Chains of Fate

Chapter Ten

The art of escape had been tough to master in his early years, before he became a professional killer and trained under Aisha's greatest swordsman. Kyle would never forget the long hours he spent meditating in silence, willing his younger self to listen to his master's words of wisdom. He had wished to become great like him, to grow in strength and harness the discipline of a monk. At the time, Kyle had not known just how effective this kind of training was or how much of an impact its results would have on his future. He had simply been content to work with the man hailed to be the best sword wielder in the kingdom.

One day in autumn, Master Teo called him to a session of image training. They moved outside among a thicket of oak trees. Sunlight pierced through the crown of branches up above. Kyle sat cross legged on the ground, watching and waiting for his master to awake. Teo meditated in silence, eyes closed, body still. Though birds chirped and insects hummed around them, he did not stir. The sounds of nature melted away and quiet flooded his mind, ridding it of pointless chatter. Kyle didn't need to concentrate as hard to know what was going on inside his master's head. He had learned how to meditate and focus his energy. He had sat for hours in a trance, consciousness in tune with every small vibration along his skin. He knew well what the steady stream of breath going in and out felt like and how it anchored the spirit to a single moment in time. To be truly alive and present is what this training required of them.

As he watched his master, Kyle imagined him speaking in soft tones, though he did not say a word. Soon his eyelids fluttered open and he stared straight at Kyle, seeing him for the first time in what must have seemed like hours. (Barely ten minutes had passed). Teo lifted his arms from their stiff, outstretched position and twisted his wrists around to loosen the tension there.

"Are you ready?"

Kyle nodded, eager to get started. Teo drew a square in the dirt with his finger, tracing over the lines several times.

"Good. Now concentrate. Imagine you're inside this square here. There's no way out. What do you do?"

Voice tight, Kyle replied, "I panic, because there's no way out."

A loud smack reverberated around them. Kyle hissed and grasped the sore part of his shoulder, which had been repeatedly abused over the course of his many sessions with Master Teo. A red welt rose on his skin.

"Wrong!" Shouted Master Teo. "Take this seriously Kyle or we'll start over with meditating."

Kyle rubbed his shoulder gently, glaring up at the stick of bamboo his master carried in his hand. He had retrieved it from inside the folds of his robe, without Kyle ever noticing.

"Then what am I supposed to do? You said there's no way out."

"Use your imagination. Concentrate."

"I can't! You haven't given me enough to go on," he complained.

"You can, Kyle. You just don't want to. Think of what this square could represent and why you cannot escape it. Focus on the situation and concentrate."

There it was again, that word that made Kyle want to smack his face against the ground. Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate. His master berated him over and over so that it would sink in. But it didn't change anything. He was irritated. Teo loved to play games like this, where Kyle was forever on the receiving end of his ire. They went through the same silly routine, several times a week, but he was nowhere near completing this portion of his training. No matter how hard he tried, he was still unable to figure out how to escape from an impossible, not to mention imaginary, situation.

Kyle lowered his head. It hurt from overthinking. "Ok," he said. "Maybe it's a cell and I can't escape because I'm locked in." He thought for a moment, trying to block the distractions from his mind, like the fact that he was hungry and in pain. Then he asked, "Am I tied up?"