Chapter 1: First Page Unfolds

"Death gives us sleep, eternal youth, and immortality." — Jean Paul Richter

"Death is a commingling of eternity with time; in the death of a good man, eternity is seen looking through time." — Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Do not stand at my grave and weep.

I am not there; I do not sleep.

I am a thousand winds that blow.

I am the diamond glints on snow.

I am the sunlight on ripened grain.

I am the gentle autumn rain.

When you awaken in the morning's hush

I am the swift uplifting rush

Of quiet birds in circled flight.

I am the soft stars that shine at night.

Do not stand at my grave and cry;

I am not there; I did not die.

— Mary Elizabeth Frye

***

Dark, empty, and alone. Darkness stretched as far as Desmond's eyes could see. He could not see nor hear. It was an empty space of time and reality.

"I died... cruelly."

When something's already done, there is nothing one can do about it but accept the bitter outcome. Desmond clenched his invisible fist through the dark space and felt the sudden chill running at the back of his neck.

Immediately, he curled up then hugged himself to warm his cold body. His lips and hands were trembling from the extreme cold, teeth clattering as a set of cool breeze passed by him. There was nothing earlier, but now Desmond was going through hell once again.

Despite everything that was currently going on, silence filled Desmond's head. Therefore, the loud ringing or vibration of something kept playing in his head.

"Oh, poor soul!"

As if he was paranoid, Desmond looked all over the dark space, even though he could not see a thing at all.

"Who's there?!"

"Fufufufu!"

In Desmond's ears, the voice sounded like a mix of low and high pitch voices, which he could say comes from a man and a woman. Yes, the voice sounded like it was both a man and a woman.

"Welcome to void, Desmond Alarcan! You've died, unfortunately, and were sent here!"

Desmond could only hear the conjoined voice, but he had no idea where it was coming from. The voice was not speaking at him through the mouth but through his head. So, Desmond was actually receiving the voice from all over the place. There was no way to pinpoint the location of the person talking to him, not in that dark place.

Therefore, he remained curled up in his position, waiting for the next words to shake his core.

"Being in the void means you will be sleeping eternally. Don't worry, though! There won't be suffering anymore. Only the good thing that has happened in your life will play through as you keep on dreaming... forever!"

As if he was looking in a mirror, Desmond saw his own reflection, happily smiling while he completely accepted his fate. He was dead. His purpose in life was done.

"It is time for me to rest. Finally."

Tiredly, he lay on his stomach, now fully grasping how cold the thing he was on. It was colder than ice yet softer than his white sheet bed. It was so fluffy he was gradually submerging through it. His eyes were beginning to feel sleepy, eyelids were heavy.

"How mature of you. While most of the people that died and got sent here would complain and beg to be alive one more time, you, on the other hand, accepted eternal sleep and wished to forever dream."

Actually, Desmond was not aware if his eyes were closed or if it was just the absence of light. But as he starts to feel relaxed and calm, light comes shining upon his sleep. It came like a glint in the morning through the curtains.

"Desmond, I am home!"

Such a sweet and gentle voice from a lovely woman rang in his head. He did not realize that he was rushing to the door where Desmond's mother was taking off her shoes. On the tatami floor were the groceries she bought in the wet market, fresh and cheap.

"Mom! I've missed you!"

Elation filled Desmond's heart. He was overjoyed by the arrival of his mother. The next thing he did after giving his mother a kiss on her cheek was rummaging through the groceries.

"Hold on, tiger. Your father has the toy you wished for today!"

"But dad isn't here, mom!"

The smiling expression on his mom's face instantly turned into a sour and disgusted look. Her face was wrinkled while being gradually twisted into a swirl.

Terrified, young Desmond ran further back inside the house as it abruptly changed form, shaking and taking weird shapes.

"Have you forgotten?! You were the reason why your father isn't here! He died because of you! Murderer! Murderer! Murderer!"

The conjoined voice must have mistaken nightmares for dreams because after suffering from dying, coldness, and endless amounts of physical pain, a series of traumatic events occurred right before his eyes.

"Ahhhh!!!"

It was torture. Desmond was being punished, and he could not escape it.

"This is no void. This is hell."

A human's sanity has its limit. And Desmond was on the verge of losing his mind over the mind-boggling, traumatic experience.

The mental torture did not end there. It continued for how long Desmond knows, repeatedly getting abused both physically and mentally while he was always being reminded how he was the reason why his father never got to go back home on his birthday.

"Fufufufufufufufufufu!"

Begging did nothing. No matter how much he begged them to stop, they did not care nor pay any attention to his words. Desmond was forced to suffer over and over again until he became crazy. Until he accepted the fact that it was really his fault that his father died.

"Had I not told my dad to buy me a robot toy that day, he and mom would have been alive. Only myself is there to blame."

"Finally, you've accepted your mistake! Owning their mistakes is a sign of maturity. One must always act maturely. Because of that, we have something special for you! This is to compensate you for the countless times you've experienced being mentally tortured."

Glittery stars began to appear all over the dark space, filling the entire space with colorful dots floating everywhere. Desmond still has not recovered, but his inner child was mesmerized by the beautiful sight.

"Just because I felt bad for what I did to you, I will allow you to evolve the ability you will acquire. However, you must prepare for the consequence of possessing such a gift. Behold, Desmond! For you will witness history unfold before you!"

Time passed by so fast Desmond froze in his spot. He could not move an inch nor speak as events that happened in the past unfolded in his very eyes. However, there was no way to store such draining memories in his mind.

"You will have to rely on your knowledge and things you know from now on. I am not gonna tell you much. Discover everything by yourself and create your own history."

For quite some time, Desmond became deaf. His hearing sense turned off for a moment, and it bothered him that he won't be able to hear anything anymore for the rest of his life inside the void. Or so he thought.

"I didn't even get to talk properly to that person. I have no clue as to who and what that was. But one thing is for sure, the voice brought me back to life."

But before he could regain consciousness and complete recovery from the torture after getting treated, Desmond heard the words "the name Desmond is a person in the past now. Live by your new name and carve your own path."

Warm feelings gently engulf Desmond's body as the sunlight gets in his line of sight, thus rendering him incapable of dodging the hardball made from paper.

"Oww!"

Desmond was hit right in his face. It left a mark on his face, reddened, and one hole in his nose was bleeding. Kids who were supposedly playing with him hurried to his aid while the known bullies laughed at his incompetence.

"A-Are you okay, Xenia? I-I am sorry. I didn't mean to hit you in the face. I also didn't know that you were not paying attention."

Baffled by the size of his hands, which seemed to be that of a child's, Xenia stood back up, serious but still found the time to wipe the blood from his nose.

What unfolds in his eyes was not the high-rise buildings from the city he lived in, but the tall trees that reach 30 feet in height, and their trunks were as thick as the body of a 300-pound man. Wherein the faces of the kids who help him stand and those that laughed at him do not seem familiar.

"This is not my memory. This is not the life I had in the past. If so, then whose is it?"

"What are you mumbling about, Xenia? Have you forgotten? We are in a country called Quesaint! This is an island surrounded by seawater but is also an urban city!"

"What?! But what year is this?" Still in shock, Xenia asked vigorously.

"Ouch! I-It is the year 1869, and it's already May!"

"What did you say? If what you're saying is true then there is only a month before the greatest history in Quesaint occurs! The rise of the Warriors and the appearance of the Radge!"

~