On the road back home Kazeem was still shaken. He knew he had to endure this for his goal, but coming this close to death twice in two days was still a lot for a young man like him. Death was something every living being tried to escape. Even ancient species fought against it, and Old Meza herself was desperately running from it.

  Nature gave every species the power to surpass their limits in order to fight against death. Their senses are enhanced, making them view the world slower in their last moments; their brain goes into overdrive and searches through past experiences that could help them escape the predicament. Their feeling of pain is reduced to the maximum. However, shackled until the last moment, the only thing that was enhanced was Kazeem’s mind. He could see death knocking at his door through the window, slowly opening his door and slowly reaching his face, but he couldn't even fight against it. Anyone in this situation would have trauma that might affect them all their life, but Kazeem? He voluntarily chose to experience it again. He was never a normal kid, but the loops seemed to have made him slightly insane.

  After calming himself he looked in front of him. Kazeem was already pretty tall compared to the average man, but his dad was nothing less than a giant. His muscular body made every troublemaker flee, his stare was able to silence any conflict, and his voice imposed respect in people’s hearts. Kazeem had never seen him fight before, so witnessing it a second time was still amazing.

  The aura around him had always been cold in front of outsiders and lazy in front of his people, but back then? His being was emanating power, and all his movements seemed able to move the earth and bury a city. Looking at him was like looking at a volcano ready to erupt at any moment. Kazeem knew he wouldn’t harm him, but his heart still skipped a beat when Zokou was showing his strength .

  Who would’ve thought this old man was this dangerous? Well, they didn’t force his lazy ass to become chief guard for nothing, he thought.

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  After wondering for a minute he asked his dad:

  “Paa?”

  “Hm?”

  “Between you and her, who is stronger?”

  “…We are pretty much the same strength, although we are specialized in different things,” said Zokou after some time.

  Seeing Zokou not elaborate, as always, he decided to ask his mother later. But at least now he knew where his strength should be before having a chance to kill her with his own hands. Looking at his father’s back, his shoulders started to drop and his head lowered toward his shadow.

  The path ahead is that far? he thought.

  Then Kazeem felt Zokou’s tight embrace. This time he did his best not to shed a tear and listened carefully to what his father was saying. After all, Zokou’s speech was something he wished to remember in every detail.

  After a long moment of silence, he asked, “Paa, is it hard to attain your level?”

  Hearing this Zokou looked at his son as if he were looking at an idiot.

  “Me? I can’t even count the number of times I almost died,” he said while chuckling. He continued: “If you want to follow this path, you need to be able to dance even when death is at your door.”

  And after the training you will go through? You will want to embrace it just to avoid me. This thought made Zokou smirk even more, sending chills down Kazeem’s spine.

  Soon their laughter could be heard throughout the whole town.

  Finally in his bed he reorganized his thoughts and his goal one last time. Today he identified the scene he needed to impact so he would break the loop tomorrow. However, he still planned to encounter Old Meza, although he wouldn’t need to—not only to verify if he accurately analyzed her habits, but also because of what Zokou told him.

  “Being able to dance even with death at my door…?” he whispered.

  If he needed to become familiar with death, he might as well start early.

  “THIS OLD BITCH.”

  Hearing his mother’s beautiful voice made him chuckle a little.

  His life might be the most messed up right now, but at least his family was still the same.

  The longer he stayed in the loop the more tired he became and the “hungrier” he felt. Therefore, sleep came quicker than before.

  He finally fell asleep with a last thought drifting through his mind:

  What did I even do for her to want to kill me already?

  ~~~~~~~

  Strength was not the ability to avoid death, but the courage to walk toward it and keep moving