Prologue

Everything is black. I can't feel anything.

I'm stuck in space, floating on endlessly. Then I remembered my last memories. I had burned out after writing my group's research papers. Turns out, my classmates somehow had never made one before. Instead of explaining it to them, I just made the whole damn thing on my own. I was never good at explanations as I was pretty shy and had tons of experience writing one during my previous years as a student.

My father had always said, "You should never show weakness. When you don't know what you're doing, learn how to do it."

It seems like when I was driving back home; I got into a car accident. I remember little, but since I can't recall any suffering, death must've been swift.

It's odd. Here I am thinking about my death as if it was natural. I feel nothing at all about the news that it cut my life short. Then I recalled my father's face. How he would grieve right now. The son he raised alone for many years had died before he even finished his studies. That was when my non-existent heart ached. I wanted to cry. I haven't repaid him yet. All those sleepless nights and all those jobs he worked overtime to help me pay for school. I haven't even returned a fraction of those selfless works yet. I tried but shed no tears as I didn't physically have eyes.

Or so I thought, "Waaaaaah!" a baby's cry sounded in my ears.

"Well done, Lucielle! It's a healthy boy!" a voice congratulated near me; however, it didn't even register to me as the grief that I had bottled up now had a physical outlet I could use to vent.

"Hm... Yes… I think… Yeah. Maelriel. That's a good name."