The snakes were drawn in by the heat of the flame sword in Nona's hand. Nona himself was counting on this and as expected one leapt toward him.
He watched as it approached before thrusting the sword into its mouth. As expected the flames were immediately consumed, but under those flames was the core of the sword that seemed to refract the light around it. Once the core became exposed Nona wasted no time in releasing it. The core exploded the minute Nona's hand left the hilt, sending wind blades in several directions successfully killing the snake.
He wanted to shout with joy on his first kill but had no time as the other four had not been idle. For such simple creatures they had remarkable intelligence as they had completely surrounded Nona and began jumping toward him. In a fright all Nona wanted was a wall between them and himself, and an invisible one appeared. At the time Nona had no conception of compressed air but his magic bent the laws of nature to compress the air around him to the point of making it feel solid.
The snakes slammed into the wall that covered all sides and harmlessly bounced off. Nona tried to breathe a sigh of relief only to find it difficult to breathe at all. In a panic he waved his hand trying to dispel the wall of air. coincidentally, the snakes were once again leaping toward him. The wall dissolved into a wind blade encircling him and effectively slicing all of the snakes in half.
Nona was finally able to relax. He wasted no time in glaring at Merle. "Some help would have been nice."
"You are a green willed dragon. If such simple creatures could get the better of you than you are not worth teaching. Think about this fight and the things you could do differently. The biggest issue is why did you not use water to fight them? Followed by what made your wind blades so ineffective at range? Answer these questions and learn from them." Merle's lecture was nonchalant but the very questions he asked were the ones Nona himself wanted answers to.
"Now this area is filled with more fire eating snakes and the like. Your job is to explore the area and find yourself a soul mount." Merle continued.
"And how will I find said soul mount?"
"Well soul bonding a willing animal is relatively easy. I will teach you that once you find one and bring it back to me. You can only do this once so I suggest you find one that will help you and not too old."
"Fine." Nona picked a random direction and started walking into the grasslands. At first every rustle of leaves would send him on high alert. This created an amusing scene for Merle and Skelly.
After walking for awhile Nona finally lowered is guard. The sound of crickets filled the air as Nona continued on his way. Thinking of all the stories he read and how the heroes always seemed to be able to sense the things around them he decided to try. Closing his eyes he tried to force his other senses to heighten and recreate is surroundings in his mind. What happened instead was disappointing as he tripped over a root and fell face first into the dirt.
Looking around and seeing no one he let out a self conscious sigh. As he did so he heard a neigh directly ahead of him. Thinking of finding his mount he decided to investigate. As he crested a small hill he lost his breathe to the amazement before his eyes.
There was a herd of horses standing before him. Each one had unique markings and were one of four colors. Being a denizen of this world he had heard tales of animals that were more than just beasts but sentient beings as well. It was said they were blessed by an element and that blessing elevated their intelligence, but he had never believed it because there was no creature like that near his village. He watched foals run and play, one of which was red and left fiery hoofprints behind. Just for a blue mare to come along and snuff them out while looking aggrevated with the foal.
Excitement filled Nona as he made his way toward the herd, but when he got in a certain range he heard hoof beats loudly approaching from behind. Turning around he saw a six foot tall red stallion. There was traces of yellow but it only served to make the red look like real flames.
At first the stallion was aggressive but as Nona turned to look at it the aggression subsided. It was replaced with a bow and an expectant look. Unsure of what is going on he hesitantly followed suit and bowed to the stallion. The stallion seemed to get excited and started neighing in an odd manor.
Nona was bewildered and lost at what was going on. Only a single coherent thought formed in his mind. "I wish I could understand this horse." No sooner that this thought was fully formed
did he once again find himself in the white space.
"I would have thought you would have furnished this place by now." said he voice from a small distance behind him. Turning to look at the source he was not surprised to see himself looking back at him.
"Honestly I thought last time was a dream. Why am I here this time?" came Nona's response.
"Well isn't that obvious? You desire knowledge that the ancestors have so you are here to receive it." replied the doppelganger. "But first at least make yourself a chair to sit in."
"OK." He looked around to try and draw inspiration but only the blank whiteness of the space greeted him. With a sigh he closed his mental eye while trying to recall memories that might help.
Long ago he had read about a hero who was able to retain information based on what he called a memory palace. Thinking that this mental space was similar he conjured an image of a chair with cushions on it and tried to recall all the times he felt comfortable in life. The scenes were very small and mostly consisted of him laying on his straw bed with a good book. Opening his eyes he saw the chair he had visualized but it was made of straw. When he tentatively sat down he was pleasantly surprised that it held. As his trepidation left he began to feel the comfort he felt when he used to read. Delight spread across his face as the realization finally dawned that he was in control of this space.
The him that was not him nodded before lifting his hand up and a ball of purple energy formed in it. "Now just relax and do not try to rush processing this. This will be a lot of information at once and will break you mind if your willpower slips." Hearing the mention of willpower Nona resolved to find a way to train it just before the ball of energy struck him.