You know, it took me being knocked out cold by a man called 'The Crazy Ape' for me to fully find the truth in the words 'time is relative'. The image of his fist connecting with my jaw replayed inside my head numerous times, it had reached a point in which it was all I was seeing. The worst part about the entire situation was that even though the only thing he connected with was my jaw, my whole body felt stiff and still.I was wide awake for what felt like hours, but not a single muscle on my body was able to move. The sounds of people running back and forth next to me, doctors yelling for patients to calm down, and drunk old guys getting into fights over who was the most sober played out all around me. It was evident by the cold stone-like object my back was pressed up against that they had just pressed up against some kind of wall and were waiting for me to wake up.From the dim light that filtered through my eyelids and my lips, pressed up against the wet rubber of my weird beast mask, my faith in doctors was diminishing second by second.'They couldn't even take the mask off? I mean the no bed is fine, but they couldn't wipe my face? I don't even know if the wetness is sweat, or blood, or maybe even both!''There are three words you're expecting to hear from me, and I doubt you remember me saying them as you fainted yet again, but I think I'll spare you any further humiliation.''Will you shut up? My head feels like it's splitting apart, and a little bug nagging in my ear isn't helping. What happened to me after I lost?''You mean what happened to you after you miserably missed your first punch and then got put to sleep all in one sequence? They left your body outside the ring, waited for all the other fights to end, and then brought you to this infirmary. A doctor came to check up on you about 20 minutes ago, but when he saw that you weren't physically or mentally impaired, he left.And since then, you've been lying there, drooling into your mask. Which might I add, is a far worse habit than snoring.''Whatever. What's happening to my body? I only got clocked in the jaw, so why does it feel like my body isn't responding to my mind?''Wow, what a terrible doctor. Can't believe he didn't diagnose you with brain damage. Did you forget that the quest had a penalty? Now why don't you both confirm you're not mentally handicapped or damaged.''It was … total paralysis? How the hell is that even possible? And wasn't it a daily quest? I thought the system said daily quests don't have penalties!'Had I had any control over my body, then those around me would have witnessed a near-grown man in an animal mask throwing a fit like a child. I wasn't mad about the quest at all, and the penalty didn't bother me nor did the system lying to me either. My anger was being fueled by my idiocracy, and in thinking that, straight out of regular school, without any form of combat training or experience, I could waltz into that ring and win.'Yeah, the system kind of left out some of the key information. I didn't think to tell you, because if I'm being honest I didn't think you to be stupid enough to have to run into a situation like this so soon. That was my bad. Anyway to put it into simple terms, think of daily quests being split into two categories. Your first category, which we'll call the easy category.In this category, you have your quests like sleep for 8 hours, drink 2L of water, you know the simple stuff. You can also consider those to be the real daily quests. This means you get one of them every day, and it's always in between the same rotation of quests.In your second category, which we'll call the misfits, you have the quests like you just received. A quest deemed important enough to grant a good reward but also a penalty upon failure. The only problem is, that these quests aren't considered important enough for your growth as main quests, so they aren't considered as such. But they're still vital in putting you on the right path, so they can't be side quests.Thus, you have your misfits. You get all that.''You said you didn't know a lot about the system', I retorted. Dumbfounded by his words. The system was supposed to tell me the need-to-know information, and having two categories of daily quests, one that could end with me paralyzed for two hours, was one hundred percent need-to-know.'Wait, don't think of anything snarky. How does the paralysis work? Is this also one of your abilities, self-paralysis?'The question, only now coming to me, was something I could find use for in the future. In what situation, it would be useful, I did not know, but the feeling that it would one day be a great help, clung to my mind.'As far as I know, self-paralysis is not an ability that I or anyone else have or had. Also, do you listen to anything that I tell you? The system was not fully created by me. Sure I helped here and there, and yes you're mostly getting my abilities and power, but everything else was done by the man who created the system.' Hadeon seemed a little hurt by me correctly guessing that he was cooking up some kind of retort.'Well, will I ever get to meet him? This doesn't even seem humanly possible, I mean whatever this is.'An awkward silence followed my words. It seemed as though the question sparked something inside Hadeon, something he didn't want to remember. There was no explanation to it, or maybe there was, but ever since Hadeon had joined me in my body, we seemed connected. Not just in the capacity of Hadeon being able to speak to me and well, living inside me, but emotionally. Whatever he was feeling, I felt them too. It wasn't the greatest of abilities when Hadeon was feeling petty or annoyed, but I feel that if the power to feel people's emotions had been bestowed upon me earlier, my social skills would have definitely benefited.'No. He's dead. Anyways, you'll be waking up fully in 3… 2… 1.'My body jolted upright, my mask nearly falling off from the speed of my ascent. My previously light breathing changed into heavy huffing and puffing, and it felt as though all my senses had been put into overdrive. For a matter of several moments, I was the most attentive person to ever walk the earth.When whatever had just happened, ceased, I placed my hands under my mask and wiped away the drool. Sitting closer to the now-confirmed stone wall, I took a look around my surroundings.The whole place looked like hospital rooms from a hundred years ago. Six white beds on little rolley contraptions lined up on either side of the room. A single curtain separated them all, but as the room only held one patient at the moment, all of them had been pulled back. There was nothing else in the room.No nightstands, medical equipment, fake plants. It was weird, but the place just felt like an underground fighting ring's infirmary.Just as I began to stand up from bed, the door at the other end of the room suddenly slid open, as a young woman stepped in."Thank god you're finally awake. If I'm being completely honest with you, I don't actually know how to help you in any way shape, or form, and they refuse to teach me because I'm just an intern. Anyways, how are you feeling? Do you feel lightheaded? Do you have a fever? How does your jaw feel? What's your mask from? How long have you been fighting for?"If she hadn't asked me a million questions without giving me time to answer a single one, I could've listened to her talk all day.I'm firm in the belief that appearances aren't everything, and that love at first sight is a load of bull. But it was as if all my ideologies and values had been thrown out the window when she stepped into the room.Her hazel hair dropped right above her shoulders, moving about freely as she walked closer to me. Her jade green eyes complemented her near-perfect smile, and the added scrunch of her nose as she smiled only aided in my heart's attempt at beating itself out of my chest. Her little white overcoat revealed her casual outfit of a white t-shirt and jeans underneath.Having gone through that stage of puberty, I resisted the devil's temptations and kept my eyes locked onto hers. Now could I lie and say that not a single peek was taken? Yes, that was fully an option. But I would be depriving myself and the world of the amazing scenery in front of me." I, uh, no I was-""Are you having a stroke? Do I need to call a doctor? Oh no, are you going to faint again? Please don't faint. I'm only trained in putting on bandaids and taking them off."'Oh my god, it's like the universe is giving you a sign. She's an idiot, and you're also an idiot! Just please don't procreate.' Hadeon always felt the need to share his thoughts at the worst possible times.'Will you shut up! It's just been a while since I talked to a woman, and she didn't run away or call me a name and then run away.'I have zero idea as to why the most embarrassing information I could give Hadeon was escaping me, but for some reason, I felt completely relaxed. Like there was no reason for me to keep my guard up. And if you're going to share a body with another man, some secrets won't hurt.'Wow, who would've thought? And here I was thinking you were a total womanizer!'"Uh no, no, I'm all good. Just um, a little woozy. Do you know what time it is?"She looked me up and down once, seeming unconvinced. Not that I blamed her, lying was definitely not a strong suit of mine.She turned around, walked out the door, and came back seconds later with a glass of water. After handing it to me, she sat down on the bed I had been previously lying on.Wiping the drool that had dripped onto the sheets from my mask, I took a seat next to her.And she's nice. Maybe hospitals aren't so bad."It's ten past eight right now. The stadium is cleared out and most of the fighters are on their way to their quarters. The doctor who was placed in charge of you told me to hang back and wait for you to wake up. And after he left, another little man came in and told me to tell you that you passed. Whatever that means."Taking a sip from the cup, in both triumph and confusion, I sat silently. It wasn't that there were no questions inside my mind, but at the risk of getting all tongue-tied and saying something I would heavily regret, my mouth remained closed."Do you mind if I ask you a question?"So what was all that before?"Y-yeah, go for it.""I mean just looking at your body and hearing your voice, we're probably about the same age. And all the other guys that come through here are usually in their late 20s to early 30s. So what's a kid like you doing fighting all those adults?"Her question made me take a step back. It was a question that I had been asking myself, but there was no real answer. Was it to get stronger? Was it to prove myself? Why did I want to start fighting so badly?"Can I tell you a story?""Of course!""When I was younger, my dad and I would go everywhere together. He would bring me to all kinds of different places, countries, and even planets. You see my dad was an adventurer, and though he wasn't exactly high-ranking, he was well known. So I grew up around a lot of people. I would always be scared of going somewhere we'd never been before, meeting people who looked unfamiliar, or trying anything that seemed even the slightest bit unsafe.From an early age, my greatest fear was the unknown, or more specifically what changes the unknown can bring to my life. But my dad was the complete opposite. He lived his life by the motto that 'in one life, a person can live a hundred more if they just have a little fun'. He was my inspiration, my hero.And you asked me why I was fighting right? When I lost my dad, I was powerless. And I blamed everything on the fact that I wasn't able to talk him down from leaving. My mother told me that they'd be fine, that they would both be home in time for my birthday and that me and my dad would be off on another adventure in no time.My birthday came, and all I got were my parents' dog tags, in that moment I felt more alone than I'd ever felt, but most importantly I felt worthless. So why do I fight? I fight so that there is never another second in my life where I regret my actions. I fight so that I can live up to my dad's words and expectations."Unsurprisingly, all that could be heard were my now wiped-away tears hitting the ground. I didn't mean to go on a whole tangent and give her my life story. But in a certain way, it wasn't her that I was talking to.For the first time in a while, I'd let out my emotions. I told myself that everything would be okay because I knew neither my mom nor dad were coming to hold my hand anytime soon."Sorry, I-"She stopped me with her hand outstretched towards me."I'm Grace."I took her hand in mine while removing the mask."Damon. It's nice to meet you, Grace.""It's nice to meet you, Damon."Her soft smile and sweet voice were about the only two things I would ever remember from that day.