Satyo woke up suddenly, barely holding himself from screaming at the top of his lungs.
(FUCKFUCK! WHAT THE FUCK! Why... does it have to be... so fucking SCARY?!) he kept his screams of fear inside his mind, and began crying from the horror that he had just witnessed.
(Shit... where's the light? Where's the fucking light?!)
He got up and frantically searched for the light orb in utter darkness, cursing himself for not having placed it beside his bed earlier.
He felt a lingering gaze on his back, as if a monster was stalking him in the dark, ready to jump on him at any moment.
That sensation got stronger and stronger with each passing second, feeling like an enormous boulder that kept getting heavier, leaving him in a constant state of nigh-collapse from the pressure.
After painfully slow seconds of crushing fear from walking in total darkness, he finally found the orb and turned the light back on in a rush.
(Now it's better, but shit. This was fucking terrifying...) he placed a hand on his heart while walking back to the bed, then sat on it and silently let his fear dissipate through tears.
He stared at the ground for minutes - his thoughts too confused to be deciphered - with the sole objective of calming himself down.
After some time had passed, he took a last deep breath, then let out a phew and got back up again.
(Alright, alright... well, now it's gonna take a while before I can go back to bed.)
He thought as he began walking around in his room, just moving his body to fully come back to reality and erase that terrifying nightmare.
Ten more minutes of walking and thinking passed before he felt ready to attempt falling asleep again.
He made sure to place the light orb on a bedside table so that he could easily access it, then sat back down on his bed and, after a final breath, lay down on it.
He stretched out his hand to reach the orb, then turned the lights off and got ready to enter the dream world once again, trying hard not to think about what had happened earlier.
His mind was tampered with by horrifying thoughts, which constantly attempted to crush his frail barrier of self-control, rendering the feat of falling asleep an agonizing crawl to safety.
(Don't... it's good. Everything is- I mean, no thinking about... doesn't exist... sleep, sleep...)
He helped keep his mind clear with deep and regular breaths, temporarily resetting his memory every so often, and clearing any impurities that had gotten through his defensive walls.
Slowly...
Very slowly...
The night finally embraced him again.
---
---
---
He opened his eyes slowly, suddenly realizing that he had woken up. Unsure of his surroundings, he repeated the habitual gesture on the orb, lighting the room in an instant.
A yawn escaped his mouth, followed by a few rounds of eye-rubbing.
He sat on the bedside and, his mind now clear after a deep slumber, remembered his previous day, a sense of inescapability flooding his mind.
As the initial effects of waking up had worn off, he realized that - and this time for real - this world was his actual reality.
This time, it was not a dream, there were no demons... unfortunately.
Because as much as his previous life might have not been the most exciting or happy, having it suddenly taken away was a deep blow, which struck right into the most profound depths of his soul.
He was trying his hardest to cope with it, attempting to think about all the positive things of his new reality: mysterious and cool powers, a very friendly master, an exceptional friend, and a completely fresh experience...
Yet it still felt like something was missing.
As cool as all of this was, it couldn't replace the memories, relationships, and traces of his past life.
After all, the shiniest key wouldn't be able to open an old and rugged chest, filled to the brim with treasure: it would only be able to open its matching chest, which would inevitably be totally empty.
That emptiness lingered within his heart, as he accepted the inability to escape it and got up from his bed, ready to eat breakfast and begin a new day.
(Ah, right, Yuna said that there were only two meals a day. Wait, is there really no breakfast? I mean, how could they be so rich and not have breakfast? I just wanna be sure...) he thought in confusion as he recalled what Yuna had told him yesterday.
He sighed and decided to go see if they really had only two meals per day.
It wasn't a big problem for him, as he was accustomed to not eating much in the morning, but he was curious to check.
First, however, he paid a quick visit to the bathroom, which he had never explored until now.
Opening the luxurious door he found himself before a rather peculiar sight, at least from what he had expected a medieval bathroom to look like.
It was, first of all, massive: its walls extended broadly, the shiny tiles glinting and exhuming a sense of immense luxury; a shower was missing, but was replaced by a huge bathtub made of premium porcelain.
The toilet was not too different from modern ones - in shape at least - as it obviously lacked a water and pipe system, so Satyo's imagination began guessing where the discharged organic matter would go.
He went to the bathroom to urinate, then washed his hands with an appropriate bucket filled with water and dried them with a silk towel.
(Where do I get more water though? I mean, there isn't any pipe system or anything, so...) he thought, but decided to keep that question for when the problem would arise again.
The shocking luxury of the restroom he had just used didn't impress him in any particular way, as he had already been stunned enough by the village's riches to give it any special attention.
After concluding, he finally exited his room and proceeded to go to the Tzwernej.
A very long flight of stairs later, he found out that the 'restaurant' was already very active, with waiters frantically taking and delivering orders and a constant stream of people coming and going.
(Uhm... why are there already so many people? And where's the jump-scaring ghost when you need-)
"Boo."
"Here she is, an unmatched master of laughs and jokes." Satyo held himself from suddenly jerking in fear and replied casually.
"So? Wanna eat?"
As he turned around and saw her face, a sudden shiver traveled down his spine as he recalled the terrifying dream: although he was now in the real world, the fear hadn't yet faded away, and seeing Yuna's face only made him think about those horrible demons eating his flesh before his eyes.
He shrugged the worries off and continued the conversation normally, concealing his temporary fear.
"Ahem. Didn't you say yesterday that there were only two meals? It doesn't really seem like so, you know."
"Never did. At least, I never said that there weren't three meals..."
"Yeah, yeah, doesn't matter. Anyways, what time is it?"
"Two jeekel before the third zaentl." She said, giggling, as she knew how much confusion that would spark in Satyo's mind.
"Why can't anything be normal here? What the hell are jeekel and zaentl?" Satyo said in an annoyed tone, before letting out a sigh.
"Don't worry, it's not important now, and it's difficult to explain. Just know that you slept a lot, sleepyhead."
"It would have been nice if I hadn't woken up in the middle of the night because of a shitty nightmare, you know."
"Alright, now we've got something to talk about while we eat. Room for two please!" She turned around and shouted at a man, who nodded and, after a few seconds of checking, pointed them toward one of the many rooms.
Like the last time, they got to the dining room, opened the door, and called a waiter.
The menu this time was different, offering a wide range of snacks and breakfast packages: Satyo decided to take an old-fashioned sandwich, while Yuna ordered chocolate muffins.
"So... what about that nightmare?" She curiously asked.
"Well, it was... weird. And scary. You and Sae were demons: not the cool kind though, more like the kind that rips your body apart and eats your insides while smiling creepily at you."
"I'm guessing that's what happened..." - Yuna gulped - "I hope you're not scared of me now." She concluded with a more sarcastic tone.
But she wasn't the master of sarcasm, as Satyo struck with an extremely powerful blow.
"Don't worry, I could never be scared of someone like you..." his smirk, paired with a slight giggle, made his intentions clear.
...
"Satyo."
"That is indeed my name."
"SATYO!!!"
Yuna yelled cutely, taken in by his teasing, recreating a typical slice of life scene.
"Alright, alright, just kidding."
- Satyo giggled again, before continuing with his dream's explanation. -
"Anyways yeah, the dream was very strange and scary, it made me wake up in the middle of the night." He took the conversation back to a serious approach.
The door then opened: their food had arrived and was elegantly delivered by a waiter, this time a seemingly experienced middle-aged man.
They thanked him as he bowed and exited the room, before bringing their attention to the tastier matters.
Like the last time, the food was of supreme quality: its charming fragrance and inviting look concealed a sea of wonderful taste, making Satyo wonder yet again:
(Just how is their food so amazing?)
He and Yuna chatted casually over trivial things, alternating between talking and taking bites. When his sandwich was over, Satyo suddenly remembered that he wanted to show his smartphone to Munir, and set it in his mind as the next objective for the day.
"Where is Munir usually? I want to show him my phone."
"Good question. Try going to the Hall and asking around."
"But should I also tell him my story? You know, the 'coming from another world' thing."
"Yeah, don't worry, he won't think you're crazy or anything... I'm sure he's seen all sorts of things in his life." Yuna dismissed his worries.
"We can go together if you want." Satyo asked after gathering his courage.
"Sure." Yuna replied, barely concealing her surprise at the sudden offer.
They got up and left the room, then walked all the way up the stairs and to the Hall together, occasionally exchanging a few words.
As always, the Hall was very crowded: people didn't have much to do and resorted to more rudimental ways of entertainment, filling the huge room with laughter and joy.
"Well..."
- Satyo said, looking around only to see countless amounts of people, none of whom seemed like they'd know where Munir was. -
"...Who should we ask?"
"Uhm... guards? Sae? Right, when will you meet again with him?" Yuna asked.
"He said he'd come to my room this afternoon."
"Then we don't actually have a ton of time, depending on what he considers to be 'afternoon'. Anyways, let's try asking some soldiers."
When they began questioning the soldiers, however, they wouldn't have expected them to be so oblivious to Munir's location.
A very, very long circle of 'ask him', 'I don't know', and 'maybe he's there' repeated itself, looping like an endless maze, before they - by sheer luck - stumbled upon Yallio, Munir's messenger.
"Sorry, do you know where Munir is?" Satyo asked.
"He's not available for today." Yallio sternly replied.
Although their luck hadn't been so sheer after all, they had at least gotten a final answer.
They walked away with a lingering feeling of disappointment in their minds, before realizing that Satyo's meeting was due in little time.
"Oh right, you said Sae will come soon. I'll have to go then." Satyo said.
"Alright, let me know how it goes!" Yuna smiled excitedly.
"Sure, sure. See you later." He waved and said goodbye, a slight smile on his face, as he made his way out of the Hall.
"Bye!"
---
After a short walk, Satyo was finally back to his room. He unlocked the door as usual and entered, the habitual wave of luxury hitting him yet again.
He decided to wait for Sae's arrival by training with his trusted book- who knows, maybe it could have helped him with the upcoming challenges.
A long hour passed. An hour of utter failure, which did little to encourage him.
Not a single time was he successful: he always tried his best, but generating water from thin air was not yet a skill of his.
(Come on! I don't even get fucking close! Well, I mean, it's sorta to be expected...) his frustration, constantly growing at each failed attempt, obscured his thoughts.
(I dunno though. Sae said those things, so it's probably just that I'm doing it wrong or something... it's better to just train with him directly.) He calmed himself down and decided to wait for his master.
He didn't have to wait for long, however, as after only a few minutes he heard three loud knocks on the door.
He promptly walked to the door and opened it for his master to come in.
"Hello there, Sae." Satyo casually greeted him, welcoming him inside.
"Hi, Satyo. How's everything going?" Sae warmly replied as he followed his apprentice to the table.
"It's fine. It's really nice here, and I get along well with Yuna. By the way... how is this village so rich? I mean, every single thing seems to be so luxurious."
He replied and finally asked that lingering question as he sat on a chair.
"As always, it's a long story. Our village has had a really broad and interesting past, which ultimately led it to be immensely rich." Sae answered as he also sat down.
"Oh, cool." - Satyo nodded, although he was a little dissatisfied with the vague explanation. - "So... what was it yesterday with my powers of the Abyss?"
Sae looked down for a moment as he heard that word, then looked up again, straight into Satyo's eyes.
"The path of the Abyss is the rarest and most powerful branch in The Art of Water. I have absolutely no idea how or why you possess these powers, but their potential is immeasurable."
(YES! I'm the protagonist! Really though, how could I have such powers? I literally have nothing to do with this world- well, 'had'.)
Satyo again wondered why he of all people was so special, as he - until just a day before - was in a totally different world, and was in no way connected to this one.
The intricate lines of the mysterious plot were becoming thicker and thicker, as new explanations only generated more mysteries, teasing his mind constantly.
"How will the training work? I mean, where and when will we train?" He asked.
"There is a special room in the castle, as well as big training fields outside. I sometimes trained there too when I was younger. As for when, whenever you have the time and will to do so."
Satyo's attention was caught in particular by the second sentence, as he began wondering about Sae's past.
"When you were younger? Did you have a master too?" He curiously asked.
"My past is a little complicated..."
- He smiled in an attempt to shrink the importance of the matter. -
"Anyway, that's not important now. Do you want to begin?" He concluded as he stood up from his chair, inviting Satyo to follow him.
"Sure. So we're going to this training room, right?" Satyo replied, also standing up and following Sae out of his room.
"Exactly: there are many tools to help you improve, and it's much bigger than yours."
They walked for a few minutes, descending into the castle's deepest bowels.
As they proceeded down the long hallways, doors started to become scarcer and scarcer, until there was nothing but stone walls and darkness ahead.
Satyo didn't say anything, simply trusting his master and blindly following him, restraining his confusion and growing fear.
Looking back he was still able to see the faint light of the orbs far behind, granting him a few more seconds of safety.
But then, darkness engulfed them.
"Don't worry: it's a bit dark, but we're almost there." Sae reassured him.
(I'd say this is more than 'a bit', but alright... it's both extremely cool and terrifying.)
After another minute of lingering terror, they finally arrived at the mysterious room. Sae did something with his hands that Satyo was not able to properly discern, then he heard a loud noise and...
before he could even realize it, he found himself inside a massive room.
The walls were of a vivid blue, the floor was made of a peculiar wood that shone brightly, and there were many items he did not recognize.
Countless orbs to the right, bookshelves filled with manuscripts on the left, a vast area of empty space in front of him... this was the training room.
"What the- how did I even get here?"
As Satyo was still in confusion, Sae had already begun preparing for the training to start.
"Okay, there are a couple of things that I'd like to say before we begin."
"Yeah, sure." Satyo replied, turning to look at his master.
"First: the training will be hard. However fun it may - or may not - be, there's no way around the fact that you'll have to give it your all."
- He began speaking with a strangely firm tone. -
"And let me tell you: 'your all' will be, more often than not, very far from what you might need to progress. It will be exhausting. It will make you want to quit. It will fill you to the brim with desperation." He concluded, making his statements clear.
Satyo gulped. He almost took a step back, but kept his determination and stayed still, a look of concentration in his eyes.
"Second: if you decide to train in the path of the Abyss... you will, without a single doubt, fight in numerous wars."
- Sae began explaining his second point. -
"You will experience the sensation of murdering other people who are just as desperate to survive as you are. You will go through hell itself, and you will experience amounts of mental and physical torture that you didn't know were possible."
- He said with a serious, yet sad tone. -
"With this said: are you sure that you want to proceed?" Finally, the decisive question arrived.
Satyo perfectly understood what Sae was referring to: he had of course never been in such a situation, but was able to imagine what it might be like.
His mind was surely more focused on the cool side of magic, but he had enough intelligence and empathy to realize that war... was nonetheless war.
Thoughts began bombarding him: thoughts of life as a warrior, of how amazing it would be to fight in battles that he had only ever seen in fiction.
But his rationality was stronger.
(He's right. Should I really do this? I know I've always complained about the monotony of life, but this is no joke. It will be horrible.)
He focused on trying to imagine the worst that could happen, in an attempt to decide whether he would be able to handle those situations.
Blood, pain, trauma, despair, fear... those were but a few of the horrifying realities of war.
He imagined the chaotic hell that was a battlefield: the incessant, disturbing screams of agony, the relentless wave of death which constantly shifted sides, the frighteningly horrible things that could happen to his body.
Everything pointed towards a negative answer, but...
Satyo looked up, the most determined look in his glinting yellow eyes, his lips serrated and muscled stiffened.
In a single motion, he opened his mouth and said the fateful word...
"Yes."
...
"Very well."
- Sae began smiling again, seemingly out of nowhere. -
"First of all, I'd like to see how well you fare in regular hand-to-hand combat. I will start easy, and progressively increase my speed until you can't defend yourself anymore. Don't worry if you go down immediately, this is just to understand where we should start from."
- He explained the first exercise. -
"I am only going to use slaps, as to avoid hurting you too much, but don't hold back if you dare to strike me yourself."
"Alright..."
Satyo replied as he got into a fighting stance, his arms extended with his left hand forward, and his fingers slightly pointing toward the inside.
Sae suddenly appeared in front of him, making him stutter slightly.
He immediately came back to his senses and kept his stance, waiting for his opponent's move.
(Shit-)
he thought as he barely avoided a quick slap by dodging backwards.
An immediate follow-up came from his right, which he skillfully blocked by raising his arm.
Although Satyo had never trained in any martial art, he was resisting surprisingly well, especially considering the speed of his opponent's blows.
However, he had to use his full concentration just to narrowly avoid getting hit, and it was very stressful, both physically and mentally.
He sidestepped to the left to gain some more space, then blocked a slap and decided to try counterattacking with a jab to Sae's face.
The latter smiled slightly, then nonchalantly grabbed Satyo's arm and pulled him forward while stepping to the right, deciding not to end the combat already.
(He's damn fast, but what did I expect? I'm doing good though.)
He tried to cheer himself up, as he quickly turned around and got back into his stance, ready to keep fighting.
(Okay, now a little faster.)
Sae attacked with a rapid slap, which Satyo wasn't able to block by a small margin.
The blow was so strong it made him fall on the ground and, although he attempted to get back up, Sae decided that it was enough.
"Okay, we can stop now. You did very well." He smiled.
"Thank you, although I lasted only a few seconds." Satyo replied as he stood up again.
"Well, this was to be expected: it would be weird if you just beat your master in the first fight, wouldn't it?"
"Yeah, and I suppose your powers go way further than just being fast with slaps." Satyo said, pointing at Sae's sword.
"Oh, don't worry about that for now: soon enough, you'll learn to fight with a sword too."
As he heard that reply, Satyo's eyes widened in excitement, the ever-growing eagerness to use a real katana rapidly filling his mind.
He felt a sudden wave of determination, granting him the will to instantly continue with the training.
"What should we do now?" He asked, masking his emotion.
"Do you already know the breathing technique?"
"Yeah, sort of. I tried the one in the book, and could almost pull it off."
"Let me see if you're doing it correctly. Breathe slowly while I press my hand against your chest." Sae said as he put one hand on Satyo's chest, looking closely at him to inspect the quality of his technique.
"Okay... uhm- should I close my eyes or not?"
"Closing your eyes is generally used for preparing an attack that requires great concentration, but we're not training that yet; keep them open, as if you needed to actively fight someone."
Satyo looked at the wall as he took a deep breath, expanding its flow toward his extremities, as the book indicated.
He inhaled...
...
Then exhaled...
...
Then inhaled...
...
Then exhaled...
...
And repeated the cycle for a few minutes, his mind in a state of absolute focus.
"You can stop now."
- Sae said as he pulled his hand away. -
"It's obviously not perfect, but it's great for a beginner. The main problem is the extension: it is often irregular and quite limited, but we'll work on that. For now, the most important thing is to make it become natural."
"For 'natural', do you mean while I'm fighting or always?"
"Only while you're fighting, of course. It would be very stressful to breathe like this all the time, even for someone as trained as me."
- Sae replied while walking toward the right side of the room. -
"Now I want you to try breathing in this exact way while you punch this." He pointed at a stuffed mannequin, which resembled a person.
Satyo followed him and got in front of the mannequin: it was in very bad condition, which surprised him, seeing how rich the village was.
He got into his fighting stance, ready to throw as many punches as needed, while looking at the rugged dummy: the more he looked at it, the more he felt a sense of nostalgia, as if it somehow represented his childhood.
Seeing the torn fibers made him feel guilty: for one moment, he felt as if he was about to punch a dear friend.
But he shrugged off the weakening thought, replacing the image with the face of his worst enemy, of the person he hated the most.
It worked way too well: he was immediately overwhelmed with rage, and began savagely punching the dummy, completely disregarding the point of the exercise.
He forgot to use the breathing technique, only throwing harder and harder punches as his fury grew to even further extents.
(YOU! DIE! MOTHERFUCKER!)
He thought, loud bangs filling the quiet room each time he made contact with the mannequin or, in his eyes, that person.
Sae stayed behind, looking at him while smiling slightly.
Although Satyo was holding himself from letting his anger escape his mouth, the noise of his punches spoke for itself, letting Sae know that it was all going according to plan.
He waited a couple more minutes, before finally telling Satyo to stop.
"You can stop now, Satyo, it's okay."
"Huh? Oh... sorry, I forgot to use the breathing. It's just that I got a bit caught up in the moment." The addressed deactivated berserk mode and apologized.
"Well..." - Sae smiled in satisfaction. - "...you did use the breathing."
"Eh? I did?"
Satyo replied, confused at his master's statement.
"You see, that's not just a regular dummy. It's designed to make you feel strong emotions, releasing your energy and, in this case, leading you to think that you weren't breathing properly."
- Sae began to explain -
"In reality, it suppresses your rationality, and gets Yōkyl flowing freely without you having to actively control it."
"Cool. So it means that people fight better when angry?"
"Not exactly. Although it helps with releasing Yōkyl, it is still a purely instinctive way of fighting, with no reason or strategy whatsoever. Adding to that, you won't always have a switch to turn furious."
"So this is why you're teaching me the breathing, and this was only an example of why I shouldn't lose my composure." Satyo tried to complete his master's explanation.
"Yes, and it also teaches you how to deal with such an opponent. The general rule, however, is to never let your emotions have the better: rushed, impulse-driven decisions are your worst enemy."
- Sae concluded, a melancholic tone coloring his words. -
"For the next exercise, try repeating what you just did, but with a difference: you will have to resist the rising anger in you, while also controlling your breathing."
(Damn... it's gonna be hard. I like the realism of this training though.) Satyo thought.
"This will make you realize how much easier it is to give in to your emotions and let them control you. It's important that you understand that now, so that you will - hopefully - avoid making fatal mistakes on the battlefield."
"Alright. So I have to do this for how much time?"
"Until I tell you to stop."
After receiving his final instruction, Satyo prepared to punch the mannequin again.
As soon as he was in front of it, he felt the same emotions as before: first a feeling of nostalgic friendship, then unspeakable amounts of hatred.
(F....UCK! Shit-no don't, calm-YOU!)
His mind wavered as he tried his hardest to resist the sudden wave of anger that overwhelmed him.
He raised his hand, ready to give in and let his rage have the better, but stopped right at the last moment, heavily shaking from the enormous pressure he was containing.
He felt as if he was about to burst at any moment: the temptation to scream in fury and tear that dummy apart was at an unseen peak.
Satyo's face turned red from the accumulating heat, his mind hit with so much anger that he couldn't think properly, his vision heavily blurred, his fists tightly clenched.
Still shaking, he managed to bring his arm up and throw a weak but controlled punch at the mannequin.
The problem was, he didn't expect to feel such a giant wave of energy from a single punch.
Having released but the tiniest amount of his emotions caused an unstoppable chain reaction leading him to finally...
(NONONO! I CAN...)
he stopped at the very last moment, then threw a series of slow and weak punches at the dummy while also trying to breathe properly.
His technique was horrible at best: the irregular breaths barely made his Yōkyl flow, and the punches were so flimsy they wouldn't have harmed a fly;
but at least he managed to control it.
He resisted the temptation to fail the exercise and go all-out, barely repulsing the devastating rage-tsunami with his sheer will.
The more he kept punching, the better it became, slowly becoming more consistent with his breathing.
But his energies had a limit.
(Fuck, I can't anymore...) he thought, accepting his failure.
The problem wasn't that he was tired or had no energy left in his body.
It was the complete opposite.
Holding such an enormous amount of pressure inside him was extremely draining, and so he finally had to let it out.
Sae realized what was about to happen, so he grabbed Satyo by the arm and pulled him away.
"Amazing job, Satyo. You were incredible."
Unfortunately, he was so mentally exhausted that those words didn't even reach him.
Instead, he collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.
After a few seconds of pulling himself together, he stood up, still panting heavily from the intensity of the exercise.
"It was... much harder than I thought."
"That's a good thing: it will raise your standards right from the start, so that you'll be prepared for anything."
"How does it even work? I've... never felt so angry in my entire life."
"Well, this is not the time to delve into Yōkyl theory, but know that it acts upon your emotions and memories using a special type of magic."
"Uhm... how 'special' is it? Like, will I encounter enemies able to use it? Because it's damn impossible to resist this thing."
"I think you're straying away from the point now: this attempts to replicate a combat scenario where you will have to avoid giving in to your anger."
- Sae recalled the original intent of the exercise. -
"If you've never been on the battlefield before, then know that the emotions you experience there are nothing like you're used to."
- He began explaining, trying to burrow the horrible reality of war into his mind, to prepare him for the experiences to come. -
"There isn't your usual 'anger' or 'sadness'. There's the unquenched fury of not being able to do anything, while your world gets taken away from you right before your eyes."
Satyo's eyes suddenly widened as he heard that expression: although he knew the context Sae was using it in, it ironically described his own situation perfectly.
(Heh... I surely do know something about that...)
"Well..." - he interrupted - "I have once been in a very dangerous situation, which got me unbelievably furious. I did get my revenge though."
"Do you want to talk about it?" Sae smiled, offering to listen to his story.
Satyo understood that this was the right moment to tell Sae his true story, plus a very important anecdote of his previous life.
They walked to the nearest chairs, then sat down and let the storytelling begin.
"I've already told this to Yuna... she believed me, but I'll tell you: my story is extremely weird, so prepare for the worst. I hope you don't think I'm crazy after you hear it."
"Don't worry, you can tell me anything."
"Okay... actually, I want to tell you that other thing first... it's just- I don't know. I feel like telling it."
- He stopped, gulped, and continued. -
"It was a cloudy day, I was out buying groceries with my mother..."