Chapter 3 – The Whispering Void
If there were such a thing as days in this place, one day Kamal sat in quiet meditation beneath the Mother Tree.
He had grown accustomed to this silence. The soft green light of the life-giving pools reflected gently on the bark, and the air pulsed with a tranquil vitality. His consciousness rested in the slow rhythm of existence; his soul was calm, steady, and attentive.
Then, something shifted.
A subtle mist began to rise.
At first, it was delicate, barely noticeable. A pale haze crept along the edges of the abyss, weaving between branches and roots like a cautious intruder. Kamal slowly opened his eyes, watching as the mist thickened, spreading both outward and inward simultaneously.
It wrapped around the branches of the tree.
It swallowed the light of the leaves.
It blurred the boundary between light and shadow.
Soon, Kamal too was enveloped by the mist.
The Mother Tree seemed to fade, its form dissolving into the grey screen. The vast space around him contracted, until there were no clear directions; no up, no down, no way to escape.
Kamal took a deep breath.
The void felt closer than ever before.
Like a forest swallowed by fog, the mist spread through the abyss, thick and suffocating. Kamal stood beneath where the Mother Tree should have been, confusion tightening its grip around his thoughts. He could still sense the ancient life force, but it felt distant, faint, like looking through layers of silence.
The mist whispered.
Not with voices, but with feelings.
Fragments of fallen empires.
Shattered dimensions.
An endless sorrow spread throughout eternity.
Fear permeated Kamal's soul.
Driven by instinct, he reached out and grasped a nearby branch, holding it tightly, almost desperately, like a child clinging to its mother in a storm. He waited for the tree to respond, to push back the darkness, to dispel the mist.
But the mother tree remained silent.
Not with fear.
Not with defensiveness.
Simply... there.
The mist grew thicker, clinging to the branches like dew on morning grass, seeping into the leaves like soft, woolly shadows. It spread over the tree slowly and patiently, until it even dimmed the tree's light.
Kamal stood frozen.
A witness.
His eyes widened, reflecting the darkness swirling around him. Questions flooded his mind.
Was this void dangerous? Was it hostile... or simply misunderstood?
Was it a threat... or a test?
He yearned for the guidance of the mother tree. The silence felt heavy, pressing down on his soul. Ignorance suffocated him more than fear.
Yet...
Beneath the uncertainty, Kamal sensed something else.
Power. The darkness possessed a formidable power... vast, ancient, and incomprehensible. It didn't seem evil. It seemed incomplete. Waiting.
Then the pull came.
A subtle, magnetic force drew at Kamal's soul. The mist moved towards him... not to devour, but to merge. It was as if the void itself recognized him, calling out, seeking resonance.
Visions flickered in his mind.
Ancient beings who had once dared to enter that mist... some were completely swallowed, erased without a trace. Others emerged transformed, possessing the power to bend reality to their will.
The mist held the secrets of the universe.
The essence of the untamed, pure void.
A power capable of reshaping existence itself.
This was a beginning, Kamal realized.
A clue... not an answer.
Yet, the fear lingered.
"What should I do?" he wondered, his thoughts heavy. "The unknown is always the most dangerous."
As if in response, something stirred within him.
Not the mist.
The Mother Tree.
Without words, without sound, knowledge flooded into Kamal's soul.
A seal.
A practice.
A timeless discipline refined over countless ages... transcending cultures, empires, and worlds.
Spirituality - Aanmeegam.
The divine art of cultivating the soul.
It wasn't taught.
It was remembered.
The technique imprinted itself directly onto his essence, unfolding naturally as if he had always known it. Kamal instinctively understood... this was not merely a gift bestowed for peace.
This was a preparation. Although the fog still surrounded him, Kamal sat down and closed his eyes. There was no other way to move forward. If that void demanded understanding, he would seek it through silence.
He would face it.
He began to practice spirituality.
Time lost its meaning.
The first stage unfolded naturally.
The foundation... the breath of existence
The breath.
Life's most fundamental act, yet the most profound. Kamal focused on the rhythm of inhalation and exhalation, slow and deliberate. Like the tides shifting with the moon, his breath anchored him within the storm of the mist.
Each breath became a silent mantra.
Each pause, a moment of awareness.
The chaos around him subsided.
Mindfulness - The Silent Observer
Next came the mind.
Thoughts arose like waves of worry... fear, doubt, curiosity. Kamal did not fight them. He observed them. He realized the mind was like a wild monkey... chaotic when ignored, peaceful when understood.
Clarity dawned.
Energy Cultivation - The Living Current
Energy was everywhere - in the void, in the mist, within him.
Kamal learned to sense it, draw it in, and refine it within himself. The life force of the universe flowed through him, healing, strengthening, awakening dormant potential.
The mist no longer weighed him down.
It moved with him.
Inner Vision - Seeing Beyond Illusion
Kamal's perception shifted.
He saw the difference between what seemed real and what truly was. He glimpsed, for a moment, the interconnectedness of existence - the truth beneath the form. The universe was not chaotic.
It was in balance. Union - Becoming one
Finally, the union occurred.
Kamal was not there.
The fog was not there.
The tree was not there.
Only existence remained.
The separation dissolved and disappeared.
He felt the beginning of all life - and its endless continuity.
When Kamal opened his eyes, the fog no longer frightened him.
Spirituality had shown him a glimpse of what was to come.
Those who master it can transcend limitations... cross space in an instant, change their form, and live without physical sustenance. Thought could become creation. Essence replaced hunger. Willpower replaced weakness.
But Kamal felt something deeper than this.
Power is not the goal.
Understanding is the goal.
That vast expanse had not come to destroy him.
It had come to prepare him.
And this...
This was only the first step.