Tales of Harmonin

Chapter 1: The Awakening, part I

The young man in red begins to plummet faster towards the void below regaining consciousness in the process. He begins to think to himself, "Strange... almost like... a dream..." he begins to plummet faster to the ground diving headfirst! The young man begins talking to himself, "I'm falling? Weird... this wind sure feels real though..." Then a thought of horror crosses his mind as he realizes the reality of his situation. "Dreams can’t be real, but this wind is real so that means..." he notices he is only 50 feet above the ground and lets out a loud yell as he is about to hit the sharp rocks covering the green fields below...

Then in an instant, the same young warrior who was dressed in red armor, sits up in his bed, drenched in cold sweat. He begins talking to himself as he rubs the salty water away from his eyes. "Man that was a weird dream..." he looks over at his digital alarm clock, "3 am! Ugh... I need sleep..." He closes his eyes as his head lays on the sweat matted pillow and once again drifts off into a deep sleep.

A couple of hours later the alarm clock starts to ring, breaking the silence in the room. The young man reaches over and turns it off, struggling as he gets out of bed. He walks over to a mirror in his room, avoiding the various clothes strewn over the floor and combs his light brown hair up into messy spikes. He takes in a deep breath and stares at his hazel eyes thinking he noticed something strange with his pupils. He says to himself, "These nightmares are getting more realistic... Just have to ignore them, they’re just dreams." He takes in a deep breath and then begins to examine his muscular features from intense training. "Time for my morning workout."

He stretches his body for a moment and stands completely erect measuring at 5 ft 9 inches. He then drops to the floor positioning himself correctly, putting one arm behind his back, and begins doing one handed push-ups with his left arm. He counts under his breath until he reaches 50 and switches arms. He repeats with his right arm until he feels the strain in his body, switching to regular push-ups and counts to himself until he reaches 100.

With his arms beginning to strain, the young man then begins to do sit-ups winding the clock alarm for 15 minutes. Afterwards, as his abs burn with accomplishment, he begins to lift light weights until he is covered in sweat yet again. He then walks over to a shelf where he picks up two wooden practice swords. They’re heavy at first, but he practices his swings and foot work until his arms burn with agony. Finally to finish his work out, he begins to punch and kick a punching bag for 15 minutes until he can no longer breathe, as if his lungs were begging for an ounce of fresh air. Talking to himself in between raspy breaths he says,"Not bad for a morning workout... but this afternoon's spar with Hector should finish it up.” He stops briefly to wipe the sweat from his face when he notices the time. “Shit it’s 6:30. Have to hurry up and shower... Don't want to be late for school again."

After a quick shower, dressing casual for the day with just a red t-shirt, jeans, and black and white sneakers, he puts on his favorite black hoodie, and walks to the door but stops only for a second to say, "Bye mom... Bye dad.” No reply. “I'll be home soon after school. Hector, Shana, and Monica might come over later." As the young man leaves and locks his door, he stops at the balcony outside his apartment and surveys the city he lives in. Few skyscrapers fill the city, but the bland rooftops of business and other apartment complexes litter the streets. The sound of police sirens can be heard in the distance as the smog from the factories slowly pollute the populace.

The sun is barely starting to come over the horizon casting an orange glow over the roofs of the others building, warming up the cold morning. As if he was looking for something the young man scans the entire city looking for an answer to some unanswered question, with only the wind to howl back at him. It is as if he was looking for some excuse to stay home, as the sounds of gang violence and people’s sorrow filled the early misty morning. Deciding it was time to leave he exited the apartment complex he lived in and began his walk to school among the busy streets of both the corrupt and the lawless.