The Patchwork Knight (Chapter 21)
The summer was in full. The days grew steamy as the heat continued to rise. My training continued. The 8 movements become 10, and then finally 13. I don’t know where my father found time to train me in all the movements and continue training Arial in her effort to learn how to achieve the Swordsman’s Euphoria. I was also reading scroll after scroll on the aether. I learned how to meditate to try and reach out and grasp the aether, but it was for naught. I had no conscience feeling of aether from those means. The closest I could get was when I was in the Swordsman’s Euphoria.
It had been weeks since I had spoken to Arial, and I truly had no idea how her training was going, other than my father saying that she was doing fine. I decided that today, I would leave earlier and finish my training before my father and Arial had finished, so that I could go and watch them. I pushed harder than I had before in my training. I fell into the Swordsman’s Euphoria without effort, and stayed in it until my work was done. It felt different, I had always been aware of when I was in it, but this time, I felt like I wasn’t just in it, but I was a part of it. I tried something new. I tried to reach out with my mind to touch the stone on my neck. I felt it’s warmth, it’s energy. I felt it tether to me, and it’s energy was now mine to use. I could feel it pulse into my body. It tingled and I felt the hairs on my neck rise. Going through all 13 movements was effortless. I stayed in that moment as I cut down my trees. I was able to fell each tree with 3 swings of my axe. I carried each tree on my shoulders, which is something I had never done before. I usually dragged them behind me as I ran. I chopped the trees and piled the wood at the village common, and at the mouth of the forge. I ran back to the forest and then to the river. I watched in silence as Arial went through each movement that she had learned. I could see the blue shimmer of the aether around her. Around my father was a golden glow similar to mine, but it stood out further than, and pulsed faster than mine. My father stopped watching Arial, and quickly turned towards me.
“Stop Arial, we have a guest.”
“Where? I don’t see anyone.”
“Pitre, come out of the Swordsman’s Euphoria and join us.”
I did as I was told and allowed the warmth of the stone and the tranquility of the euphoria to leave me. I began walking towards them when I heard Arial exclaim in surprise.
“Whoa! Where did you come from?”
“What do you mean? I wasn’t hiding, I was just watching trying not to disturb you.”
“You were hidden from her view lad. You were doing something different. You weren’t just in the Swordsman’s Euphoria. What were you doing?”
“I was connected to the stone that Arial gave me.”
“How so?”
“Yes, how were you connected to the stone? Did you meditate?”
“No, I felt different when I went into the euphoria this morning. While I was there I tried to reach out and touch the stone, and it worked.”
“Stone? You mean the one you wear around your neck?”
“Yes, Arial made it for me.”
“Yes sir, I imbued it with aether.”
“Aether? What is that?”
“It’s a force of energy that you can reach out and use. You touch it in a way, when you enter the Swordsman’s Euphoria. I saw it when I looked at Pitre when he was in it.”
“How did you go into the Swordsman’s Euphoria? I haven’t seen it in you yet?”
“I didn’t. I meditated and went into the aether, so that I could see what Pitre looked like. He has a golden glow that surrounds him. That is the aether that surrounds him.”
“Can you do that right now, so that I can see it?”
“I can, just give me a moment. I need to get in a meditative state.”
My father gestured for her to do as she pleased, and then stood back and watched her as she began to meditate. You could hear a whispered chant under her breath.
“That is astonishing? I’ve never seen that before. I know of the glow that you speak of surrounding Pitre. It is similar to mine own. You however, have a bluish glow surrounding you. It’s much different. The energy is different. How did you learn this?”
I saw a slight and quick shiver of Arial’s body, and she opened her eyes.
“I found some old scrolls of my father’s. They speak of how to meditate in order to reach out and touch the aether. Once you do that, you can manipulate the aether in ways to help you. I can raise my body temperature, so that the cold doesn’t affect me as much, or I can use it to increase my energy. There are many things you can do with it.”
“How did you, what did you call it? Imbue the stone?”
“If you practice enough, you are able to transfer aether into an object. It’s like a vein from a river. It opens a small access to the aether so that you can use it’s energy through that object. You though, the aether that surrounded you was larger than Pitre’s, and his wasn’t present. How do you stay connected to the aether when you aren’t in the Swordsman’s Euphoria?”
“I trained for many years. As a result of that training, I’m almost in constant contact with what you call the aether. I’ve been trained to be in a constant state of awareness. It is only when I sleep that I’m not present in the euphoria. May I see the stone Pitre?”
I nodded to my father and took the necklace off and handed it to him.
“I can feel the energy within it. How did you touch it again Pitre?”
“I don’t really know. I just felt like there was a connection that wasn’t there before.”
“What was different about today?”
“Well, I pushed myself harder than usual. I wanted to finish my training and chores, so that I could come and watch you and Arial.”
“It was that extra effort that gave you access to the stone. That is how you first entered the Swordsman’s Euphoria. That is why I pushed you so hard early in your training. That is how I learned to enter the euphoria. Your body has to be truly fatigued before you can have that clarity of mind to enter the euphoria. This is very interesting. That doesn’t explain why you haven’t entered it yet Arial. You should have by now.”
“I should have? I didn’t know that.”
“Yes you should have, that is why we have been training here by the river. This is the most uneven, but safe ground in the area. It’s through the effort of maintaining your footing, that your mind opens up. Your footwork has become flawless, but you haven’t gained access to the euphoria yet.”
My father turned his head to the side and looked up to the sky. He was in thought, this is how he always got when he was deep in thought. It was like he could find the answers somewhere in the vast expanse of the sky.
“Do you have to remain in a meditative state Arial?”
“No. The scrolls taught it through a seated position, but I soon learned that I could stand. I also found that once I reached the aether I could maintain a connection with it without meditating.”
“Would you try something for me?”
“Yes.”
“I want you to stand as if you were going to begin the first movement. Instead of beginning with the breath that I taught you. I want you to meditate, when you feel yourself go to the aether, that is when I want you to begin the movement.”
“I’ll try.”
Arial stood up with the blunted sword that was once mine. She stood with the sword at her side pointing towards the ground as my father had taught me. She closed her eyes and began that rhythmical chant under her breath again. Her body stiffened and she began. I took my cleansing breath and entered the euphoria. The glow around her flared with new life. Her movement were unimpeded by her surroundings, and she danced across the rock covered ground. Her sword swung without effort, and the precision of each strike was true. She finished the movement and stood in place with her mouth agape.
“That is it. That is the euphoria. You just needed a different way to get there. I didn’t think it was possible, but there is another way there.”
My father was laughing and, it seemed he was dancing. I’d never seen him with so much glee before.
“What is it father?”
“I always wondered if there was a way to get to the euphoria by anything other than a martial means. This could help so many people. The euphoria increases your senses, , but it also has other properties. It can lessen your ability to feel pain, it aids in your healing. I never really knew why before, but with what Arial is saying, it must be the aether. We could teach everyone in the realm this.”
“But, I can’t get to it by meditating. I had to use the Swordsman’s Euphoria to get to it.”
“That doesn’t mean that you can’t get to it, you just have to work harder. Arial, will you teach me this meditation technique?”
Arial, had finally closed her mouth.
“That was miraculous. I never knew it was like that for you Pitre. It was like my whole body was connected with the aether. It usually feels like I’m in there surrounded by it, but I can only reach out and touch it, and use a small piece of it, but this, this was so much more.”
“Arial, will you teach me how to meditate and touch the aether?”
“Yes, yes I will. How did you know that was going to work?”
“I didn’t, I only knew that there was some sort of connection between what you were doing and what we were doing. It’s different paths to the same location.”
“Pitre, will you help your father with the scrolls? You have all of them now. I will train you in the proper breathing and how to chant. It’s more of a personal mantra rather than a specific chant, but we can do that each morning when we are done training.”
“I will help him.”
“Yes, that sounds like a wonderful plan. Can we begin tomorrow?”
“Read the first scroll and then we can begin. You need to have that knowledge before we can begin.”
“I don’t know all my letters, but Pitre will help me, and I will read it tonight.”
“If you finish it, then we can begin tomorrow.”
“I’ll make sure that he gets through all of it.”
My father walked ahead of us back to the village, in what appeared to be a skipping motion. I could see Arial smiling, but I wasn’t sure if it was because she was watching my father, or if it was because she had finally entered the Swordsman’s Euphoria.
For Chapter 22 follow the link below
