The prison had no name on any map.
It sat alone in the middle of a gray, endless ocean, shrouded in mist that twisted like smoke over black water. No birds flew above it. No ships came near unless they were authorized. From a distance, it looked abandoned—like a fortress that time had forgotten—but up close, it radiated danger.
Eight people lived here. No guards. No cameras. No schedule. Just walls, iron doors, and the fog beyond the boundary.
And now, one more would join them.
The gates closed behind him with a sound that hit his chest like a drum.
CLANG.
The metal slammed shut.
Locks clicked.
Then silence.
A mechanical voice broke it. Cold. Sharp. No mercy.
"Welcome to Containment Zone 7."
He stepped onto the dock. The chains on his wrists clattered to the ground. The ocean wind bit at his skin, salty and sharp, carrying the faint smell of something rotten in the mist.
"Sentence: indefinite."
"Reason: classified."
"Escape is permitted."
He frowned at the last part. Escape?
The voice continued.
"There are no guards inside the prison.
There are no surveillance cameras.
There is no scheduled release date."
A pause.
"Survival is the only requirement."
He froze.
The reason he was here didn't matter. He remembered it anyway.
It had been raining. His sister's powers had erupted uncontrollably. Buildings had collapsed. People had screamed. And one innocent life had been lost.
He had stepped forward.
"I did it," he had said.
Not true, but it didn't matter. He had taken the blame to save her. To protect her from the destruction her raw potential had caused. That had been enough to brand him a "dangerous awakened criminal." Publicly guilty. Privately… a brother protecting his sister.
But now, standing here, staring at the endless fog and cold walls, he felt very small.
Ahead of him, the other prisoners were watching.
Seven figures. Unmoving. Predators sizing up prey.
Their eyes landed on him, and he shrank under their gaze.
One massive man with arms like stone pillars grunted, amusement dripping from his stare.
One leaned lazily against a wall, smirking, eyes cold and sharp.
The woman with the short hair tilted her head, voice low and mocking:
"So… you're the unawakened they sent in?"
Another man polishing a blade added,
"Poor kid… what did you even do to end up here?"
Each word cut deeper than any chain.
Each look burned.
Fear settled like a stone in his stomach.
Not for the prison. Not for the walls.
But for what was coming.
The fog beyond the fence rippled.
A low, wet, guttural growl reached him.
Something enormous shifted inside the mist. Its steps shook the cracked ground. Its eyes glowed red.
He froze.
He had heard of awakened humans, of people with powers, but this… this was something entirely different.
A Minotaur emerged—a bull's head, humanoid torso, muscles that rippled under scarred flesh, claws scraping the stone. Its nostrils flared, steam rising from its snout as it sniffed the air.
He couldn't move. Couldn't think. The world had just tilted, and he was falling.
Then the voice came. Inside his head. Not from the speakers. Not anywhere human.
> [Mythic Prison Sign-In System initializing…]
He stumbled backward, tripping over his own feet.
> [User confirmed inside Prison Territory.]
[Special Rule Active: Growth Rate increases with time of imprisonment.]
A line of glowing blue text appeared before his eyes.
> [Sign-In Condition: Defeat a Mythical Entity within Prison Zone.]
"Sign… what?" he muttered aloud, voice trembling.
A system? A game? A contract? He didn't understand. Nothing made sense.
The other inmates snorted.
"Ha," the stone-arm man said, voice low and cruel. "Kid, you don't even have an awakening. You're going to die first."
The woman's grin was sharp, mocking. "I can't wait to see how long you last against that thing. What did you do to deserve this? Took candy from a baby?"
Their disdain pressed on him. Their mockery cut through every nerve.
And then the creature charged.
Fog exploded around it as it moved, and for the first time, he realized just how powerless he truly was. No abilities. No awakened powers. Nothing but his wits, his fear, and the weight of a system he didn't understand.
And yet… he had survived worse.
He had already taken the blame for his sister.
He had already chosen responsibility over freedom.
He clenched his fists. His heart pounded so hard he could feel it in his throat.
So this… this is how I sign in.
The fog swallowed them both.
Far away, beyond the ocean, the world continued on, unaware of the life—or the death—that had just begun here.
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