Aether : Calraem

Chapter 54: The Holy Plane, Medidraco

Calico Jack P.O.V

"Okay."

Resolved, I clear my heart of all hesitation and focus. I made my decision and I'm going to stick with it.

I close my eyes.

Inhale. Exhale.

Inhale. Exhale.

Gradually, my breathing and heart rate slow down. It's a method I was very familiar with and it doesn't take long before I completely drift away.

I am seperated from myself.

And because of it, my body enters a state of meditation.

My senses - ones that I'm not usually aware of - are sharpened and more receptive, flooding me with new information.

Firstly, I was now longer on the battlefield. I was surrounded by a darkness that not even midnight could reach.

But it didn't stay that way for long. Once I was getting comfortable, an unfamiliar haze appeared-something similar to mist.

Right in front of that haze, something began to materialize.

Since I had been here before I wasn't all that surprised. Or impressed.

Either way my face wouldn't have shown it.

How vexing.

What soon materialized from the haze was a flight of glowing white stairs.

Each step was wide enough to let thirty people sit on them but the spaces between them was nothing worth mentioning. Other than the extreme breadth of each step, the white stairs didn't look much different from any other flight of stairs.

But, it shouldn't be surprising that they weren't just a normal flight of stairs.

"Here goes..."

- As soon as I took the first step, a wave of memories passed through me, drowning me.

"Grk!" I groaned, clenching my teeth.

The first time I did it I collapsed immediately after. But now, I've gotten better and bearing it.

I have to keep climbing if I want to save our island - my home.

Even if I have to make this sacrifice.

*

Back home it was a daily ritual for a dragonman to meditate. It was the one thing that the seven families could agree on.

"Meditation is the responsibility of the Vor'Arlet's. As royalty, we are not just responsible for the world order, but to continuously receive guidance from our ancestors."

"We are born greater and as such, we should continuously strive to go to even greater heights. Meditate and you will find that place! That higher plane!"

"Meditate and you will be free."

"Clear the mind and you will be cleansed of all weaknesses."

"Meditate!"

"Meditate!"

"MEDITATE!"

Eventually you get so fed up with the notion that the idea of it just seems more like a bother than relaxation. I thought the entire purpose of meditation had to with relaxing, but I didn't feel relaxed at all.

In fact, not many children did.

Personally I didn't like it. I hated being repeatedly told what to do.

"What's so great about meditation anyway?" I asked myself, unable to understand what the adults seemingly did.

Then, one day, I did it; I fell into meditation by accident.