Chapter 27.2 The Journey

— Hmmm... — After finishing the main dishes, I waited for the dessert with cappuccino and then spoke. — Let's start with the fact that clan fanaticism is not for me, I've already had enough of it. — I ran the edge of my palm down my throat. — Besides, I've been fifteen for a few weeks now, and my strength is fine. Or are you saying that you were stronger when you were my age? — I look up at the angry woman.

— You're a man, men are always stronger than women mages.

— So I am stronger as a magician. Or did you not like my barrier? I put it up without seals, but with seals, it's a combat barrier that lasts twelve seconds under full load. Not long enough?

— I'm not talking about magic, not really! — I can feel my mother, even if she's pretending, but I know she's almost calmed down. — To unite mind, magic and body, you have to meditate, use special techniques, train your body, which you don't do!

— I do. — I replied calmly and finished my cappuccino. — But I prefer to do it during the day and meditate from noon to night, at sunset.

— My son, how have you lived all these years? — The woman did not raise her eyes and spoke very quietly, her emotions and magic qualitatively hidden.

— No better than yours. — I answered just as quietly, looking away. — They needed a new branch, obedient and submissive. — I was silent for a while, thinking about what to say, because women are very fond of making things up, and generally people sin by doing so. — There were no outright horrors, of course, but there was a constant psychological correction in the direction they wanted, aided by various potions. I didn't even understand what they were doing to me, and why? — The woman just nodded gravely, still not raising her eyes. — It's almost impossible not to believe what everyone around you is saying. But then I saw you, mother, felt you and the shikigami. — The woman throws her head up in incomprehension, and I smile with the corners of my lips. — You can see through shikigami where you are forbidden to be yourself, so I began to watch and eavesdrop. I used them to infiltrate the library and study... — I take a few sips of the cooled drink. — My guardian spirit explained that the complex of potions was supposed to adjust my mind so that I would fixate on something, so that it would become a kind of "fixed" idea, the center of my world. Accordingly, it would be loyalty and obedience, the Miyazaki clan itself.

— And what? — Mother's voice trembled, threatening to break.

— It worked. — I grinned wryly. — But not in the way they wanted, because at the most important moment, I was most concerned with new knowledge, its application in practice, and a burning desire to get away from total control. To break the chains and be free.

— Did you notice that? — The note of skepticism in my voice is barely audible.

— No, of course not. — I'm ashamed of something and avert my eyes. — The Guardian helped me to understand — she is a very wise woman, even if she is harmful. — I smile, feeling through our connection that Ba-san is laughing at my words.

— Well, — the woman sighs heavily and looks at me. — It could have been worse, much worse. And a dash of self-development is only a plus. — She stops talking for a while and does a simple breathing complex to calm herself. — Okay, we have to go — we can't stay here too long.

— And go where?

— To the Quarter of a Thousand Spirits — I've never heard this name before, but let it be a surprise — it's interesting. — Where we can find out what's going on in the world and what the reaction is to our escape.

— Damn... — I blurted out when I realized that I'd forgotten something. My mother gave me a strange look. — Yes, we must hurry to find a quiet place where we can perform the complex ritual. — I get up from the table and leave the tip — it was delicious and the service was excellent.

— What's the ritual? — my mother asks me in the elevator.

— I left my spy dolls in the mansion. Without going into detail, the dolls are controlled by ghosts, and I want to go astral and read images from the past. That is, to see and hear what the clan said in meetings, what decisions were made. — The woman stared at me with an unreadable look, but I ignored it and continued to think. — I will know everything first hand, there will be no distortion of the essence, I will not have to pay anyone and be a debtor. The only thing is that we need a protected place, because I don't know how long the ritual will take.

While we were going to the room, while we were packing a few things, while we were taking a taxi to the outskirts of the city, to the historical places untouched by civilization — the woman was silent, casting thoughtful glances at me. As we began to climb the steps of a temple complex in the mountains, she spoke.

— And how deep can you go into the astral?

So that's what she was excited about....

— The spirit worlds, up to the embodied elements, have almost broken through to the level of the elementals, the human underworld to the second level, and the first level of the demon and asura worlds. As you can see, the progress is not very good, and I have not even reached the present and the great predictions of the future, — I grin crookedly, — it is really difficult there, and the brains are twisted into such a knot that it is just horror. But I can see the imprints of the past and the present without a problem, but it takes a lot of effort...and I have responsibilities....

The woman nods silently, understanding what I'm saying. Astrally, practicing this complex of magic is a very difficult and painful business. It takes long meditations to hear the world, the worlds.

 I was just minding my own business, studying, and you could say I got into the spirit plane by accident. At first I did not even realize what had happened, and I just continued deep meditations, even deepened them, penetrating into some energy flows, letting them pass through me.

I did not realize that I was communicating freely with the spirits, understanding them. It turned out that their voices are inaccessible even to the majority of magicians, to see them — already an achievement that I have always possessed. And then, gradually, without really noticing, my meditations became filled with the voice of the world — I began to hear it every time I meditated, a light whisper or images of vague pictures.

I have a dozen paintings in my artifact in which I have tried to embody these images. Strange things came out, just looking at them induces a kind of meditative trance.