Prologue Part 1: Blind

It was a rare overcast summer day. the silent winds shaped the gray clouds hanging above in the atmosphere. It wasn't so bad though, as the pieces of sky that you could see were all the more beautiful because of it. Below the clouds lay a large field with an abundance of lush green grass that gave a contrast to the otherwise questionable sky, as if they were from two completely different worlds.

In that field lay a hill that was completely covered in grass and at the very top of it was an 11 foot tree that remained standing tall no matter the season. At the foot of the hill stood two teenagers the girl slightly taller than the boy.

The young women's height did nothing to hinder her gorgeous appearance however, she had curves in all the right places, and a face that could mesmerize men to the point were they wouldn't even notice how long they had been staring. Even the young man standing Next to her couldn't help but steal a few extra glances and he saw her nearly everyday.

He however wasn't any less charming he could also cause women to take more than a second look at him just by walking past. Looking at the pair together would make one think that they were a match made in heaven.

"Riel, do you want to race me to the top of this hill if you win I'll give you a special prize." Said the girl smiling. He looked at her and also smiled.

"Kara your 19 and still you want to play these childish games?"

She looked at him and laughed. "I think you don't want to race because you simply can't catch me." She wasn't phased at all by his comment and instantly began running up hill.

Riel said nothing as he watched her get further away from him and closer to that tree at the peak of the hill. Watching her from afar he felt very much at peace but as his gaze shifted toward the gray clouds swirling in the sky, an indescribable feeling was gnawing at the back of his mind.

'Am I missing something?' He thought silently. While he was in his own world the clouds became more and more gray to the point where they almost completely shifted to black. This summer day had taken a turn for the worst as thunder began sounding off in the distant sky and small sparks of lightning illuminated the nearly blackened clouds.

The sounds of thunder snapped Riel out of his reverie and when he looked up toward the hill's peak he noticed Kara standing there with a blank look on her face, she wasn't moving a single muscle.

Observing this a foreboding feeling began to creep within Riel's heart.

BOOM!

The thunder began rumbling louder and with it the lightning flashing in the sky increased to a nearly shocking amount.

As all of this happened Riel noticed the area around him getting darker. He began drowning in fear, all he could think of doing was running away but his body couldn't move an inch. As he looked around the green field was turning pitch black and when he looked up at his girlfriend on the hill he noticed an indistinct smile on her face.

Boom! The thunder cracked and a bolt of lightning struck from the sky and as the sound faded so did his surrounding view, Everything went black.

He couldn't see anything anymore. All he could feel was the searing pain racking his body but also a slight numbness.

As he lay there in the darkness all his memories returned.

"That dream again..." He sighed, as the numbness sank deeper into his body

"How long will I be here."

-------

Riel had an amazing life from most people's standpoint; he was 17 years old with a father who was the CEO of a huge company and a mother who also owned her own business in law. Anything he wanted was in arms reach. He also had Kara the love of his life who was a sophomore0. in college.

He drifted through life with ease not a problem in the world until the day he was struck by a blinding bolt of lightning. The pain of that day was something he dreamed about often but the difference was when it ended he was still surrounded by darkness all he could hear was the life support machines beeping around him and the quiet voices of nurses that drifted in and out of the hospital room day by day.

He was in a coma, at least that's what the doctors said except even though he couldn't open his eyes or speak he was fully conscious. He heard everything that was being said around him.

The doctor told his parents he was paralyzed from the neck down and since the lightning bolt hit him directly in the forehead he was also disfigured to an unimaginable degree.

Even if he did wake up from his coma his life would be over, he would be bed ridden until his life ended. He was basically a vegetable with a very slim chance of actually waking up from this coma. Still, the repeated dream of his life going up in smoke when the electricity forced it's way through his spine ending his future, even that didn't hurt nearly as much as what he heard from the people he held most dear saying about him when they thought he wouldn't know.

"Reina he was a lost cause even before he died, his grades were average at best all he did was waste all his money on that girlfriend of his he wasn't going to make the cut in a top school like you and I went to. Besides at this point he is only a furnace burning money away." His father said sounding irritated.

Grayson, relax we can always have another child with any luck they will actually want to make something of themselves. Said his mother in a cold voice.

When he heard that from his own parents who he believed with all his heart loved and cared for him he was crushed on the inside. He had always thought that he was the Apple of their eye and they never once made him think otherwise but the state he was in finally showed him the true reality. Even though he was only paralyzed, to his parents He was just a waste of resources.

Even then it seemed that the world wasn't finished tearing Riel's heart to pieces.

"Kara why do you even still visit him? They said he was completely paralyzed and he most likely wouldn't wake up from this coma anyway, what's the point?"

"You don't know anything, don't you get how rich his parents are? What if he wakes up? Once he sees me and thinks i still love him will get married and I can take everything he's got." His girlfriend said in a hushed voice.

Hearing her thoughts, Riel felt as if a final dagger pierced his soul. His broken heart ran cold and for the first time he finally understood true pain. "How could I have not known all this time... did I ever have one real thing in my life? Was I always just nothing in their eyes but an object and a waste?"

Days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned to years; and during this time he was forced to listen to his parents contemplating on ending his life support or whenever his girlfriend visited, cursing him and wishing he wouldn't die anytime soon before she could marry him. the anguish of losing control over his life and also losing the support of those he held dear caused his health to take a sharp decline and finally; his last breath had arrived." I can't even remember how long i've been here... haha finally my time has come." He laughed self-depracatingly.

He felt his life slipping from him and with it the increase of his heart rate on the life support system as frantic noises chimed from it. Riel felt nothing he already accepted that this day would come. "My only regret in this life is that I lived it completely blind. I never saw anything in the world around me only my illusion of what it was. I was wrong about everything..."

As he heard the heart rate monitor flat-line and the muffled shouts of the nurses and doctors he had one final thought leaving this world.

"If there is a next life I want to control my own fate. I don't wish to live my life blind not knowing anything I want to see through all!"

"What a strange speech... Let's see if you can make it reality boy!" That's was the final thing Riel heard as his consciousness faded and death set in.