Forgotten Stories

The Lesson

The students all lined up in the courtyard on a colder than usual morning. They stood there at attention for almost two hours, quivering in their robes, the only thing that could be heard were their teeth rattling. The sky above them was dark grey, it would start raining any minute, the students dreaded in the idea they had to stay in the rain. It would mean that they would go on their calisthenics on wet robes something that would make the exercise harder and uncomfortable.

Just like that in a split second as if the skies were opened wide the rain started falling, now the quivering and the teeth rattling could be heard louder and louder as the drops fell on the students. Their dark red robes had become almost entirely black and got heavier in weight. They stood there at attention in the rain and no one complained, inside their minds they wanted to scream, to run away from the drops of the rain that after a long time exposed to them felt like nails hitting their bodies, but no one dared to leave, no one dared to utter a single word.

A shadow appeared from the hall that was ahead of them, it was the master. A small man with white hair that moved slowly yet the shadow he casted was covering the entire wall behind him. The students took a quick breath and hit their right fists on the left side of their chest where the heart resides.

The master went down from the balcony and exposed himself to the cold rain that only got more furious. There was a serene expression on his face, his breath was slow and despite the raging drops from the rain that hit him, his body stood strong, mother nature was bringing her fury on the small temple that was built on the side of the mountain yet this small man stood proud and tall against it.

"My dear children, thank you for waiting this old man, I am afraid I am not as agile as I used to be, this body has gotten old." the master said loud, his voice covering the echo of the rain. The students lowered the feast behind their back; the master took his time and inspected the face of each student individually. He smiled and continued, "I see the power of the youth in each one of you, it's there like a diamond that needs shaping, but the power of the youth won't be enough for you to make it, as a diamond needs to be sculpted to produce its true beauty so does your minds, because strength alone will get you nowhere. Your mentality is the one that will give you all you desired, your mind is your weapon that rules over your power, how you think is how your life is shaped. Tell me what you see when you look at me and be truthful; honesty is a virtue that every student on this school must possess" the master commanded and pointed one of the students.

"I- I see a small old man" the student said in a respectable tone. The master smiled warmly.

"Yes I am old and yes I am small, but you fail to see, you just watched, because if you have seen truthfully you would have seen that I am standing in the same rain and wind and cold as you but it doesn't bother me, despite my age and body. Now that I explained do you see?" he asked the students.

The students noticed something they didn't before, they were all larger and much younger than the master, yet they were the ones quivering in the rain, their teeth were rattling and yet the master seemed unfazed from the weather.

"Now you begin to understand, let me explain further. My body feels the same things that you do, even worse considering my age, but my mind chooses to ignore it, it's not the rain and wind and cold that makes you week, it's your view on life. If you knew that there are far worse things that could happen to you this would look like a small breeze but you are still young and life hasn't yet shown you her true face, but believe me someday it will. The duty of this school is to make you mentally stronger, to be able to walk through whatever life will throw at you with your head raised high and in return you will help those that do not possess the knowledge and strength to do it alone. Believe me the years that will come won't be easy, on the contrary they will be brutal, unfair and dangerous, you will come close to death and you will feel the hunger eating up your insides and the thirst tearing your mouth and throat but I promise you, after all been said and done, you will be more powerful than any human imagined. I promise you I can teach you all that and many more, it doesn't matter how fast or slow you are going to learn them, all that matters is that you continue push through everything that I will throw at you, if you do that you shall have no fear for life any longer".

The students looked at each other, what the master was saying seemed crazy, they didn't understand how all these things would make them stronger, they were confused and hungry and wet and cold and to top it all they had a crazy old man yelling at them that he is going to make their lives a living hell. Many of them had second thoughts about joining the school.

The master smiled, "Now that you know let me tell you this, anyone at any time is free to leave, I am not keeping you here you all came willingly, if you want to quit all you have to do is get up and go, simple as that, but if you go know that you will never be accepted here again. You have only one chance and the only way to fail it is if you quit. That's all I have to say".

Having finished with his speech the students thought that it was finally time they would escape from the rain but the master's plan was different. He instructed the students to stay there, in the rain until he deemed it necessary. The rules were simple; if you can't go anymore you quit and leave the temple, if you cried or complained you had failed so you had to leave the grounds. If you talked to another student you had failed and you had to leave the order. They were to endure it alone, in their own minds.

"I wish you all luck, in the morning we will know who wants it and who simply got mesmerized by the idea of getting stronger" the master said with a warm smile. He got up the balcony; his shadow again covered the entire wall. As he moved deeper into the temple the rain was pouring even harder as if the gods themselves were punishing the students.

The wind became even fiercer, now the drops felt like they were cutting through the students' skin and the night was approaching that meant even more cold temperature. The students had to fortify their minds and body, push through this hardship as the master instructed, but many of them will not be there come morning. Almost all of them will quit before the break of dawn. Those are the ones that will return back to their everyday life and go on doing the same thing until they leave this world. The very few that remain will carve their own path changing the world forever.