Avatar: Mage of All Elements

Walking at night can be dangerous. I know this from my own experience!

And how good everything was. On Sunday I did all the housework, cooked myself a meal, found a new interesting TV series, thought I'd watch a few episodes and go to work in the morning with new strength.

The problem was discovered when I was already at the laptop, fork in hand, and realized there was no tea. Of course I could just drink water, it wouldn't be the first time, but hot tea would be better. It was already ten o'clock, but since the grocery store was not far away, I went out in what I was wearing.

When I was about ten meters from the store, three men came out to meet me. It would have been nothing but for their remarkable tracksuits and caps that covered half of their faces. And as if to confirm my worst predictions, as soon as they were level with me, they threw themselves at me.

They didn't say anything about the library or ask for a cigarette, they just started hitting me. No matter how prepared I was, three on one is not very fair, to say the least. And everything would have been fine if one of those freaks hadn't pulled out a knife and stabbed me in the stomach.

Why would he do that? I was already on the ground and I didn't really resist. And then, almost unconscious, I felt a sharp pain in my side. Anyone who has ever been beaten knows that the pain of a beating is kind of dull and aching. Here, however, it was sharp and shot into my brain with an unbearable range of sensations.

In the same instant, I realized what had happened, and the world froze. As the world froze, I saw my memories. It must have been different for other people, because for me they were in the background and I was thinking. Thinking about everything at once, remembering everything in parallel.

What injustice is this? Why me? My thoughts were racing and so were my memories. And the more I looked and thought about it, the more my anger rose, or rather woke up. Something I'd been saving all my life, trying to be good.

Good son 'memories: father comes drunk and beats mother, then beats me too, saying he's teaching me to defend myself', good student 'bullied at school because I was poor', good student 'ignored by classmates, extorted money, lecturers for exams', good worker, good friend 'kept quiet, mistrusted and finally betrayed' and, as an apotheosis, a good man.

I wouldn't call my life horrible, there were just moments I don't want to remember. I had a mother who loved me and a lazy father. Yes, my father, when he's drunk, he's out of control and does whatever he wants. But otherwise he's pretty normal.

My classmates were not so good. I learned what they should be like from stories or movies. Whether I was unlucky or my parents did something wrong, but my classmates just hated me. And you can't count how many times I went to the principal's office with my parents. But when I finished school, I went to university. Then the engineering faculty seemed promising, so I went there. We had a strange atmosphere there.

Everyone kept to themselves and had almost no contact with each other. But there was another problem. The teachers. Moral assholes. No matter how well you know the subject, they'll fail you and ask for a bribe. But I graduated, not with a red diploma, but I graduated. And to my surprise, I found a job quickly enough, and it paid enough. In just one year I was living in my own apartment, and I didn't care that it would take me five years to pay off the loan.

There, at work, I made friends with a co-worker. At first glance, he seemed normal. It took two months for his character to reveal itself. Stupid jock. That's what he was. He didn't have the brains for anything. I don't know how he worked here before me. But that wasn't the end of it. I don't know how, but I was lucky enough to get a very good job. And since I had the money, no wonder I soon got a girlfriend.

She was everything to me. And beautiful, and smart, and funny, just the right girl. For the first six months. The feelings started to fade and I saw her true character more and more clearly. I only lasted six months. The last straw was cheating. I was only half a day early and I wanted to surprise her. She surprised me.