A Vision

Lin's closed eyes slowly opened; he had to shield his eyes from the sun. He was in a garden that had a few fruit trees around. There was a training dummy as well as a few guards standing at the entrance of the lawn. The mannequin was humanoid and had gloves on its hands. He, however, could not make out their faces. A shadowy figure bent over and lifted him to his feet. The once two meters tall Lin was now only a meter tall.

He turned to the shadowy figure and tried talking to it but couldn't open his mouth. "What? Where am I; what is happening to me?". He was frustrated. His legs suddenly moved on its own and he was headed for the training dummy with the shadowy figure. "What the hell is going on? I can't seem to control my body". The shadowy figure spoke to him after he reached the dummy.

"Do not think of weapons as mere tools for warfare." The boy seemed a little confused. He looked keenly at the weapons held by the guards. "But they are just tools for warfare. They don't seem to be anything more than that" Lin said.

"Hold on did I just talk? So does this mean I can only spectate and not do anything to affect whatever this is?" Lin thought as he turned to look at the figure before him.

"You are correct they don't seem like much. Now if you give a knife to an assassin and a knife to a normal person, which of the two would be more dangerous?". The boy put his hand on his jaw and thought for a moment and answered "The assassin obviously"

"Why?" the figure looked at him eagerly. It seemed interested in the answer the boy was going to give. The boy thought for a moment but didn't seem to have come up with any explanation as to why that was so. "Well…" he trailed off his sentence as he had no idea what to say.

The figure laughed and said, "For a normal person, a knife is merely a tool for preparing food. Even if he decided to attack someone with that knife, he wouldn't be much of a threat" It paused briefly and went on "The assassin, on the other hand, does not think of the knife as merely a tool but as an extension of himself that he can move and use as he pleases"

The boy seemed to understand, so he nodded and said, "So what you mean is if I have the knife, it's like my hand has now become a bit longer and sharp right?"

"You could say that but that doesn't apply only to weapons but to anything you lay your hands on. It could be a book, a pencil anything at all. Just be careful when you use pencils you don't want to plug anyone's eyes with those"

The boy seemed weirded out by his last statement and made a face. He seemed very interested in the topic, so he asked, "Great when do I start using weapons". The figure laughed and said, "You are not quite there yet. You have to hone yourself very well before you touch a weapon. If you can control your body very well, then using a weapon becomes much easier if you however, cannot, then using even the best of weapons is utterly useless."

The figure moved to a dummy and flicked a switch. The mannequin seemed to have been made from a crystal resembling obsidian. It had a symbol on its chest. There were three red diamond-looking objects positioned like a cross with the lower part of the cross-looking symbol being a flame that resembled a spear.

"Now put back that spear and get back to training," the figure said to him. He spread out his hands in front of him and said with a wry smile "But I don't have any spear". The figure sighed and said nothing more. It moved aside as the boy continued to practice.

Meanwhile, at the same time, three figures were running towards the direction of Lin. "Look there's a cave up ahead" a woman shouted to two others who were with her and they all raced towards the cave entrance. They were the three guards tasked with finding Lin. As they approached the cave, the beast chasing them retreated and went away. Realising this, they slowed down to catch their breaths. It was almost morning when they got there. They were all soaked with sweat to the skin.

"Let's rest at the cave entrance for a while before going in. We don't know what might be awaiting us if we rush in there now" the lead guard said. The second guard frowned and sternly said "Hey don't jinx it" The woman was annoyed and yelled at him "Stop being a baby. You have been whining ever since we got here. Jeez, I don't even know why they keep looping you with me." She went to the other side of the entrance and sat.

They rested there for a short while and went into the cave afterwards. After entering, they opened their mouths agape in surprise and shock. They couldn't help but cheer as if they had just won a jackpot. Which indeed they have. After running around and being chased by beasts all night, who knew coming here would end their misery? Before them was an unconscious Lin. The lead guard gestured to the other guard to check him out.

Though he was a bit hesitant, he still did as was told. He poked Lin but did not react to him. He checked his breathing and realised he was still alive. "I think he is unconscious" The lead guard cackled like a madman. The woman and the other guard moved a step back as his behaviour was a bit concerning.

"Finally, we have found him. It looks like lady luck just visited us. Quickly, tie him up before he wakes up" the lead guard said as he advanced towards Lin. The woman quickly used her wood element powers to bind Lin from head to toe like a mummy and lifted him into the air leaving only a little space for him to breathe through.