001 The Death And Rebirth

"Haaah! This is so boring…," a man muttered to himself, his voice dripping with laziness. 

The man looked like he was in his twenties; small patches of beard dotted his jaw while his brown eyes looked at the screen in front of him with utter boredom. 

GROWL

Just as the man was about to sigh for the umpteenth time, his stomach growled heavily. 

"Ugh!" the man grumbled, unwilling to get up from the chair. 

"I should get something to eat." He mumbled to himself; his lazy bones creaked as he got up from the chair. 

The room he was in was crowded with litter, noodle cups everywhere, and sodas staining the carpet floor. 

The man walked toward the door, his eyes glancing at the photo in the corner. 

His eyes moistened as he looked at it, his jaw clenched; he could feel the sorrow gripping his heart as he looked at the people in the photo. 

"Mom… brother…," the man murmured, his voice breaking with sadness. 

The photo had three people, two boys and a woman in her late thirties; they had big smiles plastered on their faces while posing for the photo. 

"I…miss you," a tear fell from his eye as the man's lips quivered. 

The man's name is Mark, a twenty-year-old who lost his family, his mother, and his brother due to an accident. 

His father left the trio when he was born and never returned. 

SNIFF

Mark took a deep breath and calmed himself down; after his family's death, Mark shut himself in, only living for the sake of living. 

His once-bright future dampened as if someone had snuffed it out of him. 

Mark walked down the road, walking on the pathway; he had bought noodle cups again and was walking down the street back to his home when he heard a honk from behind. 

He could hear the murmurs of the people around him, all happy with friends and family around them. 

"Hey, have you watched the new season of House of the Dragon?" asked a boy in a school uniform; he was walking with his friend to his school. 

"No man, I was busy watching Godzilla: King of monsters!" Replied his friend, his eyes hinting with fanaticism as he said those words.

"Dude, why are you so obsessed with that!?" He knew his friend was obsessed with that movie; specifically, a certain monster in the movie.

Mark watched as the two friends argued while they crossed the street. 

He remembered the scene of where he and his brother would fight with each other, always bickering, and the days when his mother would punish them for fighting. 

CHUCKLE

A rare chuckle escaped his dry lips as he remembered how his mother made them do a horse stance; she only let go of them after he and his brother cried. 

But as he reminisced about his past, Mark noticed a truck hurling down at the kids without stopping. 

Mark's eyes widened as he looked at the kids, who were still arguing, not noticing the truck coming toward them. 

"Hey! Watch out!" Mark cried; he unconsciously took a step forward, his feet touching the road while his heart raced at the thought of the truck hitting the kids. 

"Hey! Watch out—"

Mark tried to call them out once again, but before he could finish the sentence,

BANG

A car coming from the other side of the road hit him, sending him flying across the road before crashing into the very truck he was warning about.

CRASH

THUD

SCREECH

The truck came to a screeching halt as the driver noticed a man crashing onto his windshield before he fell under the tires. 

CRACK

Mark's head broke like a watermelon as the truck went over it, spilling all the brain goo onto the road. 

Everything happened too fast for the crowd to process what they were seeing. 

The street fell into a deathly silence as everyone around was in a state of shock, with their eyes wide open. 

"Aaaaaaahhhhhhh!!!!" 

Only when a woman screamed did the crowd snap out of it.

The two teenagers looked at each other, their hands trembling in fright while looking at the mangled mess of the stranger's brain that rushed to save them. 

Many in the crowd vomited at the visceral scene; some called the police, while others ran away, and some stayed, uncertain about what truly occurred. 

But everyone knew one thing with certainty—that man was dead!

....

In one of the chambers of the Red Keep, a beautiful teenage woman was sitting by a window that overlooked the sea. 

The girl had rich brown hair that cascaded down her slender waist. Her bright green eyes gazed into the horizon, as if troubled by something. 

Her slender arms held a baby who had silver-white hair; he was peacefully sleeping in her arms when a cold breeze brushed by his smooth skin, stirring the baby. 

His purple eyes stared at the woman, who was probably his mother. 

The woman, noticing that her son was awake, looked down at him; her green eyes flickered with maternal love for her son. 

A small smile bloomed on her lips as she caressed her son's cheek, her first family and ally among the vultures that feed on the Iron Throne: "My little Aegon."