On the road

I woke up as a new dawn was rising, it was time for me to travel to the dojo. I packed my bags last night. Years away from home was ahead of me.

After a quick shower it stood gazing into the mirror. I had gotten used to my new face. it was nothing noteworthy. Western features dominated with high cheekbones, dark brown hair and green eyes.

it was a face that blended easily into a crowd. Luckily my body was above average. I had kept a strict training regime for 10 years.

When I was 7 years old I had started to find stones in the forest. Tied them to some sticks to have weights to lift. it worked surprisingly well.

in addition i ran a lot. Last year I focused on parkour in the forest. it was very fun, and was a great way to exercise the whole body.

The clothes rustled as I put them on. i was readying myself to leave the nest.

Down in the living room I could see the sadness of my departure in my parents' faces. I am sure I could live a happy life here, with just my family. Find a girl, get married, have some kids, and meet death again.

It was what I did in my last life. living to the magnificent age of 50. I went to bed one day, and then nothing. Teaching was my profession, and I was content.

But I had always dreamed of something bigger, something more. and this was my chance.

I hugged my parents goodbye and hit the road.

if you can call this a road. It was gravel and dirt mixed together and then laid flat. luckily i had spent some money on quality footwear.

along the way you could see all kinds of people, most were dressed in rags, but now and then you could see a rich ass passing along with his fancy and bedazzled steam driven car.

The sun was still high in the sky when I no longer could see the village. it felt liberation to finally leave that place. my chains were finally breaking away.

I had tried to practice Nen the way they showed in the animation. Meditation, Fighting, visualizing opening the pores beneath my skin. Nothing had worked.

i figured there was a psychological element to it that i just didt get. Or that things worked much deeper than shown in the animation. it wasn't like people around me all had funky hairstyles and were running around saying archetypical anime stuff. this was a real world, and it's always more complex than on the tv screen.

I walked along the road on autopilot, not really registering the people anymore, I was too occupied with my thoughts.

the shadows of the trees had started to stretch on the ground, and it was no longer midday. Maybe it was time to find a place to sleep for the night.

the small tent that i had was finally gonna get some use.