URBAN GRANDMASTER: From Dust to Domination

WITHOUT ME, THEY'D STILL BE IN THE GUTTERS.

Time itself seemed shorter than a needle as smoke hissed through the ceilings, replacing the air he once breathed, forcing him to cough badly.

There his fingers found some concrete, and he tried to use them as a leverage to pull himself up, but unfortunately, it failed.

His legs were only a hindrance to his chance of survival.

Bricks, ceiling, everything fell from different angles, but just up ahead was his wheelchair, still standing just fine in the middle of the chaos.

Seeing it, his urge for survival tightened.

"No matter the cost, I won't die here today! Even if fate deems it, I won’t!"

With a painful drag, Lucian pulled himself toward his wheelchair.

As he did, his muscles screamed out; every single movement was an agonizing feeling no man should endure but Lucian's resilience couldn’t be altered.

And then, with one last drag, he reached out to it. His hurting fingers grabbed the armrest, and with a loud cry and the urge to survive, he pulled himself into the wheelchair.

His mind was at ease for a moment before he wheeled himself out of the room. But upon reaching the hallway, he found it ablaze.

His path to survival was blocked.

He swallowed hard, realizing his chances of survival were becoming null.

“No! There must be another way out of this!” he thought, desperately looking around.

Then he spotted an exit, no clue where it led.

He didn’t care. He didn’t bother. He just wanted to survive and made a run for it.

But then, fate tackled his plans.

The next moment was unavoidable.

Another blast. Then a devastating quake, one that should never have happened, but it did.

He tried to turn around, to escape fate’s disgusting plans for him but rubble collapsed across his path. And before he could even process a thought, more came crashing down on him, and then…

Darkness.

It wasn't long after when Tracy and her lover stepped out of the building, holding hands as they rushed out.

Everyone else had also evacuated the building, all except Lucian.

"Excuse me!" a woman in black stopped them.

Tracy was startled, but Henry wasn't. They both stopped as the woman stepped forward.

"Did you by any chance see anyone else inside?" she asked, her agenda uncertain as to why she asked.

Henry didn't hesitate. "No, there's no one else inside, now please move aside."

He demanded, eager to leave before something else happened, but the woman didn't let him off so easily.

"Hold on, why are you in such a rush?" she asked, then changed her gaze to Tracy, who just stood behind Henry, wrapped in fear and confusion.

"What about you, ma'am? Did you by any chance see someone inside?"

Tracy hesitated, not sure whether to lie or tell the truth. Henry noticed it, and it got him irritated. If she said anything, then it would be over.

He tightened his grasp over her hand, then tugged her a bit, shaking her off her confused mind.

"No..." she replied abruptly and added, "I didn't see anyone else inside."

Her gaze couldn't meet the woman when she spoke up.

"Good, is that all? Or do you still have questions to ask?"

"No, mister, that will be all," the woman in black responded before stepping out of their way, watching them run off like the criminals they are. 

While the lovebirds got away, Lucian drowned in the heavy smoke and the never ending blaze that held the building.

His eyes slowly peeled open to the rubbles around him. He was on the ground again, and this time, his wheelchair wasn't standing either.

He gasped loudly as the smoke penetrated his lungs. He got a terrible cough, he couldn't stop even if he wanted to.

Fate sat there, laughing at his near demise, as within some moments, the building, along with its devastating inferno, would descend on him.

But slowly, steadily, his cough subsided, but not the pain in his legs.

He managed to drag himself to the side and rest his back on the wall close to him. His gaze fixed on his wheelchair as he noticed the wheels had already come off.

He swallowed hard and took his gaze off.

"That was my only ticket out of here," he muttered to himself as he struggled with the pain that circulated around his legs.

He looked around him desperately, searching, hoping to see someone come to his rescue, but it was all in his head.

He is trapped, and no one is coming for him.

In the midst of the chaos, he remembered her, Tracy, his mind fixed on her. He pictured it, the unexpected betrayal from her, like a bullet shot with precise accurateness.

There, some rubble came down far from him. He was relieved not to have chosen that spot.

A bit of blood had trickled down his head, and he was bruised all over. The universe did him dirty by giving him such a wife.

His mind fell back in time to when Tracy had nothing. Her family alone were going through hell at a time, but he arrived at the right time to change it all for them.

Everything they ever accomplished was all because of him.

Without him, they'd all still be in the gutters.

And the little Tracy could have done was to leave him behind and run off with her lover.

"It's all pointless now," he swallowed hard as he spoke. "There's no way out of this one."

He felt death approach him fast, and he wouldn't be able to dodge it again.

He looked at his legs, the only author of his problems. He hated it. His gaze read so much hatred for the condition his legs had put him in, but it was too late already.

He slowly shut his eyes, ready to embrace death as it tugged forward, but then, a blast pulled up a bit far from him. It forced his eyes open, only for him to see a group of strong men rushing to his side.

Confused, "What's happening?" he looked up to them as they helped him up.

Who these people were and how they knew he was in the building was completely absurd to him.

Did Tracy send them? he thought, feeling relieved for a moment that she had done something this much for him but—

"Don't worry, Master, you will be fine."

Master.

He was startled for a moment, and then, someone else had joined them, a woman in black. The woman from earlier.

Upon their gaze clashing, Lucian's face lit up a bit. "You..." he managed to say,

his voice weak and his soul tired.

Before anything else could happen, his eyes shut, succumbing to the darkness once more.