Full Body Echo

The chill of the pre-dawn air bites at my skin even through the thin blanket. 2115. Another day in this digitalized reality, a world remade by the AI that now permeates everything. They say three families stood at the apex when this technological tide first swept over us. Then seven more clawed their way to join them. But power, I’ve learned early, is a fragile thing. The Harun family – my family, though I barely knew them – learned that the hard way. One moment they were on top, the next, my father lay dead, a victim of some other family's ambition. My mother followed him soon after, her lifeblood spent bringing me into this brutal world. "Unfortunate," they called me, this orphan born from tragedy. And unfortunate my life has been, a harsh climb from the very bottom. But in this world of shifting alliances and old grudges, even an unfortunate son might find a way to make his mark.