Why. 

A simple word, a question but in this case not a question, I knew why - I was a loser, the worst of the worst; by sheer luck I inherited the company my father left me when he died, he'd simply left it to 'The Eldest Child' my brothers didn't waste time pointing out that he'd written that upon my birth and hadn't changed it since to reasons that still confuse me.

To put it simply I was useless, my current situation was as follows: My fiance, a woman I had met one night when partying (using the money I had just inherited), broke up with me - she was one of the pawns my brothers had placed early on... the only reason we were marrying was because she had become pregnant with a child I had thought to be my own, hah how wrong I was...

...

She stared me down, I knew something was coming I just had no idea what - the cold look on her face replaced the usual smile she had around me, it was confusing but I thought nothing of it; someone could have easily pissed her off earlier and she was coming to complain, a similar situation happened a while back with one of the cleaning staff - but this was different.. it felt different. "Lewis." She spoke my name first - but not in her usual way, it was distant as if we were strangers... "I'm breaking off the engagement." The words crashed into me like a train, slowly crushing my heart - little by little.

"W-why...?" I barely managed to get out of me, a look of shock had replaced my smile, "We have no reason to marry, this child isn't yours and soon you're going to be just another loser on the side of the road begging for change." A smug sneer replaced her cold look - I was confused but I ignored that nagging feeling in my chest that something was wrong. 

This conversation took place at the top of a row of stairs, it was easy to guess what happened next - she laughed at me and fell. Then my life crumbled to pieces, I was charged with assault and attempts to cause a miscarriage on my child, by then I was convinced her words were true that the child wasn't mine, my brothers had wasted no time helping her press charges and then "splitting" the inheritance money. She soon moved in with my youngest brother, Bruce, smart and scheming were the two words I'd use to describe him - even going to such lengths wasn't beyond him. I knew that now.

....

So that's where I am, a prison cell - I've been here 3 months now, my family has all but stopped visiting except to 'keep up appearances' and show me how 'my' child was doing, all I could do was sneer when they brought that child along - but I couldn't blame it could I? It had nearly been killed for their scheme to work, it was just as much a victim as I was... I hope she grows up well.

For the next week I didn't eat, I didn't move I just lay in bed - I wanted to kill myself in the slowest way possible, dehydration & starvation and yet what felt like years were only days.. somehow I didn't die in the last few days.

"Why... I just want to die?!" I screamed at my ceiling, I was placed in an isolated cell so it was just me alone - from what I could tell there were no other prisoners around me, the ward was pretty quiet - I had the feeling it was the private prison owned by my family which was why I get such "special" treatment but that's about it.

Do you want power? Do you want to live? Do you want to escape?

The words were written in the shadows, the words looked real but who knows? I was dehydrated and delirious could I possibly tell the difference between reality and mirage?

"Y-yes" I weakly replied, my throat dry from my screeching...

So be it. Be reborn; Monarch of Shadows... The ruler of darkness, accomplish your mortal goals quickly - shadows can grow.. restless to say the least. Good luck... My King.

Darkness fell on me shortly, I wanted to scream in retaliation - my room went eerily black, the light was still on yet the entire room was shrouded in shadows... I closed my eyes and let the darkness encase me.

...

"You're saying the prisoner is gone?!" - Warden

"Yes Sir, we've checked the security footage and his cell there's no sign of a breakout or of him even leaving the cell." - Guard

"Tch, how am I meant to explain this... You're dismissed!" - Warden

....

"Where am I?"

***

500 Word Limit in Author Note is really infurating:

Hi Everyone! Glad you decided to give my novel a go, I know after this chapter there's going to be a lot of infuriating moments where you'll want to rip my head off (Literally) But here's a few things first:

For gramatical mistakes I try my best to not misuse grammar however I don't have time to go over everything myself and I also lack an editor, my free time is mostly occupied with exam revision and I can barely manage to maintain my release rate as is, if you can deal with all of that please enjoy reading!