Chapter 1

The first thing I heard was of water, the beautiful tinkling sound of trickling water. I felt it flow around me. I open my eyes, only to be greeted by darkness.

'Huh. I guess I'm not dead.' I thought to myself. Slowly, I sit up in the water. My body feels awfully weak, but usable.

Suddenly, bright lights flood my eyes. I blink.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"__ ___ ________" I suddenly hear a voice behind me.

I turn around to see a man wearing a sort of black shirt, dressed very neatly, his hair short and greying, but very neat. He was a short but not too short man, with a sharp nose, and some stubble around his chin.

"___ __ ______ ____" The man says, but try as I may, I can't make out what he says.

"Hey man, I have no idea what you are trying to say." I say. Somehow, my voice still works, which is quite surprising, considering I haven't used it for quite a while. (1000 years by the way)

The man, as if understanding, smiles and reaches into a pocket in his pants and pulls out a metal tablet of some sort.

"___ ____ ____ _ ____" This time, he talks to his metal tablet. I furrow my brows.

'Huh? Have people finally lost it? He must have mental problems right? I don't remember it being normal to talk to a piece of metal.'

"Ahh, this should work. Hello?" A mechanical voice suddenly says.

My eyes widen. What? Who's talking? And why do they sound like that? What the hell is this place? Did I get transported to another dimension?

"Oh, don't be so shocked my King, lots have changed since you walked the Earth." The mechanical voice says once again.

After rubbing my eyes and rinsing my ears with the water, I double check with myself, triple check, and then, for good measures, I smack my cheeks. If I'm not also insane, the sound is coming from a metal block.

"Huh, interesting. And who might you be? What is talking to me? How did that metal block speak? Why am I still alive?"

"I am the current leader of the Shadowhunters, I am Krul Ley the V, descendant of the original Krul Ley, the S-ranked Shadowhunter. This metal block is what people nowadays call a smartphone, it's a wonderful little thing, yes." the man bows deeply.

"Hoooo… Krul's descendant huh. How's Krul doing? And a smartphone huh? Wow things have changed." I rub my chin in contemplation.

"I'm afraid that my Ancestor is no longer around. He has decided that this world had no more to offer, and offered himself to the Living Forge." Krul lowers his head. After a moment of silence, he continues. "Your majesty, after your death a thousand years ago, your wife took your remains, and traveled around the world in search for a method of revival. That search is what led to you being here before me right now. Right now, you have been revived, in the most suitable body, a 18 year old human with traces of the mightiest Shadowblood clan lineage! That's right! This is a descendant of your own clan! The perfect body! The best possible! YES! Yes!"

"My wife…" My heart does a cartwheel. It feels so stuffed, so full of longing, so delicately easy to shatter. "Is…" I didn't want to ask. I didn't want to know. If, if, if… "... is she… still well?"

The seconds felt like hours, Krul talked in his foreign voice into the "smartphone" and each second felt more agonizing than the last, with me dreading the worst. What if… What if what if what if what if what if what if.

What if she couldn't stand the loneliness anymore? What if she was also hunted down? What if what if what if...

What if she left me behind?

"She's still alive, although barely. She had been heavily injured around 50 years ago, which was about the time she ran into me. Quite lucky of her, in fact. If not for that coincidence, maybe she would be dead by now…" Krul smiles again, but this time, the smile is eerie, wicked, and full of malicious intent.

My eyes narrow. "Let me see her. Now."

"Now, now. There's no need to be in such a hurry now is there? Of course I'll let you see her. But first, shouldn't you show some favor to the one who saved you, Your Majesty?" Krul's smile only grows more and more irritating to my eyes.

"What is it that you want? Tell me, and I will grant it, you have my word."

Krul's smile only widens, and he draws out a shriveled piece of paper. It was rolled up and tied with a piece of red string. The paper, while old, exuded a type of mysterious pressure, and the moment I saw it, I knew what it was. I narrow my eyes. He tosses the paper at me.

"Sign this Blood Contract. When you have fulfilled its contents, I will let you see your wife." Krul says.

"WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE TALKING TO? You must not know me too well, to dare to talk to me like this, and to hold my wife hostage." I was starting to lose my cool. Dark mist gathers around my right hand, taking the form of a long, double-edged sword. The hilt is engraved with intricate markings, with a pulsating red orb in the center.

"Woah woah. Calm down… I have no wish to fight the Genius of days gone by. I only want to restate myself. I have your wife in my hands. Fulfill the contents of the Contract, or…" Krul backs up and puts his hands up in the air, as if to show he was unarmed.

I pause for a moment to consider my options. Of course, the best option would be to just kill him, and that would solve every issue. Almost every issue. I still wouldn't know where my wife was. I also don't know if he has someone working for him that would just kill my wife if I was to kill him.

Finally, I say "Alright, I'll do it."

With a quick slash of my blade, my thumb begins to bleed. After unrolling the paper, I immediately imprint my finger on the bottom of the page. Immediately after I do so, the paper crumbles into dust.

*Clap* *Clap* *Clap*

"Wonderful! Simply wonderful!" Krul does a deep bow, and with a twisted smirk, he says:

"Welcome to the Modern Era! Your Majesty Kaisus Imperad of the Forsaken Blades Clan."