Building a Second Life

Building a Second Life

Maiga Ardeni

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The cold seeped into my bones, each beat of the heart monitor a countdown to my end. My name is Ethan Miller, and I was dying, wasted by an illness the doctors couldn't explain. The System, an emotionless voice in my head, confirmed my mission failure: I had refused to play the villain, refused to hurt my adoptive aunt, Eleanor Vance, the woman I loved with everything I had. My reward for being the "good guy" was this hospital bed, my body shutting down because I wouldn't sabotage Eleanor' s perfect romance with the sculptor Liam Stone. The door opened, and Eleanor entered, radiant in a tailored dress, her arm linked with Liam' s. Her voice, smooth and practiced, feigned concern, but her eyes held impatience and distaste. She played the grieving aunt, while Liam, naive and kind, looked at me with pity. I rasped out that I was fine, but Eleanor, with a cruel smile, claimed the doctor said it wasn't looking good. She then held up a wooden bird, a phoenix I had carved for her years ago, a symbol of hope. On a live news broadcast, she declared it a symbol of "misguided love," then nonchalantly tossed it into a staged fireplace, burning my creation, my heart, to ashes. As the monitor flatlined and the System bond terminated, her triumphant smile was the last thing I saw. The rage was a physical thing, burning hotter than any fever. But then, a new, ancient voice offered me a second chance, a Rebirth Protocol. This time, I would embrace my designated role as the villain, and survive.

Introduction

The cold seeped into my bones, each beat of the heart monitor a countdown to my end.

My name is Ethan Miller, and I was dying, wasted by an illness the doctors couldn't explain.

The System, an emotionless voice in my head, confirmed my mission failure: I had refused to play the villain, refused to hurt my adoptive aunt, Eleanor Vance, the woman I loved with everything I had.

My reward for being the "good guy" was this hospital bed, my body shutting down because I wouldn't sabotage Eleanor' s perfect romance with the sculptor Liam Stone.

The door opened, and Eleanor entered, radiant in a tailored dress, her arm linked with Liam' s.

Her voice, smooth and practiced, feigned concern, but her eyes held impatience and distaste.

She played the grieving aunt, while Liam, naive and kind, looked at me with pity.

I rasped out that I was fine, but Eleanor, with a cruel smile, claimed the doctor said it wasn't looking good.

She then held up a wooden bird, a phoenix I had carved for her years ago, a symbol of hope.

On a live news broadcast, she declared it a symbol of "misguided love," then nonchalantly tossed it into a staged fireplace, burning my creation, my heart, to ashes.

As the monitor flatlined and the System bond terminated, her triumphant smile was the last thing I saw.

The rage was a physical thing, burning hotter than any fever.

But then, a new, ancient voice offered me a second chance, a Rebirth Protocol.

This time, I would embrace my designated role as the villain, and survive.

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He Drowned Me, I Burned His World.

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My fiancé, Anthony, built an entire virtual world for me after a climbing accident left me in a wheelchair. He called it Aethelgard, my sanctuary. In his game, I wasn't broken; I was Valkyrie, the unrivaled champion. He was my savior, the man who patiently nursed me back from the brink. Then, I saw a live stream of him on stage at a tech conference. With his arm wrapped around my physical therapist, Dahlia, he announced to the world that she was the woman he intended to spend the rest of his life with. The truth was a waking nightmare. He wasn't just cheating; he was secretly switching my pain medication for a weaker dose with sedatives, intentionally slowing my recovery to keep me weak and dependent. He gave Dahlia my one-of-a-kind bracelet, my virtual title, and even the wedding plans I had made for us. He leaked a humiliating photo of me at my lowest point, turning the entire gaming community against me and branding me a stalker. The final blow came when I tried to confront him at his victory party. His security guards beat me, and on his casual command, they threw my unconscious body into a filthy fountain to "sober me up." The man who swore to build a world where I would never struggle had tried to drown me in it. But I survived. I left him and that city behind, and as my legs grew strong again, so did my resolve. He stole my name, my legacy, and my world. Now, I'm logging back in, not as Valkyrie, but as myself. And I'm going to burn his empire to the ground.

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