Ninja training and swords

I was in a warehouse - the was a group of people and two teachers. It was giant warehouse. They were trying to teach us to fight. I don't remember most of it, but I do remember arriving sort of late and standing in a line while one of the instructors tried to teach us to do a forward roll and come up blocking. The first time, he said we should picture water, and roll like a river. He said to think of our loved ones and use that power to roll. So everyone tried it. For me, I imagined not having bones, and I found that I folded over and rolled up to my feet faster than everyone else. Fluid. I came to my feet with my hands in front of me, palms up and thumbs almost touching.

Our instructor told us to do it again, and this time he told us to think of fire. He told us to imagine all our anger, and those we hate, to think of burning and bloodshed and destroying our enemies. He said to roll forward and be ready to hurt someone. So we tried that - this was harder for me. I tried to imagine snapping forward, but I sort of stopped while sitting on the floor. The girl next to me had grabbed my arm for support, and as I tried to stand she stood with me. I didn't recognize her, but she was Asian and seemed younger than me.

The camera panned away from us training, and there were two men. One of them had a long silver whip, the other one had a long dagger and a katana. They were far away, but getting closer, fast. They could disappear and move only as the wind, but I knew they were coming to fight us. I was frightened. "I can see them - they're coming," I told the teachers, because they couldn't sense it. I could see them moving through the warehouse, over crates and in the awnings.

I don't remember if I was there for the fight, but I seem to recall that I was not, but I could see it happening from a sort of distance.

Then I was running - I had to find a child. I was in the dark, on a road. I had a flashlight that looked like a remote control. I couldn't figure out why there wasn't more light, then I realized that what I was looking for were headlights. Except I didn't have a car, only the flashlight. So I started running down the dark road. I came to train tracks with either an awning or a series of trees overhanging the tracks. Over-lacing those were thick strands of spider silk. I was too afraid to go through them, so I pulled down a stick and started pulling the web strands away. There were eggsacks on the strands, but very few spiders. I kept pulling, but there were so many strands. There weren't webs - these were as thick as pieces of yarn and straight from the top to the ground. I pushed through.

Then I was in a beautiful hotel - or maybe it was an apartment building. The walls were rich cherry wood and there were cream colored carpets and ornate lamps on the tables. I climbed the stairs, trying to find the/my child. I found the apartment where the babysitter was - and everything seemed to be fine. All the children in the building were ok, and that made me feel better.

I walked back through the building till I found myself in a hallway of sorts. There was an auction going on, or maybe it was a fight as well? That parts a little hazy. But at some point I came into possession of a long serrated sword - which looked like a very long bread knife. With the sword came a strange sort of scabbard - it was beveled green glass jar, like it was old glass. The sword sat inside it, but the glass didn't contour to the blade. I tried to be careful, but at some point I cracked the green glass hilt. It broke into two pieces, and I tried to hold it together without anyone knowing.

And in the back of my mind, I sensed that the fight was coming.

The next bit is the cloudiest. There was a contest, and I watched as two people won random prizes like gift cards and headphones. I was picked as the fastest participant (like I raised my hand the fastest?) - and I got to pick a prize. I thought there was an iphone in the cart, and I picked that, but then I saw that I didn't get the phone, but all the accessories for it. I had to ask to pick something else, and the woman running the promotion said it was alright. I grabbed what I hoped was a gift card - and it was. The other girl got a gift card worth one-thousand dollars. Mine was from Macys, but it was only worth two-hundred and ten dollars.

*****

That first bit seems very philosophical, doesn't it? About rolling with love versus rolling with hate and which is easier.