Leaving

Two years later.

I am now fifteen. I kept with my daily routine till this day. After that incident two years ago I interacted even less with the old man. There were even weeks where I would go camping for a week. I even learned how to hunt. Kind of. I hunted birds and small animals. The old man gave me a bow and arrows for that and a knife. I could manage my own in this forest of ours. I named it "Forever Florest". But I never forgot about the incident. I have been thinking about going away, living alone. Without the old man. But i never did. At least not until now. I have been preparing to leave for a week. But before that i wanted to ask the old man one last time about the incident. Maybe knowing I would go away he would tell me. The day came. I am ready to leave.

"Hey old man."

He nodded to me.

"So, I'm going to go away today."

"Yeah, I figured that much out already." He scoffed at me. Sometimes I think he can read my actions. I mean, I was trying to hide this fact from him.

"You won't stop me?"

"It's around time you start taking care of yourself."

"I already take care of myself, Old man." I replied kinda angrily at him. It's not like he really took care of me, you know.

"I wanted to ask you, you know, before I leave."

"Ahh, you want to know about that time I killed the boar."

"How did you know?" I told you, he can read my mind.

"It's written on your face. You have to work on your poker face more"

"..." I didn't reply.

The old man got up from his seat. He stepped outside the house and looked at me.

"Are you not coming?"

I hurriedly went over to the old man. We stood there, in front of the entrance to the cabin, face to face.

"Its called Ki."

"What is called Ki?"

"Impatient as ever, wait for me to explain and then ask your questions. Ki is a type of energy. Life energy. It can empower its user. Making it stronger, faster… deadlier"

I paid attention to what the old man was saying. It was, strange. I felt like the old man was remembering the past while he explained it to me.

"Humans can learn how to harness this power. They can train it. The more Ki you have the more empowered you get. But there is always a limit to each person."

The old man went over to a tree.

"Pay close attention."

'Baammm'

The old man hit the tree with his bare fist and it broke. I stood there with my mouth open. I couldn't believe what he was showing me.

"This is what Ki lets you do. It is used for fighting… and only that."

"C.. can… can i learn this Ki?" I stuttered to him.

"You can. And I'll show it to you. Come here and sit down in front of me."

I did as he said. The old man got ready and put his hands on my back.

"I'm going to pass a little bit of Ki though your heart. Focus on that feeling. The sensation behind it. It is not like anything you have felt. You don't feel it with your skin, but with your heart. Focus on that feeling."

'Haaaaa' I exhaled. Ki started to go through my body. The feeling is indescribable. I feel as if I am being reborn.

"This ritual is what we call Ki baptism. Focus on the feeling, remember it, ingrain it in your heart. Focus on your breathing, focus on your heartbeat. The act of breathing and your heart beating is what keeps you alive. If you stop one of the two you'll die."

After that the Old man took his hand of my back.

"That is it." he said.

I open my eyes. Feeling like I could run forever. But what now?

"What do I do now Old man?"

"You train. Gathering Ki is specific for each person, just like your DNA. Some do it while breathing and some do it through their skin."

"How do you do it?"

"That is a secret."

I stood up.

"You already have the basics to gather Ki, but you'll have to discover how to use it alone. But let me tell you one thing. You are not talented."

I just stood there. I didn't understand what he meant by that. Not talented in what?

"What am I not talented in?"

"I could see it just now. Your talent for Ki is not so good."

I felt like a dagger just went through my heart. The same heart that felt like it could run forever seconds ago.

"But let me tell you this, talent is just the rate in which you increase in something."

I didn't understand. And he knew I didn't. Like i sad, he could read my mind.

" For example, if the standard talent for something is 1. Let's look at cooking for an example. If you have two people. One has a talent of 1 while the other has a talent of 1,5. And we give these two people an ability score. Their ability score would be zero, because both of them don't know how to cook. But they would both train together. By training you will always gain, let's say 1 point of ability score. We then multiply this by their talent. The standard person will have the ability of 1 after the training, while the talented person will have the ability score of 1,5. As time goes on the score will just get wider and wider. "

"So I will never be as good as a talented person?"

"No."

"Talent is indeed a big factor, but the training is what makes a difference, if you train two times as much you will already be at 2 ability points while the other one is still at 1,5 and so on."

This didn't make me feel better.

"Hahaha, don't feel so down. The world is big. Maybe you'll find something at which you'll have the best talent at."

"Yeah, maybe" i said in a quiet voice.

"But since you want to go, I guess now would be the moment. Follow me."

I took my things and went after the Old man. We went inside the cabin. He got in front of the floor and out of nowhere the floor split into two. Where there once was a floor, now was a big stairway down into the darkness. The old man stepped inside and went down. I hesitated for a moment and went after him. While going down lights would appear every now and then to keep the stairway somewhat lit. We got to the end of the stairs where a big room opened up to us. In the middle there was some kind of a machine. The room was filled with dust. Clearly it hasn't been used in many years. The old man went to the machine and turned it on. A big pulse was expelled from the machine that was now filled with light. In the middle there was a place big enough for a person to stand in.

"Stand over there."

I did as he said and stood in that space.

"You are very young now. Young people make mistakes. Don't be afraid of making mistakes. But if you do make them, take them as a lesson. I know we haven't bonded that much in these fifteen years…"

"What do you mean?"

"... but do know that I care a lot about you. These were by far my favorite years of my life. And know that I love you…"

"WAIT" I screamed. What is this? The old man never got this sentimental with me.

"Take care of yourself, William"