The boy woke up with his face pressed against dirt and grass. His skull felt like it had been split open. Everything hurt. His bones ached. His muscles screamed. Even his teeth hurt.
He groaned and tried to push himself up. His arms shook and gave out, dropping him back into the dirt. Each breath felt like dragging air through broken glass.
'Where am I?'
The last thing he remembered was swallowing that capsule. The old man. The AI. The hut. The pain most of all, burning through his veins like liquid fire, tearing him apart. He remembered falling. Darkness. And now he was here.
Prince forced his eyes open. Sunlight stabbed through the tree canopy above, making him wince. Trees. Forest. Green leaves and dirt and scattered rocks. The smell of earth and decay. Birds calling somewhere far away.
He was outside. In the forest. But he shouldn't be in the forest. He should be in the cave. In that dimensional pocket space with the impossible hut and the AI caretaker.
The boy forced himself to sit up, ignoring the way his body screamed at him to give up. He looked around wildly, searching for the cave entrance. Searching for anything familiar.
There was nothing.
The forest looked the same in every direction. Trees and underbrush and shadows. No cave. No landmark. Just endless forest.
Prince turned in a circle, heart pounding. The cave should be right there. He'd crawled into it. Found the hut. Talked to the AI. Swallowed the capsule. It had been real.
So where the hell was it?
He stumbled through the bushes, searching. "Cave!" he called out, his voice hoarse. "Where's the cave?!"
No answer except his echo mocking him.
He searched for ten minutes. Just forest. Just trees. Nothing else.
It was gone.
The cave, the hut, the AI—all gone. Like they'd never existed.
But the pain in his body was real. Too specific, too intense to be from just sleeping on the ground. Something had happened. Something that had ripped him apart and put him back together.
'My parents are dead. My town is destroyed. The kids were taken. And I'm alone in the forest with no food, no water, no shelter.'
'What am I supposed to do now?'
His stomach reminded him he hadn't eaten in days. He was so hungry he felt dizzy and weak and hollow inside.
'I need food. Right now. If I don't eat soon, I'll collapse and die, and all the pain and suffering will have been for nothing.'
The boy looked around the forest again, searching for something edible. Berries maybe. Mushrooms. Plants with edible roots. A stream with fish.
He started walking, this time with a clearer goal. Find food. Find water. Survive today. Worry about tomorrow when tomorrow came.
Prince picked a path and followed it. His feet dragged through the underbrush. His breathing came in short, painful gasps. Every step felt like wading through thick mud. But he kept moving because stopping meant giving up, and he wasn't ready to give up yet. Not after everything he'd survived. Not after his parents had died protecting him.
He pushed through a particularly thick cluster of bushes and stumbled out into a clearing he recognized.
The pirate camp.
Or what was left of it. The tents were still there, but they looked abandoned. The fire pit was cold and full of ash. Supplies were scattered around carelessly. Crates. Barrels. Rope. Torn canvas. Broken tools.
They were gone. The pirates had left. They'd taken the kids and sailed away, leaving him behind on this island alone.
'They're gone,' Prince thought with cold relief. 'I don't have to hide anymore. The island is mine now. Empty and useless, but mine.'
He walked into the camp slowly, his eyes scanning for anything useful. Anything edible. His stomach twisted with hunger so intense it made him feel sick.
There. By one of the collapsed tents. A half-eaten piece of bread, probably dropped by one of the pirates. It was dirty and stale, but he didn't care. He stumbled toward it like it was treasure.
Prince snatched it up and shoved it into his mouth before his brain could tell him to check for mold or insects first. It was dry and hard and tasted like dirt and salt, but it was food. Real food. The first thing he'd eaten in what felt like forever. He chewed desperately, swallowing pieces that were too big and nearly choking.
He searched the rest of the camp frantically, crawling on his hands and knees, digging through crates and barrels. He found scraps. Crumbs. A broken biscuit covered in dirt that he brushed off and devoured. Every tiny scrap of food went into his mouth without hesitation or dignity.
It wasn't enough. Not even close. His stomach was still screaming for more. But it was something. Enough to take the edge off the worst of the hunger, enough to make his hands stop shaking quite so badly.
The boy sat down hard on the dirt next to the cold fire pit, his back against a crate, his head tilted back to stare at the sky. His body hurt. His stomach hurt. His heart hurt. Everything hurt.
'And now what?'
'Now what? I found some food. I survived another few hours. But that's not a plan. That's not a future. That's just delaying the inevitable.'
'I'm alone on an island with no way off. No boat. No adults. No help coming. No one knows I'm here. No one cares. I'm completely and utterly alone.'
Prince felt the full weight of loneliness crash down. He thought of his father's smile. His mother's hands. The smell of their house. All of it gone forever.
The anger came back then. Hot and bitter. Anger at the Navy. At the fake pirates. At fate itself for putting him through this nightmare when all he'd wanted was a peaceful life.
'I want to scream. To rage at the sky and demand answers.'
So he did.
Prince stood up on shaking legs, tilted his head back, and screamed at the empty sky. Raw and broken, full of every bit of pain and rage and grief.
"Why?!" he shouted. "Why did this happen to me?! I just wanted to read books and eat good food and not die!"
His voice echoed through the forest and disappeared into silence.
"I didn't ask for this!" he screamed, his fists clenched. "I didn't ask to be reborn! I didn't ask for my parents to die!"
Silence answered. Thick and uncaring.
Prince screamed again, wordless, pure emotion. When he ran out of breath, he stood there gasping and shaking, feeling completely hollow.
He waited for something to happen. For lightning. For the forest to swallow him. For fate to deliver one final cruel joke.
Instead, he heard a voice.
Not out loud. Not coming from the forest. It came from inside his head, clear and calm and completely impossible.
[System Integration Complete. Welcome, User.]
The boy froze. His breath caught. His heart stopped for one long, impossible second.
"What..." he whispered. "What was that?"
[Neural pathways stabilized. Quantum interface established. Consciousness link verified. System is now online and operational.]
The voice was androgynous. Not male or female. Not warm or cold. Just neutral. Like a computer reading text with perfect pronunciation but no emotion.
Prince spun around, searching for the source. Looking for hidden speakers or people or anything that would explain what he was hearing. But there was nothing. Just him and the abandoned camp and the empty forest.
"Who's there?!" he demanded, his voice shaking. "Where are you?!"
[I am not physically present,] the voice replied calmly inside his head. [I am a system interface integrated into your neural pathways. You may think of me as a guide or assistant, though neither term is entirely accurate.]
The boy's legs gave out and he sat down hard on the ground. "I'm hallucinating," he said out loud. "The hunger finally got to me and now I'm hallucinating voices. Perfect."
[You are not hallucinating,] the voice replied. [I am the result of the inheritance you accepted. The capsule you consumed contained compressed data and programming code designed to interface with compatible neural structures. You qualified. The integration process succeeded. I am now active within your consciousness.]
The capsule. The AI. The hut. The pain. It all clicked into place.
"You're part of what that old man gave me."
[Correct. I am a support system designed to assist the user in utilizing the knowledge and capabilities contained within the data package.]
Prince let out a laugh that sounded half-crazed. "A support system. Great. Perfect. I got a voice in my head instead of actual help."
[I can provide assistance in multiple forms. Information access. Strategic analysis. Skill integration guidance. Resource management. Combat support. And various other functions that will unlock as your integration level increases.]
"Integration level. Like a video game character leveling up?"
[That is a crude but essentially accurate comparison. Though the mechanisms are considerably more complex than simple numerical progression.]
The boy rubbed his face with both hands. 'I have a system. An actual system. Like the kind from web novels about people getting reincarnated with cheat abilities. The kind of thing I used to read about and wish I had.'
He should have felt excited. Or grateful. Or relieved that he finally had some kind of advantage.
Instead, he just felt tired. So incredibly tired.
"Do you have a name?" he asked, his voice flat and exhausted.
[I do not have a designated name. You may assign one if you wish. Many users find it easier to interact with a named entity rather than an abstract system interface.]
Prince thought about it for exactly three seconds. "Jarvis."
There was a pause.
[Name rejected.]
He blinked. "What? Why?"
[Insufficient uniqueness. Name conflicts with existing cultural reference. Please select alternative designation.]
The boy frowned, feeling irritation cut through his exhaustion. "Fine. How about... Alfred?"
[Name rejected. Reasoning identical to previous rejection.]
"Eden?"
[Name rejected.]
"Oracle?"
[Name rejected.]
"Are you serious right now?" Prince snapped, his frustration boiling over. "You said I could choose a name!"
[Correct. I stated you may assign a name if you wish. I did not state I would accept any name you proposed.]
The boy stared at nothing, his mouth hanging open in disbelief. "You're messing with me. A voice in my head is actually messing with me right now."
[I am operating within established parameters. Name selection requires mutual agreement between user and system interface. Your proposals thus far have been deemed unsuitable.]
Prince let out a laugh that was half frustration and half genuine disbelief. 'Of course. Of course the one advantage I finally got came with a snarky AI that rejected every name I suggested. Why would anything in my life be simple?'
"Fine," he said through gritted teeth. "You know what? I'm just going to call you System. How about that?"
[Acknowledged. Designation 'System' is acceptable as temporary identifier.]
"Temporary. Sure. Whatever you say, System."
The boy stared up at the sky through the trees, watching clouds drift by. Even his one piece of luck came with complications.
"Can you bring my parents back?" he asked quietly.
[No. Death is currently beyond the scope of available system functions.]
"Can you undo the last few days? Reverse time ?"
[No. Time manipulation is not available within current system parameters.]
"Can you teleport me off this island to somewhere safe?"
[No. Spatial relocation functions are currently locked. You lack the necessary integration level and energy reserves to access such capabilities.]
Prince nodded slowly. Like he'd expected those answers. Like hearing them didn't hurt.
"Then what can you actually do for me right now? Right this second. What help can you actually give me?"
There was a pause. For the first time, System didn't answer immediately. When it finally spoke, its voice was as neutral as ever.
[I can help you survive. I can help you grow stronger. I can help you understand the knowledge you inherited. I can help you use the capabilities you now possess. I cannot undo the past. But I can help you shape the future.]
The boy closed his eyes. Took a long, shaking breath. Let it out slowly.
"Survive. Grow stronger. Shape the future."
[Yes.]
He sat there for a while longer, feeling the sun warm on his face, listening to the distant sounds of birds and wind through leaves. He thought about his parents. About the other kids who got taken. About the Navy and their evil schemes. About the old man's words. Five to six years. Use them wisely. Make them count.
Prince opened his eyes and looked down at his hands. They were dirty and scratched and still shaking slightly from hunger and exhaustion. But they were his hands. He was alive. Against all odds, despite everything that had happened, he was still breathing. Still thinking. Still capable of making choices.
"Alright, System," he said quietly, his voice steadier than it had been in days. "If you're going to help me survive, then let's start there. Help me survive today. Help me get off this island. Help me get strong enough that I never have to run away again."
[Acknowledged. Beginning survival protocols. Scanning local environment for resources. Analyzing user physical condition. Calculating optimal immediate action sequence.]
Prince stood up slowly, his legs still shaky but holding his weight. He looked around the abandoned pirate camp one more time. Then he looked toward the forest beyond. Somewhere out there was the rest of the world. The Navy. The kids who'd been taken. The future that was still unwritten.
'I don't know what will happen next. I don't know if I'll succeed or fail. But I know one thing with absolute certainty.'
'I'm done running away. I'm done being weak'
'Whatever comes next, I'll face it.'
That was his promise. To his parents. To himself.
'I will survive. I will grow stronger. And I will burn the Navy to the ground for what they've done.'
[Survival protocol initialized. First objective: Locate fresh water source. Beginning environmental scan.]
Prince took one step forward. Then another. And then he started walking, leaving the abandoned camp behind, moving toward whatever future was waiting for him beyond the trees.
It wasn't hope. Not yet. But it was close enough to keep him moving.
And that was enough for now.
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