July 2nd 1978 Yunan province China Six roads twelve paths monastery
Sweat poured down Niran’s brow as the sun beat down upon him, there was no wind to stir the dead air as he stood one foot held above his head while balancing upon a monkey pole. The cinderblocks tied to his legs as well as the length of time he had done the exercise was starting to wear his considerable stamina down. “this is it” he thought as sweat stung his eyes and his muscles made a thousand promises of pain, “I’m finally starting to hit my limits.” Niran braced himself for the inevitable, he noted it when he had completed the training of his first teacher Rithisak that when he endured enough pain it became pleasure and that was when controlling himself became near impossible. He wouldn’t fail this time though, with his new teacher Hiro focusing on control and form Niran was confident he would endure and thus learn a bit more about himself. The news he was half demon was shocking but he would not let that define what he could and could not be. Then it started, little motes of endorphins as his muscles screamed from holding this pose for four days. What started as pinpricks started to become a drizzling of ecstasy that ran through his tired legs and up his spine. “Maintain your clarity.” He thought doing his level best to push through the pleasure as it built within him “I will not become that thing again…” Niran hissed through gritted teeth. Flashes of the night he surrendered to his baser instincts flashed before his eyes. “This is a part of who I am but it is not who I am, a mountain is not defined by a pebble, a river owes nothing to a drop of water.” At this point his body was electric with sensation, his heart jack hammered, his pupils dilated, and time itself slowed to an agonizing crawl. The world revealed itself in exquisite detail, the individual fibers that made up the monkey pole he stood upon were as plain as stars in the night sky, the cells that made up his body visible, he saw himself a demonic representation of himself caked with gore standing above the desecrated bodies of those who got in his way. “You do not define me….monster…I reject you!” Suddenly the pain and pleasure stopped, the world moved at its normal pace, Niran switched his stance to his other leg determined to overcome fate itself. Meanwhile Hiro looked on quietly content at his students progress.

Art by  nateday
character belongs to  gurlow