First connections to the world

I just opened my eyes. I'm really in a city under the water now. I almost can't believe it.

Today my training begins. I'm not familiar with this place yet and the training already begins.
Since I'm not allowed to put on my magic suit, I put on one of the uniforms which hang in the wardrobe.
I take the one, which fits me the best.

I leave my room and head to the training room. Is this the correct room? I guess so.
Ilaya passes by as well and looks at me dismissively.

Good morning!

Ilaya doesn't answer. She just enters the training room and I follow her.
It's a normal, rectangular and basically empty room. Only master Sivarajan is there, sitting in the middle of the room.

So, today we have a new attendee, so I have to explain your exercise.
Both of you have to sit down and close your eyes.
Try to come to peace and experience your inner self.
Focus on your body and the environment.

Oh no, where did I just end up?
It's almost like in the magic association in castle town.

Even if this room doesn't seem too interesting, there's more going on than you might think.
You need full control of yourself and your environment before you can go to the next step.
If you do everything correctly, you will feel a strong connection to your surroundings and to the whole world.

Ilaya is already sitting down on the floor and her eyes are closed.
So I have to do the same. I sit down next to her and close my eyes.
It's kind of boring, but I try to keep sitting like this as long as necessary.
After some minutes, I take a peek and notice the master still being there. I already feel guilty for it. He must have noticed it.

It's very difficlut for me. I've just been sleeping and now I have to stay silent for an unknown amount of time.
I would like to do anything right now. I would like to run around, I want to eat something. Or just itch my head.

And then I have to think about all my friends, especially Bernd and Lena. It won't ever be like before. I should have spent more time with them when it was still possible. I shouldn't have left them at all.

No time to think about this now. My task is to focus on my body, on this place, not on my feelings.
Just stay silent, try not to think about anything.
Just breath in and out slowly and feel the ground I'm sitting on.
Still not too exciting, but it's almost like sleeping. I had some exciting time, so a little rest can't hurt.

I imagine the room I'm sitting in and Ilaya sitting next to me. It's difficult not to think about anything, but it starts to get relaxing.
Once in a while I wonder how long I still have to keep sitting like this. It's pretty annoying.
But I keep my eyes closed and try to relax.

Open your eyes.

I open my eyes and look to Ilaya, who is still sitting there pretty stiff.
She focuses at her dad.

Well done for your first time!
Tomorrow at the same time!

I feel pretty relaxed by now.
I have no idea how much time went by.
Probably multiple hours.

We get up, Ilaya bows to her father, so I do the same, and then we leave the room.

We walk along the corridor together.
She doesn't seem to care about me.

It's kind of boring, isn't it?

Of course it's not that exciting! But well, it's important.
My father is a great magician with a lot of experience.
Do you really think, he would let his own daughter do unnecessary exercises?

She sounds slightly upset.

No...?

And since you had to do the same task, I'm sure it can't be too bad for you as well!

She immediately heads to her room and closes the door.

I just wanted to do a bit of smalltalk, but I probably said something wrong.
We'll probably never become friends.

I go back to my room and mostly just stay there for the rest of the day.
There are also a few books in the room, so I start to read.
And I also find some paper to I scribble around. I probably didn't draw concepts for a building for years.

After a while, a servant brings me some food.
It seems like I'm really important to Sivarajan.
The food tastes unusual. It's a bit like fish. But I think, I could get used to it.

The following days are similar.
In the morning I go to training, where I have to sit there for a few hours and just have to focus on the environment.
The rest of the day is pretty boring, too. There's not much to do. But it isn't that bad.

I only don't try to talk to Ilaya anymore.
I still remember what she said to me, so I try to do my best in the training.
I don't want her to be mad at me again.

One day she comes to my room.

Hey, come with me!
Father wants me to show you the city.
You almost never leave your room.

Oh, I didn't know, I'm allowed to go out. Thanks!

Just come, I want to go.

I get up, take on some shoes and follow her to the city.

She seems pretty annoyed about me being with her.
Ocassionally she tells me something mundane about the city, but besides of that we basically don't talk.

I don't really feel comfortalbe there, though. There are almost exclusively amphibian humans.
And I don't even know, where I should spend my time, or how to pay stuff.

When we go home, I'm glad to be back again.
I hope, I don't have to go to the city anymore.

After some days, the tasks of our training start to vary.
We have to focus on different things. Most of the time we have to focus on objects, normally a small orb.
Awkwardly enough I start to feel a connection to that orb. Being with this orb makes me feel comfortable, almost like being with a nice girl. It's just an orb, a small lonely orb. But I really like it.

Once in a while, I still go to the city and even try some food there.
It seems I get most of it for free, at least when they notice I'm getting magic training by Sivarajan.
But the food I get in my room is still better.

On a normal morning, I just enter the training room as always.
This time, we have to focus on each other.
We sit next to each other as awlays and close our eyes.
I focus on Ilaya. She's sitting next to me.
And soon I start to get a weird feeling. I feel her presence. As if some welcoming warmth, but also some rejecting cold is coming from her.
And behind that, I feel her inner self.

To be honest, she's pretty cute. She's slim, and despite being larger, she's younger than me.
And I think she's intelligent and obedient, too.
If she just was a bit nicer, I'd really like to be friends with her.
I'm probably just fantasizing, but I start to feel pretty close to her and enjoy this lesson a lot. It doesn't even get boring this time.

After the lesson is over, I still feel a connection to her.
We get up and walk out of the room.
She looks at me and even smiles at me.
I think, I've never seen her smiling before.
Did she also feel this connection?

Now I know, what you really think about me!
Really dirty stuff!

Her smile gets prety awkward.
Can she read my thoughts now? I didn't even think anything dirty about her, did I?

You don't have to look so insecure.
I'm just joking.

I'm a bit annoyed by her, and just go back to my room.
I still feel some connection to her, though.
Maybe that's the goal of the training?

I lie down in my bed and try if I can still feel a connection to that cute, little orb. It must be lonely without me.
And I really start to feel something.
But I'm not only connected to Ilaya and that orb. I'm connected to everything aronud me.
It's an amazing feeling and I don't want it to go away.
I want to make some progress.
So I just lie down in my bed and do nothing for the rest of the day, focusing on my environment.

The next day, we don't get a special task.
I only focus on the boring room and instantly start to feel a deep connection to it.
I'm inside the room. I feel the ground. I feel the distance to all the walls and the ceiling.
And I feel Luka and Ilaya sitting on top of me.

I don't just feel a connection to this world, I also feel an absence.
I'm not a participant of this world, I'm just an observer now.
And I'm observing a lot.

Suddenly the master stops the lesson.
Ilaya is confused, why it's so short this time, but when she notices the young Luka still stiting there without any reaction, she is concerned.
She seems a bit spiteful, but she tries to wake him up.

The master wants her to stop and tells her, what's going on.

Luka finally understands, what this training is about.

It takes a while until Luka gets up and the master praises him for his progress.
He praises me?
I start to feel happy about that.

When we go out, Ilaya seems angry. And as usual, she doesn't want to talk to me.

Is she jealous at me because I reached this point faster than her?
She must have been so sure about her superiority. She has been doing this for some time and is the daughter of he master after all.

The rest of the day is as usual again.
I also try to build some connection to my scribbles and the books I was reading for a while, but I prefer to have a normal boring day again.
I even decide to go to the city once more. I really need some distraction.
For now I got enough of that.