Prologue

A young man in his 20s sat at his work bench and punched in numbers in his computer. His figure was hunched over and his outrageously skinny form made him look weak and frail. His eyes were almost lifeless and held no emotion except tiredness. The screen of his computer was the only light in the dark room.

The time was 11pm so naturally, the young man was the only person left in the office. Why? His boss, also a former high-school bully of his, hated his guts for no reason at all and always assigned to him the hardest and most time-consuming work. Life was just that shitty for him.

Unable to resign due to certain circumstances, the man could only succumb to his tragic fate.

When the clock struck midnight, the man finally finished his last report and let out a big yawn.

"Finally done."

He switched off his computer after logging out and packed his briefcase before locking the room. The tiredness hit him in the hallway and so did his hunger making his footsteps sway and his vision unfocused. As a result, he overlooked the 'slippery' sign and slid on the tiled floors before falling down the staircase in a tumble.

I pool of red blood formed around his head and his consciousness slowly faded away into nothingness.

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"WAHHHHH!!!!" the cry of a baby rang out in the bedroom.

"Oh my. Congratulations mistress, it's a healthy boy,"

"Is...that so? Let me have a look at my baby." the madam's weak voice said. The maid handed her the child and she gazed down at it with loving eyes. "Hello my little Zak."

The baby, Zak, looked up at his mother with his black dark brown eyes. 'What the– where am I? Why am I a baby?' The last thing he remembered was the white office ceiling and a throbbing pain at the back of his head. When he opened his eyes again, he was a newborn baby.

'Did I die and reincarnate?' It was his only guess and the only explanation he could think of. Thinking about it, he inwardly let out a bitter chuckle. 'After everything, I couldn't even make it to past 30 and died a pitiful death.'

"Mistress! Mistress?! Physician! She's not breathing!!!" the panicked voice of a maid startled the baby. Zak was startled away from his thoughts and only noticed his 'mother' had closed eyes and her grip on him was weakening. A midwife quickly came and took Zak away as the maid and physician went to check her.

"Madam?! Madam stay with us!!" the maid clasped the madam's hands. The physician hurriedly checked her wrist and grit his teeth in sadness.

" ...I'm afraid it's too late. "

The maid shook her head, "No no no no please save her!"

"...I'm sorry. It's impossible. Her heart is no longer beating."

The madams' body had always been weak and frail. When she got pregnant, her vitality dropped even more, so in actuality, it was a miracle she was even able to give birth. Sadly, her body was too weak to make it.

The baby however, was healthy thankfully but how he would no longer have a mother. The maid cried holding her mistress's hand and glanced the child with teary eyes.

Zak felt like crying. He was just reborn and now his mother is dead. Just what crime did he commit in his past life for bad luck to always follow him. Although he only knew her for a few minutes, Zak was heartbroken at the loss of his mother.

"Maid An, we must inform the master." The physician said.

"...I know. He will be devastated. I just hope..." she looked at the baby and had a bad feeling.

One of the midwives were sent to inform the master and the surrounding occupants could only brace themselves for what was to come.

A few minutes later, the door burst open revealing a disheveled handsome man with a frantic look in his eyes. He ran to the bedside and grasped his wife.

"Lyn?! Lyn! Answer me!" No matter how much he called, the madam's eyes stayed shut.

"My deepest apologies Master. The madam's body was just too weak and couldn't withstand the birth."

The birth. All of a sudden, the man's eyes snapped towards the side where he saw a baby wrapped in a soft cloth. His face turned to anger and disgust.

"It's that child's fault! He killed my wife!"

Zak blinked. 'Um what?'

"Master, p-please he's only a baby. How could he–"

"Shut up!!" The man yelled at the maid who shrunk back. Her bad feeling came true. She knew better than anyone how much the Master treasured his wife and was fearful for the child. In order to vent is anger and sadness, the Master chose to place the blame on his newly born son.

"That is not my child. Have him transferred to the outer building and keep him away from my sight."

'...and now I'm disowned too. At this point, I can't even feel sad.' Zak thought.

"M-Master..." the maid trembled. She dared not say anything more in fear of angering the Master further.

"As for Lyn..." the master held his dead wife's hand. "Clean her up and start preparing for the funeral and burial."

""Yes My Lord.""

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< A few days later >

Zak lay alone in the crib. His mind was dwelling on the past few days and he couldn't help but sigh in his head. Basically a slave in his last life, died at only 25, lost his new mother after meeting her for only a few minutes and finally, disowned and thrown out. Surely his life couldn't get any worse.

The outer building of the estate was mainly for family members who supposedly committed a crime in the family and their positions and titles were removed. It was a lot like the Cold palace in historical Chinese fiction.

Zak's assigned nanny was his mother's maid and she did her best to care for him. Unlike the master, she didn't blame the child for his mother's death. He was only a newborn and knew nothing of the world so how could she.

Zak was thankful that at least one person cared for him. He swore to repay the maid's kindness when he grows up. Currently though, he was still trying to figure out where exactly he was. The buildings were shaped like those historical asian with tiled roofs that curved up at the end. The clothes worn by people looked like a mix of historical asian clothing but all held the same base colour of red.

Zak had a thought seeing this. He was well-versed in the art of transmigration being a avid light novel reader in his teens so his mind wondered. 'Could it be...?'

Right after, he caught sight of a very, very familiar fire symbol on the wall and his heart pounded.

'I knew it. I'm in the world of Avatar.'

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A/N: There will be more on the protagonist's backstory in the next chapter.