Basil was sitting cross-legged with his eyes closed, possessing such extraordinary focus that a bird could come and sit on his head, mistaking it for a rock.
Basil was now at the beginning of the first stage of the 'mental and spiritual clarity' state. He began to do what he had done in the 'Deep Dark Valley,' where he gathered all his thoughts and tried to stabilize them so he could extinguish them. But each time he failed and had to start over, for now, he needed to gather not just his battle thoughts but all thoughts, regardless of their type.
This state continued for him for five days until he managed to suppress a few of his thoughts, but he couldn’t extinguish them all. There were thoughts and beliefs he could never let control his mind. Every time he got close to complete control, a new thought or belief would emerge to distract him. After just two more days, he was able to complete the first stage, having suppressed all his thoughts by consolidating and anchoring them to control them.
In this stage, it wasn’t hard for Basil because he only needed to gather his thoughts and make them stable and fixed to control them, and when he succeeded, he was able to extinguish them.
When Basil succeeded in the first stage of 'Anchoring Thoughts,' he felt as if he were in an infinite space. He felt comfortable in this place; it was so quiet that if you threw a stone, its sound would echo in your ears thousands of times.
This space was a light blue, almost white. After a while, Basil felt a change occurring in this space. His mother, Aunt Samira, Anmar, and Grandpa Ali appeared before him, and when he saw them, he joyfully approached them. But when he reached them, Aunt Samira was cut into pieces right before his eyes. Anmar started to suffocate until she died. Grandpa Ali’s body began to decay rapidly until he completely vanished, and finally, his mother began to dissolve before his eyes as if she were being subjected to a scorching fire.
With every moment, Basil was torn apart by pain, screaming madly, starting with Aunt Samira and culminating with his mother. Upon witnessing his mother die this way before his eyes, Basil lost all will to live, and his eyes became empty. When this happened, the space around him began to crack little by little until it shattered.
“Waaaaah!”
Basil opened his eyes, screaming as if he had just awakened from the worst nightmare of his life. He then looked towards the teacher and asked, his face pale, “Teacher, what was that exactly? What happened? I was in an infinite space, and I felt I belonged there, a comfort like no other, but in an instant, everything changed from tranquility and peace to intense torment.”
The teacher replied after sighing, “That is the beginning of the second stage: 'Understanding the Riddle and Solving It.' You were in the space of your soul, called the 'Sea of the Soul.' I told you before that this is the hardest stage; you will face your greatest fears, and you won’t be able to continue unless you overcome them. Afterward, it’s time to dive into the soul and arrange your breathing cycle precisely, and then start feeling your origin points.”
Basil was dripping with cold sweat. He began to remember what he had seen before. When he was in that space, he felt it as if it were real, even though he kept convincing himself that it was an illusion. He couldn’t bear it any longer when it came to his mother.
Basil said in a trembling voice, “Teacher, will I have to go through such a thing every time I enter the second stage?”
The teacher answered, “Every time will be different; it will worsen with each second attempt, but it will never lighten. I think you should prepare well because there are those whose souls were lost in this test after repeating it many times. That’s why most people, when they fail, stop training out of fear of losing themselves. But don’t worry; you can do it. Trust my words.”
Basil, whose face was pale, changed his gaze and decided to start anew. He had always been ready to face any danger; there is nothing without a cost in this world—that's what Basil believed.
Basil began again, but he failed each time, returning with a face more pallid than before. He remained in this state for ten days without achieving any result.
At first, Basil took a long time to complete the first stage, but after repeatedly trying, he managed to finish it in half an hour.
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Attempt number twenty, inside the 'Sea of the Soul':
“No, no, no, no, no, please don’t kill those I hold dear. Don’t torture me like this, please.” Basil's heart was breaking from the pain; he had reached a stage where he saw his loved ones being killed in the most brutal ways, not once or twice, but hundreds of times, and in the end, he lost control of himself, shattering the 'Sea of the Soul.'
As Basil finished the attempt, he would immediately enter the next one, and the exhaustion and suffering he felt were many times greater than what he had felt during his training in the previous year.
With each subsequent attempt, the torment intensified. Basil closed his eyes and didn’t even look when he heard his mother’s screams of agony.
“I understand the reason for all this. It’s all just an illusion I create myself. When I see tranquility and peace, my emotions surge because I blame myself for the comfort I obtained alone, leaving those I love and cherish behind. My subconscious starts making me hallucinate those things I fear might happen, and if I don’t realize this, I won’t be able to move forward forever.”
After understanding his state, even with all the ways his mother and others cried or died, he didn’t let this confuse him and focused on controlling his emotions and fears. Gradually, the intensity of the screams decreased until the sound completely vanished. Basil suppressed all negative and positive emotions, even his feelings toward demons, thus completing the first task.
When Basil opened his eyes, he found the 'Sea of the Soul' as he had in the initial moments of entering it. Basil sighed with relief because he had finally passed this test.
Nothing happened for a long time until a gate of bright light formed, so massive that its width and length were unseeable. When Basil approached it, a very thin gap appeared, but it was enough for him to pass through.
Seeing this, Basil understood he had to go through that opening. He mentally prepared himself and stepped inside. This time, there was infinite darkness, and there were fourteen spheres with a diameter of thirty centimeters each, around which runes continuously changed.
Basil understood what he had to do; he needed to comprehend these riddles completely to free and unlock the seals on these fourteen spheres.
“So, this is what the teacher meant by understanding and solving the riddle. But if the name of the stage refers to this test, doesn’t that mean it’s the hardest test? Even after enduring all that bitter suffering, there’s still more to come?”
As Basil approached one of the spheres, he touched it, and many thoughts invaded his mind, prompting him to withdraw his hand quickly. At that moment, Basil understood, “I must understand these thoughts and control them to unravel the riddle of those runes and extinguish these thoughts again, just as I did in the first stage.”
Basil touched the sphere again, and those thoughts flooded back into his consciousness, and he began to analyze them. A smile appeared on Basil’s face; he was enjoying this. He had loved books since childhood, especially the mysterious ones that carried difficult riddles and puzzles.
It seemed he had found a wonderful riddle to enjoy this time, and the best part was that the reward would be magnificent. Basil remained in this state for a long time that he actually lost track of time.
A lot of time passed since he entered the second stage, and his teacher, who was watching him, was profoundly shocked this time. After calming down a bit, he smiled and said, “To complete the hardest test among all tests in a single day, this is simply not something anyone can achieve. Is this related to being the chosen one, 'the Chosen One'?” Idris the Wise kept repeating this phrase over and over while watching Basil enter the final stage.
Basil was in the 'Sea of the Soul,' sitting cross-legged as usual. He was meditating and feeling his origin points. After understanding the riddle of his body, he solved it and extinguished all those thoughts. The moment he did this, he gained complete knowledge of what he had to do to feel his origin points.
A white shape resembling a body appeared before him, or rather, resembling his own body. Basil began to feel one point after another and connect them.
Each of these points was centered in a location, each one in a part of that white body. First, there was a colorless point in the forehead, from which two pathways extended toward the shoulders, stopping until two other points were formed, one on each shoulder. Two pathways emerged from each point, two heading toward the back of the neck to form a point, and two others toward the chest to form another point. One pathway emerged from the neck point and descended to the lower back, forming another point there. This time, three pathways emerged from the chest point, two continuing their way, one to the right and the other to the left, descending to the elbows to form a point and then to the hands, doing the same. As for the third pathway, after descending slightly toward the navel, it branched into two pathways that descended toward the knees and then to the feet, performing like those that preceded them.
Thus, Basil had completed the final stage of feeling his origin points. He sensed that a flow of energy filled every part of his body. The sensation was beyond description. The feelings he experienced were similar to those experienced when he practiced spirituality but different. After absorbing this energy, he felt that his body was now one with the universe; he could even feel the origin points of everything around him.
After this event ended, a bright light illuminated the place, causing Basil to cover his eyes. After he opened them, he found himself sitting cross-legged before the teacher.
“Congratulations, Basil. You are finally ready to enter the third stage.”