In the midst of the pitch-black darkness, a mysterious figure approached the void and faced me. I couldn't clearly recall its features, but I remembered the emotions—anger, hatred, vengeance, and a part of me felt sorrow.
"Today will be your end," the mysterious voice spoke before me.
In my pitch-black cell, this was not strange news; I had expected it, so I was fully prepared. But not for my death.
"You cannot use your magic in this cell," the strange man continued. "By your own admission, if you could have escaped from here long ago, Maximus, you would have. You possessed a powerful magic. You should have used it for the greater good."
"The greater good?" I interrupted the strange man. "All I did was repay in kind. What you did to my village, I did to your Empire."
The strange man fell silent for a moment. Then, he drew a golden piece of paper with some black lines that fluttered as if alive.
"Maximus Valt, known as the Black Emperor, the High Court of the Ziphonian Empire has sentenced you to death for your dark crimes against the Empire."
A wide smile spread across my face, and I laughed in the strange man's face. "I will not die tomorrow. In fact, I may never die. Not until I change this rotting world and rebuild it from its very roots!"