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Chapter 16: A Fire of the Soul

“Ok!” Masou said loudly as he clapped his hand together in front of himself again. “Time for you to meditate and communicate with your Fire Beast. You know how to meditate, right?”

Keahi nodded. It was one of the few things he could do rather well, actually. All Fire Priests knew how to meditate, it was something that they did regularly and had to maintain. There was even a process called Solitarily Flame Meditation where a Priest would trek to a cave upon the side of Obsidian Volcano and spend the entire night there meditating to the flames of the mountain. All Priests had to successfully complete this task at some point in their lives, but it all depended on whether they felt ready or not.

Or, in extreme cases, the Royal family would command that they complete this task as an oracle for the Fire God. However, that hadn’t happened in quite some years and many had forgotten about it.

But he had never really heard about using Meditation to communicate with a Fire Beast before. Maybe it was just second nature to a Priest? He’ll have to ask Bharath about it sometime later. If he could find a way to communicate with Nootau Chatan, the fire hawk, then surely Bharath would have found a way to talk to his Fire Beast.

It was actually kinda exciting.

“I’ll keep an eye out for anymore foxes,” Masou said as he placed his hands on his hips, giving Keahi a reassuring look. “So you don’t have to worry. If anything happens, I’ll protect you.”

Keahi felt his heart give a fluttering beat at the words. Having someone so easily say that they’ll protect you and mean it was something he couldn’t put into words. It was nice to have someone watch over him, someone who didn’t know about him.

And, well, he believed him. He knew that Masou would protect him if anything should happen.

“Alright,” Keahi uttered as he lowered himself to the ground and folded his legs underneath him.

Taking a deep breath, he loosened his shoulders and relaxed his posture. When he was comfortable, he slowly closed his eyes, entering a void of darkness. With his face serene, his chin up, Keahi looked into his eyelids as though he was seeing with his eyes open. It was a difficult step for some, as the nature want to flutter your eyes open was quite strong. But Keahi mastered it easily.

Emptying one’s mind in order to meditate was also difficult, but Keahi found it easily if he concentrated on the point in the middle of his forehead, also known as the Spiritual Third Eye.

Bypassing any thoughts, Keahi concentrated on his eyelids, allowing himself to fall deeper and deeper into the darkness, leaving form, name and all activities behind. Soon, he saw a grey haze appear in the void, like smoke dancing upon the wind. Keahi lifted his hand and allowed the smoke to curl around his fingers. He could hear the crackling of fire now and he knew that he had reached his meditative state.

A spark in the distance sparkled before coming closer and closer. Soon, the roaring of flames was heard and the spark turned into an inferno. But Keahi wasn’t afraid. He had no reason to be afraid anymore.

It was so warm…

“Nootau Chatan,” Keahi whispered, his Fire Beast’s name falling from his lips.

Before him, the mystical fire hawk appeared, his wings of flames gently illuminating the darkness into a regal glow. Two red eyes, the colour of rubies, look down upon him; so wise and majestic.

Keahi…

A soft gasp escaped Keahi’s lips when he heard his name from his Fire Beast. He was in a state of awe, he felt tears sting at his eyes. This was amazing, hearing the voice of Nootau Chatan. How he could have such magnificence as his Fire Beast, he was pretty sure he was unworthy.

Still, it was amazing and he was so grateful for the opportunity. If only he had known before, he could have spent years communicating with Nootau Chatan. His time was short on the earth, he knew that. He knew his responsibilities and he knew of his fate. But sometimes, in moments of weakness, he wished that he could have a future to look forward to.

Suddenly, Nootau Chatan lowered his head just a little, his wings moving to enfold around Keahi’s form. Keahi blinked at the wings, a sense of uncertainly touching him. He looked up at Nootau Chatan thinking that, perhaps, he had something important to tell him.

You had, before your birth, only the intentions such as being happy, being an uplifter, having continual growth…but the specific processes to achieve those things are up to you to decide here within the present.

Keahi was silent at first, his brow furrowing in a state of bewilderment. He heard the words and he heard them clearly, but he didn’t understand them. What did Nootau Chatan mean? He was destined to become the Peace Keeper from birth, his inherited intentions to ensure the safety of the people on Fire Island.

“I…I don’t really understand,” he said, his tone lost and confused.

But Nootau Chatan would say no more to clarify his words, which indicated to Keahi that he had to ponder over them himself. He truly didn’t understand their meaning. It was like Nootau Chatan was telling him that his only real purpose was to…be happy. But that wasn’t possible, not with the way Flamenca was mistreating their people and the Fire Council unable to defy her.

Not that there was much he could do personally.

Rather than trying to control the experiences of all others, Nootau Chatan’s words broke through Keahi’s thoughts. Instead intend to control your own participation within those experiences.

Again Keahi wasn’t sure he understood. “…Are you talking about the Fire Council?” he asked. “But they-”

By setting forth your clear image of the life you want to live, you will be guided, in every moment, toward a smooth and pleasant path for yourself.

The life he wanted to live? What he wanted and what he had to do where two completely different things. He couldn’t marry the two together, it wasn’t possible.

It was…just so confusing.

Nootau Chatan seemed to pick up on his confusion as he suddenly lowered his regal head further and startled Keahi immensely to affectionately nuzzling his beak against his cheek.

One more thing before we part for now.

Timidly, Keahi lifted his hand and touched Nootau Chatan’s beak with his fingertips, noting how warm and soft he really was. “Yes, what is it?”

Love others fully and with all your heart, and do not fear, do not hold back. The more you give, the more will return to you.

…Love?

Then, abruptly, Nootau Chatan disappeared and Keahi found himself back on the training field under the sun. The first thing he saw when Keahi opened his eyes was Masou’s face. He was kneeling on the ground before him, his head quirked to the side in interest.

“Well?” he asked.

Keahi took a minute to take stock of himself. “That was amazing,” he finally muttered, a sense of awe still enveloping him.

Masou smiled at that. “Learn anything?”

“Sort of,” Keahi replied as he furrowed his brow in thought. “I mean, He spoke to me, I could hear him clearly, but I’m not entirely sure what he meant.”

“Speaking in riddles?” Masou asked with a knowing look before he abruptly sat himself onto the sand in front of Keahi, crossing his legs and folding his arms over his chest. “That happens. Fire Beasts prefer it if you figure it out on your own. It’s called learning,” he finished with a playful curl.

Keahi gave a half chuckle as he folded his hands on his lap. “Right.”

“You think you can do it again?”

Meditate and communicate with Nootau Chatan?

Keahi nodded his head firmly. “…Yeah, I do.”

“Well, that’s great!” Masou congratulated as he abruptly leaned forward and slapped Keahi heavily on the shoulder. He then pulled back and looked somewhat serious. “Anyway, I’m getting hungry. Anything to eat around here?”

Keahi had to admit that he was rather famished himself. Training and learning new things was a lot of hard work, after all.

“Oh, there’s plenty to eat at the Fire Temple,” he explained with a smile as he climbed to his feet and dusted himself off. “And if we’re lucky, Bharath might make something for us.”

Masou tilted his head to the side, a somewhat hopeful look in his eyes. “He’s a good cook?”

“One of the best,” Keahi easily replied, his smile not fading a bit.

And that caused Masou’s grin to widen and he jumped to his feet as well. “Then let’s go bug the crap out of him!”

Keahi had to laugh when Masou snared him by the wrist again and proceeded to drag him back toward the Fire Temple. He noted that Masou liked to take him by the hand a lot, whenever he had the chance. Not that he minded too much. Definitely not as much as priestly protocol dictated. And definitely not as much as his Peace Keeper role demanded.

But…was it really a bad thing? Allowing someone else to get close to him? As much as he loved Bharath and Brendis, it was nice to have someone who didn’t know (or cared) that he was the Peace Keeper. And, well, he learnt so much from Masou in such a short amount of time. It couldn’t be bad, could it?

His time was limited, any day he could be sacrificed to the Volcano Obsidian, so it wasn’t too selfish to enjoy himself in other’s company, was it? The Fire God wouldn’t mind, would he?

Keahi really hoped not.

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