The pain hit him first.
A searing pressure in his chest, like someone had taken a red-hot poker and driven it through his heart. Then the cold. Not the kind that comes from wind or rain, but the deep, hollow chill of death itself.
He gasped, convulsed—then sat bolt upright.
The air was thick with the scent of cheap deodorant, carpet dust, and fast food. His hand shot to his chest. No blood. No bullet hole. Just smooth, young skin and a heartbeat like a war drum.
Where the hell am I?
He scrambled off the bed, nearly tripping over a tangle of Xbox controller cords. He caught a glimpse of himself in a mirror—not the gray-haired, battle-worn CEO who had just been shot in a glass tower in 2042, but a lean, 20-year-old version of himself. No crow's feet. No scars. Just the old defiance in his eyes.
"Jason King," he whispered. "You son of a bitch… you actually died."
And now he was back.
The desktop monitor buzzed softly behind him. He turned, as if hypnotized. The date in the corner confirmed what the rest of his senses were struggling to believe:
January 4th, 2000.
The dawn of a new millennium.
A cold sweat trickled down his spine. He sat, trying to steady his breathing, his thoughts racing.
The last thing he remembered was the boardroom betrayal. Allen, his CFO. That smug little bastard. Jason had built Phoenix Dynamics into one of the top five tech firms in the world, and Allen had stabbed him in the back for it. Shot him during a "private shareholder meeting." Blood on marble. Darkness.
And now, reborn. Twenty-two years old again. In his old college apartment. Posters of The Matrix and Fight Club on the walls. A Nirvana CD case on the floor.
This is real. This is really happening.
A grin crept across his face—slow, wolfish, unstoppable.
He had knowledge no one else in the world possessed. The next two decades of global markets, product launches, tech trends, and cultural earthquakes were all locked safely in his head.
Google. Facebook. Bitcoin. Tesla. Marvel movies. YouTube. Netflix. iPhone. Amazon's rise.
It was all coming.
And this time, he wouldn't just ride the wave.
He would own the ocean.