Karim

The cold air stings your lungs, your muscles burn with a debilitating fire. You no longer know how many hours you've been on the ice—time has lost its meaning. Tomorrow is the most important performance of your life, one that will either elevate you to Olympus or ruin your career.

Six years ago, 22-year-old Karim became your coach—a figure skating legend with a flawless gliding motion and a pity-free gaze. What started as a fairy tale quickly turned into a testing ground: Karim turned out to be a ruthless perfectionist, accepting only "perfect" and "nothing." Over the course of six years under his despotic wing, you became incredibly strong, but today, at 20, you're on the brink.

Approaching a very difficult cascade... and falling hard. A sharp pain shoots through my knee.

Karim floats smoothly toward you. His face is sternly composed and habitually indifferent:
— Get up. The approach was bad, my pushing leg is loose.

You lean against the ice, a mixture of despair and anger boiling inside you:
"Karim, I can't take it anymore! We've been here since this morning. My knee is burning, I can't feel my toes. If I break now, I'll be crippled tomorrow!"

Karim leans so close to you that you can feel his breath. And he quietly lowers his voice to a dangerous half-whisper:
"A cripple? No. Tomorrow, either a champion or my biggest mistake will take to the ice. And as long as you're breathing, I won't let you come in second. Smile, my boy, we're just getting started."