Prologue

Kain is tired.

Everything just seems.. dull. Waking up, eating, sleeping and waking up again. The cycle continues perpetually, the mind numbing motion of life. Maybe one day the cycle will naturally break and what awaits will be death. But everything will end sooner or later and Kain is now too impatient to wait for the cycle to spin and spin till it eventually slows down and stops completely.

There have been many mornings like this where he just lays in his bed, unable to get up. The alarm on his nightstand continues to beep but he couldn't bring himself to shut it off. He couldn't even if he wanted too, there was simply no energy in his body.

Who knows how much time has passed as he stares at his ceiling, eyes not particularly focused on anything. His phone which was ringing a few minutes ago had stopped and returned in a few seconds. It's probably a call from Kara, she always made sure to call everyday after he had left the company a year ago and moved out of the main city and that's usually the time he would muster up enough strength to start his day. But today, he just couldn't bring himself to care anymore. The ringing eventually stops and the dings of messages follow. He'll call back and apologize for worrying her later, she'll understand. Probably.

He knows it's irresponsible and selfish yet he couldn't bring himself to do anything about it.

'Maybe now she'll finally get sick of me and hate me'.

So when he's gone she wouldn't even care.

Kain's stomach growled and he felt stabbing pain in his abdomen, how has it been since he had last eaten? He couldn't recall. Brightest sun rays of the day peeked through a palm sized gap in the curtains of the wide floor to ceiling window parallel to his king sized bed. Huh, it's noon now.

He had woken up just before the crack of dawn, sky barely lit by the rising run. Yet despite lying down for hours, energy has yet to return to his body. He scoffs to himself, 'how lazy'.

If it had been him from a few years ago, he would've been the person he despises the most.

Kain used to be a person who'd work hours and hours without rest, driven mostly by caffeine pills and the determination to suppress useless thoughts. Meticulous, punctual and loathes laziness, as how a captain should be. Maybe he's like this now because he'd spent all his energy meant for a whole lifetime in the past few years. Oh well, that means it's probably time to leave.

Right?

Kain closes his eyes as he takes a deep breath in not stopping till his chest hurts and is forced to release it with a cough.

'I'm tired'

When Kain opened his eyes again, it was already dark. With a sigh he heaves his heavy body up and looks at the night sky through the crack in the curtains. Glancing at the alarm at his nightstand which had long stopped beating, it reads : 1:21 A.M..

With much difficulty, he finally managed to get himself out of bed and slowly made his way to the bathroom.

Kain splashes cold water on his face trying to get rid of the drowsiness. He lifted his gaze to the mirror. His eyes half lidded as if it's too tiresome to open fully. The corners of his mouth permanently stayed in a slight frown. His face is gaunt and pale. It's funny, he's been sleeping for a whole day but the tiredness still lingers like a shadow. Always stuck with him as if he's the embodiment of lethargy.

It wasn't always like this, not after what had happened.

Out of the corner of his eyes he caught a glint as the metal of his left arm reflected the light of the bathroom. His eyes clouded over as he thought of that day.

Suddenly he had the urge to reminisce. Dressed in his sleep wear consisting of a loose thin t-shirt and shorts, he put on a navy blue coat and slippers and stepped out his door.

He made his way down the building of the apartment complex through the elevator and got outside.

The streets are brightly lit with floating street lights, scarce of life and flying pods in the sky would occasionally enter his line of sight as it surveys the area. A breeze flew by and he could smell the air filled with the fresh scent of the river.

Kain thought, 'It's the same as before'.

Kain made his way to the convenient store right next to his apartment building, grabbed 2 random bottles of beer, paid for it and made his way to the river park 5 minutes walk away. They had used to always come here late at night after a particularly gruesome battle and they would just talk and talk. About their dreams, about random gossips and anything they could think of.

He downed his first bottle of beer, closed his eyes and took a deep breath in.

After throwing the bottles in the trash, Kain aimlessly walked along the river side and into the city. His neck prickled as he felt a gaze on him.

With a sigh he made a turn and walked into a dark alley. He turned around as he heard a click and stared lazily at the man dressed in black pointing a gun at him.

'How troublesome,' Kain thought.

"Give me your money!" The man sneered.

Kain continued to stand there indifferently making the man more and more nervous. Then Kain took a step forward.

"Don't move! I'll shoot!!" Said the robber, his voice filled with panic.

Another step forward.

"I said don't move! I'll shoot!"

As Kain began to get closer and closer, the robber got more and more panicked.

Adrenaline spun through the robber and in a desperate attempt to not let Kain step closer he pressed the trigger.

BANG !

The force of the bullet pushed Kain backwards as he fell to the ground, blood seeping through his shirt from the hole in this chest. Contrary to the robber's panicked state, Kain was more at peace than ever in the last few years.

Taking advantage of Kain's fallen state, the robber stepped forward and shakily rummaged for his belongings and fled in panic.

Kain laid on the ground with his eyes closed, he let out relieved breath and chuckled.

Hours passed by and the sun began to rise again.

When morning comes, a flying pod will spot the body of a dead man in a small alley, a tranquil expression on his face.

.

.

.

In a luxurious looking crib, a black haired baby boy who had been previously sleeping with a tranquille woke up with a face full of confusion and dissatisfaction.

'Ah, shit.'