The End Before the Beginning [Prologue One]

It was morning when I woke up. It was very early, and I couldn't or didn't want to get up. So, still lying down, I stretched and stared at the white ceiling of my room while I heard the shower water running as my fiancée hummed a current song.

I took a deep breath and stretched again. Then I felt my morning erection and reached for my stiff member. At that moment, the fogged bathroom door opened, and from there emerged the most beautiful woman in the world.

She looked at me and smiled — are you excited?

I looked to where her eyes were pointing, and I still had my hand inside my pants — for you? Always — I smiled and bit my lip.

— I have little time — she said as she let the towel slide from her body to the floor.

Her body was beautiful and so sensual that my morning erection became firmer as she walked towards me.

Since we didn't have much time, I quickly took off my pants, and when she climbed on top of me, I entered her, and we both let out sighing moans. Then she began to ride with our parts connected.

With each movement of her hips, a wave of pleasure ran from my groin to my brain, and apparently the same happened to her. With each movement, she bit her lips with excitement and moaned with more desire.

I wanted to stay there with her forever, so I grabbed her buttocks and sank my member into her as deeply as I could while changing positions, and I began to move as our mouths stole each other's breath.

When we finished, we were sweaty and panting. I felt her legs tremble slightly in spasms, and mine weren't any different.

— That was amazing — she said, laying her head on my chest.

— Yes. It was incredible.

— Let's stay like this a little longer and take a shower together?

— And in the shower... — I looked down, and she looked up. Our eyes met, and nothing else needed to be said. Later, in the shower, we made love again.

Dressed, she in a black feminine suit and I only in loose gray pants, we kissed one last time before she left for college — good luck with your presentation — I said, and she smiled the smile that won me over. A smile full of love and trust.

Being awake in the morning was rare for me, and I didn't know what to do. I considered going for a morning run, but I was still tired despite being refreshed by the sex earlier.

I went to the living room and threw myself on the couch. Staring into space, I thought about what to do. Then, as if to fill the lack of ideas, my mind traveled to the earlier moment, and my sex stiffened once again.

I looked down — this isn't a bad idea — I got up and went upstairs to the bedroom. I took a long shower and then, completely awake, went downstairs for breakfast.

— Good morning, Rose.

Rose was the house assistant who had worked for me since I started living alone five years ago. She was a woman around 50 years old who in her youth was probably very beautiful.

— Good morning, Arthur. Where's Miss Luana?

— She had to leave early for college. And Rose, I've asked you to stop with this "Miss" thing. She's younger than you...

Rose raised her eyebrows as if I had said something surprising — she may be younger, but we don't have that much intimacy, and she's engaged to my boss, so...

— I understand — I replied with a sigh, and the subject died there. — Turn on the TV to Kastigo News channel — With the command, the TV turned on to the indicated channel — still this?

It had been almost two weeks since the incident occurred, and they were still talking about it on the TV show dedicated to the game.

On TV, a youthful-looking woman interviewed a man who appeared to be around thirty — How was it possible for a single person to destroy an entire city in a few minutes? Does that have any explanation?

— Well, the shortest answer is "it's possible because he's the strongest" — that was Andrew. In the game, he is known as Odin, the most evil blue player there is.

— And the longest?

— For starters, it wasn't "a few minutes" — Andrew replied, making air quotes with his fingers. — Kastigo has a time acceleration five times faster than the real world. So, for us, it took about three hours or so. Of course, it's still an incredible time to destroy such a large city like New Camelot.

— Right. — The woman agreed in a affected manner. For someone who works with game-related matters, she doesn't know much.

— Hades — Andrew continued — is a monster with enough power to overthrow an entire kingdom. I imagine that's because he's one of the first players and had time to explore the world much more than anyone else.

— Is that allowed even though he's a player like any other?

— He's not a player like any other. He's the best. — Andrew replied with emphasis on "the best." This made me a little uncomfortable. — The only ones who can stop him are the other four in the top 5, but of those, three serve him, and the one left is Ragnar, but they never fight to kill.

— And why do you think that? — the interviewer asked, but I had already lost interest and turned off the TV.

After breakfast, I read the contract asking me, as Hades, to do an advertisement. I don't think a car commercial suits my character much, but the payment is very good.

— It's not like I need money... — I muttered as I threw the contract in the trash and sent an email to my agent to reject the proposal. While I was at it, a pop-up appeared on the window in front of me with a message from my brother.

[Rodrigo: Are you awake? Do you have something to do tonight?][08:23]

I looked at the message floating in the left corner of the screen, wondering what he wanted so early in the morning. My brother and I were good friends, but we were very different even though we were identical twins.

I, being a more reserved and focused person, didn't understand why my brother was the chaos he was in his real life while in the game he was a centered man committed to what he preached, heroism and honor.

I love my brother very much, but I knew he wasn't a good person in his life. Always involved in gambling, fights, and married women, he always called me when he had some problem to solve. Oh, that reminds me of the last time I had to get him out of jail when he was arrested for harassment.

Well, there's no point in thinking about what he might be up to now. I picked up the phone and sent him a voice message — I'm awake. Yes, I have plans. I'm taking Luana to her favorite hotel to celebrate her graduation.

[Rodrigo: Figured. Can you log into the game now? I need something.][08:24]

— Does it have to be now? I want to sleep a little longer...

[Rodrigo: Yes, it has to be now. I need you to launch an attack on the draconians' capital.][08:24]

When I read the message, my sleep vanished. An attack against the draconians? There's no way I can get there today. Plus, if I attack the draconian capital, the chance of Ifrit appearing is high. I don't know if I could kill a dragon. No, it's impossible even with the power Hades currently has — It won't happen. I'm in Basilian right now. Also, I don't want to have to face Ifrit. But why do you want me to attack the draconians?

[Rodrigo: The goddess of light gave a mission. I have to ensure the safety of the priestess of the red dragon. Apparently, she will be a trump card against the demons.][08:25]

The priestess of the red dragon... Damaeri? I think it's too late for that. According to Cerberus, Damaeri was counting Belphegor a few weeks ago. Should I tell Rodrigo? Let's gather some information first.

Minutes later, after talking to Rodrigo, we devised a plan and I started traveling as fast as possible to the draconian kingdom. According to the plan, I would attack the draconian capital, and Rodrigo would come to stop me.

When that happened, at that moment, Rodrigo would take the priestess to Ellora, the goddess's realm, and complete his mission, and I would fight against Ifrit. But my plans were different.

I don't want the goddess of sacred light to have the power to stop the demons' advance, nor do I want the demons to have the power to continue advancing.

I want to rule the world, and preventing the growth of both sides was perfect. That's why I'm going to kill the priestess of the red dragon and thwart the plans of the demons, the goddess, and, with some luck, kill Ifrit. I think now is when our paths diverge for good in the game, brother.

I had little time to put this plan into practice. After all, when Luana returned, I wanted to celebrate her success in the presentation and completion of the course with her.

With very little time on hand, I rushed to the game room while Rose shouted for me not to run up the stairs because it could be dangerous. In the game room, I entered the capsule and then the game.

— Good evening, my father — said Anemus when I opened my eyes.

— Hello, Anemus. I don't have time to explain. Let's attack Draconia. Inform Cerberus and Minerva —

Anemus didn't ask anything else and did as I said. Meanwhile, I began drawing a sigil for the teleportation magic on the ground.

This wasn't a magic everyone had access to, and even if they did, they wouldn't use it because it was impractical in combat. It required a lot of preparation and time. And time wasn't something we had readily available in the midst of something similar to what I was about to do.

— Cerberus and Minerva have started moving the Butchers — announced Anemus with her monotone voice.

Anemus was a fairy who had been born or emerged from my power. That was something that had only a 0.05% chance of happening upon reaching a certain level of magical power, and I was lucky enough to have that. In the past, in retro games, she would be one of those fairies that assist the player at the beginning of the game, but not in Kastigo. With advanced artificial intelligence, Anemus was like a person. She had feelings and discernment, and if mistreated, she could very well betray me and choose a new master. That's why she and I had an amicable relationship almost like father and daughter.

Anemus looked at me with her golden green eyes and crossed her arms in a way that hid her small breasts covered by an elegant black lace dress — Why are we attacking Draconia?

I didn't stop drawing the sigil and, without looking at her, I briefly explained what was about to happen.

— This is a plan that could destroy you, you know that, don't you?

The monotonous voice of Anemus had a noticeable tone of apprehension. Indeed, if Ifrit were to kill me, I would lose so much that it would be better to give up on Hades and start everything from scratch.

In a reality where Ifrit kills me, I would be marked with the Dragon's Seal, a scaly pattern of curse that would give my location to all the dragons in the world. Something dangerous to be affected by.

However, the gains from this plan were also significant. Besides delaying both the faction of the goddess of light and the demon army, if I killed Ifrit, I could gain part of his power. This would solidify my place as the top-ranked worldwide, making me unbeatable.

— I know. — I said, looking at Anemus. She was a beautiful creature, with golden-green hair cascading down to the floor, cold golden-green eyes that didn't match the worried expression on her small face. I smiled. — But if you're with me there, I know everything will be fine.

The fair skin of Anemus' face flushed, and I returned to drawing. Once the sigil was finished, Anemus and I stepped onto the drawing on the ground, spending a bit of my magical power, and disappeared from the mansion's room located in the capital of the Basílica kingdom to appear in the midst of a terrain with excessively hot weather.

The scenery before us was mountainous, with several lakes of bubbling magma surrounding us. Further ahead, it was possible to see an immense city climbing the volcanic mountains behind the sulfurous smoke of the lakes.

— Let's begin. First, let's get closer and draw a teleportation sigil to have an emergency escape route in case everything goes wrong.

— I hope it won't be necessary.

— Me too.

We walked along the road built between the volcanic lakes and passed through the gates with ease. Despite being one of the most wanted individuals in the world, I had unrestricted access to all cities. The reason for this was my power.

There weren't many who could stop me, and among those who could, they followed. So the military forces of the cities chose only to monitor me discreetly while I was in town.

That was a wise choice in many cases, but not in this case. If they knew what I was about to do, they would try to kill me now, and Ifrit would emerge much earlier, but oh well.

I messaged Rodrigo, letting him know that I was about to start the attack, while drawing a sigil in an alley near the main avenue of Draconia.

Later that day, I exited the game after a great battle against Ifrit. In the end, Rodrigo never showed up to kidnap Damaeri, whom I also failed to kill. Damn dragon.

— I'll have to compensate those who were cursed when they died fighting Ifrit later, but for now... — I rubbed my eyes and stretched.

It was already getting dark outside when I stepped out of the capsule. Nearly four days had passed in the game, and all that time was used to cause only 30% damage to Ifrit, who appeared in the first explosion I caused. Something isn't right about this, but now wasn't the time to dwell on it.

I reached for my phone and saw a few messages from Luana. She was probably already on her way home, and I needed to hurry. I left the phone where it was and rushed to the bathroom, where I took a nice hot shower. It relieved all my tension.

After the shower, I dressed in dark jeans and the white shirt Luana had bought for me. I sprayed on her favorite perfume and put on the dress shoes she liked me to wear.

So I just waited for her arrival, and waited I did. An hour passed, and it was already dark outside, but I waited. I just didn't expect what was about to happen.

Worried about her delay, I returned to the game room where I had left my phone and picked it up to call Luana, but what I saw shattered my world.

Sudden tears streamed down my face, and my racing heart hurt as much as a stab to the chest. Then, with a strong bite on my lower lip, anger and indignation surged and consumed my mind.

When I unlocked my phone and checked Luana's messages, there were several photos and videos of her. She was in a room with pink lighting, probably a cheap motel. She was naked, and someone was filming her from behind while they were having sex. And that someone was my brother.

— How could they do this to me? How could the people I loved the most in the world betray me like this? — I asked myself these questions as everything turned gray and lifeless for me.

Not knowing what to do, I called Luana, but it went to voicemail — Hello? This is Luana. I can't answer right now but— beep!

I loved that voice. I loved that truncated message. I loved that woman, but — WHY? WHY DID YOU DO THIS? WHY WITH MY BROTHER? TELL ME WHY-

— You have left a message on Luana Martins' voicemail. If you want to leave another message...

Instead of yelling at a phone, I wanted to scream at the traitors. I wanted to make them suffer as much as I was suffering. I turned on Luana's phone GPS, knowing where she was, I ran to the garage and got into the car.

On the way, driving at a speed that seemed to reflect my fury, I lost control of the steering in a curve and felt nothing more. And those are my last memories of a twenty-five-year life.