The prison district of the Empire was not merely a place of detention, it was a symbol of absolute brutality, a stage for the most horrific images the human mind could reach. Here, children were born and raised in the shadows of pain, living and experiencing suffering from the moment of their birth, only to die without ever knowing anything about the outside world, as if their lives were nothing more than ghosts wandering through an endless hell. The fathers? They were thrown into pits filled with snakes, or forced to fight for survival, sometimes eating one another just to forget the injustice surrounding them. Every day here was a new day of terror, every hour a new battle of madness, until even the most rational people would surrender, unable to find any meaning in what was happening around them, surrounded by screams, groans, and continuous psychological ruin.
These prisons held thousands of souls. Their metallic walls had absorbed the blood of the tortured, and their groans had become a dark symphony echoing without end. Today, the shipment of captured rebels had arrived, drawing the curtain over the last betrayals of the rebellion against the Empire. Every sound that echoed here was nothing but a groan, an echo of pain, an echo of slow death.
"Please… some water… just a little water…"
A weak, hoarse voice emerged from an exhausted body that had only a few days left to live. His leg was gone, his body tied to an electric pole that activated every hour, while in front of him sat a cup of water just out of reach a mockery of fate, a mockery of the goal he longed for yet could never attain.
"Come on… you can reach it!"
The guards' mockery repeated without mercy. They laughed endlessly, enjoying every passing second, every tear, every groan that escaped from this hell.
"Please… my child… please let my child leave this place…"
An old woman, her eyes carrying all the pain a human heart could hold, looked at her rotting child in the corner of hell without care, without any chance of survival, or perhaps waiting for the guards to take him later and brainwash him for the sake of the Empire, turning him into nothing more than a soulless tool.
The leaders? The important figures, the rebel commanders, the traitors close to the king… all of them were silent. They had closed their mouths about the truth, but everything was meaningless now. The rebellion had ended, hope had been drained, and the fire of revolution had died before it could even ignite, leaving behind nothing but a faint smoke drifting through the walls, resembling the shadows of lost souls.
Then a strange voice came, mad, hysterical…
"Hahahahahaha!"
A laugh that stretched without end, disturbing, enough to make the body shiver, yet it sometimes made the place feel more alive and sometimes more miserable. Madness spread through every corner, every breath, until even the strongest mind could not resist it.
"We will win! Hahahaha! We will bring down the Emperor… the spark will never go out!"
A sharp, screaming laughter rose and filled the place until Saika's vocal cords were nearly torn apart, her body hanging on thorns. Her laughter alone had become a symbol of mad resistance.
Just laugh… and smile… for that is all you have left to lose. That is all that can still belong to you.
"We are complete!"
The spark in her eyes had not faded, even after all the pain and suffering, as she repeated her words tirelessly, annoying everyone around her, aware that what she said was nothing but meaningless nonsense, yet she enjoyed the power of her existence amid the chaos.
While the tortured continued their suffering, there was another place within the metallic walls that protected the Emperor. Here, there was no pain, no chaos, no fear… only luxury, extravagance, and absolute power. Everything here was at the level of the dreams of the wealthy: private jets, quantum computers, extravagant parties, half-human half-mechanical guards, advanced science, advanced medicine… anything the human soul could desire.
Here, amidst all this luxury, the steps of elia Leith moved measured, calm, yet carrying an unnatural sense of loyalty and an obsession with the order the Emperor had preserved since his birth. Every step, every breath, every movement was filled with determination, caution, and absolute loyalty.
At last, he arrived at a dull metallic door. It looked ordinary compared to the rest of the palace, yet it carried a voice a voice that made elia fall to his knees, bowing in prostration without the slightest hesitation from a warrior proud of his dignity, for he stood before the Emperor.
"Well done, elia… you have protected us."
"elia… you are the finest example of a capable warrior on the battlefield, and everything any king could wish for is your loyalty… that deserves admiration."
His voice suited the might of a king, yet he continued speaking, emphasizing every word, as if he wished to prove the value of loyalty in this world.
"elia… you are not the strongest soldier, but you are the most loyal, and the person I trust the most. That is why I have one request for you… and perhaps the last."
The door opened and an old man stepped out, looking as if he were one step away from his grave, yet he asked for something far beyond the appearance of old age.
"elia… we will fall soon… I know this, because the feeling of death is approaching. I ask you, as the Emperor and your master…"
His voice trembled, but it did not break. "Give your life to get us out safely, me and my children. Your entire body will be in service to me."
A selfish request, yet there was no hesitation from elia.
"Yes, my king."
He did not ask about the consequences, he did not leave any room for doubt. Any thought of doubt was betrayal, and only absolute loyalty was acceptable.
The Emperor finally moved, surrounded by a capsule that simulated the atmosphere of the room to conceal him, while elia knew all the secret paths, all the safe routes he had visited in this palace.
Then the alarm sounded throughout the place. The rebellion had only been the beginning, and the massacre would be the end.
"What the…"
"They made you think they were finished… but they had only begun."
The Emperor spoke calmly, while elia faced the assassins with unmatched courage. Spies tried to exploit every corner, but the chaos had been planned.
"How dare they…" elia muttered, biting his lips until they bled, unable to accept any opposition to the Empire, because without the Empire, only chaos would reign.
Outside, madness had spread everywhere. The entire country had turned upside down young and old, citizens and soldiers, everyone fighting to survive. Meanwhile, on the screens of the capital, one person appeared, his face fixed in every house, every office, every square.
"Yes, they killed everyone who stood with us, tortured us and weakened us, and thought we would not resist."
The voice of the rebellion's leader echoed, his words carrying a mixture of anger and determination as he recounted what had happened to everyone outside.
"Look at what they did to us. Look at how they tortured your children and your fathers, how they fought your leaders who only tried to ask for their rights… even my comrade Nova sacrificed himself, and Saika was imprisoned… all of this because of you."
At the same time, a massive device had destroyed the army's machines and their advanced bodies that ran on immense energy, turning their parts into nothing more than worthless scraps. Their weapons lost all effectiveness, and the tanks and automated aircraft turned into useless heaps of metal.
"Come on… break the gates!"
Orders were given quickly, and blood mixed with metal and bullets while elia moved without stopping. Parts of his mechanical body began to fail one after another, but he did not retreat. Every step, every strike, was for the Empire, for loyalty, for the Emperor.
The capsule carrying the Emperor and his children malfunctioned partially, so he descended from it and ran quickly toward what only he knew the spatial transporter, the last means of escape.
"He's there… get him!"
"Tear him apart… burn him!"
Familiar faces appeared, and others filled with rage, spreading everywhere amid scattered blood and broken silver. elia did not stop, did not hesitate. He drew his weapon and rushed forward with a mixture of anger and loyalty, believing that the Empire might fall with his fall, and that the Emperor's life was worth sacrificing everything.
The massacre was real… every step was soaked in blood, every strike was gunfire, and every moment was a life fading away. The Emperor escaped, but elia fought relentlessly until he fell, his body torn apart, his mechanical parts severed, yet he kept fighting until the very last moment.
"If only you had listened to us, elia…"
"You obedient bastard…"
"Your next life will not be better than the life of dogs…"
He heard a lot of nonsense, but his only regret was that he had not endured longer, had not protected the Empire as he wished, even though he saved the Emperor with his life, with all loyalty, with all strength.
Finally, his head was blown apart, and his soul went to the bridge between life and death a thin bridge no wider than a strand of his hair, or a silk thread that could tear at any moment.
There, his entire life passed before him, from birth to training, from loyalty to killing, from every victory to every loss. Every detail was remembered. The bridge was narrow, fragile, and every step required balance between survival and falling. Yet he moved without awareness, his body repeating all his previous actions, all his past spirituality, as if he were living his life once again, and every moment was a complete experience that could not be forgotten.
He was born again, a small child, his body weak, but carrying a soul that could not be erased, trained in loyalty from the softness of his nails. The Emperor honored him, trained him in combat, and taught him the meaning of obedience, the meaning of strength, the meaning that the lives of others were nothing but a means to maintain order.
He killed hundreds of bodies, fought without stopping, until the day came when he fought and was destroyed, exactly as it had happened in his previous life. Every moment, every strike, every feeling repeated itself on the fragile bridge. Before him was an entire life past, present, and future all drawn with precision, with nothing forgotten.
And despite all the pain and suffering, he thanked himself because he had never betrayed his principles, because he had not weakened, because he had maintained loyalty to the Empire until the end. Even at the bottom of the bridge, he did not fall. He finally reached the door, the door that represented the unknown, the next life, the future he had never believed existed.
"I never believed there was another life… but whatever awaits me here… I will accept it."
He touched the door with his hand, but it opened with immense pressure, forcing him backward, and then he fell downward. The fall was not the end, but the beginning of a new experience.
He opened his eyes to find several young men in front of him.
"Another failed experiment… who cares… we can throw him with the rest."
"Karl… come and take him… send him to the barn with the other experiments."
He tried to move, tried to break the restraints, but his hands could reach nothing, his eyes did not close, and his breath did not settle. This was his new life… an experiment he had to accept, with all its pain, all its restraints.