Never

Prologue: A

He punches the machine so hard the noise resounds like a siren in a forest long since abandoned by the world. The numbers rise and rise and rise.

Higher and higher than any had reached before. And there, written in bold red lies his strength. His hard work. All the effort he has placed into his physical strength has made a difference.

3.9 billion ton.

Whispers of surprise break out all around him. Their voices questioning their very reality. For this man had not used magic. Not even a lick. And yet he'd done something that not even magical martial artists have done yet. He has set a record that no one could beat.

And the saddest thing about it....about this. Is that....his entire body is broken.

And yet.

He's achieved that which those perfectly healthy hasn't achieved yet....

All because he tried.

And tried.

And tried.

His dreams would never be realised. This realisation makes him lower his fists. Makes him take several steps back and exit the room so quickly that people are left wondering if he'd even been there. He had, hadn't he? Or was he just a figment of their imagination. A hope, perhaps that one day they'd achieve the impossible.

Yet, the numbers blink insistently. Still there.

A mark that the hooded man had indeed been there.

A record has been set.

And no one knows who had set it.

The impossible had been achieved. And no one can claim any credit for it.

For how can someone prove the impossible proven by someone with no identity to be a possibility.

Thus a mystery, or perhaps another Cinderella story has been made.

Only.

This isn't about a girl falling in love with a boy who doesn't know her.

This is about a boy who shuns the world for the world has shunned him.

A boy who dreams of the stars but could never be enough to reach them.

Not in the eyes of the world.

Not in the eyes of his parents.

Not in the eyes of his family.

Not in the eyes of his friends.

Not in the eyes of his co-workers.

Not in the eyes of strangers.

So he does all he can still.

But they say no.

He is alone.

He has no one.

He has himself.

But how often do you look at yourself and think I am enough?

Not often.

Perhaps even never.

Sometimes it isn't even a thought. You aren't enough.

End.

If you don't keep trying.

Then what's the point of even questioning yourself.

Questioning others for your worth.

It's hard to try.