While his childhood memories were mostly happy, and he seemed to be living in relative wealth, all of that changed abruptly when he grew a little older and his father went missing.
Leo was still in elementary school when it happened. One day his father was there— tucking him in, telling him to take care of his mother. The next, he was simply gone, without explanation or goodbye.
In the weeks that followed, their existing life collapsed like a house of cards.
Him, his brother and mother were soon forced to relocate from their mansion when they couldn't afford to pay the mortgage anymore, and they were instead forced to trade it in for a creaky two-bedroom apartment with water-stained walls and neighbors who argued through the night.
However, that was only the beginning of their downfall.
Next year, both Leo and Luke had to change schools.
While Elena soon constantly found herself turning down bills, rationing meals, and doing everything she could to shield her sons from the full weight of their fall.
Leo remembered watching her cry quietly the day she sold her necklace and wedding jewelry. And he remembered how she never once cursed their father's name or spoke ill of him.
Even at her lowest, she bore the downfall of their family with grace, as watching her suffer like that, Leo changed.
Gone was the loud, spoiled boy who threw tantrums for toys, and in his place stood a quiet, observant young man who kept his head low, learned to eat in silence, and stopped asking for things.
He endured what many common children did— such as being mugged for pocket change, bullied in school for his worn shoes, and laughed at when he couldn't afford school trip fees. But he adapted. He learned to be content with less.
That phase of his life continued until Luke turned eighteen and began working odd jobs to support them, and two years later, he himself followed suit, joining the workforce the moment he legally could, as things began to improve for their family, if only slightly.
But then….. the world ended.
Planet Earth, already battered by frequent earthquakes, cyclones, flash floods, and atmospheric decay, was officially declared uninhabitable.
The President made the announcement informing the common people that the world was ending, and with it came news of an interstellar migration plan aboard a massive alien ship.
Mass hysteria soon followed, as the local governments worldwide informed their intentions of evacuating just one out of the eight billion people living on Earth in the first tranche, with the others being forced to live on the dying planet, until the next round of ships arrived to evacuate them a year later.
For Leo and Luke, two no-name repairmen, the dream of securing a spot on that ship was impossible.
But their mother made it possible, by selling her kidney to raise money for the ticket.
She bought them the cheapest tickets— cramped, windowless pods in the lowest class of evacuees. But it was still a way out. A path to Planet Terra Nova, the galaxy's new frontier.
And so, their journey began.
Once aboard the transport ship, daily chores were mixed with compulsory training inside a hyper-realistic VR game called Terra Nova Online. Which was a simulation meant to prepare Earth's migrants for the climate, culture, and economy of their destination planet.
The in-game currency and skills learned also carried to the real world, making it so that the better one was at playing the game, the more influence they could carry into the real world upon landing.
But here fate played a trick.
Due to a glitch, or perhaps some calculation by the gaming system that he did not understand, Leo's character was forcibly assigned the role of the biggest big shot from the very start, when he was nothing more than a small fry, as he adopted the moniker 'The Boss'.
At the time the system forcibly portrayed him as the top player who was at the very top of the player rankings, although he was not really that skilled.
The twist in this situation was that if the truth behind his fake strength was ever exposed, he would lose his life.
And so, he faked it.
He wore the fake ranking like armor, and paraded like a king among lions, and bluffed his way into respect.
However, what began as an act soon turned real, as through tireless effort and relentless survival, he mastered every skill he once pretended to have, as eventually, 'The Boss' became more than a role.
With the persona becoming him, and him becoming 'The Boss'.
Along the way, he gained many friends. Such as Amanda, his girlfriend, first love and hopeful future wife.
Chaosbringer, the manager of his Empire and his right hand man.
Ben Faulkner, his assassin instructor, second father and master.
And Dumpy, his pet, who he hatched from a lottery egg, and who the Universal Government was currently nurturing at some untold facility, until he retrieved him.
It was an eventful journey, and he managed to reach the status of a 'Master' warrior by the end, becoming one of the best players to ever play the game.
However, this was where the light in his memories began to fade.
Because it was from this point forward that every problem he now faced began to unravel.
It was only towards the end of his journey that he realized that the Earthen Government's promise of a green new world and a fresh new start wasn't actually true.
That the locals of planet Terra Nova were not actually evacuating them out of a dying planet because of the kindness in their hearts, but because they needed more workers and soldiers to keep their economy booming and front lines secured.
If he wanted to, he could have kept his mouth shut and taken a hefty payday to keep the information he knew concealed.
However, out of the kindness of his heart, he exposed the ploy to every Earthen migrant, and in the process became the enemy of the local government of planet Terra Nova.
The Terra Nova Government, now mad at him for making them suffer potential losses of millions of MP, sued him for leaking state secrets and registered a case against him in the universal court, branding him as a criminal.
And the fate that he was ideally to suffer upon landing, was one of being handcuffed and arrested, however, a sudden interest by the Mu Clan into his skills and performance opened a way out for him from this mess.
Apparently, Mu Fan contacted the captain of the ship before landing, and hatched a plan to save him from his arrest, however, the catch was that he had to be separated from his family in the short term, as Mu Fan could only safely manage to evacuate one person at a time, and besides, it wasn't his family that was wanted, but rather just him.
And so, upon landing, he found himself evading the local authorities waiting to arrest him, by hiding in a transport cart carrying ships command logs and internal data slates, until he found Mu Fan at their designated meet-up spot.
However, mid-way through his escape, as he asked Mu Fan as to what would become of his family.
Mu Fan replied that they would most likely be arrested and interrogated in the short term, before being released later on…..
And it was here that Leo suddenly changed his mind and decided that he did not wish to leave without them, as this was where everything turned to hell.