Blade West: Book 1

Chapter 5: Focus

      I kinda choked. Well, let me stop lying. I did choke. "Did you say one year?" I asked him. "Yep." He said just as monotoned. I turned around to face him and he did the same so that our toes were nearly touching, and we were staring each other in the face. "Ven... this is A LOT." He smiled, this time one filled more with pity than anything else. "Yes, I understand. But His Majesty chose you. And if he chose you, I think he believes you are more than capable to handle the struggles in a year. And if he thinks so, I believe it as well." I sighed and gripped my sword. "Well. If I'm going to have to be the interim king in a year, that means that I need to get stronger ASAP. I will also need to get to know everyone at Aveila and learn the ins and outs of everything. This year will undeniably be crucial..." "What did I just tell you? Didn't I just say I'll have your back? You're not in this alone, and even in a year you won't be alone then. But yes, you will have to get stronger and you will have to gain their trust." "I heard you." I said. "I'm a guy of practicalities. I like to break things down into lists: Step 1, Step 2, Step 3, etc. For me, what would Step 1 be? What should we focus on now?

    He took a second before responding. "Step 1 would be for you to grasp a better understanding on your Talent. If you have this sword, your talent is already activated even if you haven't used it yet." "Sounds good to me. So, what first? How do I use this power that I supposedly have?" "Your talent should be as natural to you as breathing. It's not something that you exert energy to activate, at least not in the beginning. It should almost feel like you're clicking on a switch. Imagine a dark room that you walk into and turn the light switch on for to illuminate the area. That switch is what the activation should feel like. Just as easy and simple as turning on a light switch." The analogy made sense, but this was all new to me. This was my first time hearing that powers even existed. I imagined it would be pretty hard to summon this power when I don't even know what I'm looking for exactly. I mean, what if my power wasn't physical? What if my power was overthinking like I'm doing now? What if it was a faster digestive track or something? There's no obvious way of knowing when you're actually using your power if it isn't of physical or mega magnitude (I mean I guess the digestive track power is an exception).

    He said it should be as natural as breathing. In this moment, I was trying to pull on my past experiences to see what my power may be and what I should pinpoint my mind on. But then I remembered, he said my talent activated when this sword appeared, meaning none of my past experiences applied here. It was almost as if someone blessed me with a new power a few hours ago and told me to use it. In essence...I was stuck.

     "Hey Ven," his eyebrows rose in response, "You said it should be as natural as breathing but I'm not sure what to really look for right now. How do I know if I'm actually using it? Especially if it isn't of physical natural and more of a status boost or something you know?" He made an "I'm pleased with this question" facial expression and said, "That's an excellent question. In that case, if you want to focus your mind on pinpointing a difference in your body or environment, you'll have to heighten your awareness. When I say awareness, I'm referring to everything that your brain can possibly pick up on. All external and internal stimuli. I'm going to pull a little Mindfulness on you here, but you'll have to become one with your body and feel everything your body is feeling. To put this more in perspective, have you heard the phrase "The Eyes are the windows to the soul"? Usually you look into other people's eyes to see into their souls, but you're going to have to leave the window open but look into your own soul."

    I must have had a blank look on my face because he said, "I lost you, didn't I?" But he didn't actually. "I'm just trying to process everything you just told me. So essentially, you're saying I need to meditate?" "Not exactly. In my experience, meditation is more about detaching your mind from your body and processing what's happening in your subconscious. That's not our goal here. Our goal here is to increase your awareness. I guess it'll be better if I do it with you..." Suddenly he crossed his legs and placed the back of his hands on his knees like you'd see in a stereotypical meditation pose. "Mimic this pose." I followed suit and crossed my legs. I continued to let my sword lay across my legs and placed the backs of my hands where his were, except I wasn't contacting my knees because my sword was in-between.