Chapter 7: Meditation

"So should I start now? I've never meditated before, kind of a new concept for me. Do I have to cross my legs and hold my fingers in the okay symbol with my elbows on my knees?" John decided to revert to being a smart-ass since he was at a loss of what to actually do. Markesh rolled his eyes while Lexi just grinned, "You don't have to be a smart-ass." She said, seeing right through it. "Meditation is about you, it doesn't matter what you've seen on TV or anything like that. You just need to be comfortable so sit however you want, hell you can even lay down." John sat down and crossed his legs 'indian style' and then looked expectantly towards Lexi. "Now that you've made yourself comfortable you should begin by trying to clear your mind. Just attempt to keep your mind empty and begin to concentrate on your breathing, it helps if you close your eyes. Begin with your breathing, visualize the breathe going into and out of your body, attempt to breathe in through your nose and out through your mouth. As you begin to feel and visualize your breathe imagine that each breathe you draw in brings you more power and each breathe you release pushes out weakness. This is called empowering meditation and will help you draw strength into your body and your third eye. It will help you to feel and strengthen your chi, you should be able to feel it easily while using this technique." John did as she instructed, he could not entirely empty his mind though, in the back of his mind his rage still existed. It fueled his life and decisions, he could visualize everything and could feel the power getting stronger inside of him but the rage continued to grow as well. While practicing his breathing technique he had violent thoughts of his recent beating and of his planned revenge, he could literally taste the blood of his enemies as his mind pushed his chi into his body and his third eye. He was in a complete meditative trance and was lost in his thoughts of revenge. His eye began to pulse stronger with the chi of the waypoint, each heartbeat drove his chi like a wave and soon the entire waypoint mimicked his heartbeats. The red line surrounding his third eye began to get thicker and small red specks began to appear in the blackness surrounding his red iris. Red lines were also forming on the stone of the waypoint, creeping outwards from John's position in the center. Slowly filling the space between the bricks as the aura of the waypoint began to be tinged with red. Panic began to spread on the faces of the duo as they watched the display, John's power shouldn't have been so strong, only chi masters could control the chi of the waypoints so easily and even they adapted their chi to the waypoint. Not the other way around, John was turning the waypoint into a reflection of his anger. "We must stop him!" Markesh said. "Agreed." Lexi tried to call out to John, "John! You must stop! You are tainting the waypoint, you are not supposed to meditate on your anger, it will only lead you down a dark path. It's useless, he can't hear me." She began trying to get closer to John but his chi was becoming a miasma, it was like wading upstream in a powerful river. It was like walking through a dense fog, making it harder to see and breathe the closer she got to him. Through sheer effort she managed to reach John but she hesitated to touch him, she could see and feel the power rolling off his body. Markesh struggled to yell through the dense gale that John's chi had become, "What are you waiting for, shake him awake. His chi won't react to physical contact unless he is directly controlling it." Reassured by Markesh she reached out her hand to grab John's shoulder, her instincts screamed at her to stop but she mastered herself and grabbed him. A powerful burned her hand and force flung her away at least 20 feet, she was almost out of the waypoint now and was out cold on the stones. This isn't good Markesh thought as he watched Lexi being flung away like a ragdoll, the force had knocked her out cold and had severely injured her hand and arm. The gale of John's chi continued to get stronger and darker, he had taken over the entire waypoint and in his meditative state he could only revel in the power he was feeling. He had barely noticed Lexi, he had only perceived it as a small fluctuation in his chi. He could feel his chi around himself and inside his body, he felt more powerful then ever before. And his rage was battling to control his entire being, it was trying to control him. He could feel it reaching for his mind, he wouldn't let go of himself, his presence was strong enough to push it away from him mind but he was still lost in his power. As John battled for his mind the chi of the waypoint began to change more, it began to take on more a black tinge. Black sparks began to flow away from John's body and third eye, small black lighting bolts began to jump randomly through the red aura of the waypoint. Markesh could feel the waypoint changing around him, this is no longer neutral chi, it is all John's now. He could see shadow beasts forming around the waypoint, John's unstable chi was attracting them. I have to try to get control of this waypoint, I can try to battle John physically or try to gain control through meditation. Markesh sat down and began to meditate immediately, he didn't know how long it would be before the shadow beasts could get through or before John lost control of his chi and caused the total destruction of the waypoint or tainted it forever. He couldn't let that happen.