The city was under snow due to cruel, persistent frost. No matter which turn of the alley, one found an ice graveyard. The boy had seen the orphanage, the windows of which were frozen, and the wall had withstood a lot of weathering. Outside on the cold brick wall, a boy no more than fifteen lay bent up, his knees drawn up beneath him. His silky, black hair was matted and dull; sapphire-blue eyes looked tired and vacant. His name was Alex. He had already learned that the world has nothing to offer the powerless, penniless, or person with no connections.
As snow fell on him and piled on his frail shoulders, the misty breath was his only help; clutching at his thin coat only provided little help against the bone-deep cold. His lips were chapped, fingers were numb and his body shook.
"I guess.... this is it" Alex murmured to himself as the wind spoke to the world.
He had fought against the hunger in his insides, against the cold biting at his skin, and against the despair threatening to gobble him up. But after years of abuse and neglect, his body was letting go.
Inside the orphanage, the children were warm and fed although the orphan Alex was always the misfit. His presence rubbed people off the wrong way because he was too handsome. He was bullied by the boys because they were envious of those sharp features which they could never have.
The staff turned a blind eye, it hurt more than being insulted, rather than helping. The caretaker, the very one tasked with looking after him, did not seem to be someone who wanted him to live.
This was when Alex had collapsed in the common room the day before, so weak from hunger and sickness that no one directly moved him but dragged him out into the snow like trash.
As time passed, the cold seeped deeper into him, gradually draining Alex's strength. Everything went black as his eyes shut down. He felt a burning pain in his chest, and he started coughing.
"Ah... ah..."he mused, clutching his chest. Blood spilled onto the snow. There were few drops on the simple ring made of silver that he always wore, a ring given by his parents, the last thing he had.
Alex didn't see it, but the ring absorbed the blood, glowed for a second and then returned to its dull state.
As the world darkened, the mind of Alex started to roam. His parents appeared to him in his mind—smiling, speaking softly and holding him close. He thought about the plane crash that took them away from him, the relatives who turned away from him, and the odd vacuity surrounding their deaths.
"Why…? " he said, voice trembling with the cold as well as despair. "What made them abandon me? "
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His head fell to one side since his body was succumbing to cold.
A few moments later, after Alex breathed his last breath, four shadowy figures appeared from the depths of snow , four of them swiftly rushed towards Alex' lifeless body all clad in black and having a gravelly voice.
"Is it here? " one of them asked, as if a doubt had assailed him.
"Check him " a second voice said, impatience clear.
The tallest of the group crouched down and reached into Alex's pockets and belongings with his gloved hands. Finally, his fingers closed around the ring.
"Got it " he said, holding up the simple silver band.
There was a low murmur of approval in the room.
"Good. "The prophecy is almost here" the head said with a devilish grin beneath his mask. "Let's go " said another, kicking Alex's body right before they exited.
But none of them noticed the faint glimmering emanating from the Ring only a couple of minutes earlier. Oblivious to how it floated just above his chest; a secret observer to the situation.
As the figures slipped into the dark snowy night, the ring started throbbing and somehow took something intangible from Alex's body, like his very soul, inside a golden mist. The process is slow to react, and once he finishes, the ring finally falls quiet along with the glow, which also dies down completely.
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An enormous dragon stirs in the far-off world that not man can reach. His eyes, as deep and infinite as the cosmos, slowly opened, and its scales shone like molten gold. The great beast lifts its head up to the skies and gazes across time and space.
"Finally, he is here," said the dragon. It sat down, sighed deeply and laid its head back on the ground, closing its eyes as it let itself sink into the background.
High up above the world's surface in an amazing, rich palace, lie a baby in a cradle made up of white jade. The room was filled with a warm glow, and the smell of celestial flowers hung thick in the air.
My baby has a thick mane of black silky hair and blue sapphire eyes that look way too intelligent for a newborn. He was wriggling in the cradle, hands clenching and unclenching as a little muted gasp escape.
"what...." the baby's voice, though dim and still impressive, was tinged with disbelief? "What just happened to me? "
As he tried to figure things out, his mind began to reel. He thought of cold, snow and pain as he breathed his last. Here he was - alive, though in a baby's body?
He squeaked out, "W-what is this place?"
But before he could dive any deeper into his bewilderment, the door to the room creaked open, and faint footfalls echoed. The baby's wide eyes shot to this place of the noise, and his heart-pounding thing pounded inside his chest.
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