Elementalist Side Story: Creation

                    Gentle winds caressed his weightless body as he glided among the clouds. He felt their mist collect upon his watery scales. They gathered to form individual droplets, each reflecting the sun's light as if they were crystal. One by one, they trickled their way down his sleek body, to jump free and once again join their brethren among the clouds.
                    His wings spread far as he stretched himself across the bright blue sky, trapping the untameable air. He skilfully angled his spaded tail as he guided himself through the skies, with no destination in mind. He just wanted to fly, to be one with the air, to be free. For so long he had been imprisoned in the crystal from which he was born. Weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, he had spent them inside that crystal.

                    At first he didn't even have any thoughts. He didn't wonder, dream, nor ponder about any decisions that needed deciding. He experienced no emotions, no hate, love, anger, joy, none of it. He had simply existed, and that was it.
                    Slowly, things began to form around him. He could sense his self of being begin to arise. Yet he still was not aware of his prison, nor conscious to the world that lied outside of it. He didn't know where he was, nor did he care. There was nothing inside the crystal with him, so there was surely nothing outside of it either.
                    And then he began to feel. It was a wonderful feeling to be able to feel. It had all started with a sense of some boundary, a blockade between him and something else, a something that was unknown to him. It was confusing, to know that you didn't know something. He had believed that he was the only thing that existed, and since he knew everything about himself, he must therefore know everything that there was to know. But now there was this other thing, this boundary, which existed. He had not known this before, nor did he know what it truly was.
                    'What is this?' he had asked himself. 'Why is it here? Has it always been here? Why didn't I sense it before? Does that mean there are other things that exist, of which I cannot sense? If so, what are these things? Are they like this boundary? Or... Are they like me?'
                    He stopped, confused. Not only was there a thing that existed other than himself, but it had caused this odd sensation within him. A feeling that interested him, pulled him towards this boundary, wondering what it might be. It made him curious, and then angry when his questions went unanswered. He asked many more questions, expecting to get the answers.
                    Finally, after realising that this boundary would not give him the answers he sought, his frustration peaked and he lashed out at his new found enemy. No matter how many times he tried, nor how hard he rammed the invisible walls of his inevitable solitude, they would not budge. In his own personal prison, his cries for freedom went unanswered.
                    Although he had held no concept of time, he could tell that there was a large gap in between being able to sense the boundary, and being able to overcome it. It hadn't been too hard of a task once he had found it, but it was still a tiresome venture. Although his main consciousness remained stationary, he was able to force his energy through the unformed bars, and out into his surroundings. From there, he took his time to examine the outside life.
                    The mere fact that there was other life besides him had fascinated him. It had occupied his very being. He tried time and time again to reach out to that life, to feel it's energy. Yet each time he was disappointed to find it was missing something. He had called out to them, but they had not answered. They had no thoughts like he did. They had no desires, complaints nor questions. They simply were.
                    After a length of time, he had gradually mastered the use of his energy in this outside world. He also became aware of the slight changes that were happening around him. His energy had begun to take form. It had become wispy and light, yet it still flowed with a grace that had not been there before. He wasn't sure what had caused the change, he could only guess that in return for pouring his energy out into the world, it in turn had poured itself into him.
                    Using this new energy, not only was he able to search farther in his explorations, he was also able to leave his mark upon it. He revelled at the idea of being able to influence these surroundings, to prove to those outside his prison that he was here. That he was waiting to be freed.
                    Although he was proud of his discoveries, he wanted to be free to experience that outer life with his own consciousness, his own being. To stay in this confined place any longer would bore him. He also feared that he would eventually find the limit to how far he could extend his energy. It that were to ever happen, he would be back where he had started. He would do nothing as he sat in his prison, yet this time he would have to sit in silence knowing that there was more. There was life outside, things that lived without the boundaries he had, without his limitations. He wanted to have that kind of life.
                    He knew his only hope was to reach out to those on the outside. Reach out to them so that they might pull him from the dismal life he led, out into the world that lay just beyond him. With every venture, he left behind his mark upon one of the life sources near his prison. As his energy piled up, they too began to create their own physical form, coating the life forms in layers of his own crystallizing energy.
                    With enough patience, his efforts had been recognized. A life form was drawn to the beauty of his energy. He had called out to it, and it had come. It had saved him from his solitude. It had poured it's energy into him, breaking through the boundary with ease. He had latched onto this energy and let it drag him forth into the world he had ventured time and time again. Yet it was so much more than he had expected.
                    He had immediately shot forth, passing by the creature that had freed him. He darted through the air, feeling its very energy. It was then that he had understood how there could be life without thoughts. The air had energy, but that's all that it was. It moved and lived; it did what it was meant to do, but nothing more. Its being was defined by the form its energy had taken, but without the pure energy from which he had been born, it was unable to have neither thoughts nor motivation about anything other than just existing.
                    Racing through the air, he soon found that he had simply moved from one confined space to another. He was surrounded on all side by the ever confining earth energy. He had simply moved from one prison to another. His fleeting hopes for freedom were beginning to crumble.
                    He bashed into the walls in hopes of another escape, but its hardened form never budged. Panicked, he tried in vain to break through his new constraints. Each time he failed, only managing to crumble away the smaller, looser clumps of dirt. Suddenly, he rammed into an energy that was vastly different from the walls of the small cave. This new energy had a familiar feel, with the movement of air, but also the resistance of earth. He also recognized it as one of the energies that had invaded the crystal whenever he pushed his energy through the barrier.
                    Despite the familiarity, it still unnerved him. Surely such a freely moving energy could not exist solely within the confines of that retched earthen cave. He raced through the water filled tunnel, ignored the vast body of water that he had emerged into, and burst through the lake's surface. He squealed in pure joy as he shot towards the sky. He had found it, and had found a lot of it.