Bzzzt. Bzzzt.
I groggily turn my head, half-expecting my school alarm. Instead, it's a text from my bank.
"Hello Thomas Dieheart, Happy Birthday! Sending you warm wishes on this special day. — Goldrain Bank."
I stare at the screen. It's Saturday. No school. And yes — it's my birthday. Sweet sixteen, or so they say.
But what's sweet about a birthday when there's no one left to celebrate it with?
My name is Thomas Dieheart. I'm sixteen years old, with no parents, a sizeable inheritance, and a heart that finds it hard to trust. When people approach me, I can never tell if they want my friendship... or my fortune.
Up until I was ten, life was pretty normal. I had loving parents and a younger sister. Then came the diagnosis — leukemia. Chemotherapy, hospital beds, and uncertainty became my world. In that darkness, I found a light: Terra's Champion, a web novel that changed my life.
It followed a boy named Rowan, who lost his mother young and promised her he'd live happily, no matter what. He was kind, hopeful, and full of life in a world where death was always lurking. His optimism reminded me that life, however fragile, was still worth living.
That story — and the love of my family — gave me the strength to fight. After years of treatment and a bone marrow transplant from my dad, I survived. I was finally going to leave the hospital.
But they never came.
My parents and sister were in a car crash on their way to pick me up. They died before they could say "Welcome home."
For days, I refused to believe it. I waited by the hospital doors, praying the doctors were wrong. But when my uncle came instead — grim-faced and quiet — the truth settled like lead in my chest.
I inherited everything. My father's company, the properties, the wealth. My uncle managed it all... until he didn't. One day, he vanished. He liquidated the assets and left nothing but empty promises.
Thankfully, some properties remained untouched, and my tuition was paid from a trust. I refused to sell what was left. Instead, I worked after school, scraping by while holding onto the past.
Somehow, I survived again.
After my uncle disappeared, I found Terra's Champion again. I read it from the beginning, page by page, until I reached the end — or rather, the place where the author stopped. Vanished, just like everyone else.
But fate wasn't done with me yet.
A new game was announced: Legacy of the Scindari, based on the very world that had once saved me. And like a strange birthday gift from the universe, I was chosen as one of its beta testers.
Maybe… just maybe… this time, I'll get to see the ending of the story.