PROLOGUE; THE RACE

PROLOGUE;

  THE RACE

" The whistle blows

You're left in the dust and men disappear right in your face

Feet after feet every man here is a country's ace

Muscles tense, adrenaline rush; bodies move, steady your pace

Cause' this is a fight,

A fight to replace, claim your nation's place, unto you let the wind embrace

So you don't come back a disgrace

Cause' today is the day, so make haste so you can begin

So we can begin.

Begin

Our final race."

  It was the 19th of February, 2034, the day of the highlights of the 26th winter Olympics; the 100 metre final dash. The blue ribbon event which had gone on since the first world Olympic tournament was one where eight of the world's fastest runners who had cleared the quarter finals and semi finals were to participate in the final race to determine who the world's fastest man was.

  As each country's runner took up their place and positions on the track, overwhelming cheers from the audience filled the stadium, the noise could be heard across the city itself as the stadium shook from the vibrations. The 100 meter dash had always been one of the most sought after sports in the Olympics and was definitely the most anticipated event, however, this year's race was even more special than the rest, because the top 3 fastest people to ever be recorded in history were competing in that same race.

  Badrick Dash from Jamaica was the winner in the previous Olympics and the current fastest man in the world, who also held the record time for a 100 meter dash in history, finishing the race at a superhuman time of 9.5 seconds, his predecessor; Henry Sheng was history's second man of non-African descent to ever break the 10 second barrier, the second person of Chinese ethnicity to do so and the first ever person of non-African descent to win the Olympic gold medal at the 2026 winter Olympics, his 9.74 second record was just as superhuman as his competitor and the tension from both their presence was enough to make this historical event look more like a superhuman standoff, but to top it all off was Tyrese Manuel of USA, an 18 year old man who was said to have surpassed Dash' record, but without solid evidence to prove it.

The three world's fastest caused an uproar in the stadium as the weight of bringing the medal home now became far more heavier if not impossible to shoulder for the other athletes.

The runners were now in position as the whistle to begin the race blew loudly across the empty space, in the space of mini seconds sprinting had began as men took to their heel as if their lives depended on it, muscles tensed and relaxed as arms flew around and feet dug into the ground, stress made sweat as the breeze in response to the invader of its territory swept the sweats off the athletes bodies, at the 5 second mark Henry who was in last position, quickly accelerated and went beyond, easily out running seven other athletes who had shock plastered on their faces, the last obstacle in the way was the American Tyrese who was even faster than he was said to be.

In the space of micro seconds, the winner was to be decided and the world's fastest man crowned, as Henry was now only a hair's length away from the title, he had been feeling perfect, his body was in the zone and his mind was as focused, relaxed, and as stable as it could ever be and just as he was about to cross the finish line, it happened.

_____________________________________________________

To win the 100 meter Olympic dash was never my dream as a child, rather it was my father's. At first, I trained and trained with no motivation or ambition whatsoever other than to please him, but as time went on I soon realized my dream, and now I had a dream, I have a dream, and I was one step away from achieving my dream; my dream to become the world's fastest man.

My body was perfect and my mind had never felt so refreshed, I woke up feeling good today and I thought this day was going to be the best day of my life, so why is this happening, why is this happening to me now?

The horn that signaled the start of the race blew and I took off, as usual to a very slow start, I maintained my breathing and wasted as little energy as possible for the last few seconds I was going to run. At the 5 second mark, I could tell it was time to speed up, joy was the only thing I felt as I swiftly and very easily outran Dash from behind, my silhouette being the only thing that was at his level of speed.

Honestly, I was shocked to find that the one thing that stopped me from getting my record was the back view of an 18 year old who first posed a problem at first, but I was soon able to close and create a huge gap between us, with the only part of mine he could see being the back of my body.

I was now inches away from my title when the floor suddenly became bouncy as I felt my left foot sink in. Without even realizing I tried to keep on sprinting, but just as soon I applied force to my legs I heard the pleasing yet disturbing sound of my joints dislodge from its bone socket as my leg bone tore out of its skin.

What followed was very unclear; I felt my head get lighter from the pain and my vision become blurry as I passed out in the middle of the track, just a quarter inch away from the finish line, my unconscious eyes watching as men who weren't even half as fast as I was become better than I was, and as the ribbon that I was but a few inches from blessing, soon became desecrated by yet another pair of legs that shouldn't have been faster than mine.

*

"Haaaaa!" I gasped for air as I woke up to the scent of disinfectants and rice, by the time I was able to make out a picture from everything, I found myself on a hospital bed, my legs heavily bandaged and my mouth feeling as dry as ever.

"Oh!" The doctor started rather calmly, "So you're awake…well, you better eat some food before I give you the big news." and finished his statement while signaling to the nurse to go get some food for me; a bowl rice and stew I assumed.

*

  It had been three months since what reporters called 'the unfortunate accident' that happened to me, while my country people referred to me as the 'fallen hero' and even gave me an honorary medal for it. I, clearly did not feel like a hero of any sorts.

I had been in my house for the past two months; apparently I was in a coma for 2 weeks before I woke up in the hospital and it took two more weeks for me to get discharged, how I wish I was still in my coma, at least then I didn't have to hear the unfortunate shit that the doctor told me:

'

"Mr. Sheng," he began " I am pleased to inform you that we have successfully restored your leg and made it just as useful as any normal person's leg".

"But?" I quickly said, "I'm sorry, what?!" the doctor asked, shocked at my outburst.

"I said, BUT?" I repeated, laying emphasis on the 'But'.

"Oh, oh oh oh--yes, I'm sorry, its just, you haven't said a word except from 'yes' and 'no' for the past week, I was just a bit startled" he said before his throat "But, just like any normal person... you can not run again." he paused, while staring at me, as if to search for a reaction on my face. "And even if you did, I am sorry to inform you that you can most definitely never cross the 10-second barrier again."

'

Naturally, I didn't listen to the doctor and as soon as I was discharged, I ran. Or at least I tried to, the first few days were torture, every single step I took brought back pains my body felt but my mind had never experienced.

After those few days, I got past the pain but the problem was that the doctor was right, I kept on running at the same time of 10.13 seconds every single fucking time!!!.

And maybe if this was the me from the pre Olympic times, I wouldn't have given up, but the current me, with this wretched leg?. It wasn't about giving up, I could feel it, I could feel the lack of speed , I could feel my limits and so I finally accepted and just like that, I fell into the abyss.

*

Reporters would swarm my house for days, and I'd get several interview invitations; pod-casts, TV shows, even just Instagram lives; naturally I didn't go for any. I sacked all my workers and shut my doors, as I stayed in my mansion for months like I was the batman.

A shocking five months had passed, and now I had a simple schedule; to do absolutely nothing but eat and sleep all day, and at night, I called the exact same driver who dropped me off close to a certain dark alley where I got some drugs, my drugs, my beautiful drugs… the only things that kept me alive.

So as usual, my driver dropped me off at my dark alley, somewhere in the middle of Beijing; of course, I never even bothered to questioned where it was, I just got my shit and the driver took me back to my home.

As soon as I got to our usual spot at around 11:00 pm, I scouted the area by looking left and right as I approached the location of the deal. My footsteps rang back into my ears and my heartbeat deafened me, although I had become used to this dead atmosphere, tonight felt different for some reason.

My footsteps quickened as I ran to the spot out of sheer fear of the unknown, once I got there, my body quickly lightened and my heartbeat boomed in my chest like it was trying to break the sound barrier, the sight in front of me, was something I never expected to see in my life, ever.

My dealer's 5'6 frame lay lifeless on the ground as thick dark blood decorated his face like a warrior from a rural clan, from the little I could make out before I vomited, blood was coming out from every hole, every pore, every exit and every entry in his body, his body was soaked in his own fluids and the stench of faeces added a new tang of flavor to his already otherworldly smell.

With no thoughts whatsoever, I took to my heel as I slammed my body everywhere in my attempt to run away and scream for help, but once again, just as I was about to get to the exit, to my finish line, a man appeared in front of me, his tall and lean figure was clad in a pure black, his skin as dark as the night and his hair as bright as the sun, his eyes shone and illuminated the darkness and his sword glistened with a beauty that even the moon did not have. Even in my state of panic, in that second that I saw this man, all I could think of was how beautiful and perfect he looked.

I was soon snapped back to reality by an impact on my core that threw me several feet away and back into the alley that I was trying to run away from. I stood lifeless and hooked to the wall of the debilitated building behind me as I thought to myself.

'Is this it?, is this the pathetic end that I had been delaying for the last five months, ah well!, at least, I feel no pain' I closed my eyes as I awaited the devil's greeting in hell.

"Where the hell! Where the hell did you go KRITIIIC!!!" The man clad in black screamed at me as I opened my eyes to see him in front of me.

'How did he get here so fast' I thought to myself as I stared deeply into his eyes. In them I saw so many things, I could see life, I could see the end, and I saw. Yes, I could see something I knew not about and heard not about, but, for some reason I knew its name, I knew what I saw, in the eyes of the man clad in black, I saw hell, I saw

'ZABANIYYAH'