I made it to the depths of the lunar cave, it was pitch black apart from strands of pale moonlight that pierced through gaping holes in the tall, ancient ceiling. A stray beam projected a perfect circle before the hilt of a tall and jagged looking stalactite.

I approached it slowly before sitting down, ready to begin my meditation.

My vision slid into darkness, my skin was frozen by a cruel gust of wind, causing me to shiver against my will. Sheets of ice formed on my exposed skin and joints.

“This isn’t working” I thought dimly.

All that I knew was that I had to “clear my mind” and sit here until I achieve “Enlightenment”.

My master mentioned it to me but he was never very clear on what “Enlightenment” was. But I wanted it, with it I would never have to call anybody “Master” ever again…

Eventually a distant female voice echoed “Rai…” .Her voice sounded familiar but I dared not open my eyes in fear of forfeiting my “Enlightenment”

“Rai!” the voice repeated, much closer now.

“Rai your master has summoned you back home, abandon your training and come home now!”

My first instinct was to rise and obey the voice, but then a fleeting memory floated to the front of my mind.

“Rai, if you wish to complete your training and attain enlightenment, travel to the depths of the lunar cave then meditate there, under no circumstances must you leave, even if every drop of blood leaves your body or if I tell you too”

I screwed my eyelids shut. My master told me to come here and not to leave, then why did this girl, who I think I know, tell me that he wanted me to come back?

Was he concerned about my well being?, Was he afraid that after I had attained my enlightenment that I would surpass him ?

Whether he likes it or not, that is exactly what’s going to happened…

I ignored the girl completely, time marched on and through it all I didn’t hear another word from the supposed girl who was sent to fetch me

“Did she leave?”

With my eyes closed I couldn’t tell if she was still standing there. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up on end as a spell of anxiety ignited in the depths of my stomach.

Whoever she was ,I knew that she was still there… watching me…

If I were to reach out or speak with her, I would fail my task…but if I do……….

I forced my uneasy feelings to the back of my mind and concentrated on my breathing.

A soft, rising chorus of humming began to reverberated throughout the cave, like a hive of angry hornets. It made every hair on my body stand up and pierce through my frozen skin.

Every neuron in my body was screaming for me to get up and run.

Run all the way back home… to tell my master that I had failed…

“No” I ordered back “You will stay here, you are not a sissy little boy……” the humming grew louder.

I sat firm, my eyes fastened. Then the vision behind my eye lids sank into pure darkness. I could not feel or move my body even if I wanted too.

In the darkness a severed, ancient face appeared before me. It wore a stern, paralyzing glare.

The outline of the face was a pure, otherworldly white. Contrasting with the endless night. It’s wrinkles and facial features were ridged and harsh.

It stared directly into my soul “…Welcome… Rai…” his voice was clear and it reeked with age, when he spoke his lips did not move “Like thousands before you… you have come to this place… to attain enlightenment?…”

I dared not answer, this was the way.

“To begin… I must break your legs never to walk again… do you accept this?”

My entire being, prickled at this request. Is this what I truly needed to endure to become “Enlightened”

“Do you… accept this…?” the voice repeated his pencilled features narrowing in mounting anger.

My lips split apart and answered “Yes” The moment the words past my lips I felt two firm hands clamp around my shins ,with a swift tug I felt my both my legs tear away effortlessly from my lower half.

Tears of pain leak down my cheeks but I dared not scream or moan .The outline of the face became blurry. The humming amplified like it was mocking me for having such a reaction.

“You cannot walk now…. Rai now” The face said casually “Next… I will tear off your arms… and feed them to the crows… do you accept this?”

“.…Yes”

My arms were seized then yanked instantly from their sockets. I could feel my mouth open in a silent scream as my vision slumped to the left. The face tilted itself accordingly, to continue it’s terrible stare.

“...Now Rai… without arms or legs you can only lie there… I will cut off your ears… you don’t mind do you?”

Although it’s expression never changed, I got distinct impression that it was enjoying this. At this point I wasn’t sure what I wanted anymore.

Why was I subjecting myself to this torture?

All I wanted was to do was better myself… but in the end ,I’d become this demon’s play thing…At this point ,I don’t think I could deny any of it’s “requests” anymore…

On their own my lips formed the words “Yes”

The humming cut out, silence fell. I lay there staring at that awful face I wanted to cry and let it all be over .The face produced what looked like a piece of chalk from thin air, he then wrote upon the darkness like it was a black board.

“So ,Rai… no legs, no arms and no sound, through floating words… I must ask… do you care… if I take your eyes… ?

It only took few seconds before his message burned itself into my mind, then it vanished, the face then wrote a new message in it’s place

“ I shall steal your sight… do you accept this…?”

He finished by underlining the phrase “Do you accept this ?”

Pain surged through my body like a colony of army ants as I stared at those awful words. Even in this state I had to answer him, for what reason?

I did not know or “care” anymore…

I felt two swift pokes to my eyes balls and just like the humming ,the face disappeared. Even with my sight and hearing gone, somehow I could hear it’s voice in my head, like I could hear my own thoughts.

“Your mind… is all that you have left… in the end I will take this too… but you probably don’t want that too happen… do you …?”

“There would be no way to stop you” I thought, unsure if he could hear me.

“Are you sad…. are you lonely…?If you lose your mind…, you would lose… any feeling of sadness….”

Against myself I couldn’t help but feel an ounce of comfort from this .I would be dead, free from this monster, free from my master’s control and free to be…nothing at all.

“I will take your mind Rai… know that I will possess it…”

I let go… felt my train of thought drift away into nothing…

Everything went white.

Then some how my eyes slid open .I was still inside the lunar cave the early sun’s rays shone through the holes in the cave’s ceiling .I wasn’t dead ,in fact my arms.my legs and ears were still there. Relief and happiness washed over me as I patted all over my body double checking it was all still there.

I climbed to my feet, once I found my balance and I sprinted home.

I knocked on the door and my master answered, he was wearing purple morning dressing cown “Ah ,Rai I see you have completed your tria-”

Before he could finish his sentence I rushed in and hugged him “As a matter of fact I did, I’m just, happy to be alive”

My master beamed at me like he had never done before “Now you finally understand, Rai son”

I blinked “What do you mean?”

“You went off to that cave, to find away to surpass me, did you not?”

“Yeah… I did”

He put a hand on my shoulder “One day you will, when I’m dead” he chuckled heartily then sat down on the porch and invited me to sit.

Once I did, he looked back at me seriously “In all honesty Rai, I don’t tell you this all the time but you are truly exceptional academically and physically”

“However with anything else surrounding those things, before you completed this trail you were woefully ignorant”

I stare at the ground, a nearby beetle scuttled across the grass before burrowing into a nearby hole .I stared for sometime before I found my answer

“So, you sent me on this task, to appreciate… living… that’s enlightenment?”

He chuckled again “You make it out to be some sort of prize or award ,you didn’t let me fully explain it to you before you rushed off to that cave”

I stare back at him in stunned silence

My master shook his head “Enlightenment doesn’t make you physically stronger, or smarter like you hoped, but you still suffered and endured”

I continue to stare, dumbfounded, I felt like a complete idiot.

“The only other times I have seen you truly happy is when you won something, aced an exam or defeated another student”

He reached out to my shoulder “And when you were deeply unhappy was when you couldn’t understand something or when I corrected you”

I look away “And no matter what I do, it’ll be taken from me someday…”

My master nodded “But those things do not define you, the measure of a man is not what he gained, but what he gave and suffered through”

He stood up and patted my shoulder ”Come on, let’s go get some breakfast” he turned on his heel and headed further into the house.

I stood up to follow him, my head swimming then a burning question popped into my mind “Master ?, who did you send to come fetch me from the cave?”

My master cracked an egg onto a steel pan it began to sizzle, he then stared back at me blankly “I didn’t send anybody ,Rai son” he said plainly before sprinkled salt and pepper onto the yolk…

Matthew Ardies

Film School Graduate/Indie Film Maker

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