**SYSTEM MESSAGE: THIS IS JUST A PROLOGUE SO FEEL FREE TO SKIP IT IF YOU WISH, HOWEVER AS THE DEVELOPER, I SUGGEST YOU DON’T!!!**
[Pre-Apocalyptic, 1:06 PM]
*****
The deafening silence of the neighborhood was all that filled the atmosphere. Everyone had gone on vacation to meet their family and loved ones, but Lucien had none.
"It’s another hot afternoon, huh? I’d better get in before I burn to a crisp," he said, tossing a toothpick into a pile of trash.
He’d been living on the allowances his neighbors gave him out of pity. His house was a rundown bungalow, sitting at the center of the street, its roof slowly falling apart.
He opened the door, and a sharp creak followed before he approached his bed. In an instant, he threw himself on it, his hands and feet sinking deeply into the bed.
"I can’t keep lying to myself. It’s only a matter of time till I get cursed and eventually die," he thought to himself, tears slowly flowing down his cheeks.
They were addressed as the ’Dark Triad’. A demonic force of 3 distinct personalities that cursed random individuals with deadly plagues, sudden death, or excruciating pain.
Those who suffered deadly diseases reported dark, menacing figures in their dreams before any symptoms of being cursed. Some said the figure they encountered had a purple glow to it; others, blue and red.
"I might as well go to bed, right? Everyone’s died off, and it should be right about the time for me to leave this cruel world." Lucien shut his eyes, the heavy feeling of dizziness slowly overwhelming him.
He mumbled a few times, and after some minutes, his words turned into deep snores, and eventually, he fell asleep.
After what felt like a few hours, Lucien’s eyes abruptly opened, revealing the dark atmosphere in his room. He tilted his head and locked his gaze at the sky for a few minutes.
"It’s nighttime already? I guess I wasn’t cursed this time either," Lucien said in disappointment, trying to get up from his bed.
He wriggled his arms and legs as a habit, thinking he had gotten up from bed. With his shaky eyelids and fleeting vision, he realized he was locked to the bed.
Suddenly, his room turned into a vast land filled with snow. He moved his head around only to see more empty land filled with snow. Soon after, snowfall began, accompanied by strong winds that cut through his body, sending deadly chills.
"Sleep paralysis? No, it’s not that..." Lucien said, panicking. He focused on his arms and tried moving them, but they felt lifeless, as though his consciousness had been detached from his body.
Before him stood a creature that appeared within the worsening snowfall. Its body burned like dark flames with 2 red menacing circles as eyes. Slowly, a smile crept onto Lucien’s face.
"Finally! I’ve been cursed, and I can leave this hell hole." He tried leaping in joy, but his legs felt non-existent.
The figure began approaching Lucien ominously, and with each step, Lucien felt a new emotion.
Joy, intrigue, unease, apprehension, anxiety, and eventually immense fear. Lucien didn’t just feel afraid; he was deeply horrified, shaken to his core. The figure’s ominous aura radiated around it so easily that everything within its vicinity seemed to be withering away from existence.
"This is what I wanted, right?" Lucien said, forcing a smile on his face. "So why do I just want to run and not look back?" The figure’s body slowly grew larger, gradually filling Lucien’s entire vision, and for a moment, he felt his heart completely stop.
His vision went blank, his body already soaked in sweat, and in his final moments, he forced one last smile while screaming in terror.
[Despair, hatred, envy. That is what they are; the dark triad]
[And I am Wrath]
[For so many years, I’ve been sealed away, but finally, I have found a suitable host]
Those words kept echoing in Lucien’s fleeting consciousness with a voice so deep that the air around him trembled with each articulation.
"I’m not dead?" Lucien thought, slowly lifting his eyelids, revealing himself floating in the vast emptiness of the abyss devoid of any light.
[Now, you must suffer before you can enjoy your new life]
Suddenly, everywhere felt silent, and a triangle outlined with a deep crimson color appeared before him, growing in size until it was big enough to engulf him.
The circular patterns appeared at the 3 vertices of the triangle, with Lucien floating at the center. "New life?" Lucien finally processed the echoing words.
"Don’t tell me this is a reincarnation. I wanted death and not more suffering!" Lucien screamed at the top of his voice, somehow finding the strength to speak after so long.
Despite his resilience, it was already too late. His consciousness was slowly being pulled away, and eventually, he lost access to his body.
*****
"He’s a healthy young boy. He’ll grow up to make everyone in our village proud," a nurse clothed in tattered clothes said, a genuine smile spread across her face.
Lucien, crying uncontrollably, tilted his head around, his tiny arms and legs filling his vision. A man, most likely his father, barged into the room, breathing heavily.
"My son," he said, approaching Lucien as tears cascaded down his cheeks. "You made it."
’I guess I was born into a poor family. I wanted death, not more torture,’ Lucien thought, his cries slowly subsiding.
Beside him was a woman covered in blood and clear fluids, her body completely lifeless as her grip on Lucien slowly weakened.
"Sir, we’re sorry, but she couldn’t make it," the nurse said, her eyes reflecting the deep sorrow she felt for him.
Lucien’s new father just stood quietly, his hands slipping from Lucien’s body and onto his sides. "I see." A silent moan followed, his eyes welling up with tears.
"We’ve been cursed for a while now. I suppose it was her time to leave this world, and soon, it will be mine." The nurse immediately gripped him tightly while pointing at Lucien.
"At least raise this young boy first!" She screamed as hard as she could, but none of her words seemed to reach him. Lucien’s new father fell to his knees, holding Lucien’s palm with a blood-red ring pressed against it.
"Before I go, here’s a name for you... Lucien"
’He’s dead,’ Lucien thought, unable to speak as he was still newly born. ’I got birthed once more, and right before me, my two new parents died? What a cruel curse.’
Due to the effects of the curse, Lucien found himself aging unusually quickly until he reached the age of 21, and time began flowing naturally.