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The others followed close behind, each of them staring in terrified awe at the torrent. Then, with a wave of his arm, the High Priest signalled for the challenge to commence. Bowing as one, the five entrants stepped from the ledge and entered the waterfall’s thunderous power.

Jack almost blacked out, instantly overwhelmed by the numbing cold.

He had to fight the urge to escape the furious cascade as the water smashed on to his head as hard as hailstones. He tried to resist the flow, but his muscles were being pummelled into heavy knots of tension.

There was no way on earth he could last a stick of time.

Frantically, he mumbled the mantra he’d been taught to ward off the cold, but it was no use. He was simply too weakened from the Body challenge. His mind had gone blank, he was hyperventilating and his whole being was racked with convulsing shivers. He was vaguely aware that Harumi had exited the waterfall, its power too great for her to bear. Jack felt himself caving in too.

He desperately clung on to the challenge, determined to outlast Kazuki at the very least. But it was no use. His body couldn’t take much more of this punishment. He would have to leave.

His feet, though, refused to move.

Something deep within him defied the waterfall. Defied his own will.

The impossible becomes possible if only your mind believes it.

Jack gave one final mental push, trying to detach his mind from the bone-chilling pain. He summoned up the mantra again, but was doubtful whether a Buddhist chant would help a Christian heart. Nevertheless, he repeated the mantra faster and faster until it became a continuous circle of words:

My mind is limitless,

a horizon never ending,

a sun never setting,

a sky forever stretching…

Amazingly, by focusing his mind on the mantra, he felt his body transform. With each turn of the phrase, his muscles became softer and more supple so that the waterfall no longer hurt. For a brief moment, the pounding water felt as gentle as a mountain spring.

Then he lost all feeling.

The strange thing about this numbness was that he also lost all care. He didn’t mind any more. He realized that the mantra had transported him into one of the curious Buddhist states of meditation. Regardless of his own beliefs, he was experiencing the strangest sensation of his consciousness opening up to the universe around him.

He lost all sense of time.

Had a stick of incense burnt down yet?

A moment later he lost his concentration as Tadashi, escaping the waterfall, bumped into him. The collision disrupted his trance and his body turned instantly ice cold. Despite his best efforts to regain his previous meditative state, Jack was forced to give up.

‘Di-di-did I make it?’ stammered Jack, stepping out of the falls.

‘Of course you did, you frozen idiot!’ replied Yamato, laughing incredulously and handing him a dry robe. ‘You’ve been under for ages. The monk has already lit a second incense stick.’

‘A-A-Akiko?’ shuddered Jack.

‘She’s still in there, along with Kazuki.’

Akiko and Kazuki shimmered within the cascade of water like ghosts. Jack resigned himself to the fact that Kazuki had defeated him once again, but that didn’t mean his rival had to win.

Come on, Akiko, willed Jack. Outdo Kazuki!

Akiko was struggling to keep her footing on the slimy rocks and Jack’s heart leapt for her as she slipped. Miraculously, despite the pounding of the water, she regained her balance.

Then, without warning, Kazuki crumpled and fell.

Two monks rushed to retrieve him, carrying him out of the falls and rubbing him vigorously with a thick robe. As Kazuki came round and shakily got to his feet, the school applauded his valiant effort. Jack joined in the clapping, but more in support of Akiko. She still stood under the torrent, at one with the waterfall, her hands clasped in front of her, her lips constantly moving with the mantra.

How much longer could she keep going? wondered Jack.

By all rights, the waterfall should have claimed Akiko’s life by now. The incense stick had burnt through a second time and a third one was now lit.