Gabriel's body sagged as the chains were undone, and he crashed to the marble floor with a wet thud. Blood seeped into the cracks of the stone, painting his trail like a crimson map of suffering. Two guards grabbed his arms, dragging him across the courtyard like a discarded carcass.
Yet even as his body scraped against the ground, his head refused to bow. His jawline, sharp even under bruises, caught the light of the dying sun. His blood-matted hair framed his pale face, and though pain distorted his features, his handsomeness shone through, terrible and unyielding.
The crowd parted in silence. Some looked with disgust, some with pity, but more with unease. They could not shake the image of that blood-drenched youth glaring into their souls as though he were already a king.
The heavy dungeon doors groaned open. The air that escaped was damp, foul, thick with the stench of rot. A place where screams once lived but had long since died. Even seasoned warriors hesitated at the threshold, for the dungeon of Sunfire Kingdom was not merely a prison — it was where hope was meant to vanish.
The guards hurled him into the darkness. His body hit the cold stone, ribs protesting with a crack. Shackles snapped around his wrists, binding him to the mould-ridden wall.
They sneered."Let's see how long this trash lasts.""By dawn, the rats will be chewing his bones."
Their laughter echoed, then the doors slammed shut, plunging him into silence.
The darkness pressed against him. His back burned with open wounds, blood trickling down to pool beneath him. Fever already licked at his skin. His breath came ragged, shallow. For any ordinary man, this was the end.
But Gabriel was not ordinary.
His lips, torn and swollen, curved into the faintest smile. Even here, broken and alone, he looked less like a corpse and more like a fallen star — dimmed but not extinguished. His handsome face, pale as snow and streaked with blood, carried a stubborn dignity that no one could strip away.
Memories flickered in the void. His siblings' laughter, their mocking voices. His father's cold stare, filled with shame. Yet woven between them were Daisy's tearful eyes and his mother's trembling smile. Warmth amidst cruelty. Their images anchored him, whispering that he had a reason to endure.
Pain surged through his body like fire. He shivered, his chains rattling softly. The dungeon was merciless, but so was his will.
"I… will not die here," he rasped, his voice no louder than a whisper in the dark. "Not yet…"
The silence answered him. For a moment, he thought consciousness would slip away forever. His eyes fluttered shut, his body heavy as lead.
Then —
Ding.
A faint chime, mechanical, cold, unnatural, echoed in the depths of his mind. His eyes snapped open, though he had no strength left to move.
Strange symbols flickered across the darkness, dissolving before he could comprehend them. A voice — distant, fragmented, metallic — whispered:
[ …Initializing… ][ …My Infinite System… Online… ]
Gabriel's breath caught. Was it fever? Delusion? Or something else entirely?
The darkness consumed him once more, but this time, he carried a spark of something new — something the world would soon regret giving him.