1 Parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus

The sun was about to set in the small kingdom of Androa, but the people were not less active in its capital Vellora, which had the nickname "The Abyss". There were droves of people walking around on the streets transporting goods, others selling different things at the market or laboring in their small shops. People seemed rather happy, especially compared to others living on the countryside who had to constantly worry about robber knights.

So why was such a place called "The Abyss"? As if to answer this question, suddenly a cold wind started to blow from the castle, dark and sinister clouds started to form over its high spires. Soon the streets became empty and the previous throng of activity seemed like a mirage. People closed the doors and windows sending their children to bed early.

The dark clouds started to stir and soon the sound of thunder filled the capital. Lighting started to hit the spires of the castle and in between the thunder, people could hear somebody laughing. Like a cricket compared to the rushing of a waterfall, but still everybody knew what this meant. The mad demon king Siegfried was about to have a breakthrough in his cultivation. The thunder and lightning intensified as did the laughter, that did not sound like the laughter of a happy person, but the laughter of a person drunk on madness.

Now all previous light candles were dimmed and even the animals were holding their breath in order to not anger the person who was responsible for this sinister laugh.

Suddenly the laughter stopped as did the lightning. But everybody remained motionless, the clouds turning the evening into night grew even thicker. The streets were as dark as a moonless night.

Then suddenly lighting as thick as the whole capital hit the tallest spire of the castle. The resulting thunder shattered all the few precious glass windows in the city. Almost all the people heard ringing in their ears apart from some unlucky few who would never be able to hear again.

Then, like a miracle, the sky brightened up, allowing for the last few rays of daylight to shine on the battered city. Were it not for the destruction caused by the last bolt of lightning and a small hole in the tallest spire of the castle, nothing would indicate the weather of just moments ago.

Even so, nobody was complaining, nobody even dared to look in the direction of the castle and the person who had orchestrated this disaster, the mad demon king Siegfried. Afraid of angering the person who was responsible for the capital gaining the title "The Abyss". Supposedly the strongest, but cruelest person in the whole world. Only an hour later, in which nothing happened, when the sun had already set, were the people brave enough to start resume their normal lives.

Meanwhile the main castle was almost devoid of people. Only on one of the highest floors in the castle was a huge throne on which sat a lonely figure. A grand and majestic atmosphere was portrayed by the person wearing a dark full plate amour set, which didn't let any glimpse of what was beneath it through. Although the armor looked intimidating, the crown on top of the helmet made it clear, who this person was. Every citizen of Androa would probably petrify, were he to stand in this room, were it not for the loud snoring coming from the armor that was placed on a marvelous throne above which was a human sized hole in the ceiling. The picture turned more inconsistent when a raven flew down this hole and landed on top of the helmet. Being drawn to the shining gems on the crown, it started to peck at it and the helmet.

This led to the snoring becoming arrhythmic and a low voice saying: "Mum, just a few more minutes." But the bird didn't seem to want to stop and the hand of the armor started to move in the direction of the bird. But before the bird saw fit to move, the armor bent over and dropped to the floor in front of the throne. The following cursing was then suddenly stopped by the question: "Why is this armor so damn heavy…. What the hell happened?"

Was the person laying on the ground cursing really the infamous Siegfried? The one who was revered to by names like "Slayer of armies", "Destroyer of cities" and "Butcher of dragons". Anybody who would see this situation would immediately refute that this could not be him. But who was this person then?

Seeming to shake of the last bit of sleep, the person clumsily removed the armor, by crawling out of it. He seemed to be a rather young man and still had baby-like smooth skin, marred only by a few scars on his arms and one over his left eye.

Staring at the situation the young man first seemed confused, then slowly his memories came back and the gravity of the situation became apparent, which lead to sweat forming on his brow.

"Oh shit, I must have fucked up really bad this time", thought the young man. "I feel as weak as baby. How by the four gods did I end up in this situation. It feels like I destroyed my whole cultivation base". Contrary to all indications this man really was the famous Siegfried. But he had apparently lost his powers and turned into someone almost as weak as a mouse.