"The only occasion tomorrow is your execution."
"...?!"
"I wonder which method they'll use. Soul Dissolution? Mirror Death? Destabilizing?"
He laughed at the horror on Caedren's face.
"The last captive of infamous status got Fatally Nullified. You'll probably be dunked in boiling nectar. Makes for good spectacle."
"Are you mad?"
"Don't blame me. You have quite a large fanbase. A cult following of rebels and delinquents."
He sniggered, festering teeth on display.
"They'll make an example of you."
Caedren tuned the ranting psycho out.
But the voices in his heard roared louder.
Execution.
Like getting killed for public spectacle.
Surely he didn't transmigrate just for the purpose of getting unalived within four days?
That didn't sound very necessary.
Like, why go through the chaotic process of leaving one dying body to another soon-to-be dead body in another world?
No sense in that.
Besides, the MCs in the web novels don't die on arrival!
They gain particularly super super abilities, state-of-the-art systems and power.
Not a one way trip to death.
"Why should my case be different?"
Caedren's mind whirred around these thoughts for hours.
Time was against him.
He started when he looked up to find a guard outside his bars.
"What?"
No reply.
He sighed.
A world of dumbs and crazy prison neighbors.
"Is it time for me to die?"
The guard motioned towards the pile of clothes.
"Moody wants you to get ready."
Caedren lifted an eyebrow at Dirren as the guard turned and marched away.
"Moody?"
"They don't talk. I gave them names according to their auras."
Dirren's face poked through the bars.
"At least you lived an adventurous life. In our world only few can boast of that."
I'm only just starting, psycho, thought Caedren.
He shrugged out of the white robe.
Nothing underneath.
A prison thing or maybe this world didn't do underwear?
Commando everyone?
His eyes went wide as he stared down at the rest of his new body.
Lithe muscled arms and hard chest that would make the tongue of even a Kardashian water.
Four pairs of defined abs trimmed down to the v of his waist.
Beyond that…well…things got really visually stunning.
Like mind-blowing.
You know, in the proportional sense.
"So I'm just supposed to let all this go to waste?"
"Not wasted," Dirren commented helpfully.
"What?"
Dirren didn't spare any gory details.
"Your soul will be harvested. Your boby transformed into fuel. You'll be sprouting gemstones in no time."
Caedren shuddered.
"Isn't that illegal around here?"
"Illegal?"
"Like a breech of human rights or something. A crime?"
Dirren squinted.
"You didn't live by any laws or boundaries. Surely those laws, if they actually existed, won't matter in your demise."
"I hate you, Dirren."
"I don't like you either, Caedren."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Now get dressed for your death. You only die once."
Twice, thought Caedren.
From apocalyptic death to dying by embarrassment.
What were the odds?
He got dressed in the baggy trousers and undescribable garb of a shirt.
Socks. Slippers. Still no underwear.
Hmm. A different social construct from earth.
The guard returned with his colleague. Dark and quiet duo.
A round device shot through the bars to hover close to Caedren.
Greyish light spilled from it to engulf his entire body.
A sudden chill washed over him.
His heartbeat slowed. His thinking process tamped down.
As if he'd been dunked in ice water. Body, soul and all.
"What's that?"
"A Null Crystal. It's numbing your emotions."
"Why? I'm still going to die anyway."
Dirren stared at him as if he was the crazy one.
"Though you're obviously emotionless, it's a precaution they have to take."
"Emotionless?"
Dirren sighed, lifting his arms in surrender.
"Just go fuck off, Caedren."
The bars didn't trundle open.
They blinked out of reality. Like glowed feintly before fizzling out.
Nanotechnology or something much more advanced?
Just what sort of world had Caedren gotten himself into?
The guards didn't touch him as they went.
One stood in front while the other followed up from behind.
"I can't really tell which of you is Moody."
No reply. Not even a grunt.
"You're both moody. So, Moody 1 and Moody 2?"
A section of the wall slid open to reveal a rotund cubicle.
The metallic inside glowed with tiny purple stones. The circular base shimmered with millions of them.
"You guys have elevators here too? I thought only earthlings hate stress."
Once inside, the guards flanked him and the door shut.
His new body was tall but the guards still loomed over him.
They were visibly strong and muscular but not so much that they were slowed down by weight.
Also, up close he noticed black gemstones stuck to the base of their necks.
The varying colored crystals meant something here but he couldn't place it.
Not now when he was about to die.
The elevator lifted noiselessly.
Fast and sleek like a racing missile.
Through the opaque glass he glimpsed other floors of cells and dark dungeons as they rose.
He counted four floors and an eternity of total darkness before natural light filtered in.
The sky was weird.
Bluish in places, green in others, even red in some. Brown, yellow…mismatched patterns of light.
As if a child had gone to work on it with a paint brush.
The colors seemed alive…almost moving?
God, this world was weird.
No sun. No clouds. Just vast expanse of multicolored clear skies.
Cold wind stabbed against his skin as he stumbled out upon a rocky terrain.
Dark mountains shrouded in dense fog spread out as far as he could see.
Some hung upside down.
Caedren blinked.
Surely that wasn't a hill hanging the wrong way?
What about gravity, people? Hello!!
"My most prestigious prisoner."
Chubby dungeon warden appeared out of the fog.
Dressed similar to the guards now, the hood of his armor bore a vast plume.
In his hand he held some kind of black mace. It sizzled with an ominous energy
On his face…well what was visible underneath the hood, was a smile.
Caedren's only goal in life right then was to slap the satisfied smirk off the man's fat cheeks.
But he couldn't move his arms. He gritted his teeth.
"You deceived me."
"Deceived?"
"You made me think I was getting released today!"
"Released? After all the horrors you've done death is a small mercy."
He whirled and started down the aisle.
The aisle tore across a narrow ledge with deep drops to fog, nothing and a terrible death on either side.
Like the end of the world.
Up ahead, a small crowd gathered around a dias.
Their excited mumurs turned to hushed whispers as he appeared within sight.
"The corruption will meet its doom today."
"First time I get to see the rascal in the flesh."
"So young and handsome. No one said he was this easy on the eyes!"
"He's rumored to have hypnotizing lips. Now with a face like that…"
"To the Abyss with this evil!"
"Burn him to cinders!"
Tough crowd, Caedren thought.
Most were clothed in robes. Some in expensive garments with bejewelled belts. Others in fur coats.
All with pale skin and hair of varying shades of brown and black.
So mostly human.
Close to the aisle, a congregation of weirdos played a sorrowful song.
Their voices soft and supple. Strings of tamborines, harps, flutes and pipes light.
All of them bald and dressed in garbs similar to the one he had on but of a greyish shade.
🎼🎼🎼🎼🎶🎶🎼🎼🎼
Souls of a thousand tainted beings
Emotions lost to harried winds
Moment of cleansing and repentance
Follow our dirge and make your weight in penance
🎼🎼🎼🎼🎵🎵🎵🎼🎼🎼
Caedren shuddered.
The song…the sorrowful lyrics stirred something in his chest.
Pain. Hurt. Regret. Even a touch of guilt.
He couldn't help it.
Almost as if the song brought tears to his eyes…
His vision blurred.
He shook his head.
"Shut it, monks!"
Their tempo increased as he reached the dias.
Strange sigils formed six sections evenly partitioned around…
Well, no better way to describe it…
A monolith.
Over a hundred feet tall, its crest spearing through the sky.
Hexagonal and solid, made of smooth white crystals similar to the walls of his cell.
Chubby warden led Caedren to a seventh section tucked close to the monolith.
There was no sigil on this one. Only a shimmering black stone.
"Stand there,"
Caedren obeyed with a little apprehension.
The whispers of the crowd intensified. Like buzzing bees to his ears.
The stone felt cold underneath his feet. He shivered.
No guillotine or hanging platform in sight..
No boiling oil either.
Swords, guns, flamboyant weapons in general, absent.
Caedren didn't see how this was happening.
Were the monks going to sing him to death or something?
Silence spread over the crowd like poison through veins.
A formidable figure in black ambled down the aisle.
No features visible but from the size and gait one could tell its masculinity.
He stopped just short of climbing the dias but facing Caedren.
By now the crowd was totally silent. Even the weird monks were reduced to humming.
"Caedren Valerian."
"That's me. Carry on, Papa."
The Executor's staff trembled.
"For crimes against the Council of Splintered Orders and the Realm of Eclipsera, you're sentenced to the Mort."
A harrowing scream drew Caedren's attention left of the dias.
A cliffhanger. No land within sight. Just fog.
And a dense sea of darkness below.
Another scream tore up from the fog.
Howls, roars, and snarls joined it in harmony. A congregation of the worst evils known to man.
Caedren's blood chilled.
He couldn't move. All his senses locked.
Mist of the deepest black poured out of the fog.
He glimpsed a dark shadow behind it. A hulking form feeding the mist.
The mist took shape. Formed thick furry arms with sharp claws.
Slowly, the arms snaked towards the dias.
Towards him.
The dirge of the monks turned ballistic.
The chanting crowd wailed and swore.
The dias trembled beneath his feet.
What happened next wasn't in the script.
The black crystal cracked and broke into a million shards.
The shards spiralled into a single gemstone black as night.
Caedren caught just a flicker of the stone before it shot into his heart.
"What in the world…"
Pain engulfed his body.
He screamed in pure misery.
An ancient voice whispered to his consciousness...
👽
Son of Death.
Angel of Despair.
Monarch of Misery.
Awake.
👽
Author Note: Add to your libraries and gift power stones. Let's win the Rising Fiction award.