Day 1 - Pre-System

Late Morning

Middletown, North America

Downtown Area

Gumiho Dojang - Taekwondo Martial Arts Centre

Moon Ye-rin, called Erin by most, danced back from her sparring partner after landing a solid kick to their midsection. Her breathing was heavy, chest heaving, and sweat soaking her uniform, sticking it to her lithe form in places. She could sense her Sabom’s disapproving gaze, not because she did anything wrong in her sparring match, but because she did this every single day. Working herself to exhaustion. That fed her anger as well. He cared, but he didn’t understand her pain, her loss, her desperate need to take the edge off and keep from exploding.

Without fail, Erin would spend nearly every free minute training and sparring. If not here at Gumiho Dojang, then at home. It was the only outlet she had for the anger that permeated her soul since her youth. That sounded like she almost never left the dojang, but she did have to sleep, eat,and spend time with her mother. On rare occasions, she did some light gaming, but that was reserved for the day after training too hard, when her body needed the rest.

Clearing her thoughts and stepping back in, her opponent led with an axe kick, raising his foot up above his head and bringing it straight down towards her head. Erin dodged to her right and brought her left leg up in a roundhouse aimed at her opponent’s chest. He blocked and and aimed a knife hand strike at the side of her head gear. Without letting her left foot down, she cocked that leg at the knee, leaned further to her right, and kicked out at her opponent’s head. They connected at the same time, knocking each other off balance and falling to the mat. The anger flashed in her eyes at being hit, even though she knew her choice to follow through with that second kick is what caused her to take a hit.

Before they could stand up and engage again, their Sabom said in a firm but level voice, “Enough! Moon Ye-rin, you will be late for lunch with your mom if you do not clean up and change now.” He never called her Erin, having been born in Korea, he preferred to respect the name she was given at birth. Not that she minded being called Erin, but at nineteen she had spent more than a decade and a half training in martial arts. Respecting history, origins, and traditions was not new to her.

Erin glanced at the clock on the wall and confirmed he was right, ‘Yes, Sabomnim.” Using the honourific version of her teacher’s title. She turned to her opponent and bowed before stepping off the sparring mat, then turned to her Sabom and bowed deeper. She headed to the changing room, shucking the sparring pads on her way there.

After a quick shower, Erin tossed on a loose dark blue sweater that hung off one shoulder, and a pair of grey cargo pants. Comfortable, but loose enough to move and flex in. As she left the changing room, Erin almost bumped into her Sabom, jerking to a stop, she said, “Apologies, Sabomnim.” She bowed deeply both out of respect and embarrassment.

“Ye-rin, you continue to fight the ghosts of your past, rather than the challenges of your future.” Her Sabom’s reproachful tone carried more concern than lecture. “You are respectful, and do not abuse your skill, yet every time you spar I can see the energy you expend to restrain your anger.”

“Yes, Sabomnim.” Erin didn’t disagree with what he said, so all she could do was agree.

“I am not trying to lecture you, but I worry. If you don’t find balance with this anger, it will consume you.

“Yes, Sabomnim.”

He sighed, then said, “Think on my words Ye-rin, and enjoy lunch with your mom.”

“Yes, Sabomnim” Erin bowed once again, then headed for the door. Before leaving, she turned inward and bowed to the dojang, then exited the front door.

Erin started her walk home, letting her mind wander. Her initial thoughts were on the words of her Sabom. She knew he was right, it’s not like his words were news to her, but her anger had a good reason to exist. These thoughts led back to her childhood, and the reason her anger existed, the reason it was so potent. The event that haunted her dreams every night she fell asleep less than totally spent…

Stolen novel; please report.

13 Years Ago

A six year old Erin sat in the booth at the restaurant, her dad to her right, her sensei across from her, and a chocolate fudge sundae on the table in front of her. As she spooned mouthfuls of the delicious treat into her mouth, her dad and sensei talked about the karate tournament she had just won. She loved martial arts, but even at six she had at least some understanding of the idea of doing something versus talking about it. She liked to do things, grown-ups liked to talk about them.

“Just over two years of training, and in mixed martial arts, but you trained Erin well enough to win a straight karate tournament. Are you a martial arts magician?” Dad asked sensei.

Sensei laughed, “No, certainly not a magician. I’ve been called an auto-didact, but never a magician. Little Erin though, she’s a true prodigy.”

Dad ruffled Erin’s hair, “She is something special.” Erin just turned and gave him that frustrated look all kids fail to understand parents see as adorable, even more so for the chocolate fudge and ice cream ringing her mouth. “So what’s next for this special little prodigy?”

Sensei smiled proudly at Erin before saying, “Well, she’s got a great foundation for four different martial arts at this point. I plan for the fifth to be Taekwondo, but I still haven’t studied that myself, so I’ve reached out to a local friend to assist.”

Dad raised a hand to flag down a waitress and pay the bill, “Well, for now I need to get this little prodigy home to bed. It’s still a school night, afterall. I’m sure there will be time for Taekwondo tomorrow.”

After paying the bill, the three got up and left the restaurant. Dad and Sensei joking about some adult stuff, while Erin stared through half-lidded food coma eyes with a big smile on her face.

Erin didn’t even register the sound of revving engines, the screech of tires taking a corner too fast, the yell of her father and Sensei telling her to get down, or the loud bangs of repeated gun fire. She felt the weight of two grown men landing on her, the wind being knocked out of her, the warm sensation first covering her back and legs before soaking into the front of her gi.

“Dad!? Sensei!? I can’t breathe!” Erin struggled but with one arm pinned beneath her, she couldn’t get free. “Dad!? Why aren’t you answering?” She started to sob, which only made breathing even harder, and soon turned into a full on cry.

It might have been a minute later, or an hour later, when some people in the downtown area came out of their hiding spots. They pulled Erin’s father and sensei off of her and checked on Erin’s condition. No wounds, but her white gi looked like a scene from a slasher film, there was so little that hadn’t soaked up blood.

Her father and Sensei had lost so much blood from the bullet wounds they received while protecting her, that their bodies were already cooling by the time paramedics arrived over five minutes later.

Erin sat on the sidewalk until her mother arrived, knees pulled up to her chest, rocking, unresponsive to anyone, but struggling when they tried to move her. When she saw her mom, she jumped to her feet and ran into her arms, tears starting anew.

Present Day

Erin was broken from her reverie by a flashing red light in her vision. Wiping away the tears that had fallen, she blinked several times, and shook her head thinking maybe she had looked at a light too long while she was stuck in her memories.

The red light didn’t go away.

It didn’t quite appear like the random shapes that a light artifact would cause, so she focused on it, and almost jumped when the light grew to cover more of her view. It took on the shape of a loading bar, like when you transfer files on a computer, and strange text below it flickered and morphed into shapes until they formed the word Loading…

Erin looked around her, concerned that someone was either watching, or playing a prank on her somehow. She questioned that line of thinking when she saw a middle-aged man across the street, swiping in front of his face like there was something in front of his eyes.

Now concerned that maybe someone had drugged her, and others, Erin started walking towards home faster, determined to get somewhere safe.

As she walked, the bar kept filling, transitioning from the initial red, into an orange, then a yellow, then heading towards green as the bar neared completion. When the bar hit full, it was had reached a bright green that almost hurt her eyes. The Loading… message changed to the word Initializing… with a countdown that started from five. When it hit zero, the loading bar exploded out across her vision, transforming into a HUD. Suddenly drugs seemed the least of Erin’s problems.