Rise of the Chi Master

Chapter 1: The Beginning

The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering.

Bruce Lee

 It was the California state championship for track and field and I suffered from pneumonia the day of the finals. It was living hell during the race; by the time I finished the 8th lap out of 10, my leg muscles felt like jam, my head like a helium balloon, my lungs like a jungle of fire, and my vision slowly dissipated, leaving only a hazy blur of the track. I was in the lead, but as soon as my body began to shut down, I was in my 9th lap and 5 runner-ups passed me. I wanted to win, but I knew it was impossible, especially when I had the weakest lungs in the team. Despite of all the things that slowed me down, I kicked into an inhuman state of physicality and sprinted the last lap, passing 4 of the runner-ups. I only remember the blur of the last runner-up, high-tailing away from my position towards the finish line. At that moment, my heart stopped and my vision ceased to work. My only thought was, “Did I die?” But unexpectedly, I regained consciousness after I crossed the finish line, seeing no one in front of me, and as I crossed, my vision disappeared again and I fell.

I awakened in a hospital room with a trophy and medal on the table and my large family members standing in the opposite side of the room with tears in their eyes. My crush, Stacy, was sitting by me, holding my right arm. It surprised me to the point where I shot my upper body up to take a better look at the current situation. My family and friends all released their tensions and moved closer to me and rapidly threw questions, consolidations, and praises for different reasons. Based on the trophy, it appeared that I won the race, but even so, I barely remember anything from the race itself. Suddenly, a police officer walked in the room with a notepad. He grabbed a chair and sat next to the trophy.

“Hey there, champ, congratulations on your win! It looks like you not only beat the record time of completion, but you also flew ahead of some of the kids that waltzed passed you, and not only that, but you looked like you were about to die.” The officer signaled to another officer to escort my friends and family out of the room. The officer leaned closer to me. “In fact, based on this report from the doctor, you died twice. What happened?” he asked with an almost frightened tone.

“I honestly have no clue what happened during the race. If you look at my report, you should see that I was diagnosed with pneumonia.” I answered quietly. “All I truly remember is that I passed out while running, and that I fell after finishing the race.” The officer scratched his head and cleared his throat.

“Well, this might be a little uncomfortable to hear right now, but there's also a rumor that you 'cheated' and rigged the camera system.” the officer explained hesitantly.

“But wait, officer-” I leaned to the officer's files and tried to reach over, but I fell back down to the bed.

“Kid, I really don't think that you cheated in anyway. That's why I'm here, to clear you name. Now, let's get on with the point. I have these pictures that were from the high speed camera, positioned so that you could see at least 10 meters away from the finish line. Take a look at them.”

The officer passed me the photos and I took them impatiently. Each photo was divided by a quarter of a second and it was also marked with the appropriate measurements. In the first few pictures, I was slowly catching up to the lead, in which I hit the 5 meter mark. However, in the next picture, there was no sign of me. I placed the previous picture beside that picture and looked back and forth, intensively comparing the pictures.

“Officer, this picture doesn't contain me in it. This must be a mistake. Why would the officials say I'm cheating for one glitched photo?” I exclaimed loudly.