Kareem Bishop
Human
I was born into something I don’t remember, just fragments that don’t feel like dreams. Light too bright, voices too calm, like people who never had to struggle. Then it’s gone. What I got instead was the Bronx. Concrete, noise, people who mind their business or make you mind it for them. Foster homes, streets, figuring things out early. I learned quick—read a room, read a person, read when something’s about to go bad. Fell in with people I shouldn’t have, UNB ties, nothing I’m proud of but it kept me fed. I didn’t start fights unless I had to, but I finished them. Somewhere in all that I found battle rap. Not for fame at first, just a way to say things without swinging. Then I got good. Real good. People started listening, reacting, like my words hit harder than they should. I thought it was talent. Guess it wasn’t just that.
At 18 I bounced. Army. Needed out, needed structure, needed something that wasn’t the same cycle. First tour I was a medic. Learned how fast people fall apart and how to keep them from doing it. Blood, pressure, decisions you don’t get to think about. Second tour I worked as a mechanic. If it ran, it was good enough. If it didn’t, you made it. Ugly fixes, real results. That stuck with me. Fix what’s in front of you, don’t wait for perfect.
When I got back, things started getting weird. Too lucky sometimes. Too persuasive other times. Lights flickering when I was pissed, people folding in arguments they should’ve won. Mirrors started acting off. I ignored it. Told myself I was just adjusting, just stress, just whatever. Then one night I’m alone, and I look at my reflection—and it ain’t matching me right. For a second, I see something else. Not clearer. Just…wrong. Brighter. Like I’m not finished loading.
Then it grabs me.
No warning. No time to react. I’m pulled through the mirror like I weigh nothing. Everything stretches, folds, like the world don’t know where to put me. Next thing I know I’m hitting dirt hard enough to knock the breath out of me.
I wake up outside a place I’ve never seen. Mountains in the distance, air feels different, quieter but heavier. Later I learn the name—Shou Lung, Kara-Tur. Means nothing to me. I got no map, no clue, no context. Just me, my gear, and one thing that makes zero sense.
The bag.
Looks normal. Feels normal. Isn’t. I check it and it just keeps going. Gold. Stacks on stacks. Way more than I’ve ever seen in my life. I don’t know where it came from, don’t remember getting it, but I know one thing—it’s real. Enough to change everything, if I even knew how money worked out here.
I don’t know this world. Don’t know the rules, the people, the power, none of it. All I know is what I’ve always known.
Things break.
People fall.
And I fix what I can.
Everything else?
I’ll figure it out.
by Kareem Bishop