204 Strange Words (1/2)

He thought he had found a way to avoid that and yet, he had still gotten way to close to quite a few people. Well, quite a few girls anyway.

As his thought drifted here, Laz felt a familiar furry lump take a seat on his shoulder before it started to rub his face. Although the words the Tyr could speak were still few, he was still really good at communicating. And really perceptive.

”I'm fine. No worries.” Although Laz said it, he wasn't sure he meant it. Having been gone for a year without a word to anyone... how would the ones he cared about view that? Would they be angry at him, be worried? Or maybe they had forgotten about him? He didn't know and because of that, he was worried. But even if he wanted to get in touch with them, he knew it wouldn't be easy. Especially if everything that Onacona had been saying is real. From the sounds of it, infected were now being hunted and the ones that had stood up for them before were being ignored. It wasn't as though Laz didn't know it was going to happen, he just thought that it would take longer.

But it seems like time waits for no one.

”Well, maybe I'm not fine, but there isn't anything I can do about it right now.”

Tyr jumped off of Laz's shoulder and landed on the ground before turning around to face Laz. Tyr then tool a fun position and wrapped his back and middle legs around himself while using his front legs to rest in front of himself. Laz looked at the way he was sitting and wondering what it meant.

*Budda* came Tyr's quick and short explanation.

”Budda?” Laz asked back. As he did though, something hidden in his brain seemed to click.

-Do not dwell in the past, do not dream of the future, concentrate the mind on the present moment.-

”The hell?” It was like the thought appeared in his head without his permission. And it wasn't like he had memorized it at some point and forgot it, more like it was there and he just needed the key, which was apparently his mental state along with the keyword.

Laz looked down at Tyr who was still sitting funny but with his little, furry eyes closed.

'I really don't think spiders have eyelids... whatever.” Laz pushed those thoughts aside and focused instead on the wording that had popped into his head.

Just as he thought about these words again, some of the runes that circled the bottom of his foundation seemed to light up, looking like he had plugged in the lights from a Christmas tree. Although it was only a few runes, Laz could make out that they were definitely brighter than every other dull rune around the base. On top of that, Laz was almost sure that when the runes lit up, it looked as though his black flame had become a bit more steady.

'What the hell is this?” Laz truly had no idea what was going on, or what had happened. Before, when he had looked at the runes, they appeared blurry and unreadable. But now, even though it was just a small few of the runes, they started become clear and just a little bit brighter.

'And what is this suppose to mean?' Laz asked himself while lost in thought. As he pondered over the words more and more, he discovered that as he applied their meaning to himself, it seemed like the runes were growing even brighter and becoming clear enough to read.

'Is this... what I think it is? The words from that Buddhist proverb were some of the many runes that were strung along his base? Then, what about the rest of them?'

'Do not dream of the future.' Sure enough, when these words appeared in Laz mind, the next small string of runes lit up as well.

Thinking that Laz had found a bit of insight, he tried thinking of the final line.

'Concentrate the mind on the present moment.' As these words popped into Laz's mind, he quickly looked at his foundation base, but was disappointed. The following runes remained dull and lifeless.

'But why?' Laz paused as he considered what he knew so far and did a double take over the previous strings of runes.

'The first set is the brightest, but I feel like they aren't nearly as bright as they could be. The second string of runes looks like it's barely lit as all.... WAIT A MINUTE.' Laz said out loud in his own head.

Laz had a strange feeling that the runes and the lit parts are like a long wire... if there isn't enough juice going in, the current won't travel the entire length of the wire, leaving lights unlit. It might be a crude way to put it, but that was all he could think of.

Going back to the first set, Laz started from there, thinking of all of the ways those words applied to him.

'The past. The portions of my life that are gone and the parts that won't come again. More importantly, they are things that aren't here with me now and there is nothing I can do about it.'

As Laz went through these things in his mind and how it applied to his life, the runes on his base began growing brighter and brighter. When he had reached a point where thinking about it made his head hurt, he started thinking about the second line.

'Do not dream of the future.' Ever since Laz had heard that he had basically been missing for a year, he couldn't help but think about the girls who he left behind. He wanted to see them, if only to let them know he was still alive. He still had to find his parents as well and find a way to rescue his grandfather. There were so many things he had to do that when he would think about it, it would almost suffocate him. In turn, this led to him being unable to focus on what was happening at the moment. He had too many responsibilities to shoulder and it really did prevent him from focusing.

As he thought more about those words, he knew that the theory was correct. It was just hard to put it into practice. How do you let go of the worry when the worry is always there? Laz couldn't help but be stuck on this line, with no clear way of applying it. At least, not yet. But maybe that was the point? As he focus more on setting the things aside that he couldn't do anything about right now, he vaguely felt that those words got a bit brighter. And more importantly, the final string even showed some signs of coming to life.

Although there was more left to think on, Laz let everything go for a bit and opened his eyes. He knew that there was far more for him to get through, but he needed time to rest his mind.