Chapter 1: Prologue
Death is the only certainty we’re given at birth. Some embrace it with grace. Others ignore it until it arrives. But me—I’ve feared it every day of my life. Not for its pain, not even for what might come after. I fear death because it ends everything.
For most, life feels endless—until it doesn’t. But for me, even in my youth, it always felt too short. Like a clock I could hear ticking in the background, louder with each passing year.
I tried to drown that sound in success.
I’ve seen death take many—children, the elderly, the young. And with every loss, it planted something in me: fear. A deep, gnawing fear.
I earned power, influence, and wealth beyond imagination—but the one thing I never owned was time.
In my pursuit of success, I sacrificed everything else. In my youth, I believed money could buy happiness. I chased it obsessively. And while I was so focused on building an empire, time silently slipped away. Now, in my sixties, I see what I lost—moments, dreams, life itself.
And now... I want that time back.
I am willing to go to any length to reclaim it.
"Sir, all clear."