Awoken (Ilea, Book I) (COMPLETED)

Chapter 36

I was feeling dirty from my days of walking and for the first time since I crossed the Plains I realised no one could walk up on me and catch me bathing, well not without me hearing them first and having time to get changed. I took off my clothes and slipped into the cool water, enjoying the light feeling it gave me as I was floating on it.

I got slightly bored and decided to explore under the water. I dipped down under it and came into contact with a huge new variety of life, there were thousands of brightly coloured fish that were swimming around in the water, small plants at the bottom that were moving with the current, looking as if they were actually breathing. It was amazing what was at the bottom of this simple pool.

I swam further away from the grass area and found that it got a lot deeper, the surface was a couple of meters above my head and to my confusion I could see a rock wall in front of me. I came to the surface and realised that it was by the waterfall; the pool sloped down to the rock face like a basin underneath and the flat water on the surface then seeped over the edge slowly. I put my arms on the to of the wall, creating a light barrier around myself, just to make sure that the water did not push me too hard into the wall as it fell over the top.

The view from the wall was even more spectacular, the whole forest stretched out in front of me, a thousand shades of greens and other vibrant colours which I could not have named dotted themselves around in a way that made the whole scene look like a fictional painting. The aspect that made it feel the most surreal was that fact that I could touch the top of trees from where I was floating in the water.

After a while I swam back to the shallower water, had a wash and then I dried myself off and pulled my tunic back on. When I was feeling fresher I took my sword out of it’s sheath and decided I wanted to try an experiment; I went through the Tingure a couple of times on the ground and then I lifted myself up about a half a meter off the ground, it felt so good not to have to worry when I was practising my magic, when I was in the air I tried to run though it again, but much slower. I managed to get to the fifteenth stance when I lost focus with my levitation so I came back down again, unable to stop myself smiling; it had worked.

This way I was able to practise my levitation and my sword skills together and it would push my strength at the same time. I sat down at the side of the pool and ate a couple of the bread rolls, there were a few fruits in the trees around me, but I did not recognise them and I knew that not all fruits were edible, some could kill you. I decided to buy some fruit when I went back to the village tomorrow, then I would be able to compare the edible fruit to the ones in the trees around me. I bit into the roll and had a bit of a surprise, from the outside I thought they would be light and fluffy but they were very doughy and chewy, but it was a nice surprise and the rolls were very satisfying.

After I had eaten I practised my water bending, scooping a large ball of water out of the pool and shaping it into a leaf, whilst still keeping it as a liquid, once it was a leaf, I changed the shape to a bird, then to a butterfly, then to a horse, then I tried for a tree but half way through I lost concentration and it fell back into the pool with a splash. I was slightly disappointed with my concentration levels; I had all the power I needed, but my focus was what kept letting me down, without concentrating I could not do anything.

After that I tried a couple of deep breathing exercises, closing my eyes and opening out my other senses, trying to feel my surroundings, when an hour had passed I got bored. The sun was just dipping behind the horizon so I found a comfortable place to lie down and fell to sleep. No screaming children entered my dreams that night.

I woke up the next morning fully refreshed, the first thing I did was take another wash in the clear pool to wake myself up, it was so nice being able to do that; not having to worry if there was time before I had to get going, not having to worry about anyone hiding in the bushes, not having to worry about anything at all.  After I had washed and sorted out my hair, I dried off and pulled back on my tunic, it was a bit worn now after all the things I had done in it so I decided that when I went down to the village I would see if there was a place I could buy clothes or some sort of cloth.