Syaoran woke up with a start when
he felt an unfamiliar aura in his room. He looked around his room carefully but
couldn't find the source of the aura. He then looked out his window to see that
it was nearly dawn. He got out of bed and opened the doors to his balcony as he
stepped out into the light breeze. He turned around to go back into his room
and gasped.
There sitting on his bed was that woman, staring at him as he could only stare
back at her in shock.
"How'd you get into my room?"
She merely looked back at him as he glared at her.
"Are you going to answer me?" She looked at him, a glint of something in her
otherwise emotionless face.
"How did you manage to get into my room without me
noticing?"
She rose and faced me. "You noticed when I let my aura out to touch you, but
had it been anyone else, an assassin for example, they wouldn't have given you
warning to their being in your room. This just proves how under trained you are
in your magic."
His glare intensified as she turned and began to walk out of his room. She
paused at the doorway and turned to face him once again.
"Hurry and get ready, your training has already begun." She turned and walked
out of the room. He stared at the spot where he last saw her for long moments
before turning to get dressed.
He opened the doors to the training room and stared in wonder at the changes
that had been made to the room. Instead of the normal bland white walls of
training area, they were now covered with weapons, weapons even he hadn't seen before
in his life, ones that had long ago been hidden from those unworthy of viewing
such weapons of strength and power. And there in the middle of the room sat the
woman, in a meditative trance.
'Sit in front of me.' He was slightly shocked by the voice
in his head but did as it bid. As he sat in front of the woman, he mimicked her
position and closed his eyes. Immediately he felt his mind being pulled from
his body to a place far from the safety of the earth. When his minds eye
cleared from the blackness of nothingness, he found himself on a foggy terrain.
And there standing looking at him was none other than the woman.
"Where are we?" She looked at him before turning and looking around her.
"We are in a place between the living and the dead, a place of magic. Not many
can get here; it takes vast amounts of power to sustain us here." He looked at
her carefully, wondering.
"Are we using my powers to keep us here or your own?" She looked him in the
eyes, her emerald ones looking deep into his amber ones, deeper than any had
looked before, as if looking at his very soul itself.
"We are here using my powers. Yours are not yet able to contain both of us here
for longer than five seconds." She continued looking deep into his eyes even as
she spoke. "You may address me as Sensei, nothing else."
He nodded and broke eyes contact with her. "What are we going to do first
Sensei?" He watched as a glint of mischievousness came to her eyes before it
was quickly gone again.
"Do you remember the weapons along the walls when you came in?" At his nod she
continued. "I want you to focus on any one, any random one. And I want you to
concentrate on bringing it here." He looked at her disbelieving.
"How am I to do such a thing?"
"Just do as I tell you. This is something that you must learn how to do as it
will aid you in the future. If you can summon a weapon here, you will be able
to summon any weapon you desire from the Earth, whether it is protected by the
very magic of the Earth's core, or by some power older than time itself. If you
can break through all that, then nothing can stop you from summoning anything
you wish."
At his incredulous look she sighed. "You are a stubborn one. You would do best
to do as I say." He picked up the anger in her voice and bowed apologetically.
"I am sorry Sensei; I will not question your judgment again." She nodded before
sitting on grass that suddenly appeared beneath her.
"For you to summon a weapon, I want you to get into this meditating position.
Then close your eyes and picture a weapon on the wall. Now you must do this
with great detail and concentration. You must picture every detail, using all
of the abilities you possess. Then when its shape, size, weight is engraved
into your mind, concentrate on having it appear in your hands." He mimicked her
and did as she asked.
He realized it was much harder than he first thought. He concentrated on a bow
of mahogany, with a strong string of elm. He imagined the deep brown colour, the size, and shape. Everything he could. He heard
her voice again in his head.
'Good, now hold out your hands in front of you and imagine it in your hands.
Imagine seeing, smelling, feeling everything about the bow. Imagine that you
are holding it, feeling its weight in you palms, the smooth feel of the wood
and its rich smell. Concentrate on the very core of the bow, the essence that
resides in every object.'
He did as she asked and concentrated; imagining he was actually holding the
bow. He sat like that for long moments as he concentrated. Then he felt it, he
was beginning to feel the weight of the bow, very slowly he was becoming aware
of the other fine details. And then suddenly it was gone and he fell on his
back in the soft grass. He lay like that for long moments, panting at the
exertion it caused.
When he was finally able to sit up again, he saw that she was watching him intently. "Why didn't it work?" She continued to watch him closely before speaking.
"Tell me, what happened as you felt the bows weight in your
hands." He looked at her before closing his eyes and thinking back.
"I felt it, and slowly I could pick up the other details, I felt my strength
leaving me, as if it was being taken from me." He opened his eyes and found her
still watching him intently. She nodded and looked at him closely.
"Why do you think this was?" He looked around him as he thought about all he
had been told while in this place.
"Because it takes a lot of magical powers to sustain something here, and while
I was summoning the bow here, I was using my powers to keep it here." He looked
at her as he said the last bit and watched her nod her head.
"That is correct, and as your powers are still not strong enough, you were
unable to keep the bow here. With time you will be able to summon anything you
wish to this place. For example, you know the large sword that hangs above the
bow, the one with the gold and silver handle, the dragon engraved at the hilt,
how the sword has words written down the blade." When he nodded, she held out
her hands and there appeared the sword. She handed it to him and he studied it
carefully. It was as she had said, except that the words in the blade were in
an ancient language he knew not of yet could faintly recognize. As though it
was something he saw years ago and still lay hazily in the far recesses of his
mind. When he met her eyes again she was looking at him intently, watching him
as he studied the blade.
"After you have learned to summon the bow, you will be able to gradually work
your way up to summoning the sword. And when that happens your training will be
complete."
He nodded and was about to speak when the raising of her hand stopped him.
"We must go, they come." With that he felt his mind being pulled back to his
body. When he opened his eyes, the sword was gone and all the weapons along the
walls were gone. It was then he felt the approach of his elders. He continued
to sit as he was too weary to lift himself to his feet. He looked at his sensei
to see that she stood, as if waiting for the end of the world to come.
When the doors of the training room burst open from blasts
of magic from his elders, he was thrown backwards. He stopped when a ribbon of
pink surround him and set him gently back on the ground. He looked up to see
his elders angrily surrounding her. He was shocked. Never before has he seen
his elders like this, angered beyond measure. Suddenly the pink ribbons
surround him and lifted him up and out of the room. There he found himself
looking into the room outside the doors.
'Stay there, do not let any enter.' He heard his Sensei's voice in his head
again, followed by running footsteps and turned to see his mother and sisters
running towards them.
He stopped them when they approached the door. They looked
down at him. He was still too weary to raise himself to his feet.
"Do not. We will only get in the way." They nodded and instead watched as the
elders circled around her, speaking to her in harsh tones.
Their voices were so quiet that they were unable to hear what they said. They
watched as slowly the elders began to make a tighter and tighter circle until
soon they could no longer see her. They watched in horror as all 12 elders
raised their arms before lowering them and aiming a blast of intense proportion
at her. The excess of the blast rushed out to meet them where they stood
outside the doors. They were momentarily blinded by the force of the blast.
When they opened their eyes their elders were gone, and there in the middle of the room lay the form of the woman.
Her body battered and bleeding from numerous wounds as she lay motionless.