Chapter 0004 What The Ring is All About.

The pain seared through Alex’s body, relentless and all-consuming, but it lasted only a few agonizing minutes. He thrashed around the room, his limbs moving as if controlled by some unseen force, as though something foreign was crawling beneath his skin. Then, as suddenly as it began, it stopped. His body went still and unnervingly calm, like the surface of a pond after a storm. But inside, everything was different.

Even before the ring had shot onto his finger, Alex had sensed something peculiar about it. Lying on the floor, it pulsed with an eerie energy, almost as if it were alive. The moment the ring attached itself to him, a shiver ran down his spine, as though it whispered secrets that only his soul could understand. His eyes darkened, his sclera consumed by a pitch-black void, and suddenly, his reality shifted.

He was no longer in his run-down apartment. Instead, he found himself in a hospital ward, standing unnoticed in a corner. He watched as a couple, radiant with joy, cradled a newborn baby. The father, his eyes brimming with pride, spoke in a voice filled with love.

“I will call him Alex because this is the name I have always wanted for my first child,” he declared, and the mother smiled, her eyes shimmering with tears of happiness.

“Alex Carter it is, from now on,” she responded, her voice soft and tender.

A shock of recognition jolted through Alex. “That’s me,” he whispered, stunned. “And those... are my parents?”

For as long as he could remember, Alex had been an orphan. His parents had died in a fire when he was too young to remember them. He had grown up hearing about their tragic deaths, shuffled from an orphanage to a foster home, and eventually ran away from his abusive foster parents. Since then, he has lived alone in his tiny, tattered apartment, scraping by in a world that has never shown him kindness.

Seeing his parents now, alive and happy, overwhelmed him. He didn’t care how this vision had come to be. All he wanted was to embrace them and tell them how much he had suffered without them. He stepped forward, his heart aching with longing.

“Dad? Mum?” He called out, his voice trembling as he reached out to them.

But just as he was about to wrap his arms around them, they vanished, and the scene shifted. The sterile hospital ward dissolved, replaced by a luxurious home filled with opulent furnishings. His parents reappeared, sitting comfortably on a plush sofa, watching television.

Alex blinked, confused by the sudden change, but there was no time to dwell on it. He saw himself again, a baby crawling around his mother’s feet, when a housekeeper entered the room, scooped him up, and carried him away.

The scene morphed once more, but this time it was a nightmare. Flames roared to life, engulfing the room and consuming everything in their path. His parents were trapped inside, their faces twisted in agony as they screamed for help.

“Help us, please, help!” They cried out, their voices filled with terror.

Desperation surged through Alex. He tried to rush into the fire to save them, but no matter how hard he ran, the flames remained out of reach. He stretched out his hand, screaming for them, but they couldn’t see him. They continued to burn, their screams piercing through him like daggers.

Just as his hope began to wane, Alex noticed a figure standing beside him. It was his father, but older, wearing the same clothes he had been in when the fire claimed him. Unlike the tormented man burning in the flames, this version of his father was calm, serene, and even had a gentle smile on his face.

“Alex Carter,” his father said, his voice soft yet clear.

“You can see me?” Alex asked, his confusion evident. His father nodded, still smiling, and began to speak.

“I know you have many questions,” he began. “Alas, you are in a trance because you have discovered the ring.”

“The ring?” Alex echoed it, his confusion deepening.

“Yes, the ring of the Conqueror of the Underworld,” his father replied, his tone reverent.

Alex stared at him, bewildered. The words meant nothing to him. “I don’t understand,” he admitted, hoping for clarity.

His father’s smile remained as he continued. “Your mother and I fought against the demon of the underworld during our lifetime. We were victorious, and as a reward, the gatekeeper bestowed upon us the Ring of the Conqueror. This ring was the source of our wealth. We were the richest people on Earth, but my younger brother, consumed by greed, coveted our wealth and sought to steal the ring.”

“To protect the world and the ring from him, we built a small room in another city, hidden away in a modest home made of planks, where no one would suspect it. This infuriated him, and in his rage, he set fire to our home, killing us. But now, the ring has found you. It is your destiny to become the wealthiest man on Earth and to protect the ring from my brother. You are no longer the poor, insignificant person people see you as. You are now destined to be the billionaire everyone will bow to.”

His father’s words hung in the air, heavy with meaning, yet they felt distant and strange to Alex. It was too much to process, too fantastical to believe. Before he could voice his confusion, his father’s form began to fade, and the trance ended abruptly.

Alex found himself back in his dilapidated room, the ring still firmly on his finger. But something was different now. He could feel it—a surge of energy pulsed through him, powerful and intoxicating. The world had shifted, and so had he.

The future, once bleak and uncertain, now seemed to shimmer with endless possibilities.