Nick looked at the translated Laws of Syracuse and felt pleased. What Nick was especially pleased with was that he had an intuitive feel that these laws were now closely related to rule magic after his reformulation. Nick didn't completely understand rule magic but the understanding that he has so far was enough to restate some of the original Laws of Syracuse in terms of it. Nick of course was not done here. based on his readings, he knew how important it was for the foundation laws and the Magician's meditation to be closely related. If the mindscape was basic, then that relation need not be so close because a basic mindscape did not have special characteristics that could come into conflict with the foundation laws anyway, but Nick's mindscape was clearly different. Nick knew that his mindscape had to be at least a divergent mindscape so he had the idea that he should try to create some harmony between the laws of his meditation and the newly translated Laws of Syracuse. Nick took out a copy of his meditation, he had made a few so that if one was destroyed he would not have to rewrite it from memory. Nick placed his meditation on one side of his desk and the newly translated Laws of Syracuse on the other side. He read them both for hours trying to decide what parts to change in or add to the Laws of Syracuse; Nick couldn't just change his meditation because that would have harmful effects on his mindscape. Nick was so busy pondering on his task that he didn't even realize that a new day had arrived while he was working out the ideas in his mind. He looked at the room's window and saw a large beam of sunlight shining directly through it. That only happened at around 7 am everyday.
"Fffuuuucccckkkkk! This is hard and it's already morning. Just how long did I spend thinking about this? The final exam is in two and a half months and I'm stuck. I need a breather, I'm going do my meditation and then get some sleep, then I'll get back to this."
Nick closed his eyes and started chanting the words of his meditation in Nickel. As his consciousness entered his mindscape, in the real world something peculiar happened. Suddenly, as Nick was chanting his meditation out loud, the symbols on the paper containing the new Laws of Syracuse began to glow intensely, from a light grey to an intense white; the whole room was filled with the glow of white light. The rule magic inside the room began to move towards the papers violently and Nick found himself caught up in the surge of magic energy. While continuing his chanting unaware of what was taking place inside his room, Nick's consciousness entered a space that was different from what his mindscape looked like, he found himself standing with what looked like his usual body inside a cavern that he did not recognize. There were stalactites on the ceiling and gray colored rocks all around. The walls looked hard and rocky and were also grey colored. The scene was fairly dark but Nick could see just enough so as not to bump into the walls when he moved.
(What the hell is this place, this isn't my mindscape?)
Nick was confused. Normally during meditation, the Magician's consciousness would enter the environment of their mindscape and stay there until the meditation was concluded by the Magician or until it was forced out. Nick tried but he apparently could not conclude the meditation as his consciousness still remained in this unknown environment.
(If I can't end the meditation myself then I'll just move around and see what I can find that might help me. In almost every book that I've read it was emphasized that practicing magic was dangerous for beginners and there was always the chance of unexpected things happening for any number of reasons and that is why many Apprentice Magicians opted to become disciples so that they could benefit from their master's watchful and experienced eye. Hmph, those people are cowards, if I can't even overcome something like this, I might as well just give up on ever becoming a Magician. Even if I reached that goal, it would definitely not last if situations like this could put me in trouble.)
Nick knew that he was thinking a little arrogantly but he needed to psyche himself up as much as possible so as not to lose his cool in this unknown situation. Nick walked throughout the cavern for over forty minutes with no clear sense of direction and found nothing but rocks and walls.
"Damn it!"
In anger Nick picked up a rock and threw it into the distance.
(Well...that was pointless. What should I do now?)
Nick heard the stone that he threw hit something and fall and then unexpectedly, an angry voice came from that direction.
"Who the hell threw this at me? Are you trying to start a fight, C'mon, I'm ready for your ass!"
Nick was surprised but excited for the chance to talk to another person in this place.
"Hello, my name is Nick Capitol and I somehow found myself in this dark and rocky place. Can you help me leave here."
The voice replied sternly:
"I can't be bothered to come to you so you should find your way over here to me so that we can have a proper talk."
Nick moved along in the darkness towards the voice, sometimes he stumbled over rocks and scraped his knees but got up each time with even greater determination to find the voice and sometimes he found only a hard wall facing him but that made him even more certain that he would find his way to the voice very soon. After some time Nick did find his way towards a small human figure at a far corner of the cavern he was in.
"Oh you found me, now we can talk like strong men. I saw your entire ordeal boy, you clearly need to work on your physique more if you want to go adventuring in places like this."
Nick was relieved that he found the voice's owner.
"Who are you?"
The short figure was about four feet tall but since it was so dark Nick couldn't see his features clearly. All he could see was that the figure was wearing leather shoes with cloth pants and a cloth shirt.
"Who am I? What a question to ask, Isn't it obvious? I am the one and only Strength."
Nick felt weird about hearing such a name.
"Strength, huh? Okay, Mr. Strength, you said that you could see my ordeal which means that you can clearly see through the darkness. Why didn't you come to me if that is the case and why are you even here?"
Strength laughed at Nick's questions.
"Ha, Ha, me come to you? Are you crazy boy, one can only find strength through their own efforts, it does not just come to them. As for why I am here, I was born in this dark place, that is why I can see through the darkness so clearly."
Nick was puzzled.
"What are you talking about, how could someone survive being born in a place like this?"
Strength's tone became that of someone who was annoyed.
"Ignorant boy, don't you know? All real strength is born in harsh and gloomy places."
Nick felt that Strength's words had great meaning but for some reason he couldn't comprehend them at this moment.
"Okay, I agree with you. Now, how do I find my way out of here?"
Strength replied confidently:
"Boy, you really are blind. Don't you see that big boulder over there, all you have to do is push it out of the way and you can leave here."
Strength pointed to a place a few feet from where they currently were. Nick looked towards the direction that Strength was pointing in and saw the boulder.
(Huh? How comes I didn't notice that huge boulder before? Come to think of it, things seem a little less dark now. I can even see Strength's face clearly now. He has a bushy mustache and looks middle aged. He really looks like a dwarf from one of those old movies I watched when I was younger.)
Strength spoke at is moment:
"Hmph, boy do you think that you can hide those weak thoughts of yours from me, Strength. I can see through all weakness including this darkness. You are starting to see through the darkness as well because, in hard times if you look at the darkness for long enough you don't just see the darkness, you see the light too. That indicates growing strength."
Nick felt that there was something important in what Strength just said but his mind grew fatigued every time he tried to think about it.
"Fine, can you help me move this boulder?"
Strength nodded his head and followed Nick towards the boulder. When Nick tried to push the boulder, it didn't budge at all. Tired and winded, Nick fell on his back out of breath. Strength stepped up and said:
"Watch me and see how I move this boulder."
Strength bent his knees and began to push. The boulder moved by about a feet but still blocked the entrance.
Nick was shocked.
"I couldn't move this boulder at all, how did you do it with your small size and middle aged body?"
"Hmph, ignorant boy, strength is not a matter of size or appearance, it is the culmination of one's internal vigor and determination, only fools judge by appearances. As for my middle aged body, I became like this almost as soon after I was born. Didn't you know boy, you have to sacrifice your youth in order to gain real strength? Can a child throw a sledgehammer or can a baby swim upstream. Strength does not exist in youth but youth can be exchanged to gain it."
Something about Strength's latter words seemed familiar to Nick but it wasn't the time to be pondering his words.
"Strength, this is a big problem. Even with your strength, we are unable to move the boulder aside, how will I leave now?"
Strength looked at Nick's worried expression and spoke confidently:
"Give me a moment, let me call my friend, Big, over to us. He and I can work together to move this boulder, together we are Big Strength."
Strength screamed:
"Big, come and help me!"
The next second, Nick saw a figure walk from out of the darkness that he could not see through. The figure looked like a larger version of Strength, being about eight feet in height, towering over Nick. Big spoke:
"You called me over friend, what do you need?"
Strength spoke confidently:
"Lets combine our powers and use our big strength to move this boulder out of the way to help this weak fellow."
Big nodded in agreement.
"I'll help you and this fellow."
When Big finished saying those words, he looked into Nick's eyes with a glowing red hue within his own. Suddenly, Nick's eyes also had a red hue in them, then in a moment it was gone. Big turned away from Nick and walked to the boulder with Strength. Both of them bent their knees and pushed, moving the boulder. In about fifteen seconds the boulder was almost completely moved from the entrance, revealing the outside of the cavern which was bathed in white light. Before the boulder was fully moved, Strength spoke to Nick with a stern voice while pushing:
"Remember boy, big objectives require big strength or you'll always fall short."
Saying that, Strength and Big pushed the boulder aside and the whole cavern was filled with a white light. Nick's consciousness returned to reality and he could see his room once again. He was sitting at his desk with his papers laying on it. The papers with the Laws of Syracuse were out of place but Nick thought that he somehow moved it during his meditation.
(That entire experience was weird and what's even weirder is that now I have inspiration for how to modify the Laws of Syracuse.)
"I don't know what just happened but since it's magic I'm dealing with, weird things are bound to happen from time to time, right?"
Nick said that with a little worry in his voice.