CHAPTER 32: Forged in Silence

  Eiran's groin throbbed for two days, rendering him sleepless.

  The isolation chamber in which he groaned and writhed was located in the second sublevel and resembled a standing coffin. Seated, there was not enough room to stretch his legs; standing, he could not straighten his back. When he managed to sleep, it was in a cross-legged position.

  A small window below the iron door in front of him opened, a beam of light shone for a moment, and a plate of food was pushed through before closing again. In this cell, there was no day or night, only darkness and silence.

  His only way to mark the days was by the meals. He received food twice a day; cold meals signified evening, as they cooked only once during the day. During the initial days, he vomited every time he tried to eat due to the pain from his groin stirring his stomach and gut. However, he forced himself to eat, lest his body wither.

  In states of consciousness and otherwise, his mind was not always in sync with his body. Often, he found himself in a white room, devoid of anything. No objects or shadows. No up or down, no boundaries, yet his feet stood firm.

  Then, humans appeared around him. Thin as paper cutouts, white, but visible against the equally pale backdrop. Motionless, silent, but their watchful eyes were palpable. For a long time he stood there, surrounded by silhouettes of varying attire, men and women, children and adults.

  A tall woman emerged from the crowd. She was the only one moving. Her hair reached her shoulders, slightly wavy at the ends. She stood before him. Then, without warning, she tripped him.

  Eiran did not understand her intentions. The woman, with a mere hand gesture, beckoned him to stand. This time she did nothing to him but her body language suggested she intended to teach him martial art techniques.

  He recalled, someone, at some time, had taught him shadow practice, a method of training within one's own mind. Was he unknowingly engaging in such training? He did not know. Before realizing, he had mimicked the woman's movements.

  The woman taught attack and defense positions in slow motion. She demonstrated her claw technique, move by move, pointed out his mistakes, and then repeated them.

  The woman also engaged him in sparring, though Eiran was no match for her. Her movements were not fierce, allowing him to learn. She revealed the vulnerable points of the human body. Her fingers were stronger than iron, her technique sharp, swift, and merciless. She taught all this without words, only movement.

  Warm soup splashed against Eiran’s feet. He jolted back to the foul-smelling cell. He finished his plate in few gulps and pushed it back out.

  Next, in the white room, he encountered a muscular silhouette with short hair tied at the back. This man taught him grappling and locking techniques. His movements were fluid, in contrast to the woman's abrupt and jagged style. The movements were predictable yet, strangely, unavoidable. Like water flowing downhill – its destination clear, but its path uncertain. Each move he made created a vortex that pulled Eiran in, and at other times, pushed him out.

  If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, it's taken without the author's consent. Report it.

  Cold meal – night. A bucket was also pushed through. Only with great difficulty could he relieve himself in it and push it back out.

  Shadow practice, as far as he knew, was not as beneficial as real sparring since it was all a creation of his mind. It was confined by his experiences and assumptions. Yet, in this training, Eiran genuinely learned new techniques.

  The woman's fighting style was full of intercepting moves. His attacks were always stopped midway, then she would counterattack just as swiftly. The man's movements did not halt Eiran's but redirected them where they could cause no harm. The intensity of their training increased as his skills improved.

  Warm meal – day.

  As the training progressed, Prana began to flow within his body. This should have been impossible since he was wearing a restraining bracelet. Yet, when not in the white room, he still tried it. He sat cross-legged, focusing on regulating his breath according to the basic Prana techniques he had learned from a tutor in Ira Vith.

  The Prime node beneath his navel began to generate a warm energy like overflowing well. This energy traveled following his channels bit by bit, filling the secondary nodes. Once a node was full, the energy flowed to the next.

  Prana spread through his body, invigorating it.

  However, as the flow reached his wrists, Eiran felt an unnatural channel causing the Prana flow to leap from one secondary nodes to another. The flow was reversed, disrupting his entire circulation. The Prana in each secondary nodes became segregated and isolated, destroying its circulation. A pain wrenched all of his internal organs.

  Another meal.

  Unlike physical training, which in essence involves muscle contraction and extension, increasing Prana capacity is built upon circulation. He needed to draw it from the Prime node beneath his navel, distribute it throughout his body, and then return it.

  As the circulation moved from the center to the periphery and back, the Prana flow strengthened and the capacity of the Prime node grown. This continuity was what the restraining bracelet disrupted.

  If so, if the method of circulating Prana taught to him was broken, why not create his own path? He could do it; he could make Prana circulate from one secondary node to another before being disrupted by the bracelet.

  He tried it throughout his body. Drawing, distributing, and then returning Prana to the Prime node.

  Everything interconnected. The continuity of circulation was achieved. Waves of energy flooded to his fingertips. His entire body tingled with the flow and rush of Prana.

  Prana also kept him fit despite his immobility. The swelling in his legs from prolonged sitting subsided. The itch from dirty straw on his skin healed. Eiran had reached the stage of passive Prana Decima.

  Meals. Meals and more meals. He had lost count.

  However, there was still one stumbling block, a realization he had since Ira Vith. The Prana flow within his Prime node seemed to collide, causing both streams to annihilate each other, leaving only a fraction of it to flow.

  He then deactivated his Prana and activated it step by step. Tracing it point by point. It took him a considerable amount of time, but finally, he felt it. His Prime node was not one, but two! However, the two nodes were in discord. This was why his Prana flow had never been smooth.

  No wonder. This was the reason why his Prana had always been weak. Not due to a lack of it, but because he had the unique feature of a pair of Prime nodes, though misaligned. This also explained why Lorn misjudged him. Lorn was not lying but was mistaken.

  He then began the task of untangling and aligning them. It was arduous, akin to husking rice throughout the day, only to find oneself having to sort all the left husks in one place and the right ones in another the next day. Each failure tore his body apart from within. However, after who knew how long, he succeeded in merging them.

  The magnitude of Prana that exploded then even frightened him. He felt capable of anything. His Prana capacity and regeneration doubled the norm. He could also control it with far more command than most people. A white aura radiated from every pore of his body, illuminating the entire cell.

  He was no longer constrained by the restraining bracelet and could now break down the cell door with a single attack.

  A right moment was all he needed.