Chapter 5: Chapter 5 – Prince Chronos Astral

I stood in a line of people amidst an eerie scrapyard. The line stretched out for miles. An ominous silence brooded as raindrops fell with increasing consistency. My white hair was drenched.

 

‘ Hold on… why do i have white hair’

 

I thought to myself as i scanned my arms. They were a wrinkled and pale, the protruding bones held up perceptibly malnutritioned tents of aged, scarred skin. I was but a ragged bag of bones. Putting my fingers on my lips, they felt so parched it was like i was running my fingers across the bark of a tree. An unfathomable sense of hunger struck and my throat was so dry it ached to breathe.

 

“ARGHHH!” A bellow reverberated from a distance, cut short by the sound of laser fire, distracted me from the pain.

 

“Another runaway, toss it straight into the generator…” an echoing robotic voice devoid of emotion echoed.

 

I looked up at the sky with my mouth open, letting the rain pellet down into my shriveled esophagus. The agony of prolonged thirst and starvation stuck to me like a layer of scalding wax had ravaged the insides of my beat up body. Mindlessly, stepping forward with the crowd, it was only a matter of minutes when an emotionless android nudged me to hurry up. I was at the edge of a cliff, below me were giant grinding gears drench in red fluid, the occasional limb or head bouncing about trying to escape the jaws of the menacing mechanical beast. In shock, I leaned forward to throw up and caught a glimpse of a sign ‘Biomass Generator’. Just then, I felt a metallic kick from the back pushing me into the monster grinding machine. The instantaneous pain I felt - indescribable.

 

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Bedroom of Prince Chronos Astral

 

“HUUHHHH!”

 

I sat up gasping for air, the torment I felt still lingering in the corners of my consciousness. The physical pain though, slowly subsiding.

 

*Sniff* *Sniff* *Sniff*

 

A scent of fresh grass mixed with sanitizer fluid wafted into my nostrils as I slowly regained my bearings. I felt what could only be described as soft, fluffy, smooth and cozy cloud pressing against my skin. ‘Am I in heaven?’ I thought to myself, before shaking my head and realizing that I was in an expansive room mainly stylized in mediaeval palace décor. The room was brimmed with lavish beige marble that exuded opulence. On the right side however, was a screen that stretched across the entire surface of the wall, a constant reminder of the rooms futuristic charms. It had a hyper realistic background of a cloudy sunlit sky. I felt as if I were one of the Gods on Mount Olympus, looking out onto a peerless cloudy sky.

 

I sat half- awake on a Victorian era styled canopy bed that had an intricately carved marblelesque frame. The velvety white mattress half-consumed my body in fluff and comfort. My body! I quickly looked down and saw a body of a 3 year-old in an intricately designed suit of white with purple and silver embroidery. 

 

‘Phew… I’m not an old man… but what in the world is going on? That nightmare was too realistic for comfort,’ I thought to myself.

 

‘Hang on… How long had i been asleep? Aren’t I a new born?’ Memories of my first moments in this new world flooded my thoughts, I remembered shooting out of a tub of fluids and levitated mid air amongst a flurry of of silver n purple particles that froze my surroundings. Following which…

 

“Urghhh….” a piercing pain bore deep into my skull, it was as if a part of my memories went missing, only to skip to me falling helplessly from the skies.

 

Shaking my head, I started patting myself down. ‘Phew… It’s still there, I was born a guy...’ with my hands in my pants I heaved a sigh of relief but just at that moment…

 

“Wow aren’t you a little too young for that lil bro”

 

I looked up, dazed from having just recovered from my headache. Looking down to my crotch and the hand beneath my pants, I froze. Looking back up I saw a beauty adorning a head of silky dark purple hair tied up in a ponytail. She was wearing an exquisite maroon dress much like that of ancient Chinese nobility I saw in dramas back on Earth. Probably in her late twenties, an alluring aura of nobility exuded from her. One of her pearlesque hands was covering her mouth, barely managing to hold in a laugh. A seductive, perfect body jiggling with every stifled giggle. Two beads of dark purple glimmered as the wall screen, for a lack of a better term, shone crimson skylight onto this femme fatale of a lady. 

“A.. Are you a goddess?”

 

Just as I asked that question, a stringing pain came from my head. I put my forehead into one of my hands trying to massage both my temples but realized that my hand was too tiny.

 

“Hahahaha…Goddess??.. I love you so much lil Chronos, aren’t you the cutest…” A sweet laughter followed immediately after my question.

 

“My name is Chronos?” I muttered under my breath.

 

“Yes! You are Prince Chronos Astral, baby brother of the gorgeous, intelligent, fearsome, brave, popular….. “

You are reading story Time After Death : Chronicles of A Tyrant Prince at novel35.com

 

“Y.. You’re Eldest sister Athena…”

 

“How do I.. know this…?”

 

My head once again started to ache. This time I lowered my head and had each of my tiny index fingers massage my temples, slying ignoring the position I was previously in.

 

*Flash*

 

I felt a shift in the space ahead of me but before I could react, I felt a two palms rubbing both of my cheeks, squeezing my face toward my nose.

 

“Don’t worry lil cutie… the side effects from your PBS and Basic Update will subside very soon” She smiled as she continued massaging my cheeks, chuckling at the many variations of silly faces she was forcing upon me.

 

“Bee… Pee..Sssh?” I tried to sound out, desperately trying not to look at the two mounds of perfection swaying in front of me with each movement of her arms.

 

She stopped her hands in a position that forced me to make a kissy face, she smiled and said:

 

“PBS- Pre-Birth Simulation, it is a method Sophia and her army of nerds have been working on, it allows a growing fetus to experience a simulated lifetime, based on ancient anecdotes of how prehistoric societies used to be, before the end of the incubation period..”

 

“… The formation of higher life forms start with their cognitive functions so while the rest of the being grows, we have managed to create a simulation within the mental faculties of the fetus to accelerate mental growth and acuity…”

 

“This gives the child an unimaginable head start in areas of mental maturity, comprehension, emotional control bla bla bla…”

 

My eyes widened at the thought that the simulation theory I had scoffed at my times while experiencing Earth was actually true! I blinked a few times, suddenly realizing the awkwardness of my position and tried to push my sister away. My short tiny frame and arms pushed forward, only to feel a soft sensation on my palms. I looked forward toward my hands and looked back up at the picturesque face right in front of me - frozen.

Athena smirked as I could see her warm smile considering whether or not to turn dangerously into something else, however, she all but let loose a soft chuckle. She let go of me, covered her chest and in a mischievous tone whined:

“ How could you take advantage of your own big sister! Do you know how many have died just looking at my babies for too long?” Athena let out an evil grin. 

 

I could feel my face flush as i frantically waved my arms in front of me.

 

“It.. It was an accident! I was just trying to….”

 

 

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Author’s Notes:

 

The focus of this chapter was to start the hellish string of nightmares the MC will experience throughout his growth. I realized that I’d have to come up with several gruesome death scenarios. The MC is basically experiencing a future where A.I. Androids have taken over the planet and natural life forms were treated as fuel/ research subjects. The problem I anticipate is that the needs of an intelligent race of androids really don't have much use for humans. I want to keep things as logical as I can. For example, the androids wouldn’t torture humans for fun, being devoid of emotions and all. Nor would they have any reason to keep the remnant life forms of a planet they have already conquered… Hmmm… Do comment any ideas if it strikes you… I’ll be sure to shout you out if I use your idea ;D

 

Athena debuts in this chapter, Athena of course known as the city’s protectress and goddess of war in Greek mythology. I’ve designed her as a stereotypical brash outgoing character who only really gets serious when its time for war. Again the problem with adding depth to characters, the easy way out would probably be to make her a lesbian… hmm… stay tuned to find out ;P

 

With respects to war, in a world of cultivators, how important is it to write about an Army? Is having an association for cultivators enough? An army of cultivators? How many though… for an empire that owns 1/3 of the planet. I haven’t really decided but the idea of having armies in a world where cultivators can level cities seems redundant. Well, feel free to comment your opinions and stay tuned for my decision.

 

Much Love and Gratitude

Mr.B the Novelist

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