Central Park, New York
A degree in building engineering. A stable job. Caring friends and family.
Everything he lived for was for nothing. Half a year ago he was the prime example of a man rising from the ashes. His parents died when he was young. But through sheer determination, hard work and natural talent he had achieved everything one could want in life. Now he was the prime example of a man that lost everything. A fatal moment of negligence. A car hit him and ever since his life turned upside down. He lost his mobility and was now permanently bound to his wheelchair. This loss, he simply couldn't accept. He became agitated, angry and his friends left him one by one.
Today he sat in central park. Together with 12 other disabled people. All of them grey and old.
Bryan reminisced of his 'past life'. If only I wasn't hit, if only I wasn't disabled.. If only.. If only I had a second chance... I would live the greatest life! His eyes sparkled, for a second his amiable smile lit up his otherwise handsome face. The moment fleeting, the face settling back in his normal despondent, almost lifeless countenance.
The next moment Bryan fell face forward out of his wheelchair - his face whiter than ever before, his pupils dilated, his body cramped up. However not a sound left his lips. The nurse screamed and commotion ensued. However, Bryan noticed none of it as he had already taken his last breath on Earth...
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PAIN. Pain that shot straight through him. A pain that he couldn't recognise. Not a feeling in his body, or even his mind. As if his soul was seared in intense flames. Endless it felt, however, time or thoughts were completely undiscernable. All he knew at that moment was that intense feeling. It came as abrupt as it ended. Slowly he felt feelings return to his body. His body? This was definitely not his body!
"I feel my legs. I shouldn't be able to feel my legs."
His thoughts run wild for a while before he gradually came to his senses. Many things were different, he could feel his body was different. Aside from functioning legs, his body was considerably smaller. Where he first stood tall at 1,90m, his body now couldn't be more than 1,75m. He tried but failed to open his eyes, however, he felt strength slowly returning as his initial numbness started to recede.
His body was still weak hence he could not do much. On the inside a fire was burning; determination and ambition growing by the second. THIS was HIS second chance.
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As his brain started to grow more active, many memories surfaced. He knew he had transmigrated. The previous owner of this body, Theodore, had been a rather miserable boy. His father went MIA during a military mission eight years ago and his mother had died young. He had locked himself up in his room even though his family repeatedly tried to reinvigorate the poor boy. In the end, during his neural aptitude check, he heard that he was a did not have the aptitude to pilot a mech and follow his glorious father's path... His last dream crushed he turned to the black market to find a "Neural Aptitude Enhancer".
These miraculous drugs could squish out potential and enhance your aptitude. They were incredibly hard to get and expensive. The elixir turned out to be poison and eventually killed Theodore. In turn, somehow, Bryan got his second chance. Theodore wasn't a stupid chap, but his misery and character led him to make a grave mistake, ultimately costing him his life.
As Bryan came to terms with his new Identity he also got a rough idea of where he was. He was in 'his' families compound. A 150 stories high building with all the necessary living space, entertainment en workspace. Regus 2 was one of the 5 livable terraformed planets in the Kelper system. Due to the enormous population, high rises dominated the skyline of the domed cities. Terraforming these large planets took an incredible amount of resources and time. The domes were city bases from where humanity expanded upon the colonised planets. Local species and fauna suffer considerably under humanities activities to control the planet and bring its perimeters into human livable standards.
In the last several centuries humans had taken to the stars in the most glorious way. First colonising a single star system, after travelling for 400 years in a cryogenic state. Humanity then showed its ingenuity and started to prosper. Contact with aliens had let to violent battles and struggles, but humanity had decisively cut out its place in the universe. In the frontier, wars were still frequently fought with aliens or smaller civilisations when humans would claim another star system.
Star systems would usually be lorded over by several states or alliances. In order to suppress warfare casualties among humans and loss of valuable planets, the spaceships and several other weapons of mass destruction had been strictly forbidden.
These rules were strictly enforced by the FTA - Federal Transgalactic Agency. They were humans trump card against aliens and other threats in the galaxy. They had two divisions; Galactic Center Division (G.C.D.) and The Galactic Rim Division (G.R.D.). The humans arrogantly saw their starting point of life, earth, as the centre of their universe.
They G.C.D. would enforce all policies and ensure that new machines adhered to the rules and quality standards.
The G.R.D. was the fighting force at the rim. They had the warships, the most deadly mechs and weapons and fought to protect and expand humanities slice of the galaxy.
These days, the most respected occupancies were Mech pilot and Mech designer. They made the weapons that eventually tipped the balance in the fights to humanity. They were still the unmatched, unrivalled weapon of choice of all nations.
As Bryan said goodbye to his former identity and firmly took hold of his new identity as Theodore he swore to live the greatest life without any regrets.