Prologue (2) The Fragility Of Life

My grandson decided to grab some snacks and insisted that we finished the anime. I didn't mind that, considering this was the last season. I must say, it was rather enjoyable. Sitting in silence, watching a lone skeletal character on screen decimate thousands of soldiers in one fell swoop.

A world where a single person could level a town with the flick of their fingers. Such a world was as dangerous as it was exciting. Certainly much better than this current world which offered no such possibilities.

I sighed in my heart. Looking at my achievements in this life, it certainly felt a little anticlimactic. Old age had caught up to me and cancer was a thing I couldn't prevent. Even with all the wealth and resources at my disposal, I still couldn't overcome the clingy bride called death. I guess this was nature's way of balancing the odds if that was even a thing.

Such was the fragility of life. I began to imagine those cultivation novels where people lived for thousands of years pursuing immortality, seeking the truth and eternal life. Even the anime I was currently watching, people could live for hundreds of years. But, here I was at eighty four struggling at death's door.

I knew these novels and animes were just born out of the imagination of people but my thoughts couldn't help but steer in that direction. What if it was real? What if there was life beyond death? What if there was a chance at immortality beyond death? The cycles of reincarnation and such.

But even if it were true, was I worthy? According to some texts and even biblical scriptures, I knew I accumulated a tremendous amount of sin. If at all, hell would be my next stop. Where I would dine with the devil himself, suffering eternal damnation.

Did I regret what I had done in this life? Absolutely not. If I was given the chance, I would do the same thing all over again.

Maybe it was because I was so close to death that I was having such absurd thoughts. However, I think every person in this world has had such a thought. The concept of magic and superpowers being mainstream in the media proved this point — If we can't have it, we might as well think of it.

My expression became sombre as I kept watching the anime which was slowly drawing to an end. Although my eyes were glued to the screen, my mind continuously drifted in and out of my musings..

"Gramps," Sammy nudged me, snapping me back to reality. .

I turned my head and smiled at him, "What is it Sammy?"

He looked at me with those bright brown eyes, shooting back a smile at me as well. Although I didn't mean to, I read his expressions and body language. It had already become a habit for me, a necessary survival skill I unknowingly picked up.

His smile was genuine but a little drawn out. There was uncertainty beneath his gaze which sometimes avoided mine as his right index finger scratched the back of his ear. He unconsciously looked at the small compartment on the table just right in front of us.

I laughed inwardly. This was when he would first offer me something before asking for a favour. For someone his age, he was at least somewhat aware of how the world worked. Nothing was free, to get something you need to first be prepared to either lose something or offer something of equal value.

"I have something for you, gramps," he replied, his voice a tad lower than normal. "I—I found it on a website and thought that you would love it."

'No surprises there' I thought, the smile still plastering my wrinkled face, "You know I always cherish whatever you give me Sammy, so let's see what it is."

Hearing that, his smile widened as he inched closer to the table and opened the compartment. There was a squarish and plain brown package just sitting quietly inside. He took it out and then offered it to me.

I looked at him and then at the box, curious as to what was inside and so I opened it. I was met with a small bluish purple orb encased in a transparent glass crystal. It sat on top of a small silver platform which sank in the middle.

As I brought it out, there was a word carved in front of the platform: Crumbling Orb. Feeling the glass crystal in my hands, it was strangely smooth but felt brittle. I knew what this was, thanks to my recent indulgence in anime.

They called it the hogyoku. It was something that one of my favourite characters who ticked my boxes wielded. Now I knew why Sammy got this, he was after all aware of my clear fondness for the character.

Inside the box was the price tag which clearly read: $120,000. Seeing this I shook my head, this was clearly his whole allowance for the month. Well, I would just instruct someone to replenish his account.

My gaze shifted back to him as I ruffled his silky black hair, "You didn't need to go out of your way to squander your money for a dyi — *ahem* — for an old man like me."

However he shook his head, "No gramps, you deserve gifts every now and then besides…" He scratched the back of his head with a sheepish smile. "I—I also want something from you."

I chuckled at his statement. Barring no unfortunate circumstances, he would definitely be the head of this family sometime in the future.

"Alright you little devil, what do you want?" I asked, genuinely curious of his demand.

He was silent for a while and then took a deep breath.

"Uh...I want to attend tonight's meeting," he replied, but the last two words devolved into a low murmur almost to a whisper.

I now understood why he hesitated. Only my children were allowed to attend the meeting. However, just this once, I could make an exception for him.

"Alright, you can come."

He was taken aback. He definitely didn't expect me to agree without so much as an inquiry as to the reason why. This was mostly because I placed a lot of faith in him.

After regaining his bearings, his smile widened, revealing his teeth.

"Hehe thank you gramps." He got close and gave me a warm embrace. "Please give me a few minutes to head to my room and select a proper attire for tonight."

I nodded, giving him the go ahead. I also needed to do something important as well. After thanking me once more, he hurried out of my room excitedly. I kept the orb on top of the table as I withdrew my phone from my right pocket.

It was a custom phone with a personal mobile network tailored for my private use. Due to its high untraceability, I used it to handle my more...subtle affairs.

I clicked on a contact and sent a simple message: XXXXX Evelyn Orinson, expiry date 07/10/21. She was Sammy's mother but that didn't matter, anyone who became a burden needed to be cut off.

I stood up as I prepared to go to the bathroom but my knee accidentally knocked down the crystal off the table. The moment it made contact with the floor, the crystal glass shattered, leaving only the blue orb in the midst of broken glass.

"There goes the gift," I sighed and crouched to pick up the orb.

However, I failed to notice a shard of glass which pricked the surface of my thumb. Even for a glass, it sure was strangely sharp as my blood trickled out and stained the surface of the orb.

Another strange thing was, I didn't feel any pain. It was almost as if my brain forgot to register it. I just put it to the back of my mind, it was probably nothing. I left the orb on the table top and went to the bathroom to wipe the blood stain and relieve myself.

After relieving myself, I walked towards the sink to wash my hands but I realised another strange thing. The orb was on top of the sink. There was a slight shine to it now, more so than its previous drab outlook. In fact, it almost looked as if it was glowing.

My brows furrowed as I stood there, perplexed at this outcome, "I remember leaving it on the table top, so how did it get here?"

Curious, I approached the sink and took the orb in my hands and that was when something strange happened. The orb shattered into tiny particles and entered my body. It was so abrupt that I had no time to even prevent it from happening — not like I could do anything in the first place.

However I didn't panic, the first thing that came to my mind was that someone or a group of people used little Sammy to get to me. As someone who also operated in the dark, I had seen a lot of things and made quite a few enemies here and there.

This orb was most likely from the dark web and was probably a result of some strange technological experiment which wasn't released to the public yet.

But, if someone used my grandson to get to me, so what? I was already a half dead man anyway who had just a few days to live. Whoever they were, their timing was all too late.

I looked at the mirror, gazing at my reflection. I was completely bald and sported a full white beard. My own brown eyes stared right back at me as I calmly observed myself. Running my finger through my beard, some strands of white hair fell off, almost as if signaling the imminent arrival of death.

I pushed whatever just happened to the back of my mind. The fact that I didn't fall dead immediately was most likely because it was perhaps a slow acting weapon. However, it didn't matter. Death was coming and I had to do a handover tonight after which I would patiently wait for the reaper to take my life.

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Evening came rapidly, and I was helped to the conference room by a bodyguard. Before entering, I could hear the murmurs from within as my children conversed with each other. My entrance broke the chatters and evoked a pin dropping silence as my shoes tapped on the wooden floors.

I walked towards my seat which was at the head of the long table and sat. The whole place was tense as I studied each and every one of them carefully before I smiled. The meeting began and they passed their reports to me as we went through them one after the other.

They were mostly about our assets, our next targets, worker salaries, market trends and so on. It went on for over an hour before I finally got to the main point of the meeting.

"I will be doing an official handover tonight," I said as I looked at them. Their faces showed surprise. They were clearly not prepared for this. I looked at Sammy who stared back at me with a confused expression.

However I continued, "As you all know, my age has caught up with me and after that last mission, I've decided to call it quits." I placed my elbow on the armrest and rested my head on my left knuckle. "So tonight, I will hand over the family to the person who I feel possesses the qualities to lead this family forward."

Tapping my finger on the table, I pushed on, "And that person is." I lifted my finger and pointed at Damian's direction. "Damian."

There was a short silence as all eyes were glued on Damian who stood up and bowed, followed by a round of applause.

The handover wasn't anything over the top. Damian had to sign certain papers as I relinquished all the family assets, shares, and agents worldwide to him. I also took him to a room personally to give him certain codes for some sleeper agents known only to me. It took a while but fortunately everything was completed in time.

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The next day, I received a message on my phone which read: Evelyn Orinson, expired. I closed the phone and smiled, then threw it into the fireplace. It served no purpose to me anymore. I sat down on the sofa and took a deep breath.

Now, I was prepared to die.

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...

Five days later, a crowd of people wearing all black stood behind a priest who said holy prayers in front of an open coffin. An old man laid in it with his eyes closed and a peaceful expression on his face.

Beside his soon to be tombstone was another olive coloured marble tombstone which read: R.I.P. Lilian Orinson, Born 23.11.1940, Died 02.03.1996.

On this day, the twelfth of October 2021, Alexander Orinson, previous head of the Orinson family was no more.