Chapter 1
The man woke up abruptly with cold water running along his body.
“Wake Up! The master is coming for a show.”
What?
He opened his eyes and watched the rude person who just poured water on him walk toward a wall of weapons.
Where am I?
Kim Rok Soo was sure he was just readding a new series when all of a sudden it went black and her heard someone....
What was it? What did that person say? Right. They said they were sorry.
Kim Rok Soo heard a door scrape against the floor and raised his head to meet the eyes of a man.
He looked old with cold eyes and blond hair.
His head was forced down with a harsh hand in his hair.
“Sorry Master."
“I see he still hasn’t learned manners.”
The old man's voice was annoying Kim Rok Soo decided.
“Get to work.”
He heard the man move across the room and felt the hand leave his hair.
“Yes Master.”
Kim Rok Soo closed his eyes shut as a whip started raining down on his legs and arms. He refused to scream or cry out.
All he felt was pain. It lasted hours. Whips, knives, and burns. They would pour some strange liquid on him and down his throat every time he almost passed out.
Kim Rok Soo did not make a single noise during the torture. He almost sighed in relief though when the old man decided it was boring and left.
They did not heal him the final time. He was left alone with long bleeding cuts around his legs and arms.
They did not touch his face for some reason.
Kim Rok Soo let himself submit to the pull of sleep he felt and faded into the peace of him dreams. Not registering the voice in is head repeating.
I'm sorry my child...............................
The next time he opens his eyes he is alone. Alone in a cell. The walls lined with torture devices. His arms and legs chained and covered in wounds.
His arms hung above his head chained from his wrists to his forearms forced above his head. His legs chained to the ground with chains wrapping from his ankles to his thighs.
As he looked around, he noticed a long mirror in the corner.
Is that me?
The person in the mirror was unfamiliar. He turned his head and watched as the one in the mirror did the same.
It is me?
White hair stained in places with red cascaded down his back and over black wings that shimmered with golden flakes. His eyes where white with no pupil. If he saw someone with eyes like these, he would assume them blind. Kim Rok Soo could clearly see. Kim Rok Soo tried to move the muscles on his back. The wings twitched but something held them down. His wings were also chained.
He looked to be 16. He was short and skinny. His skin was a pale white.
“So this is me.”
Do people usually become calmer when they are surprised and shocked? Kim Rok Soo, calmly thought about the day before.
It was a typical day off. It had been a while since he had read an actual book instead of on his phone, so he went to the library to check out some books. He borrowed the entire series since he planned to read all day long.
The name of that book was, of course, [The Birth of a Hero]. He managed to finish the fifth volume before he fell asleep. When he was woken, he found himself here.
Where was here Kim Rok Soo did not know.
He felt unnaturally calm. Once he got past the point of shock, his mind had calmed back down.
“It’s not like there’s much I’ll miss.”
His life as Kim Rok Soo. There really wasn’t much to it. He was an orphan and didn’t have much money. He also didn’t have a person he loved to death, nor a friend he would give his life to save. He only continued to live because he could not die.
Yes, he could not die.
He completely hated the thought of death or pain. He became an orphan after both of his parents passed away from a car accident when he was little.
He didn’t like pain or death. No matter what it was, even if he was rolling in a pile of dog shit, it was still better than being dead.
The bad thing was he was currently in a situation where pain seemed to be a daily occurrence.
“I need to get out.”
There were pulses of what Kim Rok Soo could only describe as pure power flowing through his veins and under his skin, but something was stopping it from working in his favor.
He could barely move let alone escape.
It was a waiting game now.
.....
The next few days were flashes of pain and waiting.
The torturer would come in and hurt him everyday for hours. Even if the old man did not come.
They would feed him stale bread and water sometimes. Not enough but just enough that he wouldn’t die.
He learned he was under Viscount Tolz’s villa and the old man who came to see him sometimes was Marquis Stan.
The Marquis would also bring a young boy he would call Venion.
So, Kim Rok Soo could assume he somehow ended up in the novel he was reading. Three similarities were too much to be a coincidence.
He learned that he had a mana suppressing collar on and they had blessed the room with the Sun God.
He couldn’t use mana. He assumed that's the power he feels fighting under his skin. But there is something else. He understands they are different. This other thing is stronger, but quiet. Like its asleep under his skin.
Kim Rok Soo is no closer to figuring out how to escape.
After a few more days the torture calls him a Raven beast person. Last or first of his kind. They had never seen something like him before apparently.
They bought him from a slave market in the Eastern Continent. He had been sleeping when the caught him, collared him and sold him. They thought he was dead but he had a heart beat.
They said he rarely was awake.
Kim Rok Soo could say without a doubt that he was not a beast person. How? He just knew he was not one.
He didn’t know what he was.
After about a month Kim Rok Soo woke up to a warm feeling buzzing through his skin. That other power that was sleeping was awake and running more wild than the mana. It was almost trying to burst out of his skin. Kim Rok Soo could feel his whole body shaking with it.
Kim Rok Soo felt a hand run through his hair gently. And a voice whispering in his ear.
My child.
Kim Rok Soo could only produce one thought in his mind. god. god of Death. GoD.
It was like a moment of déjà vu. He knew this god.
“Why am i here?” He whispered lifting his head and looking to the ceiling. “Why have you brough me here?”
My child. I am sorry. I had to bring you to this world to right a wrong. You were not supposed to be in this situation. They found you while i was away.
I am sorry.
“How do I leave. I need to go.” Kim Rok Soo whispered in a firm voice. “Please help me.”
Pray to me. I will take care of it but i need you to pray to me.
Kim Rok Soo wanted to scoff. Praying to a god is something he didn’t even do in his old life.
Even so, Kim Rok Soo started a prayer.
“GoD, please free me from this place....”
He shut his eyes and felt this power explode out of him. It was divine power, he now knew.
He felt the chains that held him down fall away and heard loud crashed and slams everywhere.
Open you eyes and go my child. In this world you are free. Call on me in your time of need and i will help you. You are an Angel of Death. Your name is Keres. You are now free. GO...
The warm presence faded away
Keres opened his eyes and almost cried in relief he could feel the power in his skin become free, no longer trapped.
He shakily stood up. It took a few tries, but he got up. He started walking through the cave. Bodies of soldiers were one the ground as he passed through the halls. Keres ignored them.
He felt himself stop outside one to the closed doors, however. There was a familiar warm presence coming from the room.
Keres pushed the door open to find a storge room. A brown leather messenger bag sat in the corner.
That’s mine
Keres grabbed the bag and started walking again. He followed his instincts through the twists and turn until he was standing under the dark blue night sky.
He flexed his wings and took off onto the night sky with a final prayer toward the god who brough him here.
Thank you.