The Rise of a Hegemon

Beams of sunlight shone through the cracks of the tattered blinds, illuminating the dusty and filthy room. Khalid crinkled his eyes as he groaned and turned on his side and pulled his thick blue blanked over his messy black hair, unwilling to begin his day and trying to grasp the last bit of sleepiness that could help him go back to that wonderful dream he was having. This lasted mere moments though, as his obnoxious alarm clock that he's had since he was a boy washed away the last bits of sleepiness he had barely managed to gather in hopes of going back to sleep. He jolted upwards in shock of the sudden noise before grumbling and shooting a deathly sharp glare at that hateful red digital alarm clock, reading 7:30 in the morning. Khalid began to fumble out of his bed, dragging his feet step by step through the pile of clothes left around his bed until he finally made it out the door, only to open the door to a very upset and stern face. His mother had caught him in his most vulnerable spot, and before he could even think about slamming the door in order to quickly hide his mess, his mother gripped the door so hard it began to slightly splinter around the edges of her fingers. 

His quite good looking mother Samira, only 43 years of age and yet still with the strength of her prime Olympic athlete days, smiled sinisterly at her son before sighing deeply at the thought of even trying to reprimand this creature of habit staring back at her in pure fear of her next move. "Khalid Khattak, I'd love to chew your ear out like there's no tomorrow, but lucky for you your father is coming back from China and he even bought some sort of gift for you. Hurry up and get dressed before your father sees you like this, or worse yet, smells you." She audibly gagged and shot Khalid a look of disgust before closing the door in his face, with Khalid yet to react to both the good and bad new. His father would finally be coming back after 7 months overseas, and he had next to no time to clean up both his room and himself. Khalid sprung into action, throwing his dirty laundry into his specified dirty laundry basked and started folding anything that at least looked and smelled clean. He finished his tasks with an unbelievable pace, before rushing to take a shower and scrub the smell out his skin. Only 20 minutes later he came out looking like a supermodel, his sleek wavy black hair flowing towards his right hand side and olive tanned skin glowing beautifully. His hazel brown eyes glowed with renewed vigor, filled to the brim with excitement to see his father again. He quickly dried off and threw on a tradition outfit to greet his father. 

Right as Khalid made it downstairs, his father walked through the door with his tall stature radiating a feeling of warmth and closeness, though Khalid knew this feeling was not to be trusted as his father was known as the great white shark of the business world, biting viscously onto any moneymaking opportunity and not letting go until he devoured it whole. His father, Ghazan Khattak, smiled brightly at his wife and son, before pulling them in for a big family hug that seemed to last almost too long. He laughed heartily at the sight of his son squirming for air as his wife sweetly smiled at him before pinching his waist hard enough to make him let go. "Ow Ow Ow, oh my goodness Samira, are you trying to pinch your husband to death right after getting him back?" "Hah, as if that's enough to take down a thick skulled guy like you. Honestly with your talent for making money I truly find it hard to believe you can be so stupid at times. Though I really should say, welcome back dear." "Its great to be back, though I will say, your waist pinching is something I didn't miss." Samira flashed her signature foreboding smile at her numbskull of a husband before speaking to him sweetly. "Maybe its my old age getting to me, but I seem to have heard someone asking for a good helping of my pinches." "No no no, you must have heard me wrongly, I meant that your pinches make me feel at home again my dear." "Hmm, so you really do think your poor little wife is really getting old? Well since that's the case, let my pinches make you feel at home a little more since that's all your old wife can do." Ghazan starts to shake in his boots a little before trying, and failing miserably, to dodge his wife's pinch. 

Khalid enjoys the sight of his dad finally being bullied by his mom instead of himself being the one to take on these pinches. *Dad, although I could probably save your life and bring this farce to an end, I can't risk taking her anger any longer. I'll pray that you live happily in the afterlife.* Right as Khalid clasped his hands together in a prayer sign, his father stood up straight and laughed deeply at this feeling of closeness he hadn't felt for far too long. "Ah that's right, Khalid come here. I bought this helmet for you as a gift for your 18th birthday, I thought that even though I had to miss it I should at least make up for it with a good gift. This bad boy is the latest generation of the Pantheon's Bauble. How is it, not a bad gift by your old man right?" Khalid's eyes shone as his dad pulled the helmet out from behind his back, its futuristic aesthetic making it seem like the stuff he could only dream of or read about in his fantasy books. *Finally* He thought. *Now I can play H9R (Hegemony of the 9 Realms) right as it launches. I thought I'd have to wait a while for it to have a flash sale before I could afford one of the oldest generation models for myself.* "It's awesome dad! Thank you so much! Its more than I ever expected out of a rich cheapskate like you, haha." "Ouch, that's hitting below the belt little guy. Well go on and start fiddling around with it, I know you can't be bothered to watch your mom and I get all lovey-dovey" "Oh yeah, count me out, I'll see you later." Upon hearing his parents were going to start being hopeless lovebirds yet again, Khalid bolted up the stairs to his room and made sure to lock it before hopping in his bed and throwing on the Pantheon's Bauble.

Finally, he'll get to play this game praised as the chance to live a whole new life in a new world, and Khalid swears he'll make the most of this chance. There's one simple for reason for this of course, as the child of one of the wealthiest families in the world who own largest conglomerate worldwide he absolutely has to carve a name for himself while simultaneously not shaming his family name. In a rush of excitement, he quickly wore the Bauble and installed the game, waiting patiently for it to become available to play with only a little over two hours left...