1 Prologue

//Please note that I'm the original author and I'm the one who wrote this. Got a complaint about it, join the discord and complain there.

-----------

Take a second to imagine a scenario.

From the moment you're born, you are cursed with some of the worst luck imaginable. The moment you came into the world, fate dealt you a hard blow by granting you the worst of destinies. Your very existence becomes dangerous to those around you and even the most common activity such as walking along the sidewalk can potentially cause others and yourself to become seriously injured be it for a car malfunction or some other unlucky event.

Have you imagined it?

Now, if faced with such a scenario, what would you do? How would you cope? Can you pick yourself up and make the best of what you have, even after life threatens to break you over and over again or do you just lay down and give up? Can you say for certain that you'll even have the strength to push forward? Would you even have the ability to see the positive sides through it all?

This is the story of a particular fellow cursed with the shittiest luck you'll ever find. However, he's strong, smart, optimistic to an insane degree, and has a thirst for survival that few could ever hope to match.

This is the story of Zetuo "Jinx" Tetsuya and his journey to find his place in a life that has already rejected him.

------------------------------------------

BOOM!

The rumble of thunder, a sound loud enough to cause windows to quake, echoed throughout the city of New York as drops of water rained down unceasingly from the dark grey clouds positioned above. Lightning occasionally pierced through the sky in brief, consecutive flashes, illuminating everything in its vicinity with a bright glow.

It was a rather black day and, despite how dark it was due to the ongoing thunderstorm, it was only around noon. The vast cloud coverage ensured that little to no light was able to pass through as the wind continued to whip the water around, making it near impossible to see anything a few feet in front of oneself. In fact, the storm had gotten so bad, that the majority of traffic had ceased to move, many instead hunkering where they were, watching the intense weather from the safety of their cars or building. Little to no one could be found outside due to the severity of the storm, even most homeless people had managed to seek out appropriate shelter, hiding out under bridges or public buildings such as gyms and libraries.

As people everywhere stayed inside, waiting for the rain to lighten up, a small, comparatively insignificant event was taking place near the edge of the city, next to rather large apartment complexes, all of which appeared to be abandoned and out of use. Not a single soul was in sight except for a small youth with pitch black hair, even darker eyes, and a small mob of six men following close behind. It was unclear if they were shouting as the pouring rain drowned out all other sounds, but it was apparent that they all possessed some degree of malice as they struggled to keep pace with the speed the young man was running at.

The dark haired youth darted around the buildings and headed towards the woods situated nearby, his breathing erratic as he struggled to maintain his distance from the men behind him.

Zetuo wasn't even sure how he had gotten himself into the particular situation. Up until that point, he had been especially careful about where he walked and what was going on around him. For him to screw up and wander onto the sight of a murder scene was possibly the worst event that had happened to him in this week alone. It would have made the top play of the month had it not been for the fact that just last week he had been drugged and captured by some pedophile who got off on torture and screams. Obviously he managed to escape but not without quite a bit of blood and violence involving a glass bottle, rope, and a conveniently placed Desert Eagle.

A dark life did he live. It had been this way since he was born. Everything, even the most normal situations, would end messed up to some degree, be it minor or major.

Bad luck aside, the events happening today was, for the most part, his own fault. Leaving the orphanage an hour before a major storm purely because he wanted to walk for a bit was admittedly a stupid choice. Even if one didnt take into account his unending tide of extremely unfortunate life experiences, exiting the relative safety of a sturdy concrete building and into an intense, borderline hurricane level storm was all kinds of retarded. He himself acknowledged this fact, but he still didn't regret the decision, even as he sprinted along, jumping over piles of scattered trash and dodging sharp pieces of rusty metal.

Granted, getting chased by others wasn't something inherently pleasant nor anything to laugh about, but Zetuo had experienced MUCH worse situations than the current one. He had genuinely wanted to go for a stroll and, even though he was wet, cold and being hunted, he had actually enjoyed his walk.

The youth had come a long way. At this point, he wasn't particularly phased by something small like running away from individuals out for his head nor was he deterred by the strong winds or bullet sized water droplets constantly getting whipped into his face. Sure he was out of breath and could've used a moment to rest, but this was something he could control, a situation in which he could potentially manage the next series of events. The only truly terrible scenarios were the ones he was unprepared for, the ones where his control was gone and he could only rely on luck, something that, for himself, had never existed in the first place.

(("Luck can go screw itself at this point. Who needs something so trivial.")) Zetuo slowed down slightly and glanced back briefly. (("Still though, my first priority should be shaking these guys off my scent. With this weather, I should be able to give them the slip."))

The rain made it hard to judge the distance, but the small group looked to be quite a ways behind, them having fallen back a significant amount since the chase had begun. If Zetuo had to guess, he only had to run into the woods to completely lose their trace and force them to quit the search.

He wasnt even sure why they had initially chased him. Due to his young age, if he had informed the police about what he had seen, they wouldn't have done much other then to be suspicious about the perpetrators. If the culprits were to rid the body and clean the evidence, though they would still be suspect to some questions, the officers would begin to doubt the validity of Zetuo's words. Eventually, assuming the cops found nothing, everything would be seen as merely that of a youths active imagination before being pushed to the back of everyone's mind. The logical option was to stay behind and destroy all incriminating details pointing to themselves and disregard the running youth.

But of course, this would require them to possess a modicum of brainpower and for Zetuo to possess enough good fortune for them to dismiss his presence. Neither of these things existed which was yet another reason the young man was sprinting for his life.

Blinking rapidly, Zetuo ceased his internal thoughts, instead focusing fully on the surrounding area, attempting to analyze the best way to ditch his small entourage.

From what he could see, he had about three options.

The first one was to make a Uturn and double back, using the rain as a sort of cover to slip by them. The chance of success was a low medium to a small high. This option allowed him to shake his pursuers while simultaneously heading home. It was a tempting option but he ruled it out after a quick debate. He didn't want to take the risk of running into them nor take the risk of them noticing and following him back to his house.

The second one was to stop and fight them, utilizing his reflexes and fighting prowess to fend them off. If everything went according to plan then he could probably knock over two of them before bolting away, though this plan was rather iffy. He didn't want to end up confronting them head on without some sort of plan that guaranteed his victory, reason being that anything could happen to disrupt him. Even something small like a muddy ground could be a hindrance and Zetuo wasn't willing to take that chance, having dealt with multiple situations of the same caliber and learning from past experience. The chance of success was low to nonexistent and it was best to avoid it entirely.

The third and best option was to use the woods in front of him to his advantage. Having grown up near this part of the neighborhood, the youth was familiar with the surrounding woodland area and could navigate like an old pro. The odds of losing them in it was almost a guarantee, topping out at a cool 95% chance of getting the hell away from these lunatics.

There were other plans that flashed through his head, but these three had been the main ones to stand out. So, after a literal second of contemplation, he put on speed and darted into the woods, never looking back.

The moment Zetuo disappeared into the dense foliage, the space bordering the forest shimmered, a ripple passing through it. For the briefest instance, the rain froze in place, the forest disappeared and the image of a vast spot of land dotted with small huts, akin to a sort of old timey village. People garbed in old fashioned clothing could be seen milling about, going about their tasks with purpose in their steps. The picture wavered slightly before dispersing completely and everything returned to how it had been before, the scene of rain once again returning.

While this had been an amazing spectacle, one that had been caught by the pursuing murders, Zetuo hadn't the slightest clue as to what had happened. He was still moving, hurtling over bushes and slipping around the trees, his senses made dull by the pouring rain. His only thoughts were on navigation, his eyes on the constant lookout for the spot where he needed to turn, an old looking Oak tree being his landmark.

After several minutes of running though, when he was unable to spot it, he began to feel a bit uneasy as he slowed down ever so slightly. The rain poured down his face, impairing his vision quite a bit as he struggled to find the large tree.

After a few seconds though, the world around him went dark and he drifted into a slumber, falling onto the ground in the middle of his speedy sprint.

avataravatar
Next chapter