you guys rockin w the 2.4 trailer? i am ECSTATIC

Running off the tallest platform in the clearing, I leaped into the air and let my windglider catch in the Anemo current rising above. The wings at my back snapped open and my body was carried high enough to see the entirety of campus.

Gliding back to the ground, I faced the first obstacle that Venti had brought in for this week's lesson. A giant, floating boulder.

"Gliding in the wild won't always be clear skies and fun times," he had informed at the start of class. "When navigating difficult terrain, such as mountain ranges, you need to be able to make sharp, accurate turns."

The open field was sectioned off into lanes with different obstacles to maneuver around. Most of them were rock pillars or floating boulders like the one in front of me, but some were obnoxious balls of dirt that exploded on contact. Venti called them foggy-groggy kaboomballs.

"The goal is to glide from the platforms to the edge of the forest," Venti instructed. "Try your best to stay elevated with Anemo currents in the area. If at any point you feel unsafe, or that you're nearing too close to the cliffside, do not hesitate to make a premature landing. Those of you who still haven't perfected free-gliding, come with me!"

From my height, I could make out the few specks that consisted of Venti and a handful of other students working on hopping off the platforms.

I easily dodged the levitating rock in front of me, sinking lower before rising in another gust of Anemo. After swerving around a few more obstacles, the line of trees that marked the finish line came into view.

"Aw, I was just about to beat you!" Amber landed beside me just after I had touched down.

"We landed at basically the same time," I insisted.

She placed her hands at her hips. "Another round!"

"Alright, alright," I laughed and jogged beside her to the start. "Maybe I'll let you have this one."

"You'd better put in full effort, Lumine," she warned. "Otherwise, I couldn't call myself a true Gliding Champion!"

"Everyone at this school is so competitive," I sighed and began to climb up the platform. "I love it."

I waited for Amber to reach the top beside me, and we took off at the same time after sharing a mutual nod. Weaving in-between the floating rocks and exploding dirt balls was the easy part. I'd soon figured out that keeping an eye out for a consistent source of Anemo was key if I wanted to avoid landing before reaching the forest.

"No, no, no!" Amber whined beside me when she missed a gust of Anemo—it died down just before she was able to reach. "Aw, man!"

"Ha!" I craned my head to watch her descent to the ground. "Maybe next time you should—ack!"

I'd collided with a foggy-groggy kaboomball and got a mouthful of dirt in my mouth. Swatting away the dust that clouded my eyes, I resisted the urge to cough up a lung and spat out the residue. Eyes stinging, I fought to keep my vision clear, else I collide with another dirtball.

"Ha!" Amber parroted my tease. "You should look where you're going."

At this point, we had both failed the task at hand and landed in the middle of the obstacle course. Looking up at the rocks and dirtballs above us and then to the finishing area, I fought off a smirk after formulating my next move.

"Race you there!" Amber was already taking off in a sprint and my jaw fell open.

"Hey," I started after her, digging my heels into the ground. "That's cheating!"

"Oh, don't tell me you weren't about to do the same thing," she hollered and I laughed.

She slapped a hand on the bark of the closest tree one second before I could tug her backward and claim victory. "Heh heh," she panted in weak laughter. "I'm always one step ahead."

"We'll—" I leaned against the tree to catch my breath. "We'll see about that. I call for a rematch."

"You're on," she agreed. "You think there's still time left in class?"

Glancing back to where Venti's group was, I watched as Huffman tripped over his feet on his way off the platform. Venti immediately conjured enough Anemo to break his fall, almost tiredly so, as if he was more disappointed than surprised. Huffman, looking worn and forlorn, began to climb back up again.

"Oh yeah," I nodded. "Plenty of time."

The class passed quickly as we competed again and again. My back tickled as beads of sweat began to trickle down, and I noticed Amber's red face as a sign of her own weariness. Without a spoken word, we both decided a break was in order and we silently collapsed onto the lush grass covering the clearing.

I stared above at the blue sky, watching the silhouette of other students gliding by as my heart rate returned to normal. Glancing to the side, I watched Venti struggle with another student that couldn't keep her left-wing open. I felt bad for him, handling so many students by himself. Maybe I could help out?

Propping myself up on my elbows, I considered my own level of ability. Gliding felt natural to me, even after just one week of practice. Then again, I was just a student—a first-year at that. I had no place teaching others who were in the same level as me. But maybe if there were two of us offering to help out…

I looked down at Amber, but the suggestion died down as I watched her sigh deep into slumber.

"Did you seriously fall asleep outside?" I prodded her arm. "The sun is shining."

No reaction.

"Hm, what a shame it would be if I got some extra practice," I goaded on. "I'd be leagues ahead of you by tomorrow."

Amber snored softly.

I smiled at her peacefulness before pushing off the ground and brushing bits of grass off myself. I'd practice for the sake of my own progress. I doubt an extra glide or two would separate our abilities.

Climbing up the platform ladder once more, I was beginning to feel a strain in my arms and winced at the thought of what that meant for my later class. I should focus on more legwork in Physical Combat, then.

After a quick stretch, I inhaled deeply and sped off the platform with an exhale. The wind tousled my hair and I felt my body grow lighter as Anemo swirled around the windglider. Gliding with Amber was fun, but being alone up in the air was another experience.

I twirled around a boulder and ducked under a foggy-groggy, almost sensing the Anemo before it even arrived and letting it carry me further along the course. A simple routine settled into my bones as the whistling winds blew past my ears. The breeze kissed my cheek, a cool reprieve from the sun in a cloudless sky.

A shadow crossed from above.

Okay, maybe one cloud in the sky.

I spared an upward glance, keeping in mind to avoid another foggy-groggy collision, but there was nothing there. Weird.

A buzzing noize zipped by my ear, not at all like the melodic wind.

"What the—" I reared backward at the sound, gliding into Anemo carrying me high enough to catch sight of anything out of the ordinary.

Scanning the clearing, there was nothing suspicious that stood out.

And then, a shivering cold bloomed at my back.

I groaned. "Not again."

Spinning around to catch the source of my dilemma, there was only empty space. Well, save for the blurred movements of a tiny, blue…was that a bug?

Before I could get a clear image of the thing, it zipped behind me with surprising speed. Anticipating another cold attack, I threw my right arm out behind me and blocked the icicle aimed at my windglider on instinct.

"Agh!" I faltered, clutching my arm.

The school equipment was spared from further damage, but my wrist was stinging with pain. What the hell was that thing?

Fighting in the air wasn't going to happen, so I carefully descended into a downward spiral. It would be faster to simply deactivate the windglider mechanism and freefall until the last moment, but Venti had insisted we not attempt that until after we successfully glide down the cliffside.

Unfortunately, my spiraling was too slow for the evil little creature.

Two more icicles shot at my wings. I dodged both—barely—and nearly knocked into a pile of rocks. I did my best to keep the pest in sight, but I wasn't counting on three more flying out of nowhere.

"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered and angled my windglider to go faster, but it was no use.

A shower of ice was descending upon me, and this time I wasn't so lucky with all of my dodges. One shard struck me square in the back and I felt the familiar sensation of the wings refusing to move properly.

This was bad. I still had a long way down, and the next Anemo current was a good distance away. Torn between making a safe landing and not returning to the ground as a living popsicle, my luck worsened as a wretched brown ball floated in my path.

I had to deal with these bugs. It was hard to keep track of how many were flitting around me now. All I knew is that they could easily keep track of me. The floating dirtball was fast approaching, and a sudden idea popped into my head. Only gods knew if it would work.

"Alright," I grit my teeth. "This seems rather unfair. I think it's time I introduce you lot to my little friend. Fiends, meet Foggy-Groggy."

Drooping down my windglider for a moment, I allowed myself to fall underneath the foggy-groggy and swung my leg with a hard kick at the dirtball. The satisfying smack of my foot on the orb launched it into the sky, exploding all around the little buggers.

"Aha!" I let out a whoop.

And then, my stomach dropped—along with the rest of my body.

My short-lived victory came to an end with the realization that my windglider, frozen solid in some places, refused to reactivate. I tried to scream, but the sound got caught in my throat as wind tumbled all around, and the ground came up to greet me. I held my hands out in a poor attempt to break the fall.

Something flashed before my eyes and the world slowed. Was that my life?

No, it was bright wisps of the wind. Anemo. Venti.

My composure relaxed with the knowledge that I could live to see another day, but the Anemo that had swirled up to catch me suddenly stuttered and faded away.

What?

The ground sped up once again and I landed. Hard.

My left foot hit the ground first and slipped on the grass, twisting at an angle. A sharp twinge of pain shot up my leg and I immediately curled inward to cradle the injury.

"Lumine!" A voice called from afar and similar shouts followed.

A flurry of footsteps rushed up to where I had pulled myself into a sitting position, and nearly half the class had ceased their gliding activities to see what was going on. Venti broke through the crowd, his face contorted with concern.

"What happened here?" He knelt down to examine the injury. "Did you fall?"

"I…the shooting icicles," wheezing through the pain, I tried to form a coherent sentence. "I kicked the foggy-groggy at them. And then—Anemo. Your Anemo. It stopped and…"

"You kicked a foggy-groggy?" Amber barreled through.

"Amber, please give us some space." Venti held her back. "Everyone turn in your windgliders. Class is done for today!"

The pain in my ankle was beginning to dull, and I rolled it once with only minimal discomfort. "It's okay. I think I only twisted my ankle a little."

"You're lucky if that's the case." Venti helped me stand. "A fall from that height…it's a miracle you hadn't broken a leg. Or some ribs. Or both legs and all of your ribs."

I winced at the image he brought up.

"Are you sure you're alright?"

"Yeah," I gingerly leaned half of my weight on my left side, testing the movement. "I…I think I can manage."

"To be safe, I want you to visit the school infirmary." His bright eyes flicked from my ankle to my face. "You can tell me about what happened after we make sure you aren't seriously hurt."

"Okay," I nodded and carefully detached my windglider. "Although, I think you might want to take a look at this before the next class goes in the air."

"I can walk you to the infirmary!" Amber swooped under my shoulder. "Here, let me take your bag."

"I can hold my own bag," I insisted. "Don't you have a class to get to?"

"Well, yeah, but it's just Horticulture," she shrugged. "I'm sure it'll be fine if I'm just a little late."

"Absolutely not."

"What?" she frowned.

"Horticulture with Professor Baizhu?"

"Um, yeah?"

"Go to class, Amber." I stole my bag from her. "He's absolutely going to tank your grade if you don't show up on time."

"Oh, come on. "I'm sure he'll understand once I explain the situation."

"I don't want you to risk it." I tightened my grip on the bag. "Go. I have lunch this period anyways. I can take all the time that I need to get to the infirmary."

She stared at me for a beat and I stared right back before she folded. "You're so stubborn, Lumine."

"Don't be late!" I warned her.

She slung her own bag onto her back and gave one last pointed look at my ankle. "Make sure you get that checked out."

I assured both Amber and Venti I would be going to the infirmary as soon as I left the clearing, but it didn't occur to either of us that I wasn't quite sure where that was until I was alone on the way back to the main campus, facing a fork in the path.

"Hm," I looked to the left and then the right, flexing my ankle to keep the dull pain at bay.

My ankle wasn't the only part of me hurting. I was reminded of the hit I took on my wrist as a warm throb settled in. Great.

Venti was right, though. It could have been worse. A shiver ran through me at the thought of my broken body lying in the center of that field.

Suddenly, a feminine sneer came from behind. "Getting a little cold?"