1 Arc 1, Act 1: Prologue

This was it.

This was the end.

After everything that I went through, it would be ending like this. Getting mugged and shot to death. How lackluster.

I gaze down to the lower parts of my body as I lean against the wall, strength fading and vision blurring.

Blood. So much blood.

The strange heat and feeling coming from the small bullet hole around the center of my stomach overrode all other senses in my body.

Pain. So much pain.

Yet, even with the immense pain of getting shot occupying my mind, I couldn't help but feel a strange feeling of... bliss. Like the cruel life that I was forced to live through all finally coming to a close.

"Ha, I guess this is it then," I mutter weakly to myself as I barely catch my killer swiftly running out of the dark alleyway with my wallet in hand.

Jokes on him, I was basically broke after I spent everything in an attempt to bury everything that happened that day.

That day...

That train of thought was suddenly cut off quickly as I started coughing violently, blood being spat out as a result. Darkness slowly started its advance to permanently impede my vision, once more reminding me that my time alive was shortening.

'I guess this is karma… for everything I've done…' I barely manage to think as my body limps to the ground.

At the thought of my past actions, a tinge of self-hatred bubbled up to the surface of my emotions, but it was quickly drowned out by feelings of remorse and guilt that built up throughout my life.

"Fuck man… I didn't even get to apologize to her. To everyone." I pathetically call out. To my surprise, I felt something wet slowly travel down my face.

"Well… I deserve it… serves me right…" I utter slowly as my breathing began to lessen, my grip on reality all but taken over by the darkness surrounding me.

Nearing my end, I feel something, something new that I didn't feel in a while.

A drive to keep on living.

The feeling hurt so much that I almost forgot about the situation I was in, if not for the darkness threatening to overwhelm me.

I didn't deserve to feel like this. Not after everything I've done, and everyone I've hurt. Such feelings were not for scum like me. It didn't even matter anyway, I was going to die either way.

And yet, despite my acknowledgment of those facts, the feeling didn't die down a single bit. If anything, it was going stronger and stronger with each moment that passed.

Driven by the natural urge to keep on living, I try to at least take one more stand, but that was impossible at this point. I couldn't feel anything as my grasp on reality started to slip.

My mind in a half-hearted panic started to go into overdrive, to try and do something before I left this world. I couldn't speak, hear, move, or anything at all.

Everything was already turning into pitch-black, with but a single speck of light left untouched by the darkness. I knew though, that it wouldn't last long either.

The end was close, and I knew it.

In one last final attempt, my mind tried to grab onto one of the many scrambled thoughts that were slowly fading away one by one.

At the end of it, I managed to grasp the single fleeting thought that I could.

I honestly regret it.

'Man, I was just about to max out Keqing's level whenever I got home.'

Before I even had the chance to kill the thought or cry out in embarrassment, everything faded into black, and my chaotic life came to an end.

On this very day, Cliff Martin breathed his last.

***

Aaaaaaaand cut. How did you guys think of the prologue? Finally got into writing again and finally decided to start this fic once more. For those who read the previous and more cringy version, you could already tell the many differences in the story. Gonna do chapter 1 and hopefully post it in a few hours if I have the time. Anyways, give feedback and let me know any suggestions or anything.