Stepping off the concrete stair, I slide my feet through the sand, greeting each grain with my soles. A shuttering breath climbs out of my lungs as the sand gives way to cuddle my feet. I felt the sunlight leap at the sight of me as if wrapping an old friend in a warm embrace. From my bosom sprang gleeful beats, filling me with a comforting bliss as my body soaked in the sun’s light. I choked back a sudden sob; these primal energies made tears well up as they evoke emotional release. I spread my will around me until I could feel sand and water sway at the slightest thought.

I sighed with yearning, “Would you grace me with your love?”

Almost like a blush, a static charge filled the air in my vicinity. My loose shirt and harem pants flow lightly in the charged space as I throw a fist. The sand responded, twirling around my driving foot in a gentle grasp. I let my hips cork a kick into the air; the water on the tide flicking into the sunlight as glitter. I glide each step in a tight circle and the sand meets me–holds me steady, an assurance that I move as one with its energy. Soon, the birds tuned in, singing a song for me to move to.

Though I could feel exhaustion creep behind the extreme control and effort I displayed, natural forces extended a gale to rid me of sweat and replenish my spirit. I close my eyes and feel my heart blossom with power. Like a rose bud ready to bloom, the growing energies spread through me until it could no longer be contained. I love into my thrusting palm, pouring pure will into the ocean beside me. Goosebumps ripple across my flesh as the water relaxed and its power washed into me.

Static energies intensified as I drive more of myself into the water. Each movement of the ocean breathing new life into my very essence. Each shout cresting a wave as our powers combine. I slice through an oncoming breeze with a bladed hand, coaxing a ball of the rushing wind into my palm. Hyaaah! The wind blast caught a wave which burst into a bow of colors as droplets danced in the sun’s rays. As the air thickened with more energy, I felt my own power swell to match it.

With a swift motion, I extend my reach to the gravity around my space. Bending to my will, the droplets began to flow through thin air. While the mist seemingly suspends itself in my wake, I gingerly began to weave bows of light into them. I gently caress the gravity under each droplet with flowing hands to keep them aloft as I complete my task. I walk out to touch them, imparting my own energies to ignite each lightbow into beads of white.

Each bow of bliss bends and flows through every bead like prism until a rainbow person begins to form. I leap, the air carrying my feet aloft the sand as I weave the water prisms together, casing plums of earth in my wake. Carefully, I lower my hands to my sides and witness my work.

It stood there, illuminating the sand around its feet. It moved with a grace untethered to this world. It slid across the sand and brought life to the tiny crystals, leaving an ethereal footprint with each movement. Tears streamed from my eyes as it punched and kicked with fierce beauty. It was an echo; a replica of my teacher. The last thing he taught me before peace returned to us all. He left me with lots to learn, but he gave me the greatest gift: his martial art.

While his system of natural energy manipulation served as a complete martial art anyone could learn, it was his artistry with it that brought me here. How he could string light through water or put fireworks to shame with gravel. It made living worth the pain of his loss. It wasn’t just for warfare or destruction; it held beauty and promoted life. This art my life, and pulled me to a better calling.

It was his delicate steps and flowing movements that breathed passion into me. He can’t be here to teach me. Not anymore. But this is his gift. A gift I share with the Earth. A power he died to preserve, and an art I will dedicate my life to passing on.

I swayed my hand, my will massaging the gravity around the water’s new corporal form, smoothing the magical tether from me until it released primal energies in front of me. The light-bearing form of my teacher gave me a thumbs up before sparkles began to fall from his form, replaying his last words to me,

“Our lessons are done. You can take it from here. I have faith you will figure this final form out on your own so I dub you as the new vessel for my family art. I am so proud of you.” The form made a gesture with its hands, red light beaming into my bosom in the shape of a heart.

I commit each new movement I saw in his ghostly practice to memory before whispering the words I never got to say: “Thank you for breathing life back into my world.”

The droplets fell into the sand. I walked over to the damp, muddied earth to watch as the last bit of light still buried in the moisture withered out quietly. I wipe my face, and reach out to the scattered earth beneath me, digging my fingers in until I felt warmth hug them. I still feel his power deeply ingrained in these sands.

I bow to the ocean and I scatter some sand around as I turn a bittersweet smile to the heavens.

“Thank you, teacher, for saving my world…”