After a thorough and slow muscular awakening, the young warrior could feel his body in much better shape than the previous day. The pain behind his back caused by Ogai's blow was almost completely gone, and his upper and lower limbs were much looser.
By working hard and minimising distractions from the outside, Yoichi could finally ditate for the first ti. The 'lotus' position, often assud by Ryutaro, with the palms of his hands facing upward, had helped him achieve a state of stillness and relaxation.
About an hour of ditation had been enough to restore his physical condition. The next step was the technique of cultivating the spirit, to which only he, Ryutaro and a select few people had had access.
In the history of the Dojo and the gatekeeper's exile, he had undoubtedly had other students, though he had never ntioned any of them to Yoichi.
Trying to keep his spirit as calm as the surface of a pond, the young blond-haired tar stood up and walked over to the stone sink. His eyes frad his face reflected in the surface of the water, and his fingers began to graze the round edges of the sink.
Yoichi touched the shapes carved in the stone with his fingertips, trying to stay focused: although he knew that no one would rush him, he felt unexpected anxiety when he looked at that liquid.
The Therion's Tear, the Dragon King who once ruled Lumya, was there, within his grasp. The enormous power of that magical substance was at the service of his and Kenji's powers, contained in the depths of his soul, deep within his chest.
What would happen once he dipped his hands in the Tear? Would his spirit find itself again in the middle of that desert? What if he couldn't save himself? How could he know he wouldn't be trapped in that vision forever?
So many questions began to buzz in his mind. During the first use of that cultivation technique, Ryutaro was beside him, ready to intervene in his mont of need; this ti, however, the room was empty and silent.
Yoichi could only rely on himself.
His fingers detached from the stone and his palms crawled over the edges of the sink, coming dangerously close to the Tear. Yoichi's heart began to pound, and his gaze unconsciously fell on the room key, inserted and turned inside the lock.
"Co on, Yoichi. You can do it," he said out loud, trying to draw from those words the strength he needed to make that gesture. As if he were about to throw himself off a cliff, Yoichi took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
A mont later, as a drop of sweat broke through the hair on his forehead, he dipped both hands into the Tear of Therion.
Darkness enveloped his mind and eyes, ripping his senses from reality and causing him to fall into a trance-like state. Inexplicably, against all laws of physics, his earthly body remained standing, motionless.
...
A very sharp headache pressed against the temples of his skull, pounding hard and making all his coming from the outside confused and indistinct.
Both hands rubbed his eyes, trying to reconnect the young tar's mind with reality. A sudden chirp made him wake up imdiately, and with a kidney shot, Yoichi pulled his back off the ground and sat up.
Dried leaves were caught in his hair and the back of his light armor. In front of his still half-closed eyes, thick evergreen vegetation, similar to the heart of a forest.
"Aargh... isn't there so way to avoid this annoying headache?" he thought aloud, massaging his temples. Despite events like that not being part of normalcy, Yoichi had almost gotten used to falling asleep and then waking up elsewhere.
When his eyes finally allowed the sunlight to enter, the images his gaze perceived beca concrete and tangible: unlike his last spiritual journey inside the Tear, the setting was very different from a desert.
A dense and lush forest housed plants of all sizes. The predominant color of that place was the green of the leaves, interspersed with the bright colors of flowers scattered here and there.
The singing of the birds and crickets was charming and restorative, and a warm drizzle of dew from the highest branches of the trees fell on Yoichi's head and shoulders, bringing good cheer.
What kind of place is this? Where did I end up? The young tar thought as he stood up and looked around. He rembered Ryutaro's words when he told him that every place, object or living being that would be part of his visions actually represented a remote corner of his consciousness.
Everything around him, including the sky, the clouds, and the soft grass under his boots, was a product of his imagination.
However, every elent of that vision seed incredibly real, including the sounds and slls of that forest. Not knowing how to interact with his surroundings, Yoichi began to walk around looking for sothing that would catch his attention.
After more than ten minutes spent wandering through the trees, the young tar figured that that forest was very dense, and within it, it was impossible to get his bearings. Maybe nothing has happened yet because I haven't summoned Kenji, he thought.
He placed a hand on his chest and took a deep breath, squinting his eyes. His lungs filled with air, but a mont before he proudly pronounced the na of his Oracle, a remote sound caught his attention.
A distant roar echoed through the trees. Birds and small rodents that lived in the trunks of the trees or within the bushes darted back and forth, fleeing in all directions and dispersing into the forest.
Squirrels ran at full speed away from Yoichi, stomping on his boots and moving as far away from their hiding place as possible.
*GROOARGH*
Once again, the sa roar made the young tar shake like a leaf. "It's a dragon! That's a dragon's roar, I'm sure of it!" Yoichi yelled to himself, perfectly rembering his first Tear's Vision, etched forever in his mind.
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