Prologue

I staggered along the empty alleyway, coughing violently. My chest burned from too much coughing and I could barely see anything. I swayed side to side, using my hand to push myself off any part of the walls when I touched it. The honking of vehicles from the road and the busy chattering of people were drone to my ears, no one would notice if I died here for days. If only I wasn't a fool, if only I could be as smart as Landon. I lost everything to my stepbrother, my stepmother's older son who would stop at nothing until he claimed everything that was meant to be mine, that was the plan of himself and his mother. I should have known better when the devil he sent came, now I lost everything and wander the streets; homeless.

I leaned on the wall and sank down, no more can I continue, I have no reason to live, absolutely no reason. I continued coughing as my vision slowly covered with spots and tears. The poison was working well to my expectations.

"Who is there?" My ears twitched at the sound of the voice. "Hello?" I heard footsteps, faint breathing, and muttering. "Christ! What are you doing here all alone?!" I heard her hurrying to me, and I wondered how she could see in the dark alley.

Warm hands cupped my cheeks, tingles ran through my body, and her warmth brought my dead skin alive. "You are shivering, let me check your pulse," she took my hands and did something, all I knew was that her fingers pressed against my wrists made me smile, I hadn't smiled since the incident. "You have been drinking yourself to a stupor, your pulse is weak and I can tell you took poison. Good thing I always carry this with me…" Her voice sounded faint like she was far away. I could barely hear her between my heart thumping violently and colliding with my throbbing eardrums.

Her fingers scraped my lips, I could feel long pointy nails. She parted them and shoved a small ball into my mouth. I had lost my sense of taste and my smell was weak. But somehow her scent captivated my nostrils and bonded with my hammering brain.

"Eat it," I did not want to eat it, but something about her voice lured me to. "Now why would a handsome man like you subject himself to such misery and painful death?"

"T…t…that is w..wh…what I deserve," I stammered.

"And what makes you think you deserve death? Did you murder anyone? Torture someone and make them commit suicide? Sleep with a pastor's wife?" She joked.

I chuckled, "w…w…wouldn't all t…that be better?"

"What did you do?"

"I w…as a fool!" I cried. "I've l…ost everything! My f…amily, my friends, my pro…perties, my happiness and liberty to live! My stepmother and her son have taken it all! They made my father hate me, and made my fa…ther love him by framing me up for different deeds. I should have known better, I should have been smarter to know they would pull something again, and they did. I fell right into their trap, let that witch mani…pulate me in the name of love and now I have been disowned, all my inheritance passed on to him, the son of another." I was a crying mess at the end of my explanation, my hands hugging my burning stomach.

"You are speaking much better now, it's working. Now back to what you are saying. Is that why you have given up?"

"What? I said I have nothing left?! No one! I wander the streets homeless, sleeping wherever my feet land me! I used to live in a mansion!"

"Then work your way and build a castle. The fight is never over until death says it is over. As long as you have life, as long as you have hands and determination to succeed, to never give up, and have faith that better days are ahead of you, then I don't see why you can't succeed. Your stepmother and son want to see you crumble, they want to ruin you completely and watch you either kiss their feet or kill yourself like you are doing now. You are not supposed to let them live with the satisfaction that they destroyed you, you are supposed to fight and be someone great by your own hands. Show them both and your father that you are not what they made you out to be."

"You can be smart, always think ahead, and know how to neutralize, and how to detect a plot just by looking at the person. I am a pretty good judge of character and I know you are a strong boy, you just need to grow up and become a man, search deep for that man and dominant king inside you, and bring it forth. Mister, I don't know who you are but I am positive you can achieve good things, I am sure you can be greater than even your father if you work towards it. I myself have been fighting to be great, to prove to everyone who said my mother bearing a fragile female was a bad thing, to everyone who wishes to step on me because I'm a girl and girls aren't wanted in my family. You wanna know what? I'm still crushing them even now. You can do the same, mister, get up, clean yourself up, and live, show all them fools that you can be better with or without your father and his money. I'm going to make you a deal,"

"What deal?"

"Let's meet again in the future, say ten to twelve years from now, I see us meeting then. When we meet, we will see how great we have both made ourselves and the weaker one gets to grant the winner three wishes. It's a challenge, be great before the time expires, or grant three wishes you can't afford. You in?"

I forced my eyes open, all the pain I was feeling had stopped. I couldn't see her face, only her violet and cornflower blues shining like a mini torch. Her eyes permanently encrypted in my mind, the big round violet orb whirling like a pool with cornflower blue shading and faint brownish gold highlights.

"Your eyes…?"

"Oh, sorry," she closed her eyes, "I was born with it, love your eyes too by the way. So are you going to accept the deal?"

"I don't know where to start from,"

"Start from your mind. I'm sure there are great ideas in there that would hold answers that would help. And also, start with your strength and hands." I felt her deep something into the pocket of my pants.

"How sure are you that we will meet in ten to twelve years?"

"Instinct. Plus, it's a promise, and I never break a promise. Goodbye, mister, I hope you get better and prove that you are worth more than you look. Don't die."

The rest of the memory was foggy, but when I woke up in the alley the next morning, I felt different and determined to prove to her that I was better than my sorry ass. Pulling all my strength, I forced myself to my feet, the force caused something to fall from my pockets. It was money, she stuffed my pocket with enough money to get a small room to stay in. The girl whose face I never saw, whose name I never got gave me a new purpose, fueled me with the passion to complete a quest… Be the best version of me before we meet again.

But I didn't just gain a purpose and new determination that day, I gained the greatest love of my life.