I was led back to my room. I say led, but to be more precise, the door where I came from opened and it suddenly leads to my room now. I really wanted to know how they do this.

To be more specific, I was back in the bathroom. I suppose that door switcheroo they do has its own limitations. Do not get me wrong, it was still magical how they can switch which room the door leads to, but I have learned not to trust the doors.

I got out of the bathroom into the martial hall with the mats. The room looked just like how I left it. I am pretty sure I was under surveillance, for the sole reason, that it would be pretty embarrassing if they swap a door leading to my room and I was actually naked.

I sat cross-legged in the center of the room mulling over all that has happened the last few days. If it was a deal between higher-ups, it would be normal that I would be in the dark. It bugged me how I was treated as an outsider to not be given the slightest hint of preparation. In one way it can be considered as trust and faith in my ability to adapt.

I did learn a few things from these events. Not to be quick to judge others and to double-check everything. Also, it has been quite annoying my lack of martial ability to bite back when bitten. I promised myself to work hard, becoming an expert has been pumped to the top of my to-do list.

Well, second from the top of the list, the first thing is figuring out what technique I should teach the problem child. The only thing they mentioned was that the time for torture should not exceed fifteen minutes. If I take into account that she is a complete newbie, I should aim for quick torture of ten minutes.

Certain tools will definitely be helpful, it is a shame I did not have my kit. Reaching out to Truth Society should be possible and hence these tools will be brought. I needed to tell somebody my plans so that they do not act all surprised when I tell them what I needed.

I decided to take a nap and wait when I will be summoned. I got up, and went to the bedroom door just as I was going to open the door, I stopped. I would better sleep in this room, lest I get shifted to somewhere else. I turned my back to the door and laid down on my back at the same place I was seated. I slept in no time.

~~~~~~~

I woke up with a start, I sat up and looked around me. I was still in that dojo, the same mats, same walls, and the same doors. I felt relief that they could not shift me somewhere else without the doors.

I felt alienated and alone. Sometimes I can feel disoriented after a really good nap but this was not it. I missed my home, well my various houses across the world, but still every one of them was designed by me. It was mine.

While here I felt out of my depth here. I cannot even find a proper humorous analogy for how lost I felt. It feels like Alice meeting the terminator in Alice in Wonderland instead of the cool rabbit in a suit.

I was bummed out from the consecutive surprise these past few days. I sighed heavily and slapped my cheeks. I smiled slightly, promising myself that I will finish this damn job and go on vacation for a few months. I knew myself too well to promise a year, the job was too interesting after all.

However, I preferred working on my own terms at a satisfactory price. I was vacantly looking at the ceiling daydreaming when I heard a knock. I looked around thinking it came from one of the doors, to my surprise it actually came from below one of the mats. My eyes widened in surprise, I am very thankful that they had not opened the mat I slept on and shuffled me somewhere else. I was still underestimating them.

I approached the mat carefully, it was three mats away from where I sat. The mats were made of condensed straws, I think, and they were about one meter squared in area. I got close to the mat when I heard the knock again. I carefully said, “Come in!”

I felt stupid, this is stupid. Then the mat rose slowly from the ground, I watched bemusedly. I thought it would open like a hatch, I sighed in defeat. I will not overthink anything again in the future. In the place of the mat was a small old elevator with a small screen inside. There was a ‘Come!’ in all caps on the screen, I did not need to be invited twice.

I hurriedly went to the bathroom, I hesitated slightly before opening the door but I managed to do it. It did lead to the bathroom this time. I washed my face and got myself decent then I entered the elevator.

I expect it to smell like an old elevator, yet it smelled like lilies. It was a soft smell that got the edge out of me. I was more relaxed than I cared to admit. I am almost getting used to the avalanche of surprises. The elevator ride down was smooth, it took about a minute to arrive.

There was a soft ding then the door opened to another sparring room, this one looked to have been used quite often. I walked out of the elevator as confidently as I could, I felt trepidation for what will come next. I looked behind me to catch the elevator going down. I just came from above though, I was just about to overthink it when I decided it was not worth it.

I looked around to see who had summoned me, the room looked just like the one I had come from, the only difference was that this one had seen more use than my room. There was nobody and I did not fancy opening up the doors to look around.

I was not doing anything, to begin with, so I can just sit around the same way I had in the other room. I was just about to sit when I thought better of it. Maybe I can do some warmups to loosen up my body, having the stress accumulating was a bad idea.

I sat cross-legged taking deep breaths and holding them in for 10 seconds and then exhaling strongly. I did a few breathing cycles, then once I felt refreshed I stood up and started stretching my body. I focused intently on my movements, forgetting where I was, my worries, my fears, and I just sunk into the routine. It was similar to the zone yet that was not it.

After the stretches I started the karate kata, it did not matter which one I started with. I would begin slowly and speed up as I went through it. It took me some time, I am not good at keeping track of time when I am completely focused. The lack of clocks and windows did not help in tracking time either.

I was done with my exercise, I needed a shower at this point. I contemplated going to the door that led to the bathroom, I was hesitating. After a few moments, I thought better of it. I will do some breathing exercises as I wind down from my workout. I did just that.

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I was getting bored at this point. I just hoped whoever invited me would show up already. That was when I heard footsteps coming from the door that leads to the bathroom. I celebrated inwardly for my choice not to open that door.

“Reward and punishment are the best encouragement when used wisely.”

The voice sounded old and raspy, the door opened to reveal a tall old man garbed in a black karate outfit with a black bald around his waist. His physique looked ordinary, not overly buff nor overly thin but his aura was heavy. He spoke of reward and punishment, if the reward was to be instructed by him that would definitely make up for all the trouble I had gone through.

“Do not jump to conclusions just yet, I might guide you to break through to the next step. Becoming an expert in Iaido, karate, or in knife throwing would help you breakthrough in the other martial arts.”

He walked out of the other room calmly, each step covered the same distance as the one before it. Normally I would assume that he was showing off but it seemed like there was more to his actions that meet the eyes. I stood up as he walked towards me, I had the same feeling that I had when I met with the leaders and they decided to show me the consequences of failing to meet their expectations.

I was getting suffocated from the aura, I tried to get my bearings. I tried to focus on breathing that was when I noticed something odd. The aura was not viscous like water, it was more like a breath of humid air that was saturated with intentions. He was testing me, my breath was getting labored as I tried to figure the intention hidden in the aura.

This was something similar to feeding an intention to one’s aura, just like how swordsman would focus on the edge of their swords to an odd degree. They would defend when needed, attack when appropriate, and look for weak points to exploit.

I cleared my mind of the useless overthinking, as I focused my breath slowed and grew deeper. I grew more aware of my heartbeat, unhurried but powerful. It was filled with curiosity and anticipation. I sensed how my body was tense, it was as if this aura was challenging it. My body wanted to fight.

I was observing myself from outside, it was odd like reading a book detailing how I felt. My mind was weighing the odds of victory and searching for weaknesses to exploit. There was one final thing, once I became aware of it I could not unsee it. This was definitely aura, but it was everywhere. The floor, ceiling, clothes, air, and me and the old man, we all had an aura.

It was a startling discovery, I always thought that aura represented intention and only humans can have intentions. Was this the bottleneck I had been facing all along? Being able to detect other people’s aura had led to this fatal misunderstanding.

As I understood my mistake, I felt a connection with the aura inside of me. It felt like it had a mind of its own, I was startled once more. This all felt like a feverish dream. I focused on the aura inside me, it seemed to be mine, more precisely it was a representation of who I am. It was somewhat similar to personality, yet it was closer to a portrayal of the real me. Me who was unburdened by society’s standards, by stuffy common sense, by greed, by fear, it felt exhilarating akin to meeting a close friend.

I smiled at the old man, he did not look surprised. I had deciphered his intentions hidden in the aura, it was a message of one word; ‘Focus!’. I tried to send a message back using my own aura, it was a lot more difficult than I thought. I failed twice before succeeding to imbue my own gaze with a message, ‘Thank you!’.

I could not use my aura in a way comparable to the old man, I guess I was too hasty. Quite similar to trying to use a muscle I had just discovered, I needed to practice.

I felt utterly exhausted after sending the message, the old man seemed to receive it and he smiled slightly. The suffocating aura was gone after that, he nodded at me as I feebly fell to the floor. I laid on my back gasping for breath.

“You come from quite an impressive bloodline, your family has always been proficient with aura. No one mentioned it to you to avoid hurting your fragile ego.”

I felt my heart sink down, was I making a fool of myself all along? Thinking myself to be an unparalleled genius, I was merely a frog in a well. I decided not to be too harsh on myself, I had become an expert now.

“You have not become an expert just yet, I am not telling you all of this to watch the amusing upheaval of your emotions. Being an expert entails imbuing your martial arts with aura, intentions to hurt or kill will guide you in the fight. Some people call it the zone, they accidentally come in contact with their own aura and their entire being happens to be aligned with a certain goal. They get a feeling of invincibility, a high of sorts. Quite a dangerous thing for the untrained.”

He looked at me as I laid on my back struggling to sit back up. I could not decipher what this look meant.

“You did not understand my intentions just now, you merely took a small step towards becoming an expert. I am not impressed with any of this. I will notify the heads to send someone to further your understanding of aura. From this moment your schedule will be dedicated to mastering aura, hence reaching the expert level and teaching the young miss the arts of torture. Your understanding of torture should improve as you get familiar with aura.”

He did not wait for me to reply, merely throwing a complicated look at me and then leaving the room. He closed the door behind him. I was left in silence for a few minutes, I sat there dazedly gazing at the door. These ninjas were too straightforward and efficient in every action.

This was becoming more overwhelming but with the promise of becoming an expert, I was willing to bear it. I heard a knock from the ceiling, I crawled away from it. I was sure the elevator would just come down and for once I was right. The elevator came down unhurriedly then came to a stop a few centimeters away from the ground.

I picked myself up and entered, on the screen there were two words this time. They said, ‘Good luck!’. I snorted, I needed lots of luck but more importantly, I needed zeal. I got back to my room to find a small table was set up with a cushion at the center of the room, my meal was ready on it.

It was nothing like the feast of last time, I was not going to complain as long as the food was as delicious as before. There was a reprieve in eating in silence, with complete focus on every bit of the food. It decreases the amount of food one partakes in, as one is not distracted by something else.

The absolute focus was the key to the aura, I wondered which doors it could open as well. After I was done with the meal, which was precisely the amount I needed. I felt my hunger satiated with no heaviness or sluggishness that one experiences following a meal. I savored how energetic I was, ninjas did know their way around auras after all.

I sat cross-legged, introspecting to sense the aura I had chanced upon when the old man pressured me with his aura. It felt foggy and not as clear as before, my aura acted like a mischievous kid playing hide and seek.

I recalled the old man’s message, ‘Focus!’. The last time I felt the pressure of his aura pushing me inside myself as I sought sanctuary my aura showed up. It was not protectiveness or the danger I was exposed to that got it out. I was on the cusp of a major understanding, I crossed my arms as I mulled over it.

I sat in contemplation for some time, I could not tell how long I was completely focused on recalling what I did and how I felt as I sensed my aura for the first time. I understood what I needed to do.

Aura is a part of you, unless you are your aura then you must call out to it. I had a hunch that being a master meant becoming one with your aura as in being completely and absolutely true to yourself. I engraved this thought in my mind to try it out or research it later.

For now, I started to practice calling out to my aura and getting to know my real self. This was all so new, but it is worth all of the shit I went through. As the aura responded to my call, I experienced peacefulness and balance of a scale I have never experienced before.

I know what to do, the more I come in contact with it the more I will transform along its lines. I needed someone to guide me through certain parts, so for now I will consider this a test drive. I lied down with a smile, anticipating what tomorrow will be like.