The Tale of the Void Emperor

[ A/N: This chap shows how and why MC died, The story starts in the next chapter and MC's char will develop into a fine one as the story progresses while he experiences many ups and downs. ]

My name is Athan, My parents passed away when I was small, and since then, I've been living with my uncle and aunt, who took care of me like I was their real child.

When I took 1st rank in the exam for the first time, Uncle and aunt were very happy, so I worked hard and got 1st rank every time after that. It brought me joy to see them being happy.

When I turned 16, my uncle and aunt moved to a different city, so I transferred to my new school.

There was a girl in my class, very beautiful; her name was Lily; I think I fell in love with her, I was attracted to her bubbly personality and her nature. But I was not one to express my inner feelings, so I just kept them to myself and studied hard just as I did in my previous school.

But when I achieved rank 1 in my new school and that by a large margin compared to 2nd, I got a pleasant surprise; the most beautiful girl in my class Lily approached me for study-related help; I was so happy I was on cloud nine. She approached me for study-related help and I was more than happy to help her.

We talked every day and I just got more and more attracted to her cheerful personality and was going to ask her out. but after a month and a week of my interactions with Lily, three boys from my class suddenly approached me after school. They threatened me to stop having interactions with Lily, or they will break my limbs. Of course, I did not take them seriously at that time and continued my interaction with Lily.

But after two days, when I was walking home from school, a van suddenly stopped beside me when I passed through a hollow alley, and I was kidnapped. They took me to some abandoned place, and there, they beat me up. They did not break my limbs, but They hurt me bluntly in places that can not be seen after wearing clothes.

The ones who beat me up were those 3 boys in my class and 2 adult man who drove the van. They once again threatened me, saying that if I continued to interact with Lily, they would also trouble my uncle and aunt on top of breaking my limbs. They also told me that I shouldn't reveal any about this to Lily.

Amidst the pain and their threats, I realized that I have to forget Lily. Even if I like Lily, She is not as important as My uncle and aunt who never let me feel the absence of my parents. If they get troubled because of my matters, I can't forgive myself. If interacting with Lily means inviting trouble to my uncle and aunt, then I'll stop talking to her. 

So I told Lily to stay away from me and that we shouldn't interact with each other from now.

I definitely don't want to cause trouble to my uncle and aunt because of my matters. They are already sharing the love of their two children with me and I absolutely don't want to trouble them because of my matters.

I also did not say anything to my uncle and aunt about my injuries because I did not want them to worry for me as they also have their own little son and daughter to care for.

But after a week, Lily suddenly showed up at my house.

...

...

In A Big Mansion, The so-called Boss Lanry, who looked around the age of 18, was having fun with a woman who was around 30 years old on a king-sized bed.

Beside the bed was a small table and on it was a telephone which started ringing.

*trrrrink trrrrink*

Lanry stopped and moved towards the table's direction before he stretched his hand to pick up the phone.

"Whatever is it, It better be important!! now speak. "Lanry spoke in a foul mood as he was interrupted during his fun hours.

A rough sound of a man came from the other side of the phone, "Boss Lanry, Madam Lily visited that boy's house with a small bag; we don't know her purpose for visiting him. What should we do?"

"That fucker, I'm tired of hearing about him. Kidnap that bastard tomorrow and kill him; I'll handle the police work and media...wait, don't just kill him directly. Torture him first before killing him."

"Ok, Boss."

Somewhere near Athan's house, A buff body man muttered while shaking his head, "Boss directly skipped to killing this time....that unfortunate boy would get torture before dying tomorrow sigh, such is the society." [ A/N: such is the society in Earth-619 in multiverse which is my planet ]

...

...

"Hello, My name is Rosy Fox, I'm here with the latest news; today morning, A dead body of a 16-year-old boy was found in the abandoned storehouse behind National High-School; from the signs on his body, He was tortured pretty badly before his death; currently The police is doing its best to find the perpetrators."

...

...

5 hours ago, In the abandoned warehouse behind the National High school.

A badly tortured boy was lying on the floor with blood all over his body; his nails were dug out, hair pulled out, and many slash marks over his face and body, and in front of him were 3 other boys of similar age while the ones responsible for this torture were standing behind Athan, They were two adult men.

Athan opened his mouth and said in a weak voice, "Wh-why, are you doing this to me? I did as you told me and stopped talking to her, so why?"

One of the boys among the group spoke with a shout, "WE TOLD YOU MANY TIMES TO STAY AWAY FROM HER. YOU KNOW HER IDENTITY? SHE IS ENGAGED TO BOSS LANRY, although she doesn't know that, it was decided by their parents long ago."

Another boy spoke with a sneer, "But What drove Boss Lanry to kill you was the thing that happened yesterday; Boss Lanry found out that Lily came to your house after school yesterday, and who knows what you two did in your house, hehe."

Athan's tears rolled out as he spoke while enduring the pain all over his body and face, "We did nothing, I didn't even invite her; I also told her to stop talking to me at school last week, that's why she never talked to me since last week, and the reason she came to my house was that she wanted to return the book I lent to her a few weeks ago."

" So what? Your fate is sealed now."

"Boss Lanry decided to kill you, and that is final."

"Just consider yourself unfortunate and move on, hahaha."

Athan's eyes had pain, despair, unwillingness, and anger as he passed away.

But Fate has something different in store for Athan.

...

As his soul drifted into the river that led to the source of the universe for its nourishment which will be used to produce new life...something suddenly happened. 

Two beings that were not human but humanoid with a gemstone in their forehead and small horns appeared near the soul river. There was a crack near them which indicated that they came from somewhere outside of this universe.

"They will catch up to us soon. What do we do, honey? Our daughter is also..."

"We will do as we planned. You've put Mimi in the Ark after altering her memories and showing that illusion, right? "

"But...Deceiving our own daughter like that...she is just an innocent child."

"Sigh...But we don't have any other choice. They will also not leave us alone and will haunt us to take back Ark. Anyway, There's no time. Let's hurry up."

The male humanoid suddenly waved his hand towards the soul river and picked up a random soul from it before seeing its memories, "The first pick is already good. He has a good nature but died unjustly."

...

Lily, the first attraction and first juvenile love of Athan born from that attraction. But Athan was filial, so he distanced himself from her for his uncle and aunt's safety.

Lily was upset at Athan's sudden change of behavior because she liked him more and more throughout several weeks when she hung out with him.

She tried to talk to him every day, but Athan avoided her every day. 

One day, she realized that she had a book of Athan and decided to take this chance to visit him at the house. She wanted to know the reason for his behavior and wanted to set things back to how it was before.

Athan's uncle and aunt exchanged glances with smiles and were happy that he got his first girlfriend. They just assumed it based on Lily's expression when she asked about Athan.

Afterward, Lily and Athan talked for thirty minutes in Athan's room, but she was left heartbroken since Athan didn't budge from his stance and told her that they could never meet each other again.

She returned home and cried a lot.

However, the next day, she heard shocking news! This news brought her more tears at how brutally they tortured Athan and killed him.

Her family had some authority as her father was a state minister and her mother was a collector, so she begged them to punish the criminals who did that to Athan.

But after two days, her parents told her about her engagement promise they made with the son of a national minister who was also a hidden, underground business tycoon who ran illegal business. After all, Her father and that tycoon were college friends.

The national minister, his wife, and his son, Lanry, visited them later, where they talked about Lily's engagement with Lanry.

Lily didn't want to marry Lanry, but she had no choice but to obey her parents so she at least met him. Lanry took Lily to the balcony for some talk, and with a wicked smile, he revealed the truth to her.

"Athan, right? Actually, I was the one who ordered my men to torture him and kill him. After all, you are going to be mine in the future, and nobody should lay their eyes on you."

Lily was shocked into despair, and the next words practically pulled the ground from under her feet.

"Your parents also know about it as well, and I will never be punished for what I did, so just obediently live for the next several years. Finish your studies, become a doctor, and then we can have our grand wedding."

Lily just soullessly fell to the ground while Lanry left. Her mother arrived there since Lily didn't come back even after Lanry and his parents left. But when she saw Lily's state, she became furious and told her dad, "I told that bastard not to reveal the truth!"

Lily's father frowned but sighed, "What's done is done, and we can't change anything now."

Lily's mother approached Lily with worry and supported her to stand up, "Lily..."

"Don't touch me!" Lily burst out as tears fell like a waterfall as she looked at her mother and father, "HE DIED BECAUSE OF ME! AND I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW UNTIL NOW!"

"WHY?" Lily screamed in despair as she banged her hands on the floor, "They even tortured him so much before killing him! They are inhuman beasts and deserve to die!"

"Daughter...," Lily's father sighed.

"I will not marry that wicked bastard! I would rather die than marry him!" Lily said as she stormed off into her bedroom.

"It's fine. Time will heal all scars," Lily's dad sighed.

However, the truth about Athan's death and how they tortured him before killing him left a deep scar in her as she felt heavily guilty and fell into depression.

She had lost trust in her parents as well because of how they supported that wicked murderer. She thought that her parents were honest government authorities and felt proud of them, but all of that was gone.

However....destiny had something different in store for her as well.

[Lily will appear again in the story with a full story of what happened to her, what she did do after hearing the truth, and what will happen to her :D]