Elemental Origins I: Return of The Lost Prince

Chapter 1 - A Family Chronology

Beep! Beep! Beep!

The alarm made a loud noise in the room, leaving Adam no choice but to wake up.

Adam got up and started to grunt. It was still too early for him to wake up, because he usually went to work at nine o'clock.

"Shoot," said Adam to himself. "It's still six thirty in the morning. Who even set the alarm to wake me up at six thirty in the freaking morning?"

But despite that, he decided to wake up anyways. He grabbed his towel and went to the bathroom. Actually, he's very lazy to go to work today, but because he still lived with his family—he didn't get any girlfriend yet, that's why—again, he had no choice but to start his day with working.

After putting on his detective uniform, he looked at himself in the mirror with a sad look on his face. He had grown up into a real detective now, just the life he ever wanted, but he felt like he's missing something in his life. For him, without that missing piece, life is so boring.

Trying to forget about that, he walked downstairs and found his entire family waiting for him at the dining table.

"Finally," her mother, Alisha, welcomed him. "What took you so long?"

Adam responded to her mother with a cold intonation, "I couldn't find my detective badge. That's why."

Alisha looked sharply at her son, then nodded. "Sit down. I've made you a stack of pancakes."

Adam nodded, slowly sitting in one of the chair across his younger twins, Ayden and Amy. A stack of pancakes were served in front of him.

Silence for a moment, leaving just the sounds of munching and knife or fork hitting the plate.

"Wait," Austin, the father, suddenly interrupted the peace of the dining table. "It feels like we're missing someone."

Ayden, Amy, and Alisha stopped eating for a moment, looking at Austin with questioning eyes. Who?

"Alyssa," Adam said slowly. "She's not here."

Austin looked at his son with one eyebrow raised. "How do you know?"

Adam shrugged. While reaching his glass of milk on the table, he said, "Have you forgot that she is the youngest in the family? As the oldest sibling, of course I know. Unlike you, father."

Fierce lit up in Austin's eyes. He grabbed his son's shirt. "Who are you, talking back to me like that?"

"No one but your loving son," Adam answered with cold intonation. "But now, I've grown up. Let me go."

"Oh, young man, just because you're 32 now, doesn't mean you can talk back to me like that! Now come here, you-"

"I said, let me go!" Adam shouted. He looked sharply at his father.

Austin grunted, letting go of Adam's shirt collar.

"Thank you, father." Adam said. "I'm going to work."

With that, Adam stand up, leaving his family at the dining table—which looked at Adam in disbelief.

***

Minutes in the car, he thought about what he said to his father.

"I shouldn't have said that," Adam said to himself. "But again, what kind of father is he, forgetting about his own children? He didn't even realize that Alyssa was there and that...ugh." 

"Sometimes I wish to live in my own world, but it's impossible. My mother always wanted me to have a wife and children opposite of what I actually wanted from the first place. It's hard to get out of it unless I fulfill her wishes first." He sighed.

"I can't take this anymore. At this point, I want to end my suffering, but I have a detective career ahead of me. I can't just waste them." He looked at the scenery in front of him and gripped the steering wheel tight.

And with a sudden voice change, he finally said, "I... am the king of my own world."

Along with that, he noticed that his eyes changed color. Not green anymore, but hazel. He looked at himself again, but this time he punched the stirring wheel, making a loud noise. For a second, he could see fangs coming out of his mouth.

He didn't care about the sudden change. All he wanted was to reach his office and work. So he stomped on the gas and started driving to the station. Took some time, but he finally arrived.

Time to work.

***

Adam's shift was finally over. He sighed in relief when the chief finally let him went home and rest. He quickly reached his car, started it, and drove home.

Silence. There was no sign of people in the house.

Adam entered the house with questioning eyes.

"Hello? Is anyone here?" Adam shouted.

No answer. His father and mother might be out for shopping, Ayden was still on his office, and Amy must had went out with her friends.

He sighed. Home alone again, it seems.

He lowered his bag and threw it to the sofa. He quickly sat down on one of the chair in the dining table.

"What a tiring day," he said to himself.

But then something weird happens. When he looked at the mirror in the kitchen, he suddenly realized, his eyes were completely jet black. He screamed in horror.

And as if it had a soul, the eyes were giving him visions of a place: the basement.

Adam was confused. It was only the basement. What was up with it?

But then his eyes turned red, insisting on going. Adam had no choice but to find a light source to help him with his path.

Finding the door to the basement, his eyes became more and more red. Adam knew that something was hidden behind the door and immediately opened it, flashlight in hand.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Adam shouted.

No answer. Just water dripping from some old and rusty pipes. 

Adam closed his eyes, sharpening his ears. He could swear that he heard something that was not the dripping water.

"Somebody...help..."

Adam was startled.

"Alyssa?!" He shouted, turning his head to the source of the sound.