I sat motionless beneath the crystalline chimes stirring melodiously in the whispering night garden breezes. Twin moons cast gentle luminescence from an obsidian sky. Soaking in the symphony of subtle sensory harmonies helped settle my turbulent thoughts after the staggering revelation Rohini revealed.
The tattooed scholar's words about piercing limiting shells to grasp infinity's underlying unity still perplexed me. Yet I could not deny witnessing Lady Ava's sublime presence manifest through him either. There were clearly more profound dimensions underlying the astral plane than winning petty rivalries.
With a resigned sigh I opened my eyes slowly, observing minute sparks dance across my outstretched fingertips as spatial energies awakened there. Ever since fate's hand dealt me this cosmic string-plucking power I had been consumed solely with pushing the unfathomable might further for glory's sake. Never pausing to comprehend the profound truths such strength touched upon.
Rohini had spoken candidly of the painful perils should wielders of reality-rending magic lose spiritual anchoring. The temptation to fully unleash spatial fury and ascend towards godhood at any ethical cost...I could no longer deny having felt that seductive whisper urging me to fully dominate Zeref during our appalling introductions. Abased before innumerable students solely to salve my battered ego.
"Have I already stained my karmic ledger so deeply?" I murmured gloomily up towards the void-black heavens. If this shining school existed to nurture world-shaking talents responsibly, then my actions thus far made me unworthy of the gift. These humbling insights tasted bitter as wormwood.
As I sat there wrestling with doubt the fragrant night garden abruptly changed around me - blooming lunar lilies closed their translucent petals while luminous gem-barked trees dimmed to cold obsidian. Even gentle aquamarine fireflies ceased hovering above crystalline ponds that slowly evaporated into glassy mirrors reflecting only starless darkness. An ominous void consumed all until Rohini stood alone across from my lotus position watching me intently through scarlet eyes. Our surroundings held no detail but swirling nebula gases.
I tensed warily. This domain beyond domains was undoubtedly my senior's inner sanctum through Ava's blessing where distinguished students learned to manipulate external reality's underlying waveforms. By bringing me here unexpectedly Rohini clearly intended a focused lesson rather than abstract koans about shells and unity. But which sincere truth sought to bloom first in my doubtful mind...?
"Peace, young Hiro," Rohini pronounced gently, his words cascading through the darkness absolute carrying subtle harmonic chimes. "You judge your fledgling worth too harshly by expectations of those anchored still in seasonal conflicts." He smiled with fond understanding that perplexingly eased my brooding shame. "All seeds must discover own tempo towards realizing the universal_."
With casual wave of his hand Rohini summoned scenes from my harsh trials since awakening dormant spatial magic - surviving Relnor Ruin's lethal halls, outpacing infernal Komododons, even unlocking my deadly Stellar Detonation technique against formidable adversaries through courage alone while lesser beings would have perished. Each vignette shone clear as day within the infinite shadows enveloping us.
"Your fear arises from Era of Gods fading into past memories. Antiquated narratives no longer hold society's full psyche." My guide swept visions of my nascent deeds away with equal ease replacing them now with panoramas of countless beings toiling across alien worlds and unfamiliar dominions carved into crystalline mathscapes or roiling thermal chaos. Their manifold appearances and motivations seemed barely comprehensible...save each moved with unity of purpose towards constructive cosmic ends.
"All eyes now turn towards limitless exterior expansion seeking self-actualization freed from cages of perceived scarcity or conflicts." Rohini pronounced this incongruous declaration as simple fact. Indeed under his searching gaze suddenly shame's piercing thorns transforming into armor protecting vulnerability felt true. My failures stemming from spiritual lack more than technique.
Rohini next raised his hand skyward summoning twin orbs of purest radiance tinted purple and crimson respectively. They seemed to contain entire infinities within each lambent sphere. I could not turn away from those irresistible pools.
"To overcome inner demons first requires embracing the totality of self - masculine and feminine intertwined as conscious reality's source." Rohini stated while slowly circulating his palms in hypnotic patterns directing the spheres' growth. "By fully realizing none can be separate from totality of other due to underlying hyperspacial connection...perspective revolution occurs."
A visible corona now surrounded Rohini as his gestures guided opalescent spheres' slow convergence. Resonant harmonics beyond human vocal range rippled outward with quakes until at last they overlapped perfectly. For one blinding moment I perceived Lady Ava's smile...then cried out as new senses ignited seeing for the first time irradiance flowing through all beings and objects uniting seeming duality into brilliant ever-shifting singularity!
Rohini's scarlet eyes blazed like supernovas with compassionate understanding during my breathless epiphany. "Thus is the first veil lifted - when concept of The Other dissolves back to null." Space-time's medium billowed outward brightly granting vision of the entire academy campuses comprising just an atom of some further ultra-dimensional giant's dream. "Truth of Unity glimpsed by those brave enough to release conditioned constraints binding mortal spirit."
Tears of profound joy streamed down my face witnessing innate transcendence hidden under so many layers of cultured ignorance. Everything experienced up till now mere wandering through fog-shrouded landscapes. But by Lady Ava's grace delivered into contemplation of totality itself! Wordlessly I bowed my head towards Rohini's guiding hand over my evolution. Blind but now seeing Reality's structure laid bare I emerged reborn a student now worthy of the gifts taken for granted...