Chapter 1: Ouroboros

Fate, the great unifying mechanism, everyone perceives it as inevitable and feels part of it simply by being born. But Santiago "Jim" Sainz knew better; after all he had lost, he understood.

— How's that homework going, sweetheart? — 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. 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 and face mask appeared. — The cops... The police found out that Sarita had the ailment... 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.

And how did an elementary school boy know all that? Well, he was one of those kids with a perceptive ear, a busybody who always needed to be right, glued to his mother's side all the time. Despite the dangers of his job, even with the punishments he earned, Jim managed to sneak a peek into the calamities she faced in the neighborhood. Cases that left him deeply anxious, due to the deadly mystery that kept his mother so far from her family. He just wanted her back; he had faith that when he was done with the damned "Plague", she would look back at him. The center of her world, as she should always 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.

— No way, Isra —, she whispered as she left, leaving the door ajar so he could enter. She excused her conscience and gave free rein to her curiosity.

He walked one, two, three blocks as night fell around him. At every corner, he questioned the neighbors he could see. Until he came across a group huddled at the entrance to one of the alleys. It was the gateway to an enormous network of passageways that spread throughout the neighborhood, an urban labyrinth everyone feared to enter.