Down on the Blood-Moon Continent in the lower realms, inside the freezing gloom of the Thousand-Skull Cavern, fourteen-year-old Xiao Yan’er knelt alone on the bloodstained stone floor.
Above his head, the invisible canonical script of his world was ticking toward the climax of what the Heavenly Script Pavilion called a classic “Villain Awakening Sequence.”
His Darkening Meter stood at [99.8%].
In his scarred left hand, he clutched the half-broken wooden comb that had belonged to his mother before a wandering sect elder’s “stray lightning bolt” killed her on the third page of his childhood. In his trembling right hand, he held the pulsing crimson Blood-Demon Heart Pill offered by the ancient demonic sword floating in front of his nose.
“Eat it, boy...” the ancient demonic sword hissed gleefully inside Xiao Yan’er’s mind.
“Your mother is dead and gone forever! Nobody in this cold universe cares whether you live or die! Swallow the pill, sever your humanity, and slaughter all nine provinces of the Blood-Moon Continent to wash the sky in blood!”
A single tear of black blood rolled down fourteen-year-old Xiao Yan’er’s hollow cheek.
“Mom...” the starving boy whispered in the freezing dark, his voice cracking like a child’s as he lifted the crimson poison pill to within half an inch of his lips.
