Finding My Astral Plane

It has been a month since I started learning Occlumency. I have already mastered Level 0 of Occlumency. It has taken me a week along with the help of the breathing technique provided by the book to achieve a state of mind devoid of any thoughts. According to the book, if you practice Occlumency from a young age, then you can master it faster. But it's also very hard for young wizards to practise this art because, kids at such a young age have a lack of intellect to properly comprehend the profundities of the art.

But the fact that baffled me was how fast I am mastering this art. Because in the book it was mentioned that even a gifted wizard who has a natural talent for Occlumency will take anywhere between 6 to 8 weeks to master LEVEL 0. But it just took me one fucking week to master it. It's not like I am unhappy about it. But it intrigued me on why I was so talented in this art. So after thinking about it for a considerable time, I formed a theory.

My theory is that because of Mind Enhancing rituals, which enhanced my mind at the fundamental level. I think learning occlumency comes much easier for me. Let's think about it this way. My mind is like a piece of hardware, and Occlumency is the software that I am trying to install. Because of Mind rituals, my mind became something like a top end hardware. Now it is always easier and faster to run a software if you have a better piece of hardware. I think because of the number of Mind rituals I have undergone;It makes it easier for me to master occlumency.

But I am finding mastering level 1 of occlumency harder when compared with level 0. For mastering Level 1 you need the help of the artifact "Eye of Astral". You can only use this artifact after you mastered your level 0. So to find my Astral plane I need to place the artifact in front of me and enter a state in which my mind is devoid of any thoughts. In this stage, the artifact sends some weird intangible presence into my mind and I have to follow this presence and find my Astral Door first.

It took me around two weeks in finding that shitty piece of "Door". It was literally a door, how the fuck can one have a door in their mind? Man magic can be super weird sometimes. And add to my frustrations you can use the artifact for only 1 hour per day. Using the artifact more than that can damage my brain. Now after finding the door one has to slowly "push" the door. It a weird feeling trying to push that door in my consciousness. Because I don't have any hands to push it. But somehow I am pushing the door through my thoughts of wanting to push it.

Today I am resolved to fucking crack open this annoying piece of shit called Astral Door. So with that resolve I sat cross-legged on my bed and I placed "Eye of Astral" in front of me. I closed my eyes and made my mind go blank. Immediately I found the presence entering my mind. I followed the presence which after a few moments led me toward my astral door. So like always I pushed and like usual the door just hummed and didn't budge an inch.

What the fuck am I even doing wrong. The book said I have to press my "will" on the astral door to open it. I stopped pushing the door and started to think about what is it that I am doing wrong?. After a few moments of thinking on how to overcome this hurdle in front of me. I decided to put every ounce of my "will" to crack open this door.

With that I pushed the door with a real drive fueled by my frustration which turned to anger at my impotence for not being able to make the door open, when it is a fucking part of me. I am the one who is in fucking control of "me". Every part of my body is there to serve "me" and obey my commands. With those furious thoughts I "willed" the Astral door to stop being stubborn and open the fuck up. Because one way or another I am going to smash this bloody door. For a few seconds the door looked still defiant. But slowly but surely, cracks started to appear on the door. As time went on the cracks got bigger and with a bang, the astral door shattered into a million pieces. The moment the astral door got shattered I was "blinded" by a bright light.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing on what appeared to be a grassland. I didn't have a body. I am like spirit floating in these vast plains of grassland. Up in the sky hung the brightest sun that I have ever seen in the sky. It was super hot here. But the heat was not unpleasant to me. On the contrary, I felt like I was truly at home. I wanted to see the boundaries of my astral plane. So I "willed" myself to move.

For the past five minutes, I was zooming across these vast plains of grassland. But still I haven't reached the boundaries. So it appears my astral plane is large. According to the book, a larger astral plane means that one's mental capacities are highly developed. It once again a reminder for me how scary these rituals I have undergone are.

But you can't stay in the astral plane for an unlimited time. For every second you stay here, you will deplete your magic pool. I am already feeling my magic diminishing. I don't want to completely exhaust my magic. So I stopped moving and "willed" myself to return.

I slowly opened my eyes and let out a sigh. It is one hell of experience. I think purely in terms of experience, finding my astral plane comes second, with experience of undergoing rituals being first. It was truly mystical experience. Since my magical pool is expanding rapidly. In the future, I can spend more time in the astral plane. Now that I opened my astral plane, I feel something changed in me. But I can't point out what it is.

I think I had enough crazy experience for one day. I will start constructing my ASTRAL PALACE starting tomorrow. With that fleeting thought I fell on my bed. Exhaustion soon overcame me and I drifted into a deep sleep.