I Eat Pasta For Breakfast

My peaceful short life had been quickly cut off by a band of bandits that had raided my village, killing my father and capturing my mother. The bandit leader took a fancy to me and decided to make me one of them because of my face, for reasons unknown to me, but this was only the start of my journey. The more I grew up the more I realized that I had no talent, I was as ordinary as I could be, with no inherited memories, no old masters to help me improve my talent, no legacies left behind, no locked bloodlines that would burst into activity when I was in danger. But I still had something that most people didn't have. A stubbornness that many wouldn't possess, the stubbornness and sense of danger that I got for life after I saw my father die in front of me. And with that, I shall predate upon those that are more talented than me. I shall walk forward and reach the apex of the world, not because I want to protect anyone, but because that's simply what I want to do! Regardless of the methods that I have to use or the people that I have to push out of my way!

My name is Joe Mzalendo. Mine country is Credonia, a third-world country. Born and raised here, I loved my country just like every other patriotic citizen. As I grew up, all I ever wanted was a good degree and a good job with the government. All that I looked forward to so that I could help others and see to it that things went the right way. I had a dream of transforming my country through fighting and nipping Corruption by the roots. I thought getting in was the right move and the only way to make a change. In the end, I was all wrong. I found myself imprisoned by powers I couldn't control and forces I could not break. Without options, I watched people suffer as I did nothing. It was a stab through my heart. I had to live with the knife through my heart and in pain. It was either that and try to help those I could or die. I not only walked with death but saw it most of the time. It was then that I learned; some things are better done from a distance. I learnt never to put out a conflagration from inside a blazing house.

They call me Julian Mercer and I keep my head down because I learned the hard way that a name can be a target. I answered an ad for a rental and signed a paper I promised myself I’d never sign: a marriage contract. The job was simple — be the son-in-law for thirty days, take the money, be gone. The family needs a “son” to secure a heritage grant and I need the cash to buy a clean slate. What I didn’t plan for was the way Lila Ardmore looked at me like she already knew what I was hiding. Another thing I didn’t plan for was the ledger in an old piano and the way a neighbor called my mother’s name, and the knot in my gut that felt like an alarm the night someone tried to burn the past into ash. I came to act. I stayed to fix what I broke, and the longer I stayed the more I realized the man I was taught to be will not survive who I have to become. If you want my story, read it from where the dark starts.

Five years ago, I was the "worthless" foster son who had taken the fall for a crime I never committed. I went to prison for my brother's future, thinking that my family would be there to care for my wife. I was wrong. While I rotted away in Blackgate Prison, my inheritance had been stolen: they had wiped off my existence and treated my wife as a slave. They thought I would die in there. But the fate had different plans. In the darkest cell, I met with a mysterious master. I did not just survive; I was reborn. I learned the Nine Heavens Medical Art and activated the Sovereign Martial Body. I healed warlords and crippled assassins in a single touch. Now the prison gates are open. I am no longer the submissive orphan. I am a Dragon King. To my foster family celebrating my misery: Prepare your coffins. To all those billionaires trying to touch my wife: Prepare to lose your hands. I will save lives with my left hand and destroy my enemies with my right hand. The King is out, and debts must be repaid in blood.

I was the last one left, I watched as humanity's greed took over, as brothers killed brothers and fathers turned on sons. I watched humanity end and with nothing left to live for, I ended my life. Now I'm back to a month before the apocalypse, I've been given a second chance and I will not waste it. I'll prevent the death of those I love and make sure humanity survives. If the world can't control itself, then I'll conquer it and lead us to survival.

I hated being locked up like a damsel in distress. Like I was some princess that needed constant protection, but deep down I was grateful. I was still struggling to summon my powers, so if I was attacked alone I would be defenseless. I understood why Valerian wanted me to stay confined within the walls of our home since there was a protection spell suffocating the entire atmosphere that surrounded it. But I was so bored. Valerian was not there to take me out and keep me occupied with his cocky smiles and quirky comments. The only thing I could think to do to pass the time was to take a stroll around the castle grounds. I exited out into the courtyard and walked past the beautiful wooden benches and vibrant trees. Roses of every colour confiscated the grounds and it was like I was walking through a rainbow. My fingertips caressed the petals and I inhaled the sweet scent of their exquisiteness as I walked through the trails. I was so mesmerized by the area that I didn’t realize where I was going. I gasped as I reached for the next rose in my path, and it crumbled from my touch. The rest of the walkway was filled with black and decayed roses that tumbled to the ground like ash from a horrible wildfire. My frightened eyes glared out into the distance as I realized the dead flowers led to a shadowy tunnel made from black brick. A sign barely dangling from a broken chain at the top of the entrance read ‘dungeon.’ My body cringed at the sight. This was the dark side of Valerian that I knew and wanted to avoid as much as possible.

“Please… don’t kill me!” My voice trembles as I stare at the two people standing in front of me, my own brother and my wife, the woman I love more than my life. “Why…?” I whisper, my throat dry. My brother smirks and she avoids looking at me, as if I mean nothing to her. That silence… it breaks me more than anything. I step back slowly, but my foot slips near the edge. Panic rises in my chest as I realize where I am the cliff behind me, the darkness waiting below. “No…” I murmur, but it’s too late. A sudden push and I fall. The wind roars in my ears as my body drops into the abyss. Fear grips me, but stronger than fear is the burning betrayal inside me. My eyes shut as darkness swallows everything. They think I die that night But I don’t, I survive and I change. Years pass, and Now I return to the same world but I am no longer that weak man. I am something else… something darker. The city fears my name. The underworld bows before me. Power runs through my veins. Money, influence, control everything is mine now. And I don’t return alone. With a mysterious princess, beautiful yet dangerous, her secrets as dark as my past. She understands me in ways no one ever could. This time, I don’t beg. This time, I don’t fall. Because I am no longer the man they betrayed… I am the nightmare that has returned for revenge.

A murderer. A crazy woman. Is what they all call me. Apparently to me, I'm seeing the dead, which makes me crazy to everyone, but I know I'm not. Being stuck in a psychiatric hospital with a pending murder case at hand is not how I pictured this time of my life. I don't really get it. I am a lot of things that I'm not proud of, but certainly not a murderer. How on earth will I be able to vindicate myself if the dead is making me look like a murderer? How will I be able to vindicate myself when my past ways isn't even something to write home about, and all it can do is just spice up my case? How will I be able to save myself when I, and the dead was never in good terms, and I happen to be the cause of it all? What have I done to myself?

The event: an unforeseen cataclysm which wiped out all of life leaving but a fraction… So they say, but I know the truth, even though I'm uncertain of how it really happened. I can't seem to remember much. Compared to when i first awoken, 50 years ago, even if it's a fraction I'd call it progress. Over 200 years has passed since the event and I'm trying to find the answer to how this place came to be. I know it's not going to be easy and you can guarantee I'm going to fall into some unwanted predicaments. My goal: return it to the time before even if it takes destroying this world. To do that i think i have to find the one who cursed me and stole my memories... What i truly am, I'm yet to find out, and how I plunge the world into its current state. Author's note: I know my synopsis sucks but pls bear with me.

No one came any closer to me since I began to hear voices. It was as if I possessed some kind of aura that attracted everyone, like a field that attracted people. I was either insane or a monster, which I suppose I could be, according to everyone at school. I was able to hear what others were thinking, but no one else seemed to be able to, and some of them remembered me from first grade, when everything first started. I was able to focus better on school because I was isolated, and I loved to do well in school. Since I learned how to silence the voices, at least it had. Before that, I was unable to think in light of the consistent clamor of every other person's brain pounding me constantly.