Chapter 5

  That night, I practiced my new meditation method. I did not reach out to grasp the power outside of the nothingness that I found myself in because I wanted to know more about it first. I did, however, keep trying to touch the threads. I figured this state would be the most likely way to succeed in doing that, but so far, no luck. Eventually, I fell asleep, having failed yet again. One day, though, I would succeed.

  The next day, I started my day as usual, but after breakfast, I put on what I came to call in my head my 'school uniform'. I walked to school with my mother, and was handed off to another teacher, this time for Finance. I didn't pay attention to the name this time, and just kind of existed in class without doing much of anything.

  During break, a kid a little older came up to me as I was eating my mid-day meal. "Hey, Kid, aren't you a little young to be doing finance?" he asked. I didn't detect malice, just curiosity, so I answered.

  "I would be, but I learned to read young and have read a lot of books from the town library. My parents thought I should start with History, Finance and Governance."

  "Governance? No one takes that class" He replied. "By the way, name's Seresh. What's yours?"

  "Jorth," I replied, "nice to meet you, Seresh"

  "Nice to meet you too, Jorth, so... Governance? Is that why you're dressed like some prince?"

  "No, my mother forced this on me," I said. He smiled in understanding at that. "I'd wear comfortable clothes over this any day. And Governance was also their idea. Not sure why I'd need it, we're just merchants."

  At this point, the teacher came to grab us, so we split up and went back to our seats. The rest of the day passed without incident.

  When I got home, after being drilled by my mother about my new acquaintance, I went back up to my room and worked some more on grasping the threads. I pushed out my will as far as my limited imagination could perceive, trying to just touch one of the threads. Every time I thought I had touched one, though, it slipped through my fingers. I wasn't sure what I was doing wrong, but I think it was time to start rethinking my process.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  For the rest of the night, I just thought. What did I know? Threads seemed to make up everything I could see. Meditation brought a sort of power source into perception. Touching that power source infused the body with a sort of power that is overwhelming. Threads could not be touched by any means that I have currently tried. Finally, the fact that magic users were called Weavers (as the closest translation to my former language would allow), I assumed that they manipulated those threads somehow. Or created them, or used a different source of them.... Eureka! That's it, you can't touch and manipulate threads already IN the world, you had to find the source of them! Was that what the source of power around the nothingness was? I didn't know, but tomorrow, I would find out. Having drained my will, I quickly fell into a deep sleep.

  The next day was Governance. Again, I was introduced to the teacher, but this time there weren't any other kids. The teacher droned on about how being a good Governor helped the people, was the final arbiter of problems that couldn't be resolved otherwise, how they created laws to help the people under them. I really couldn't be bothered to learn it all, but I listened enough to answer questions that were asked of me. I did not see Seresh or any other kid that were in my normal classes, so I was more or less on my own again. Not that that bothered me, it didn't, but it was weird knowing I was not even five, and taking on a Governance class, without being the child of nobility. Because of this, it was the most boring day yet. I didn't see the use, personally.

  Later on that day, my mother asked me again about school. I told her what I thought about the class, and that no one else had bothered with it.

  "You may not understand right now, Jorth, but that class isn't just for leaders and nobility. It's also a good way to learn how to lead a business, or a mercantile, or a squad, or any number of positions where you are the authority. It's not all glamorous, as I'm sure you realize by now. It's paperwork, it's attending to problems between subordinates, it's logistics, and a million other things to keep thing running smoothly."

  "When would I need to know that, though, mother? It's not like I'm guaranteed a position of authority. Besides, I could learn it later when it does become relevant."

  "That's just it, you never know when it will be relevant. Learn as much as you can, as early as you can. You've already started that at the library, don't stop now because you don't see a use right now."

  "I'll try, I guess," I grumbled.

  "Yes, you most certainly will. Now, off to your usual activities. I got work to do." She said, dismissing me.

  I got up to my room, excited to try what I had thought of last night. Another reason it had been hard to concentrate today, though a majority was just because I didn't see a use for the class.

  I sat down, and attempted to reach that state of nothingness. It took longer than usual to reach it, but finally I succeeded in falling into the trance-like state. I reached out for the power, and with just a touch, felt it flood within me. I sat there, trying to get used to it. I felt every cell in my body, all at once, and in full. I reached out my hand, and imagined a brown thread forming in it, and pushed the energy towards it. As I did so, I felt the energy move. A thread slowly formed in my hand. I kept trying to feed it power, but just as it was about to snap into place, a sharp pain flared throughout my body, and I collapsed.