Loki sat in his cramped, dimly lit cubicle, the only sound the mechanical click-clack of his keyboard. Once, he was the golden boy of his university—the top student who everyone assumed would be a titan of industry. But life had a cruel way of humbling those at the top.
After graduation, his world collapsed in slow motion. His long-time girlfriend, Sarah, left him for a wealthy CEO named Marcus Thorne. It was a scenario so cliché it felt like a plot from the trashy "face-slapping" web novels he used to read to escape reality. But Loki wasn't a hidden heir or a cultivation genius; he was just a man who lost the woman he loved to the man who signed his paychecks. He worked at Stardust Animations as a low-level animator—overworked, underpaid, and utterly replaceable.
The hits kept coming. A year after the breakup, his parents were killed in a tragic plane crash. Before the grief could even settle, his extended family moved in like vultures. His Aunt Catherine and Uncle Silas led the charge, pretending to comfort him while secretly scouring his parents' office for documents.
They eventually produced a forged "last wishes" note, painting Loki as a spoiled, ungrateful son to justify cutting him out of the will. In the end, Catherine and Silas successfully lobbied the courts to have the $1.5 million inheritance split among the "responsible" relatives. They left Loki with absolutely nothing but a mountain of overtime and a hollow chest.
Loki's POV
I stared at the monitor, my eyes stinging. I felt like a zombie, my movements fueled by caffeine and spite. "Just one more email," I muttered into the silence of the empty office. "Then I'm going home."
I hit send on the final animation render and slumped back. My spine felt like it was made of dry twigs as I stood up to stretch. Finally. I shut down the computer, the sudden darkness of the screen reflecting my own tired face—deep bags under my eyes and a pale, sickly complexion.
I shuffled toward the elevator and pressed the button for the lobby. When the doors slid shut, I leaned my head against the cool metal wall, closing my eyes for just a second.
Jolt.
The elevator didn't just stop; it shuddered violently. A horrific snap echoed above me—the sound of steel cables fraying and failing. My stomach lurched into my throat as the car began to freefall. "What the hell is going—"
The floor vanished beneath my feet. Gravity claimed me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for the impact that would surely end my miserable life.
But the crash never came.
Instead of the smell of ozone and hydraulic fluid, the air suddenly turned sweet—scented with jasmine and fresh grass. I heard a woman's voice, bright and animated.
"...and then my knight attacked the poor beggars! Can you believe the nerve, Prince Loki?"
I opened my eyes and gasped. I wasn't in a heap of twisted metal. I was sitting on a white wrought-iron chair in a sprawling, sun-drenched garden. Directly in front of me was a woman. She was breathtakingly beautiful, though her emerald-green eyes were clouded and unfocused. She was blind.
I looked past her, my jaw dropping. Behind us sat a massive, white-stone manor that looked like it belonged in a history book, complete with ivy-covered walls and gold-trimmed windows.
The woman pouted, her lower lip trembling slightly. "I knew it! My friends warned me about you 'green-bloods.' You're all playboys who can't keep your eyes off the tavern girls long enough to listen to a story!"
"Green-bloods?" I managed to croak out.
As soon as the words left my lips, it felt like a lightning bolt struck the center of my brain. A massive tidal wave of memories—names, faces, etiquette, and a history that wasn't mine—rushed in all at once. The agony was blinding. I clutched my head, groaning as I tumbled backward off the chair and onto the soft grass.
"Loki? Loki!" The woman jumped up, her hands reaching out blindly in panic. "Oh my God, are you alright? I'll go get the servants! Diana! Peter! Someone help!"
She turned and ran toward the manor, calling for the staff. I tried to follow her with my eyes, but the world was spinning. As the new memories settled into the corners of my mind, my consciousness flickered out like a dying candle, and I fell into a deep, dark sleep....
A/N hiiiii guys this is my first novel so I hope you all enjoy it and leave comments of encouragement it helps a ton thanks