Elemental Mage and Grandmage of the Council of Mages Alistair Windeloch was more excited than he'd been in a long time.
He'd finally gotten it! He was confident, after years of searching, that he'd finally found it-the secret to "pure" magic.
He had managed to find a way to see magic without having aura sight, though it was very taxing on his magic. He'd even been able to see people's magical cores-and had made a very startling discovery about his apprentice, Jack Frost, while he was at it. After seeing a person's magical core, he'd worked day and night with his apprentice to find a way to directly tap into your own magical core, and they'd succeeded! He could call up powerful magic, almost pure magic, from his core and channel it directly into a spell, with enough time and concentration. It was only made imperfect by the slightest of blemishes, the fact that it had to be channeled through his own body. It was so close...!
But he didn't need to worry about how close he'd been now, since he knew now what he'd been doing wrong. He'd been pulling power from the Elemental Branch of magic directly from his core and using his body to channel it-but that was dangerous, polluting, and damaging. Well, no more!
Now he would use pure magic, all of his magic, from no branch in particular. If he only used Elemental Branch magic, it would muddy itself up with his intentions and thoughts as it flowed through his body, but if he combined it with the other, more personal branches of magic that used feelings and intentions as fuel and directions-!
Suffice to say, it would use up absolutely all of his magic, even the bits that he never used because he was an Elemental Mage, thank you very much, and he didn't dabble in Healing or Illusion, and he would be exhausted for days afterwards, but he would be able to use magic in its purest, most perfect form. If all went well, he would have magic that you could feel and see at his disposal-perhaps even his entire soul, since souls were really a mix of your magic and your self.
Never had the magical community advanced so far before. Alistair would be the first. And then he'd be able to teach Jack, and his apprentice would be able to help him create a whole new branch of magic! Alistair wouldn't dare to do it without the boy, as he would be whiny and insufferable until Alistair at least let him help. Even more so if he knew how dangerous this had the potential to be-not that Alistair was worried about it. He was convinced that it would be perfectly safe, or he wouldn't allow Jack to be a part of it.
Jack had been an orphan on the streets when Alistair had seen him using some incredible Elemental magic-gusts of wind distracted people and stole their purses from their hands; little stone coins replaced gold and ensured that no one noticed the change in weight when Jack picked their pockets; his pursuers slipped on ice and were blinded by mist.
Alistair had offered Jack the spot as apprentice to one of the most advanced mages alive immediately.
Jack had knocked him out with a piece of firewood and stolen his handbag.
It had been the start of a beautiful friendship.
Even now, the boy didn't tell him about the little girl Alistair knew he was feeding and keeping hidden from child services, but Alistair supposed his apprentice was allowed to keep a few secrets, especially if it meant he felt safer about helping his little sister. He always made sure to slip a little extra food or money into Jack's pack, so he could keep a modest roof over his sister's head. The boy's first lesson, Alistair remembered, had been about making toys with Elemental magic.
Jack had quickly learned everything Alistair threw at him, and he was shockingly talented at wind and water magic, even combining them to create ice. He was good at earth magic, and decent at nature magic.
He was absolutely forbidden from using fire magic ever.
The Incident had been a terrible, terrible thing, and Alistair had learned that Jack had absolutely no control over fire magic. None whatsoever. It was disgraceful.
It was supposed to be impossible to be passable at any branch of Elemental magic and be as terrible as Jack was with fire at another, but somehow Jack managed.
Fortunately, Jack appeared to have plenty of time to learn, as Alistair had seen when he had first learned to see people's magical cores. He'd been shocked to discover that Jack was destined to reincarnate at least once when he died, and even now he wouldn't be able to tell you how he knew that. He'd just seen it in Jack's core-his magic would not allow him to die forever.
Alistair had said nothing and hoped quietly that he and his sister would have a better home in the next life than in this one, especially if Alistair wasn't there to appoint him his apprentice and smooth his journey.
For now, though, Jack was Alistair's obnoxious, clumsy apprentice who would never want him doing anything dangerous, which was why he had to get this tested before Jack could talk him out of it.
Carefully, Alistair Windeloch, the Grandmage of the Council of Mages drew his entire core of magic from his body. He didn't know he was taking his soul with it, and he hadn't even guessed what it would mean that his soul wasn't part of his body any more-nor would he know what his concentration on having pure magic would do to his soulless body and everything around it.
Of course Alistair would have no way of knowing his devoted apprentice was ascending the stairs to his lab at that very moment after feeling like maybe he should go in early this morning. How could he have? For all he was an incredibly accomplished mage, he had never bothered with precognition.
Alistair's body began to be consumed by magic, turning into the pure magic he had sought to create.
Jack saw the light coming from under the door and cursed, taking the stairs three at a time to reach his master.
Alistair's body disappeared. The materials in his room began letting out steam, magical instruments going faster than the others.
Jack threw open the door, readying his magic to counteract anything dangerous within the room. Perhaps, if he'd let his magic lie, he wouldn't have been recognized as something to be made into "pure" magic.
It will never be known now. Jack felt his magic being stolen away from him at an alarming rate, and as he began to struggle and look for Alistair, his existence was cut off with a sudden bang!
The buildup of magic had been too much. The entire room had been vaporized in the explosion.
All that was left was the spirit that had been Alistair Windeloch, Elemental Mage and Grandmage of the Council of Mages, made into the most natural magic it could be-pure wind magic.
The spirit felt the death of his apprentice and howled for all he had lost in pursuit of a perfect magic. It was a scream that would be heard many times over the centuries, continuing ever onward through time-utterly alone, utterly unseen.
A little girl heard it and knew. She followed her brother only days later.
The howling wind continued.
Thousands of years passed, and still the wind screamed for all it had lost. Until, in a small town in what would later be Philadelphia, a little boy was born.
His mother took one look at him and said, "Jack Frost."
The Wind, as Alistair had come to be known over the years, felt it immediately whenever something huge and magical happened, connected as he was to the natural magics of the world. Curious as he still was, despite what had happened to him, he blew into the little settlement where he'd felt a surge of magic. He was shocked to find a little boy with incredible Elemental Branch power so much like that of another boy he'd known, long ago.
He vowed to keep an eye on the boy, despite not having a body with which to interact with him-after all, he had all the wind in the world at his beck and call, so he would find a way to keep track of the potentially powerful child.
It was painful, even so long after his foolish mistake, to keep track of a child that reminded him so painfully of what he had lost. At least, it was painful until he heard someone calling the child's name. "Jack! Jack Frost, get back here! Jack!"
Jack.
Jack Frost.
His apprentice, the boy he'd killed with his stupid arrogance, the boy he'd known would reincarnate but never even thought to look for.
Jack.
The boy, four years old at that time, was blessed all his life with the assistance of the wind in all he did.
Of course, Wind did have duties to attend, making sure that all wind patterns remained as they should be and nothing happened to disturb the natural patterns of wind and magic in the world. He did have to leave the boy alone sometimes, and one day he had to leave the boy at the worst possible time.
For the boy had a sister again, and she meant everything to him. So of course he couldn't stand to hear-"Jack, I'm scared!"-any more than Wind could stand to hear Jack's last, startled breath all those years ago before he'd been destroyed by Wind's destructive magic.
Wind came back to find his apprentice deep beneath the ice were he couldn't reach. His sister had followed him in death once more, never able to face a world without her devoted older brother in it. Wind hadn't known what to do.
He had screamed at his foolish, brave apprentice for days, building up power and emotion as he went until magic was almost as thick in the air as it had been that day so many years ago. Finally, with a mighty pull from deep within him, that core magic he'd given everything to reach reacted.
The little settlement was flattened. The trees shook and shuddered. The Wind let out a long, last scream.
Twenty years later, there was a new settlement called Burgess beginning to be built and Wind and Jack suddenly awoke from their two-decade sleep. The Man in the Moon took pity on the two spirits and pulled Jack from where he lay trapped in the water.
Jack Frost he told the new spirit unnecessarily. The Wind rose to meet its apprentice, able at last to seek forgiveness for his fatal mistake.
Three hundred years later, he got it when he helped Jack fill in two sets of memories. A long time was spent together after that, mourning loved ones and reuniting at last.
From that day onwards, Jack Frost was never without the Winter Wind.
This actually applies to any of my stories where it's compatible with canon and is effective as a standalone, but I came up with it using When in Rome as a reference. This is how Wind came into existence. Also, Jack was there for fun. And I killed off his sister. Twice. Because I am a nice person.
Yep. Feel free to hate me for that bit.
I'm forgetting something important, I'm sure, but I'll add it in later. Thanks for reading!