The Future

Torrents of images clouded his mind, causing excruciating pain to his sleep-deprived brain.

Memories that didn't happen yet but were still his.

His cry of pain was heard throughout the house, causing Jonathan to run down the stairs.

His eyes widened as he saw Eve twitching uncontrollably as Melina had her hand on his head.

Before he could do anything though, Melina stared into his eyes.

Her unnatural golden eyes froze him on the spot as Jonathan felt dread from the girl.

"Sleep." She ordered with a strained voice and Jonathan fell flat on the ground.

After giving him enough memory to realize that her words were not a lie, she took off her hands and collapsed on the floor. Giving Eve his memory back was a daunting task for sure.

Meanwhile, Eve sat still on the couch like a puppet whose strings had been cut. 

His mind organized the vivid images and Eve saw his future.

Approximately two months from this moment, Jonathan would have a serious talk with Eve and get him to recognize the uncertainty of his future.

Then after that. Eve would remain in Jonathan's house for 3 more years. During this period, he would study hard under his guidance.

With the basics already etched in his brain, along with his natural good memorizing skills combined with his and Jonathan's hard work, he would learn fast.

Once he reached 19, he would finally go outside his home and get an internship under Jonathan, thanks to his grandfather's efforts.

For two more years after that, he would learn in and outs of working an office job and accumulate experience.

After his 21st birthday, he would get his own apartment and his own position in the division Jonathan manages.

With the precise knowledge needed to excel in his field, he performed much better than his peers and soared through promotion after promotion in no time.

When he had reached 23 years of age, he had already had a division under his management and equality in authority with Jonathan.

He received a similar salary despite the difference in years in the field and he was well off in his life.

Eve saw Jonathan's proud face as he received the job of manager of one of the branches of Limitless Corporation.

He did not get over the stigma of his mother but it was significantly reduced when another person beat his mother's score in an olympiad, giving the Empire a new academic star 6 years from now on.

He also found out that he had no trouble talking to his peers which was the opposite of what his grandparents expected.

Eve always imagined he would be hunted down if he was seen but that turned out to be false.

People who had been enraged over Luna's downfall were people who had been affiliated with her, such as the school that she had studied in and the popular TV shows where she starred once or twice.

Because those people were all influential people, they glorified her in the media and made the problem bigger than it seemed.

Did this mean Eve was unnecessarily sheltered? Not really. There were some people who tried to exploit his parentage to defile his reputation and dwindle his spirit to reduce competition in the job for promotions.

If adults did this out of necessity or out of desperation, then children would do it for fun. They are just cruel that way.

The parents would watch the news and make an awful comment about Luna, and the children would hear it and get the idea that she is inferior to them.

They would spread it around to their peers, upper classmates, and junior classmates and collectively ridicule Eve under the twisted perception that he, too was inferior because of his mother.

Even if completely sheltering Eve was overkill, keeping him out of school was a good idea. It saved him from a tragic childhood and unneeded ego boosts for the children there.

He had also learned that he loved fighting. Some people just can't keep their hands to themselves.

Throughout his entire life until that point, Eve did not feel particularly strong emotion at all.

He felt annoyance, sometimes gratitude but mostly remained neutral. Even Charlotte was nothing but a cause of inconvenience and frustration. He saw the world in black and white.

However, whenever he fought, the rush of adrenaline gave him exhilaration like none other. It was the very same reason why he started playing video games.

For a brief period of his life, Eve was ready to jump at anything that would give him a legitimate reason to defend himself.

He walked through dark alleys at night while wearing a fancy suit to attract hooligans and he constantly taunted people with a short temper.

Soon though, he realized he hated pain, loathed and despised it even.

A human's body could only heal so fast. A good punch to the gut would persist for hours if not days.

He tried some extreme sports too but some caused pain and some were too expensive to do repeatedly.

This caused him to stop seeking fights and just spend his time playing video games.

Fighting on a screen and fighting in real life were two different things but whatever worked, worked.

He had no particularly close friends but that was alright. He already planned out how he would live his life when he was 25.

He would slowly climb the corporate ladder while constantly honing his gaming skills. Then, once there was no game that could satisfy him, he would spend his time fighting and doing skydiving.

That was his plan. But something unexpected happened when he was 26.

Sightings of bizarre creatures spread through the internet like wildfire. People with the wings of a bat, the head of a canine, and the body of a gorilla.

He shrugged them off thinking it was some kind of an insane promo of a new game but he had no idea.

No idea what was going to happen.