“Call me Son of Heaven again. I dare you. Say it.” Darren says with a heated glare.

The other kid quickly backed away with his hands raised. “What's wrong with Son of Heaven? It's a compliment! You're blessed by the heavens so we call you Son of Heaven!” The other guy stammers.

Darren takes a few quick steps forward and hammers a fist at the other kid's face, forcing him to collapse on the ground.

“Hmph! Son of heaven.” Darren says before spitting on the ground. “It's like asking me to walk a steep and rocky mountain path. If I ever hear you call me Son of Heaven again, I’ll fucking end you.” He says as he suppresses his rage.

Darren turns around, grabs his backpack and walks away from the crowd that had gathered to spectate. “Fuckin’ trash.” He mumbles under his breath as he walks to the bus stop.

…

…

Darren Harlock. If everyone were to agree on one thing regarding him… He was a gem trying to hide in the dirt. He only ever did what was required of him and never attempted to stand out. But as he interacted with his peers and tried to blend in, he failed to hide his intelligence. Eventually it became apparent. His test scores were at the top of the whole school and when playing sports or other gym activities, he couldn’t stop himself from displaying his superiority.

So when he downplays himself and tries to pretend to be normal… It naturally pisses a lot of people off. So people started calling him Son of Heaven. It was as if a subconscious opinion the school had of him had manifested. It was like they were all trying to tell him, ‘we see you, you bastard.’

But for Darren, the title was offensive. He had a very specific goal in this life, to just move forward quietly and unnoticed, and one day die peacefully. He wanted no love and he wanted no karma. As he saw it, he had no idea why he was there and there seemed to be no purpose calling out to him, so he was content to do the bare minimum. If he didn’t fuck his life up, he’d be happy.

Unfortunately he was born talented, and as he grew up the world showed him time and time again that he was capable of more. It was to the point where he became annoyed at his talent. He would wonder if people entered this world with a dream and whether somewhere in a previous life he ever said some dumb words like, 'I wish I was good at everything.’ When he thinks those thoughts, embarrassment floods through him and his face flushes red. If there was ever a day where he found out that was true, he would immediately tell the person who said those words to kill themselves. Dreams… They’re just embarrassing… Darren would wonder to himself.

But Darren would soon learn. In this world, there was more than dreams. In this world, the purity of dreams are constantly tested and a tower of dreams with a weak foundation was bound to collapse.

In this world, heaven was looking down at them.