CHAPTER 1

Life lived without anyone caring. Miserable, quite indeed. It was another rainy day in the city of Dreams and hope, and Alex, a boy who got rejected by all was walking with an umbrella on his way home. The already heavy rain poured much heavier, as the streets were already flooded. It was a good thing Alex wore his rubber shoes and wears no socks today, well, he has no socks to begin with. He walked down the alleyway which he regularly walks through to get to their house. After a few minutes of walking, he reached their house, and it was this two-storey and simple house in the middle of Manila. Alex entered their gate and that’s when he took off his shoes and put it at the corner of the patio. He closed his umbrella and puts it in the rack and then, he went to knock on their door then opened it.

“Huh? You still have the nerve to come home, you bastard?!” bellowed a woman sitting in a rocking chair.

“Yeah! You don’t belong here, murderer!” yelled Alex’s blonde sister as she stormed into her room trying to avoid contact with Alex who they treated as a murderer and a virus.

Alex bowed in respect to his parents in the living room, and then he closed his door and went to his room at the backyard. His room was this small and once maintenance room, but since he can’t live within the house, he is forced to stay here. With only 7 changes of clothes, he needs to go and wash it every now and then. He first went to wash his school uniform since he still has his final class tomorrow. After doing that, he went back to the shed and that is when he ate his dinner. A simple sandwich with mayo filling. It was already nighttime and after eating, he went and got himself to sleep.

***

The next morning, Alex was woken up by booming noises, and when he stood up and answered the door, it was his uncle. His uncle, without any hesitation, punched Alex hard in the stomach as the poor kid fell on the ground gasping for air,

“Hurry up and take the trash away. And I would also prefer to have you along with it!” boomed the uncle as Alex stood up while massaging his stomach.

He then took out the trash under the still pouring rain. The place where he is supposed to place the trash so that the dump truck can pick it up is a few blocks away. He reached the place, and as expected, due to the rain, there was no one putting their junk. After putting away the trash, Alex went to walk back to their house, and that is when disaster happened. A man, running oh-so fast bumped into him. Alex landed on a puddle, and just like that, he was drenched. This was his last pair of clothes for this week, and yet, it is all nothing but muddy. Alex then looked at the man who hurried and stood up and then went back to running and turned the other direction. Alex sighed as this may be another unfortunate for him again, well, he is not surprised as every day, unlucky things happen to him.

“When could I disappear?” Alex asked himself as he looked at the crying sky.

Another thing he liked about rain, is that no one will know whether he is crying or not. And right now, he is along with the skies. Alex picked up his umbrella, and that is when he saw this duffle bag. He tried to pick it up, because as a good Samaritan, he is to bring it to the authorities. But as he was about to pick it up, he heard guns cocking around him, he slowly looks back up, and that is when he was hit in the face with the base of a gun. He landed on the ground hard, as his lips bursts and he can now taste the thick red substance that tastes like iron. He looked at who hit him, and that is when he saw that guns were being pointed at him,

“You gave us quite an exhaustion there, mate. Well, lucky for you, you will be the one who will rest first.” Says this bald man,

“It wasn’t me! Whoever you are saying that might took that bag. It wasn’t me! Some guy just bumped into me and—”

“And then the bag accidentally fell and got left in front of you? That’s what would someone who stole something would say. Now, enough with this nonsense. Get this over with!” ordered the bald man again.

And before Alex could appeal his case one last time, shots were fired, and it only took 10 seconds to fill his entire body with holes. All that Alex saw after that was darkness. Pure darkness. He looks around trying to figure out where he is, but then, as he looked at his glowing naked body, that is when he realized that he was a goner. He remembered being shot maybe a hundred times, and yet, there were no holes in his body. Alex cried out of joy, as he is finally out of that miserable life. Even though deep within him fears what lies ahead of this darkness, his heart, if he still has one, was overflowing with joy as his sufferings have ended. As he was pouring tears of joy, a voice echoed around this dark place,

“Quite miserable life, eh?” says the voice which bounced all over the place.

“Who are you?!” Alex yelled as he wiped his tears off.

“I am not your enemy, in any case,” and then, without any warning, Alex got pulled down.

He was plummeting downwards, and it was if he was in a body of water and was being pulled deeper. He looked down, to see that he is quickly approaching this tunnel of light.

“You will be given a second chance of living. A second life. Live your second life to the fullest and never regret anything. All you have ever dreamed of will be given to you, but there will be consequences that you have to follow first. I shall bestow you gifts that would help you dominate, but it is up to you, you have a choice. Now, go on! Live your second life full of adventures!” the voice echoed.

Alex does not know what is going on, but he is getting closer and closer to this tunnel of light. Thinking that he might be crossing to the other side, he just closed his eyes as he entered the tunnel and then—

“Congratulations! He is a healthy boy!” someone cheered.

Alex opened his eyes,

“Mul Te Far ge Ter yo.” Spoke a man’s voice.

Alex does not know what that just meant, but he opened his eyes fully, and that is when he saw this beautiful woman and then a man with this thick brown beard,

“Al ty por re te yoz.” Says the man.

And then again, Alex could not understand a thing he was saying. This woman then stroked Alex’s head gently,

“I top art e pef.” Says the woman in a rather comforting and calm voice.

Due to his curiosity, Alex raised his hands, and that is when he saw, he has baby hands. And another, he just got reincarnated into another world.

***

After two years, Alex have already learned the language spoke in this world. He is now crawling around the living room and playing with some building blocks. And then, his mother in this world came carrying a plate of biscuits and then a glass of milk. She smiled at Alex, and after putting the plate and the glass at a table near the window, she went to pick her son up and bring to the window. Alex’s mother in this world, Josephine, a calm, kind and gentle woman, but has a knack of knocking out his father when he does something wrong. And then, there was his father, at the backyard, swinging his sword again.

“Look at dad, Abe.” Says Josephine.

Abraham is Alex’s new name right now, and it was quite a cool one for him. He looked at his father out the window. The man was a muscular man, have a lot of scars on his chest, and sweat was dripping on his beard from his face. At first, Abraham thought that it was just a sport of his dad, the sword and all. But then, his thoughts were cleared. Filbert looked at his son and mother watching him from the window and smiled and waved. Now seeing his son over the window, with Filbert who is a showoff, he is now performing cool things in front of his son and wife. While biting on his biscuits, Filbert did what Abraham did not expect,

“Lupa del Kanyon!” Filbert yelled.

And then, rocks from the ground gathered in front of him, and then, with his will, Filbert shot the already sharp rocks into a tree that eventually got cut down. Filbert looked at his family at the window with him smiling and have his thumbs up as his son just have his mouth wide as he cannot believe on what he just saw,

“I told you! Do not involve my trees!” bellowed Josephine.

Filbert says his sorry as it was all for him to entertain his son. And this is when Abraham knew that he absolutely knew nothing of this world. This world holds more than an unfamiliar language. And Abraham was left asking,

“What the hell did I just got reincarnated into?”