"Damn it..."
A young man's eyes fluttered open under the highway bridge of New Metropolis.
The sun was ferocious as ever, casting it's radiant glow on the earth like it owed it money.
"A new day huh?
He sighed and pushed himself up from the pile of garbage bags he slept on throughout the night.
He was dressed in rags.
Torn clothes and shoes that looked like they should have been disposed and burnt centuries ago.
Alex Valor.
He considered himself the most unlucky person on earth.
And to be honest? He actually is.
From being the son of one of the omost wealthy families that ran New Metropolis, to becoming a beggar spent all day scavenging through the city's dumpsters.
It got so bad that he started seeing them as restaurants, and last two weeks haul had to be the KFC of them all.
Growing up his future was certain.
Straight A's in every exams he ever took, he was set to become the heir of the multi million company his parents built from scratch and expanded over the years.
But an unexpected accident took the lives of both his parents. And his uncle and aunt? They somehow acquired all assets.
Stealing his parents assets came easy to them. His parents hadn't prepared their will yet, maybe they thought they wouldn't die so early?
They cast him out, and ever since he lived on the streets, surviving on the scraps that people tossed out.
"Alright then." He stretched his limbs slightly, then walked out into the open road below the highway. "Time to find something to eat."
Alex walked slowly along the side of the road. His eyes moved from place to place, carefully searching every corner and pile of trash for any scraps he could find.
It was a grueling operation.
Not every trash he found were edible or even safe for human consumption.
He traveled a long distance searching, going through every trash cans at the roadside, and even some leftovers tossed out from car windows.
But they were either just cleared bones from the chicken they ate, or used tissues.
After hours of searching, he sat down just besides a car with nothing to show for it.
His stomac made weird, loud noises as his hunger grew worse. It twisted painfully, making him feel like he could collapse at any moment.
Just when it felt like the hunger might kill him, he eyes fell on a woman walking down the road with a small child, probably not more than eight years old, and the little girl held a large lollipop in her hand.
Just looking at the lollipop made him salivate.
Sure it was not enough to satisfy his hunger, but the enticing taste and flavor of the lollipop? It was what made every child addicted in the first place.
It went against his principles to steal from a child, but in this situation what would have done? What lengths would you slump to in order to survive?
Alex pushed himself weakly to his feet.
He steadied himself for a moment, then began to walk slowly towards the woman and her child from behind.
He made sure his steps were quiet as he followed them down the road. Then as he got close, he channeled all the strength he had left and took off in a full sprint.
He reached out and snatched the lollipop from the child's hand.
Before the woman could react, he turned and ran down the road as fast as he could. Behind him, the child burst into loud tears, crying as the woman tried to calm her.
"Hey! Stop! You thief!"
Just at the other side of the road, two cops were enjoying their lunch break, resting on the hood of their squad car.
Then they heard the commotion.
"Hm?" One of the cops straightened up. He was dressed in the standard blue uniform of the NMPD, and his physique spoke numbers.
"Let's go Michael."
"Huh?" The other cop — Michael, wasn't as enthusiastic as him. "You're not seriously suggesting we chase after some homeless guy because of a lollipop?"
"The law is the law, besides, his greatest offence wasn't stealing that lollipop. It was making that kid cry, let's go."
Micheal rolled his eyes. "Whatever." Then tossed his half eaten burger into the trash can.
Then both cops chased after him immediately.
"You there! Stop!"
Alex looked over his shoulder as he ran, behind him, the cops chased after him with all their might like he had completed a bank heist worth millions of dollars.
"The cops? Over something like this?" He was shocked, but the distant look in his eyes and the blank expression on his face said a different thing.
They ran much faster, and with every second, they got closer and closer to him.
Alex hadn't eaten for a week, and was greatly weakened by it. Soon enough, the muscular cop caught him and tackled him to the ground.
"You're under arrest." He pulled him up to his feet, and slammed him against the wall.
"You have the right to remain silent, anything you say or do will be used against you in the court of law." He said as he cuffed him.
Alex didn't resist.
He didn't retaliate. He couldn't, with what strength?
"Hey... I know you..." Michael said, pointing at Alex. "That's right! You're the kid from that major corporate event two years ago, the son of Andre and Martha Valor."
"Hm?" The muscular cop's eyes twitched. "Andre and Martha Valor? As in the two millionaire genius who died a year ago?"
He glanced at Alex in his pitiful state.
"You're their kid?"
Alex said nothing.
He just looked ahead with the distant look in his eyes, he didn't care if he was arrested or not, at least in jail he'd have something to eat.
"Who could have imagined that the son of one of the most wealthiest family would turn out like this? So this is what it has come to? Stealing candy from a baby? Literally."
"That's enough, Michael." The buffed cop's voice went cold. He opposed such thoughts, especially when Micheal was ignorant about every thing that has happened in his life.
After all he was just a kid who had to suffer the pain of losing both his parents, no younger than the age of 22 no doubt.
"What? I'm only telling the truth aren't I? Who would have thought that one of those spoiled brat will end up on the streets begging for food."
His words were harsh, but none concerned Alex.
Long ago he had accepted his fate. Even the hate he held in his heart for his uncle and aunt? He shoved them to the back of his mind.
He had more important things to worry about than hating them.
"I said that's enough Micha-" The sunlight glinted off a metallic object that fairly hanged out from Alex's pocket, and it caught the man's attention. "What is that?"
"You!" His eyes widened as he pulled out the object from Alex's pocket after realizing what it was. "When did you-"
It was his gold plate lieutenant badge.
"Same time I stole this." Alex replied with a nonchalant voice, then yanked the cuffs off his hands after unlocking them with the keys he stole from the cop.
He immediately grabbed a bag of trash from his jacket pocket and threw it at the cop's face, then he ran.
"You damn-!"
Months and months of begging taught Alex one thing, in this world, humans are nothing but selfish and greedy creatures.
They'll adore and worship you, not because of who you are and what you've done, but because of the money in your pockets and the assets you've acquired.
Once you lose both, your identity as a human is lost. At that point, you're no different from the goats and stray dogs that sprawl around looking for food.
"Damn it! He got me! Let's go Michael!"
"You see, they are all the same!"
The two cops took off in a full sprint, chasing after him.
They were tight on his trail, their boots pounding the main road.
Alex darted past startled pedestrians and leapt over a low fence, and they followed without slowing down, and shouting his name and something about the law is inescapable.
Alex didn't look back, he weaved between parked cars, until the road ended at the train tracks.
The cops didn't hesitate, they jumped over the rails and kept chasing him along the gravel, their shouts echoing across the empty tracks.
"Hey, what's your deal?" Alex looked over his shoulder as he ran and spoke in the most gentle voice ever, as if he was innocent rather than guilty. "Are you really going to keep chasing me over a lollipop? Even if you do catch me, what will you tell the judge?"
"You should have thought about that before you stole it!"
"Even still, don't you have better things to do like catch an actual criminal than chase a homeless kid? I can't imagine they pay you that much to do something like this."
Then.
The two cop's eyes went wide.
"Kid! Watch out!!"
"Hm?" Alex faced forward. His heart froze as his eyes met an oncoming train, roaring down the tracks straight at him. "Oh."
The train slammed into Alex, and the impact threw him off his feet. His splattered body tumbled across the tracks as a deafening roar filled the air, and the whole track was painted red in his blood.
The muscular cop stood frozen.
His eyes were filled with horror, what he just witnessed looked like something that should have only been possible in a clip of final destination.
Micheal fell to his knees and vomited everything he ate as he saw Alex's organs splattered all over the track.
"What have I done..."
..
"Huh?" Alex's eyes shot open instantly, and he coughed violently.
He took in deep breaths, trying his best to keep his breathing stable. The last thing he saw was the speeding train closing in on him, and the overwhelming feeling that dawned on him at that moment.
It was an indescribable feeling that many couldn't comprehend, and a feeling that every human felt once in their lifetime.
Death.
"Urghh... I'm never doing that again." He said as he stood groggily to his feet.
"Wait..." It all came back to him.
"Wasn't I hit by a train?" It was brief and swift, but it was a feeling he couldn't forget.
It was an unpleasant memory.
The crushing force that overwhelmed him and crushed every bone in his body, it wasn't something he could forget anytime soon.
"If I got hit my a train at point blank, aren't I supposed to be dead?" He stared at his palms, but they were still intact.
Infact, they were now pale white and thin.
As he stood straight on his feet, he noticed that his point of view was now higher, as if he had miraculously grown taller in mere seconds.
A sense of unease dawned over him immediately.
The sensation, his vision, his point of view, it felt like he was a stranger in his own body.
Then he looked around and saw it.
The blood splattered all around him. It was almost enough to make him vomit.
Almost immediately, a piercing ring echoed inside his skull, sharp enough to drown out the world around him.
He clutched his head with both hands, and a raw shriek tore from his mouth as an onslaught of memories surged into him.
They crashed into his mind like a violent storm overwhelming him with the life and experiences of another — the previous soul that once inhabited this very body.
When it finally ended, he found himself on his knees, with his hands pressed against the sides of his head.
"W—what the hell..."
He got up to his feet, feeling a bit lightheaded.
By the time he finally came to, he managed to deduce the answers to his question.
"So I didn't just die, I got transmigrated?"
That was the only way he could explain it.
Suddenly, he heard a voice in his head.
[Ding! System Installation Successful!]
[You have successfully installed the Primordial Returns System!]
[Registering bloodline...]
[Bloodline registered!]
[You have registered the bloodline (Mornach Of Motion.]