Chương 40: Tedious Training
Astaroth slept little, since he had already been out cold for a few hours. Besides that, his dreams kept going back to screams in his brain and visions of him losing control and killing everyone.
He woke up two hours later, feeling like a pile of burning garbage.
"Urgh… Great. Now I feel like it's Monday." He said, grabbing his head as he sat up from the bed.
"White… Are you still there?" He added, thinking out loud.
There was a momentary silence at first, followed by a low response.
"Yes… Master… I didn't want…" White Death started saying, in his mind.
"No need to explain. I think I know what happened." Astaroth said, cutting him off.
Astaroth could guess what had happened, even if he was slightly uncertain.
He had already been in an enraged state of mind before the fight, and he must have lost control over his emotions at some point.
That eventually led to the animal instincts of White Death going into override, and because of the proximity of their souls, he got dragged into it.
"I don't blame you, White. But I think you also need to keep your instincts in check in the future." Astaroth declared.
"Yes, master." White Death responded solemnly.
Astaroth then got up and stretched. There was a small basin of water in the room's corner, which he used to clean his face.
The water in the basin was numbingly cold, and that washed away the last bit of fatigue he had.
Astaroth stood up from the basin and walked towards the door. He knew he would grow bored in the next few days, but he had to do it, anyway.
What he dreaded the most was the fact that he would lose a lot of time on this training. He wouldn't be leveling up in the meantime and that killed him inside.
His chances of participating in the first tournaments for 'New Eden' had just left the station.
While he was thinking about all this, he had walked into the tavern part of the barracks, and he was already close to the doors.
He had not been oblivious to the looks he was receiving. Some were looks of awe, others were looks of fear.
There were even some looks of anger mixed in the lot, though he wondered why.
But that was a question for another day. Astaroth just walked out of the barracks, not stopping for anything.
After exiting the yard, he turned toward the old mage's abode. He saw from the corner of his eye a white furry form walk up to him.
It was Genie. She had probably waited for him outside the barracks the whole time since no one would let her in.
To the men in there, she was a wild beast, but at Kloud's orders, she had been left alone.
"How are you, girl?" Astaroth asked her, bending down to pet her head gently.
Genie responded with a low whimper and rubbed her head in his hand.
Astaroth could see on the side of the wall a small pile of bones, so he knew someone had fed her, so she wasn't hungry. But she had probably been very lonely since no one else came close to her.
"Alright girl. Come with me. We have a long week ahead of us." He said, straightening up.
Genie looked towards the village entrance and then back to where Astaroth was walking, looking a bit confused.
Astaroth chuckled at the sight.
"No. We are not going hunting today, or for the foreseeable future." He said, shaking his head left and right.
"We have some mental training to do." He added, pulling a face.
Genie tilted her head a bit at his statement, but followed him.
Both he and Genie walked over to the old man's house and entered it. Astaroth maneuvered the book maze, Genie following from behind, looking around curiously.
Once they made it to the back of the house, Astaroth once again went down the stairs in the wall, making his way down to the cave under the village.
He walked through the tunnel in silence until he reached his destination. Once there, he found Aberon sitting in front of the artifact, eyes closed, as he seemingly always did.
"Hello, sir." Astaroth announced himself with a bow.
"Hmm." Aberon simply hummed back.
Astaroth walked over to him and sat down next to him, waiting for instructions. In the meantime, he looked around a little before focusing his mind on the artifact.
There was nothing much he could glean from the object as it floated there in front of him. He could see carvings on it, but they made no sense to him, so he didn't bother trying to read them.
After sitting there for over an hour, Astaroth was getting restless.
"Sir. What is the training you were saying I should do?" He asked the old man, trying to pry information out of him.
"You are already doing it. Now stop talking." Aberon responded without even opening his eyes.
"Huh?" Astaroth said, puzzled.
"I said stop talking." Aberon repeated, turning to look at Astaroth angrily.
"Yes, sir!" Astaroth replied, looking away and shutting his mouth.
They sat there in silence for another hour before he got restless again.
"Sir. I don't understand what it is I'm supposed to do. Can you at least give me a clue?" He asked, twisting his hand together.
"You meditate." Aberon replied plainly.
"Meditate?" Astaroth questioned.
"Yes. You meditate until you can push out all distractions and emotions. Until your mind becomes as calm as the dead sea." Aberon replied.
Astaroth didn't respond to that and simply turned his eyes away from the old man.
He was wondering what meditation really was, since he had done none. He closed his eyes and focus on his breathing.
In the movies, this is what they did anyway, so he might as well try it.
The next hours flew by as Astaroth almost fell asleep a few times, only to get slapped behind the head by Aberon.
Eventually, the whole day had gone by and Aberon shooed him away. He ordered Astaroth to come back again the next day, and that made him frown.
Sadly for him, he couldn't go against these orders and obeyed them.
Thus began his days of 'doing nothing'.
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