Chapter 2: Fragments of a Life Lost

(Marcus PoV)

The soft light of dawn seeped through the frost-covered windows, casting pale shadows across the room. Marcus sat in the silence, still trying to wrap his mind around everything that had happened. His hands trembled as he rested them on his knees, and his heart pounded, not from panic anymore, but from the weight of memories that surged to the surface.

His new life in the Solstern Empire felt overwhelming, but what terrified him more was the life he had left behind.

Slowly, Marcus closed his eyes, trying to focus, to sort through the confusion and chaos swirling in his mind. His past felt distant now, like a story half-forgotten, but it was still there, buried beneath the shock and the fear. If he could just remember, maybe he could make sense of it all—how he ended up here, in this strange new body, with a title he had never asked for.

---

It had been a bright, sunny morning. The kind of day that normally filled him with energy, but that day, Marcus had woken up with a knot of anxiety twisting in his stomach.

His entrance exams were scheduled for the afternoon—an important step for his future. He had worked tirelessly for this moment, spent countless nights studying to make sure he'd ace the exam and secure a place at the prestigious university he had dreamed of attending.

Marcus could still remember standing in front of the mirror in his small apartment, straightening his collar and grabbing his notes. He had been nervous, but confident. His future was just within his grasp.

He left early, wanting to avoid the usual city traffic and make sure he arrived at the examination hall with time to spare. He had hopped into his old, battered car—a relic of his teenage years—and merged into the sea of vehicles heading toward the city center. His mind had been occupied with equations and formulas, mentally rehearsing answers and double-checking everything he had crammed into his brain the night before.

Then, the phone rang.

It was an unfamiliar number. He hesitated at first, wondering if he should ignore it and keep focusing on the road. But something in his gut told him to answer.

"Hello?" he had said, one hand gripping the steering wheel, the other holding his phone to his ear.

There was a pause on the other end, and then a voice—a woman's voice, trembling with urgency—spoke. "Is this Marcus?"

"Yes, this is him," he replied, a strange sense of dread rising in his chest.

"I'm calling from the hospital," she said quickly. "Your parents—there's been an accident. A car crash. They're in critical condition. You need to come right away."

Time seemed to stop.

He remembered the deafening silence that followed her words, the way his heartbeat pounded in his ears. His mind had gone blank, and all the exam stress, all the preparation, vanished in an instant.

Without a second thought, he swerved his car onto the next exit, abandoning the path to the examination hall. His mind was filled with a single thought: **I need to get to them.** The voice on the phone was still speaking, but he barely registered it. His parents were in the hospital. **Critical condition.** That was all that mattered.

Marcus slammed his foot on the gas pedal, the engine roaring as the car surged forward. The streets blurred past him as he sped through intersections and weaved between traffic, desperate to reach the hospital as quickly as possible. His heart raced, his hands shaking on the steering wheel, as if sheer speed alone could bring him to their side in time.

He ignored the traffic lights, ignored the honking horns, and focused solely on the road ahead. His parents. He couldn't lose them. Not now, not like this.

But then, as he sped down a narrow street, something changed. A black SUV veered into his path, forcing him to slam on the brakes. The tires screeched against the pavement, but the car skidded to a halt just inches from the SUV's bumper. 

Marcus cursed under his breath, frustration and fear boiling over. He honked his horn, but the SUV didn't move. Before he could think of what to do next, the driver's door of the SUV opened, and a man stepped out. His face was hidden behind dark sunglasses, but the heavy coat and sharp glint of metal in his hand sent a chill down Marcus's spine.

Marcus's heart sank. **What is this?**

He barely had time to react before more men appeared, spilling out of nearby alleyways and surrounding his car. They weren't ordinary thugs. They were armed. Guns flashed in the early morning light, and their expressions were cold, emotionless.

**A gang.** He had driven right into a gang's turf war without realizing it.

Panic set in. His first instinct was to reverse, to escape. But as he shifted into gear, a loud bang rang out, and the back windshield shattered. Marcus ducked instinctively, his heart hammering in his chest. He couldn't move. He couldn't think. All he could hear were the gunshots and the screeching of tires.

Before he knew it, one of the men had yanked open the driver's side door, dragging him out of the car. His body hit the ground hard, his head spinning from the impact. He tried to scramble to his feet, but the man above him leveled a gun at his chest.

Time slowed.

Marcus stared at the barrel of the gun, his breath catching in his throat. **This can't be happening.**

He thought of his parents in the hospital, waiting for him. He thought of his exam, the future he had worked so hard to build, crumbling in front of him. Everything was slipping through his fingers, and there was nothing he could do.

The man pulled the trigger.

Pain exploded in his chest as the bullet tore through his heart. The world spun, the sounds around him muffled, distant. He collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, the life draining out of him as darkness closed in.

**This is it.** His thoughts were scattered, fading fast. **I'm going to die.**

The last thing he remembered before the darkness consumed him was the overwhelming sense of loss, of regret. He would never see his parents again. Never take that exam. Never live the life he had been so close to grasping.

---

Marcus snapped back to the present with a sharp intake of breath, his heart racing in his chest. He was still sitting on the bed, in the freezing cold room of the Solstern Empire's grand duchy.

He pressed a hand to his chest, where the bullet had struck him. The pain was gone, but the memory of it lingered, raw and real. He could still feel the cold pavement beneath him, the panic, the helplessness as life slipped away from him.

He had died. There was no denying it.

And now… now he was here, in a strange new world, in a body that wasn't his own. How? Why? None of it made sense, and the more he tried to understand it, the more lost he felt.

Marcus buried his face in his hands, overwhelmed by the flood of emotions and memories. His old life was gone. His parents, his dreams, his future—all gone. And now he was supposed to be this Marcus Aurelius, Grand Duke of a crumbling empire, responsible for people and lands he didn't even know.

"I… I can't," he whispered, his voice breaking. "I don't know how to do this."

He wanted to scream, to cry, to rage against the unfairness of it all. But all he could do was sit there, numb and hollow, as the weight of his new reality pressed down on him.

Time had stopped for him once, but now it felt like it had started again—cruel and relentless. And there was no turning back.