Free Return of the Dragon (The Dragon's Champion Book 6) by Sam Ferguson

horrid sacrifice replayed in his mind and his heart
fell heavy with sadness. He had managed before to hold the emotions at bay,
except for the occasional sorrowful thought here and there, but not now. There
was no longer any imminent danger nor treacherous road
to travel and force his thoughts to focus. Now he walked in an empty glass
palace, with only his thoughts as company. Tears filled his eyes. Waves of
guilt washed over him.
    He should have saved Tatev. Or maybe he should have
encouraged the red haired librarian to teach him more, instead of cutting off
his lectures whenever he could.
    The Immortal Mystic turned around and placed both
hands on Erik’s shoulders. He leaned down, bringing his fiery golden eyes lower
to meet Erik’s gaze. “You must focus your energies, Erik,” he said. “If you
cannot control your mind, then you powers are nothing.”
    Erik nodded. “I…I…I lost a friend,” he stammered.
Tears fell from his eyes despite his efforts to choke them back.
    The Immortal Mystic sighed and shook his head
disapprovingly. “You have a lot yet to learn,” he said. “Come, I will set a task
before you here. Then you can rest for the day.”
    “I don’t need to rest,” Erik interjected. “It would be
better to have something to take my mind off of it.”
    The Immortal Mystic shook his head. “No, it would be
better for you to deal with it. For that, you will need silence and solitude.”
The slender man opened the door to a room and showed Erik inside. There in the
room stood thirty men in six rows. They stood silently, watching Erik as he
entered the room.
    Erik turned around and looked at the glass wall. It
was thick, but not so thick that he shouldn’t have seen the men inside the room
before the Immortal Mystic opened the door. Erik looked to the tall man, but
the Immortal Mystic declined to offer any instruction. Erik nodded and called
his power up. A few of the men disappeared, but to Erik’s surprise others
appeared for a moment.
    The sudden appearance of new people startled him and
he lost his focus. Those who had appeared when he called up his power vanished
again. Then, the remaining people in the room rushed toward him.
    Erik remembered the trial where he had to ascertain
which warriors would fight against him and called up his power again. In an
instant he saw that not all who ran toward him had the intent to attack. Most
were going to shield him, but three had other designs. Erik called them out,
and immediately all the others formed a circle around him and kept the three
would-be attackers at bay.
    “Well done,” the Immortal Mystic said. “For the most
part,” he added quickly.
    Erik looked around the room and tried to focus his
power again, but he never again saw the men who had appeared for a moment when
he had first used his power. Perplexed, he turned to the Immortal Mystic for an
explanation.
    “When your mind is clear and focused, then so shall
your power be,” the slender man said. He waved his hand and then all of the
other men in the room disappeared.
    Erik was astonished. “None of them were real?” he
asked. “I used my power, how could they have remained if I had tried to dispel
the images?”
    “How indeed?” the Immortal Mystic echoed. “Perhaps you
should return to the first room and meditate. Try to work through your feelings
for your friend, and understand the true trajectory that all beings are on.”
    Erik screwed his face and asked, “What does that mean?”
    The Immortal Mystic wrinkled his nose. “If you are to
take the place of the Champion of Truth, I cannot spoon feed you all of the
answers.” The tall man turned and left the room, leaving Erik both insulted and
confused.
    “ If I am to be the champion?” Erik repeated after he was sure the Immortal Mystic was gone. “Am I not already
the champion?” He reflected back to the confusing conversation he had had with
Allun Rha. He exhaled impatiently and left the room to retrace his steps