Vane Mountain Range, western outskirts, 40 metres deep.
Under a massive tree marked by a crack, a young boy sat cross-legged in a meditation posture.
Inside his mind, he tried to focus, pushing away every stray thought and sound.
For several minutes, he failed to clear them. Slowly, however, even the distracting thoughts and the faint rustling of leaves began to fade.
Just as he thought he had finally calmed his mind, a rustling sound nearby shattered his focus completely.
His eyes snapped open as he looked toward the moving grass, anger rising within him.
His father, on the other hand, remained alert when he heard the noise. He stepped forward to check, but just as he moved, the sound died down. Both Shuron and his father caught sight of a white shadow darting away at full speed.
Seeing this, Aven let out a quiet sigh of relief. "Good, it was just a rabbit, not a large animal."
He then turned to look at his son, who was staring ahead, clearly irritated.
He asked in rapid succession, "What happened, Shuron? Is your work complete? Did you fail? Should we go now?"
Shuron didn't reply immediately. He shook his head, trying to clear the lingering anger toward the rabbit. Then he said, "No, Dad. It's not complete yet. By the way, give me the earplugs, please."
His father nodded in understanding and stepped toward the backpack on the ground. He took out a pair of earplugs and tossed them to Shuron.
Shuron caught them and placed them in his ears. He then noticed his father standing guard once again.
In his mind, he thanked him—not only for helping, but also for bringing the earplugs on their journey. His father had packed them in case they were delayed and had to sleep in the car, using them to block out noise.
Now, they worked perfectly for him. They would help him focus.
He turned his attention inward. With the experience from his earlier attempt, he cleared away distracting thoughts much faster this time.
Soon, he reached a state where his mind perceived only silence and nothingness. It was the first time he had ever experienced something like this.
In his entire life, he had never felt it. He had always been burdened by thoughts and surrounding noise, never able to truly concentrate.
Within this silence and nothingness, he felt as if he were floating—or perhaps not even existing. He couldn't quite explain it. He felt that he existed, yet was too small, too insignificant to be noticed.
It even felt as though the Earth itself was just a speck of dust in this place.
He was in awe, completely immersed in this vast and indescribable sensation. Minutes passed, or perhaps an eternity—he could not tell. This place felt unreal, impossible, incomprehensible.
Then, he sensed his surroundings beginning to change.
This place felt different. Here, he could breathe. He could feel the ground beneath him, and even the earplugs in his ears. In this place, he no longer felt like dust. He was still small, but no longer insignificant.
He could tell that this place was none other than the Vane Mountain Range. Had he returned here, or had he never left at all? Had only his mind traveled to that strange place?
Even so, he had no intention of opening his eyes and breaking his meditation, because he "saw" several tiny bluish-white lights around him, like faint starlight.
Until now, his closed eyes had shown only darkness. But now, that darkness seemed to glow.
Shuron was stunned by the sight. He wondered what those lights were. In his closed-eye vision, he could see only those starlike particles drifting in the black emptiness.
They emerged from behind him, from the crack in the tree, then scattered into the surroundings, floating aimlessly in the darkness. Some areas held only a few particles, while others were densely filled. The denser regions pulled in the scattered particles more easily than the sparse ones.
Of course, the most concentrated spot was the crack in the tree behind him. It was clearly the source of those starlights.
Shuron thought for a moment about what these lights could be, then opened his eyes. He wanted to confirm whether these particles existed only in his perception or in reality as well.
When he opened them, the particles were gone. Only his father and the quiet forest stood before him, unchanged.
He glanced at his father, wondering if he had seen them too. But he quickly dismissed the thought. If his father had noticed anything, he would have reacted.
That meant his father had seen nothing. Only he had witnessed those particles after experiencing that mysterious place.
He then recalled that being's words, and their meaning became clear at this moment.
"Still the calm inside... means meditation and removing every thought.
"Open what is blind... means my vision, which was blind until now, opened after experiencing that mysterious place. That's why I began seeing those bluish-white particles. Though I am not sure if that mysterious place was the reason for opening my 'blind' vision..."
"Find what has now begun to breathe... means this bluish-white light, right? So this starlight is new....it had begun to breathe in this world...."
"Yes, everything makes sense now."
"That voice wanted me to come here and discover this bluish-white light."
After Shuron understood the meaning behind those words and intentions, new questions emerged in his mind.
"But what is this light? Does it have a purpose? Can I use it? What will I gain from it? How..."
He tried to answer his own questions but failed to find anything logical. The answers he came up with felt dreamlike and hard to believe, yet strangely fitting for his current situation.
"What if these bluish-white particles represent some kind of energy? Like spiritual qi or mana in novels?"
But doubt quickly followed.
"What if that's not true? What if it's something dangerous, like a virus or bacteria that only I can see... and that's my power? That would be disappointing."
"Anyway, only that being can answer this now."
"Hey, kind senior, can you please help me one more time? I won't ask again. Please help me."
After saying that, he waited for a while, hoping the voice would respond. But it didn't.
Shuron sighed.
"Well, that voice has already helped me. I shouldn't expect more. Relying on it too much isn't good. I should figure out this bluish-white starlight myself. Whether it's really spiritual qi, mana, or something else, it will clearly affect me... maybe even the whole world. And I'm aware of its existence now, though I don't know if anyone else is also aware of it....."
"Anyway, I should head home. Evening has come, and the forest will only grow more dangerous. I don't want to take unnecessary risks just to study this light."
With that, he stood up and walked toward his father, who noticed him only when he rose to his feet.
As he approached, he heard his father ask calmly, still alert, "Shuron, are you finished?"
But Shuron couldn't understand what he was saying.
Confused, he replied, "Dad, what happened? Why are you just moving your lips? Speak louder, I can't hear you."
When Aven heard that his son couldn't hear him, he spoke again, a little louder this time. The result was the same.
He grew confused.
"Why can't Shuron hear me? I spoke clearly and loud. It can't be that he lost his hearing during meditation... no, that's not reasonable. Then what's the reason?
"Oh... I understand."
As Aven looked at Shuron's face, he couldn't see it clearly because of his long hair. But when Shuron had turned slightly just now, Aven had caught a glimpse of it—the reason why Shuron couldn't hear him.
Aven raised his hand toward Shuron's face. Shuron was surprised by his father's action, but he wasn't afraid. His father had never slapped him or anything like that. At most, he scolded them, and that had always been enough to keep both him and his sister in line.
They didn't fear him, why would they fear their own father?—they just respected him, and that was why they listened.
Still, Shuron wondered what his father was about to do. He got his answer soon enough.
He saw his father's hand move toward his ear. When Aven pulled his hand back, Shuron noticed something in it. At the same moment, he felt one side of his ear become lighter, more relaxed.