Chapter 15: Impatience

Trip woke up. He looked around and saw the rocky walls of the cave. He groaned as he lifted his body from the rock. ‘9 year olds are not supposed to have back pains yet…’ he thought. However even though his sleeping arrangements were not ideal he was certainly in a much better place than the month previous. It had been a month since Alex and Trip had settled in the cave, Trip had already reached 9 years of age. During this time the two of them had been constantly training with the help of Grelin. Even with this training Trip calculated that he would not master intermediate magic until he reached the age of 10, and considering Alex’s speed it might take him even longer.

Trip had been teaching Alex through the help of Grelin. Unfortunately this meant that Alex’s training speed had become slower. This was because Grelin was not pleased with the way Alex was training for fire. He was not ready for the power of fire. According to Grelin Alex had to become more ‘Explosive’ so he told Trip to make Alex run around constantly and have him just play around with fire magic. This way he would understand the power behind fire magic. Fire magic was explosive and impulsive, in contrast to the tranquil and calm magic of water.

Since Alex was constantly playing around with fire magic, his appearance could only be described as unsightly. While Trip had kept the sharp and intelligent as always Alex had charred hair, and he even managed to burn off his eyebrows. Trip always found it hilarious to see how Alex had ruined his clothes and hair, but Alex himself was incredibly annoyed by it. Just when he had the conviction to rise above his previous childish self he had to reduce himself to such a state, but what annoyed him even more was the fact that the method actually worked. Even though his speed of training had decreased, he felt that he understood fire more. The way that it grew uncontrollably and how chaotically powerful it could be where both things that Alex now understood. Therefore he could not complain about it, he could only work hard and become strong.

Trip’s training at present was completely different from Alex. While Alex was causing explosions and chaos Trip had to stay in a state of pure tranquillity for the entire day. He spent 12 hours a day trying to get the hidden water to ‘trust’ him. The worst part was that Trip had to make sure he didn’t actually feel dissatisfied or annoyed by his training method, this was because then the hidden water would not trust him and perceive it as him holding evil intentions.

Grelin started to notice Trip’s dissatisfaction with the training. Even if Trip thought that he wasn’t showing dissatisfaction on the surface it would be stupid to think that he could attract hidden water in that state. This way Grelin knew he had to change Trip’s method of training. Trip had to become patient and understanding of water, thus he had to become water. It might sound ridiculous, but Grelin remembered that some elite water mages used to sit underwater for years in order to achieve a state of almost being the water. If Trip could do this then he would certainly understand water better.

The next day Grelin told Trip to sit at the bottom of the pond in front of the cave. While he was confused he trusted Grelin and he was unafraid of hard work. The difficult part of the training method was that one could not breathe when one was underwater, if they created an air pocket it would create a wall in between oneself and the water. There had to be complete contact between the person and the water.

Trip was of course unable to do this, as his natural instincts would tell him to get out of the water once he was out of breath. Grelin understood this, and had come up with a rather risky plan in order to counter this. Unwilling to withhold anything from Trip he told him everything that he wanted him to do.

“Ok Trip, here’s the plan. You will sit at the bottom of the pond holding your breath. After you run out of breath it will be your natural instinct to return to the surface, but it is vital that you stay underwater. To counteract your natural instincts what you will need to do it, err, make yourself pass out” Grelin mentally told Trip

Trip’s eyes were full of shock and fear “Wait, so you want me to pass out underwater. Won’t I drown?”

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Grelin then continued “Well, according to certain training methods it shouldn’t affect you much. The idea behind it is that you really become a part of the water, that way you will have a greater connection to the water and your training will increase a lot. What I’m trying to say is that theoretically you won’t drown.”

The word theoretically did not make Trip feel any better about the situation, this was a matter of life and death, and he couldn’t take this lightly. Trip questioned himself whether it was really worth it to attempt something insane like this.

Feeling Trip’s hesitation Grelin said “Look I’m not forcing you to do it, but your current training is at a standstill and I can’t imagine you would make any progress for ages. I really wouldn’t have mentioned this if I didn’t think it was a good idea.”

Those words drove Trip to attempt it. Grelin was someone he trusted a lot, if he believed this was the right way to go then he would go for it.

“Fine. I’ll do it.” Trip said

In reality Grelin was probably slightly too rash with such a training method, but he had a strong belief that you will not gain anything without suffering. Thus he suggested this method.

Trip then went into the water until he remained afloat in the centre of the pool. He then attached a heavy weight to his foot, dragging himself down to the bottom. This was to prevent him from drifting off when he was passed out. Trip’s eyes were bloodshot and full of fear. He then closed his eyes and then hit the part of his body that Grelin told him to hit, causing him to fall into a deep sleep underwater.

When Trip opened his eyes he was surrounded by darkness. ‘Is this death?’ Trip thought. He then started to see massive blue blobs floating around. ‘Is that water?’ Trip guessed that it had to be water. It was strange, because Trip felt that he could not breathe here, but that he also did not need to breathe. Trip explored the dark area and saw the water particles. Upon further inspection he found tiny little particles hiding in the shadow of the large particles. ‘Could these be the hidden water particles?’ Trip thought.

When Trip went forward to touch them they immediately fled from him. Trip couldn’t help but laugh, it was like they had their own consciousness. Trip felt very much at peace in this place, he did not quite understand where he was or what he was experiencing, but it felt as if that nothing outside of this realm mattered.

Trip sat down and closed his eyes; he felt at peace here, all the worries and troubles outside of here did no longer matter. Trip just rested for a long time, it was simply too comfortable to experience the tranquility of his surroundings.

Eventually Trip opened his eyes, not because he wanted to, but because he felt something strange. When he looked in front of him, he felt the small tiny particles sticking to him. The moment he moved they all rushed away, but this reminded Trip of his initial reasoning of being here. He had to gain the trust of the hidden particles. He finally understood his task and what he had to do.

He closed his eyes again, and patiently waited for the particles to come towards him. He moved slowly, trying not to frighten off the particles. He only moved a little, until he felt the particles rush away again. Trip continued, time and time again. Slowly trying to gain the trust of the little particles. After what Trip assumed to be a long time the water particles were willing to stick to him for several seconds even after he moved slightly. This tiny progress was still a huge step for him.

Suddenly the world turned fully black, with all the particles leaving him. For a second Trip felt incredibly lonely, but then he saw light overtake the darkness as he opened his eyes to see Alex looking at him and screaming “TRIP! WAKE UP!”

Trip coughed a bit and then said “I’m fine, stop shouting.”

Alex only looked at him for a bit, before saying “How can you be fine? You were underwater for hours, how did you survive?”

Trip only smiled now as he uttered the words “I understand now.”