There was a sense of peace that Gina could feel rising from her heart as she looked at the bright lights surrounding her, and even though Gina had never seen them before, there was a realisation that bubbled up from her mind as she gasped out.
"Spirits..."
One of the brightest lights that shone with a bright white hue came forward, and Gina could hear it speak right into her head.
’You’re absolutely right, child~ We are spirits, and we’ve been watching over your progress for the past few years~ The path you have taken to reach this moment has earned you our respect, and that is why our queen has allowed you to enter this realm today~’
’Your Queen? The queen of Wind Spirits?’
’That’s right~ You should feel honored by this opportunity! Not many gain the privilege to ever enter this realm, or even to meet with the Queen herself! Come on then, let’s go~’
The spirit didn’t even give Gina a chance to accept or decline the invitation, and it immediately began to move forward towards the cave on the other side of the lake of remembrance. Gina swallowed as she saw all the other lights also moving toward the cave, and as she gently thought about moving forward as well, she grinned slightly as her spirit began to float through the air. They reached the cave, and Gina saw that the intense winds that had been blocking the entrance were now silent. The entrance was simply an open cave, and all the lights led Gina into the dark cave as they began heading down into the Earth.
The cave that Gina was going into wasn’t just an ordinary cave that existed only on Arandelle. The world of Sages and Spirits was a very mythical aspect of reality that wasn’t known to a lot of people. The number of people who could see spirits in the entire Primordial Expanse was barely up to a hundred, and there were many Sages who were not granted the ability to see Spirits even after they gained their abilities. But in every world where a race has dedicated themselves to the advancement of a single elemental type of magic, there exists a cave that would allow them to interact with the spirit that oversees their own branch of elemental magic, and all these caves are connected directly to one Alternate Dimension. That means that no matter which world Gina had gone to learn how to develop her sagehood, as long as that world was home to a race that dedicated themselves to the use of wind magic, then they would have a cave just like this one, and once Gina entered that Cave, it would lead her to this exact same location.
Gina moved through the cave with all the spirits around her, and she continued to look around in awe as she saw even more spirits passing by and sending soft pulses of light in greeting. Gina waved at some of them, and she heard giggles coming from the childlike spirits as they continued on their way. This continued for a few more minutes until Gina finally reached a large altar at the end of the cave. On the altar sat a large blue flower that was taller than a person and shone with a mysterious white glow, and Gina was suddenly left all alone in front of the flower as the spirits slowly migrated away from her. Gina swallowed nervously as she waited for something to happen. She could sense that this ’queen’ the spirits spoke of was inside that flower, and Gina had no idea what she would be seeing soon.
’Ah, this form should be suitable~’
Gina suddenly heard a melodious voice echo through the entire cave, and it wasn’t long before the flower began to slowly unfurl as it bloomed into a beautiful blue lotus. In the center of the lotus, resting on her side with her head propped up on one hand and a kind look in her eyes, was the most beautiful woman that Gina had ever seen! The woman was completely naked, but her skin was smooth and fair, and there were two elf ears peeking from her long blond hair. Her blue eyes glanced at Gina kindly, and Gina gasped when she immediately recognized where she had seen this woman before!
’The Elf Queen.’
Gina didn’t understand why the Queen of Spirits looked so much like the Elf Queen, but she barely managed to control her emotions as she bowed respectfully and said.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you, your majesty."
’Oh, how polite~ I didn’t expect much from a mortal, but you have truly surpassed all of my expectations, young one~ To gain the power of nature within but a few months is unheard of, and yet you have done it. Tell me, what is it that pushes you to yearn so desperately for this power~? Why is it that you seek out sagehood with such ferocity~?’
Gina could hear the Spirit Queen’s voice inside her head, and even though the Spirit Queen seemed jovial and friendly, Gina could sense a seriousness in that question, and she knew that her answer here would determine how the rest of this conversation would go. Gina thought for a few seconds before she finally answered.
"I want to protect what I love, your majesty."
’Yes~! That is it~! That is the perfect answer~!’
The queen was suddenly in front of Gina’s face, and Gina almost took a half step back in shock! The Spirit Queen had moved so fast that Gina couldn’t even follow her at all! The Queen was smiling at Gina with pure white teeth, and she traced her hand over Gina’s face. The Spirit Queen was completely naked since she didn’t care for what the mortals considered modesty, but Gina could barely tear her eyes away from the intense look in the Queen’s eyes as the Queen spoke.
’You know, you are the first to come to me with such conviction~ The first to truly grasp the meaning of what it is to be a Sage~ All the others, they fall over themselves in meditation. Desperately yearning for an inner peace that allows them to do away with all of their emotions! They treat their past like a disease that must be discarded and they see the future as something not worthy of consideration~ It is sad to think that such people are the best that Sagehood has been able to produce~ I have not denied them my power because they were not wrong in their deduction, but I have never given them everything that I can because they were wrong in their conviction~ But you, you have managed to decipher the true meaning of wind all on your own~’
Gina was still silent as she looked up at the beautiful Spirit Queen, and the Spirit Queen smiled as she spoke wisely.
’Wind is emotion~ The discovery of emotion~ The acceptance of emotion~ The outpouring of emotion~ A short burst of wind like the shock of a broken heart~! A constant breeze like a peaceful calmness~! A raging storm like the unyielding anger of vengeance~! That is what wind truly is. In the search for an answer, most wind sages have killed their emotions for the things around them. They seek not to feel empathy for those they meet, and they do not want the actions of these people to affect them in any way~ They seek freedom because that is what they think the wind represents~ Freedom from responsibility~ Freedom from possession~ Freedom from emotion~ That is not wind~! In seeking such a thing, they have abandoned what it was that made them fundamentally mortal, and that has prevented them from truly reaching the pinnacle of what it means to be a Wind Sage~’