Ch 7- Waste

When Mac opened his eyes that following morning he fell in a daze. His chest felt heavy and stuffy, he lowered his eyes and saw Casey was still lying on him asleep.

Mac turned his head to face the window and saw it was already very bright outside. He carefully reached his hands under Casey and moved the dragon off himself and onto the bed.

Casey opened his eyes in a daze and turned to look at Mac. Upon seeing him Casey scooted towards him until he was touching his leg. Once Casey felt his warm he closed his eyes and continued to sleep.

"He really has become too clingy" Mac quietly sighed to himself and got off the bed. Feeling the bed lift up Casey opened his eyes back up and saw Mac walking away.

"Mac" he slurred out. Mac turned back.

"Is it time for breakfast?". Casey whispered. Mac walked back and touched his head.

"How do you feel?".

Casey slowly blinked his eyes and stood up. Unfortunately this little dragon was not a morning person and so was a bit slow at thinking and responding to Mac.

"Feels fine". He replied after a thinking for a few minutes. Mac laughed at seeing his silly sleepy face.

"Then get up and shower, I'll get going on breakfast so you can eat when you're done".

Nodding his head Casey stood up and trotted towards the bathroom. After showering Casey finally thoroughly woke up. When he sat at the table he stared at Mac for a couple minutes before speaking.

"Something feels different" Casey said with a weird expression on his face.

Mac looked up at him. "What do you mean?". Casey pondered for a moment, looking for the right words.

"My mind feel exceptionally clear, almost like I can think and process things faster".

Mac stared at the silver dragon, "it may just be the clarity that comes back after being muddle headed from a fever".

Casey intuitively felt that wasn't it but he just nodded and dropped the topic.

"I felt like I dreamed again too, but maybe because of the fever I can't recall anything".

"That's a good thing then, it means your happy dreams will continue. Don't worry you'll recall it next time for sure". Mac sent him comforting words.

After a simple nod the two sat quietly to finish their meal. After eating Mac said Casey should go back to rest. Casey stubbornly refused saying he felt better than ever; he flew laps around the room to prove his body recovery.

Casey kept insisting that he wanted to go to class today. Mac felt a bit concerned; thinking of how Casey had already over-drafted his spiritual power after just one class.

But the dragon kept persisting and Mac also had work to do so in the end he walked Casey over to Rose and said goodbye.

When Casey walked in Rose first asked him how he was feeling. She had heard from the doctor that Casey had overused his spiritual power and naturally she was very concerned.

"I feel great!". Casey's wings fluttered to attest to his happy mood.

"Did you go back and practice spiritual power when we hadn't even gotten to the application part in the book? It's dangerous to use it blindly without any training or guidance". Rose spoke in a harsh tone and stared at Casey relentlessly.

Casey felt wrong and aggrieved as he said. "The doctor must have diagnosed wrong, I've really never tried to use spiritual power and have no clue on how to do so". His head hung low as he spoke.

Rose quietly watched him and could tell Casey wasn't lying to her. She tapped his head and continued on "good, you mustn't practice until I show you the right methods. Alright?".

Casey nodded his head as if pounding garlic. "I understand".

Looking at his overly obedient reply and look Rose felt reassured. So she sat him down and the two continued to study the book about spiritual power.

With Rose's guidance today they quickly read through and made it to application part of the book. Rose continued to read the basic introduction on the chapter.

"A being's spiritual power is not fixed and can grow to an extent through spiritual training. Upon reaching a spiritual level breakthrough, the persons overall abilities will reach a new level and may find themselves stronger, and mentally enhance compared to before breakthrough".

Casey had been listening closely and paused. He truly believed he had never used spiritual power, but after hearing those words he couldn't help thinking of how he felt when he woke up and what he told Mac.

He turned to Rose "is it possible to subconsciously use spiritual power without realizing it?".

Rose could take a guess as to why Casey asked. "Do you remember what it felt like when I wrapped my spiritual power around you?".

Casey nodded his head, seeing this Rose continued.

"Then you should already know what the flow of using spiritual power feels like. It'd be hard for you use it and not know it".

Casey looked troubled for a moment and nodded in understanding and thought. " Maybe it really was just as Mac said".

A bit discouraged he and Rose continued their lesson. They finally made it to the paragraphs demonstrating simple spiritual exercises. Rose closed the book suddenly, and Casey looked at her puzzedly.

"You've just recovered, whether the cause was spiritual power or not I'd rather wait another day before we start training it".

Casey's head hung down and he looked very disheartened.

Rose felt a bit bad looking at his expression so she spoke up. "Although we won't do doing exercises that train spiritual power we can do other things". Casey looked at her hopefully, Rose took in the look on his face and continued speaking.

"Let's do exercises that focus on feeling your spiritual power, this will make it easier for you when you try to use it for the first time".

Casey's eyes beamed and he nodded; following Rose's example, he moved to sit in a meditative stance.

"Spiritual force is a natural part of our body and is always moving through us, close your eyes". Casey listened and quickly closed his eyes. "Then you should take slow long breathes and try to feel the movement within your body".

Casey listened to Rose's words and completed the actions but he couldn't grasp the feeling she explained. After sitting like this for an hour Casey opened his eyes to Rose and said spoke slowly.

"I can't feel anything". Rose looked at him in confusion. Dragons are typically exceptionally gifted with spiritual power and innately know how to feel it. Rose felt very surprised at Casey's words and had to think of how to help.

Rose walked over and gently placed her hands on his back and poured her spiritual power slowly throughout his body.

"Can you feel the flow of power now, this is how the movement should feel".

Rose retracted her spiritual power and told Casey to try to feel again. Casey concentrated extremely hard; until fine beads of sweat formed on his head.

"I still feel nothing". Casey's eyes were red.

"Maybe I don't have much spiritual power even as a dragon".

Rose thought that may actually be the case since he didn't have any result even with his basic instinct. But she didn't want to say this out loud seeing Casey's heartbroken face.

"Just keep training with this exercise, as you've learned every being has spiritual power. Even if it is weak you'll be able to feel it if you keep training your and body and mind in meditation like this".

Casey heavily nodded his head, he wasn't in the mood to learn anymore. So he told Rose he'd head home and practice by himself. He said goodbye and left. But instead of going home for the first time Casey went soaring into the sky and flew a far distance away.

"So embarrassing" Casey cried to himself. It seemed even if he changed bodies his soul wouldn't change. He still had no power, his eyes felt hot and he sniffled, trying to keep the tears from falling.

Casey found a place and sat down. He stayed there for a couple hours before his emotions stabilized he slowly got back up the rims of his eyes bright red. Casey looked around and realized he had no clue where he was.

He stood and flew back into the sky and focused all his senses on his nose to smell the way back to the tribe. Casey's pace heading back was much slower and it took him a few hours to make it back. He slowly descended into Mac's yard, and slowly trudged into the house.

"Mac, I'm home" Casey yelled in the empty house.

He walked around and realized Mac wasn't at home, he still felt a bit down so rather than looking for him Casey went into his room and closed the door.

Casey crawled under his covers and shrunk himself together as he brewed in his negative thoughts. Casey didn't know how long he laid in a daze without moving until he suddenly heard the sound of the front door being thrown open and then slammed shut.

He heard frantic foot steps, then the sound of his door being slammed open. Casey felt nervous and shrunk even further under the covers, the next second those covers were ripped off of him

Casey peeked his eyes open and saw Mac, his face was flushed and he had an angry expression on his face that Casey had never seen before.

He was scared and got up to run, seemingly guessing Casey's intentions Mac quickly grabbed him before he could run.

Mac tapped him on his head and scolded him fiercely.

"Where on earth did you go?! Do you know how scared and nervous everyone was? After finding you were gone the whole tribe split up to look for you. Why did you suddenly fly away?".

Mac was surprised when someone came to him saying they saw Casey fastly flying away. At first he didn't think much of it but as the hours started to pass he started to panic and asked the tribe to look for him.

Right now Mac was mad and scared that Casey would really leave them.

Faced with Mac's questions and stern face Casey felt aggrieved. He only left for a few hours to sort his emotions, why was he suddenly being scolded?

His already restless emotions turned turbulent. He started crying fiercely; seeing his tears Mac realized he had been to harsh and his fierceness and anger faded away.

He worked to sooth Casey, once the little dragon finally stopped crying he was left hiccuping. Mac felt a little guilty and talked softly, "why did you suddenly leave. I felt worried and sad thinking you'd left us".

Casey abruptly raised his head "I wouldn't just leave without saying anything, I was just upset and went out to calm down".

Casey stared at Mac and felt bad.

"I'm sorry for worrying you, and the others. I just felt depressed learning that I may not have spiritual power. A dragon without spiritual power, doesn't that make me the waste of all waste?".

Casey's eyes grew hot again and Mac stared at him with a stunned expression. "How could you think that about yourself?".

"Even if you don't have spiritual power it doesn't matter, you're still cute, lovely, and a wonderful dragon even without it".

Casey stared into Mac's eyes nervously "really?".

Mac's heart trembled "really," he said. Mac actually thought this was a good thing. It was surprising to hear Casey didn't have spiritual power, but if that was the case then he may not be able to reach his first growth phase.

Which meant he had to stay with them, Mac felt a bit excited thinking such thoughts. Mac didn't dare point these things out lest it upset the dragon even further. He put his face against Casey's wings so as not to allow the dragon to see his grinning face and selfish thoughts.

"It's not guaranteed that you don't have spiritual power, we don't have a way to test it here. You may just be a bit slower to learn it is all. Don't automatically assume and put yourself down, keep trying, and don't give up on yourself Casey". Mac spoke in a righteous tone.

Casey leaned into Mac's embrace and slightly nodded not saying the thoughts and feelings in his mind. "Thank you Mac" Casey softly whispered.

Mac lifted his face and smiled at Casey. After the long and emotionally draining day, the two of them were exhausted. That night Mac stayed with Casey to keep on eye on his emotions.

Thus with Mac by his side, Casey felt comforted and reassured that he wouldn't be abandoned. With this small peace of mind, surrounded by Mac's warmth and presence Casey slowly fell asleep.