Blessed Teaching - 5

Perfection incarnate, my teacher… her voice echoing within my mind. Trailing instructions in such a light voice. Where even a touch, as soft as a feather, a sound no more than a drop within a pond. 

Sounds and feathered touches, to another would be naught but a mere nothing, yet to me a disturbance. Static, flooding my mind. A vague objective that even now I could not pronounce.

Only that same static pulled me closer. As for the fever, whose power brought me to my knees. 

Taking satisfaction in blindly raging past all my defenses, the hard built tolerance.

And when I sprouted forth, feet kicked the useless sheets from my body, divesting them from their solemn place. Sweat poured down in such quantities.

For the moment after, my vision flickered. A hand held to the side of the wall, the other placed over my mouth. Veiling it and swallowing the fluid that threatened to diverge from its usual course.

And when I took one more step, placing that same hand over my side… My vision swam… No, it was more accurate to say that my whole body fell to the ground. Knees kicked between my body and arms.

Cold sweat pouring down my forehead, dripping on those same legs. But even still… That same static voice of perfection found its way within my mind. Tearing apart any thought of submission and pulling me towards that predestined path.

So my mind resolved itself, freed from struggle and pain. A mix of pure adrenaline and vigor that brought me to the handle of the door.

Gray sprouting through the room. Replacing the void of souls.

I pulled… a hand still held to my mouth. To catch and contain any mixed fluids. Those that swam through my throat, carrying only dizzying sensations.

And when I turned, bare feet against stone, my vision swam once more. A mix between that sea of grays and those great souls within a void of nothing. I lurched, my stomach almost vomiting its contents against the ground.

Yet I was lucky, for the only result were my knees against the ground, scraping and bleeding as one should. 

And when I reached forth once more, pushing against those same knees and carrying myself towards that everdistant goal. 

Perfect in its placement and implementation. For that was what was known of my teacher. Perfection incarnate. And so must her goals… so must her teachings.

I trusted within those rumors invested into me by Lyra. But just as she was perfect, as every voice spoke of, there was a danger to such utter perfection.

A lurch of my own mind as it brought memories of our interactions, of her unbidden form interacting with my own dazed mind. A havoc within my soul that seemed to only stop as I grasped the brick of such a store.

The door opening with a mere touch. My body pulled to the ground, collapsed within another sea of souls. Each their own person… and each a mirror of the other. Given to their greed and desires.

No such resistance. One that I found within every other. A barrier to their soul that separated base desire from emotions and commitment.

For as great as base desires could be… they could be that much more terrifying, a horrible anger that brought to ruin entire dynasties.

A lust so great that it destroyed her from within. A greed… on and on…. Of base desires ran rampant through souls.

So when one walked towards me, her own hand grabbing my unresisting one. Pulling me to a chair… oh so different from the stools that others used. Her hair covering her eyes as she pulled me towards her.

Blank met fiery red. A tome of some sort within those eyes of hers. Was this a test? A teaching? For what reason was I here, as it could not be some mere coincidence. Not with her.

My breathing grew shallow, the great fever of mine bringing my consciousness towards a state of death. Where every feeling was amplified with a sensation of pain.

Even that brutish gesture of hers, that pulled my chin to her level, her free hand gripping my shirt. Pulling me down towards her lap. A comforting - yet rough - hand that tried to pry the secrets of my mind.

But was that the end of it… a mere scare from some chosen person. No, I knew for certain that this was not the end. For this was merely a reprieve.

One that bought time for whatever event was to come next.

So when my vision flashed once more. Dozens of more souls coming into view, tensed emotions within their souls crossing the path of no return. A sword held to my neck as another entered.

Her armor veiling even that face of hers. A girl… no, to say that was an insult, for she had grown past the lanky adolescence that signified her time as a girl. She had grown into her form. A woman of her own like.

So when the head of the women holding me hostage flew, an aura of some sort flying through the air. Their souls severed from their bodies, and sent to that very afterlife, to be judged or to be condemned.

"You…" She spoke, anger true within that voice of hers.

And in that faint but subtle moment… wherein she strode forwards towards my position. Her hand held against the other. The glove that she wore torn from its place and strewn against the ground.

A look within her eyes as she placed her hand against my own foreheaded, almost recoiling back with shock, the only true emotion I had seen from her this whole time.

Apathy… that anger she spoke within her words… every single utterance was fake. Like some sort of puppet, played only by the strings of the master.

Evidently she had mastered those emotions of hers, yet as I calmly placed her wounds amongst my own, collapsing within her chest and grunting sounds of absolute pain.

She well and truly found herself shocked, hands hesitating between patting my back in an utterance of solidarity or keeping still.

As was obvious, she chose to still herself, flexing muscles and tendons that once seemed so stiff. Amazement in her gaze as she looked upon my pitiful form.