Throne Of The Forbidden God

"Ravian, stop dragging that crippled leg of yours. You're ruining the party's atmosphere."

The voice was sharp, cutting through the clinking of harps and the light laughter from the Arkana clan's great hall. Ravian Arkana stopped in his tracks. He leaned against a stone pillar in the dimly lit back garden, trying to steady his shallow breath. His paralyzed left leg felt like a dead weight of lead.

"Kaelan? I just wanted to get some fresh air," Ravian whispered. His eyes searched for another figure. "Where is Xuelan? She said she wanted to meet me here before the engagement ceremony began."

Kaelan Arkana, his half-brother, stepped out from the shadows of the cherry blossom trees. His handsome face was adorned with a smile that never reached his eyes. Beside him, a girl in a sky-blue dress stepped gracefully. Lin Xuelan.

"I'm here, Ravian," Xuelan said. Her voice was flat, devoid of the warmth she usually displayed in front of the elders.

Ravian gave a thin smile; the pain in his leg seemed to fade at the sight of his fiancée. "Xuelan, thank goodness. You look so beautiful tonight. I have something for you, a necklace that..."

"Keep your trash, Ravian," Xuelan cut him off coldly. She didn't even look at the small box Ravian pulled from his pocket.

Ravian was stunned. "What do you mean? This is our engagement day. The day we've been waiting for since we were children."

"The day you were waiting for, you mean?" Kaelan laughed, his voice exploding in the silence of the night. He circled Ravian like a predator stalking wounded prey. "Did you really think a genius from the Blue Cloud Sect like Xuelan would marry a meridian-less piece of trash like you?"

"Xuelan, what is he saying?" Ravian stared at the girl, pleading for an explanation. "We made a promise. You said you didn't care about my disability."

Lin Xuelan finally looked at him. Her gaze was full of contempt, as if she were looking at a disgusting insect. "I used to feel sorry for you. But pity doesn't mean I want to destroy my future. A cultivator needs a strong partner, not a burden who can't even walk straight without a cane."

"But... my family... my father..."

"Your father has already agreed, you stupid brother," Kaelan chimed in, slapping Ravian's shoulder hard strong enough to send the crippled young man sprawling to the ground. "Father realized that having a crippled heir is a disgrace. So, he decided to transfer this engagement. Xuelan will be engaged to me tonight."

Ravian tried to get up, his hands trembling as they gripped the grass. "Impossible. Father wouldn't do that. You're lying!"

"Why would we lie to a dead man?" Kaelan asked casually.

Ravian's blood ran cold. A dead man?

Before he could react, Kaelan swung his leg. A heavy kick slammed into Ravian's ribs. A sickening crack echoed through the quiet garden. Ravian was thrown several meters, spitting fresh blood onto the neatly manicured green grass.

"Ugh... hah... hah..." Ravian curled up, clutching his chest. Every breath felt like a knife twisting in his lungs.

"Look at yourself," Xuelan stepped closer, standing right in front of Ravian's blood-stained face. "Even without spiritual power, you should have had the dignity to leave quietly. Why did you have to force us to do this?"

"Why...?" Ravian coughed, blood spurting from his mouth. "I loved you, Xuelan. I gave everything for you. All those medicinal herbs I struggled to gather in the forest... they were to help you break through to a new realm!"

"And I thank you for that. Those plants were very useful," Xuelan smiled thinly, a smile that shattered the remains of Ravian's heart. "But now, you are useless. Your existence would only be a stain on my reputation as the future matriarch of the Arkana clan."

Kaelan approached again, his eyes glinting with long-suppressed hatred. "You know, Ravian? I've always hated you. Even though you're trash, Father always gave you more attention because of his guilt over your dead mother. But tonight, it all ends."

Kaelan stepped on Ravian's right leg the only leg that still functioned properly.

"Don't! Kaelan, stop!" Ravian screamed hysterically.

Krak!

Ravian let out a heart-wrenching scream as his shin bone shattered under Kaelan's leather boots, which were reinforced with spiritual energy. Excruciating pain hit his brain, turning his world white for a moment.

"Now you really can't run," Kaelan mocked. He grabbed Ravian by the hair and dragged his weak body toward the edge of the garden, where a stone fence separated the Arkana estate from the deepest abyss on the Astrala Continent.

The Abyss of Soul Annihilation. A place where even light was reluctant to enter.

"Xuelan! Help me!" Ravian reached out a trembling hand toward his fiancée. "Please..."

Xuelan simply turned around, her back to him. "Finish it quickly, Kaelan. The party is about to start. We don't want the guests waiting for their bride and groom."

"Of course, darling," Kaelan replied in a sickeningly sweet tone.

He lifted Ravian's helpless body and positioned it over the lip of the abyss. A cold wind from the depths began to howl, as if thousands of ghosts were calling Ravian's name.

"Do you know why this place is called the Abyss of Soul Annihilation?" Kaelan whispered right into Ravian's ear. "Because no one ever returns. Your body will be destroyed, and your soul will be erased from this world. There will be no reincarnation for you. You will be gone forever, as if you were never born."

Ravian looked into his half-brother's eyes. There, he saw only darkness. He turned to look at Xuelan's receding back. In the world he thought was full of love, it turned out there was only betrayal and cruelty hiding behind a mask of nobility.

"I... I swear..." Ravian's voice was hoarse, barely audible over the roaring wind.

"Swear what? Want to take revenge?" Kaelan burst into laughter. "Even a god couldn't save you now."

"If I have to become a demon to crawl out of here..." Ravian stared at Kaelan with a gaze that suddenly turned ice-cold, making Kaelan's laughter stop for a moment. "...I will make sure both of you beg for death."

Kaelan snorted, trying to cover the momentary dread creeping up the back of his neck. "Just die already, trash!"

With one powerful shove, Kaelan released Ravian's body.

Ravian felt a terrifying sensation of floating. The world above him the light of the party lanterns, the grandeur of the Arkana buildings, and his brother's cruel face began to shrink rapidly. Gravity pulled him down into the wide-gaping mouth of darkness.

Silence took hold.

He fell. Kept falling.

The pain from his broken bones began to go numb due to the freezing atmosphere of the abyss. The tears that escaped his eyes froze before they could wet his cheeks. In the midst of absolute despair, the only thing left in Ravian's mind was a fire of hatred that began to burn the remains of his consciousness.

Strength... I need strength...

Suddenly, as total darkness swallowed his body, a strange sensation tickled the depths of his nearly extinguished soul. Something ancient, cold, and very hungry began to stir within that darkness, welcoming his arrival.

Ravian didn't know how long he fell, or if he was already dead. All he knew was the thirst for vengeance that was now the only reason his heart still beat weakly in the midst of the void.

His body hit something with a loud thud, and darkness completely took over.