1: Origin (1)

"Was it all a joke?"

Darkness, was all he could see around him.

"Impossible, it all seemed so real..."

Darkness, silence, loneliness, he couldn't make out anything around him.

"My name?"

He did not remember his name, but he remembered the reason for his appearance in this desolate place.

Slowly, he closed his eyes as he sank into his memories.

* * * * *

"What a shitty day" - muttered a young man of about 18 years old, common appearance, the typical person you could find anywhere.

The young man was walking back home after another hard day's work with a forlorn expression, though a faint smile appeared on his face as he reached the entrance to his rented apartment - "I'm back, mother."

Slowly, he brushed his hand across the picture of a kind woman that was hanging beside the entrance as tears ran down his eyes.

She was his mother, the woman who had cared and protected him during his early years, the same woman who was abused, and mistreated by his alcoholic father, to the point that they had to run away. They had decided to go to his grandmother, a loving woman, but everything changed when after six months of peace, his father showed up at the entrance to ask my mother for money.

The situation ended with my mother in the hospital, my father in prison, and my grandmother dead.

Everyone blamed my mother for her bad decisions costing my grandmother her life, so we were isolated from the entire family.

With our family fractured, my mother took me to another city when I turned 8 years old, where she met her second boyfriend, he seemed to be a good man, although all this was far from reality. He ended up being a worse bastard than my father, he not only beat her constantly, but also stole her money, to the point that my mother had to work overtime to be able to bring some food to the table.

Under these conditions, I learned to be independent to reduce my mother's burden, so that at least she could eat a hot meal before sleeping those few hours.

When I turned 13, we managed to escape from our old home, and at the same time I managed to get a part-time job so that her burden would be less. I didn't earn much, but I felt like I was doing something for her, however, god seemed to hate us, because one day some criminal looking guys came asking for my mother.

I was scared because I didn't know what the fuck was going on, or at least it was until I found out that my mother's former partner had taken out a huge loan and had put my mother in charge of paying before he disappeared.

Fearing they would do something to us, my mother had no choice but to reluctantly agree, handing over everything we had to pay off the debt. This caused her to once again have to do her best to recover all of our savings.

In my eagerness to help my mother, I ignored the most important detail, one that would soon make me curse the whole world.

The human body cannot withstand so much effort without paying the consequences...

* * * * *

"I'm sorry..." - A doctor muttered as he shook his head.

The boy gritted his teeth as he felt tears running down his cheeks.

The reason?

His mother was lying on the bed with her head bandaged after she rolled down the stairs on her way to her break. She had worked so many hours without rest that her body couldn't take it anymore and lost control, resulting in the accident.

"How is it possible that you can't do anything?!" - exclaimed the boy as he continued to sob.

"I'm sorry, young man, but as I said, there's nothing we can do" - replied the doctor as he let out a sigh - "Normally a brain hemorrhage takes longer to cause the patient's death, but your mother's current condition..."

The boy told him to stop, he didn't need more information.

The doctor decided to give him some space to release everything he had, which didn't take long because the boy broke down at his deceased mother's bedside.

* * *

From that day on, everything had gone downhill.

My mother's bosses showed up to give me their compensation and condolences. I restrained myself from telling them to go fuck themselves, but it wasn't as if they were to blame.

With that money, I managed to pay the medical expenses, and the debt we had left from that bastard.

The rest I was going to spend on my mother's funeral, however, I didn't count on one small detail, I was a minor.

One of my relatives, the same ones who abandoned us, showed up with a smile and was "kind" enough to take care of me, although this was to get my mother's inheritance that my grandmother had left her, and we hadn't found out about, as well as the rest of the company's compensation.

After doing the paperwork, and getting the money, they basically kicked me out of their house. They threw me into a filthy apartment and sent me enough money to buy a week's worth of supplies.

My usefulness was over, and they only gave me enough money, so the law wouldn't punish them.

And so the years passed, and I turned 18.

With no choice but to live by myself, I got a job while studying, my only entertainment being games, light novels, manga and Anime. That was the only way to keep my sanity, sinking into an ocean of fiction, but I wasn't going to deny that it was effective.

All those stories brought a smile on my face, they made me think about what my life would be like if I was together with my mother in those crazy stories.

My monotonous life, my non-stop work, and my constant struggle to survive, had caused me to quickly adapt to multiple situations, although perhaps I was rambling, and was simply starting to lose my mind.

In fact, that was possibly the case, after all, I accepted a strange proposal.

* * *

"What the fuck!" - The young man exclaimed as he watched everything around him freeze and turn into a grayish color.

[Congratulations on being chosen for this new adventure full of thrills, mysteries and unparalleled strength ~! I'm sure you have to be shocked, excited to see something like this, a pop-up tab like the games you played for so long ~!]

The boy simply gave her a blank stare as he wondered if he had finally lost his sanity.

[No reaction? How boring... I was expecting tears, cries of surprise, or at least confusion, but here you are, a mere block of breathing cement]

"Who are you?" - asked the boy as he frowned after pinching his hand and feeling pain, which meant this wasn't a dream.

[I guess I'd better get this over with...]

The boy frowned before letting out a sigh and waiting for this strange entity to finish her antics.

[Long story short, I'm the administrator of the [Origin] system, as for what I can do, I'm not authorized to tell you yet, in fact, the only way for you to receive more information is for you to agree to participate in the project ~]

"What is it what you can tell me?" - asked the boy as he tried to calm down because this situation was slightly similar to what many story protagonists had gone through.

[I took the liberty of observing your memories, and I can tell you that you are correct, although I am surprised that some humans managed to create a connection with other worlds through their dreams...]

"Dreams?" - repeated the boy in surprise.

[Oh, sorry, I was rambling, I promise I'll let you know about it when you accept my proposal].

"Why should I?" - asked the boy apprehensively. I mean, the proposal was tempting, and he couldn't deny that, but at the same time he was sure that his life would be in constant danger. He was not a fighter, his experience in survival activities was nil, and his body, although he had enough muscles to face an average bully, they were not explosive enough to face the unknown, in other words, his chances of survival were almost non-existent.

[I sense that you're about to refuse to participate in the project, so I guess I can give you a little incentive, one that you'll like ~]

The boy frowned when he heard this, though he said nothing to stop this strange female voice.

[There aren't many things I can currently tell you about [Origin], however, there is one thing I can assure you. [Origin] is a system that can give you everything, even your most hidden desires]

The boy fell silent as he felt his eyes widen in surprise - "Everything?"

[Exactly, everything, from the craziest powers you could imagine, to the possibility of reuniting you with those people you long for, in this case, your mother ~]

The boy's expression changed when he heard this as he felt his heart pounding.

[I see I managed to catch your attention ~]