"Deja Vu" (Prologue)

In case you missed it; I have decided to reboot this story for something that nobody seems to see but I do; the lack of quality in my writing. I feel that it's obvious when you look back at the first chapters of the original version of this that I was a child when I wrote them... but I don't want to delete that work... so I decided to just reboot the story but keep that old one around in case people want to read it. It's funny to think that I've got my own book published now (ETM: His Life in case you're interested, trying to write a sequel too) yet I still feel a strange urge to come back and do this story justice. Well, I'll keep this short, thank you all for supporting me, I got about 50K views on the first version of this story and I'm so thankful, I never thought I would get anywhere NEAR that amount. Well, I hope to live up to all of your expectations and I sincerely hope for your continued support. With that said, this has been a message from your cryptic author; A.J.Webster and I do seriously, seriously hope you enjoy.

"Sometimes, people need a break from the madness... other times, the madness needs a break from you."

He woke up, gasping for air as if he was being drowned in his sleep only to find that everything was completely natural; the grandfather clock outside his room chiming eight times, the sounds of hustle and bustle just outside of his window, the complete silence inside of the house after the clock was finished announcing the time. It was so peaceful. The boy slowly sat up as a yawn creeped up through his body and he stretched in preparation for the day ahead of him. It took a few seconds for him to remember what day it was and that his parents would be out of the house by now as they were trying to earn money... with a sigh, he got out of bed and looked at himself in the mirror. This was Lukas; a fourteen year old boy with black hair and red eyes, his skin was incredibly pale and he quickly got changed into his favourite outfit; a white shirt, black trousers and shoes... frankly it wasn't too amazing but he didn't want to stand out if anybody saw him.

Lukas looked outside his window once he was finished dressing himself and smiled as the golden light of sunshine fell down upon the city which he lived in; Sapphirium. He smiled at this and for once, Lukas actually felt like he wanted to go outside... and so, he ran out of his room and down the stairs so fast to the point where he almost fell before grabbing his blue coat and rushing out of the house. "If only it could've stayed that way." Lukas spoke with a sigh as he stopped reminiscing about the past and opened his eyes once more to find himself floating in the seemingly never-ending white void again. "Everybody wishes that life could've stayed simple at some point, it's a temporary thing, you'll get over it." She responded which immediately changed Lukas' emotions from sorrowful to enraged. "How can you be so heartless? Do you have any idea what I've been through? Any idea at all for all of the wrong you've done!?" Lukas retorted as he turned to face her despite the lack of gravity in his surroundings.

"I've been through everything that has just transpired in your life and much, much more, don't even try to say that I don't know how you feel right now. I'm speaking from experience, you'll forget about them soon enough and when that happens, you'll be a better person for it." She replied as it became obvious to Lukas that even after all that she had done, she most likely would never care no matter how many hardships she had forced upon others. "Now I know for definite that you're heartless; if you actually cared about anything, you'd be sympathising with me right now considering the fact that you've been through this before and you know how it feels. Then again, I don't know what I expected from a goddess of death." Lukas said as tears once again began to form in his eyes. "You tend to lose touch with your kindness when you're forced to kill repeatedly." She simply explained as her apparition appeared once more; it looked similar to her physical appearance but it wasn't exactly the same. Her ghostly form appeared to be coloured a light shade of red and it was slightly transparent but Lukas could still make out her items of clothing; the slightly torn and burnt dress, the metallic accessories added to her gauntlets and legs most likely intended for extra damage during close-quarters combat.

As Lukas looked up and saw her mask, slightly covered by her hood, and the still glowing red eye in the centre of it, he couldn't help but let out a chuckle. "What's so funny?" She asked as she was genuinely curious as to what could cause a traumatised child to laugh in a situation like that. "It's strange... I feel like this isn't the first time I've seen this same sight or said these same things. It feels like... I've just met an old friend." Lukas clarified as he looked down at his hands before looking back up at her. "Wouldn't you agree, Bethany?" Lukas inquired with a smile which seemed to shock her.

"Behold, it never ended, it simply started anew, do not allow yourself to be fooled, the reflection is simply trying to deceive you but if you look deep into the mirror, eventually you'll see something other than yourself gazing back. THAT is your true enemy."