Un'tra's body was being tortured with pain, but his mind was in a peaceful garden. Like the ones he had always strolled with Un'debro. There was a man sitting on a bench with a hood over his face. Un'tra had seen this scene many times before and knew the disguises his mentor took.
"Un'debro? How are you here? How am I here? What is this?" Un'tra asked.
"Aye, no surprising you with the same trick. We are both in your mind, son. Is that so hard to imagine?" Un'debro removed the hood to reveal his gaunt face. He seemed to have no blood in his face and the cut on his neck was quite visible.
"Mentor, it matters not where we are now. You are not in the Eternal Halls. Why have you doomed your spirit and given up enlightenment for me?" Tears were now streaming down Un'tra's cheeks.
"My young friend, helping you on your Path is more enlightening than you may ever know." Un'debro said with a smile and an attitude of complete serenity. This was a bizarre sight juxtaposed with his ghastly appearance.
"Mentor, I have read what you have told me to read. I have practiced what you told me to practice. I have been kind. I have been generous. I have been the defender of the weak as you taught me to be. However, I have no sight or understanding of how my Path could be remotely as worthy as your spirit's enlightenment."
"That is because you are not looking at the right Path. I had a vision before my demise. It was you and I walking on the most beautiful Path." Un'tra could tell that this might be a speech full of riddles and lessons. He continued to cry, but some of the tears were now of joy and appreciation for the once boring stories he had always begrudged.
"I could realize it in that moment, but you could not. This Path was for me and not for you. Then I heard the sound of running water. Below the Path, I saw a raging river. It dawned on me in my final breaths. You are not walking on your Path. You are racing down the river, that is your Path." Un'debro said the last sentence with such joy and peace.
"Why must you always talk in riddles? My Path is now a river? This river sounds like it will consume me." Un'tra said, as his head dropped and some pain returned to his face.
"Your Path might consume you. This river is full of rocks and dangers at every corner. But, this is wonderful news, boy. You were not meant to walk the Path as I was. You are meant to race forward and change the environment around you. You are not like the other Holi-inte. You will change the Paths of those around you and no one will be able to match the might of your River. Now, go. You have much work to do."
"My Path is a River? How will I know where it will bend and break?" Un'tra inquired as the pain in his face was growing to its previous levels.
"Follow the River's current. Give nourishment to those on Paths that need it, and wash away the Paths of corruption." Un'debro said as he and the garden began to fade away from vision.
Un'tra felt the edges of the bowl again and the searing pain on his face. He jerked his face out of the bowl with such force that he fell from the pedestal. Some Holi-inte moved out of the way to not be hit by the falling man. Un'tra opened his eyes to see the crowd staring in amazement at him. None were more amazed than Un'nipu.
"This is not possible. You were to be seared and drowned!" Un'nipu did not care about the shock of the crowd at this statement.
Un'tra rose from the ground with determination. His face had been scarred with burn marks around his eyes. That was not what was surprising. These burn marks radiated with a sparkling purple color. The burns looked painful, but the mystical sight of the purple marks was astonishing. The light shone on the marks in mesmerizing ways and angles. Un'tra was the same man, but now he looked otherworldly with his purple burn marks. The sight of his unwavering eyes and seared purple flesh sent shivers through the crowd.
"You have failed Un'nipu and you will pay for your deception." Un'tra said in a commanding voice. The crowd of mostly young Holi-inte began to stir with rebellious energy. Un'nipu slumped off the platform with terror. His retribution would not be had that day. The Senators had not relied on just one plan from a strange man to accomplish their goals.
The young Holi-inte members were woefully unprepared for a battalion of Holi-com to enter the campus. There was no discussion or announcement of the intrusion. The Holi-com began to slaughter the surprised Holi-inte. This surprise assault was so quick and violent that nearly half of the Holi-inte were slain with the first swings and thrusts of the Holi-com. An air of chaos erupted in the plaza and panicked young men and women ran in every direction. Several of the closest Holi-inte grabbed Un'tra to escort him out of the fury.
"What are you doing brothers and sisters? We must defend ourselves and the youngest among us." Un'tra was trying to shrug off their many hands.
"No, Un'tra. When you underwent the Trial many of us prayed for the gods' mercy. Miraculously we shared a common prayer and were approached by a rabbit." One of the Holi-inte said with a calm voice that somehow cut through the screams and bloodshed of the ambush. Un'tra stared in disbelief at the man and the recurrence of yet another rabbit.
"The rabbit told all of us that our Path is that of a current. We may guide 'The One who Sees Through Fire', or we may be the eddy that dooms millions of souls." The repeated imagery of rabbits and rivers solidified Un'tra's faith and resolve. He still did not want these young men and women to save him, while others were being harmed. However, there was not much he could do as this group of Holi-inte banded together to carry him away. They all seemed to have made their decisions and executed their actions simultaneously. The Holi-inte dragged Un'tra into the barracks and to a small passageway to the sewers.
"Be good and just, Un'tra. We have chosen to be the current and will give you time to escape." One of the Holi-inte said with no hesitation or fear for his sacrifice.
"I can not leave and let you be slaughtered!" Un'tra said defiantly. His purple burn marks almost seemed to glow brighter with his emotion.
"Your Path may save so many more than us few. Go and discover your Path that will bring calm to this seething river." The same Holi-inte said with an authority much bigger than himself. Un'tra could not accept this reality, but several of the Holi-inte pushed him in and sealed the passageway.
Un'tra cried with vigor as he slammed his fists on the passage door. It didn't budge, but he continued to slam his fists. On the other side of the barrier, he could hear the sounds of fighting and death. His tears blurred his vision and stung his purple burn marks. His struggles did not move the seal and the sounds of death grew into cacophony. Un'tra tried to look within himself as he was surrounded by pain and the noise of slaughter. Inside his being were dark clouds. Fire raged and blocked his view of where he was. Screams filled his ears and the flames nipped at his extremities. With much pain, Un'tra was jolted from his failed meditation back into the awful surroundings of the sewer. He noticed the sounds had dissipated and realized that if he were caught that these Holi-inte would have sacrificed themselves for nothing. Un'tra had been sacrificed for too many times now. 'Why should he live while these great men and women did not?' Un'tra could hear the prying sounds of attempts to enter the sewer. There would be time to remember the fallen, but that time was not now.
Un'tra walked through the sewers for three days. He could tell the time by the changing light that peered through small holes and cracks of the sewer system. The system surprised Un'tra. He thought to himself about the talented citizens who created and knew the entire system. It was quite confusing, almost like a maze to Un'tra. This did not disturb him though, as it greatly helped with avoiding detection. Un'tra didn't understand where he was heading, but it was easy to avoid the noisy patrols. He changed his course as needed when heard noises down tunnels and outside passages. Un'tra tried to meditate and look within often. All he could see were the dark clouds and all he could hear were the awful noises. He found no rest and no insights from his meditation.
"Mentor, I could use your help now." Un'tra pleaded to the silence. His tears constantly stung his scars. He cried for the fallen Holi-inte and in the back of his mind he felt the sting of unredeemable failure. Those brave men and women sacrificed themselves, and for what? Un'tra was no great hero and now couldn't look within himself to find guidance.
"If I can not look within, then who am I?" Un'tra cried to himself, before having to flee down a passage away from an incoming sound.
After the three day journey through the sewers, Un'tra came upon a large exit. He paused and took a moment to look behind. The air was heavy and confining, but there was a faint sound that seemed to surround him. He listened closely and heard two words. "Look within". He could not make out the voice, but a strange energy streamed through his body. Un'tra sat down, took a deep breath, and looked within himself. He felt an intensity not common to his normally peaceful meditations. The dark clouds and noises flooded his mind, but then there came a seam of light. Un'tra felt the heavy weight of the clouds around him but maneuvered his way toward the seam. The light blinded him and even seemed to reignite the pain in his scars as if he was back in the Ob-inte. The pain was washed away by the deluge of returning memories. The clouds of his mind cleared and Un'tra saw visions of what could be and what had passed. The memories of his mentor's and peers' sacrifices for him shone with a brilliant light. This was not how their Paths should have ended and running away was not going to be Un'tra's Path. He vowed to himself to return to Haimore immediately, with a disguise to avoid danger. He had to try to make a difference. As he raised from his meditation he could hear unfriendly noise coming from around the corner. The way back was blocked and violence would not bring him to where he needed to be. Un'tra took a deep breath and stepped out of the sewers through the uncertain exit. The warm air and more pleasant smells were wonderful, but the sunlight blinded him and he could not see or sense his surroundings.
"Well, you look worse than a rat who 'ad to gnaw on 'is own tail." A strange gritty voice appeared. Un'tra could not see the speaker but could tell that it was directed at him.
"Who are you?"
"Well me, that doesn' much matta. You on the otha 'and 'ave a special look to ya. What's the matta wit your eyes? What're those purple marks?" the strange voice said, as Un'tra swung around violently to locate the speaker.
"I can not tell you my identity. My Path is full of raging waters and debris. Are you a rock to be avoided or a ray of light to warm my half-drowned self?" Un'tra asked as he could start to make out the blurred outline of the speaker. The blurred figure sat on a carriage and remained silent for what felt like an eternity. Un'tra was becoming increasingly nervous and impatient. He did not know what to do but demand an answer and prepare for a fight.
"Are you a rock or light?"