Rise of the New Demon King

Chapter 0-A Wish for a Better Life

They say that life can always get better, and that you always have to try to improve your situation. However, that's not always the case unfortunately. Especially not with me.

My name is Markus Calida. I am a nightshift janitor at the nearest popular grocery store. And if I'm honest, it's absolutely hell to work here. The workers are practically always at my throat, and my manager is doing nothing to stop them. Not only that, the customers are always either very weird, or incredibly rude.

But, it pays the rent for my terrible apartment, and allows me to live another day. So I guess it's good enough for me at this point. While I despise this life, it's the life I can have at the moment. And I'm not giving it away just yet.

And then, I could hear a voice calling out for me. I could recognize the voice immediately, as it belonged to my manager, Richard. It usually meant there was a mess for me to clean up. And so, I pick up my supplies, and walk on over, seeing my manager standing over a shattered bottle of wine.

"About time. Someone knocked this over. Gonna need you to clean it up," he said with a scowl as he would immediately walk off, not giving me another word. While I was annoyed, it was my job. And so, I would have begun cleaning it up. I'm pretty sure it was a careless customer, but it could also be one of the employees making my life a living hell. But, I have no proof for that.

Luckily, I was experienced in cleaning stuff like this up. After all, when you do nothing but clean messes like this up for the past 3 years, you tend to get used to cleaning them up quickly, no matter how dangerous.

After the mess was cleaned up, I would check my watch. It was finally 10:30 pm, my time to clock out as I packed up my stuff into the janitor's closet, and went to clock out. In the employee break room was the machine to clock out, and luckily no one else was in there. I would have simply clocked out, grabbed my jacket, and left the building.

As much as I wanted to leave and never return, it's the only job I have, and the only job I'll likely get. After all, this stupid town only gives jobs to those with degrees, and my job doesn't pay for college. So I'm stuck in this dead-end job. But, there's always a bit of light to these days, mainly due to-

"Hey! Wait up Mark!" A loud voice could be heard behind me, as I turned around and saw my friend, Elizabeth chasing after me. She was always the extrovert of us two, so she always dragged me to various things. It didn't matter though, since it was a fun time either way.

"About time. I was wondering where you might be," I said with a small chuckle, simply ruffling up her hair when she finally reached me. She would have pouted a bit, but it quickly disappeared.

"Hey, I was quite busy as well ya know. If only I could just leave and pick you up. Shame how the world works," she said with a heavy sigh, before we started walking back to our apartment building. We were neighbors, which is how we ended up talking. I was at least lucky enough to run into her.

"Sooooo... What's on your mind today?" She asked, leaning forward a bit as she stared at me with her usual big grin. "Oh nothing much, just the same terrible manager and same terrible co-workers, and the same terrible schedule," I simply responded, giving a small shrug in response, which she didn't seem to enjoy.

"C'mon, I'm certain that something interesting is going on in that thick skull of yours!" She exclaimed as she would have given me a slight nudge to my side, both of us chuckling slightly as we kept nudging each other.

"Well, I'm simply planning on heading home and playing some strategy games. You know how much I love those." I let out a small sigh, hoping to simply relax with my games. For some reason, strategy games always made me relaxed and happy.

"You mean the same thing you do every day? Why not learn to cook? You can't eat cup noodles every day for the rest of your life," She would say teasingly, as I pretended to be offended by her words.

"How dare thee! Cup noodles and video games are a holy treasure! You dare insult them?!" I exclaimed playfully, which ended in us both laughing at my words. "Besides, I don't just have cup noodles. I order take-out sometimes," I finally say with a shrug.

"Guess there's no convincing you. We're here at least. Guess this is where we part ways. Later Mark!" She exclaimed excitedly, as she proceeded to run into the apartment complex, most likely to her room. I would have simply sighed, and would have calmly gone to my own room. I would have opened the door, and would have seen the same pitiful sight as I usually do.

What lies in my sacred chambers is nothing special. Simply a bed, a closet, a couch with a TV, my computer for gaming, and a kitchen for obvious reasons. I simply sigh as I take off my jacket, and throw it onto the couch without too much care. I then kick off my shoes, sit down on the couch, and turn on my computer to play some games.

After that, I don't know how long time has passed. All I knew was that I was enjoying myself. But, all good times must come to an end, as an alarm went off, warning me that I should head to bed for work tomorrow. With that, I turned off my computer, and simply went to bed, not even bothering to change out of my clothes. They were comfortable enough, and I was too tired to change.

Eventually, I drifted off the sleep, simply wished for a life that wasn't this one. Something with more excitement, and less people trying to make my life horrible around me. Though, I wasn't expecting much. I simply let time fly in my dreams.

However, when I woke up once more, things ended up getting much more complicated than I thought, as the ceiling I woke up to wasn't mine to begin with.

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And there is the prologue! Hope I caught your interest, and I hope that you keep reading!

Stay tuned