Lunaris City, Faraday Estate.
"What's the difference between this and being dead?"
Cassian Faraday woke up staring blankly at the ceiling, a bitter groan slipping from his lips.
He'd crossed into a new world called the Etherion Continent. A fresh start should've been a blessing, but his new body had been hit by some insidious poison. Pain shot through every inch of him, his limbs refused to move-it was worse than death.
From the fragments of memory, he pieced it together-he'd been the most promising among the three prodigies of the Faraday clan, with the best shot at inheriting the clan leader's position.
But his older cousin Bryce Faraday saw him as a threat, bought off his maid Lily Sinclair, and had her lace his food with an undetectable poison. That was yesterday at noon-and that's what pushed the original Cassian into the grave.
Now, burning pain seared through him, deep into his soul. It felt like his very spirit was being torn apart. His vision blurred; colors faded into gray. He might've been reborn, but it sure felt like death was knocking again.
Just as despair hit its peak, a strange light burst from Cassian's body-seven-colored flames dancing across his skin. At the same time, something clicked in his mind.
In a daze, he saw a massive golden palace towering into infinity, glowing with a brilliance that swallowed the stars. It looked like some warped sun, blindingly bright, yet shadowed with unfathomable darkness behind it.
Forbidden Prison!
Those grotesquely twisted characters were etched across the thousand-foot-tall doors of the palace. Cassian felt both awe and confusion.
"What kind of place is this? Hell?"
"This place is beyond the Five Elements. Outside the Six Paths. Neither hell nor heaven."
A voice rang out nearby. Cassian turned sharply-and nearly stumbled back in shock. Standing there was a ragged old man with wild white hair and skin clinging to bones like parchment to a skeleton.
Only his face had any hint of flesh left-barely. The rest of him looked half-dead already.
"You... Who are you? Where am I?"
Cassian staggered back a few steps, his breath catching in his throat.
"I'm the warden of this prison," the old man said with a twisted grin. "No need to panic. There's nothing to fear. This place exists within your soulsea."
That only confused Cassian more. "My... soulsea? So... I'm not dead?"
"Of course you're not dead. If you were, this Forbidden Prison would be doomed." The old man gave a raspy chuckle. "Let me make it simple: starting now, this prison belongs to you."
"To me?" Cassian was stunned. "Why would that happen? And why is this thing inside me?"
"Simple. It's destiny," the old man said, his tone dead calm.
"What's this prison holding exactly?" Cassian's curiosity flared. Something told him the inmates trapped within that golden palace weren't your average thugs.
"The contents don't matter. What matters is, you're the master now-the boss of this place," the old man said with a knowing smile. "Once you take full control, you'll understand everything."
"My time's up. I'll hand the Forbidden Prison over to you now, and with what little soulforce remains, I'll purge the poison from your body. The rest of your path... you'll have to walk it yourself."
As he spoke, the old man's withered figure blinked before Cassian. He thrust out a skeletal hand and pointed straight at the center of Cassian's forehead.
"Boom!"
A burst of golden light flared from Cassian's brow. Simultaneously, the bizarre poison coursing through his body evaporated into a green mist, rising from his skin in wisps.
A wave of relief surged through him-comfortable, almost intoxicating. Right then, the old man's form began to dry and crumble like dead wood, until only a golden fingerbone remained.
It hovered for a second, then fused into Cassian's right index finger, gleaming like it had been dipped in molten gold.
"What the hell... Is this my legendary cheat code?"
Cassian stared, dumbfounded. His finger now glowed like gold lacquer had been brushed over it.
What was the use of this thing? Poking people?
"Hey boss, mind sticking that shiny finger of yours into the little hole on the big door? We need to chat."
Cassian's daze snapped as a mocking, eerie voice echoed through the golden palace.
"Who's there? Who's talking?"
He spun around toward the giant golden doors. To his surprise, a tiny golden hole, just about finger-sized, sat at the center of them.
So... this cheat code was actually the key?
"I am the Bloodthirst Emperor... been sealed in here for over eighty billion years," the sarcastic voice called out again.
Cassian's gut clenched. This wasn't some run-of-the-mill prisoner. Could've been bragging... but that name gave him chills. Still, when the guy called him "boss," it gave Cassian an odd buzz of satisfaction.
Keeping his guard up, he snapped, "You think just 'cause I'm new you can trick me into letting you out?"
"You've got it wrong, boss," the voice replied. "Even if the main doors open, I can't leave. There's another prison inside-one locking me up tight."
"I'm in Cell No.1. Just want to talk business with you, boss. That's all."
Cassian frowned. Cell No.1? So there were more than just a couple of cells in there?
He narrowed his eyes and asked bluntly, "What kind of 'business'?"
"A trade," the voice said.
"What kind of trade?"
"You fetch two ounces of maiden's blood from the outside, and I'll teach you a transcendent arcana. Fair deal, right?"
"That simple, huh? How do I know you're not full of it?"
"If I lie, may I die in agony," the Bloodthirst Emperor swore without hesitation. "By the oath of an Emperor. Witnessed by the heavens and the path itself."
