1 Live Without Regret

"Raymond Wells, surrender, or we will be forced to take action."

"Do you honestly think this is enough to catch me?" Raymond stood his ground, eyes locked on the commander.

"We are not the strongest the galactic forces have to offer. You are a mere feather in the ocean. Any moment, we can reap all that you have. Do not test us." The commander glared back.

"You should smile more."

Surrounded by galactic forces, Raymond was not hopeless. As he revealed gently his infamous grin, time seemed to stop. The commander and his soldiers watched as Raymond waved his cape, and suddenly disappeared. He was gone like the wind, but in space, wind never existed.

"FIND HIM! He couldn't have gone far!" They had finally trapped him, but as always Raymond escaped.

Raymond Wells was a supervillain, someone who terrorized the entire galaxy. For a century, he lived a life of crime. If he wanted something, someplace, someone, he stole it. Everything was his from planets to wealth to power.

With his unlimited wealth, he amassed an army capable of conquering level 3 planets at ease. On these planets, Raymond lived as a tyrant. The poor suffered from insane taxes while the rich got by with bribery.

But the Galactic Alliance had enough. One by one, they cracked down on his planets until he had nothing left. Members of his army were either killed or captured. Raymond left them all behind. Raymond knew as long as he survived, he could have it all again.

"Sir, We were unable to find Raymond Wells."

"THEN SEARCH AGAIN!"

…

One year later.

Get some rest, Ray. Too much work isn't good for you."

Ray waved goodbye, not sparing the accountant a glance as he exited the building. The sky was already pitch black, but the festivities of the city had only begun as high school and college students snuck out to bask in the flashing lights.

Having spent the last twelve hours in a dull-light room, Ray squinted his eyes to the bright lights. Just a year ago, Ray could resist the change in pressure one would feel as they blasted out of the atmosphere with nothing, but a thin layer of clothing. Now he could barely open his eyes.

Living in a world of cultivation, Ray was nothing more than a frail old man almost defeated by his age. He used to be at the peak with everything he could desire from money, strength, and infamy. But everything came crashing down on him.

To escape, Ray used a secret technique that consumed his cultivation to teleport him to safety. On the day he landed on Toren, a level one planet, a sense of helplessness washed over him. He could no longer cultivate.

For the first fews months, he lived carefully in fear that he would be caught. Selling what he had on him, he could barely afford an apartment for a few months but as time went by, so did those feelings.

'So what if I get caught?'

He lost his direction and drive in life. He was just a weak old man hiding. There was no difference between his current life and life in jail.

'Why did I run away like a coward?'

'Why did I fear death so much?'

'Why am I still alive?"

His job as a sales attendant was his attempt at escaping his dark abode, but through all the mindless shuffling of papers, the same questions attacked him.

'Why did I run away like a coward?'

'Why did I fear death so much?'

'Why am I still alive?"

As he questioned himself every day, every week, every month, he slowly sank into a quicksand of depression. All he hanged onto was an imaginary strand of hope that someday he will rise again. But as time went on, this strand grew thinner and thinner. *snap*

In his small rented studio apartment, an old man laid carelessly on the ground. His heart punctured by a short knife. Ray closed his eyes, knowing he would never wake up.

…

In a beat-down one-story house.

Ray opened his eyes to a room, he was oddly familiar with. The ceiling slanted just slightly towards him and a broken fan hovered above him. Ray breathed in the same musky air, he had when he died, but this time it was different.

Lingering in the air was the smell of slightly salted scrambled eggs, a boiled sausage, and a glass of milk. As he got up in bed, tears rolled down his eyes. This was his home.

"Ray! Ray! Wake up!" His mother opened the door, surprised, but rushed to pull Ray into her arms. "Ray! What happened? Did you have a nightmare?" She used her hand to gently wipe away the tears.

In his past life, Ray joined a gang called the Light-Headed Tigers to escape the stress of school, homework, and any responsibility. His grades dropped until he was unable to graduate high school, so he simply gave up.

His mother kicked him out of the house when he refused to take another year of high school. She had hoped that Ray would come back after thinking about his future, but Ray went to clubs and partied his problems away.

The next time he saw his mother was at her funeral, buried underground. She was killed by a rival gang known as Deadly Vipers. The requirement to join is to kill someone. The unlucky target was his mother.

Out of anger, Ray called his gang and other gangs and together erased Deadly Vipers from the world. As he led his gang, Ray continued to take drugs, and consume alcohol. For the next five decades, Ray did whatever he wanted.

As he grew stronger, so did his gang, but no matter what he did, Ray could never fill the hole in his heart. He had always thought it was his desire to become stronger, but in fact, it was his desire for family.

His hands were on his mother's back, chin rested on her shoulder. Ray closed his eyes, and he could feel the sting from his tears, he almost choked on his spit when he opened his mouth to speak. "Mom... I'm home."