Zero to Hero (Prequel/prototype)

Chapter 80. Origin [End of Prologue]

When the clock struck midnight, the new year began and my birthday came to an end. I laid in bed, wide awake, thinking about how the love of my life would soon become someone else's husband and it pained me more than I could have ever imagined.

Without warning, the pain intensified and what I believed was my longing for him turned into realization.

Realization of who I am and how I became me.

Memories flooded back as the blurriness in my mind disappeared and without him by my side to comfort me, I was unable to contain the pure darkness that consumed my existence.

I was born in a peaceful city deep within the protective borders of my kingdom, far away from the constant wars that consumed this world.

I have always heard about the constant wars but never thought the day would come for me to experience its effects personally.

Everything changed one day when what we the average citizens believed were impenetrable city walls that protected us got overrun before any of us had time to even know what had happened.

Before my eyes, my peaceful city disappeared into a sea of fire and chaos.

Thousands upon thousands of armored soldiers from a rival kingdom rushed in, covered in the blood of my countryman from head to toe as they went down each house and left no building unturned.

Too stunned to move, I watched as my neighbors, friends, and family slaughtered before my very eyes as my world got turned upside down.

Instead of a swift death like everyone I knew, my captors often reminded me that I was lucky they were kind-hearted enough to spare my life as they went on with their nefarious deeds.

Day after day, others enslaved around me either took their own lives or died from the torture.

Day after day, I wished for death as my life was reduced to nothingness and served only as a tool to satisfy their desires.

As the soldiers traveled from town to town, every place they went was turned to ashes. Violence, destruction, death, and despair became the only constant in my life.

The days turned into months then years.

The memories of my peaceful life slowly faded, the images of my family and friends slowly disappeared and even the pain and suffering became merely another part of my daily existence.

HATRED.

As every other emotion and memory faded, the sole purpose of my existence became my hatred.

Hatred towards my captors, hatred towards my kingdom for their ineptitude, hatred towards mankind for their hunger for war, hatred became my existence, I became hatred.

One day, my desire manifested into reality and my hatred took form.

Without understanding what had happened, I was shrouded by a layer of darkness, I became the embodiment of hatred and death.

Anyone who got touched by my darkness shroud would suffer instant death and the darkness also protected me from any harm. I became invincible. Untouchable.

After easily murdering my captors, I began to wander aimlessly.

No family, no friends, no longer remember even my own name.

I became what I hated. I became violence, destruction, death, and despair for the entire world.

For years, my hatred-fueled rampage followed wherever I went and every place I left behind became a wasteland of destruction and death.