PROLOGUE:

THE POWER OF INSANITY

*

“Keep digging! Those who work get to eat, those who don't get the whip! You! Stop lazing on the ground and pick up the shovel!" The slaver kicked a man who had just fallen down in his stomach, making him vomitted out its content. A few bits of undigested black bread and potatoes, too hard for the stomach to handle, spewed from his dry mouth. "Disgusting rat. Not even grateful we gave the likes of you food and shelter, now you want to go on a strike? Have you no shame? GET UP!!!"

Despite the fact that the "food and shelter" he told of were basically just pig food and pig pens, and that he was constantly whipping the poor, malnourished man every time he shouted, no one around them cared to stop the slaver, nor rescue the now unconscious man. Because there were only two types of people there at that time. The slaves, bound by magic collars that would strangle them were they to think of rebelling, and the slavers, ordered to work them to death, and found joy in doing so.

One side kept working till they fell, and the other kept beating them bloody, whatever the circumstances. Both have been here for god knows how long, digging up a castle's worth of dirt, and weren't even sure what the hell they were supposed to look for. The slaves were tired of digging and being whipped, and the slavers were getting tired of whipping them. 

It was then that a group of slavers discovered something that would change their lives forever. Twenty meters underground, buried under layers and layers of dirt, was a stone coffin. On it, royal patterns were carved and preserved, as well as texts in some kind of ancient language unknown to them. 

"We found it!" They exclaimed, and the slaver assigned to them quickly ran to a group of tents erected nearby. He entered the biggest tent in the middle, and promptly bowed to a long haired, sickly looking man who was enjoying his tea and conversing with some other, researchers-like people.

The man, upon hearing what the slaver had to report, nodded slightly. Then, finishing his tea, he beckoned everyone to come, including the slaver. "Go to the other tents and call the rest to meet me at the sight. We shall see the result of your hard work together, and if it is truly what we have been seeking, then I shall see that everyone of you receive handsome rewards for your efforts." He told the slaver, whose eyes lit up in gold. 

The slaver repeatedly nodded while rubbing his hands together and promptly went to do what was told, but not before giving the man the brightest smile he had ever mustered and some flattering words: "Everything for my kind lord" and the likes.

Soon after, every personnel involved, totaling over two hundred - most of whom were slaves, gathered in front of the excavation site - a 600 meter square area deep within the dark woods, and infested with monsters. The only reason this place didn't become a feeding ground for them was because the man had used magic to ward them off. It was something only the most powerful mages could do, and he was the most powerful of them all.

Once the man had confirmed that everyone was present, he approached the coffin, which was still half buried in the ground. He took his time to inspect the coffin, as a smile slowly crept up his face. At the same time, though they couldn't see his face as he had his back facing them, everybody else felt a sudden chill.

The man gestured his right hand upward, and the coffin's lid violently flew open. Within it laid a silver haired young girl, with skin white as snow. The man put his index finger on the girl's neck - no movement of the throat, she was not breathing. It was something to be expected, the girl had been lying here for hundreds of years, until her sleep was disturbed by the man. Yet somehow he felt warmth where his finger touched, as if the fact that her body had not returned to dust yet was not already a miracle in itself.

He laughed. To him, a hearty laugh filled with happiness and fulfilment. To those behind him, a distorted laugh filled with wickedness and deviltry. They shuddered. 

And at last, he spoke. "My retainers! My colleagues! My servants and their servants, Rejoice! For as of today, the key to salvation is found! No more, will our soldiers, our families, our sons and daughters have to fight and perish! No more, will we have to live in fear and dread! At long last, our future will be bright and hopeful. The reign of the demons, and the pain they have brought upon us, it all ends here!"

Everybody cheered and clapped at the man's brief speech, each for a different reason. The colleagues, for knowledge of ancient magic and arts. The retainers and servants, for rich rewards and status. The slaves, for life and freedom. Whatever their reasons might have been, they were joyous at the prospect that what they were promised would be granted.

Or at least, that was what they thought. "And as for your rewards, you shall receive it. Right here." He waved his arm horizontally, and the cheering abruptly stopped. 

No one understood why they stopped. His gesture wasn't meant for them to be silent, and they didn't want to cease their actions yet. In fact, they were still trying to cheer and clap, but their hands didn't touch and their throats didn't vibrate. "How weird", one researcher thought, looked at her arms to check, and immediately found out why: her hands were no longer attached to the wrists, and were on the ground. But she didn't have time to panic, as her vision suddenly changed. Distortion, spinning, and ended with her looking at herself. With her head missing.

Everyone but the man collapsed in a heartbeat. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, and spoke to himself: "Good. No witnesses. Apologies, but I cannot risk a running mouth revealing my plan to the demons. Not when it has come so close to fruition. You agree with me right, Luria?" He looked at the girl in the coffin. She was still deep in her eternal sleep, oblivious to his question.

"...Of course you don't. We were never in agreement about anything, you and your hypocrisy." He spat. "But no matter. This time, I'll make sure that you follow my every order, for the sake of my goal." He said, his hand caressing the girl's hair.

"Wait for me, Floriel. I'll bring you back, even if this life perishes and this world comes to ruin, I will breathe life into you once more…"

*