Quinn lay nested in silken blankets, his infants body still foreign and strange. Though his limbs were small and voice still a garbled cry, his mind burned with clarity.
HOW? WHY?
The questions circled like vultures in silence f his thoughts.
He remembered the alley. The knife. The girl running. The weight of his regrets. He had been ready to die-- or maybe, deep down, he had wanted to. And yet, here he was. Breathing. Warm. Cradled in power and blood he didn't yet understand.
A queen called him son
A sister swore to protect him.
And king-- the Blood-King-- stood over him, a living legend, a figure of myth.
It made no sense. This World was alien. The air shimmered with energy, the hall echoed with strength, and even the walls seemed hum with history. He didn't know the language fully, but emotions spoke louder than words. They loved him. Fiercely. Unconditionally. At least his mom and sis, the look the dad gave him was different but he couldn't put his finger on it.
Why me?
He hadn't been special in his old life. Just a broken man with a bleeding heart and string of failures behind him. Maybe this fate--or punishment. Or maybe the gods had heard his final prayer.
If there was one thing he knew, it was this:
He wouldn't waste it.
Not this time.
He would train. He would learn. He would carve a place for himself in this dangerous, beautiful World. He would earn the strength to protect, not just survive. He would become more than what he was.
Because somewhere deep inside, in the ashes of who he had been, a spark had caught flame.
This time, Quinn thought, I'll rise. Even if it kills me.