I call upon the Sign of the Pattern, and meditate upon its shape. I have known it for my entire life, my earliest memory being standing in the Pattern Room of the Castle, my mother holding my hand. This will one day be yours, she said to me then, or so my memory tells me. One day, you will walk upon this shape, and with it, you shall inherit your birthright. You will master the Pattern, and with it, you shall know the truth of the world.
I took my first steps upon the Pattern when I was barely more than twenty years old. The first three steps are the most terrifying, and yet the easiest. The challenge of the first three steps is before even the first. It is the conviction to accept the very challenge the Pattern places before you. Three simple steps, and a turn. The first symbol of the Sign that I will meditate upon is the first three steps.
On the first step, you begin to feel the fire of the Pattern seep in through the toe of your boot. Why is it that we must walk the Pattern? Why is a metaphysical crucible made manifest by something as simple as walking? It is funny how this idea doesn't really occur to you before you actually assay the Pattern for the first time, and your realize that you are in danger in a way you have never truly been before. You feel fear beating in your breast, and then you take your next step.
It is then that you feel the first wave of power, as your feet have left the firmament of Shadow, and stepped fully into the real. With the second step, you realize there is no turning back, there is only moving forward. To hesitate is to fail. To fail is to die. You lift your foot from the first step, and take your third, careful not to step too far, lest you miss where the Pattern turns.
It is then that you realize it will try to trick you, if you let it. Such is the nature of power. You must know your own desire before you can make it manifest. You must know yourself before you can know your own desire. This is the first three steps of the Pattern, overcoming fear and knowing the danger of being what you are.
