"I'M GOING TO LEARN CHAKRA!" Hiroki exclaimed.

"Yes." Said the man with a warm smile.

I stood in the corner of the room looking down at this insignificant insect flinging his excitement around the room like shit.

At the mention of shit, my constant glare got harsher. I still hadn't forgiven that fat fuck.

The man signaled for me to come over and I begrudgingly agreed.

"You can both address me as Sage from now on." The Sage said calmly.

The Sage turned to me.

"Go and ask your parents if you can leave with me." The sage asked.

"They're dead," I replied bluntly.

I saw Hiroki was about to open his mouth to say otherwise so I sent him a subtle glare. Hiroki promptly closed his mouth.

The Sage looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Then we leave now, pack your things" The sage declared.

Hiroki's mother looked shocked.

Hiroki looked to his mother.

"Mum, I promise to come back big and strong. I'll protect you!" Hiroki passionately declared.

"OH HIROKI." Hiroki's mother cried as she hugged her son.

"How heartbreaking to see a couple be separated," I mumbled under my breath.

The sage looked at me harshly but I'm sure I saw a subtle nod of agreement.

After Hiroki packed up we left the shithole those inbred fuckers call a town and headed towards some mountains in the middle of buttfuck nowhere.

I swear this entire world is a bunch of Japanese rice farms and hills. Where the fuck are the big cities?

It took us 3 days to reach the location where the Sage lived. During that time Hiroki did nothing but bug me about how excited he was to be learning Ninshu. Meanwhile, the Sage just smiled at us, prick.

Oh! What's Ninshu you ask my love?

It's a way of harnessing this supposed chakra we all have.

The sage said some shit about it bringing us all together for world peace as well.

Bunch of bull.

Sounds more like the Sage is starting a cult if you ask me.

But if I can get this pale prick to teach me Ninshu I can just take over the operation and steer it towards more 'productive goals'.

When we finally got to the sages house both me and Hiroki were surprised.

It was fucking huge.

Nestled between a valley lay not a house but a city.

As we made our way through the city, littered with mountainside houses and outdoor training areas, I could only think one thing...This place is Zen as fuck.

Pagodas and shit.

Hiroki was practically shitting himself with excitement.

I internally cringed as I thought about shit again, but brushed it off.

The Sage led us through the mini-city whilst the monks here politely bowed as we passed by.

Everyone seemed so...Peaceful.

It was super creepy.

I could feel my skin crawl every time someone smiled and that happened a lot in this place.

Hiroki was practically bouncing off the walls at this point. I am sure the little inbred fucker is going to twist himself inside out, maybe I'll help him.

Eventually, we reached a large clearing with a ying-yang symbol imprinted into the floor.

"Change into these." The sage said handing us each a pair of white robes.

"Not really my color." I joked pointing at my all black rags.

The Sage gave me a slightly disapproving look.

"Your training in Ninshu will require you to be one with your body and mind." The sage said sagely.

"I'm ready!" Hiroki practically screamed.

This was going to be a difficult process.

The sage had us connect with our inner chakra by practicing various nonviolent Katas.

In other words, he had us dance around like knobheads for hours on end.

Then the fucker had the gall to make us meditate for even more hours on some rocks in a koi pond.

Was this supposed to do something? Because all I felt was hung...

~RUMBLE~

Hiroki's stomach just practically roared for food.

The Sage then took us to dinner and showed us our sleeping quarters.

Whilst Hiroki was getting ready for bed I went to see the sage.

"Sage," I said walking into his meditation room.

"Yes." He replied cracking open a single eye to look at me.

"When are we gonna learn something useful," I asked in an impatient tone.

I never had any patients. The only thing that mellowed my true nature was them fucking pills. They held me back for so long.

"The road to enlightenment is a long one young Takaoki. We must walk slowly and not follow our greed." The Sage replied still with only one eye open.

I could see pain in the Sage's eye. No, I could feel his pain.

The sage's eye briefly expanded in shock before becoming neutral again.

"You show great promise young Takaoki, but always remember that Ninshu isn't the path to power but to peace." The sage said nodding his head wisely.

"Yes, Sage," I replied as I slunk out of the room.

Fucking idiot. Too caught up in his bullshit religion to actually see the possibilities.

Peace is bullshit and so is Ninshu.

I slunk back to my room and straight away locked the door.

I need to make it useful.

I sat down and tried to recreate the meditative technique the Sage had taught me.

Hours past before finally I felt a rush of energy.

Almost as if I had gained a new lung I took a huge breath.

I could feel the energy swirling near my stomach.

Two foreign energies merging into one.

This rush is amazing. It feels like I'm high on smack whilst funneling cocaine through my ears and directly to my brain.

I can feel that energy flying around my body and leaking into the air.

A thick black gas surrounded my body and encased it.

I felt my body changing on a molecular level.

The pain was wonderful... No beautiful.

Don't get me wrong it hurt like fuck, every cell in my body felt like it was burning. Just somehow all this felt... Great.

And then I blinked.