NOVEL NEXT Chapter 71: Chapter 71
Liam sat cross-legged on the floor of his small apartment in Manchester, the faint sound of rain pattering against the windows as he finished his daily meditation session. His breath was steady, though his mind was slightly scattered. He had been pushing himself harder lately, trying to reach deeper into the void of mental clarity. But the last few days had been tough—his thoughts were more disjointed than usual, his focus harder to maintain. He chalked it up to stress and fatigue from work, but something about it felt off.
As he rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease some of the tension, his phone buzzed on the floor beside him. A notification from the meditation forum popped up: "Important Update from Star Gazer."
Liam's eyebrows shot up. Star Gazer—wasn't someone who posted updates often, so this had to be something big. Without a second thought, he clicked on the notification and began reading the message.
> "It's come to my attention that the world is undergoing a significant shift..."
"Meditating in these conditions is like trying to drink from a wild, raging river..."
"Pause your meditation practice for a while. Try other methods..."
Liam leaned back against the wall, his phone resting in his lap as his mind raced over the message. The world is undergoing a shift? He'd always respected Stargazer—his insights into meditation had been invaluable, especially when Liam had first started out—but the phrase "the world is changing" stuck with him. What did that even mean? Was it metaphorical, or was there something more?
He sat there, the faint sound of rain blending into the background as he mulled over the post. Stargazer wasn't the kind of guy to use hyperbole, so if he was saying the world itself was shifting, then something was definitely up.
"The world... changing?" Liam muttered under his breath. He couldn't wrap his head around it, but one thing was clear: if Stargazer—someone who had been guiding the forum for months—was advising caution, there had to be a good reason for it.
Liam's thoughts shifted to his friend Aaron, someone he had introduced to meditation a few months ago. Aaron had shown a lot of promise, but recently, he'd been complaining about headaches and difficulty focusing. At first, they had both laughed it off, thinking it was just the result of pushing too hard. But now, after reading Stargazer's message, Liam's stomach sank.
"Could Aaron be experiencing these side effects because of the shift Stargazer is talking about?" Liam wondered.
Grateful for the heads-up, he sent a quick message to Aaron, telling him to check out the post and maybe take a break from the deep meditation sessions. He didn't want to push the idea of a world in flux too hard—he wasn't even sure if he believed it himself—but better safe than sorry.
Liam leaned forward, staring at the rain-soaked city outside his window. The more he thought about it, the more uneasy he became. His meditation practice had been going smoothly up until recently, but now... now things felt different. And it wasn't just him. The forum had been buzzing with people mentioning heightened awareness, mental breakthroughs, and—more worryingly—negative side effects.
"Could this be more than just individual progress?" he wondered.
Even though Liam didn't fully understand what was happening, he couldn't shake the feeling that Stargazer was onto something bigger than meditation itself. Maybe it wasn't just about their personal journeys anymore. Maybe something larger was at play.
As he set his phone aside, he took a deep breath, his eyes narrowing in contemplation. He would follow Stargazer's advice for now—back off on the meditation and encourage Aaron to do the same. But one thing was certain: Liam wasn't going to stop paying attention. He had trusted Star Gazer's guidance since day one, and even if the talk of a changing world was hard to swallow, he had a feeling that Stargazer was trying to warn them of something important.
"Better to stay cautious," Liam thought as he stood up, his body still tingling slightly from his meditation session. "If the world really is changing, I want to be ready."
As the rain continued to fall, Liam couldn't shake the feeling that things were just beginning. He would follow the forum closely, keep an eye on his own practice, and try to stay grounded amidst whatever changes lay ahead.