Mikhail got up to his feet, cleaned his clothes from the grass that gathered on his trousers and with lightning speed, he grabbed the manal figure out of his bag and threw it towards Bold. Bold swiftly blocked it with both of his arms. The figure fell to the ground.  

“You crazy bastard! What the fuck did you do that for?” yelled Bold frantically. 

“Observe Bold. Where was your thought just now”.

And as he was told. He did observe. Observed the fact that everything around him was silent. The thought that was hesitant towards Mikhail’s claims, the thought that was boastful that Mikhail wouldn’t even be able to answer his question. It was all gone. He moved his hands and legs. Everything was fine.

But the thoughts, they all seemed to have vanished. In fact, this wasn’t even the first time for Bold. Even just before when Mikhail talked about the Gautam Buddha and his discipline’s story the thoughts were not there when he was listening.

“Did your thought say ‘the manal figure which Mikhail threw at me is coming at me in extreme speed. I must block it by raising two of my arms and then yell at him afterwards?’” asked Mikhail.

“No, no they didn’t”.

“See”

Mikhail sat down again and so did Bold after grabbing the manal figure off the ground.

“One thing from that story, Bold. I think you should be the one to understand the Prince’s decision above anyone else. Why did he chose to be at the extreme. It’s easy to just say that it’s the ways of the mind. But what was the core cause? What feeling? What drove you to jump into a hot lava of pain and suffering to save Emma and what drove you to continuously get paranoid over learning the spell and made you stick in this woody garden for five days straight?”

“I…I hate it. I hate myself. I hate my past. I hated how I’m stuck with this stupid weak body cause I’ve been so lazy. And even knowing well that I had to catch up, I was still lazy. Lazy and weak enough to let Mei die. If I was strong back then, then she would be standing here with us. How can I just be in the damn middle knowing that”

Bold’s voice had desperation and despair in it. Mikhail silently listened to him with patience and when he was sure that Bold was finished he spoke.

“I know it’s hard, Bold. I can relate to your feelings. But let me tell it to you straight. If you aren’t in the middle, if you aren’t calm and aware, centered and balanced, you will repeat the same mistake”.

“What?”

“Think about it Bold. Just a few minutes ago you were whining and talking about how the whole thing seems pointless and how you were always a loser. Did you not observe? You were shifting back to the extreme where you once started. No one can continue their self torturing for long. If Gautam Buddha did not stop Prince Shrown, he would have almost killed himself, got sick of all the meditation nonsense and go back to his ways of indulgence for relaxation. If you keep this up you’re gonna tire yourself out and you’ll be an empty husk when things actually start to get serious”.

Bold’s expression loosened and he nodded.

“I’ll…I’ll try. I will be calm”.

“It’s good that you’re saying that. But your mind will repeat the whole nonsense because your mind is very unmindful. You may now say that but your mind and thoughts will not take note of it.

And there is a reason why your mind wants to go to the extreme. Because mind can go rampant only at the extreme. When you are centered, relaxed and aware enough to not swing to any extremes your mind cannot function." said Mikhail.

He paused for a while and then asked:    

"Back to the previous question. What is the thing that made Prince Shrown act the way he did? What was it?” 

Remembering the previous conversation Bold spoke: 

“It’s…guilt”

“Yes, that is right. Guilt. Bold, there isn’t any point in feeling guilty about anything. Because you were not at fault. It’s fate, existence that took away Mei’s life”.

“Fate, existence?” pondered Bold.

But soon grumpiness took over him and he yelled:

“What are you saying? If I was more alert and more stronger I could have prevented her from becoming a prey to that sick bastard.”

“Bold, blame the universe, existence, the whole for it. Blame God for not giving you the insight to see it. Blame the universe for not giving you the strength to defeat the wicked. Don’t blame yourself. Being guilty about something is the proof that you still have your ego intact”.

“How? How is throwing the responsibility on some unknown force be any good?” cried Bold.

“First of all, it is not an unknown force. Existence is everything around us. The trees, the sun, the animals, the people. That which has a form and that which doesn’t have a form. Those are all existence. Secondly, who are you to decide whether Mei survives or not? Maybe the universe itself wanted her death” said Mikhail calmly.

Bold gritted his teeth and shot a raging glare towards him.  

“How could you say that?” yelled Emma.               

“I’m just saying it just so you can get off of your ego trips” said Mikhail. 

“How is any of this an ego trip? You’re not making any sense” yelled Bold.

“It is Bold. You think you should have the strength to decide who lives and who dies? That is nonsensical, it is pure ego. You are nothing but a small particle of the universe. You do not deserve such powers. You do not deserve the power to change the past or the strength to defeat anyone who stands in your way. You did your best and saved Emma. You should be proud of yourself considering all the things that happened. But I know it’s hard for you. Because you feel guilty regardless of you wanting to or not. Guilt is part of the ego, guilt is part of the mind”.