The Orbs Function

Gen then said, "For what reason do I wield my weapons?"

And Bram said, "Yes."

Gen then began to think, and Bram said, "You don't have to tell me. Just take that thought with you. It will be important if you want to keep progressing in your aura."

And Gen said, "Got it. Thanks for the explanation. I feel that my path in aura will be much easier because of this."

"You're welcome, but you know I didn't do this for free. Now it's your turn to honor your part of the bargain."

"Okay. I'll explain to you why I was imitating the golden orb, but I need you to understand that I don't really understand what I'm doing myself. So it might be confusing for you."

"No problem."

"Ok, let's start from the beginning. It all started when I decided to imitate the first bronze orb that my group found in the ruin ..."

Gen then explained to Bram the right way to get the bronze and silver orbs, the right path, and that he was trying to feel the path by imitating the golden orb but was not succeeding.

Bram then said, "I get it. I didn't expect it to be something like that."

And Gen asked, "What did you think I was doing?"

"I thought you were trying to understand the pattern of the golden orb."

"The pattern? But isn't it common sense that it doesn't follow any pattern?"

"Yes, but who knows? It's not because everyone says that that makes it true."

"Hm, that's true, but I couldn't sense any pattern either, and I couldn't feel the right path while I was following it either."

"Well, from what I understood, the other orbs follow an invisible path that you consider to be the right path, right?"

"Yes."

"But in this case, what is the right path for?"

"Well, first of all, I don't know if the path is right. I just have a feeling that it is. Now about what it's right for, well ... I really don't know. Maybe it's the right path to get the orbs, but I get the feeling that it's not that."

"Why do you think that?"

"I think that because of the silver orb. When I went to get the silver orbs, they always went out of the way every five moves, and after a while of imitating and experiencing it, I started to get a feeling that I was being obstructed."

"Obstructed? By what?"

"I don't know, but it's almost as if by going off the right path, I'm defying the will of the world."

"Defying the will of the world? Are you serious? Do you think it goes that far?"

"Yes, that's why I call the unobstructed path the right path."

"Got it. Well, following the logic of what you said, there's only one explanation."

"Oh yeah, what would that be?"

"You could say that the orbs are teaching you something."

"Teaching me something? What do you mean?"

"Well, you could consider the bronze orb to be like a tutorial."

"A tutorial?"

"Yes. I would say its function is to introduce you to that right path and make sure that you can stay on it."

Gen then thought about it for a while and said, "Now that you said it, it really makes sense. What about the silver orb? What's its function?"

And Bram said, "The silver orb is a test."

"A test?"

"It purposely misses the right path to test whether you can figure it out and whether you can stay on the right path on your own."

"Wow. Now that you said that, I can see that being true, but what about the golden orb? It doesn't follow the right path at all."

"Well, following the logic that the bronze orb was the tutorial and the silver orb is a test, I would say that the golden orb can only be the time to put into practice what you've learned."

"Put into practice? But the only thing I have learned is to identify when I am making a move that is on the right path. What do I do with that?"

"Maybe you have to find the right path."

"Find the right path? You mean alone?"

"Yeah."

"Hm, maybe that's really it."

"Why don't you try it? I'll watch you to see if I can understand something about this right path."

"Okay, I'll try."

Gen then closed his eyes, concentrated for a while, and then took a step forward, but before he hit the ground, he put his foot back where it was and thought, 'Not this way.', and then he kept testing the directions until at one point he took a step in one direction and thought, 'It's this way.'

He then completed the step, started testing the directions for a while, and then took another step. He kept doing this process for a while, until one point when Bram stopped him and said, "Gen, stop."

And Gen then opened his eyes and said, "What is it, Bram? I was managing to go the right path."

"That's good, but I think the way you're doing it, it's not the right way to do it."

"What do you mean? I'm trying to do it just like you said, and besides, I really think that finding the right path on your own is the way to get the golden orb."

"Don't get me wrong, Gen. I think it is too."

"What? But you just said I was doing it the wrong way."

"I meant that the way you were doing it was wrong, not what you were doing."

"What do you mean?"

"The way you were going the right path was very strange."

"Strange? How so?"

"You had said that off the right path, everything seemed to be obstructed, but the way you were walking now, it seemed that the right path was the obstructed one."

"What? I was just taking my time to find the right path."

"I know, but the impression I got from watching you was that you seemed to be having to force yourself into the right path."

"Force myself in?"

"That. That was the impression I got."

"And how do you think I should find the path then? Trying it this way was the only way I could think of."

"Well, I don't know, but I imagine you must have to do it in a way that you follow the right path and not forcing yourself into it."

When Gen heard this, he thought, 'How am I supposed to do that? It's already so hard to find the path. How am I supposed to follow it?'

Gen was then silent for a while and began to think about everything he had been through inside the temple. He then thought about what he did to get the bronze and silver orbs and tried to find some way to follow the right path, but couldn't figure anything out.

He then thought, 'I don't know how to do this. I'm sure none of the orbs taught me how to do this, and the gold orb doesn't seem to be the orb that will teach me that. Damn it! Bram said that I'm forcing my way into the right path and that I should follow the path instead of forcing ... follow ... not force ... now that I think about it, it doesn't remind me of anything to do with the orbs, but the second phase of the event consisted of this.'

Gen then continued, 'We had to follow the direction of the current, and every time we tried to push to stay in it, we ended up not getting what we wanted. Is it the same here? Does the right path change constantly, and do I have to wait for it to come to me so that I can follow it? But unlike the current, I have no way of knowing when the path will come, and it can't carry me either. How do I know when it will come? That is, of course, if the path actually moves.'

Gen then remained silent for some time while he thought, and then suddenly Bram pulled him aside, and before he could ask what it was, he saw the golden orb passing by where he was standing.

He then was about to thank Bram for getting him out of the way, but before he could, he felt a sensation that was not unfamiliar to him.

He then looked at the golden orb and thought, 'Is that it?'