The Sinner's Banquet

Ethan held his sister's hand tightly as they stood in the crowded plaza. Her palm was completely dry. That small detail felt strange to him because every other person in the massive crowd was sweating from pure terror. Today was the annual Awakening Ceremony. Every eighteen-year-old in the kingdom had to stand before the holy rulers and touch the Dawnstone. If the stone turned gold, you received a divine spark. You became a noble mage and left the dirty slums forever. If it stayed grey, you remained a poor servant for the rest of your life.

"Are you nervous for me?" Ethan asked, looking down at Lily.

He was eighteen, but his younger sister was only sixteen. She had used her small size to push through the crowd so they could stand in the front row right next to the stage.

Lily looked up at the towering white walls of the palace, then turned her gaze to the thousands of poor citizens pushing against the heavy iron gates. Her eyes were very wide, but they did not hold any fear. They were sharp. She seemed to be measuring the height of the walls and counting the guards.

"I am not worried about you," Lily said. Her voice did not shake at all. "You practiced the prayers every single night. You followed every rule they gave us. The priests will have to give you a high rank today."

Ethan smiled and placed his hand on her shoulder. He truly believed she was just trying to be strong for his sake. He had trained his body until his muscles ached, all because he wanted to get a gold spark. He wanted to buy a real house for Lily, a place with a warm bed and plenty of food. He wanted her to be safe from the cruel gang leaders who ruled the slums. He wanted to give her everything their parents could not.

Because of his thoughts, he did not notice how Lily subtly stepped away from his touch. Her eyes were already fixed on the golden robes of the high officials who sat on the grand stage.

High Priest Malakai walked to the center of the stage. He wore beautiful white robes that caught the bright sunlight. He possessed a very kind face and smiled warmly at the crowd below. But when Ethan looked closer, he noticed that the man's smile remained totally flat. It did not reach his eyes.

"Bring up the next row of candidates," Malakai called out to the armed soldiers.

The guards stepped forward and shoved Ethan, along with nine other poor teenagers, toward the large rock in the middle of the platform. This was the legendary Dawnstone.

Ethan walked forward, his boots clicking against the smooth floor. He took a slow breath to calm his racing mind. He thought about his mother and father, who had died years ago. ago in a sudden house fire that the city never investigated. He thought about the freezing winter nights he and Lily had spent sleeping in the mud. This single moment would change their lives forever. He reached out and pressed his right hand flat against the rock.

The stone did not turn gold. It did not even stay grey.

A dark color shot through the center of the rock like ink in clear water. In less than a second, the entire stone turned completely black. A loud crack echoed across the plaza as deep lines broke through the ancient surface. Freezing air rushed out from the stone, turning the nearby floor into solid ice.

The entire crowd went dead silent. Then, people started to panic.

"A demon!" a man shouted from the front row. "He broke the stone!"

The guards drew their bright swords. Before Ethan could even process what was happening, four heavy soldiers tackled him to the ground. They slammed his face against the hard floor. Ethan struggled with all his might, but the heavy armor of the guards pinned him down completely.

"Lily!" Ethan called out, turning his head sideways to find his sister. "Run away!"

Malakai walked over to where Ethan lay. The kind smile was totally gone from the priest's face. He looked down at Ethan as if he were looking at a piece of garbage in the street.

"You carry a dark core," Malakai spoke loudly, his voice carrying over the noise of the panic. "You came to this holy ceremony to destroy our kingdom. Soldiers, search his clothes right now!"

A guard reached into Ethan’s tunic and pulled out a small, dark dagger covered in strange, evil symbols. Ethan had never seen that weapon before in his entire life.

"He brought a cursed blade to assassinate the High Priest!" the guard shouted to the crowd.

"That is a lie!" Ethan said, pressing his chest against the floor. "That does not belong to me! Someone put it there!"

Nobody listened to his words. The crowd began to demand his death, throwing rocks and garbage toward the stage.

Malakai bent down right next to Ethan's head. The guards pulled Ethan's hair back brutally, forcing him to look into the priest's eyes. Malakai came so close that Ethan could notice the scent of expensive perfume on his clean white robes.

"You stupid boy," Malakai said in a very quiet tone that only Ethan could hear. "Did you really think a piece of trash from the slums could become a holy knight? I slipped that knife into your pocket while you were walking up the steps. And since you are about to die, I will tell you another fun story. I was the one who burned your house down all those years ago. Your parents possessed a very rare type of magic energy in their blood, and I needed to take it to increase my own power. It worked perfectly."

Ethan's eyes grew wide. A massive wave of pure hatred filled his chest. "You monster!"

Malakai stood up and raised a long silver sword. "For the crime of treason, your punishment is immediate."

The sword came down fast. The sharp blade cut straight through Ethan's right wrist, severing his hand completely. Blood poured onto the stage. Before Ethan could even cry out from the blinding pain, Malakai drove the tip of the sword into his back, slicing his main mana veins.

Ethan instantly lost all feeling in his legs. His body went limp. Malakai used his boot to roll Ethan's bleeding body toward the very edge of the platform. The stage was built right over the Great Maw, a bottomless cliff that dropped straight into the dark abyss where terrifying monsters lived.

Ethan lay on the edge, his vision turning blurry from the loss of blood. He looked out into the crowd one last time, searching for Lily. He expected to see her crying or trying to fight the guards to reach him.

Instead, he saw her standing calmly near the palace entrance. The guards were not holding her back. In fact, a high-ranking officer was handing her a heavy leather bag filled with gold coins.

Lily was not shedding a single tear. Her face was completely cold. She looked at Ethan's missing hand, then looked directly into his eyes. She leaned forward and moved her lips. Ethan could not hear her voice over the roar of the crowd, but he could read her lips perfectly.

Too soft.

She turned around and walked into the grand palace alongside the guards.

Malakai placed his boot firmly against Ethan's ribs. "Have a nice fall, little demon."

The priest pushed hard. Ethan fell backward off the cliff, dropping straight into the deep, black abyss.

As the wind roared in his ears and the light of the upper world vanished, a glowing purple box suddenly materialized right in front of his eyes.

[Sinner's Banquet System Initiated.]

[Would you like to devour your human limitations? Y/N]