It was a windy day in Novum Aurora, his favourite type of
weather. It tumbled and played changing its mind in the blink of an eye, it was
free. The wind was always free, to travel where ever it wanted to, masterless. At
least he was similar to the wind in this respect, no family no master, but he
still missed them all but he knew what his teacher would say “We live on inside
of you keep those memories as a bright jewel, one day you will have only have
joy for these memories with no pain, then you will have detached yourself, but
that is for the future.” But it still hurt. He walked home enjoying the wind,
trying to avoid being noticed, but there were still the occasional pinpricks on
his mind as people noticed him walk by as they did everyday. Rudraya wondered
if he would ever be able to recognise people but for now what he had was plenty....
and then a little bit more. He let the world roll, focusing on nothing and
everything as he made his way to his apartment in the rougher area of the city.
Time had taught him how to stay alert without having to think, he could see the
groups of potential thugs and opportunists pass their gaze and forget about
him. As well they should, the last time he had been in a situation the result
had not been pretty for the attacker or Rudraya. He was left with a scar and
his assailant was left with a smashed ankle and knee, he probably wouldn’t be
able to walk again without a stick. The one time Rudraya didn’t have a knife on
him was the one time he was attacked with one, they say danger is closest when
you are least prepared.
When he closed the door of his flat he let out an audible
sigh. Had it really been 5 years since his life had been turned upside down? How
he had begged to get a job in Novum Aurora in a fast food shop working the 14
hour shifts and sleeping rough outside the shop. And they had wondered how he
had been on time for all the shifts, huh it was easy when you lived so close! He
had been scared to approach the government official who dealt with illegal
immigrants but his luck had been in and he had been allocated this tiny
apartment in a shitty area of the city but at least it was his own, at least
the basement was his own. Luck, he thought, was a funny thing, it could take
away his parents and uproot him from his home and had made him a beggar and
taken him to this city of corruption....but it had also allowed him to slip
through the net, and secure a modest job as a librarian in the most prestigious
library in Novum Aurora, it had also given him an abandoned basement just below
his half a person flat to train. And it had given him a space on the bottom
floor! Luck he thought, was a fickle mistress.
He made his way to his shrine in the corner of his room
and said his prayers for a time. His faith had taken a knocking in the recent
year, well what did one expect if your life got thrown into chaos it tends to
test ones faith. But his faith was always a guiding presence no matter how
rough things got how he cursed God for him misfortune he knew in reality that
he was only a drop in the ocean of balance in the world. Focusing on his own
misfortune meant he was really being selfish.
Now it was time to train, the only thing in his life which
had kept him alive, even before his powers had manifested. His martial arts was
his self expression and his saviour. He quietly said a separate message to his
master. He knew he shouldn’t worship the man but he had given him so much and
had asked for nothing but diligence. He went down to the basement and turned on
the light. When he had first come down to the basement it had been a dirty
stinking mess of rubbish, dead rats and droppings of all manner under the sun, he
even wondered if anyone had been killed down here. It had taken him weeks to
clean it out but now this was his space, at least he had something to himself,
his clean but still fairly smelly training room, he doubted submerging the
place in acid could ever get rid of the slight smell.
He took up his position and stilled his mind for a time,
standing like a tree on one leg rooted into the ground the other carrying no
weight. He ground into his standing leg so he was at a 45 degree angle and let
his empty foot point along the NE line and held his hands out like the branches
of the tree along the same NE line. And there he stood and gathered his energy.
His mind was nothing, a blank slate. The possibility for everything and nothing.
Any thoughts that came and left like the clouds blown by the wind his mind until
it was an empty blue sky. Then he reset himself planted his legs 50-50 weighted
and started his form. To the observer it would have seen like a set of slow
easy movements with not much physical activity, but this belied its nature. Inside
he was twisting and coiling like a snake, he was a coiled spring ready to
explode, his eyes were flat and dangerous like he was looking through
everything. It was as if he built his energy up and exploded furiously and
intervals. His mind was empty, the years he had spent going over the movements
thousands upon thousands of time meant he no longer engaged his conscious mind,
he was in a meditative state yet fully aware of all around him. He finished the
form using none of his powers, he would never allow himself to be at the mercy
of his power he would control them and not the other way round. He then started
another form but this time he let go, as he started the first movement if
anyone was in the room they would have felt a slight tugging on their
consciousness, their eyes would be drawn to him as his power activated. He felt
the power course through him, like his senses sharpened and his body felt like
it was vibrating. As he struck the air the sound of the force echoed around the
room, his feet started to crack the concrete floor as they landed and he turned
with lightening swiftness. It was as if the energy was growing and growing. But
the supply was not infinite, there would be a price to pay if he took too much
so he reluctantly finished his form. A few years ago he had woken on the floor
of the basement, almost a cubic meter of wood had been in front of him and it
still stood. After he had checked himself over for injuries he pulled himself
up on the block, it had small indents of his knuckles. As he pulled himself up
he patted the block and disintegrated into dust and splinters.
The noises made from his stamping and you would have
thought that people would be curious about the noise but it was just another
noise in the cityscape lost and forgotten.
