Chaos Emperor: Rise of the Forsaken

"Kneel, you miserable worm! Do you think a piece of filth like you has the right to stand in my presence?" The voice, cold and sharp as a winter blade, cut through the humid air of the Heavenly Wind Sect's central plaza. Ren Kaelis felt a heavy pressure slam into his shoulders—a crushing weight of spiritual Qi that forced his joints to groan. His knees hit the white marble floor with a sickening crack, the vibration rattling through his teeth. "That’s it, Ren. Stay down where you belong," a voice jeered from the surrounding crowd. Ren didn't look up. He didn't need to. He knew the faces of every person laughing at him. He knew the smell of the expensive incense Lian Zhou wore, and he knew the suffocating silence of those who once called him a friend. "I asked you a question, trash," Lian Zhou said, his voice dropping to a dangerous whisper. He stepped forward, his silk boots clicking against the stone. "Do you admit to stealing the Spirit-Cleansing Pill from the inner hall?" Ren’s fingers twitched against the cold marble. Stealing? I haven't even been allowed near the inner hall in three years. "I did... no such thing," Ren rasped, his throat feeling as though it were filled with broken glass. "You know... I didn't." A sharp kick caught him in the ribs. Ren collapsed onto his side, gasping for air as his lungs revolted. The world spun in a blur of grey stone and mocking laughter. "Listen to him! Even when he’s eating dirt, he still tries to lie!" "What do you expect from someone without a single drop of pure spiritual root? He’s a parasite, living off the sect’s charity." Lian Zhou laughed, a melodic, arrogant sound that made Ren’s blood boil. "Charity? No, Ren isn't a guest. He’s a reminder. A reminder of what happens when the sect lets trash through the gates out of pity." Ren forced his head up, his vision clearing just enough to see the man standing over him. Lian Zhou looked every bit the sect’s golden heir—tall, elegant, with eyes that held the cold indifference of a god. And standing just a few paces behind him, her head bowed and her hands trembling, was Lin Xue. The sight of her hurt more than the cracked ribs. "Xue..." Ren breathed her name, a desperate hope flickering in his chest. "You were there. You know I was... I was at the lower springs. Tell them." Lin Xue’s shoulders flinched. She didn't look at him. She didn't look at anyone. "Lin Xue?" Lian Zhou’s voice was smooth, but the underlying threat was unmistakable. He reached back, wrapping a possessive arm around her waist and pulling her flush against his side. "Tell him, my dear. Tell this gutter-rat the truth." Lin Xue finally looked up. Her eyes, once filled with warmth whenever they met Ren’s, were now hollow, clouded by a mixture of fear and something that looked horribly like pity. "Ren," she whispered, her voice barely audible over the wind. "Just... just apologise. Please. Stop making this harder than it needs to be." Ren felt his heart shatter. It wasn't a sudden break, but a slow, grinding disintegration. Apologise for something I didn't do? Apologise so you can feel better about standing next to the man who ruined me? "You heard her," Lian Zhou sneered, his grip tightening on her waist. "Even she can't stand to look at you anymore. You’re a stain on her reputation, Ren. A childhood mistake she’s finally grown out of." "Is that... all I am to you, Xue?" Ren asked, ignoring the blood pooling in his mouth. "A mistake?" Lin Xue bit her lip, her eyes shimmering with unshed tears. "We were children, Ren. The world is different now. Lian Zhou can... he can protect me. He can give me a future. What can you give me besides shame?" The crowd erupted in whistles and cheers. The humiliation was complete. Ren Kaelis, the boy who had once dreamt of reaching the Immortal Throne with the girl he loved, was now nothing more than a laughing stock. "Enough of this drama," Lian Zhou said, his boredom returning. He stepped over Ren as if he were a pile of refuse. "The laws of the Heavenly Wind Sect are clear. Theft of sect resources by a low-rank disciple is punishable by expulsion and the stripping of all spiritual foundations." "Expulsion?" Ren managed to push himself back onto his knees. "I’ve served this sect since I was seven! I’ve done the work no one else would!" "And you’ve been paid in food you didn't earn," Lian Zhou retorted. He reached down and grabbed Ren by the collar, hauling him up until they were eye to eye. "Give it to me." "Give you... what?" "Your student badge. You don't deserve to carry the name of this sect, even as a servant." "No," Ren hissed, his hand flying to the wooden plaque hanging from his belt. It was the only thing he had left that proved he belonged somewhere. "It’s mine." Lian Zhou’s eyes narrowed. "I said, give it to me." He didn't wait for an answer. With a brutal shove, he pinned Ren’s hand against the stone floor. Before Ren could scream, Lian Zhou brought his heavy boot down directly onto Ren’s outstretched fingers. Crr-ack. The sound was sickeningly loud in the sudden silence of the plaza. Ren’s mouth opened in a silent scream, his back arching as agony exploded through his hand. He could feel the bones in his index and middle fingers splintering, grinding against each other under the weight of Lian Zhou’s heel. "Does that hurt, Ren?" Lian Zhou asked, leaning his weight forward, twisting his foot slowly. "It should. It’s the feeling of your useless life finally catching up to you." "Stop... please..." Ren gasped, tears of pure pain streaming down his face. "I don't think I will. Not until I have what I want." Lian Zhou reached down with his free hand and ripped the wooden badge from Ren’s belt, snapping the silk cord with a violent tug. He held it up for the crowd to see, then dropped it into the dirt. "Look at this," Lian Zhou laughed, grinding the badge into the dust with his other foot. "A trash badge for a trash disciple." Ren slumped forward, his forehead resting on the cold marble, his broken hand throbbing with a rhythm that felt like fire. He looked at the dirt, at his ruined badge, and at the feet of the woman who had promised to stay by his side forever. "Xue..." he whispered one last time. She turned away. She actually turned her back on him and walked toward the inner sanctum, her silk robes fluttering in the breeze. I am nothing, Ren thought. The realization was a cold, dark void in his chest. I have no power, no love, no future. I am exactly what they say I am. "But we aren't done yet, are we?" Lian Zhou said, his voice echoing from a distance. "Expulsion is too kind for a thief who refuses to repent. The Elders have decided that you require a more... permanent lesson." Ren felt a chill that had nothing to do with the wind. "The Punishment Cave," a voice whispered from the crowd. "No," Ren breathed, his head snapping up. "Not there. That’s a death sentence." The Punishment Cave was a jagged wound in the side of the mountain, a place where the air was thick with toxic miasma and the shadows were said to have teeth. No one who was sent there ever came back. It was where the sect threw the monsters they couldn't kill and the disciples they wanted to forget. "It’s a place for reflection," Lian Zhou said, a cruel smile playing on his lips. "You’ll have plenty of time to think about your crimes, Ren. Years, perhaps. Or at least the few hours it takes for the cave to swallow what’s left of your soul."