Hyro awoke the next morning to a knock at his door, by the time he reached the door there was no one there but a rolled piece of parchment was sitting in a small mail slot that each bedroom had. Inside the rolled parchment was the map that Hurly said would be coming as well as a short note that had a list of Hyro’s classes for the day.
Class List for Hyro Selk
Support / Utility
Introduction to Meditation - Dawn
Welcome to the System
Traveling the land
Break / Lunch
Adventuring 101
What is Utility?
And with that, Hyro now knew his daily schedule for at least a week, and he felt another wave of anticipation as he will finally take the next step on the journey to become an Adventurer. As Hyro looked at the map and class list he realized two things almost right away. The first is that the campus was more intricate than he originally believed, the second was that it was almost Dawn now, and he had to get across the building to get to his Introduction to Meditation course.
Hyro was now in a rush. He threw his bandages and clothes on, not even bothering with setting up his fireball, there did not seem to be much point for it at the moment. After getting ready, Hyro ran to class. To Hyro’s surprise, when he arrived the class was comprised of the five new enrollees that he started with and there was not a teacher at the front of the classroom, but Dreeva. There were no desks in this room, instead it was similar to the room that Hyro first met Enris and Dreeva in, a few foam mats on the floor spread around the room. As everyone walked in, Dreeva spoke up in a soft tone. “H…Hello Everyone, I am Dreeva, a fourth year student near completion here at Terraqua academy. I have been given the honor of being your guide for Introduction to Meditation. Normally, meditation is something you do on your own time, but in everyone’s first rotation of classes there is a guided meditation class to help those who have never done it or have never done it properly before. First, does anyone know why Meditation is so important to Adventurers?” Acadeles and Hyro both raised their hands but Gribby was in the room, so he blurted out his answer, “It is to help focus and recover in times of trouble or stress.” Dreeva glanced over at him and smiled, “Y… yes those are some of the main reasons, it also helps us control our powers and the System better.”
Next she went to the wall and opened a compartment that blended in so well Hyro could barely tell where it was after it was closed again. Dreeva pulled a small bell from inside the compartment she opened and rang it once. The sound reverberated all around the room and echoed around as if no sound was allowed to escape this area, the one sound that the bell ring made also spread out in range and started playing a simple but soothing melody. “Now if everyone could please grab a seat on one of the mats we can get started.” Dreeva seemed more confident now that the music was playing.
For the next half hour or so Dreeva gave them instructions on how to relax different parts of the body, how to control heart rate, control breathing, overall on how to control many parts of the internal system, Hyro dabbled in meditation a little bit but never to this extent, he could see many areas where these skills could come in handy. Towards the end Dreeva helped walk them through a deep state meditation. “Focus on the music playing as you breathe in two, three, four and out two, three, four. Focus on your breathing this time as we breathe in two, three, four and out two, three, four. As you focus and continue breathing I want you to picture yourself in your happy place, a place that is and always has been peaceful for you. Breathe in two, three, four and out two, three, four.” Those were the last words that Hyro heard Dreeva speak in the guided meditation as he seemed to be teleported away.
Hyro’s eyes fluttered open and in front of him he saw his campfire, the one by the home he grew up in. He spent many hours reading, training, meditating, sleeping and more all by this little campfire that he built for himself. Sitting around the campfire he saw two people, both of them looked almost identical to himself, perhaps a bit older. “It is about time you visit us, we have been waiting for a long time.” One of the two spoke up, while they both looked like him the one that spoke was more well groomed and in nice shining armor with a large blade at one side and a dagger at the other. He seemed almost royalty or at least a high official in the army. The other who has not spoken up yet appeared to be more of a hermit, a brown cloak draped over his shoulders, the hood was currently down but Hyro could tell if it was up he would be hard to recognize. Any weapons or items that this hermit looking version of him had were hidden in the cloak or some other hidden compartment, but he did not look like he had much. The one clad in armor spoke up again, “This is your sanctuary… our sanctuary. We are you Hyro, or what you could have been or still could be.” Hyro could not believe what he was hearing, this had to all be in his head, he was just meditating after all, maybe he fell asleep and this is just a, “This isn’t a dream.” The Hermit version cut him off mid thought. “It is as real as the time that we Stumbled when we first got our longsword from Mom and almost lost our hand.” As the Hermit speaks he holds up his hand and wiggles his fingers, his hand completely made of metal glowing magic.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“So you are a version of me who did not move fast enough and lost his hand?” Hyro asked, trying to gain clarification. “Yes, and no.” Replied the Hermit, “We are a combination of different versions of you, from past, present and future decisions. I am the version of you who lost his hand that day, and also a version that read more into medical magic and found magic sooner than most other versions as well as other decisions that you have not made yet.” “So what is the point of this place then? Just so I can see what other decisions could have led too?” Hyro asked skeptically. “While that is an aspect of this place it is hardly the main purpose.” The Armor clad Hyro replied this time, “Yes, we are here but this space is a combination of the ambient magic in the surrounding area, your imagination and thoughts, a bit of your own magic, and of course, a dash of Chaos. You may not realize as it was done subconsciously but you created this place as a safe haven when you need to escape or think, but also as protection from mental strain or attacks and a place to get counsel from the person that we trust the most, ourselves.”
Hyro had to sit down to take this all in so he took a seat around the fire with the other two. “If I created this, then I created you so you shouldn’t really know anything more that I do, so what is the point?” The Hermit Hyro replied this time, “Yes you created this place but with it pulling magic and inspiration from so many different sources we have drawn in that power. Now we can not tell you things you do not know, but we can help you think things through in different ways. We can also help you remember things lost deep in your mind or help notice things you may have missed, even if it is only in hindsight. For instance all the running around the academy you have been doing, you have seen many other students and teachers but you seem to glance over some of the other staff, next time you are walking around look closer at the gardening staff, there might be something worth noting there.” The Armor clad Hyro interjected, “But that is all the time we have for now, the first visit is always the shortest, we will have plenty of time to talk, we may look different or be a different combination of you but we will be here, waiting.” His voice started to fade away as did the vision of them and then finally the campsite itself. Hyro’s eyes fluttered open once again this time to see Dreeva and the whole class surrounding him.
“Give him some space everyone, please.” The confident Dreeva spoke up, soft music from the bell still playing. “Hyro I think we need to take you to see Helina, maybe Buck too.” Hyro was still processing everything but was shocked to hear that, did he get hurt while meditating? “I feel fine, why would I need to…” And then, Hyro slipped back to his old habits, he passed out. When Hyro awoke again it was to see Helina standing over him, palms glowing as she used some sort of scanning or restorative magic on him. When she noticed his eyes opening she spoke, “Ah, Hyro, It is good to see you awake again, Buck! He is awake!” She called into the adjourning room. Hyro now felt drained, he could move if he needed too but decided it was best to just stay down and rest. After a short moment Buck walked into the room. “You do not want to make this easy on me do ya boy?” Buck asked with a slight chuckle as he walked in the room.
“What happened? I was meditating, then in my sanctuary and next thing I know I was blacking out again, why does this keep happening?” Hyro was confused and frustrated with the events that unfolded. “Sanctuary? You mean just the deep meditative state, correct?” Buck asked quizzically. “Umm, maybe? I was talking with, well with me, in a place I always thought of as safe.” Hyro thought it was normal until Buck's question so he did not think to try and hide what happened. Buck’s eyebrows rose slightly hearing Hyro’s explanation, “You mean you have an actual sanctuary? This early in training no less! That is something some never reach that is impressive, but also draining on such a young body.” Buck muttered the next part but Hyro could still hear it, almost like it was a little amplified in his ear, “Dreeva did say he was glowing, what could this mean.” Buck spoke up to Hyro again, “Well anyway, I know you are probably tired, Helina will give you some energy and then you should be able to just make your Welcome to the System class. When classes are over for the day please see me before dinner.” Buck said leaving the room, Helina traced a line and spoke the word, “Industria.” Suddenly Hyro felt like he just woke up from a full night of good sleep. “Thank you Helina!” He said as he got up and started rushing to his next class.
