Flaming Rocks

Preface

And now I stand barefoot in a narrow room; the walls covered in Kanji and a dim light coming in from the skyline. On my side of the room there is me and 2 other men standing on my either side. One of them being my father and the other Osamu. About 5 meters away, on the other side of the room, is Asami, the love of my life, the morning beauty, and a door, a red wooden door that leads out of the room. Between us there is a long bed of hot rocks and her father places his firm palm upon my shoulder and says to me, "show me you are worthy." A warm shiver goes down my spine as my heart sinks so low i felt it was going to drag me down to the floor with it. I am nervous, more nervous than I have ever been in my entire life.

My name is Xavier, I was born into a French family in the province of Lyonnais. About 2 years ago I decided to travel to Tokyo. This may have been the greatest decision I have ever made or perhaps the worst. I began my journey to discover who I am as a person, but I never thought my journey would one day bring me here. At the age of 23, most people just want to enjoy their youth, but I seem to be going down a different path.

So the real question is, how did I get here? Lets go back about two years when it all began in my small family cottage house in a little town outside of Lyon where I was born and raised.