Chapter 1: Rebirth

Cecilia rushed to the master's room as soon as she heard the gunshot, she was apparently the only one inside the house at that moment but she was too late.

The only thing left for her to see was a gruesome bloodbath with father and son soaking in it.

"No." She gasped.

Her knees suddenly began to shake as she crashed down to the floor with her right hand covering her mouth.

"No, this can't be happening. How did it ever get to this?"

Fear, guilt, regret, she was consumed by all those feelings and before she knew it, tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Are you seriously asking that question now?"

That caught her off guard because she thought they both would be long gone with the amount of blood that was on the floor but that came from Ezra, it was weak and faint but there was no doubt about what she heard.

"Ezra." She muttered before pulling closer.

"Hey there." He muttered before slowly, turning to her, his face covered.

"No, Ezra."

"I know this will sound really blunt but I don't think there's any reason for you to cry, I mean I would have died if I had eaten your poisoned food that day so what difference does it make for you?"

"What are you talking about? Of course, it makes a difference, I know what I did was wrong and I won't make any excuses but I want you to understand that I've never had the thought of hurting you, never." She shook her head as she sobbed.

"Yeah, I know that, you're Cecilia after all." He said before forcing a little smile onto his face.

"You knew that?"

"Of course, I mean your expression and actions told me everything I needed to know but I still didn't want to take any chances because anything can happen while you're not looking." He groaned.

"What am I sitting here talking for? I should call an ambulance."

That groan seemed to have called her attention back to the seriousness of the situation but before she could get up on her feet to go anywhere, Ezra pulled her down.

"And what will happen when they get here, if they do manage to make it in time? I'll be rushed to a hospital, fixed up, and then what happens after that? I spend the rest of my life in prison for murdering this scumbag of a father."

Her gaze shifted to her master who was lying there lifeless with the knife still stuck in his head before slowly shifting back to Ezra.

"But you're a minor, they wouldn't go that far."

"Still, I wouldn't take any chance at getting punished for what I did to that failure of a father. Just let me go, Cecilia, everything will be better that way."

His voice slowly began to drop at that moment and his eyes were barely staying open.

"I'm just glad that I was able to free you from this man's shackles, now you can go out and live your life like a normal person and be with your parents."

His voice slowly dropped at that last part and after that, his breathing ceased.

"Ezra, Ezra, Ezra no you can't do this, dying isn't the option. Ezra please!" She cried with her hand on his shoulder.

Those words just kept growing fainter and fainter till he was unable to hear anything, his consciousness had been severed from the real world so Ezra Estevao ceased to exist.

________ ________

As a child, Ezra always wanted to know what happens to people after they die. He always heard people say that there was life after death and everyone would be judged according to their actions in the world.

Then there were those who believed that there was no such thing as life after death, they claimed that the human soul would be stuck in a state of oblivion waiting for a chance to be reborn depending on how unsatisfied they were with their deaths.

It was hard to tell which one was actually true since there wasn't really any fact to back up their claims but he leaned more toward the latter because the idea of getting reborn some day after death sounded more pleasant to him when compared to getting punished for something as simple as telling a white lie at least.

That was the main reason why he was confused when he found himself floating in a dark space with no direction, an astral plane of some sort.

"A state of oblivion, huh? Well, I seem to be very aware of myself." He muttered. "Does this mean the judgment group was right? No, it's not that either, looks like both were wrong." He added with his gaze on the mirror that was floating in front of him now.

Dark hair, blue eyes, and a nice symmetrical face with a slender but healthy build.

He wasn't one to use the mirror that much but looking at his image now he had the same thought he had the exact thought he used to have whenever he looked at a mirror.

"I really am a spitting image of my mother."

As if acting as a trigger, the mirror suddenly turned to the red bracelet he always had on his wrist.

Instinctively he turned to his wrist to see if the bracelet was there and it wasn't there.

"I don't understand, things like this aren't supposed to follow me here so why?"

He came to that conclusion after finding out that he had been stripped of his clothes so seeing the bracelet didn't make any sense to him.

The bracelet suddenly began to grow very brightly temporarily blinding him in the process before exploding leaving something that looked like a splatter of blood in front of him.

"Huh? What just happened?" He muttered before slowly opening his eyes.

He expected something like that to drop to the floor if there was a floor there but it was like it was plastered on some kind of wall.

"Huh? Blood?"

He slowly reached for it to see if it was actually blood but before he could touch it, something suddenly popped up right on the same spot forcing him to quickly pull his hand back.

Something he would only describe as some kind of system message.

[ System awakening: 15% ]

[ Transferring consciousness to new life ]

[ Process initiated ]

Before he could process what was going on and ask the question he wanted to ask, his surroundings suddenly changed and he found himself in a different place, not just any different place but back in the real world.

He was wrapped up in warm clothing and was sitting comfortably in the arms of a woman.

"Huh?"

He tried to move his limbs and get up but they were only able to produce very little compared to what he was trying to put in and when he tried to say something, his words came out as little incomprehensible mutters.

That was when he realized it.

"Oh, are you trying to say something already, Pookie Bear?"

He felt the woman holding him touch his nose at that moment and that was when he looked up at her to have his breath taken away.

'She looks just like…..mother.'

He wasn't exaggerating, she looked just like the only mother he had till that day, the only difference was their hair color because while his mother's hair was dark, this woman had silver hair just like he had now.

'Mother?'

That was what he wanted to say but what came out instead sounded a bit different.

"Ma….ma."

"Did I hear that right?" She gasped before leaning closer to her child. "You've already learned to say mama, you seem to be growing fast big boy." She smiled before lightly touching his nose with hers.

'I see so I've been reborn and this appears to be my new mother, who would have thought that she'd end up looking like my old one?'

The door was suddenly pushed open at that moment as a young man with a bag in his hand.

"Oh, hey honey." She said before turning to the man.

'Honey? Her husband?'

"Hey, honey." He responded before he made his way over to the bed and kissed her.

"You won't believe this but Neo seems to have already learned how to say, mama." She disclosed, sounding quite excited.

'Neo, so that's my new name.'

"Is that so?" He replied before turning to his son.

With the way his current mother looked, he expected the man to look like his former father but that didn't seem to be the case, he looked different, a bit more handsome than the man he murdered but none of that really made any difference.

He hated him on instinct as soon as he set his gaze on him.

"Well, you two shouldn't leave me behind, that's not fair." The father uttered before leaning closer to his son pushing off the path of the cloth covering his body a little in the process. "Say papa, Neo."

The response he got wasn't exactly what he expected, the tiny thing in between Neo's leg quickly shifted up at that moment and while his father's mouth was open, he shot in a jet stream of purified water in there.

That really surprised the man as he quickly pushed back with his hand covering his mouth.

He turned to Neo who was laughing happily now while clapping his hand before turning to his wife who was trying really hard to stifle her laughter but after a while, she let it loose.

"Neo, your father's mouth isn't the bathroom." She chuckled. "Sorry, dear but I can't help it." She added before turning to her husband.

"It's okay, I'll go wash my mouth." He responded before quickly rushing out of the room.

Meanwhile, Neo was still laughing and clapping.

"Well, you seem to be proud of what you just did, that's not a nice thing to be proud of, naughty boy."

'I wish I had been able to do something like that to my scumbag father so he'll have to get it in case he turns out to be another scumbag.'