The Forgotten Godking

Galen Vaelthorn

In the middle of the vast starry sky, a powerful soul fragment crossed countless light years and eventually reached it's destination — one of the many worlds housing intelligent life in this universe — Earth.

After entering the Earth's atmosphere , the soul made a straight beeline towards one of the public hospitals, where a young woman of around 22 years, was about to give birth to her child.

Unbeknownst to anyone present there, the soul fragment, in it's incorporeal state, phased right through her stomach and into her womb, before settling deep inside the unborn child's body.

Just then, from the depths of existence itself, a chime sounded, echoing inside the baby's mind.

[ Ding ! ]

[ Necessary prerequisites fulfilled. ]

[ Awakening the Forgotten God's System… ]

— —

[ Fusion of the Forgotten God's Godking soul fragment with the mortal soul fragment— starting… ]

[ Fusion failed… ]

[ Analyzing the cause of failure… ]

[ Cause found: excessive disparity in strength between both soul fragments ]

[ Searching for solutions… ]

[ Found…

Slow and gradual fusion over time – Probability of success: 99% ]

— —

[ Implementing the solution ]

[ Estimated time till complete soul fusion occurs– 25 years ]

[ Counting down…

24 years, 365 days 23:59:59

24 years, 365 days 23:59:58

24 years, 365 days 23:59:57

. ]

— —

[ System going into sleep mode temporarily to preserve remaining energy ]

***

24 years and 364 days later…

"Gasp..."

Galen jolted awake from his sleep, his breath ragged, feeling a sharp pain stabbing through his chest.

"UGHHH...."

Fucking hell... It's this again.

Groaning, he gritted his teeth to endure the agonizing pain, without making a noise.

After what felt like an eternity to him, the pain finally subsided, leaving behind a dull ache that would settle after sometime.

With bloodshot eyes (because of his recent ordeal), Galen grabbed his phone from a nearby table and squinted at the screen.

2:00 AM

"SIGHHHHH..."

Letting out a tired sigh, Galen laid back on his bed. It was his mysterious illness acting up again which he had since his birth.

He would suddenly wake up in the middle of the night because of it, feeling unbearable pain in his chest that would last for about 10 minutes.

At first, it had been rare, once or twice a year at most. But as he grew up, the frequency of these painful episodes was also steadily raising.

During his childhood, thinking it might a medical issue, his adoptive parents brought him to all kinds of hospitals, to get him treated.

But no matter where they went, the results were always the same— the doctors declaring that he was perfectly fine, whether physically or mentally.

Not wanting to worry his parents further, Galen decided to lie, saying that he wasn't having those episodes anymore.

Over the years, he had learned to silently endure the pain without screaming. That's how he was able to fool them into believing his words.

Meanwhile, he swore to find a solution himself — to his problems.

Galen dedicated himself to his studies, spending countless nights without sleep, before finally becoming a doctor.

But reality — was far from kind.

Even after becoming a doctor and doing all kinds of research in medical field, he couldn't find a single clue about his illness.

And worse... recently the pain had started tormenting him everyday without a single break, even depriving him of his sleep.

With frustration gnawing at his insides at the thought, Galen shut his eyes, trying to get himself as much sleep as possible in the remaining time before morning arrived.

After all, He still had work to go to.

Tossing and turning for hours, he finally slept, barely managing two hours of sleep before his alarm woke him up at exactly 7:00 AM.

Dragging himself out of bed, Galen forced his sluggish body into motion.

Freshening up, he dressed himself into presentable clothes, had breakfast, and left for work.

Taking the subway train, he had been absentmindedly scrolling through his phone.

That was when he noticed the date.

' June 4 '

"Tomorrow's going to be my birthday, huh..." Galen muttered to himself.

"Just great... Yet another year of torment in this miserable life."

A mirthless laugh escaped his lips, when he recalled the heartwrenching pain that had started recurring every night.

Closing the phone, he started reminiscing about his life so far.

***

Galen Vaelthorn - that was his name. A young man of 24 years, at the prime of his life.

With somewhat short black hair, and light golden eyes, he could be considered quite handsome, that is if his hair didn't cover half his face all the time.

Abandoned soon after birth because of poverty, he was raised in an orphanage.

He had learned from his caretakers that he had a habit of constantly muttering in his sleep — especially the name *Galen Vaelthorn*.

Thinking that it might be his favourite name, they had changed his initial name to the said one.

That's why he was the only one with a different last name in the orphanage.

Everyone else had the same last name — taken from the orphanage director's.

During his childhood, whenever he had his episodes in the orphanage, the caretakers would usually console him till he stopped crying. He was too young to properly explain his issue after all.

At the age of 5, he was adopted by a kind couple who didn't have the fortune of having their own child.

The couple showered Galen with unconditional love, filling the void in his heart, left behind by his birth parents when they abandoned him.

Being with them was the happiest time of his life, even with the unknown illness plaguing him.

But his happiness didn't last long.

In an accident last year, he lost both of his adoptive parents, falling into depression as a result.

Which resulted in him losing interest in just about everything in his life.

Even if it wasn't for that incident, because of his recurring episodes, he had always been a quiet boy in school, not interacting with others too much.

Those occasional friends he had in the school, just for the sake of it, only lasted till his graduation.

Fortunately, even if Galen was a total introvert, his top grades in school had saved him from excessive bullying.

As for having a girlfriend... 🤷🏻‍♂️

That was totally up in the air.

If there was anything he was ever grateful for in his bland school life, that would be meeting his goddess — Rhea Everlight.

Rhea was his homeroom teacher and not just for him, she was a goddess for everyone in the school.

She was the perfect example of grace and kindness shaped into a beautiful woman.

Remembering her smile alone, soothed Galen's pained heart.

After graduating from high school, he had to focus on his college studies and the following research to find out about his condition, leaving him no time to meet her again.

"It's been years since I last year." Galen recalled with slight regret

With that final thought lingering, he arrived at his workplace - a private hospital.

Six hours later...

after finishing his shift and grabbing a quick lunch at the cafeteria, Galen headed out.

But partway home, he suddenly stopped at an intersection. Instead of going back home, he changed his direction and went to the local cemetery.

There, standing before his parent's graves, Galen felt like a lump was forming in his throat.

Taking a deep breath, he steadied himself, before crouching down to clean the graves.

When he finally finished and looked up, his eyes met with the slightly blurry words etched on the tomb stones.

"Here lies the Mother and Father of the purest soul in the world."

read the Epitaph, causing the tears that he had been holding back since arriving, to start streaming down his cheeks uncontrollably.

When he found them at the hospital, that was last thing his parents had asked of him — to etch those words in their tombs— before closing their eyes forever.

Saddened beyond words, Galen knelt on the soil, with his head lowered, letting the tears fall on their graves.

When his eyes didn't have anymore tears to shed, he wiped his face with his sleeves.

Sitting beside his parents, he talked about his life so far-

his struggles,

his exhaustion,

his unanswered questions,

everything.

As he kept talking minutes turned into hours, and the sky started to darken.

Only when the night had fallen completely, did he rise from his position before leaving the place with a lighter heart.

Returning home, he ordered a simple dinner and, almost as an afterthought, added a small piece of cake.

At 11:59 PM,

Galen took out the cake and lit a single candle on it.