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n“Damien? Damien wake up!”

nWithin a small bedroom filled with various posters from his favorite anime and manga, a frail teenage boy opened his eyes.

n‘Huh? Where am I?’ His thoughts were jumbled as he struggled to get his memories in order.

nSuddenly, the door to his room burst open. In walked a beautiful middle-aged woman with deep amethyst eyes. “Damien Void! If you don’t wake up and start getting ready in the next 5 minutes, just see how I deal with you!”.

n“Y-yes, mom!” The boy hurriedly replied as he jumped out of bed, only to realize he was only in his underwear at the moment. Blushing slightly, he covered his body.

nSeeing his actions, his mother let out a small giggle. “Little boy, if you keep acting so girlish, I’ll have to make sure you truly are my son instead of my daughter.”

n“M-mom!” He complained. “Oh right! School!” In his embarrassment, he had completely forgotten why he got out of bed in the first place. Today was Monday, August 27th, the first day of school.

n‘W-what should I wear?’ He thought as he rummaged through his closet. It took him a whole 10 minutes to decide, but even then he still went with a normal short sleeve black t-shirt and sweatpants.

nGrabbing his backpack, which had already been packed a few days ago, he rushed down the stairs.

n“Woah, buddy!” A familiar man said as he raised his head from the TV in the living room. “Be careful not to slip when you’re running so fast!”

nDamien smiled as he ran over to the man. “Dad!” Tears started flowing from his eyes.

nSurprised by the sudden outburst, Damien’s father hugged him back. “Alright alright, you’re already in your first year of high school, you can’t be crying like a little kid anymore.”

n“Mm.” Damien let out a light sound of acknowledgment as he continued to cry into his dad’s chest. He didn’t know why his emotions were flaring up like this, but he remembered tidbits of the dream he had last night.

nHe was trapped in darkness, endlessly killing without a second of rest. No matter how much he called for help, none came. He didn’t want to even think about those terrifying scenes again.

nTime passed slowly as his emotions calmed. At some point, even his mother had joined the group hug. Once again blushing, Damien backed away. “I’m sorry.”

nHis parents smiled and his father spoke as he lightly patted Damien’s head. “What is there to be sorry about? You know that we’re here for you if you need anything. We’re your parents, not some random strangers on the street.”

nDamien smiled as tears welled up in his eyes again, but not wanting to further make a fool out of himself, he held them back. The family made their way over to the dining table as they had a small breakfast.

nThroughout this time, Damien smiled as he felt nostalgic. ‘Nostalgia? But I see them every day.’ However, he didn’t ponder on it too much.

nDamien took out his phone, checking the time. “Ah! I’m going to miss the bus!”

nSaying a quick goodbye to his parents, Damien rushed out of the house. Luckily, he was able to reach the bus stop on time and board without problems.

n“Yo Damien!”

n“How was your summer!”

n“You played the new Souls game yet?”

nSeveral greetings flooded him as he took his seat. Smiling lightly, he kindly responded to each and every one. He was really glad that he had these friends of his, as they made his days at school worth it.

nThe bus drove on its route, picking up many students on its way. The environment soon became rowdy until they reached a certain stop. Everyone quieted down, after all, this was the stop where the school’s beauty queen joined them.

nThrough the open doors of the bus, a cute girl with dark blue hair and eyes walked in. Her gaze panned the whole bus before she found a spot to sit.

nDamien was blushing profusely. This girl was Elena, and he had been crushing on her since they were in elementary school, yet she still didn’t know about it. Rather, he doubted she even knew he existed.

nHe just silently watched from his corner. Her smile brightened the environment around her and every move she made would make even the air dance with joy. It was as if she was a fairy descended onto the mortal world.

n“Hehe Damien, if you like her so much why don’t you just talk to her?” Damien’s friend, Bryce said with a mischievous grin.

n“Y-you know I can’t. She’s too good for me.” Damien had a slightly depressed look on his face. But he quickly hid it, changing the topic. “Guys, you won’t believe what I found in the game yesterday!”

nMiddle school boys had the attention span of a fish, so they naturally followed his narration of the epic adventure he had in the game, forgetting all about the previous conversation.

nAs the boys messed around, Elena slightly turned around, glancing at Damien before sighing. ‘He’s so cute, but he never comes to talk to me. Am I not good enough for him?”

nTime passed and the school day continued like every other day. Damien went to his math and science class in the morning, and English and history in the afternoon.

nAt lunch, he had a special meal prepared for him by his mother. That led to an embarrassing moment when he accidentally showed off the note stating ‘I love you! From- Mom’ to his whole friend group.

nDamien decided to stay after school and partake in some club activities before he went home, but he had forgotten that his parents were both busy today.

n‘I guess I’ll just have to walk’ he thought of himself.

nHe didn’t do it often, but he had walked home from school before, so he already knew the way. He put in his headphones and listened to his favorite music as he celebrated a successful first day of school.

nStanding at an intersection, Damien waited for the walk light to turn green when he suddenly noticed something. There was a girl walking through the road with headphones in, seemingly unaware of the fact that it wasn’t time to walk yet.

nA truck came swerving down the road, headed straight for the girl. ‘She’s going to get hit!’

nDamien was always watching anime, so he knew that situations like this were never good. He disregarded everything and ran towards the girl. “Watch out! Hey!” He yelled, but she couldn’t hear him.

nWithout another choice, he ran up to her and tackled her out of the way, narrowly dodging the oncoming truck that zoomed past them. Looking down at the girl, Damien questioned, “Hey, are you okay?”

nThe girl shifted her head to look at him, seemingly in shock. She had just seen the truck pass by and knew what would have happened if he didn’t push her. “Y-yes I’m okay. Thank you so much for saving me.”

nIt was only then that Damien got a good look at her face, and to his surprise, it was Elena, his crush and the school beauty queen.

n“A-ah! It’s no problem. I couldn’t just stand by and watch someone get hurt.” Damien replied. The second he saw who he saved he immediately got too shy to speak coherently.

nElena smiled. ‘He really is cute, not to mention he’s my hero.’

nAnd like that, life continued. After that incident, Elena would approach Damien more often, striking up conversation. This also led to him becoming less shy around her. By the time they finished their first year of high school, the two were best friends.

nAnd life kept going. By the end of the second year of high school, Damien and Elena were already dating. They would watch movies, go to parks, and she had even met his parents once, though that experience was too embarrassing for him to recount.

nAnd when he turned 16, a monumental event occurred. Damien and Elena were in his room as usual, chatting and laughing before she made a move. Without any notice, she kissed him. His face went bright red and he felt like he was dreaming, but he still tried to kiss her back. It was both of their first kisses, so it was pretty awkward.

nHowever, things didn’t stop there. They continued kissing as their hands became wilder, and the following day, Damien woke up as a new man. “I really did it, I did it with Elena!” He yelled as he jumped and celebrated in his room.

nWho would have thought that he would be so happy with the girl he once could only admire from afar? While he was jumping, a sudden headache hit him. Damien fell to his knees, unable to even scream in pain before he passed out.

nScenes of carnage replayed in his head without pause. Gruesome monsters straight out of manga surrounded him as he killed them one by one. He wielded a sword in his right hand, but his left? His entire left arm had been ripped off at some point. He wanted to wake up. He wanted to go back to the peaceful life he had been living so far.

nMany hours passed and Damien’s eyelids slowly began fluttering. When he opened them, there was a light that wasn’t there previously. Deeply sighing, he stood up. ‘It seems I can’t continue living this facade anymore. In another few weeks of this, my ego will collapse due to the nature of this trial.’

nAt the end of the day, this place was an illusion. It couldn’t fool Damien’s eyes no matter how hard it tried. He had to admit that it took some time for him to realize it, but even after he did, he pretended to be oblivious. He wanted to revel in this peace for as long as he could.

nFor this purpose, he had shut off his conscious thought and truly lived as the child version of himself. It was only due to the sudden headache and influx of memories that he woke up from his stasis.

nShaking his head, he went downstairs to see his parents one more time. What greeted him was the familiar scenery of his father and mother enjoying themselves together, conversing as one made dinner while the other lazed around on the couch.

nNoticing Damien, they both smiled and greeted him. Damien tried to smile back, but it was clear how forced it was. “Is something wrong?” His mother asked with a worried look.

nBefore Damien could respond, his dad beat him to it. “Ah, I think I know what’s going on dear, let me talk to him alone, man to man.” Damien’s father pulled him to a side room.

nLooking at the man in front of him, Damien could only feel a semblance of familiarity, but he was largely unknown. For this reason, Damien didn’t know why he felt on the verge of tears just looking at his face.

nHis father possessed a stern look on his face as he spoke. “Is it time for you to go?”

nDamien’s eyes widened slightly, but noticing the time, it seemed he would leave for school soon. “Yeah, I can’t be late for school.”

nHowever, his father didn’t let him go. “You know that’s not what I meant.”

nDamien looked into his father’s eyes. They were an abyssal black that seemed like they could swallow anything.

nSlightly nodding, Damien responded. “Yeah, I can’t stay here any longer.”

nHis father sighed lightly. “Although I’m not truly your father, this place simulated me perfectly, so I possess his memories. I don’t know where you are or what you’re doing right now, but I know that the real me would be dying to see you.”

nDamien couldn’t hold his anger. “If you were dying to see me so much then why did you leave? Do you know what happened to mom when you were gone? How much stress she had to put herself through?”

nDamien wanted to vent more, but he couldn’t bring himself to do so. He always knew the pain hidden in his father’s eyes.

n“I know you have questions and I know I wronged you, but it’s not my place to tell you the answers. I’m not your true father after all. Find him, and then you can know the truth.”

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