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Neopedia : The Codestone Secret

From the diary of Ryshu, student of the Techo Master:

This morning, I discovered the secret. Or, rather, the secret discovered me.

For years, I watched the Techo Master accept students at our school, always asking for the same thing in return: small stones, with runes carved into them.The stones tremble as the students pass them to the Master, and he accepts them without a sound, quietly nodding, admitting the student to his school. As it was for me, so it is for them, so it will be for many others.

Six years I have studied under the Master, slowly gaining his wisdom and, I think, his trust. I never asked about this price he demanded from his students. Not gold, not silver. Small shivering stones are all he asks.

Today a new student came to the Master, asking to be trained. Without speaking a word, the Master extended his hand, and without an answer, the student put into that hand a stone, quietly shivering. The Master nodded and the student entered the doors, but as he did, the Techo Master looked up and saw my gaze. I dropped my chin quickly, hoping the Master did not see me staring.

That night, after dinner, the Master came to me. "Follow," he said. I obeyed.

"Why did you come to us, Ryshu?" the Master asked.

I told him. "I sought your wisdom."

The Master shook his head. "No." He turned a corner, and I realized I did not recognize the walls or floors. I had never been in this part of the school before.

"You came to us," the Master continued, "because you were lost. You had no purpose, no destination." He opened a door, sliding it away, revealing a great garden. "Your soul was meandering."

I almost didn't hear his words. I was staring out at the garden, amazed at its beauty... and the stones. Everywhere I looked, along the paths, at the bases of trees, scattered in the grass with random precision, there lay the little carved stones the Master took from every student.

"Every living thing has a purpose - a place in the world," he said, stepping out into the garden. "Unless you find that place, you're always at unease, always at unrest..."

As we walked through the garden, his words somehow matched its beauty, just like the way a harmony matches the melody.

"... like a stone," he said, taking the new student's vibrating stone from the folds of his robe. "A stone that cannot rest until it finds its proper place..."

He stopped. I stopped next to him. He knelt down, placed the stone - and its vibrations ceased.

The Techo Master looked up at me then, smiling. "You must find your place, Ryshu. Once you do, even the most difficult tasks will be easy. Find where you are at peace, and that will be the center of the universe."