Samsara Breaker

Chapter 7: Traversing the mist

'Titans Blessing huh?'

A quest, Indra knew the word but never thought of actually going on a quest. It was a foreign concept to him.

A time limit of one year, what's that all about? Could it take that long to complete? What happens if he doesn't complete it on time? With so many questions and no action, he decided he needed to move. No sense in finding out the hard way why not get started now?

Still, Indra didn't move for some time. First of all, there was the problem of climbing down the tree. Soon after attempting the feat, he realized there were no branches beyond a certain point and he still couldn't see the bottom. All he could see was a thick blanket of mist, it was ominous and gave him goosebumps along his arms, but why?

Instead of letting the problem stump him completely, he sat back down to gather his thoughts and formulate a plan.

'How can I use these powers to get down?'

Spatial Tethering was useful for short-range lateral movement, but going downwards was a whole different ball game. Not to mention that Indra was no longer in a fight or flight mode. He was not under threat, so he could rationalise. If one has time to think, then one has time to fear.

Indra considered the problem for some time. Blank, is the only word to describe his thought process on the matter. He couldn't think of a single way to get down with his current powers. At some point, he had decided he would not use any different powers until he had to or deemed one more important than another since he believed that once he used one he would lose another.

'To succeed, we must first believe that we can.'

Another quote? He didn't recognize this one. It seemed that before the quotes only came from the Buddha himself but this one he did not recall ever reading or hearing. It could very well be that he just hadn't encountered the saying before but he thought it unlikely. Besides, the quote didn't seem like one that would come from the Buddha anyway. No matter, the others quotes he received from. Well, now that he thought about it he didn't know who was giving him these words of wisdom. The who didn't matter though, so far they had all meant something important and he intended to find out what this one meant.

Once again Indra came up with nothing for at least fifteen minutes. He shivered a bit, his clothing was soaked when he awoke and there was a slight breeze chilling them.

'Finally, a problem these powers can help with.'

Indra had been thinking about this use of his powers ever since he woke up cold and miserable.

Slowly, his body began to heat up. The element of fire was more than just creating flames and burning things to the ground, it was heat, and it was warmth. His internal temperature seemed to be rising at a steady rate but it was hard to focus this on every part of his body. A piece of his sleeve caught fire as a result.

Indra immediately ripped the piece from his robe, waving it all around. He ended up just throwing it into the eerie mist below. With wide eyes Indra's glare instantly went to the portion of his forearm that the sleeve covered, it wasn't burned at all. A large breath escaped his mouth and he decided that would do, for now, he was warmed up a bit and at least some of his robe ended up dry. His eyes returned to normal and his gaze went to the piece of cloth that he caught a slight glimpse of as it disappeared into the fog. He stared into it for a while, contemplating the quote he had received from whatever or whoever kept sending them.

'That's it!'

To succeed, we must first believe that we can. He understood, he needed to take a leap of faith. In truth, Indra thought this may be a stretch but he was out of ideas and sick of this tree. Without even taking the time to think and psych himself out he lept from the tree and into the mist.