“HE’S DONE IT! GRAHAM IS KNOCKED DOWN! THE REFREE CALLS THE FIGHT TO AN END! ITS A TOTAL KNOCKOUT! ADAMS IS NOW THE NEW UNMISTAKABLE HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION OF THE WORLD!” 

The boy’s face was glued to the old dusty TV screen, his mouth wide open for flies to go in and out, his attention whole heartedly focused on the action on screen. 

“Manny you aren't playing outside with the others?” 

A voice echoed across the old storage room, as the boy, now identified as Manny, peered over to where the voice was coming from. Leaning in the doorway of the storage room was a man with a white sweater, dark blue jeans, glasses, a freshly shaven beard and a cup of tea in hand. He had a sort of smug smirk on his face which showed he was more interested in what Manny was up to rather than just here to make small talk.

“What do you mean dad?”, Manny asked, leaning back slightly from the TV on impulse from the presence of his father, as he recalled his parents always telling him not to have his face too close to a television screen.

“Well, most kids your age…”, he paused as he walked over cardboard boxes carefully with his tea to reach Manny, “…tend to want to just play video games or watch shows on an actual good television. But here you are, engrossing yourself with old VHS tapes of boxing fights older than me.” 

Manny stared at his father for a bit with a pouty expression before looking back at the old TV with a frown, “Is that bad?” 

“Of course not Manny! Something like this is unique for a kid your age, and I’m happy you’ve found something to enjoy. If you ever want to start boxing let your old man know and I’ll—” 

Manny’s father almost fell back from the sudden force he felt latch onto him. With a slight grunt, he balanced himself and kept his tea from spilling. He looked down at Manny who was hugging him tightly around the waist and smiled.

“Yes! Absolutely yes!” Manny cried out in glee.

His father chuckled…

.

.

.

His breath was hard, the lights beaming down on both boys in the ring. He could feel the rigorous pain from all the parts of his body that had been hit, the sweat and heat gathering in his shoes and gloves, and he could hear the roars of the crowd around them either cheering him or his opponent on. It had taken him ten long years of hard work from the day he accepted his decision to start boxing to reach this indecisive spot in the youth boxing regionals final. Many important people were watching, and this was his time to show his worth and skill.

Manny could feel sweat drip down his face, his black silky hair slightly stuck to his brow, as he let out another sigh. His opponent quickly stepped forward going for a strong right overarm strike. Seeing this move, Manny dodged to the side, narrowly avoiding his loss…but he wasn’t finished with just dodging. As Manny avoided the attack which skimmed across his cheek and shoulder, he quickly responded with a counter punch aimed straight at his opponents nose. The counter landed perfectly, knocking his opponent back. The attack was not enough to knock him down, but it was enough to get the crowd roaring harder, and possibly score some decisive points. Manny knew this himself, but obviously, his fatigue was going to catch up to him eventually, but the same was probably the same for his opponent. Even so, the strong willed seventeen year old refused to lose here, after all, becoming a pro and winning a belt beyond a regionals youth title was his dream. 

Manny lunged forward in his exhaustion, taking his opponent by surprise, suddenly beginning to bombard them with punches to the face which were either blocked or dodged. Ever so slightly, Manny would notice sometimes his opponents body guard would falter whenever he blocked his head or face. He took this opportunity to quickly fake a strong right hook to the head of his opponent, who flinched and took the bait, the guard on his body weakening slightly. Manny sprung at this chance to swing hard at his side, the body shot fully connecting, giving Manny the opportunity to begin his beatdown. He landed three more brutal body shots in the same spot before going back to his opponent’s face, in which the guard had weakened for body protection. This was most definitely his victory.  

The crowd gasped as Manny roared out with this last right hook, his dominant fist fuelled with the desire to be nothing short of the best boxer he could be. The hook landed perfectly on their chin, his opponent losing balance and dropping down, motionless. A few seconds of silence occurred before the crowd erupted, the ref announced a TKO after close inspection, and both cornermen teams charged into the ring. Manny’s side celebrating, and the others doing their best to wake Manny's opponent up, eventually opting to carrying him away in a stretcher. In that moment where Manny roared with his final winning punch he could only feel the thrill and love he had always had for boxing.

However, something was off, Manny had not moved from his position ever since his opponent had been knocked out. In that exact moment the punch landed, Manny’s body shut down completely, his sight slowly fading into black as his heart pounded furiously in his chest. The pounding flowed up to his head which begun to throb unbearably. For some odd reason, Manny could not move either. In this moment, as his consciousness faded, he could only think whether or not he had fainted, or if he was truly dying in such a victorious moment.

"What better place is there to die, than in the ring..."

The heartbeat which resounded in his head slowly faded...faded...faded off into nothingness, until it slowly faded back down to his chest at a regular but still fairly rapid pace, his body heat returning and the feeling of reality slowly sinking back into place.

Eventually, he felt his back on solid ground, grass blades tickling his bare skin, the sound of birds chirping in trees, and the feeling of the wind washing over his body. The sunlight tickled at his eyelids as he slowly lifted them open, the sight of a slightly cloudy blue sky above him taking him by surprise. He expected to see the flood lights around the ring to be beaming down on him, and the sound of a cheering crowd, but instead he was met with such a soothing and relaxing atmosphere of nature.

"Did I...really die?", was the first question which came to Manny's mind as he sat up, deciding to take in his surroundings more carefully, ultimately discovering he was sitting at the peak of a grassy hill with a forest of trees behind him. He shakily stood up, identifying he was only in his signature red and white boxing shorts, shoes and had his sweaty hand wraps tied around his fists. His body had zero of the aches or bruises from the punches he had received from the opponent he was facing in the ring, but he was still panting slightly with sweat lightly dripping down his body, meaning the fatigue had not fully left him yet. Instead of just hanging around, he walked forwards, looking down to see a dirt path a few meters to his left which came from a partition within the forest of trees, and went down the hill towards the gates of a walled gargantuan city which spanned over many meters in width. It was so large that he couldn't even see the other side from on top of the hill. Manny walked to the left, his head spinning with questions.

"Is this a prank the team is playing on me for my victory?" 

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

"Am I dead?" 

"Maybe it's like one of those shows where the main character gets teleported to another universe?" 

That last theory intrigued him highly since he was fond of fantasy television and video games, but he felt like he would rather be in the world where he was finally beginning to climb up the ladder as a boxer.

As he finally reached the pathway, he was not focused as a pair of horses leading a carriage startled him, his heart almost leaping out of his chest as the horse's neighed and whined at his presence in front of them. Luckily, the carriage came to a quick halt at his sudden appearance onto the pathway leading out of the forest. The man leading the carriage wore a black cap and completely black clothing, along with a highly irritated expression on his face as he looked down at Manny who was sprawled out in terror on the ground from his near death experience. 

"Are you fucking stupid kid!? If I didn't stop them they would've trampled you to death!" 

At his yells, Manny quickly stood up with an apologetic expression washing across his face, "Sorry! That's completely my fault!" He moved to the side of the path quickly as the carriage driver kissed his teeth, his judging eyes narrowing as he followed Manny with them, who was moving back onto the grass once more.

"You're damn right it is. Do you have any idea who's in the carriage I'm leading?" He muttered a little under his breath before carrying on. 

In this moment, Manny was able to get a good view of the carriage which was being led. It was pure white marble with golden patterns and handles. The wheels on the carriage where also white and had golden designs on them as well. Within the dimmed windows of the carriage, Manny could faintly see two silhouettes sitting opposite one another, most likely talking or discussing things with one another.

"Why's there a carriage in this day and age!? Either I'm day-dreaming, dead, or I'm actually in another world, holy shit." Manny thought to himself, scratching his head as his heart rate calmed down once more. 

Not knowing where else to go, Manny waited for the carriage to go a little further ahead before walking on the side of the path while looking back at times to ensure he would not get run over by a carriage from behind. In the distance, he witnessed the gates to the city open and close for the carriage. He picked up the pace with a light jog and eventually he reached the large wooden gates. 

"Who the fuck is this?"

"A homeless child?" 

"Another outside beggar huh."

Manny pulled a face and frowned from their rude assumptions, "Uh...no. I'm Manny, I'm actually just trying to find a way home. I just really need to make a phone call or something if any of you guys...have...a phone." 

Manny looked these three men up and down as he slowed his speech to take in their appearance. All three wore medieval like armour whilst carrying spears. To the right and left of the front gate was two wooden towers, and at the top of each tower was another guard wearing the same armour with blue cloth around their waists and a lion like seal on them. 

"Listen man. Stop speaking gibberish. We don't know what a "phone call" is, and to enter this city, you need a passport, and by the looks of it, you don't have one. So shove off back to your hut in the forest!" The guard to the right said, both rudely and mockingly as the other two giggled at his outburst.  

Manny put his fingers to his chin as he nodded while pulling a face, he was around forty percent sure now he was in another world, because what was this bullshit!? Men in armour!? Not knowing what a phone call was!?

"Alright sir's! Please just let me in, it's not like I'm gonna blow the place up. I just really wanna know where I am!" 

One of the guards stepped forward and angled the spear at Manny's neck, "Listen, leave now or we'll be forced to--" 

The guard suddenly lost his balance as Manny, who's fighting instincts kicked in at the sight of the weapon being close to his neck, quickly kicked the guard to the ground. Manny quickly pinned this guard down and trapped his arm in a dangerous position while sitting on him. The other guard's looked shocked.

"Listen...if you don't want me to break this man's arm. You'll let me in. Plus threatening a kid with a spear at your age is such a dick thing to do!" He yelled that last part at the man he was pinning down. 

"He's fast...plus look at his build."

"I don't think I've ever seen anyone get pinned down so quickly..."

The two guards hesitated as their fellow guard, whimpered in fear of getting his arm broken, dislocated, or hurt in any way shape or form by a random kid wearing barely any clothes.  

"He's just one kid! Attack him!" One of the guards from atop the towers yelled down, snapping the two at the bottom back into action.

The duo lunged forward, forcing Manny to fight for his life now. He dislocated the shoulder of the man who threatened him first, his shrieks bellowing out and slightly causing the two men who lunged forwards to hesitate. Manny, witnessing this hesitation dashed forward and punched the one to the right first with full force in the gut. The guard to the left witnessed this and swung his spear straight at Manny, who ducked down thanks to his peripheral vision, letting the metal spear smack the helmet of the guard he just punched. 

"Sorry I--GAH!!" 

Before the guard to the left could even finish his sentence, he also received a heavy punch to the liver which forced him down to the ground, grunting in pain and unable to continue. Manny stood victorious over the first three guards who rolled on the floor in agony. 

"Talking mid-fight is such a rookie thing to do." Manny said, spitting on the ground and fixing his hand wraps.

"Are you fucking serious? It's just one kid!" The guard atop the right tower yelled while readying his bow and arrows, "Sound the alarm for some backup!" 

The guard on top of the left tower nodded, pulling out a sort of curved looking horn which he blew hard into. It made a deep echoing sound which was most definitely the alarm the right guard was talking about. At the bottom in front of the gate, Manny looked down at his fists in pure surprise. He was not only able to take down three men carrying weapons, but he was also able to greatly damage them, even with their metal armour on. This was just completely abnormal, but it only made Manny yearn for more action, a small smirk appearing on his face.

The guard atop the right tower aimed two arrows at Manny who quickly regained his attention, recalling the guard's in the towers were still present. He saw the two arrows flying at him, and at a quick speed he rolled out of the way. In response, Manny picked up the spear of one of the guards who defeated and put all his force into throwing it at the guard on top of the tower. The spear soared through the air at high speeds, landing in the wood pillar behind the guard. 

"I-If that hit me..." The guard stumbled back but shook it off, getting ready to aim some more arrows when suddenly, the gates begun to open. 

"Backup!" The guard in the left tower said confidently. 

Manny winced at the sight of multiple guard wearing the same armour and lion seal cloth standing on the other side of the opened gates. A man with long blond hair in a manbun, wearing dark blue army like clothes, with six golden buttons on his jacket, three buttons on each either side, recently shined black boots sitting neatly on his feet, and of course, the lion seal printed on his clothing walked out from the crowd of guards, a sort of smug smile pasted across his face, his hands behind his back as he walked forwards.

"Well...what do we have here. Three incompetent guards on the ground, defeated by an unarmed boy in nothing but shorts and shoes. Interesting." He stared Manny down with a sharp but intense stare, his dark brown eyes almost piercing.

Manny could feel nothing but power from this man's presence, automatically feeling as though he wouldn't be able to easily beat him like he did with the guards just from first glance. He felt the sweat gather and drip down his face from his brow.

"H-hey...I'm the victim here." Manny winced, taking a stance and backing up slightly in nervousness as a number of guard's surrounded him and had their spears ready. He had no chance of winning here. 

"Take him in!" The blonde man ordered, the men encircling Manny moving in tighter at the sound of the order.

Manny with no fighting option sighed in defeat, feeling the force of shackles being chained around his ankles and wrists, "Holy fuck man..."