Reviere

The warrior, with a smile asks N, "Are you here to get stronger?"

N immediately replies "Yes!"

The warrior says, his smile now turned into a hearty laugh, "That's the spirit."

Extremely enthusiastic, N right away tries to ask what he should do, "So what should I do? How do I get starte--"

Mid sentence, his voice trailed off.

He realized the biggest hurdle that stood between him and his aspirations, money.

His eyes, that started to fill with hope, now dimmed, and a sense of helplessness washed over him.

The warrior notices the change in N's demeanor and tries to probe information: "What's wrong? Where did all that determination go?"

N hesitates for a second.

He thinks about the most appropriate wording to ensure that the warrior does not feel disrespected, "Do not misunderstand, this gym is truly magnificent and I have no doubts about your teaching abilities. It is just that my circumstances put me in a position where I can not pay you anything."

N's gaze now completely lifeless as he looks at the warrior in the eyes, "I am a beggar. I am afraid this dojo and your teachings are far too good for someone like me. I am sorry for wasting your time, oh great warrior."

The warrior just smiles, understanding the situation completely, "First of all, don't talk to me like that man, relax a bit. And, don't ever think of money as an issue."

He points at the room they exited not too long ago, "All the people you saw in there. Actually, pretty much every single person you must have seen after entering this dojo are those who do not pay a penny for anything. In return for getting stronger, they help me by running errands for the gym."

N thinks to himself, "how does the warrior stand to gain anything from this? He truly is a kind hearted man, most fit to be a teacher."

The dread disperses from N's face, and he was now considerably relaxed, "Thank you. I assure you, no matter what errand you give me in the future, I shall do it. And I am ready to start training any day."

The warrior says, "Right. But before that, you said your name was N, right? I cringe every time you call me a "warrior", so let me introduce myself properly. My name is Hiroshi Nakamura, just call me Hiro. I was born in Chiba, Japan. Family shifted to Vrijheidd when I was a toddler and one thing lead to another, eventually leading to me becoming what I am today. Were you born here in Vrijheidd?"

N stumbles on his words as he tries to answer Hiro's question, "I neither have any knowledge about my birthplace nor how I got to this place. And there is nothing I do that can be considered a hobby. Before that fateful encounter between us in that alleyway yesterday, I walked around this country looking for purpose. I strongly believe that THIS is it."

Hiro gently rests his hand on N's shoulder, and voices his strong support: "You did well my friend. I can relate to feeling like you have no worth or purpose in this world. I was fortunate to find my path soon after, I can only imagine what you must've gone through."

With a great and firm voice, devoid of any and all doubt, Hiro exclaims, "Do not worry any more. I believe it was fate that made us encounter each other yesterday. Even if this is not your purpose, I am sure you will find it along your journey."

With a sinister smile, Hiro says, "Alright then, to start your journey do 101 sit-ups, 101 push-ups, 101 squats, and a 11-km run as warm up. If you don't know how much 11-km is, it's roughly half the distance from the park you stay in to here," as he lets out a hearty laugh.

N was completely baffled that the exercises that Hiro just listed could ever be considered a warm up.

He waits a second, expecting Hiro to say he was joking but that never happens.

"The main room we were in just a second ago, meet me there after you're done with that warm up. Make sure to take your time," says Hiro as he walks towards the main room while laughing.

N feels that he has an insurmountable amount of work in front of him, yet he does not feel overwhelmed. For the first time in his long forgotten lifetime, N had a concrete goal.

N decides to depart to his park, where he would start his warmup.

On his way out, he goes through the same door that he could barely open to come into the dojo.

He thinks to himself, "I forgot to tell Hiro about the door. In the end, as the person who opened the door, I believe it is my responsibility to close the door as well."

He tries, with all his might, to close the door. After constantly pulling the door for about fifteen minutes, N is only able to move the door about and inch or two.

That left the door barely opened, so that if someone else would try to come in, they would have to push it open themselves.

While catching his breath, he is surprised at his own lack of strength. This only fuels his determination even more, and so he decides to jog all the way back to the park.

After about a minute or two of constant jogging, he reaches the main streets. At which point, the sun is setting down, and the world is glowing orange.

For now he does not have any problems, just some lack of breath, which is to be expected, so he continues onwards with passion.

Thirty minutes later, going through those same markets, now bustling with more life than before, N finds himself gasping desperately for air.

In his entire existence, N had never jogged or worked out for a single moment. The burden that his body was taking was immense.

But N took this as a test of courage and persistence, "Just because I am having trouble breathing, does not mean I will give up now. This is nothing, my determination will win."

Ten minutes later, he decides to just stop thinking to make sure he reaches the park.

He pushes on, desperately fighting back the urge to stop and give up. It takes him around thirty more minutes before reaching the homeless park.

He stops jogging when he reaches the place he would normally sleep.

Immediately he feels something is wrong with his stomach and goes to the trees where he gags.

He could not even remember how long it had been since he had any food or water so barely any vomit came out.

Exhausted, he lays on the ground where he sleeps every day and collapses.

While he is losing consciousness, the only thought on his mind was "I did it."

Even though his body was in extreme pain, all he felt was relief.

Relief that he did not give up.

He falls unconscious with a faint smile emanating from his once dull and emotionless face.

In the realm of unconscious, unbeknownst to N, he starts to dream for the first time in his life.

He found himself standing in a surreal world, a place that stretched in all directions, seemingly infinite, covered in the purest of white.

A radiant plain of untainted purity, that held an eerie and inexplicable familiarity.

He decides to venture towards nothing.

The closer he gets, the more things start to materialize.

In the distance he can see vague silhouettes of people, so he rushes towards them.

There were four people who wore weird white robes, and looked delightful to see N. Their features were too vague to make out.

N's voice found its way to his lips, and he began to speak, words flowed out yet stayed incomprehensible to him.

The voices of those mysterious people also made no sense to him.

A weird faint drumming sound appears randomly.

The environment kept changing every second, getting more vivid as time passed on.

N looks as the four people and himself are engaged in a conversation that looks ever so joyful and wonderful.

He sees himself smile for the first time.

The weird drumming sound gets louder.

All of a sudden, one of the four people gradually sharpened into great detail.

It was a blonde man, with glasses that N had never seen before.

They were weird glasses as they were only one of his eye.

The man had a goatee and was very fit.

The drumming gets louder and more violent.

This look was not the only detail that N was now able to see. His words start to make a little bit of sense to N.

All of a sudden, the weird sound stops.

With eyes aglow, radiating an almost unearthly hope, and a warm, captivating smile that graced his countenance, the man spoke, his voice a soothing: "One day, you shall undoubtedly be the savior of us all."

The drumming sound once again return, this time completely deafening.

All kinds of thoughts run through N's head.

"I am supposed to save people?"

"Who were those people?"

"What was that place?"

"WHY DO I NOT REMEMBER ANYTHI--"