Kingdoms Fall

Chapter 10: Lotus Scroll

After reading the Lotus Scroll for only a few hours I've learned that it's not so much a style of fighting but more like a mental state, in which you can do things that you otherwise wouldn't if you were angry, nervous, or intimidated.In the illustrations of the scroll it shows different people who are engulfed by a white aura, I think this is what happens when someone is to master the White Lotus.I wonder how long it took sensei to master the Lotus and did he have to tame a lion after only reading the Lotus Scroll for a few hours out of a single day?Even though I have a feeling sensei was so serious about me taming a mountain lion, that still doesn't mean I know how I'm supposed to do such a thing, but I know this Lotus Scroll could help me do it somehow but I haven't found that somehow yet...I find myself asking, what will be more difficult, mastering the Lotus or taming the mountain lion, and I have a feeling that taming the lion will be easier.Suddenly Loiko comes into the room, but he's holding a tray of steaming food and he's dressed in some other clothes. On the tray of food, is a bowl of hot rice, a small bowl of wasabi, and there's a small plate that has three different kinds of sushi on it, two of each kind of the three sushi is placed in a row.There was also five wings of fried chicken that were seasoned well.I was dressed in an all white robe that sensei had layed out for me a couple hours ago, but the sleeves only went to my elbows.Loiko himself now wore a black robe that had the sleeves removed as if they'd been cut or sliced away by a blade.He'd braided his hair to the back, his hair passes his shoulder blades even in braids."How long have I been in here?" I ask looking back at the Lotus Scroll."Hours, have you figures out how you will tame this mountain lion?" he asks me, as he places the tray of food in front of me."I think I may have started to get an idea, of how I might be able to tame a lion..." I say putting the scroll down and grabbing the tray of food. Loiko sits down right in front of me in silence as I begin my small feast with a bite of chicken and some rice.After I get down my first bite I say "So, do you know why the Gods didn't give us names?", he looks down into his lap at his hands, and I see them very quickly change into diamonds and back again, he looks up, not a wrinkle in his face, but you knew that he wasn't that young, he looked eighteen or nineteen, but I knew better."Actually pretty soon you'll figure out why the Gods didn't give us names...Real soon." he says. "Okay...By the way if you don't mind me asking, how old are you Loiko, I mean, sensei." I ask him dipping a bite of sushi into the wasabi. He grins, then looks up at the ceiling at all of the artwork and says "Fifty three, fifty three years old.", "You look young for your age sensei." I say, "That's how it is for us if that's what you choose." he says. I knew what he meant when he said that, the closest thing I had to a father told me about it when I was ten years old."I know." I say, "Anyhow, when you're done eating get some sleep, leave the tray where it is." he says getting up, and making his way to the sliding door which opened with such ease as he pushed it open, it was as if it was brand new. "Turn left, at the metal heart on the wall, and your room is the second on the left." he says, slowly closing the door and just before it closes he says "Night.", "Good Night." I respond.I finish all of the delicious food that sensei gave me, and I leave the tray where it was, like sensei said, then I go back to the center of the room directly under all of the paintings that are on the ceiling. I clear my mind and think about what I've read so far from the Lotus Scroll about how me, everything I am and everything outside of me is connected with me in different ways.I then lift my left leg off the ground and fold it onto my right leg, and I bend my right leg, bringing my body lower to the ground. If someone were to walk in and see me, it would look as if I were sitting in an invisible chair. Once I'm completely balanced on my imaginary chair, I hold my left hand on my chest and hold my right hand beside my torso, pointing my palm upward and spreading my fingers as if I were holding a box of pizza in my hands. This is the first form of the Lotus. I sit in the position for about thirty minutes, then I sharply inhale, and when I exhale, a white mist or energy comes out of my mouth, and the center of both my palms begin to slightly glow with a white light, and my body starts to feel about as light as a feather, like the earth's gravity had been turned off or there was barely any gravity at all. It wasn't as intense as those who'd already mastered the Lotus Style, but there was a small, barely visible hue of a stringy aura that seemed to flow around my body... I then unfold my left leg and unbend my right leg so that I'm standing on it straight, and the white aura begins to disappear or evaporate instantly. "Wow..." I mumble to myself in amazement and excitement. I stop to think about how I'm supposed to tame a wild mountain lion, but I'm still without an idea about how to do that. "Maybe it'll come to me right when I'm about to get my head chewed off." I think to myself... After grabbing the Lotus Scroll and looking at the picture of a man who'd mastered all twelve of the different Lotus styles one last time, I head back to my room, which wasn't much, but it was all I needed to get a good night's sleep. The next morning Loiko came into my room clinging two little knives together, which woke me up out of my sleep and out of my little pallet on the ground. "Wakey, wakey," he said as he continued smacking those two pieces of metal and iron together. "I'm up, I'm up." I say in a barely audible voice, and a couple seconds later I'm putting on my clothes and grabbing my bow and it's arrows, "Ah, ah, ah, leave that; you won't be needing that at all today." He says, "Uh, what do you mean, what if I can't tame the lion and I have-" I'm saying, but he interrupts me, and he says, "No, no, no, that was a joke, kid. I didn't mean a literal lion or a mountain lion." I slowly put down my bow and it's arrows, then I look at him and let out a huge sigh of relief. "Thank the Gods." I say to myself. "Yeah, I meant your anger, which is like a lion; if you can tame anger, you'll be able to master all twelve of the Lotus styles within a few days or a week or two," he says confidently. "How long did it take you?" I ask him. "It took me a week when I was fourteen years old, so you should be able to get a grip on it in a few days; either way, you're a warrior of no womb; you'll master it eventually, and you'll do it faster than any human warrior," he says, walking towards the open door. He has his hair down, unlike yesterday when it was in braids; he wore a black shirt with the sleeves cut off, a belt that looked like it was made out of a shiny obsidian-type material, and black pants that were about a size bigger than the right size for him, but they hung onto his body nonetheless. "So, what are we doing today?" I ask him. Just before he walks down the hallway, he pauses, looks over his shoulder, and says, "Like I said, today you will master your anger, and once you've mastered that, you will master all styles of the Lotus." "Copy that sensei." I respond, then he continues down the hallway...