1.Destiny

There is a massive mansion in a place isolated from the city. In the study room of that mansion, there is a man sitting by a table and writing something, he suddenly sensed someone coming towards him. He turned his head to at that person, it is none other than his 5 year old daughter. She enthusiastically hugged him and bombarded him with questions,

"Father! Father, what are you writing?"

"Nothing my little princess, why are you awake this late in the night? Where is your mother?"

"Sssh! quiet father, that demoness is sleeping"

"You mischievous bunny! How dare you call your mother a demoness, I will punish you!!"

"Haha aha ha ah don't tickle me, father. I won't call her like that"

They talked and played for a while and then he realized that it has gotten pretty late,

"Alexia, It is time for you to sleep "

"No father boo~~"

He shook his head as he lifted Alexia and marched into the bedroom. The bedroom is huge, also there is a round bed in the centre of the room with a person sleeping on it, it is Alexia'a mother, he placed her next to her mother, but before he could turn around and leave, Alexia caught the sleeve of his shirt and stopped him, she looked at him with glistening eyes and begged,

"Father, tell me a story!!"

"No sleep"

"I want a story whaaahhhh..."

"Ok ok don't cry"

He didn't have any resistance towards her tears, so he helplessly recited a few stories patiently and she slept like a cute little hamster in no time. He turned off the lamp and gave a light kiss to her forehead.

"She is cute, isn't she?"

He heard a voice while looking lovingly at his daughter, it was his wife. He smiled and caressed her cheek softly. She closed her eyes feeling his caresses, she heard him say,

"Whose daughter do you think she is?"

"Hmph, she is my daughter! She inherited my cuteness."

His wife gave him a sweet gaze and tender snort. Her tenderness soon disappeared as she became serious and asked me.

"Is it today?"

"Yeah"

She looked worried, extremely worried. She caught his tightly and put it on her chest. He could feel that her heart is beating wildly as he heard her say,

"It is going to be the toughest moment of our lives, I too want to be with you."

"No, this is something I must do alone. Take good care of Alexia. "

Without allowing her to utter another word, he locked her lips and kissed her fiercely. He stood up and walked towards the entrance after a few minutes, his wife's voice stopped him just as he was about to leave the room.

"I don't want my daughter to be fatherless, you got that right?"

She had a serious expression on her face but that only made him laugh as he  announced to her in a loud voice,

"My lovely wife, believe in your husband."

He left the room without back again, he then  strode into his room and noticed a thick black figure standing at a corner of the room.

"*creepy laughter* you came!! *giggle*"

Seeing it only brought a frown to his young face as he proceeded to sit on his study table ignoring it.

"My~my~ are you ignoring me?"

"Yes, it is not the time yet, don't bother me."

"Did you say your goodbyes to them?"

"I will not be on the losing side this time"

"But it's your destiny."

"Man can change his destiny- not by yearning for it but working for it. And I can also say that I put forth a lot of effort. I am a king, while I may not always win, I'll never lose"

"Let's see what happens to the so-called king in this life, your existence is distinct from that of your forefathers or perhaps it would be better to call them 'prototypes', you intrigue me."

He completely ignored the dark figure and closed his eyes. He tried to recall what had transpired in the past 7 years of my life.

7 years ago from his the current timeline,

A man and woman were sitting in a beautiful garden, holding hands. Then the woman whispered something in his ears,

"We will always be together, darling" (whisper)

Man's POV

My eyes became blurry as she whispered in my ears and I subconsciously leaned towards her red glossy lips, then I heard a creepy clatter, followed by bone-chilling laughter.

"Creepy laughter"

I turned my head towards the direction of the sound but found nothing other than the never-ending darkness which spanned across all directions, I got panicked and turned my head to look for her but she vanished and there is no one else in her place.

"Where is the garden? Flowers?"

"Where is....she?"

"I.....am..alone" (weakly)

This realization left me even more concerned about my current predicament,

*ba-dump*

*ba-dump*

*ba-dump*

My heart was racing so fast it felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.

"What's going on?"

"Where am I now?"

"Who was she?"

(We will always be together, darling)

The words the girl uttered strangely came to my mind followed by an excruciating headache.

"Arghhhh"

"Aaaaahhhh"

(W..e...will...al..was..ys...be....toge-)

Her voice keeps playing in my mind and the severity of the pain grew every passing second.

*slap*

"Ah ah ah.." (Panting)

My entire body is sweating profusely, while I couldn't feel pain or discomfort in my head but there was a stinging pain on my cheek.

"Axel! Axel! Are you okay?"

"Calm down Lisa, he is fine"

I heard two voices as I struggled to open my eyes, as I slowly opened my eyes, father and mother were looking at me anxiously.

I didn't want them to worry too much about me, so I quickly gained my composure and turned to face my parents saying,

"It is okay father, mother. I am fine now"

"What the hell happened to you boy? You were dripping wet and screaming like a lunatic!"

"It must be that damned dream again, ahh... my poor son"

"It is okay mom"

"We should take him to hospital dear"

"He's fine Lisa, it is not that of a big deal."

"But, but.."

I felt pangs of pain in my heart, as I watched mother cry. I steadily brushed her tears away with tissue from the table next to the bed and said confidently,

"Mother, it's just a nightmare-"

"No, it's not you were like this the other day too, there is something wrong with you we sh-"

"Stop, stop Lisa look at the time. It is already 8:30, he will be late for his interview today is a very important day for him! Go prepare his lunch and *sigh* I should get ready too"

Father stated this as he got up and patted me on my shoulder before escorting mother out of the room.

"I will first take a bath"

I went into the restroom, turned on the tap and stood under the shower.

After a while,

*drip*

*drip*

After I was done with my bath, I stood by the mirror and stared at myself, trying to recall the girl from my dream.

No matter how much I tried, I couldn't recall her completely. I was able to recall her red lips, black hair and peculiar blue eyes,

*Crack*

I snapped out of my stupor to find a few cracks on the mirror that appeared out of nowhere.

No one can stay calm under these circumstances, I am not an exception.

I attempted to scream but no sound came out of my mouth, the fissure grew larger throughout the mirror, and just when I believed it would shatter, the crack unexpectedly shrank.

"It vanished?"