He just wants to wake up from this nightmare. The bells are screaming for him. Even if the sounds they are making are beautiful, from this day forward, the sound of bells would bring a tragic event inside his mind.
"Can you stand up? Everybody went away. The only ones here are me, you, and the memory of your mother." A man asked.
Silence. That was everything that you could get as an answer.
"Look, I know that you are suffering right now. First, your father left you and your mother, now she went to the other side as well. The pain must be a lot for you right now, but it is better if we are leaving. The more you stay beside her grave, the more painful it will be."
After a minute, the boy finally came with an answer.
"I want to know."
"What?" The adult next to him was confused.
"I want to know...how did you meet my parents?"
"That is something that we can talk about on our way home. From this point forward you will stay with me until you find a place for yourself, i promised this to your mom."
"I don't care about this, I asked you something, and I demand an answer. And most importantly, I want to know who is my bastard father."
"...You are somehow the luckiest child I know, but at the same time, you have the saddest story of all. I will give you all the answers that you seek and I can tell you later. Now let's focus on your health."
Realizing that he doesn't have anything to do anymore being there, the child accepts the fact that now he is an orphan and listens to the man.
It was raining. They took a car to his new home, but along the road, all he could hear was the engine and the music that was playing. Suddenly his vision went black and he heard something that gave him chills.
"All the answers will come to you. Just wait."
"What? What answers?"
"Did you say something?" The man asked.
Confused by what happened, the child thought that it was only in his imagination.
"No, I thought that I heard something."
"Oh, anyway, we are at your new home."
Without realizing it, they arrived in front of a house. After the car stops, he exits to see his new home. It wasn't something big, it was modest, but it was enough for him. He has a bed, and a roof above his head, and he has food to eat.
"Watch some TV. I will go shortly to get your things from your old place."
"Ok."
Doing as he was instructed, the child went into the living room. Even if he was watching cartoons, the news, anything, all he could think about was those words, those words he heard inside the car.
"What was that? Who told me those words? I guess that I am going crazy. It won't be a shock to me, I lost my only parent. But still, why do I have a feeling that it was not ordinary."
Suddenly, the door opened.
"Done, are you alright? Did you find something interesting to watch?" the man asked.
"Not really. But it is ok."
"I guess so. Max, look, I will answer all of your questions, but I am telling you now, there are some pieces of information that I can't give you."
Max, the short form of Maxwell. A name given to him by his mother. The only parental figure that was in his life, until he turned 16 and she suddenly died. He didn't hear why, nobody was telling him. Precisely, no one knew.
"And why is that?"
"Because your father made me promise not to tell you some things. But he made me promise to give you this when u are 18. I am a man of my word, but I guess that now is a better time to hand you his parting gift if you can call it that way."
In the man's hand was an envelope. He put the thing down on the table and looked Max straight in the eye.
"From this point, I want you to listen closely to everything I say. Max, I met your father when we were in high school. We were friends, more like brothers. When I messed up, he was there to solve everything. I remember that he went and fought 10 guys just because they tried to rob me. He was a good friend and a hell of a brother. In his final year of college, he met your mother. At first, she didn't like him, even hated him. But after one year, she falls for him. They were together for a long time, then you came into the world. That time..."
"What is his name?"
"Excuse me?"
"What is my father's name?"
"Maximilian. Your mother named you with him in her mind. You remembered her of the one she loved. Before you were born, he disappeared. But nobody knows that he visited me before that, nobody except you now. He was dead serious that I give you this envelope when you turn 18. And he left me with a request to you from him."
"He abandoned my mother and he is already demanding requests. Are you sure that he was sane?"
"I want to believe that he got his motives, because after telling me that, he was gone. I tried for 10 years to find him but got nothing. And I want to believe he got his motives because...the request sounds sounds like this "Don't become a monster. Having great power doesn't mean you have everything."
Speechless and frustrated, Max gave his thoughts a voice.
"What the fuck that even means?"
"Maybe, everything you want to know is there."
The man pointed at the envelope.
"I didn't open it because I promised not to. Anyway, it is already late, and I think that you want some time alone to think about everything. I recommend going to sleep now, but I already know that you won't. Don't stay up all night Max. Tomorrow we will talk about your school."
"Ok, I will try. Good night...and thanks"
The man smiled, then left the living room to sleep.
Max stayed still on the sofa. He looked at the envelope and all he could think about was his father.
Finally, he opened it. He dropped everything that was on the table. Inside the envelope, he got a ring and a letter.
Opening the letter, there were a few words written in haste. "Wear the ring, it will give you my gift"
"Eh? It is for real? What is he expecting the ring to give me? A Legacy?"
After a few seconds, he put on the ring on his finger. Suddenly, the ring went inside his skin and he felt the same chills that he got in the car and some words came into his vision.
~~~ Checking the host status ~~~
...
...
...
~~~ Status aquired. Host unharmed ~~~
~~~ Checking the stats of the host and the powers ~~~
...
...
...
~~~ Stats acquired. Power found. Legacy of the Fire Mage ~~~
~~~ Overwriting Legacy ~~~
...
...
...
~~~ Overwriting complete ~~~
~~~ Congratulations on obtaining the System of Reincarnations ~~~
After reading everything, Max was left speechless for the second time in that night. All he could say was:
"I think that my bastard father left me with a lot of trouble."