Running for a few hours. Huffing and pacing across the track. Sarey couldn't help but forced herself to the limits. Allan used to take breaks in the past, but he remained in motion all this time. He incorporated the breathing exercise Clayton taught him after considering everything. He found the effect rather effective.
Allan thought that it would be more negative than not doing them. He found his breathing more steady. His lungs felt more effective and he wasn't sweating that much. He still felt the ache and soreness after finishing the number of times he finished the round. It was around the two trunks of trees which he need to jump above. Like that, he knew how many tracks he did himself.
“Phew.” Allan calmed down and sat not so far across from silent Sarey, who had already finished her run. She rested in pain and intolerance to such an order of exercise.
“That breathing. Can you teach it to me?” She suddenly asked Allan.
“B-breathing? You noticed?” Allan asked in surprise. He was not trying to hide it from her. He knew she knew something about them from occasional talks and comments she told him.
“You know... They are not so regular things. If it's some sort of technique that requires a manual, it is even harder to find one. Most martial schools possess the exclusivity for such methods. These can have a deep history and even some small roots with energy users.” Sarey talked with the open truth. Not concealing the truth she knew since the words she learned through her master, Terg.
Allan was thoughtful about her words and his father's breathing technique. His father taught him this in a carefree manner. He thought it was almost useless to him. Whether or not he learned it, it did not matter to him all that much when he was younger. He was not always thoughtful about using it or practicing it. From what he knew, it was not all that special. Calming himself down? He could do it himself. Through his will alone. Why bother using some made-up thing?
Allan never considered its importance. Not even now. That was one of the reasons Sarey's words left him undecided. Is it something special? What makes it special? It was breathing, a thing that everyone living being needed.
Allan had no experience with this knowledge. It was something he never talked about to anyone, and its details were hidden from him or not told to him. Clayton taught it to him once, and that was it. The truth was, rather complex and simple used in the body forging and other pathways.
Breathing exercises have a wide range of usage. Some help with the circulation of oxygen, which in turn affected the flow of blood. Others absorb the impact and effect on the lungs, which would expand and strengthen the core of the body.
The kind which was the best enhances the most fundamental thing in the human body, excluding the human brain, that is.
That is the human heart. It is not exactly the core, but its importance is absolute. It is part of everything and affects all functions on an essential level.
Most knowledge of this was not known until the ages when humans rose to heaven, literary and in large numbers. It was a marvel, how humans came to the apex of the universe. They were, after all, less than a speck of dust on a scale of the universe. Small beings that could hold terrifying powers.
The heart pumped the blood, affecting the brain. What would be a heart without proper lungs which fueled the body? It was a complicated process. Add to that an energy, and all effects would shift, no longer be effective. That happened countless ages in the past when the first humans discovered the path of energy. They found many solutions and mysteries, which would later start the vast pathways into a higher state of being. Not even 36 is very keen on such further history. Not like he is one though, to care.
The majority of mortals and immortals alike were unaware of this. Only a few were receptive enough to breach the human body's systems and became aware of the underlying effects that could shake the human body. The effects and what caused this or that made the whole premise of the body forging methods and many core essences of cultivation.
Sarey was very poor in her knowledge in the grand world of immortals. Still, her case is much better since she had teacher Terg. Although, even he, had not a lot of awareness about the higher pieces of information. Even when one awoke to their Spark, there was no greater meaning without proper choices. Some would waste their potential early on and centuries would dwindle until they would cease to have a chance to reach anything greater than the very start.
Others were too poor to take full advantage of what the heavens granted them. Some were drunk it that power and started dramas which were later stated as madness. Although, they seldom happened.
Allan was not that hesitant to talk about this. He did not know better. It was the way Sarey's situation troubled him. What she told him didn't sound that simple and, for all he knew, this breathing exercise could be an important piece of the mysteries of his father.
“I can... help you with that. It was something that my father told me. It could hardly be something that could be considered teaching. He only made sure my posture and timing were correct, as well as the principle behind it. I was young back then and did not fully understand it. You seem to know more... Can you tell me more?”
Sarey frowned upon hearing him. More? There was not much else. She didn't know more.
“How about asking 36? I know nothing about it since it is not very relatable topic anywhere. You know... It is just not.” Sarey helplessly said.
“Your place seems very different from mine. Do you want to know more? How about a mutual exchange? I will tell you something and you will tell me something in the same interest.” Sarey came up with something that would perhaps break the ice. Revealing the secrets hidden behind thick ice, or hidden depth, dark and unknown, which she did not dare to imagine.
Allan thought only for a moment. Considering his own experience, he was always hesitant to share deep details about his place.
“I am not so sure if it's good...”
“Why? What for? We can improve our lives by sharing the things that are digging into our minds. It could help, I think.” Sarey tried to convince him. She was very curious about his place. It did not exactly mean something strange to her. In all honesty, she had no bad or strange intentions, she had a curious personality and wanted to know more. Since her time with Terg, her curiosity was more or less satisfied. Terg was, after all, very knowledgeable.
Allan was left with a sour taste in his mouth. So what if he told her or not? Does it matter to him that much? Not really. He had so much on his plate already that he wanted to keep going with his current problems. Doing more or thinking about the past would have a bad influence on his mentality. That was one reason he was unwilling to talk too much.
The other was simpler. He was on another planet altogether. What would need to be done to cross the world? He would never know or dare to imagine that. He knew only a few legends that he was not even sure are real. Talks about interplanetary travel. People who crossed the space itself. He struggled to think about the underlying truth and possibilities.
Alas, as with everything. He went through death, and strange, unknown things happened to him. Even 36 is a stranger in his mind, which is immortal, forced to be a teacher of a mortal.
“Sarey. What do you want to even know? I don't believe what I can say will have any good end.” Allan said with some indecisiveness.
“You fear your fate? That you ended in my place? Are you even aware of Tricloud region?”
Allan paused before answering the truth. “No. never heard of it in my life.”
“What about the Timeless Kingdom? It is quite bigger than the Tricloud region. It goes all the way from the northern part of the continent to the south and is a well-known kingdom with a deep history.”
“N-no.”
“Oh. I guess you don't know. You fell from the heavens. What sort of place are you from?” Sarey said in the same tone as usual.
“Heavens?” Allan chuckled inside. What heavens? He never considered any otherworldly presence or entity in his life. As or the people who are falling from the sky? It sounded like a cheap story. One which would be in discount or thrown into the trash.
“I came from a regular-looking mortal city with my father when I was 3 or 4 years old. I don't remember those years, to be honest. Its name was the City of Waan in the kingdom of Grusha.” Allan decided to be openly honest. Be it for himself or not, he did not want to lie to Sarey at all. Not after everything she did to him.
Similar to Allan beforehand, Sarey found the names unknown to her.
“Whatever, Allan. Don't be too harsh on yourself. I believe there could be a chance to know more.”
“What makes you say so?” He asked.
“Me. 36. My former teacher? I found a mystical teacher for myself as well. He was an old man with some history which I don't know about. After some of my pursuit and begging, he agreed to become my teacher. The reason I am telling it to you is that he is an energy user. Someone who awakened his Spark after dozens of years of trying. He told me quite a few stories and information. Not a lot as crazy or mind-blowing as you would think. He was mortal like us. Someone from the other regions around Tricloud.”
Allan calmly listened to her story. He didn't find it that much surprising. Not after his experience. The world that was beyond mortal means must be incredible. The sight of the universe and immortal figures such as the one who attacked Skoll came to mind. Those people must be totally crazy and absolutely unhinged to mortal's comprehension.
The question was whether he would be able to have the mental aptitude to continue going forward. He feels like he does, at the moment, but it could change for worse. If his place or his father were on another planet, there was no way it could stop him.
Fist clenched behind his sides, he asked. “Did he ever talked you about the bigger world?”
“A little, but not much. He was the same as you. Little mysterious and quiet about his past. He talked about some things and left out the others.” Sarey said meaningfully.
Allan did not find her words that harsh. It confirmed to him that Sarey was not as simple as he believed.
“But! He told me some things which deeply affected me. I guess I may as well tell you that. It was not about energy itself, but the ones who use it. World what we know is not some kind of bigger place. There are much faster and more majestic places, where are cities worth of people who manifested their spark and walk beyond that. World of immortals beyond our imagination. That kind of world was hardly something that would welcome mortals with wide arms. It was more of a warning than anything else. I was younger, after all.”
“It made sense even when I was young. Imagine giving a madman the power to shake worldly powers? Energy is mysterious and magical. The scene when he flowed with misty energy is still lingering within my mind. I find it more beautiful than anything else.” Remembering it clearly, Sarey kept her story short.
Allan listened. Not saying much, even after her finish.
Sarey was overly talkative and did not leave out most of the things she wanted to tell him. It was enough for her. Both laid back on a trunk of a tree.
After some time.
Sarey had enough and forced Allan to cheer up.
“If you will be so pessimistic. I will gut your punches or how it's said. I mean, no point is good. So what if your father left you out? My mother left me as well, and I am not here being all that sad about it. We had to keep going because we still have our lives to care for. Maybe you should think more about yourself and less about others. Don't you think?” Sarey lifted Allan's shirt collar with quite some difficulty and talked her soul to his.
“You.. got heavy again?”
Signing, Allan has been done with this for a long time, yet it always came back. It is not a good mentality to do things this way, and every escape from these memories could be achieved by working in the forge or getting out to train like madmen. It is at least his way of doing things, but that things could not be done constantly. Sarey's words made much sense to him
“You are right,” he answers.