What A Dream Wants

What a pleasant sound to wake up to.

He looked at his phone.

'8:06.'

Steven sighed and slowly got up. He groggily opened the door.

It was Zero.

Steven was tempted to slam the door into no one's face when he realized that no one had promised to teach him the "Liang Tian Martial Art Technique".

Zero, no one- same nothing.

"Hey, Steven." Zero greeted him softly. "I said I would help you with the Liang Tian Martial Art Technique."

"At eight o' clock?" He grumbled.

"Eight o' clock is pretty late," Zero blinked. "Besides, I was originally gonna wake you at dawn."

Steven said nothing, in response to nobody's words.

"Since you haven't used Qi before, I'll teach you how." Zero put on glasses, to try to look scholarly.

Steven said nothing, in response to nobody's actions.

"First, close your eyes."

Steven closed his eyes. He could see the different colored qi flowing through his body.

"Let the defensive qi flow out of you. The defensive qi will help raise the resilience of the body while you're running-"

Running? Steven hoped he had heard incorrectly; he didn't want to run on a perfectly good weekend.

Oblivious to Steven's inner turmoil, nobody continued on, "-so even when you're tired, your senses will be dulled, and you'll be able to endure more. Next, use your nourishing qi to nourish your muscles after they become sore-"

Sore? Steven hoped he had heard incorrectly; he didn't want to be sore on a perfectly good weekend.

"The muscles heal faster and are refined. Next, use your Kong Qi, your pectoral qi, to help sustain yourself while you're running. This also helps strengthen your pectoral qi."

"Wait, running?" Steven couldn't help but ask, after hearing it twice.

Nobody stared, his eyebrows drooped. With his glasses, it made him seem like a teacher who was quite disappointed with an unfilial student.

"Not just running."

Steven tilted his head to one side, confused.

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

He received no answer.

"Alright, are you able to utilize your qi the way I told you?"

"Yeah, it's pretty easy," Steven muttered.

"Alright good. I want you to finish 100 laps around the entire school in... two hours."

Steven wanted to protest, but seeing how no one was willing to help him and took time out of his day to help him, he couldn't bring himself to complain.

He begrudgingly went down the dorm stairs, into the lobby, then out of the dorm.

. . .

'How many laps has it been?' Steven asked himself. He was drenched in sweat, his ragged appearance was probably unsightly.

On the school track yard, nobody else could be seen except Zero, who was running with him.

Originally, Steven was glad that no one would partake in the suffering. Looking back, it wasn't suffering for no one at all. In fact, no one seemed to be enjoying it. No wait... was he enjoying Steven's suffering?

Slowly but surely, despite his wretched state, Steven became focused on running. After running for so long, the aching soreness was still there, but the determination to continue was stronger. He could feel the qi replenishing his reserves, allowing him to take more steps.

"One more lap to go." No one's voice ran out.

On the last lap, Steven was filled with the resolve to finish the lap once and for all. With one final push, he managed to finish!

He collapsed on a nearby bench.

"Alright, let's move on to the next exercise."

"Wait there's more?" Steven couldn't help ask.

"Well, there's still two days of exercise to go. That's why it's called the 'Liang Tian' Martial Art Technique."