The boy lay on his bed, his forearm covering his eyes. Frustrated, he groaned, echoes of the pain still flowing through his body.

“Dead, huh?” He mumbled, under his breath. He was glad he was alone when he was in such a state. If he had to see eyes like that again…

Putting that aside, he pulled the laptop he was so generously given by his parents’ murderers and his wardens, pulling it open and typing in the password. Sitting up, he opened Google Chrome, and pounded on the keys. His hands shook, he could hardly type in this state. Not only was it difficult to sit up, but he also had the adrenaline pumping through his veins, and left his body shivering. He searched, scouring every single forum that so much had the word “empire” in it, trying to find what he wanted.

Try as he might, he could never find a single article on M’arrzath. It seemed those six really were the only ones who knew about that dungeon. He went on and on through all of the forums, and the only thing that pertained to him at all was a forum post on speed-type melee weapons.

Fantabulicious: lmao, I saw a dude running a rapier build with 35 speed spawn.

D1rge: AHAHAHAHAHA

Stoptakingmynames: It isn’t that... bad... pffffffft

0JSimp: You HAVE to post a screenshot of that, OP.

“Were they talking about me? No, no, I used sabres, and my speed is 15 under that. So who was it?”

Realizing that it didn’t pertain to him whatsoever, he just closed the forum, and lay on his side. He hadn’t slept like he did then in years.

He woke up to a white ceiling and an uncomfortable white light. It was the same room he was always in. It was bland, torturously bland. He sat up, rubbing his tired eyes, and eyed his VR console. He already had it plugged in, since he didn’t want to deal with taking it out again. So, he just started it up, and came back after his penalty ended, a couple hours of lying down and pretending to sleep later.

“Wait, why…?”

The reason that Relictus was confused was because he was not back in town. He was instead lying on the cold, almost icy brick floor of the dungeon.

“You awaken, human?” Relictus jumped, absolutely terrified by the sudden speech. Realizing it was M’arrzath, he scrambled on just his arms to get to the side of the room and out of the way. His body had sustained thousands upon thousands of fatal wounds, so why was he fine now, and why hadn’t he respawned?

“Wh- Why am I here? What do you want with me?” Relictus demanded.

“You are right to doubt me, after my actions. I had to confirm my suspicions.”

“Suspicions?”

“I prevented myself from ending your life until I felt it.”

“It?”

“Your soul’s power. Determination, hatred, motivation. An accumulation of your strongest emotions.”

“And? What does that have to do with anything?”

“You hold emotion stronger than that of anyone to challenge me in all of my millennia. If it’s you…” The intimidating, well, what can only be described as something, trailed off, as if losing itself in thought.

“If it’s me, then what? What’s going on? Who are you, really?” Relictus began firing off questions like a Gatling gun, only getting faster and faster in his interrogation as he panicked. He had no idea what was going on.

“QUIET!” M’arrzath exclaimed, causing Relictus to jump a bit, afraid he would frustrate one many hundreds of times his own power level.

“I am M’arrzath. M’arrzath is myself. I, alongside many of the other Old Emperors, am an entity meant only to test the New Emperors, to find a champion with whom I must ally myself. There is much to teach you, young one.”

STUFF BELOW THIS LINE IS NSFL. THERE IS A SPOILER AT THE END OF THE BAD STUFF WITH A PARAPHRASE.

M’arrzath fired something from his finger – something that resembled only darkness. It was as if a blob of M’arrzath was fired through the air. Within a single second, it had flown straight towards Relictus’s head, and as it hit him, Relictus flew backwards into the wall, and intense pressure assaulted him. He could only attempt to keep his sanity as he felt darkness invade his mind, his body being crushed by the dark energy.

Finally, he gave up his resistance. This being was beyond anything that Relictus would ever become. As he let down his walls, knowledge assaulted his mind, overflowing his nerves – he saw images of titanic beings clashing, destroying the land below them, death and destruction. Cities were razed, burned to the ground. Lives were disregarded completely as people’s lives were extinguished left and right. People were losing their minds to the madness of the world, began lusting for blood and death. Relictus could hardly watch as people were gruesomely murdered and death filled his senses.

“MAKE IT STOP!” Relictus shouted, his voice that of a tortured man, made the victim and witness to heinous crimes against the world.

“Do not hide from this inevitable truth, human. This is our history. I stand before you just a fraction of that which I was, the Grand Emperor. Only two ever stood at the top of the world as I did.”

Spoiler : He is shown scenes of the wars of eras past that the Grand Emperor, now called M’arrzath, fought in. They were wars of death, corruption, and the evil of man, and they tortured the heart of Relictus.

“I don’t care, just get me out of here!” Relictus exclaimed as he held his hands against his head, feeling an excruciating pain not only physically at the overload of knowledge, but emotionally. He witnessed things no man should ever witness.

“DO YOU WISH TO SEE THE WORLD BURN AS I ONCE DID, HUMAN?” M’arrzath shouted, infuriated not only at being ignored, but also at the foolishness of the child before him.

Relictus, already horrified beyond his own limits, looked up at the Emperor before him. His eyes were wide in disbelief and in fear, and tears welled up out of sadness. However, after hearing that he may have to experience such tragedy, his face hardened. He needed think only for a moment before anger overcame him. He was infuriated simply at the fact that people would overlook the needs of the few and many for the rulers’ own good.

“Never.” It was a simple word, but it was all Relictus needed to say. Steam seemed to rise from the sides of his mouth.

“That is a good face, human.” M’arrzath praised Relictus, his tone lightening to become something far more sinister and anticipating, rather than the fuming pitch he spoke in just seconds earlier.

“I hold now only a fraction of the strength I once held. With the treaties that ended the Wars of the Black Crown, I can no longer stand on the surface as I once did. My fortress is my prison.”

Relictus understood the forlorn, almost sad voice M’arrzath used. After all, he, too, was held in a prison of a room for years, tortured by that which he had lost. Only due to that did he agree to M’arrzath’s next words.

“What will you do, human? Would you form a Pact with me, and gain strength beyond your wildest dreams, beyond all that I have ever been? Will you keep peace in my place? Would you throw away your humanity to save others'?”

“I will.”

The moment Relictus responded, a slight ache in his body grew, and it grew, and eventually he was in an unbearable agony comparable to hellfire. Even through the pain threshold, he had never felt such a tremendous pain. His senses went completely white, and beyond the pain, he felt nothing.

A/N

Spoiler : The plot thickens! That's all for Chapter 4, I was attempted to make it "Google Ultron" just because I love that 4chan greentext. Hope you liked it, and thanks so much for reading!