The next day Ezekiel woke up from his long sleep. The sun was beaming down on his face, he had crust in his eyes and he was lying on the floor. Despite his uncomfortable sleeping situation he felt very well rested. He sat up stretched his arms out and wiped away the crust from his eyes, as he stood up and did another stretch. He opened the door and left his room and as he did, he was greeted by a servant, who said to him, "I hope you have slept well young master. My master will be away for a few days and I was told to remind you that you should hunt for your food."
"Yes, thank you for telling me. I guess I will go and hunt for my food like I'm some type of cave man." Ezekiel said sarcastically.
"Good luck young master." The servant said as she bowed.
Ezekiel thought she was a bit strange, but was too tired and hungry to care.
Ezekiel made his way outside, where he was met with a calming cool breezy a warm sun a sky blue lake, where he could see his reflection. The luscious green leaves were dancing in unison in the wind, while the plethora of bamboo remained stationary. Ezekiel was mesmerised by the beauty, but was more focused on the lack of wildlife to hunt. There were a plethora of fish in the lake, but Ezekiel saw them too cute to harm and there were a few frogs, but Ezekiel couldn't bring himself to kill them either and he refused to eat bugs, so Ezekiel was left to search around for fruits to eat.
"Boy. I thought you wanted my help hunting? Why are you looking for fruits instead?" "I don't want to kill any animals, so I might as well survive off fruits." "I don't think its that simple. There's cherry blossom trees here." "What does that mean?" "You fool! Do you have no survival skills! It means that its spring, which is the worst time to look for fruits because they have just begun growing again, so that means if you don't hunt you will starve." "I will be fine. My grandfather will be back soon, so he will give me something to eat."
Five days past and Ezekiel hadn't ate a thing, but despite that, Ezekiel was relatively unfazed, since he was used to going long periods of time without eating. Therefore he was able to train. He got into the routine of doing 10 sets of 1500 reps of press ups, 10 sets of 3000 reps of squats and 5 sets of 250 reps of sit ups, the first thing in the morning, so his training was out of the way. Then to kill time he would sit by the lake and meditate. While he was meditating he felt a tap on his shoulder. Ezekiel quickly turned around and was amazed to see his grandfather was back again, but his grandfather didn't look too happy.
"You look like you've lost weight. Have you not been eating well?" Ezekiel grandfather said.
"No, I haven't ate anything since the night we had dinner." Ezekiel replied.
"And that's probably because you've been too busy making friends with your meals rather than eating them." Ezekiel's grandfather said, while pointing at the frog that's sitting beside Ezekiel.
"No. Its just that I wasn't hungry, so I didn't feel a need to hunt." Ezekiel said. "Besides its a bit primitive is it not, especially when we have cooks that can make food. So I don't see the point of hunting."
"It's for your training, to teach you basic survival skills." Ezekiel's grandfather replied.
"Well I did do my training. I have a workout routine and everything and I've been meditating as well." Ezekiel explained.
"You weren't meditating, you were sitting there with your eyes closed. If you were truly meditating me touching your shoulder wouldn't even faze you and..."
"You don't know that. In fact, I'm just really aware of my surroundings, maybe you should take some notes." Ezekiel said interrupting his grandfather.
Ezekiel's grandfather chuckled and said, "take notes you say."
"Yes, I do say. You didn't even notice the frog climb onto your shoulder." Ezekiel said.
Ezekiel's grandfather gently removed the frog from his shoulder and carefully placed it back onto the ground and said, "alright then you got me there, but it still doesn't excuse you not eating. Even if you didn't feel hungry and you have been working out, the results from the workout won't be as effective if you don't eat. For example, your muscles won't grow and get stronger if you don't eat proteins. So, its all good working out, but healthy eating is more eating. Getting stronger is eighty percent nutrition and twenty percent actual working out and training, so you didn't really gain anything from those five days I was away. But I do appreciate your strong will and discipline to continue on an empty stomach. I know I could not do that. Speaking of which, my lunch should almost be ready."
"Yes. I will make sure I eat better from now on, and I'm sorry I failed, but since we have lunch to eat, I'm able to start my healthy eating journey to get stronger." Ezekiel said.
"That's good that you have that mindset, but who told you that we are having lunch. I know I'm having lunch, but I'm not too sure about you. And you didn't fail because now you can try again, but this time I will give you some help by providing you with more options and also up the stakes of the situation, so failiure isn't an option and you better pray your workout routine will save you." Ezekiel's grandfather explained.
"I don't understand. What do you mean?" Ezekiel asked.
But before Ezekiel could get an answer, his grandfather grabbed by the back of his neck, like he was a lion a cub and Ezekiel saw a bright flash of light for a mere second, but that quickly left his mind because he raining was falling down on him relentlessly. Ezekiel could feel that the air felt different, and he could see that he was not at his grandfather's palace. All he could see is long grass, a few elephants in the distance. His grandfather dropped him on the floor and said, "I'll check back in a month. If you survive you pass."
"What? Where are we?" Ezekiel asked.
"Ezekiel, you need to stop saying we, because once again me and you are not in the same position. I have a way back home, you don't. You have to stay here for a month, and I thought you were Mr Aware, so you should know where, you are." Ezekiel grandfather chuckled.
"What? You can't leave me here!" Ezekiel exclaimed.
"Yes, I can and besides you agreed to my training, so now I want you to survive alone in the African Savannah." Ezekiel's grandfather said.
"African Savannah? Like the ones where lions live?" Ezekiel asked anxiously.
"What else would I be talking about, but don't worry about the lions you should be more careful of hyenas." Ezekiel's grandfather said.
"What? Hyenas!" Ezekiel shouted.
But before Ezekiel could get a reply, his grandfather disappeared and Ezekiel was all alone again. All alone in the African Savanah with the hot sun beating down on him, as he lay in the grass.
"Boy I told you that you should of gone after the frogs. Now look at the position your in." "Shin Shin, nows not the time to kick me while I'm down. What am I going to do? How am I going to survive for a whole month?" "First find shelter, then a clean water source and then aim to prey on smaller animals and stay on high alert."
Ezekiel dragged himself up from the ground and began walking. He didn't know where he was going, but he was moving forward and that's all he was concerned about.
After a around half an hour of walking through long thick grass, he heard something in the distance. It was the sounds of something struggling and a high pitched squeal. Ezekiel navigated his way through the thick grass to try and find where the sound is coming from.
"Boy do you really think this is wise?" "It sounds like an animal is in pain, I just want to check it out, then I'll leave." "Sometimes I wonder if you're actually black." "What does that mean?" "Don't worry."