckled, and he beamed at her. She smiled back.

Hisato laughed as well. "Yes, very well done," he said, then continued, "Dragons can reach their soul out and manipulate elements they are most compatible with based on what traits make up their souls, much like they bond with a human based on soul compatibility."

"And when they bond with a human, that human can also manipulate the element that the dragon can?" Josh guessed.

Hisato bobbed his head back and forth in thought. "Almost, Josh. Very close. The bond lets humans also expand their soul because it empowers the human, and in most cases, the human and dragon are compatible with the same element."

Josh frowned. "In most cases?"

Hisato grinned impishly, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. The water in his palm started growing in size. "My dragon uses water."

Despite being indoors, wind suddenly picked up. Josh gasped as it pushed against his front. It only blew between him and Hisato. Past his arms, everything was still.

Hisato dropped his hand, and the wind caught the ball of water that had been there. It exploded out, splattering Josh—and Mara, based on her quiet grumble—with water.

"And my element?" Hisato continued, a few droplets dripping from his dark hair. "My element is wind."

Josh wiped some water from over his eyes then looked at his hand. Whether he could see it or not, energy thrummed in the space between his eyes and his palm.

Boomer, what element are you connected with?

I thought you would never ask.

Something trickled through the bond. A jolt of energy that raced through Josh's veins, leaving him feeling like he'd just been supercharged with static from going down a slide multiple times.

Lightning.

Boomer didn't reply, but his feelings of pride spoke for him.

"How do I learn to use an element?" Josh asked aloud. He flexed his fingers, but no lightning formed.

"Oh, well, that's very simple." Despite his words, the mischievous glint hadn't vanished. Josh learned why when he spoke words he never knew he would dread hearing so much. "How do you feel about meditation?"

Josh hadn't been looking forward to sitting around with his eyes closed trying to "reach within himself," and fifteen minutes later, the only thing he had reached was a new level of boredom. Hisato claimed that to be able to use the element, Josh first had to figure out why he would be connected to it, and to his dismay, because his dragon was didn't count as an answer.

"Closer, Mara. There's less blue this time."

Josh squeezed his eyes tighter shut and tried to tune out Hisato's voice. He needed to focus on his soul or whatever, not the ongoings of Hisato and Mara. Even if it sounded far more entertaining than the darkness of his eyelids.

Mara sighed. "This is so frustrating. Why is this so difficult for me?"

Focus, Josh. But his mental chide fell on ears far more invested in a different conversation.

"You are very adept in using magic," Hisato said, his tone gentle and encouraging. "But you are most adept at using your ice magic. I have not seen you use only light since you first joined, and it will be the same for many others. They will also need to relearn the process."

"What process?" The words slipped out at the same time Josh opened his eyes. He winced when Hisato and Mara turned their heads to face him. They sat off to the side from him, Hisato relaxing while Mara had her hands in front of her, a ball of icy blue energy floating between her palms. Shards of ice and bits of snow fell from it.

Hisato grinned. "The meditation seems to be going well." He laughed when Josh glanced away. "Well, everyone needs a break sometimes," Hisato said as he leaned against his knee. "What do you know about why the boy attacked you at the supermarket?"

"Xander says he was possessed by a Phoenix Dragon," Josh replied.

"Correct." Hisato nodded to the energy in Mara's hands. "When that happens, the only way to release the person is to blast them with pure light. It damages the human to a point, but unlike the elemental magics, it focuses on attacking the darkness within. In this case, that darkness just happens to be a dragon's soul."

"So I don't have to meditate to use light?" Josh asked.

"Like I said, light—and darkness—isn't an elemental energy," Hisato said. Similar to before, as he spoke, he summoned energy over his hand, except this time it was a disk of light. "All humans are attuned to both, though usually more one than the other, and both their actions and our own souls give off the light or dark energies that we and Shadow Knights manipulate. So no meditation required, just learning to control it."

"So," Josh began, a smile growing on his face. "We could technically practice that now?"

Hisato chuckled. "We could. Except for one issue."

"And that would be?"

Mara let the energy fall away and rose to her feet, a small frown stilled etched onto her face. "It's time for us to go."

"Don't worry," Hisato said as he and Josh also stood. "I'll work with both of you tomorrow."

Josh and Mara said their goodbyes before leaving Hisato and the little room of nature. Once they had walked out of hearing distance, Josh sighed.

"I wish knowing my element would be good enough," he said. "This meditating thing sucks."

"At least if we run into any other possessed people, you'll have an advantage," Mara teased, bumping her arm against his.

Josh snorted, fighting the urge to rub away the tingle on the spot she touched. "I hope that never happens. Dealing with a possessed Darren was a pain."

As they walked, they passed a corridor that led to an open area. Clangs of metal came from it. He turned to Mara, brows raised.

"Not yet," she said. "We have another place to go first."

Yet. Meaning they would return. Josh glanced over his shoulder, hoping the noise was exactly what he thought.

Fun fact: Hisato gets his name from a Naruto oc I once had.  That character had a demon eating away at their soul, eventually planning on taking over his body.  Such a similar character, am I right? :D 

Magic! Seriously, who doesn't love magic talk?  I won't lie, I explored the magical aspects so much in this chapter even as I was writing them, and it led to so much discovery.  I still sometimes go back and reread this section and go "huh, I thought into that aspect? Cool!" Hope you guys have that same feeling and aren't bored of information now >.>

Let me know your thoughts on the chapter down below, and if you enjoyed it, don't forget to vote and comment! I also have a discord open to anyone who wants to join, and we have a section there to discuss the book :D It's in my bio if you'd like to join!