Prologue

*Thud*

"Fuck!"

Sprawled across the floor of a well-furnished bedroom, lay a young man rubbing his forehead after having rolled off the edge of the bed. With the sleep being forced out of his system, the teen looked around, before his eyes widened in astonishment.

"How nostalgic! I haven't felt the bottom of this bedroom floor in like… 30 years."

The young adult attempted to look around, but a sharp ringing in his head caused him to reel back into himself in pain.

"Ah fuck! What is this? It feels like there's voices in my head."

Taking a minute to get used to the pain, the teen was finally able to look around at his old bedroom- a single bed, wardrobe, and desk with a few frames on the blue-wallpaper enclosing the room. In the corner of the room lay a large, out-of-place, teddy bear, observing the happenings of the bedroom.

"Wow… I'd forgot I was so attached to a bear back then, huh. Hm-"

As the teen got up, and strolled closer to the bear, he noticed an abnormal flicker in the left eye, causing his smile to waver. However, he immediately corrected the grin plastered across his face as he continued towards the bear and gave it a large bear-hug, recollecting the memories from a time with little to worry about.

"I'm glad to be back! That was the weirdest 30 year-long dream I've ever had. Alien spaceships aren't as good as they seem I guess. They're pretty dull on the inside…"

Getting behind the bear while continuing his tirade about an out-of-this-world dream, the young man narrowed his eyes at the bear. Having finished his short discussion with an, almost-inanimate, teddy bear, the teen raised himself off the ground with the support of a bear head, giving him the perfect excuse to fold the bear in on itself, and prevent the eyes from viewing the rest of the bedroom.

———

"Oh! Look who we have here. My boys grown up now hasn't he? Swearing so wantonly in his bedroom. Hahaha!"

A fairly tall middle-aged man, with a well-maintained stubble, burst through the bedroom door, laughing boisterously at the young man in the bedroom.

"Shush you! You shouldn't be encouraging it! And you, Alexander Harrison Lance! What are you doing swearing so loudly in your bedroom?"

A graceful and beautiful woman followed behind the man, into the bedroom, looking pointedly with her blue eyes at the older man beside her, and then at the teen in front of her. She crossed her arms and huffed in exasperation at the antics of both father and son.

'Mum! Dad!'

The young man looked at the two individuals before him, fighting back the tears which threatened to break out.

"Your sister's eating breakfast downstairs and here you are irresponsibly- Uff."

The words died at the tip of her tongue as a teenager flung himself at his parents, wrapping his arms around them both in a tight embrace, pouring 30 years worth of feelings, tears, and snot (regrettably), into the confines of his parents hold.

"Woah there, son. What's happened to you?"

"Alex! What's happened! Why are you crying?"

James Lance happily accepted the embrace of his eldest child, while Evelyn, in a futile attempt, tried to pry the face of her son away from herself to check what was wrong.

Choosing to say nothing, the young man continued to cry away the pain of 30 years of separation, while his mother caressed his short brown hair.

After a minute of emptying his eyes in their clutches, the young man pulled himself away from them, and wiped the tear streaks trailing his cheeks, so as to appear as unsoiled as possible, though failing to do so given the red eyes he now sported.

"Alex, baby, what's wrong? Why were you crying?"

The teen once again looked up at his affectionate mother, who looked on worriedly at her only son. She couldn't recall the last time he had bawled his eyes out in front of her, and it left her unsettled.

"It's nothing, mum. I just… had a bad dream."

Evelyn looked profoundly at her son who lowered his head, before looking towards her husband. A silent conversation passed between them as the couple decided how they wanted to approach this confusing situation. James shook his head and looked back at his son, as Evelyn did the same.

"Okay, baby. But if you ever want to talk about it, then come to us, okay? We'll always be here for you, Alex."

The teen looked back at his parents, as tears threatened to break once more. He yanked them back into his tear ducts, which hadn't been used in decades, and slowly raised the edges of his mouth into a weak smile.

"Thanks mum! And dad. And yeah, I will. And uhh… I'm sorry for crying on you just now."

The young man rubbed the back of his neck in guilt, looking at the damp clothes of his parents.

"No, no. It's fine. It's fine. You haven't hugged me in years! I hope you hug your mother more often from now on, okay?"

"Don't worry, kiddo. You can come pour your feelings out to me anytime. But no swearing while your at it! Hahaha!"

"Just get yourself changed, and come down for breakfast. I've prepped some of your favourites. Summers started, but you'll need to start preparing for XXX high. We don't want that invitation to go to waste now, do we?"

Evelyn threw a light slap at the chest of the taller man, before leaving the teen with a breakfast invitation. Taking one last glance at her dishevelled son, she left the room, followed by her cheerful-as-ever husband.

———

"The funeral of the town's golden boy, who held an exclusive invitation from the illustrious XXX high, was held yesterday. Many have mourned the death of the teenager caught in the crossfire between XXX…"

Two pairs of dimmed and lifeless eyes stared at the television before them, reporting the death of their eldest child, and only son.

The hands of the woman trembled, as the middle-aged man brought her towards his chest.

Tears, long having dried up from uncontrolled crying, failed to fall down the face of the grieving woman- a hollow feeling in her chest, where a heart with boundless love she had yet to give to her child, could only grieve at the cruelty of death.

The woman could only despair. But despair would not bring back her child.

———

Sigh~

A young man looked upon the town he had grown up in for the first 15 years of his life- a town that had been razed to the ground in his past lifetime. It was a small town on the outskirts of the XXX kingdom, that had fallen before the might of XXX.

'I'm sorry. Mum. Dad. But staying away from you is for the best. I have big plans for this second lifetime, and I cannot risk putting the both of you in danger. Even with the measures I've taken, there are still many loose ends I need to address.'

Sigh~

'I cannot lie to myself. I am selfish. I do not want to see your deaths again. One lifetime is too much for me… please. I hope you can bear the burden for this unfilial child. I will reach the zenith of this world for you. So please… bear with me until we can reunite.'

Sigh~

'I'm selfish. I'm a hypocrite. A monster. I will get to the top by any means possible. Alexander Harrison Lance could not protect his loved ones. He did not reach the peak. He was a failure. I was a failure. I failed.'

Sigh~

'I need a new name. A name for one resurrected from the ashes of failure. One who will tame, subdue and manipulate everything to get to the top. A name. The perfect name-

Damon Anastasios'