Shadow Slave: The Holy Emperor

Keter shoots up and gasps fearfully as he wakes up. "where am I?" He looks around quickly, finding no one in the room. he then looks down and sees the same white gown he had on before, just not drenched in his own blood, and then, "Huh, they're gone?" Keter's voice shakes as he breathes out in relief. The wounds are gone, and the pain is "Gone, they're gone, there's nothing." Keter falls against the bed and curls into a ball, instinctively trying to make himself smaller. Keter shutters and recoils back as he hears the door opening. He sees a woman walking through the door with a plate of delicious-looking food. She walks over and looks at the small child in reverence, sets the plate down, and then walks out of the room.

Almost immediately after she leaves, Keter gets up and silently takes a bite of the food, hoping that it's poisoned and disappointed when it's not. He eats the somewhat bland food: ' No seasoning at all. If I wasn't just tortured a moment ago, I would make a white people joke.' A few minutes after he's done eating, the Cardinal walks through the door and tries to back away from him as dread covers his face. Keter falls to the floor as the Cardinal says something, but he's too overtaken by a vile dread to hear. A group of four knights walk out from behind the Cardinal and quickly grab Keter before he can get away and start dragging him away.

"Wait, wait, stop, please, please, please stop, let me go!" Keter screams in fear as he trashes around. Neither the knights nor the Cardinal cared to grace him with a response. After a while, he felt the gateway take him as he tried to resist more, but a mere Aspirant can not resist an Awakened. Keter is thrown, and he lands with a splash. His eyes widen in horror as he sees the clear, still water of the fountain. He tries to resist but is forced on his knees as the knife scratches against his back.

"Pray, pray till your body, soul, and very existence are devoted to the Everlasting Light, " the madman says calmly.

Again, the knife carves into his back. Again, his nails dig into his hands. Again, his blood runs down his back like a waterfall. Again, he hears the madman's rambles about the everlasting. Again, he wakes up and is dragged back to this cursed fountain.

--Two Months Later--

After a certain point, they no longer needed to drag me to the fountain. After a certain point, I stopped screaming; I stopped crying. I gave up, but it seems they still won't let me be.

"Here, take it." Keter looks up at the Cardinal with dull eyes and shacks as he sees him holding the knife out to him."For you to truly become a Saint, you need to do this willingly. The Light only accepts the willing." Keter stares him in the eye with an emotionless gaze. Keter grabs the knife and slowly walks to the center of the fountain. At this point, he no longer needed to think about it. It was embedded into his body at this point. After he kneeled, he stared at the knife for a second and stared hesitantly, then slowly sped up, going deeper and deeper with each, hoping he would die, hoping he would kill himself, but the fountain didn't let him even when he cut his own throat he did not die.

--Five Months Later--

"it seems you're finally starting to understand just how important this is and how privileged you are to have this opportunity." the Cardinal says in response to Keter's happy mood.

"Indeed, Cardinal," Keter Says. While humming a happy tune, he grabs the knife and walks to the center. 'Today the day. I either die or pass the Nightmare." A few weeks ago, that he would die on his own terms, so he began to take notice of how far the healing of the fountain went, and after seven weeks, he found it the only chance he had to kill himself. 'It's funny, I'm going to die on the seventh day of the seventh month I've been here.' Keter smiled at the thought as he rhythmically carved his own skin. After about two hours, he was covered head to toe in wounds, countless of them, and the fountain below him looked like a sea of blood. As the smile on his face grew wide, he plunged the knife into his heart. His hands fell to the ground as he could faintly hear the Cardinal running towards him. Keter began to feel lightheaded as the fountain was desperately trying to keep him alive. "Finally." Keter closed his eyes as they grew heavy.

[You have offered yourself as a sacrifice to the gods]

[The Gods are dead and can not hear you]

[Your soul bears the Mark of Divinity]

"What the hell?" Keter groans tiredly and chuckles. "How cliche."

[The Sacrifice of your heart awakens your Forefather]

[The Heart God looks at you with longing]

[The Heart God sends a Blessing from beyond the grave]

[You are a Saint Candidate]

[The Sun God Watches with all-consuming rage]

[The Sun God sends a Blessing from beyond the grave]

[Your endless peace draws the attention of the Shadow God]

[The Shadow God morns his kin but welcomes one anew]

[The unique travel of your soul awakens the Storm God]

[The Storm God is curious if you will survive the endless black deeps]

[The withering life of its Kin awakens the War God]

[The War God Wishes to see you live and not to upset her Granddaughter]

[The Blood you've spilled draws the attention of the Beast God]

[The Beast God wishes to see your beauty grow]

"Holy hell, just what have I done?" Keter's voice cracks as he sees the messages. As he turns around, he sees countless pillars of divine light consuming the church officials. Countless screams echo across the room, but Keter can't help but to smile.

[Wake up, Keter Asterion! Your nightmare is over.]

[Prepare for appraisal…]

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Four chapters in one day, huh? My brain is hurting, and I'm done for today. We will see if I ever care to continue this or if I give it up like every other time. And thank god for grammerly.