On our sed evening ba Vegas, Mahya made a grave tactical error: She sat with Rue to watch the movie Max. Rue discovered that the dog’s role was to guard and patrol. From that moment on, he decided he was our watchdog and walked around the house’s perimeter, sniffing the air and barking at everything that moved. And when I say everything that moved, I mean it literally. He protected us from birds, ants, one poor butterfly that flew into our yard, and, of course, cats. Fortunately, the bungalows oher side of us were also rental units and were currently empty.

  His vigint eyes sed every nook and y, his ears twitg at the slightest sound. He took his newfound role with an amusing and endearing seriousness. The sight of Rue standing tall, tail raised iness, filled me with a strange sense of pride. Despite his overzealous approach, there was something f about having such a dedicated protector. Not to mention, he looked cute and adorable while doing it.

  After a few rounds of patrolling, he would strut up to someone and, in his unique way, announce very loudly, “Rue is watchdog! Rue on the prowl!” His chest puffed out with pride, eyes gleaming with excitement and duty, making sure everyone knew he was on the job.

  The third time Rue announced his patrol to Sonak, I heard him mutter under his breath, “I swear, he told me to buy the Telepathy skill just to torture me with his familiar.”

  Sonak’s face was a mixture of amusement and exasperation as he shook his head, his lips curling into a relut smile. “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he grumbled, trying to hide a smirk.

  Rue wagged his tail furiously and announced, “Patrol important! Rue protector!”

  I was sitting on the ground, trying to ect to the earth, when Rue came over to announce his progress in his usual boisterous manner. “Rue do patrol! Rue do prowl!” And, once again, it broke my tration, muy chagrin.

  My shoulders slumped in frustration as I rubbed my temples, trying to maintain my focus. Rue’s iious enthusiasm was a major distra. His bounding energy seemed to seep into the ground, making it difficult for me to achieve the stillness I needed, but it was hard not to be amused by his dedication.

  I scratched his ears while trying to e up with a solution. “Listen, buddy, I o trate on what I’m doing. So how about we make a deal?” I said, my voice ge firm.

  He wagged his tail furiously, his eyes wide with anticipation. “Rue like deal!”

  “Excellent. tinue your patrol, and in the evening, after dinner, give me a full report of all your findings. Okay?”

  He stuck his paw out for a handshake, his tail wagging so hard it was a blur. “Rue deal with John!”

  I ughed out loud; he was learning such strahings from the TV. As I shook his paw, a mischievous grin spread ay face. “You make the same deal with Mahya and Al but not with Sonak. tinue rep to Sonak as usual.”

  Rue’s eyes sparkled with uanding and amusement, and he gave my face a vigorous toh before bounding off. “Yes, boss!”

  I turned my attention back to the earth. Achieving mana oneness came easily to me, but I couldn’t achieve Unity no matter what I tried. It was clear that without Unity, I couldn’t ask the earth for help. It drove me crazy because, with the wind, it had been so effortless; we ected. The earth, however, roving to be much more stubborn.

  I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, feeling the cool earth beh me. The solidity of the ground was both reassuring and frustrating. It reminded me of the stability I was missing, the groundedness I o find. Despite feeling the earth’s slow and steady pulse, it remained just out of reach.

  I tried to figure out the difference, and why it wasn’t w. Thinking back, I remembered the moment I achieved Unity with the wind. The wind was dynamic, free-spirited, and unfined—ever-ging, uable, and capricious. It table and fluid, pyful, and chaotic. These were the qualities I ected with because they resonated withioo, at least partially.

  The earth, oher hand, was stable, patient, and enduring—resilient, solid, and unyielding. It was stoic, impassive, durable, weathered, protective, and steadfast. It was also nurturing aile, diverse and adaptable. These qualities were more plicated for me to ect with. I realized I used to embody these traits in the past, but now, looking back, I saw that much of it was because I was carrying a lot of emotional baggage. I never really got the ce to discover my true self. My true self was much closer to the wind: scattered, boung between tasks, pyful, and quick-witted.

  For the first time, I truly examined myself and the ges I had undergone over the st eight years, ever since I discovered the ability to travel betweees. I used to be solemn, withdrawn, introverted, and highly goal-oriented—focused on money and success. Now, I still appreciate money, but more for the fort it could bring, not for its own sake.

  I sat for a long time, trying to uand this profound shift in my personality. I khat much of the heaviness I felt in the past was due to my childhood experiences. Over ten visits to the ER for severe injuries, coupled with loneliness and sadness, had left a mark. But it wasn’t just that. If I didn’t have these qualities before, no matter what I went through, they wouldn’t have maed. So, they were always a part of me; I just had to rediscover them.

  The memories of my childhood flickered in my mind like old photographs. Each scar and eaent of pain shaped me into who I am today. But I also realized that these experiences had given me a urength, a resiliehat was as much a part of me as the air I breathed. The earth beh me seemed to hum quietly, aowledging this truth, and our e solidified a little bit more.

  I recalled something about mental influen the Traits description and revisited it. The aspects of Vitality stood out:

  Vitality

  Physical: This quality determines your energy, vigor, liveliness, and activity level. It also determines your loy—how much life you have in you, and your physical appearance—how young and vibrant you look.

  Mental: This quality determines your feeling of aliveness, participation in life, and enjoyment of life, as well as your sense of wonder aement about life.

  When I looked in the mirror, I appeared twenty a like a twenty-year-old, not almost fifty. Lis looked young, but he bore the weight of his years. You could feel his experiend the trials he had endured. Mahya, though over a hundred, felt like a mischievous twenty-year-old trouble-making imp.

  Refleg on these differences, I realized that while the wind’s traits came naturally to me now, the earth’s qualities were withioo. My past had overshadowed them, but they were still a part of who I was. My journey now was about reeg with those qualities, bang the wind’s freedom with the earth’s steadfastness, and finding true Unity within myself. I o find this internal Unity and make peace with the aspects that reminded me of the “dark days” before I could progress further. I still had water and fire to work with iure, after earth. And I realized I wouldn’t be able tress before I made peace with everything in me and aowledged it.

  The path to Unity was not straightforward. It was a winding road filled with twists and turns, highs and lows. But I was determio walk it, embrace every part of myself, and find the necessary bahe wind had taught me to be free, but the earth would teach me to be grounded.

  The problem was that an internal journey of this kind takes more than a few days. This kind of internal journey required progress and growth rather than something that could be pleted quickly with a set schedule.

  Lis said that we are our mana, and our mana is a representation of us. For the first time, I uood what he meant. I uood it in the past, but ruly grasped the full extent. Now I did. My mana was the refle of me and everything in me, so to use it effitly and achieve everything possible, I first o truly uand myself and then accept myself: good, bad, and all the rest without suppressing any part of my makeup, whether emotional, mental, or physical.

  It was a humbling realization. The journey of self-discovery was not about perfe, but about accepta was about aowledging every fw and every strength and finding the harmony within. As I sat there, the earth beh me felt warmer and more weling. It was as if it was encio take this jouro dig deep and uh the truths hidden within my soul.

  Socrates’ saying, “Know thyself,” didn’t apply in this case. It was “Uand thyself, accept thyself, embrace thyself and everything you are, and express this uanding in the real world.” Only after achieving this would I succeed in mastering my mana and all it entails. I o learn who I was as a person in the present moment and accept every part of me—the good, the bad, the strong, and the weak.

  I sat there, feeling the weight of these realizatioling in. Achieving Unity with the earth required me to ect with qualities that had once been sed nature but were now buried deep within me. Grounding and stability were no longer familiar; nurturing aility felt like distant memories, especially with how hard it was for me to feel empathy, and my ck of care for people I didn’t feel any e to. Yet, the earth atient and enduring, waiting for me to find my way back.

  As I reflected further, I reized that reeg with these aspects was not just about remembering who I was, but also about who I had bee and who I wao be iure. The resiliend adaptability of the earth were traits I o cultivate ahey were within me, overshadowed by years of ge and running away from terrible memories and pain, but still there, waiting to be rediscovered.

  The qualities of stone came to mind: solid and unyielding, a and timeless, stoid impassive, durable ahered, protective and steadfast. These traits seemed even more distant, almost alie, I realized they represented an unyielding strength I had onown but had lost touch with. It wasn’t about being stubborn but about standing firm in my beliefs, being a protector, a foundation. And this time, not only the protector of my own self and sanity, but my friends as well.

  Iillness of my mind, I saw the wisdom of being unyielding when necessary. There was strength in standing firm, being a protector, ahering life’s storms. This strength was not about resista resilience, endurance, and remaining steadfast.

  As I tio meditate, the uanding deepehe wind’s qualities of being dynamid ever-ging, uable aic, powerful and forceful, free-spirited and unfined were still very much a part of me. But now, I o bahese with the earth’s steadfastness and the stone’s unyielding nature.

  I realized my journey was not just about eg with the elements, but about iing their qualities within myself. The freedom of the wind o be banced with the stability of the earth. The adaptability of water would o blend with the iy of fire. Only by embrag all these aspects could I achieve actual Unity and master my mana.

  I o embrace water’s qualities: adaptable and flexible, persistent and patient, calm yet powerful, nurturing and life-giving, reflective and introspective, sing and purifying, mysterious and deep, cyclical and renewable, soothing and healing.

  Water’s adaptability and persistence were qualities I admired, but had yet to ie fully. Spending time near bodies of water, feeling their presence, and their movements would help me internalize these traits.

  I had always felt a kinship with Fire with its passionate and intense energy, votility and temperamental nature, vibrant and eic preseransformative and purifying power, and ing and insatiable drive. Yet, I o uand its dual nature: warm and f in trolled forms, destructive and dangerous when unchecked. Fire’s ability to transform and purify owerful metaphor for my own journey of self-discovery and acceptance.

  I uood that mastering my mana was a journey of self-discovery, of uanding and accepting every part of myself. It was about finding a baween the dynamid the stable, the adaptable and the steadfast, the passionate and the calm. Only then could I truly harhe power of the elements and achieve Unity.

  Sitting in partial meditation and examining these realizations one by one gave me a profound sense of peace. I had begun to uand the depth of the journey ahead, the o embrace all aspeyself, and ie the qualities of the elements within. It was a jourhat would take time, patience, and introspe. But I was ready. For the first time, I truly grasped what it meant to master my mana. It wasn’t just about power or trol, but uanding, acceptance, and bance.

  As I rose from my meditation, I felt a new sense of purpose. The journey ahead was clear, and I was ready to embrace it fully. The path to Unity y within, and I repared to walk it step by step, uanding, accepting, and iing every part of myself along the way.

  I felt the telltale signs I was familiar with: the g of my being, followed by the ung and the wave of energy that followed. It was s this time that I felt it might sweep me away. My whole body was buzzing as wave after wave of energy swept through me.

  I had strange glimpses of feelings and impressions I couldn’t uand: being a part of a whole? Dissipating and merging and then being ahe breaking of e and individuality? Those impressions were very dominant and strong, like they took over my entire being, but I couldn’t make sense of them. They felt like things I experienced ahrough again and again, but they made little sense.

  What the hell?

  It also felt like the wave was mending cracks, which was a bizarre sensation. After all, I was a flesh and blood person, not a cracked cy pot. But that’s how it felt: there were cracks in me, and something was rest them, like the Restore spell. Finally, the assed, and I sat there reeling from my realization and from the strange mana wave I had never experienced before. After a few minutes, I shook my head and opened my personal information to check my mana.

  10,200/10,200

  Huh?!

  It didn’t go up, but I felt that something happened; it was unmistakable. I sat there, staring at my mana numbers, my brow furrowed in fusion, trying to uand what had happened. My eyes narrowed, and I bit my lip in frustration, but I couldn’t figure it out.

  I looked up at the sky, my expression a mix of pleading and exasperation. “A hint, maybe? A oward answers? Something?” I asked aloud, my voice carrying a note of desperation.

  From behind me, I heard Sonak mutter, “Infidels don’t deserve help.”

  The annoyanapped me out of the half-trance I was in. My head whipped around, and I scowled at him. “What are you doing here?” I demanded, my tone sharp.

  Sonak crossed his arms, his expression one of mild disdain. “Mahya wants us to practice paintball shooting since we have never shot a gun. I felt the crazy mana you projected all over the pd stopped.” His eyes flickered with curiosity and a hint of .

  So he felt it, too? I thought, my irritation mingling with curiosity.

  “I’ll be there in five minutes,” I said, my voice steadying as I forced a calm expression.

  He nodded, his face impassive, then turned on his heels a, his footsteps eg softly as he walked away. I watched him go, my mind already shifting back to the puzzle of my mana.

  After a few minutes of sitting there, no answers materialized, either from the air or the Guidance. I shook my head and got up. It reminded me of my first days in Shimoor, when I was in the dark about many things and seeking answers. I decided to write to Lis and ask him if he might have insights or at least a book reendation.

  For now, it was time to shoot some paintballs at Sonak.