Star Emperor

The light almost blinded him, when his game capsule was suddenly opened.

-Get out here you little bastard.

A familiar voice shouted while the owner grabbed him and dragged him out.

Andrew Sparrow tried his best to regain his balance, but he was dizzy after being forcibly removed from the capsule.

The sudden interruption of the VR simulation always ended the same, dizziness and nausea added with a mother of all headaches.

Boom.

A fist to the gut made him fall to the ground rendering his best efforts to avoid puking useless.

-This is just the beginning.

Said the angry voice, belonging to his older brother, followed by a kick that sent him to the wall.

-Did you really think, I wouldn't find out?

Robert Sparrow shouted while continuing to beat his younger brother.

Andrew did the only logical thing he could, curled up into a ball and protected his head.

He had no idea what the hell this bastard was talking about.

-Rob, stop it, you'll kill him.

A female's voice rang suddenly.

It was their sister Agness.

She was not trying to save Andrew as she hated him as much as Robert did, but if he got beaten to death, then her older brother would get a life sentence at best or a death sentence at worst.

The moment she spoke the beating stopped.

-Why are you defending this little shit?

Robert asked.

-I don't care if he dies, but I don't want to visit you in prison for the rest of your life.

Her words finally made him think about the consequences of his actions.

-Besides, he won't be able to speak if you kill him or he loses consciousness, and don't even start me on what father will say then.

Saying that she walked to Andrew and yanked his head up by his hair, making him scream in pain.

-You are still awake, that's good.

She said slapping him across the face.

-Now tell us why you have hidden your bank account from the family.

She asked with a cruel smile.

-I didn't hide it, Father knows about it from the start, he was the one who made it for me.

Andrew said, knowing full well that if he lied and this bich always knew when he lied, he would be beaten again.

While he was speaking he tried to get up but was once again kicked in his gut, while he was on all fours.

This made him fall again and groan in pain.

-Who the fuck told you to get up?

Robert roared and kicked him again for good measure.

-Stop.

Agness said, and Robert backed away.

-Now be a good boy and give us access to the account.

She said menacingly.

-I can't, I won't have access to it until I'm 18.

Andrew said as he struggled to breathe.

His older brother took a furious step toward him, but his sister's raised hand stopped him.

She shook her head, indicating that he was not lying.

-What is this account for then?

She asked coldly.

-It's for my university tuition, Father said that he won't pay for it and if I want to go then I need to get the money myself.

This surprised both of his tormentors.

-And where exactly did you make so much money?

-I started playing Star Emperor and selling the resources through the real money exchange site.

They don't use cash so I asked father to set up an account for me and he agreed under the condition that I wouldn't have access to it until I was 18.

He explained everything.

-If you don't believe me, you can ask Father.

He added.

-I will, and if you are lying, then you will regret ever being born.

She said standing up.

-Let's go, Rob, this was just a waste of time.

Agness said leaving the room and her brother followed her, stopping only to kick Andrew again.

It took him a few minutes to get up and drag his aching body to the bathroom to clean himself up.

Looking at himself in the mirror he saw an overweight sixteen years old young man, who had more bruises on his body than he ever should.

Other than that, he had the facial features of his late mother along with her green eyes and dark blond hair.

His look was only the minor reason why his siblings, or rather step-siblings hated him so much.

He was an affair child, and his mother was only a maid at the Sparrow family mansion.

The moment she got pregnant, she was fired and chased out.

After he was born, she got a job at a hotel and even if their life was not easy, they were both happy.

This all changed when she was killed after some hoodlums tried to mug her and got scared that she would call the police on them.

By that time he was already 13 years old.

Since his mother had no relatives who could take him in, the authorities contacted his biological father and informed him of the situation, before presenting him with a choice of taking him in or giving up his parental rights at which time he would be sent to the orphanage.

In the beginning, the man wanted nothing to do with him, but his wife insisted on taking him in and even forgave him for having an affair.

-Why couldn't they just send me to the orphanage?

Paul mumbled, remembering that time.

From the moment he was brought to the mansion, his older siblings started tormenting him.

From calling names and taking his things to beatings like the one he just received or even worse.

In the beginning, he tried to tell his father and stepmother, but that didn't change anything.

His father simply ignored him, while his stepmother tried to intervene, but it was only to tell his siblings to leave him alone.

That was the last time he said something to anyone as the beating he got the next day was very brutal and ended up with him in the hospital for a week.

The doctors wanted to inform the child protective services and the police when they saw his state, but enough money changed their minds and the whole incident was swept under the rug.

His siblings got punished, but the punishment consisted of them being grounded for two weeks, for which he got another beating as soon as he was back from the hospital.

The only thing that changed was that they didn't beat him so severely ever again.

Instead, they took everything from him and if he resisted he got a beating until he either agreed or the item got destroyed.

The only thing they could not take from him was the gaming capsule.

Their father bought one for each of them.

Of course, Robert and Paul, his other half-brother, damaged his and even wanted to pin the blame on him, but this time their mother just took out her phone and saw them doing it.

They had no idea that there were miniature cameras built into the capsule for the protection of the user.

-Since it was you who damaged it, you will also pay for it.

She said to them, right before she confiscated their allowance for the next three months to buy him a new capsule.

-If I see, another scratch or a bruise on Andrew, you are both going to a military boarding school.

She threatened them when she saw their expressions which assured her of their intentions to get their frustrations out on him.

Thanks to this they left his capsule alone and even stopped beating him up for a short while.

Andrew sighed, remembering all of this.

-Two more years.

He said to his reflection in the mirror.

After cleaning himself up, he had to clean his room.

There were maids in the mansion, but thanks to his step-siblings, they avoided him like a plague or ignored him.

The only way for them to listen to him was to give them an order in the presence of his father or stepmother.

However, knowing they were between a rock and a hard place, he refrained from that as much as he could.

When he was finally done with everything he got back into the capsule and logged back into the game.

That was his only chance to get rid of this miserable life and there was no way he would let these idiots destroy it.