Walter Lui

It has been nearly two days since meeting up with the old man on the trade route. I must say it's been an eye-opener. At first, I listened to his stories on the area's history, but I noticed something odd after nearly half a day. As the old man walked, he would twitch a finger from time to time, and cobblestones would flatten out, or small cracks would repair themselves. When I asked the old man, he laughed then explained that he was doing his job. He is a caretaker for a loop of roads between three major cities in the area. The purpose is to keep the roads in working order and clean the rest areas for weary travelers to make camp.

By the way, the old man asked me to call him gramps since that's what his few acquaintances call him. He was banished to this region for refusing some, as he calls them uppity noble twats, bribes when he worked in the capital many years ago. When he introduced himself, I found myself in a bit of a corner as I figured out at that moment I couldn't remember what this body's name was before I took over. Or was I always here? To tell the truth, everything from before waking in that clearing surrounded by unfriendly gazes is fuzzy at best. In the end, I cobbled together a name that gave me a sense of peace. It reminded me of two old men who might have been my grandfathers. But again, I can't remember.

When I told the old man what I thought my name should be, he only nodded and told me to be careful as it marked me as a halfbreed. Apparently, some people didn't approve of diluting the pure blood of their ancestors or some such nonsense. Oh, I also learned to talk like the locals, not that I had much choice. If the old man didn't like the way I said something, he would smack his walking stick into the back of my leg. For someone who looked like a doddering old man, he hits hard. I think the bruises will last the rest of my life at this rate.

I tried to help Gramps with his job of fixing broken cobbles. However, when I finally figured out, with much help from gramps, I might add. I was able to grasp a strand of the strange green energy swirling around inside me that kept flowing up from the ground beneath my feet. I touched a cracked cobble and poured the tiny strand of energy into it, trying to will it to repair the cracks. Instead, the cobble shattered into the sand, and lush green grass spread out in a large circle, pushing up from between the cobbles all around. Needless to say, Gramps was not amused and had to expend some effort to put it all to rights. Despite this, he seemed pleased with the flavor of the grass and picked the largest to chew on while we continued our journey.

I, of course, asked Gramps about my green energy, but he only shrugged, claiming he knew enough about Qi to make his life a bit easier, but if I wanted to know more, to ask somebody else. I got the feeling he doesn't much like these people called cultivators. Not that I blame him, I feel those people in the clearing I woke in were probably typical of the bunch. Still curious, I continued to pester him on his methods of fixing the roads, and eventually, he gave in and began trying to teach me how to move the cobbles that are out of their alignment. He refused to try repairs again since he didn't know why my Qi was so strange.

The nights were quiet. The old man set up a small tent that he offered to share, but I like sitting under the stars, so I politely refused. Instead, I meditated, or I think I was. At least I sat still with my eyes closed, feeling the energies move around my body. What I am calling normal Qi; A clear energy that flows into my body all on its own, would enter through my skin swirl around, touching every part of my body before settling in a pool below my navel. When it filled to a sufficient amount, I forced it out and into the earth beneath me. Every time I do this, a much smaller amount of green energy flows from the ground into my body. Instead of settling in a pool like normal Qi, it continued to swirl around. The more I gathered, the faster it moved. It is actually beginning to scare me. What if the energy builds up to much pressure and I explode?

On the second night, even though Gramps told me he didn't know much about Qi, I asked for his advice on the issue. I mean, why not you don't live two centuries without picking up a bit of wisdom here and there. His advice was to try the same thing I do with normal Qi. Unfortunately, the green Qi would flow into the ground, swirl around for a bit, influencing the flora around me, then return only slightly diminished. Gramps had watched me for several minutes during this experiment. He sat running his gnarled hand over his long goatee, occasionally humming to himself. I found it rather unnerving since he never seemed to blink. Then, out of nowhere, the old man told me to stop, and instead of releasing the normal Qi into the earth, try letting it into the air around me. I shrugged then did as he asked immediately; the air smelled clean and crisp like a winter morning. A moment later, a small amount of blue Qi entered my body. It flowed around mingling with the green energy but never merging.

Gramps has a great poker face (Wait, what's poker?), but I still barely noticed his eyes widen ever so slightly in surprise. After his initial surprise, he took on a lecturing tone telling me to focus on taking in more of the blue Qi for the rest of the night and tell him how the two Qi's interact together in the morning. I am not entirely sure, but I feel like the old man knows something more than he is telling me. Over the course of the night, I continued to draw in more blue Qi, and strangely I began to notice the green Qi begin to settle down. Maybe I need to balance out the energies? When the first light of dawn broke, I was already up gathering edible plants around the campsite. It's odd, but for some reason, I never feel the need to sleep, at least not since I woke in that clearing.

When gramps crawled from his tent, I had already finished boiling some rice and various roots and set it aside for him. As he walked over, I could hear the popping of joints along with his grumbling about getting too old to sleep on the ground. I would have offered to try and heal him since this green energy seems to heal any injury, no matter how slight, almost faster than I can create them. But I don't understand this energy, and I don't want to hurt him. He is, after all, the only person I know, and I consider him a friend if not a grandfather figure. While he ate, I explained how the two energies seemed to keep each other in check. He nodded swallowed his food before telling m,e to continue taking in the blue energy until both of the energies had equaled out than to keep them balanced from then on.

While gramps finished eating, I stared into the fire, thinking about the two energies. Could I perhaps gather other types like fire and water? Something on my face must have given me away because the old man hit me on top of my head with his walking stick. "Don't you even try it with either fir or water until you have completely grasped the two you already have? Fire is extremely volatile while water is more dangerous in the right circumstances. best to leave these two element s alone for now." The moment he stopped talking, he seemed to realize he had said too much. Gramps grunted as he stood waving me back onto the road. I didn't even see him put away his tent. How did I miss something like that? I thought about asking him about what he said earlier, but it is obvious he doesn't want to talk about it. I shrugged to myself. Everyone has a right to their own secrets.

The third day went much like the rest. Gramps told stories while fixing the road while I listened. The only difference was I was actively pulling in normal Qi for the first time since I woke and releasing it back into the air letting in more blue Qi. I also had plenty of time to think about what happened last night and what Gramps let slip this morning. So these different colors represent elements interesting. I suppose then the green is earth and blue is air. But what is the clear Qi called? I have doubts that everyone calls it normal Qi. I wonder if Gramps will answer my question if I asked. He seemed upset that he let what he did slip. In the end, I decided to let it go. For now, I have a long way to go before the two I have are balanced. Come to think of it do I need to balance the normal Qi as well?

Around noon a coach pulled by two horses with a balding man at the reins pulled alongside us. I didn't pay much attention expecting them to pass us by, but surprisingly they slowed to match our speed. I looked up to find a small girl about five years or so listening with rapt attention to Gramps's story. He told a tale of some long-gone general who took five hundred men to fight against a beast horde many thousand strong. As I watched the wide-eyed child, I noticed the bright green eyes of an adult before the curtain closed with the child practically hanging out the coach window. Turning away from the child, I noticed the balding driver watching me with some amusement. Not sure what to make of that, I closed my eyes, returning to my practice. When I did so, I heard the slight sound of a snore coming from the coach's roof. Maybe there is a night shift driver, or maybe just a guard that goes on shift during the night while sleeping through the day.