Father... I Love You

***

{Inside The Projection} 

Morning came with the kind of crisp air that made Malik almost consider staying in bed a little longer. It was the first time he had the luxury to feel that, but he wasn't the type to laze around, and the road was calling.

He got up, stretched, and went to take a bath, stripping off his—

...

Malik stared at his reflection in the small mirror, something he hadn't done in ages.

The man looking back at him was a stranger. Not just the build—lean muscle where there was once nothing—but his face too.

Golden eyes studied him with an intensity he barely recognized. His long golden hair, reaching down to his neck, framed a face that could be called handsome, a world of difference from before.

He stood a little taller than most, another change, another reminder of how far he'd come.