The Root of All Evil (LitRPG - Progression Fantasy) - Prologue: The boy that has nothing

Thu, 21 Sep 2023 23:17:58 GMT

One stormy day on the eve of the new year, Earth had spit out a newborn into the crumbling house of an alcoholic father and an addict mother. Alexander Marcius wasn’t a genius, and he didn't have the childhood that others wanted. When he wanted to eat he plunged into freezing cold fountain waters and picked up nickels. Then he celebrated because he could afford the scraps of food his parents would sell him. If he wanted a bed to sleep in, he had to pay. If he wanted warmth, he had to pay. There was no trust or pity, and no love.

There were only negotiations.

Every day he had made a deal to extend his life another few hours. He wasn’t born a survivor. He was forged into one through a trial of fire.

Then, one day, the door to his parent's house opened and an elderly lady strode through the entrance, her eyes the colour of lightning.

Muriel Marcius found Alexander lying among a sea of beer bottles, the cheapest on the market. Her grandson’s skin was pallid and his golden almond eyes faint from hunger. His hair had grown thin from malnutrition, though she could still see her family’s tell-tale straight jaw and pronounced chin etched onto the sunken skin of his face. The bottles weren’t his and she recognised the foul smoke-filled stench of his father clinging to the frayed carpet.

The boy looked up at her warily. A single hand reached behind him toward a bottle, as though he were expecting a fight. Muriel put her hand up to assuage his doubts and show she came in peace, but it didn’t lower the animosity in his eyes.

Her worthless daughter and that drunkard of a son-in-law had done more damage to the child than she’d imagined.

“Who are you?” His voice reverberated across the room, deeper than a child of his early teenage years should have.

Muriel jolted in surprise. His eyes spoke of rebellion and his body screamed neglect, but his voice told her that he had fire, and spirit. He wasn’t asking her to entertain a request. (...)