This is a story of marvel and despair, a tale that chronicles the journey of a seventeen-year-old boy who lost nearly everything in the span of two years. Owen Rowe, the sole heir of the infamous Rowe family—renowned for their immense wealth and shady dealings—once had it all. He was the epitome of privilege, basking in wealth, power, and a future bright enough to blind anyone who dared to look too closely. But that glittering façade crumbled like sandcastles before a tide when a devastating pandemic swept across the world, turning lives upside down in its wake.

Owen's father, a man shrouded in mystery with secretive business connections and unspoken methods of income, watched helplessly as his empire withered. The fortune that once flowed effortlessly like a mighty river began to dry up, leaving behind only the parched bedrock of debt. What was once an untouchable legacy turned into a fragile existence teetering on the brink of ruin. Overwhelmed by the collapse of his empire, Owen's father made a tragic choice, ending his life and leaving behind a trail of unanswered questions and suffocating despair.

Owen's mother, who he knew as a kind and caring woman, disappeared soon after his father's death. Whispers among those who still cared to gossip speculated that she had run away with another man, eager to latch onto the dwindling embers of what little wealth and power remained. Owen refused to believe these rumors, but a gnawing doubt festered in his heart. His relationship with his parents had always been complicated—conversations were scarce, and truth lay buried beneath layers of deceit and carefully crafted smiles. Owen had always suspected there was more to them than they let on, but now, standing alone amidst the wreckage of his family's downfall, those suspicions felt like shards of a shattered mirror reflecting a distorted reality.

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Now, Owen stands alone. His parents are gone, his wealth has vanished, and the so-called friends who once clung to him like barnacles have drifted away, revealing their true colors in the harsh light of poverty. All that remains are the remnants of his past life: a room cluttered with games that once provided a fleeting escape, now hollow echoes of joy he can barely recall. Each day blurs into the next—a monotonous cycle of waking up late, dragging himself into the same threadbare clothes, and pedaling his worn-out bicycle to school because he can no longer afford the bus fare. At school, Owen is a ghost, drifting through classes with no one to talk to, no interests to share, and no spark to ignite his days.

By four o'clock, he's back home, retreating into the familiar glow of his computer screen, where he loses himself in digital worlds until the weight of exhaustion pulls him into a restless sleep by nine. This has been his life for weeks, months—an unending loop of loneliness and disillusionment. The thought of an accidental escape—a truck hitting him on his way back, or his caretakers poisoning him for the last scraps of his inheritance, or simply not waking up one morning—becomes a comforting fantasy. Anything would be better than this endless gray.

But Owen's story is far from over. Unknown to him, fate has a different path in mind—one that will drag him from the familiar into the extraordinary, thrusting him into a place far beyond his darkest nightmares and wildest dreams. Owen is about to embark on a journey that will test every ounce of his strength and redefine everything he thought he knew about himself and the world around him.