The first pot
What if I had no restrictions after I left life as a mortal? There are no restrictions on the path to heaven or hell. Just Preparation to break the chains of the soul
Under the light of a blue moon, calm yet cold as if reflecting the chill of the soul, thick fog seeps across the horizon, enveloping the place in a dense veil of mystery and shadows, as if reality is cloaked in a shroud of secrets only the night dares to reveal. In dark corners, old bloodstains scatter like vivid paintings of a story inscribed with ink of pain and oblivion. Mysterious whispers echo in the air, voices inaudible to human ears, as if from other realms, playing a hidden hymn that fills the place with its strange resonance.
At the heart of this somber scene, a small hand trembles involuntarily, trying to lift itself gently toward the sky, a faint expression of hope and clinging to life. Two eyes open with extreme difficulty, groping their way through the inner fog, the eyes of a young man surrounded by darkness, bearing in their gaze an immeasurable history of suffering. His long black hair, streaked with scattered strands of gray, tells stories of merciless time. He wears tattered, worn clothes, bearing witness to a journey of homelessness, poverty, and loss, while a deep wound on his chest breathes slowly, like a continuous pulse of an internal struggle yet unfinished.
In a solemn silence that pierces the scattered memories, an internal whisper arises like a spiritual echo, quietly questioning as if time has paused for a moment:
"Where am I? By what path have I come to this moment that seems between life and death? Was my escape from death's grip real, or merely a dream—or a deadly mirage?"
The trembling hand begins to rise slowly, as if trying to grasp a torn thread of memory, and he wonders in his heart between certainty and doubt, facing a world that seems to have thrown him into a spiral of unconsciousness and darkness.
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In a distant, ancient time where history meets legend,eighty years years before our present er, a new dawn rises in a world called "Thonia." In this world, where the threads of a dark Middle Age intertwine with the glow of a sacred renaissance, the fourth era progresses on a path toward change, and on the map of time appears the Hollow Continent, a northern land cloaked in ice and shadows, ruled by a vast kingdom known as the "Kingdom of Ash," whose restless capital teems with life and contradictions.
Under the sun's glare, the capital's market bustles with a mixture of people, dressed in attire reflecting diverse social classes from luxurious nobles to the simplest of commoners. The scent of history mingles with the present in every corner. On an old, worn carpet lies a collection of rare relics bearing witness to bygone ages, offered by a traveling merchant who moves lightly among the crowd. His steps halt before a mysterious black seal, engraved with a spiral surrounding a black sun, as if this symbol holds a hidden secret of the kingdom and its mysterious past. Without hesitation, he pays with coins and keeps this enigmatic key, heading toward a destiny unknown to him.
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In a dark alley of the Gray District, on a street echoing with silence and whispers, stands a modest-sized building Inhabited by by a man named New Marloth. His features bear the complexity of time itself; his short white hair gleams faintly in the darkness, his trimmed beard frames a face where mystery intertwines with cunning, and his black eyes plunge into the depths of shadows as if hiding an unfathomable secret.
After casting aside his heavy cloak and bag, he sits on a worn chair , slowly eating a boiled piece of meat and quenching his thirst with cold water He brought them with him from his distant home outside the kingdom. . Suddenly, a book falls from the table with a sound that shatters the silence. He cautiously picks it up; the title reads "Grimoire of Sorcerers." He opens its pages slowly, his hoarse voice reciting words wrapped in enigma:
"Only a short time remains, I will complete what I began, to achieve a purpose never before seen..."
A sudden fit of coughing overtakes him, followed by dizziness, as if a spiritual disease is gnawing at his body between the blaze of knowledge and the fear of the unknown.
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With faltering steps, he rises and makes his way to a secret chamber behind his home, a room concealing the darkness' secrets that no one dares approach. There, perched on a high shelf, sits a white owl without food. He takes out a piece of bread and feeds it tenderly, as if silently communicating things unspoken.
In an angry voice, he shouts toward a small wooden box:
"Rise, you fool!"
The box shakes under his blow, and from it emerges a tiny creature, an imp known as "the Imp Man."
With sarcastic humor, the imp replies:
"Isn't today a holiday? Where's my breakfast of magical worms?"
New Marloth responds with a firm voice mixed with biting sarcasm:
"No room for laziness; I didn't hire you to be sleeping, fool!"
---
Inside the dark workshop filled with strange tools and mysterious concoctions, with terrifying decorations hanging on the walls, the imp dons a skeletal mask hiding his true face. On the door hangs a sign reading "The Seer Investigator," with an illustration of smoke rising from an invisible hand, as if the room is a gateway to supernatural realms.
---
The door opens, and a nobleman with clear features enters—a majestic warrior with golden hair flowing over his shoulders, and green eyes sparkling with strength and confidence.
New Marloth greets him with a faint smile and listens as the warrior says:
"I've heard rumors that you grant the desires of those who come to you. I hope you are not just a legend told in the dark."
The warrior sits, looking toward the future, asking New Marloth for an unconquerable general's position, a power that dominates all, and a life crowned with glory and marriage to the princess that every heart dreams of.
New Marloth begins spinning a transparent glass orb between his fingers, from which black smoke as dark as night rises, revealing inside scenes of kings and builders of ancient civilizations, their descendants the gods whose marks remain indelible through time.
New Marloth whispers:
"Keep this coin bearing a dark sun; it is the key to realizing your desires."
The warrior smiles cautiously, then rises gratefully and departs, carrying a bundle of His luck in his hand.
On the street
Then we see old New Marloth wandering around the corner. His work Until he found a strange paper stuck on the wall
Late at night, an official letter arrives for For some of the attendees a summons to a grand ceremony that will gather the kingdom's nobles, great warriors, accredited sorcerers, devout priests, and the ruling family, where interests and secrets converge under one roof.He looked at her carefully, not paying attention, but he remembered that one of the components of the spiritual barrier ritual
And the last thing he needs is almost there.
On his way back, bumped into someone a mysterious wearing long Brown cloak his patha young man with long white hair, , his sharp features filled with mystery.
With apologetic words From New Marloth
It's okay, I didn't see you continue on your way
The mysterious young man never responded except with a silent look and he left.
Their meeting carries signs of be A simple meeting with an unknown point
In his secret chamber which is under workshop , Go there stealthily It was a somewhat empty room. There was a dirty, dusty smell and rats in some corners of the room.
preparations begin for a mysterious ritual. The imp pours a quantity of black water, secretly obtained from a stolen caravan, into a small pit surrounded by a black seal, beside an ancient coffin stained with a bloody hue and encircled
The reason for the incompleteness of this ritual was two things:
solar change
An eclipse had to happen, which is the sun turning black. This is a normal solar phenomenon that occurs every seven months of the year.
sacred component
It is a strange black seed Bright that is considered the last component of the ritual.
As for the weather, it is called Spiritual linear refraction
Belongs to the evil power system The wonder Domes
Follow the next chapter to see new events.
From the novel T. S. M