Chapter 7 - Training

Training

"What do you mean by training, sensei?"

"I mean that I am going to mold the skills of a soldier, with many decades of experience, into your small and weak body," the man said as if it were an easy, but not possible task.

"Is that even possible… in such a short amount of time."

"Yes… because I will teach you the ways of the gods," he said with a heavy smirk on his face.

"So when does this training start… today?"

"Bingo!"

"What are you going to teach me first… sensei."

"First…you should get out of bed…young one," he said in an annoying tone.

As I started to raise my body from the bed, I started to scan the environment.

A grandfather clock, old as time, maybe older. A table in the center of the room, with different cups and newspapers scattered on top of it.

Was I in this man's home?

"So…where are we right now sensei?"

"My home obviously you dimwit!"

"Oh sorry for asking such a stupid question."

"It's alright…it just means you have good instincts, that's all."

"What do you mean, I have good instincts?"

"Your intuition, the way that you decided to ask a question like that, thinking that I may be suspicious or have malicious intent."

"That is your strong suit."

"Now why don't we stop talking about such trivial matters and get onto the important business at hand."

"What are we going to start with?"

"Show me your physical talent."

"How so?"

"I will use this stopwatch in my hand as a timer, do as many push-ups in 60 seconds, as you possibly can."

"Start!"

As soon as he said that word, I got into a push-up position and tried my best.

I started to push up and down, and got into a routine through this method. Up down, up down I told myself as I continued.

After 30 seconds had passed, I had done 15 good form push-ups and was on my way to at least 25 to 30 push-ups by the time the stopwatch would go off, at the 60 second mark.

"I hope this will impress my sensei, because I'm really giving it my all right now," I said to myself with anxious thoughts of failure.

"Keep going, keep going your doing great," sensei said with glee for me not being as useless as I seemed.

"3…2….1, and STOP," he said energetically, like a high school football coach during practice.

"So 27 push-ups in 60 seconds, not bad, not bad at all if I do say so myself. Good job kid, you somewhat impressed me today. So… don't beat yourself up over your results and be happy for once."

"Thank you, thank you very much for the encouraging words sensei."

"Now for the second test of today…will power!"

"What will I be doing to test my mental fortitude sensei?"

"Tap into that power…the void you saw in your sleep earlier.

"That horrid place again…I can tap into that place at will…teach me please.

"Sit next to me on the floor with your legs crossed and both of your hands clasped together, like  you're praying in a way," he said in a minimalist, but informative way; helpful enough for an infant to understand.

"Like this?"

"Exactly," he said with an ounce of praise in his shallow voice.

"Now breathe in and out 3 times while imagining a picture of total darkness; a void. Then close your eyes and drift off into a deep slumber, enough to not wake up from a loud bang. Then breathe in and out for the last time with this same image surfacing your train of thought, and open your eyes."

I did all of these extremely specific instructions this man had given me to tap into the "void", and opened my eyes. 

It worked.

As soon as I had opened my circular eyes, I saw nothing, no sign of anything in view but the deep dread of absolute darkness shrouding over my entire body and the area fully surrounding me.

I started to move; I think. I tried to see if there was anything here, but darkness. After failure to find information out of all my searches, I began to think about another way to test my abilities.

I decided to try and calm my pulsating heart, with utmost concentration. It was like an average human trying to lift a boulder, and move it across the ocean in one try.

It felt impossible.

No matter how hard I would try and push myself to the extreme, no results appeared. 

I could feel the same warm feeling that I do whenever I think about the events, and the catastrophe of my mother's death. It hurt.

After finding no success in that idea, I almost gave up, and went back to that old man's home, where I could find peace. 

But then something miraculous happened…

The void shifted from pale darkness into a shroud of mist as I traversed through the unknown land, in search of some sort of change, or movement in space.

I started to swim instead of run as I moved around this empty space, until something completely changed.

The darkness faded into waves of maroon and black that coiled over top of me, and suffocated me.

There I saw a man, or being right in front of me.

He was gigantic with just a head and no physical body in sight. 

He had looked like anyone's worst nightmare. Like the villain from horror movies when they jump scare you. Like a pulsating shadow of depression, engulfed in despair and self-harm.

He wasn't human.

"So this is my user, such a weakling to be enslaved to," this demon said with the most tear jerking, eardrum bursting voice of a thousand men, women and children screaming in agony at the pain of their demoralizing fates. Their lives crumpling up like a piece of toilet paper, being flushed down the toilet.

Flustered with what I had awakened I said, "Who… who are you great one?"

Hearing this pitiful question, this demonic creature, with a bone shattering screech said…

…"Your alter ego!"