1 A Strange Place
clank clunk..
A pair of rusted and heavy chains drops onto the musky and damp floor making a clanging sound.
A rodent the size of a full grown cat scurries across the prison chamber.
A young and malnourished boy sits in the corner of this mouldy prison, staring into a small puddle of water created by the leaky roof of the prison cell.
drip drip..
"It's been a week now since I woke up here" thought Kane. He stares at the reflection and staring back at him is a malnourished figure with long black hair flowing past his shoulders, a hooked nose and big brown eyes. Not the most handsome guy around but he looks decent.
But the problem is, the reflection staring back at him is not him.
"Think Kane, what happened? I was in the middle of a title defence against Americas Michael Cortes. There was a major storm outside and lightning hit the stadium. Lights went out and the ass-hole Cortes hit me with a hay-maker"
Rubbing his bearded chin, Kane ponders.
"After he got me with that cheap shot I woke up here."
He stares at the face looking back at him in puddle.
"Looking like this? Did I die? Am I in hell?"
Back in his own world, Kane was known as Kane "The Emperor" Reed, a world heavy weight champion in Boxing.
A legend that appears once in a million years.
From light weight to heavy weight he conquered 9 weight classes and became the world heavy weight champion by the age of 28.
Now, looking like a 13 year old with a beard, he's chained up in a prison cell that doesn't see the light of day.
click clack..
The sound of the prison door being unlocked echoes through the cell.
Kane looks up to see a hooded man, or to be more accurate a hooded monster of a man standing at least 2.5 metres tall, legs the size of tree trunks, and arms the size of his torso heading in with a tray of food.
The hooded monster man throws the mouldy food down in the middle of the cell like he always does.
clank clank
The food tray falls dead centre of the cell and in the tray is a black loaf that kind of resembles bread, a bowl of brown and green goo that Kane presumes is rotten gravy, and a broken bone that probably had meat on it before it arrived.
It's been about a week, and the first time Kane saw this man he freaked out.
But as time passed he slowly got used to him.
The hooded monster did the same thing everyday.
Like clock work, he comes in, drops off rotten food, then leaves without a single word.
But today was different, a muffled grunt that sounded like thunder came out of the hooded monsters mouth.
"You.. eat.. tomorrow.. fight. You win... more food.. you lose..."
The hooded monsters bright red piercing eyes flashed then disappears back into the darkness.
The hooded monster then leaves and locks the door.
"What the fuck?"
Kane was stunned.
A whole week has gone by and Kane had never heard the monster speak, even when he kept screaming out for help and trying to get answers before, there was never any reply.
But today, the hooded monster finally spoke.
"So I have to fight? Who the fuck does he think he's talking to? Even if this is hell, you better show me some respect you dumb-ass!"
Kane spat at the closed cell doors.
Kane has always been a hot head, even as a boxer, Kane was dubbed the second coming of Muhammad Ali.
In an interview with Fox Sports News, the interviewer had asked him how he felt being compared to the great Ali, but his response was not what the interviewer or the whole of the boxing world had expected, he said to the interviewer
"Who is Muhammad Ah whats his name? Is he a terrorist or something?"
His disrespectful response shocked the world. Boxers all over America and the world lined up to teach him a lesson.
But none could lay a hand on the man that was dubbed "The Emperor Reed."
73 Professional fights, 73 Wins by way of knock out and 0 losses.
Over 70% of his fights end in the first round and that's how this man became a living legend in the boxing world.
"So a fight is it? Fine. This will give me chance to get some answers."
Kane looks back down at his reflection in the puddle.
He throws a punch at the puddle in anger and stands up shakily.
He looks at his skinny arms and tooth pick like legs
"Fuck, if I was in my own body this fight would be a walk in the park. Guess it can't be helped, lets do a round of exercises and see what this scrawny body can do"
And so Kane's training session began.
He started with some push ups. He tried to do one but his skinny arms gave way and he collapsed straight onto the ground.
"Holy shit? I'm this weak?"
Kane was stunned again, he never realised it before but now looking at his body again, he was surprised at how weak he had become.
But he doesn't give up, he drops his knees to the ground, and starts doing knee push ups.
Beads of sweat start forming on Kane's head.
"This is gonna be a lot harder than I thought. Focus Kane. Just one push up at a time."
Time seemed to move slowly in this dark cell.
After a set push ups, Kane moves to doing squats.
After what seemed to be a life time for the weak and malnourished Kane, he collapses to the ground with his body roaring in pain. Panting, Kane grumbles
"Fuck, when was the last time I felt this weak?"
Kane breathes out a heavy breath and little amounts of steam comes off his body.
He closes his eyes and starts concentrating on his breathing. After about 30 minutes, Kane realises that because of his controlled breathing his body seemed to feel a lot better.
He gets up and starts moving his body around again
"That's strange? I feel like I'm back in top shape?"
Kane is mystified at his quick recovery speed but doesn't give it much thought.
"Well whatever, this is great news for me."
Kane goes back to start another round of exercises, and this time round he was able to do a standard push up without the support of his knees.
"Holy shit? It seems like I'm slowly getting my strength back? Lets keep going and see how far I can push myself."
After several rounds of workouts and breathing exercises Kane realises his body slowly got stronger and stronger.
Excited Kane finishes his last set of breathing exercises and gets up to start shadow boxing.
Heavy chains on his wrist and ankles stops him from moving too far away, but at least he can throw a few combos on the spot.
He continues his practice well into the night forgetting the time. Time slowly crawls pass.
Unbeknownst to Kane, as he's shadow boxing, a vague mist like vapour slowly escapes his body.
A black goo like substance slowly oozes out of his pores.
Kane, stuck in a trance like state keeps shadow boxing and doesn't realise the change on his body.
After an hour, finally tired out from shadow boxing, Kane falls on his butt and starts panting and catching his breath.
It was then he realised he had black goo all over himself.
"What the fuck is this?"
He swipes the black substance on his body and gives it a sniff.
"Eww! Fucking gross! What the fuck is this? Is this shit? Who or what the fuck dares shit on me?!"
Kane looks around the cell and is fuming as he spots a massive rodent in the corner of the cell chewing away at the black bread that was brought in by the monster man.
"You little fucker, was it you? Did you fucking shit on me?"
Kane picks up the empty plate in the middle of the room that had the black loaf of bread on it and hurls it across the room angrily.
To his shock and amazement, the plate flew so quick that in less than a second the plate had reached its intended target and bisected the poor rodent in half.
But that's not all, the plate he threw was made of iron, and the iron plate lodged itself almost two thirds of the way into the stone wall.
The round edge of the plate was not sharp at all, but a plate like that managed to cut through the rock wall like it was butter.
Shocked at what just transpired, Kane walks over to the wall and pulls out the plate.
He knocks on the wall to make sure he wasn't being fooled.
"This really is made of rock? Then how the hell did this plate just cut through it? Was it because of me?"
Kane looks down at his own body and realised, not knowing when but his body had grown some muscle over his thin toothpick like arms and legs.
If he looked like a thin and malnourished boy before, now he looked more like a ripped long distance marathon runner.
"This isn't logical? What the fuck is happening with this body? How can a work out be that effective?"
While deep in thought, the door to the cell rumbles.
click clank..
The sound of the cell door opening echoes behind Kane.
The hooded monster steps in
"It's... Time"
