Chapter 1: Ouroboros

Fate, the great unifying mechanism. It is something everyone believes is inevitable, something they become a part of the moment they are born. But Santiago "Jim" Sainz knew better. After all he had lost, he had learned the truth

- How's that homework going, honey? - Her mother's sweet, hurried voice intoned, coming down the stairs. One of those afternoons when she was getting ready for work.

- Are you serious! - A ten-year-old boy responded with annoyance, covering his square glasses with his book-shaped black hair as he leaned back on the dining room table as if he were dozing. - Oh, I've already finished it... and it bored me! - He stood up with a pout. - Like everything at that stupid school. They bore me... Nobody likes me because I always beat them. Even the teachers are jealous of me. But I already know all that. Why do I have to go there, Mom? - He asked, watching her pick up a stethoscope in her usual hurry.

- I told you, Jimmy, I need you to do... - She murmured as she paced nervously around her small living room. But urgency overcame her, and she shouted, - Now, where is that thing? - She was instantly interrupted by her son, who handed her her freshly ironed doctor's coat.

- Yes, yes. Friends, I need to make friends -, the know-it-all exhaled, annoyed. - Mom, do you remember the contest? When I win, he'll give us money. Mr. Bondel will help us.

- What kind of help? That man thinks he owns everything. Besides, you don't have to worry about my things. I saw you the other day! - She reproached him, until the front door made a metallic noise.

- Doctor Mari! - A young woman in a nurse's uniform. - The cops... The police found out that Sarita survived the plague... They're going to do something to her!

Jim recognized the name, his mother's first patient, a victim of a terrifying new pandemic that changed her world. A wave of devastating attacks that almost no one survived. The media called them "El Despertar". Their neighborhood, Guadalupe, was the hardest-hit place on the planet; his family's office was there for that reason.

Thanks to Sarita, the doctor discovered that what was attacking them wasn't a contagious "Plague", as the news reported. In reality, the government only wanted to isolate Guadalupe to provide a quick solution and, in the process, silence the undesirables. But with these results, Mari wanted to open her eyes; helping the poor infected was the only way to find a real cure. Caring for them and understanding them was the key. Sadly, the head of government, Gaspar Santana, preferred to make those affected disappear rather than allocate resources to study the global phenomenon.

How did an elementary school kid know all that?

Jim was the kind of child who never missed a thing. He had a sharp ear, an even sharper memory, and a habit of sticking his nose where it didn't belong. He spent most of his time at his mother's side, soaking up conversations he probably shouldn't have heard.

Despite the dangers of her job—and the scoldings he got for tagging along—Jim always managed to catch glimpses of the tragedies unfolding across their neighborhood. Every case left him more unsettled than the last, feeding the same haunting question: what kind of nightmare kept his mother away from her own family?

More than anything, he just wanted her back.

He truly believed that once he got rid of the cursed Plague, she would finally look at him again. He would become the center of her world, the way he thought he always should have been.

- Please don't leave. Stay here, Jimmy, and wait for Isra -, Mari asked as she put on her gown and stethoscope. - Lupe, honey, tell me. Where did they go? - She left her child without the usual kiss on the forehead to run into the night and continue her mission.

Half an hour passed, and she didn't return. Jim was just looking for a distraction so he wouldn't think about it and avoid going after his mother. He looked at the eternal clock in the living room, searching for the strength to follow her orders and wait. Unfortunately, his nervous glance reminded him that he'd forgotten the stun gun, the one he'd made, and which she'd promised to always carry. This scared him. 'Those police officers don't respect anyone,' echoed in his head before he ran to hand her his weapon.