Fight Against Fate: Chapter 4

“Run it again! And do better this time!”

Alec, lying on the ground glared at it. He’d fallen again this time onto his face. They were outside the same gym that they had found before. His body ached in many parts and he was pretty sure that his pants were torn.

After successfully registering the pair of them for the tournament they parted ways with Lee and Felix decreed that the training was going to commence. At the beginning of things Alec was excited to be moving. To do something physical that wasn’t waiting in line.

The first step was jogging back to the gym. A warm up to get him ready for the course proper. Alec at first met it with his usual bravado but half way through he realized just how far away the gym was from the tournament registration. To make matters worse rather than run with him Felix hitched a ride with a passing taxi.

Alec got there in a huff and was greeted by the obstacle course. It started with a narrow path to run. From there a long line of logs were placed that had to be stepped or jumped over to reach the last step. A set of wooden steps would ascend up to a monkey bar stand that whoever would go through would have to climb across. The ground below was flat and dusty so perfect to fall onto without breaking anything. Getting to the end the runner rings a bell and they’d find success.

It was the course designed for early teens who were just getting their training started and needed to get used to endurance. Most finished it about five minutes. Some a little faster and some a little slower. But the hard part was the fact that Felix told him to do it in three and he had to keep the weights.

Picking himself off the ground Alec scowled and walked back toward the beginning of the course. His knees, legs and arms were red. His tunic was beyond dirty and his face was frustrated. This was the tenth time he’d fallen during the final stretch of the course. He couldn’t even keep track of how many times he’d done the course itself. Always close but never meeting that crucial time goal.

He walked back to the start of the course and threw a glare at his coach. Felix was impervious to the heat of that gaze and turned the hourglass over in his hand so that it emptied entirely onto one side. Alec stood in front of the course ready to move.

“You look ready to quit,” Felix said offhand.

“Not even in your dreams,” Alec scowled. “Turn it over.”

Felix turned the hourglass over and Alec ran.

His legs burned as he ran the quick dash of the initial point of the course. The first few sprints weren’t hard but now he was exhausted and coupled with the weights, each step was like lifting a bag of bricks. He learned that staying low to the ground made things a lot easier.

He came to the next part, the harder one and he scowled. He’d found a path by now, stepping around the first few logs and then hopping, not stepping, over the next. The final big log had tripped him up more than once and ate up his time but he wasn’t going to lose to it this time. Now that he found a rhythm it became one of the easiest parts of the course.

Grunting he hopped forward and hit the steps. Climbing them quickly he jumped grabbing one bar. He lifted an arm using his momentum and kept going. He tried to skip bars and speed himself up the first few times but the distance between them and the weights meant that if he missed timed it he was going to fall.

He took them one by one pacing his breathing as he went. Just one arm in front of the other. Swinging his legs forward to time with his momentum keeping forward. He could see the bell getting closer and closer. Narrowing his eyes, he reached again for the next wrung and his shoulder twanged. The muscle fought him and suddenly he was falling again.

Floating backwards he smacked into the ground his vision swimming. Lying flat against the ground and staring up at the blue sky above he decided that this time he wasn’t going to move anymore. Closing his eyes, he thought back to years ago. He could feel the grass of that hill beneath him. Feel the breeze over his bruised face, battered body, and bloodied knuckles.

He was only seven back then when he first found out what he was. Found out that the fates above hadn’t blessed him with a grand destiny as a hero, a notable soldier, or someone special. In every village there was an elder whose job it was to be the oracle. To look up at the stars and interrupt the signs. See warnings and omens of good fortune.

And everyone man and woman saw the oracle on their sixth birthday to see their fate. Your fate was like your DNA. It was uniquely yours and it wasn’t possible to truly change. It decided the path you would be walking for the rest of your life. Parents prayed to the Gods above for a good fate for their children. Even a modestly successful one was good.

But not everyone could be fated for something important. There were always those who fell short and were just normal people. Nothing special. That was where Alec fell. A fateless as people called him. But that didn’t stop him from proclaiming that he was going to prove fate wrong. Prove that he was going to be able to become something special no matter what it took.

Most of the other children didn’t like him for that. Most of them bullied him for it and that led to Alec getting into a lot of fights at home. Only two people had been his friends back then. Felix, his best friend since before they even started their schooling. If it weren’t for Felix Alec wouldn’t have made it through the academy.

It was Felix who had found him on that hill. It was him who had stood over him right now extending a hand to help him back to his feet. To see through the bravado of a hurt child and see the lonely soul who just needed friends.

“The Hero of Roxa was a fateless Felix!” he told him from the ground tears starting to run down his face, “And he saved Roxa from the bane of Bravery! The Gods saw him and made him a hero for the rest of history! That’s what I’m going to do Felix! I swear!”

Opening his eyes Alec stared up at Felix staring down at him, his hand outstretched for him. His face had softened considerably and only reflected his worry for his friend. Alec grabbed his hand and smiled at him. Felix pulled him up to his feet quickly and Alec winced lightly, “Maybe I need like five minutes.”

“Only five?” Felix teased and wrapped his arm around his waist. “Come on. Let’s get back inside and get you some ice. And water.”

“Can I take the weights off too?”

“Nope. Part of your ongoing training,” he told him making him groan. But they both laughed as they walked back inside the gym.