I opened my eyes and the first thing I saw was Elphyete. She was still asleep, her breathing shallow and steady, her face pale against the pillows. The room was quiet, filled only with the gray light of the early morning. I sat up slowly, my movements deliberate. As I did, a warmth spread across my chest. I looked down and saw my necklace glowing with a soft, steady yellow light. It pulsed like a heartbeat, illuminating the dim corners of the room.
Then, I heard his voice. It wasn't loud, but it was clear, echoing inside my mind with a resonant authority. It was Eufrien.
"I'll help you master my sword," he said. "But first, you need enough food for several days."
I looked at the door and then back at Elphyete. I knew what I had to do. If I was to master the blade, I could not be interrupted by the mundane needs of the body once the process began. I needed to prepare.
I stood up, moving with a silence that had become second nature. I avoided the creaking floorboards near the foot of the bed and reached for my cloak. I checked the hallway through a sliver of the door; it was empty. I slipped out of the room, closing the door behind me without making a single sound. I navigated the inn like a shadow, moving past the common room where the ashes in the hearth were still warm, and stepped out into the cool air of the street.
The town was just beginning to stir. I found a merchant who was opening his stalls early. I didn't speak more than was necessary. I bought bread that was dense and hard, dried meats that would not spoil, a large wedge of salted cheese, and several skins of fresh water. I gathered enough to last five or six days. I paid the man, packed the supplies into a heavy rucksack, and began the trek back.
I returned to the inn just as unnoticed as I had left. I slipped back into the room and set the bags down in the corner. Elphyete had not moved. I sat on the edge of the bed for a moment, watching her, before Eufrien's voice returned, sharper this time.
"You need to concentrate your mind for hours," he instructed. "Only take a break for eating."
I nodded, though there was no one to see it. I cleared a space on the floor, removing the small rug and sitting directly on the hard wood. I crossed my legs and rested my hands on my knees. I closed my eyes.
The first hour was a struggle of physical awareness. I could feel the coldness of the floor beneath me and the slight draft coming from the window. I could hear the distant sounds of the town—the calling of vendors, the barking of dogs, the rattle of cartwheels on cobblestone. I pushed these sounds to the periphery. I focused on the void. I let my breathing become a slow, rhythmic cycle.
Two hours passed. The sun climbed higher, and a beam of light began to crawl across the floor toward me. I did not move. My mind was a blank slate. I wasn't thinking of the sword, or the past, or the future. I was simply existing in the space between breaths. Every time a stray thought tried to flicker into existence, I extinguished it.
By the third hour, the physical discomfort in my back and legs began to flare. My muscles protested the stillness, a dull ache settling into my spine. I acknowledged the pain but did not react to it. I let the yellow glow of the necklace be my only anchor. It stayed constant, a warm presence against my skin.
Finally, Eufrien's voice broke the silence. "Eat."
I opened my eyes. The room was bright now. I felt stiff as I reached for the rucksack. I took out a piece of the dense bread and a strip of dried meat. I ate slowly, focused entirely on the act of chewing and swallowing. I drank a long draught of water, feeling it cool my throat. The food was simple, but it provided the necessary fuel. Once the last crumb was gone, I wiped my hands and returned to my position on the floor.
I closed my eyes again.
"Concentrate," Eufrien whispered.
I dove back into the stillness. This time, the transition was faster. The external world vanished almost instantly. I sat in a sea of gray silence. Hours began to bleed into one another. I felt the sun pass over the building, the light in the room shifting from a harsh gold to a softer, longer orange. My mind was like a still pool of water; not a single ripple disturbed the surface.
The fourth and fifth hours were spent in a state of deep immersion. I was no longer Sagha sitting on a floor; I was merely a point of consciousness. The ache in my legs had gone numb, replaced by a strange lightness. I stayed in that void, held there by the steady pulse of the yellow light.
"Eat," the voice commanded again.
I blinked, the shadows in the room having grown much longer. It was late afternoon. I stood up, my joints popping with the sudden movement. I walked to the bags and took out the cheese and more bread. I ate in silence, my eyes fixed on the wall. I didn't look at Elphyete this time; I couldn't afford the distraction. My mind needed to stay sharp, isolated. I finished the meal, drank more water, and sat back down.
I crossed my legs. I cleared my mind. I sank back down.
This cycle of concentration was deeper than the last. The darkness of the evening began to fill the room, but I didn't need sight. I could feel the rhythm of the house—the muffled footsteps of guests in the hallway, the shutting of doors, the settling of the wood. I filtered it all out. My mind was a vacuum. I focused on the internal silence, reaching for a level of mental clarity that felt like glass—clear, cold, and hard.
Hours ticked by. Six, seven, eight. I lost track of the count. The only thing that existed was the breath entering my lungs and the breath leaving them. The yellow glow of the necklace was the only sun in my universe. I held that focus with everything I had. My mind felt stretched, taut like a wire, but I did not let it snap.
"Eat," Eufrien said.
The room was pitch black now, save for the faint glow of the necklace and the moonlight spilling through the window. I felt drained, my body heavy with the weight of the day's stillness. I reached for the supplies in the dark. I ate the salted meat and the bread, the flavors sharp against my tongue. I was exhausted, but the mental clarity remained. My mind felt different—ordered, structured, ready.
I didn't wait for the instruction this time. I returned to my spot. I sat. I cleared the space in my head once more.
The final block of concentration was the most intense. The silence of the night was absolute. I felt as though I were floating in a great, dark expanse. The hours moved past like slow-moving clouds. I sat through the deep of the night, through the coldest hours before the dawn. My mind remained locked, a fortress of concentration. I didn't move a finger. I didn't shift my weight. I was a statue, a vessel of pure focus.
The strain was immense. My mind wanted to wander, to dream, to slip into the ease of sleep, but I held the line. I kept the void empty. I kept the silence pure. I concentrated until the world outside ceased to have any meaning at all. There was only the yellow light and the empty mind.
Every second became a test of will. My vision, even behind closed lids, began to swim with geometric patterns of gold and white, yet I remained anchored. The world was nothing more than the air moving through my nostrils and the quiet hum of the glowing stone on my chest. I pushed through the exhaustion, forcing my thoughts to remain static and silent. The mental fatigue was a crushing weight, a physical pressure against my temples, but I did not break. I surrendered my identity to the stillness, becoming a hollow conduit for the focus Eufrien demanded.
As the first hint of the new dawn began to touch the edges of the window, the voice spoke one last time.
"Sleep."
The command was a release. The tension that had held my mind for hours snapped. The weight of the world rushed back in—the cold floor, the ache in my limbs, the overwhelming exhaustion in my eyes. I didn't have the strength to reach the bed. I simply leaned over, resting my head on the rucksack I had used for food.
My eyes closed before I could even draw a full breath. The yellow glow of the necklace dimmed to a faint, comforting ember. I fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, my mind finally still, my body surrendered to the floor.