I never thought living such a life of routine was this easy when you don't have gadgets around you. Your entertainment? Books, and your own thoughts. I do not know how Master lives. You want to know his routine?
He wakes at 4 am. Walks to a spot in the forest nearby and kneels in front of a naginata planted in the ground. Probably, did it himself. He worships it for 2 whole hours, while I continue to do my morning routine of running, burpees, push ups, sit-ups and squats. Then he goes to a nearby tree and picks up a wooden Naginata that is always there, and starts practicing his skills. And believe me when I say this, he is powerful. Like insanely powerful, he somehow cuts at least 3 trees per day, thick trunked trees with a fucking wooden naginata.
I watch him and try to imitate for the next 3 hours he does that but I can't get it like his no matter what, I bought my own wooden naginata by the way. I have been trying for the whole year and I cannot for the love of ROB get it quite like his. Each day my respect for him grows.
Then after his practice he goes to the garden and starts tending to the plants there, flowers, trees, shrubs, everything there, he tends to them. This was the most boring part of my time, I cannot train at this time because I was too sore, and I cannot do practice because the garden can get destroyed. So I do what any rational person could do there, I start to meditate while observing him.
Meditation does not need your eyes to be closed. It is the action of becoming detached to your body. Creating a distance between your identity and the mind as a vessel. I observe him in that state. The key is to expect nothing, and just do it. Nike is right! Just Do It.
So I just did it. After the gardening for 2 hours, he goes onto eating for 20 minutes. Yes, No breakfast, only brunch for Master. So only brunch for me, sigh. I am used to it now but it was torture at the start, what can I say, except, Just Do It.
After eating he goes back to tend to the garden till 4 pm. Insane right? Well not anymore, it used to be pretty insane, but as I said, Just Do It. I have stuck to this for a year. PRAISE ME!
Well, after 4, he goes to the usual cliff that gives a pretty nice view of the beautiful city of Kathmandu. And at this time, I do the routine of my workout again as 4 to 6 is a pretty good time for it.
Then, as I have said before, I go to the library as the old man, the respected Master, retires into his hut.
I have already studied all about enchantments, spells, and other very interesting rituals, no dark stuff yet however. I practiced magic after 1 hour of reading everyday, 15 minutes of portals, then 45 minutes of various spells and 1 hour of enchantments on various items I make in that one hour itself. There are a lot of construction spells almost akin to 3D printers but way more accurate and fast. Not to brag but I can do most of the things Strange can except his time stone stuff and dark stuff. I can also do the astral projection thing. I can also do all the illusions he did while fighting Thanos and all those attack spells with those creatures in multiverse of madness. I can also go into the mirror dimension. Pretty great right? Magically, I am Dr. Strange level in Multiverse of Madness. Too OP? Well, Deal with it.
And now the last part of the day is sparring with Mordo, who I recently am equally matched with because I do not use my magic prowess fully, I try to make my combat in symphony with my staff techniques. Make no mistake, I am great at martial arts, even though I cannot grasp that monster of a Master's perfection, I am great at it. In fact, I could be deployed to missions anytime now. But I asked of the Ancient One to wait 6 more months to spend with Master.
*******
"Come here", I heard him say in his deep gravelly voice that seemed like he did not use much. But my focus was more on the words, 'come here'? Did he just call me? Did he? Call ME? FUCK YEAH!! After a whole year of ignoring! But I knew I cannot waste too much time being surprised, so I schooled my emotions very easily. Wow, all that meditation made me like that bal-cough-the ancient one.
"Kneel beside me"
I obeyed with a serious and solemn expression. I could feel the pressure now that I am close to the weapon. Pressure from weapon?
"How are you?", he asked.
Huh? How am I? How am I? Out of all the questions I expected out of him. Out of all the possible ways I imagined he would notice me, this was not even in my imagination.
"Me?"
"Yes. You. How are you?"
I could not answer that. Why couldn't I answer that? I could just say I am fine, right? But then what if he won't teach me then? What do I say? What answer does he want?
As I was beginning to panic, looked at him. Then back to the weapon, then looked at him again. I saw his eyes. This whole year, I have been seeing his back so much that I know every muscle on it. But his eyes?
They were.... sharp yet soft. Happy yet depressed. Strong yet weak. What is this? Some kind of metaphorical bullshit I am spouting right now. But that is all I can use to describe this experience.
Then it clicked. A lie. I am fine? No. I am not. How could I be fine, happy or great when I have been waiting for him for a whole fucking year, a year I could have done so many other things that would have made me so much more capable, but no he insisted on ignoring me. Why was I so dumb? The hope, the hope that maybe tomorrow is the day, that kept me going.
Am I angry at him? No. Why not? I do no know. He had a 1000 year life, how the hell should I know what kind of trauma he must have had. Can I blame him? No! Then what am I feeling? Anger.
Anger wanted me to say many words, but the respect I had for him, the Naginata, from where this started I do not know, but it held me back from saying things. So I finally said the simple truth.
"Alive"
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Comment and let me know what you think about this chapter. Tell me wherever you need clarity on anything or want to make corrections. Ideas on enchantments, tech, or magic spells are welcome here, this fanfic has a lot of freedom in the magic so I am open to all suggestions. Cook up creative ideas and let me know and I will include them in the book.
Thanks for reading, hope you are having fun!