the whole secret is to move like a fish, using your mind, but if necessary, to strike like lightning.”
“Well, I hope this slave will help me move like her and strike like lightning,” said Rein.
“This slave won’t teach you to strike. You’re already not bad at it…” Iziro laughed. “But if you train more often, you’ll strike even harder.”
“In essence, everything related to physical training depends on practice,” Rein said.
“You’re right about that,” Iziro said. “You gain wisdom.”
They walked along the forests under massive stone mountains hovering in the air above them. Iziro stood in the midst of the mountain-shaded forest and said,
“Finally, the time for the last lesson has come,” Iziro said.
“Really?” Rein replied, stopping.
“You probably already understand that understanding everything depends on practice. It may seem banal to you now, but realization comes to a person not immediately – and so it is with everything. You know a lot, but there’s also much you don’t understand. I’ll teach you how to quickly grasp everything you didn’t know before.”
“Do you see that berry?” Iziro asked.
“Yes,” Rein replied with confusion.
“You need to look at it. You should do it for a long time, thinking about nothing else. Don’t pay attention to anything else. If you do this often, over time, you’ll be able to concentrate on your own specific thoughts just as easily – this will mean that you’ve mastered concentration.”
“After my concentrations on the wind around and searching for its breezes inside me, which I still haven’t been able to detect, this seems quite easy,” Rein said.
“Exactly! Thanks to your past training, it’s already easy, but I should have said this so that you understand why all this was done. By now, you should be closer to meditation. Thanks to the search for the spirit’s breezes, even concentration on nothing seems not so difficult anymore. Previously, in challenging situations, you were indecisive and couldn’t determine your actions, which significantly slowed you down, in addition to your armor and sword. The ability to concentrate, which you probably have already mastered, will help you think only about the most important things at the right moment, significantly speeding up your actions. But all of this was not just for that – the ability to concentrate easily is needed to grasp this lesson. The easier concentration comes to you, the easier and faster the understanding of things you need will come to you at the right moment. And this speed of understanding increases from the knowledge you already have. It’s impossible to grasp everything at once. Perhaps it’s impossible to grasp everything at all. But you can maximize preparing your mind for what awaits you. Reflections contribute to this preparation. Meditation helps the mind rest and the ability to concentrate on essential thoughts. Meditating, you also relax your spirit, not just your mind. But a tempered mind, through reflections, tempers your spirit. Knowledge dispelling fear tempers the spirit. The spirit also tempers the body, prepared for the trials of fate. I’ve given you the path to acquiring knowledge. I’ve given you the path to strengthening the body. Everything, as I’ve already said, tempers your spirit. If you were looking for a secret, here it is. Everything is interconnected! And all your questions will dissipate over time with your alignment on this common path.”
“Wow!” exclaimed Rein. “And what’s next?”
“Next is just training!”
“Alright,” said Rein with a strange expression on his face.
Then they continued their journey. As they moved forward, Rein repeated the movements that Iziro showed him. In the morning and at sunset, they trained their bodies, reflected, and meditated, trying to feel the interaction of body, mind, and spirit. The training went on day after day.
At one moment, under the moonlight, near the glowing campfire, Rein asked Iziro,
“Today, I was contemplating how to use my mind more effectively in the upcoming tough battles. I’ve come to a rough understanding, but can you give me some guidance on how to do it better?”
“Do you see that leaf?” asked Iziro.
Rein looked at the leaf swaying in the wind.
“Do you understand why it moves up and down?”
“The wind hits it from below and above,” replied Rein.
“Exactly like with an opponent… They move up, down, left, right – your task is to understand why, to anticipate how they will behave in the future. His movements can be influenced by both his thoughts and external factors. The goal of your contemplation is to calculate what can be anticipated in advance and what cannot be quickly calculated during a battle.”
After these words, Rein lay down, closing his eyes.
The rest of their journey was beautiful. Moving along the forests, Rein couldn’t stop marveling at the floating mountains – their size, beauty, and the fact that a massive piece made of rocks and soil could simply hang above the ground. The so-called floating mountains were everywhere, large and small, covered with greenery or completely lifeless. The largest mountain obscured the sun on the ground, creating a huge shadow. In these darkened places on the ground, strange plants grew, completely unlike others. And in the distance, the city-state of Aeris could be seen.
“Look!” said Rein. “We’ve arrived.”
“Not yet,” objected Iziro. “I have to tell you something else.”
Rein stood up, pretending to listen attentively.
“No matter how much I tried to teach you to resolve any conflict peacefully, Raidarians are a warlike people. Who else but us would know that? Today we’ll have our last break before Aeris, and by tomorrow evening, we might be there. But until we reach it, I want you to know… Don’t rely on your heart in battle; it’s not your friend. Rely only on your mind, and under its command, you can use your heart for your benefit. I know you might have figured this out after all these training sessions and my instructions, but I decided to say it because it’s particularly important. And now, let’s have a break right here, and let’s increase the number of training sessions since we probably won’t have much time for it in Aeris. Let’s start right now!”
The next day, Rein greeted with unusual muscle pain. After a terrible storm, not forgetting the morning meditation and their regular training, they set out towards Aeris.
Having traversed a long and challenging path through the mountainous terrain, Rein and Iziro finally entered populated areas. Carriages and wagons often traveled the roads they passed, people walked, or another rider quickly galloped ahead. Occasionally, they could encounter Raidarian soldiers in full gear, usually passing in small groups, but they paid no attention to their fellow Raidarians.
“Look,” said Rein. “I used to be so afraid to return to my homeland, and they don’t even pay attention to me.”
“Yes,” said Iziro. “Your fears were not as significant, but if you had the mark of an exile on your cheek, I think it could have been much more difficult.”
Rein walked, observing
