Prologue - I

Alexander King was an ordinary boy. There was nothing extraordinary about him, at least in the ‘real’ world. He wasn’t particularly handsome, nor was he extraordinarily smart. He was the average of the average.

The King Family, in the year 2035, is considered one of the richest families of the world. Alicia King was the CEO of the weapons manufacturing company ‘Ouroboros’, while her husband, Rex King was a renowned scientist working under the technology division of her company. That was just Alex’s parents alone. Alex’s twin sister Sophia King was a prodigy in music and well known worldwide, having earned a small fortune for herself by the age of 12. At the age of 16, she already had a huge fan following and was considered a pop-star.

Some may think that one may feel pressured with having successful parents and a famous sister. However, in reality, Alexander King was indifferent. His parents loved him, his sister tolerated him, like any other sibling did. He was living the ordinary life, as ordinary as it could be that is. He liked it that way.

Alex had lived an uneventful life. He had the ordinary high school experience, had a good number of friends, got good grades and played tennis on the weekends to stay fit. He was close to graduating and had already been accepted into a college of his liking. However, Alex’s plan for life, which had proceeded smoothly so far, came to an abrupt halt. It came in the typical mix of a pretty girl, a truck and broken spine.

It happened when Alex was on his way home from school. He was waiting at the traffic signal for his best friend Marcus to pick him up when he saw her. A girl as tall as Alex, about 5’8”, glossy black hair, with a petite build was crossing the street towards him. She was preoccupied with something on her phone and had her earphones plugged in her ears. Alex recognized her instantly.

Hayley Caldwell and Alexander King could be considered childhood friends, they had known each other since kindergarten and had become fast friends over a batch of crayons. Recently, however, their relationship had become a little strained, mostly to do with the fact that Hayley’s first and new boyfriend Arthur Weiss, had a strong dislike for the average Alex.

Hayley, while looking at her phone, suddenly froze. Alex was puzzled, even more so when he noticed the look of horror and tragic sadness on Hayley’s face. However, he didn’t dwell on it much longer, no he couldn’t. Alex saw a huge truck barreling towards Hayley, the driver honking on his horn madly. But, Hayley stood rooted at the spot, her earphones cancelling out all the noise. Alex panicked, and he rushed towards her. Everything that happened next was a blur for both Alex and Hayley.

For Hayley, she suddenly saw someone, a friend she recognized as one of the reasons for her current horror and sadness, rushing towards her. She felt anger overwhelm her and was about to lash out when Alex practically dove into her and pushed her away. All she felt next was the hard concrete and the sound of screeching tires, the shrill scream of a woman and a voice she vaguely recognized screaming, “ALEX!!!”

What Alex felt was vastly different compared to Hayley. The rush of adrenaline, the sprint to push her out of the way, the truck hitting him and acute and scorching hot pain before blackness overcame him.