Training later that day felt different in a way I couldn't quite put into words at first.
It wasn't just my muscles being stiff or my arms feeling heavier from earlier exercises. No—something deeper was shifting. Mentally, something had snapped awake inside me. There was this strange heat simmering under my skin, like every emotion I went through that morning had been dumped into a furnace somewhere in my core. It wasn't painful, but it burned enough to keep me sharp. Focused. Hungry. Like some hidden drive had been switched on, waiting for this moment to push me forward whether I liked it or not.
"It seems your potential has increased," my instructor said as we sparred. His tone wasn't surprised, more like he'd been expecting it for a while and was just waiting for me to notice the change myself.
