“4,5” I started to regain my senses. My liver was on the edge of busting, and I couldn’t breathe, as if the air above was so heavy that it was pressing me down. It was the 7th round, and I was again on the floor. Vision was the only sense I had left; I couldn’t feel my body, and my world was filled with serene silence and emptiness. After raising my face, a bit off the mat, I realized that I could only see with my left eye, and everything in it was darkening. Blood was pooled all around as if a careless artist had accidentally poured red paint on his canvas. I could hear my racing heartbeat and drops hitting the mat with an echoing sound. Suddenly, something was in my eye, and I wondered if it was blood, sweat, or tears. I blinked. All the lights and screaming faces started to fade away slowly, and in the center of the dimness was a single silhouette, a single person, a single face. My mother. Her face was still, calm, and emotionless. Even though she was quiet, her message was louder than any siren. It was simple and clear — “Get up.” And then even she disappeared. Now it was me versus darkness, me versus emptiness and the unknown, me versus me.

The blackness broke the silence: “8,9”. I collected the last bit of my will power, squeezed my teeth, and put my tight fists on the magnetizing ground. I could feel my elbows slowly starting to unbend, and my shoulders were lifting the heavy air as if I were Atlas himself. Abruptly, my ribcage made a crisp sound, and before I knew it, my face was flat down on the canvas again, and the starless night filled my sight. “10, knock out!” There it was. Over. But from the depth of the emptiness, a voice of exceptional distinctiveness was coming louder than ever, “Get up!” I blinked.

When the curtains of my eyelashes opened, I was struck by the daylight. And now, in front of me stood my smiling mother, trying to wake me from my deepest sleep. “Get dressed; the cake for the celebration is read…” That’s all she said. With her leaving, her last word faded too. Another light sword pierced me as her body moved out of the frame.  I looked, and there it was, the golden reflection from the freshly won belt.