A young boy, barely 10 years old, was lying on the bed of the sanitarium. He has been lying at the same spot for the last 1 year. Not moving, not talking, not hearing. This is a facility for people that for one reason or another will never wake up but are too wealthy to be left to die. This boy was one of them.

Heavy breathing could be heard, from a teenage boy dozing off at the corner of the room. His job is to watch over this little boy and be his companion. What a joke, a companion to a dying husk that never reacts.

But today, the little boy's eyes opened for the first time after 12 months. The eyes were sunken in the boy's emaciated skull since he only received liquid food for the past year. The boy's eyes had a black iris, matching his pupils and his pitch-black wavy hair. His facial features were beautiful and reminded of Ancient Greek statues. He was rather tall for a 10-year old but his body physique was abysmal and at a skeletal state.

The boy slowly lifted his head with a groan, as moving around was painful after so much time of immobility. He slowly took in the state of the room and he focused on the teenager snoozing at the corner of the room. The little boy tried to move and the bed creaked, waking up the teenager. The teenager's eyes widened in shock as he gasped for air.

"Aaaahhhh, help! Aaaahhh!", the teenager yells, stumbles, and falls from the chair he was sitting in and pulls himself out of the room. His shouts could be heard throughout the sanitarium, which was usually deadly silent.

Down the corridor, the Director walks quickly towards the noise. He sees the teenage boy called Seith screaming and running towards him. Seith is known to be weak in the mind and some other wardens often play pranks on him.

"If this is another prank, I swear...", the Director trails off.

"Master, the ... Master! We need ...", the boy gasps for air.

"Calm down boy. Tell me what happened!", the Director snaps.

"Zombie, undead. Lord Thanatos...", Seith says with his last strength before he faints.

The other wardens have reached them by this point and are looking dumbfounded at the teenage boy holding the Director's pants while the scent of urine emanates from his body.

"You, take him to the infirmary. You, come with me to young Lord Thanatos room right away.", the Director snaps at the wardens and walks swiftly towards the room while kicking Seith's hand. This idiot, another prank.

Lord Thanatos was attacked by a soul crashing spell. A spell that, as the name suggests, destroyed his very soul. Leaving the body empty, like a husk on the verge between life and death. A high priest verified that the soul was destroyed. In the written history of this world, nobody ever survived the direct hit from a soul crashing spell.

As he turned the corner, he saw two wardens standing outside Lord Thanatos' room, trembling in fear.

"Tsk. Get lost before I have you in graveyard duties for the rest of your lives!" the Director yelled, and the two wardens ran as fast as they can to get away from the raging man.

The Director calmed himself and put his hand on the doorknob. No matter what, this boy had his sympathy. He was attacked at the age of 9 during his parents' funeral, for no other reason than to usurp his position as Baron. The least they could do was to allow him to wither and disappear with a shred of dignity.

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As the Director opened the door, he is met with a boy sitting at the armchair next to the fireplace. The boy's black eyes pierced at him.

"Will you scream like a little girl and run as well?", a hoarse voice was heard coming deep from the boy's throat.

"Lord Thanatos?" the Director exclaimed in shock.

"Lord what?", the boy replied.

"Wh-who are you?", the Director said fearfully.

Now, the boy had some time after Seith ran out of the room to assess the situation. He looked at the mirror and realized that he was in a young boy's body and in a place different than his own world.

Go my Boy, live your new life... The eerie voice vibrated in his brain.

The boy, or rather the Captain, realized that this was another world and he had taken over the body of this boy. This was a hospital of some sort. Given the state of this body and the scream from that teenager when he saw the boy open his eyes, they never expected the boy to awake again. The boy was probably brain dead when the Captain's soul took over.

This was a dangerous situation. This body is weak and the Captain didn't know anything about this place or who this boy was. He needed to tread carefully.

"I don't know.", finally replied the boy to the dumbfounded Director.

"I woke up in this room with no recollection of who I am or what I am doing here. The first person I met, screamed and ran out of the room and you are the second person. I am thirsty and hungry, my body aches, and I feel like I haven't bathed for a year.", the boy added looking at the Director to assess his reaction.

"Of-of course...", hesitated the Director. But he soon snapped out of it.

"You, bring some water and food for Lord Thanatos. Soup and bread are good to get his stomach used to solid food. Order the maids to draw a bath, not too hot! Run!", the Director addressed the warden behind him and took a seat next to the boy.

The Director was taking in the emaciated boy in front of him. He was certainly Lord Thanatos, the Director himself had been tending to this boy for the last year. How could he have survived the soul-crushing spell? It seems he was not unscathed, though, his memories were gone. But that's a small price to pay.

The Director needed to make sure the boy was healthy. Things were dangerous. If the people who attacked him discovered that Lord Thanatos woke up, they would try to kill him again. The sanitarium would become a battlefield. Not that the boy is in a position to put up any fight at all.

"So, is my name really Lord Thanatos?", asked the boy first, trying to hide his chuckle. You see, Thanatos is the name of the God of Death in Ancient Greek mythology.

"Yes, you are Lord Daniel Thanatos. You have the title of Baron, and your territory is at the South-West border of the Caliron kingdom. Does any of this bring back some memories?" the Director responded.

The boy shook his head negatively and added, "How did I get here?"

The Director sighed. He wanted to postpone this discussion until the boy's health improved, but he couldn't avoid it now.

"Your parents were killed 12 months ago at a bandit attack. During their funeral, you were also attacked with a soul-crushing spell. You have been here since then.", the Director said in a tone as neutral as possible.

"So, someone killed my parents, and I inherited the title. Then, they tried to kill me but failed. Do I have any other siblings? Who inherits the title after me?", the boy asked, peering directly to the heart of the issue. To protect himself, he needed to know who wanted this boy dead.

The Director felt uncomfortable.

"Well, you have a younger sister but she is not eligible to inherit the title since she is female. At the moment, nobody has received the title since your body was still alive. The decision would be made only after your death, which would come naturally in a couple of months due to starvation. I don't know the details of your family situation to comment on the succession aspects.", the Director added in one breath.

"Where is my sister now?" the boy asked.

"I think she has been living at a boarding school since the incident. She's not allowed to leave the grounds of the school without the Baron's permission, and well...".

"I understand." the boy cut the Director and started eating the soup that was served in the meanwhile.

The maid looked at the boy with curiosity.

"I believe you should try to rest and..", the Director started talking, but he was interrupted by the sharp movement of the maid. She lifted a dagger and dashed towards the boy eating the soup.

The Director was shocked. How did they find out so soon? He couldn't do anything.

But the boy moved forward at exactly the right moment, and the dagger struck the back of the armchair. The bread knife was in the boy's hand, and before the Director could understand what was happening, the bread knife was stuck deep in the maid's temple.

As the maid's body crashed on the floor and her blood started creating a pool, silence prevailed in the room. The only thing heard was the sound of a boy eating his soup and the Director's heart, struck with fear and struggling to comprehend what he saw.

This was the first life reaped by Death's Favourite Child in this world, but one thing was certain. Many more would follow.