Darkness.
That was all I saw. I panicked believing that I was blind, but to my shock when I looked down at my body, I could see it?! I was wearing glamorous black plate armor that had streaks of red. It was noble yet threatening, elegant yet savage, even without my memory I could tell that it was armor befitting a true warrior king. But the thing is; I couldn't remember when I wore it?! Now that I think about it, what's my name? And where am I? Why can't I remember anything before a few seconds ago?
As all these thoughts went through my brain I saw a fleeting light in the endless darkness. It was so small and quick it might as well not have appeared, but without any hesitation I rushed toward it. I ran for what felt like hours, but no matter how far I chased the light I couldn't close the distance as if it was trying to stay away from me, and I didn't know why but I felt that it was ashamed to be even seen!
But I didn't have a choice I didn't know where I was, nor who I am and it was the only thing except for the endless darkness. So I kept chasing it relentlessly until it finally stopped, and as I got closer the light turned into a book. The book floated calmly no longer trying to avoid me, and it looked very ordinary, its cover was plain white with no title or markings.
As I slowly almost hesitatingly touched it, three ominous words in blood red appeared on it "ARE YOU SURE ?" I froze reading those words, but what other choice do I have I quickly thought. Stealing my heart I slowly opened the book, and what I read for some reason imprisoned my entire consciousness! It was like an addictive drug that kept drawing me in, and like a madman I read voraciously.
The book was the story of a world that fell into endless war and depravity. This world that was named Meathria, was divided between 132 countries, each ruled by a different demigod. But by far the strongest of these countries were the four great empires. The story follows the emperor of the northern empire, Nicholas, (The Boreas Empire) over the course of almost 1,000 years, as he led the rest of the world, including the eastern empire (The Yue Dynasty) and the western empire (The Luminous Empire) against the the tyrant and emperor of the southern empire (The Eclipse Empire). And the story abruptly ends with the destruction of the Eclipse Empire and the death of the great tyrant Alexander.
As I read through this book, I couldn't stop the feeling of endless frustration when the main character Nicholas defeated the main antagonist Alexander, but I didn't know why. And whenever Nicholas humiliated Alexander I felt nothing but misery. But as I reached the middle when I read how Nicholas brutally humiliated, tortured, and killed the lover and fiancรฉe of Alexander because of a fit of jealousy all my chaotic and irrational emotions and thoughts turned into one thing.
Wrath!
Wrath so titanic, monstrous and malevolent that it could drive anyone into madness! But I didn't stop, I couldn't! And finally as I reached the end of the story, as if a door that was sealed in my brain suddenly opened, and I understood why this story effected me so much. After all this story is an account of my miserable and unfortunate life. I was the great tyrant Alexander.
'So is this hell?' I asked myself in melancholy as I finally lifted my tear filled eyes off the book. But before I can sink further into my depression and anger a voice suddenly echoed in the darkness!?
"I am afraid that you aren't in hell just yet, HAHAHAHA!" My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when I heard the voice. Not because it was unpleasant but simply due to my shock. I quickly turn around to see three silhouettes in the pitch black surroundings! Although I couldn't really tell what they looked like, I assumed the one on the right was a man by his voice, and muscular build. The one on the left seemed to be a woman by the figure of her silhouette, and the one in the middle looked the most inhuman. He was more than six meters tall, skinny, and unlike the other two he didn't have an easily identifiable gender.
"I assume that you have reacquired your memories, correct?" The woman spoke in a melodious voice.
"Yes, I remember. But could you tell me where I am?" I asked in a confident and relaxed manner. Even though I was afraid and anxious by the situation, centuries of being an emperor had been engraved deeply in my mannerisms, and my pride wouldn't allow me to bow because of cowardice. I didn't know why but I felt that the three beings in front of me were pleased by my attitude.
"You are in the Lands Between. Your ancestor and our liege, the God of the Underworld has ordered us to give you a task." The man on the right spoke loudly, which stunned me speechless. After all I knew that my family was descended from the God of the Underworld, and I had the purest divine blood in the history of my family. I just didn't expect to be given an order as soon as I died.
"What would my great ancestor want of me?" I asked with more humility this time.
"Alexander, Tyrant of the Ruined Sun, the man who flooded the world in fear, war, and cruelty all for his revenge. By divine decree of the god of the underworld you are to return back to your world and achieve your true destiny." The woman said seriously.
"...Huh?!" Is all I muttered.
As I continued to look at them in disbelief with a stupid expression on my face the man on the right said "Allow me to explain. You see, every few millennia a test is conducted on a world by the gods, and by the end of the test the demigod who was able to make all the other demigods bow before him would win. And by him winning, obviously so would the god that parented them. And by winning the test all the other gods would lose their influence on said world. And that world would increase the strength of the parent god." The man stopped at that moment and the woman continued "And because of the importance of this test the gods made several rules limiting their ability to help their descendants, but the ancestor of your greatest rival Nicholas, The goddess of Ice and Winter, secretly broke the rules and gave her descendant prophetic dreams and allowed him to have an edge against all of you, so our liege made a deal with the God of Time, and you will be allowed to return back in time to which ever date you desire in your life." And once again the woman stopped and the man continued "And in addition to that, you're permitted to compel us to give you a single wish."
As they stopped explaining I felt my head nearly split from the information. But there was something else! It was unspeakable joy! 'That means I was defeated not because I was lesser but because that piece of shit cheated!'
"hahaHAha... haha.... HAHAHAHAHA." I couldn't stop myself from laughing in jubilation. And slowly my smile grew more and more deranged and crazed, I released centuries of frustration. After more than a full 20 minutes of laughing, I calmed down and said emotionlessly "I want you to return me to the morning of my father's death." This seemed to shock the three but I caught a smile appear on their faces, even on the middle being that has remained silent so far.
"As you wish." The woman said respectfully.
"Secondly, I wish to know some information." I made my request. This caused the smile on the middle being to grow even more.
"Are you sure you want to only know some information?!" The man asked with surprise obvious in his voice.
"Yes, after all knowledge used correctly is sharper and more destructive than any weapon could ever hope to be." I said as a sadistic smile appeared on my face. The man laughed in amusement and mentioned me to ask. "First of all if my own ancestor is breaking the rules does that mean that all of the gods have broken it?" I questioned.
"Not exactly. This test has become very special, so new rules were made, but most of the gods have only given minor things to there descendants such as slightly more pure divine blood, or were given better equipment or even some mines or rare natural resources will appear in their territory in the future. Only the Goddess of Ice and Winter was only allowed to show her descendant prophetic dreams like the last time."
This news made my sadistic smile grow even more 'That's what you get you piece of shit, HAHAHA.' I thought, "Then my second question is if all the gods are giving higher concentration of divine blood won't it be more difficult for me to win if they're that much stronger?"
"No need to worry, after all, you of all people should know how difficult it is to use your divine blood. Even if they became an inch away from becoming gods themselves, if they can't handle the pain and torture of the power it will be useless. After all even if you give a divine sword to an amateur it would be no different than scrap metal." The man finished with a mocking smile.
"My last question, when will the other demigods gain these benefits, and especially Nicholas?" I asked my most important question, since I needed to know how much I had before the history I know began to change.
"That depends on them. After all the Gods won't spoon feed them, if they never train their divine blood or give up because of the pain it won't matter if they are given pure divine blood or not, and if they never search for mines or natural resources since they are already satisfied with what they have, it won't matter. As for Nicholas, he got his first prophetic dream on his 19th birthday so you have 4 years before he gets them."
I nodded my head since I had no more questions, but suddenly both the man and woman left, and I was only left with the humanoid being. As I was considering what to say to it, the being opened its mouth and said in a demonic voice that seemed like a hundred tortured souls were talking at the same time. "I offer you one gift and one advice." And as soon as he stopped talking I felt my left ring finger burn as if molten gold was dropped on it! And after a full minute of excruciating pain it stopped and I saw a golden tattoo in the shape of a ring on it. "You will understand the purpose of this gift when the time is right." The twisted voice of the being in front of me rang in my ears again.
"You ruled with tyranny and oppression, your name struck fear in all who heard it. I must say your use of terror was masterful, yet it was misplaced. Fear must be used on your enemy not your allies, and if it must be used on them, then it must be done carefully and not in excess. Do you understand?"
I nodded my head solemnly, of course I knew this but at the time I had too many issues and had to secure my rule quickly!
The being seemed pleased with my acceptance of his advice and said enthusiastically "Go now and show all the Gods the glory of my master, go and show them true despair for cheating you of your rightful destiny, show them your true might my young prince of hell!" Slowly a predatory smile emerged on my face, before a blinding light appeared before of me, sending me back to the place I belong.