Navel Play

"How would you feel about facing death, knowing you've been cast aside by the people you loved the most?" Bryan pondered this question as it echoed in his mind, but as he opened his eyes to a new beginning, a fresh chance at life, he felt a surge of determination. He was willing to do whatever it might take to make those who had caused him pain pay, even if it meant shedding tears and blood as he had suffered. "Bryan, Mom was wrong. Please come back to us," "Bryan, Dad admits his mistakes, please forgive me and return to us?" "Bryan, we're sorry for neglecting you, we regret it now," even his three sisters who despised him the most. These were the same people who had never spared him a single glance, despite his longing for their love and affection his entire life, even when he lay on the brink of death they chose an outsider over him, now they beg for his forgiveness and plead for his return, it was ironic, almost laughable. "I don't have a family, and I'm perfectly fine being an orphan," Join the incredible journey of Bryan Winterwood as he goes from being an orphan to discovering as the long-lost son of one of the richest families, but despite appearing to be having everything there's nothing for him not even love until the moment he was dead, just when it seems like everything ended, fate has its own play for him, Bryan is given a second chance, instead of embracing the life of an heir to a billionaire family, he decides to walk away and return to the life of an orphan once again to rise and shine by his own

Eighteen-year-old Yukio Yoshino never stood out much. He was quiet, ordinary, the kind of kid people overlooked. But on one reckless whim, everything changed. On New Year’s Eve, he sat down at a casino table for the very first time and walked away with a fortune big enough to pull his struggling family out of poverty. With a grin and a lighter heart than he’d ever known, Yukio sent the winnings home and stepped into the crowded streets, thinking his luck had finally turned. It had, but not in the way he expected. A freak accident ended his life in an instant. When he opened his eyes again, Yukio found himself in a calm, endless white void. Waiting for him was Michibiki and Lord Fukui, the childish and maddeningly carefree God of Fortune. With a sheepish laugh, Fukui admitted the truth: Yukio only won because of borrowed divine luck… and the god had yanked it back by mistake, killing him in the process. Instead of an apology, Fukui offered Yukio a choice, fade away into a dull afterlife, or take a gamble on a second chance in Gaelora, a world of magic and monsters locked in a centuries-long war against demons. Yukio didn’t hesitate. Reborn in Gaelora with mastery over all six elements of magic and a strange, unpredictable skill of his own making, Yukio sets out to play the hand fate has dealt him. With Michibiki, an angelic guide who’s equal parts mentor and babysitter, he steps into a realm where every fight, every choice, and every spin of fortune could mean glory or ruin. For the first time in his life, Yukio isn’t just gambling for money. He’s gambling for the fate of a world and the odds have never been higher.

Silence. Like a nice bucket of shhhhhhhhh. Everyone shut the effing fudge UP! That's all I've ever wanted. *Sigh.* But silence comes in different flavors. There's mint - the peaceful kind that wraps around you like a blanket. The kind I chase at 2 AM. I've cried once. Just once. With a bucket beside me, watching heroes with super suits and impossible strength tear each other apart. Somehow that feels less broken than my reality. Then there's the suffocating silence at school. Not an ice cream flavor. This one tastes like metal and shame. High school is my personal hell. Empty wallet, empty lunch tray, empty seat beside me like I'm radioactive. Empty soul on Wednesdays because middles are always the worst. *The usual.* But Emily made the silence bearable. Mint-flavored again. Until she broke something between us. *Snap.* One moment she's whispering secrets with me, the next she's weaponizing them. She scattered my private thoughts, added her own twisted lies. The betrayal burns hotter than the stares drilling into my back. I went from invisible to spectacle. Being a ghost feels like luxury when you're dodging spit balls and "accidental" lunch trays. But somewhere between my third panic attack and contemplating switching schools... *Something shifted.* Like in those games you play, when your character suddenly glows and the screen flashes: "New Skill Unlocked" And it wasn't just in my head. I tested it. Small things at first – a pencil moving across my desk when I focused hard enough. Then books. Then someone's lunch tray right as they walked past Emily. *tap tap tap* I used to think rock bottom was the end. *Well ladies and gentlemen,* it's just a really messed up spawn point. And now? I don't stumble from cliffs anymore. I swim in gravity, and dive head first.