but this time it was inside of him, a line of energy running from his head to his groin, a balance, a line of power.
Pagonel cleared aside some clutter and pulled forth his meditative car- an intricately designed weave of sheep's wool, one that he had crafted rnself over the course of two years. He sat down upon it, crossing his I s and bringing his hands together in front of his lean and strong chest, en very slowly dropping his hands to his thighs, palms facing upward. Then Pagonel went into his conscious relaxation, visualizing each part of his body and forcing it to sink more deeply into a quiet and relaxed mode.
E-Ie felt hollow and empty, letting all the clutter leave his body and mind.
Then, when his body and mind were quiet, Pagonel allowed the image of the lightning bolt to grow again in his thoughts. But rather than just pictur-ing the bolt cutting through the mist again, he let it grow beside a sensation of power within him, the line of his own life force, the energy that defined him more than his mortal trappings ever could.
He lost all sensation of time and space, fell into himself more completely than he had ever known possible, touched his life force with his conscious-ness for the first time.
And he stayed there, finding, for the first time, the most perfect harmony.
Pagonel blinked open his eyes, staring at the dark room. Slowly, very slowly, the mystic lifted his hands out to the side, then brought them in to-gether before his chest. His breath came slow and deep as he used the tech-niques he had mastered in the many years he had worn his white sash, then he consciously forced that breath into his muscles, his arms, and his legs.
Moving in perfect balance, in the smooth harmony of his muscles, Pagonel unfolded into a standing position, his hands never moving from in front of his chest.
The mystic blinked again and looked around, trying to find some hint of how much time had passed. He went out into the hall, to find it empty, all the doors closed. He went down to the hall of lights, a circular room lined with rows of burning candles, and with several angled mirrors and small rock fountains strategically placed to catch and distort the light.
Pagonel caught sight of himself in one of those mirrors, and he was pleased by the contentment he recognized in his rich brown eyes. Some-thing profound had happened to him in his chamber, he knew, and he understood what it was.
"Three days," came a voice behind him.
Pagonel turned and bowed. ?Master Cheyes." In the Walk of Clouds, there were three other mystics of Pagonel's level, the Red Sash of Life, and there were only two who had achieved the level beyond that, the Belt of All Colors, the symbol of enlightenment - Master Cheyes and his wife, Mistress Dasa. In all the centuries of the monastic order, the number who had so achieved this belt was minuscule, under a hundred, and to have two such masters in the Walk of Clouds at one time was almost unprecedented.
And now Pagonel meant to announce that a third would be joining them.
"I have seen the Chi," he said quietly.
Master Cheyes nodded solemnly. ?It is as I assumed when you did not emerge from your room for the celebration of the equinox, three days ago."
Three days? Pagonel laughed, somehow not surprised.
"I had hoped that you would see it, Pagonel," Master Cheyes continued. ?It is good that you have, for now there is a road before you."
"I have touched Chi," Pagonel explained. ?I have grasped it. I know it."
His stream of pronouncements had the old and wrinkled master rocking back on his heels. Few dared make such a claim, and for one of Pagonel's tender age to touch and fully grasp Chi, as Pagonel was claiming, was prac-tically unheard of. Master Cheyes' wife, Dasa, had only found Chi two years before, in her seventy-eighth year, her seventy-fifth of formal study.
"I would walk the Path of All Colors, Master Cheyes," the younger man said confidently.
Master Cheyes nodded, for though it seemed obvious to Pagonel that he doubted the claim, he was powerless to say so. The discovery of the Chi, the highest level of enlightenment, was a personal undertaking and claim, one that went beyond the supervision of Cheyes, or of any master.
"You understand the danger?" Master Cheyes did ask, as was required. ?And you understand that there