The Earth After Rebirth

He was a rich proud man, a great businessman but a terrible father and husband to Nikolai and his mother. He was truly cruel.

Arnold Black didn\'t marry his mother out of love, he did so out of lust. The worst thing about lust is, it has an expiry date. So when he was done with her, he tossed her aside like a used diaper.

For the longest time, his mother shielded her son from the kind of monster his father was. Since Nikolai had the Black blood coursing through his veins, the pride his father had didn\'t allow to toss him aside and disown him as well. He just figured he wouldn\'t survive the battle of the heirs.

"Mum, why does father hate me?" Nikolai at 5 years old asked.

"He doesn\'t hate you. He\'s just too busy. I\'ll always be here, to love you for the both of us." She declared, while squeezing her son close for a hug.

When Nikolai turned 7, he was introduced to his aid, Felix, who was also 7. Instead of treating him as a servant, the two boys became friends and inseparable. Nikolai had never had friends in his life, so he was glad for this one.

Tried as she did to shield her son from the terrible person his father was. That all changed when he turned 10 years old. In the middle of the night, little Nikolai was woken up by a commotion.

The doors to his room burst open, it was dark, the only light the room allowed was that of the full moon, even though he was half asleep he recognised the person to be his mother.

She knelt beside his bed, "quickly Niko, my baby boy, out the window. Don\'t let them get you. Run. Run as far away from here as you possibly can. Don\'t look back. Survive."

Just as he was about to retort, a laser bullet pierce his mother\'s neck. Cleanly. Nikolai violently shook, he listened as his mother gurgled the word \'run.\'

He quickly got out of bed, half his mother\'s face was illuminated by the moon. A tear streamed down her cheek, a smile on her face.

Nikolai scrambled for clothes, as it was winter and took off out the window. He figured this was probably the battle of the heirs, since he didn\'t have a high status in this family they wanted to permanently erase him.

He run through the snow until his lungs gave out. He couldn\'t run anymore, so he climbed a tree, to sleep. He realised it was dumb, since high altitude meant colder air, but he couldn\'t risk getting caught while sleeping.

The next morning he continued running. This time it was his legs that gave out. He wished he had ran with Felix, he didn\'t like being alone, in this vast unknown world.

Now that his mother was dead, the world felt lonely. It didn\'t feel like a world he wanted to live in, but his mother risked everything to tell him to survive.

He set up traps to catch rats or squirrels. Tricks he had learned from Felix. Before he became his aid, he was pretty much useless. But for 3 years he had taught him survival skills, which he was grateful for.

He started a fire waiting for the trap to spring up. After 5 hours, it finally caught something. A rat. He killed, skinned and roasted it. It was no means a feast, his stomach wouldn\'t be full with just this, but he was still thankful. At least he wouldn\'t die from starvation.

On his 7th day on the run, he realised that nobody was actually chasing him. He even considered going back, but decided against it.

With his mother dead, he had no one. His father never showed interest in him, not even once. He never stood up for them, when his mother was alive why would he start now.

On his 20th day, he was sure he\'d die of starvation. The further he walked, the harder it was catching anything. It was then that he smelled it, it smelled like roasted pork. He\'d been on the run for 20 days, he still hadn\'t lost his sense, he knew what pork smelled like.

Maybe from hunger, he ran toward the bewitching aroma not paying attention to any of his surroundings. He saw a campsite that looked abandoned, he was so hungry he didn\'t think anything of it. He sat by the fire and started wolfing down the meat.

He ate it until only bone was left, he still hadn\'t had enough, so he was chewing on the bone while looking around.

"You\'ve taken what is not yours, you\'ll pay with your life." A chilling voice said from nowhere.

Nikolai was startled, he fell from where he was sitting, he got up quickly and started to run. Then something hit him on the neck, it didn\'t take a second before his body bounced on the floor with a thud.

The man came out of the trees, and cackled. He couldn\'t believe his luck, he had found a seemingly strong young boy. Nikolai was caught by an underground slave trader. And was sold to the other end of the world, far away from his home.

Slavery was absolutely forbidden in Sanctauri but there\'s always a dark side to everything. It was a small ring that some rich people took part in. It was absolutely underground, that many people had no idea it was going on.

Nikolai now regretted not going back. At the same time, he didn\'t know what awaited him if he did. He still didn\'t want to be a slave, but he had no choice. He was sold to a fat guy named Frédéric Zoltok.

At the tender age of 10, Nikolai had to do things no human should ever have do. For the first few nights, he tried to escape, but he\'d be caught and beaten until he was black, blue and red.

After months of trying he stopped. Like a horse whose spirit had been completely broken, he just sat there obediently and did as he was told.

The master of this house, Frédéric, was perverse. He did things to young Nikolai, terrible things. He even ordered the child to never cut his hair.

His master had monthly meetings, which were secret. He\'d let slip when drunk and bragging that he was part of a secret society. A club for prestigious wealthy men. Nikolai didn\'t care much about it, but had to pretend he cared or else he\'d get beaten.

2 years passed and Nikolai finally realised that, every servant in that house were men forced to dress and act like women. He was even told by others that once he reaches maturity, his manhood would be cut off.

That\'s when he decided he\'d escape again but this time he had to plan it right. He still went to his monthly visits with his Master. His hair was extremely long after 2 years of not cutting it. Every once in a while he\'d have to sleep in throughout the night.

3 years passed in a blink of an eye. His plan to escape was ironed out. His hair was waist height now. He looked like a girl even at 15, he was lucky he was a late bloomer. Otherwise things could\'ve been dire for his manhood.

The night to execute came. He went as usual, this was the night he had to sleep in. He had hidden a small blade in his mouth. He made careful incisions on his wrists and throat. Luckily he cut through his vocal cords. Frédéric woke up, eyes widened in shock.

Nikolai watched in satisfaction as his master laid there still, he couldn\'t move or shout. He was bleeding out. It was a slow and terrible death, something he deserved. He smiled wickedly at the man\'s pleading eyes.

"Don\'t grow soft on me now, Master. You\'ve created this monster, you should be proud."

Like that he left the room, and hid himself amongst garbage that would be taken out the next morning before the master was woken up.

The labyrinth was truly cruel. Nikolai had originally thought he had dealt with his past fears but reliving them triggered a trauma he didn\'t know was still there.

After escaping that hell hole he lived in for 5 years, he went back home, to find that his siblings had died in their greed for power.

Even when his father welcomed him with opened arms, he didn\'t reciprocate, he didn\'t care about his father\'s approval as he once did.

He had killed a man, a terrible man, a man nonetheless, at just 15.

Arnold Black didn\'t push it. He saw that his son had grown cold and dangerous. His dead eyes told him everything he needed about what he\'d went through.

He found relief within himself that he at least put a headstone for his mother. Otherwise this meeting would\'ve been dangerous for him.

Nikolai vowed the day his mother died, that if he ever came back here, it\'d be to destroy the Black family.

He wasn\'t in a rush, he had learned from experience that, great plans took time.

He kissed the headstone, "So it begins." He mumbled absent-mindedly.