Prologue

*BEEEEP!*

*BEEP BEEP!*

In the middle of a busy metropolis, the Sun shone in the sky strongly, displaying its mightiest form, the heat of summer, for the poor people running to work in the morning.

The cars' horns echoed all around as the rush hours came in, the sounds of engines roaring in the wind as the motorcycles pushed through the traffic at high speeds…

The trains stopped at their respective stations and the people, office workers and students alike joined in for a, hopefully, smooth ride.

The smell of exhaust and… Something indescribable, this was everyday life in a big city.

Some people relaxed inside their homes, still enjoying their vacations and air conditioners, some enjoyed their holidays in the pool and beach, playing with their family and friends.

Some went back to their homes after a busy night of work…

Everyone chooses their own way to enjoy their lives, be it doing something productive or simply wasting away in bed…

*BEEP BEEP!*

But in a less busy and almost deserted part of the seemingly normal city was one young man…

He was one of the people wasting their time at sleep.

*BEEP BEEP!*

A frown appeared on his face as he turned over and stretched out to turn off the alarm.

"Master, the game is almost here" A robotic female voice sounded in the room and her words snapped Damien right out of his sleep.

"Good morning, Claudia" he said as he jumped from the bed, getting on his feet, he stood at an impressive 183cm (6 foot tall) and well-developed muscles, this young man was a unit of a man.

"It is Evening sir; you have been asleep for 5 hours."

"At least, I was able to skip that wait period." He said as he stretched.

His blanket fell off revealing, his streamlined body with nicely packed muscles which were not overly big.

A proof that he was someone who put a lot of time and care into his own body. He was not aiming to be a bodybuilder, but just to have a healthy body at least that what he told anyone that asked.

His black hair was of medium length. And as he stretched, he passed his hand on his hair making it fall behind his head and showing more of his face.

A pair of thick eyebrows, a thin and sharp nose, together with black eyes, and a chin dimple.

As he finished his stretch, he looked all around him with a smile.

The room was obviously a lavish one and contained expensive gadget, even his duvet was made with lining of real gold.

His status as an orphan, who was raised from young in the orphanage and never knew or met his parents, meant he should be in the stage of trying to find himself in his late teens, which begged the question where all this came from...

His eyes drifted to the mid left part of his bookshelf where a worn-out book that didn't stand out at all in the shelf as every book was worn out as well giving it a perfect camouflage.

He walked over and picked it up, it weights that seemed to match the heaviness that suddenly appeared in his soul, wiping the smile on his face.

A closer inspection of the book revealed... nothing except the fact that it was a very old diary that belonged to a Joe Morningstar.

Although it looked normal, it was the source of everything, you could say it was the very beginning, the creator of the person named Damien Morningstar.

He found this diary as a young 15-year-old boy when he roamed the street stealing and pickpocketing.

It looks like it was lost and at first, he was going to sell it at some pawn shop but fortunately for him the rain began causing him to return to the orphanage.

In the age where babies could be genetically grown in the lab perfectly meant the need for adopted babies reduced causing the orphanage to be under-funded and overcrowded making it a hell hole.

At twelve, kids were forced to go out and fend for themselves, the older ones taught the younger ones 'survival techniques'.

Damien was eventually going to become one of the seniors until he found this diary, out of hunger, he read it to distract himself.

Although he found it peculiar and decided to keep it for himself, he didn't believe anything written there at first.

That was until the first prediction came true, which he took as coincidence but when the second, third and fourth prediction came true he realized it was more than a mere prediction.

He immediately started banking on his diary and before long he was on top.

One thing he made sure to do was stay as low key as possible.

One would expect him to keep this book in his special safe but nope he kept it in the most obvious place possible.

'It is almost time to dispose this, permanently.' Damien thought as he looked at the book in nostalgia. 'The final prediction has come true.'

Given how much he read the book it wasn't surprising that occasion words from the book came to mind.

...we are nothing but fragments, pieces lost from time immemorial, it will come to claim us, but origin is merciful as it is ruthless it shall come as a fragment of imagination and at a time of it choosing it shall be as real as the stars in the sky and reap us...

*BZZZ!*

*BZZZ!*

"Hm?" The buzzing of the gate snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Master the game is here."

Once he heard Claudia confirmation, Damien took off towards the gate.

*******

In front of a medium size mansion, a man with an orange hat and a worksheet in his hand could be seen waiting near a big colourful truck.

There was a label on the truck, it read: Origin.

"Is he coming soon? I still have 3 more houses to visit until nightfall... All these entitled bastards because of daddies' money they think they are something." He muttered under his breath.

The gate opened and a young man jumped walked in front of the worker.

The worker was extremely intimidated by the person in front of him.

For a moment, he felt as if the sun had been eclipsed by his presence…

He wasn't at fault as he was rather small being only 165cm tall…

"Cough! Are you perhaps… Mr. Morningstar?" He asked as he pulled his hand up to get a better look at the boy.

The worker looked at the sheet in his hands once again.

"Yes, I am Damien Morningstar, owner of this building."

The worker took out a pencil and said:

"In that case, please sign here… And here… Perfect."

He turned around and went to the truck, where he grabbed a large box about half a meter in Height, 50 centimetres deep, and 40 centimetres wide, giving it to him.

"You already installed all of the machines, but we can't handle these immediately due to legal reasons, you know how to install it right?" He asked as he touched the back of his head.

Damien nodded without hesitation.

"Yes, I do."

"In that case, remember to follow the instructions and to switch the liquid every 8 months, and 2 months in case it's used extensively…"

"Pay attention to the AI's warnings and make sure to check the system at least once every 24 hours or ideally, every time you enter and leave the pod."

"There should be no problems at all as the AI should be able to deal with it all, but caution should always be at the back of one's mind."

Damien nodded with a smile.

As Damien grabbed the box from the mailman with a smile, he watched the mail man leave and he said to Claudia who was connected to his watch, "Send an extra $10,000 to that man."

"You sure are in a good mood master."

"Yes, besides why not splurge a little."

*******

"Finally… Three years of preparation… All for this." Damien said as he opened the box.

*TSSS*

As he opened it, extremely cold air washed into his hands, condensing in the air like a small white waterfall.

Yet Damien did not flinch, his gaze was unmoving.

Inside it were many completely black cylindrical tubes that seemed to have some sort of pressurized liquid inside.

*Splish splash*

This was proven by the fact that as he grabbed them, he could feel the liquid moving and shaking inside, but he knew better than to shake a potentially dangerous product around his room.

He turned to the side and looked at a bunch of hologram numbers floating near the wall and thought:

'I still have over 3 hours… I can take this slow. I'll first take a shower, eat something, then I will install these once I am ready, give the machine some time to heat up and boot.'

'Although the worker said everything was fine, better take a look at it myself if there's something missing or not working, I can still call them, and they should arrive on time to fix it.'

He got up and looked at the sole object in the room… A massive tube-like structure over 3m tall.

"Wait for me, little one, I will boot you soon enough…" He said in an emotional and deep tone.

'I waited 3 years for today… But who would think that I am not excited to play it…'

Damien smiled, speaking out loud as he looked at the moving hologram clock on the wall.

"Yeah, it's not the diary anymore, it is about me."