The Fledgling

“You must have some very dark magic indeed to make others bend to your will and make them believe your lies. A woman who is seen as nothing here is very much something to be reckoned with, oh Great Master! When you take everything from me, you expect me to whimper in fear before you!” My anger rose again and again at his matter-of-fact demand that I return to work as his puppet. “You are not the first to lose a husband and child. There are countless others all across the land.” His voice was calm, and his words were measured and firm. He spoke as if what had befallen me was common to many and therefore didn’t matter. “How dare you!” I spat out my words. “Those poor wretches could not have expected anything else; such is their lot, as they have come to know through experience, but this! You tell me that I have been given a great honour, to be chosen to work with Kou. You bring about a union between me and Wu Fang. You tell me it is of the utmost importance that my child should be born into this wretched life, only for him to be taken away from me almost immediately! For what possible purpose could all this suffering and grief serve anyone?” “For a far greater purpose, Su Ling!” His voice was raised now, but his impatience was quickly checked. “You have been taught as much, have you not?” This drove me to even more fury. “Oh, for some mysterious grand design from the unseen world, wasn’t it? A world which shows such utter contempt for this one! We, we in the flesh, hold just as much importance. Oh, we do not have all the answers or as much knowledge as our venerable spirit masters and ancestors, but we are just as worthy! How dare you see us as worthless against them? I would not wish to serve such monsters!” He closed his eyes for a while and stood in silence. Then, speaking in a firm manner again, he said, “You have seen the Watchers, Su Ling.” “I have seen the way I and my colleagues have been tricked by them!” I shouted. “You cannot possibly know what you are saying; if you were not one of us, you would be dead by now!” he answered. Still composed, he stood facing me, waiting for my next outburst. “Do you think I care? Do you think I would prefer membership in Kou to having my loved ones returned to me? I hope you have protected yourself, Master Noih, from my own terrible thoughts and violations of the energy field in this room!” “Naturally,” he replied casually. “Before I came here, I prepared myself, as always, against any negativity. But unlike my old practice of adjusting my protective field to project back on my enemy, this time I have made sure that no harm comes to you. A long time ago I had the need to project my enemies’ negative thoughts back towards them. It was a matter of survival. Since then I have gained much knowledge regarding ways to transform another’s animosity; it is all done safely in the energy field, of course, rather than using like against like. That way we would have a never-ending circle of aggression, as we see within our country today.” My eyes almost bulged with anger at the hypocrisy of his remark. Before I could speak, he interjected, “You have forgotten much, Su Ling. The healing with Kou after Wu Fang returned to the spiritual realms should have taught you much. The merging with your unborn son, with the help of the Watchers, explained much to you.” His words stirred a faint memory now, of sacred symbols and something called divinity. “I see you are beginning to remember,” he said to me softly. I would have none of it! “These are just your tricks and the Watchers’ tricks, Master Noih. You are all powerful enough to create a Doorway of Illusion; how many other illusions have you placed in our minds?” He lowered his eyes, and everything was quiet in the room. I waited, and still he said nothing. “You have no answer for me, Master Noih?” “I was giving you time to catch your breath; you are still quite frail. Sit!” At that moment, I became aware of how weak my legs were. They suddenly crumpled under me, so that I fell into a sitting position on the floor. His doing, was all I could think of. He sat down, cross-legged, on the floor opposite me. If I had had the energy to be surprised, I would have. Still, there was some fight left in me somewhere. I pondered. “You have no need to remind me, Master, of how situations are brought about by our own choices – or so you say. You claim that a sacred contract may be made between some souls who wish to meet up again in the material world. Yet what is the point of this continual cycle of pain and suffering? While I have been lying here in the silence of this room, I have been analysing the belief which we all cling to. Whatever hidden knowledge there is left to learn, there is no justification for all this!” “What, then, do you suggest is the real truth, Su Ling?”