Beyond The Realms

Chapter 17

" You lack concentration" Prince Ruslan says not for the first time.

" I'm trying "  I never thought manipulating air would be easy by any means but it is proving to be beyond impossible for me.

The Prince is  currently trying to teach me  to summon a gentle breeze.

" Feel the air around you" he instructs.

The air of the forest is fresh and pleasantly cool. " Open your senses to it " He continues.

I frown " How am I supposed to do it ?"

" Closing your eyes might help "he says covering my eyes with his hand as he takes his place behind me " Take a deep breath  "

I do so filling my lungs with nice fresh air.

" Don't allow any distractions"
Easy for him to say.
but extremely hard for me to follow considering that he is standing extremely close to me with  his pleasantly warm  hand covering  my eyes and every time he says something his gentle breath brushes the spot below my ear making my knees go weak.

" You are shivering , Are you cold ?" He asks utterly unaware of the effect he is having on me , " Relax " He says softly not moving away even by an inch. I swallow my heart  pounding , my mind is a chaotic mess and my body is hyper aware of his proximity. I'm anything but relaxed !

" Unleash the controlled  breeze " he says his warm breath making goosebumps scatter across my skin.
My senses are so whack instead of a breeze that would make the leaves gently  sway I unleash a   strong  gust of wind that breaks away the entire branch with an awfully loud snap.

As discreetly as I can I immediately step away from the prince.

His proximity no doubt  is bad for my concentration.

The Prince for once doesn't seem to notice my abrupt movement as he is busy  looking down at the broken branch
" You will have to work on your focus and the concentration of air you are manipulating "

I give him a mute nod .

Focus on the air , Not the Prince.

Countless broken branches , leafy chaos and ruined trees later...... I still don't improve and now I can't even blame the Prince for standing close to me because he isn't.

He is  unfortunately standing against a tree with arms across his chest calmly looking at the  numerous results of my continuously failed attempts " I think you lack motivation "

" May be I lack the skill "I point out embarrassed

He arches a perfect eyebrow " You think you would have been able to uproot an entire tree if you didn't have the skill"

I guiltily look at the fallen tree I had ripped entirely off the ground when I was only supposed to make its leaves sway.

So much for a sway .

"May be my skill is too violent" I say looking up at him half scared that he would confirm it .

" No skill is violent " He says brushing away my fears instantly" Unless you wield it to harm others "

" You can do wondrous  things by mastering the art of air manipulation"  he says making few leaves and twigs fly into his hands and then making them twirl around  as if they are in gentle aerial dance
" Or dangerous things "
The next second the leaves instantly get violently  shredded into  bits and the twigs break with an ominous  snap  lifelessly fluttering down  to the ground.

" It all depends on you and your intentions " he says meeting my eyes .

I swallow looking everywhere but at  him .
I have got power to manipulate such a  powerful element
Will I use it for good or exploit it?

As if reading my mind Prince Ruslan says " Don't burden your mind . Learn when you can , as much as you can"

Apparently I'm not just  bad but horrible at learning because even after the sun had called quits and moon had peaked out from the clouds I still can't summon a damned breeze to make the damned leaves sway.

When the Prince suggests I should  get some shut eye since it's dark now . My disappointed self questions herself 'Will I ever learn air manipulation ? '

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Dedicating this Chapter to one of my closest friends on wattpad TheInception72

I hope this will cheer you up a little : )