Chapter 01: Every story has a beginning, but sometimes the beginning is in the middle of the story.

"Chap" and again "chap" and again "chap" the constant dripping of water from the ceiling hit his head.

But it didn't happen to be able to wake him.

A stream of dried blood flowed from under the mask from his neck to his bare belly.

He sat with his legs tied to a chair with ropes and his hands tied behind his back with heavy iron handcuffs.

He was almost naked, the only thing he was wearing, if it could count as a piece of clothing, was a remarkable dark mask.

Although it seemed that he was some worn-out beggar, his body proportions stated something else. He had very well-developed muscles all over his body, so he had to be fed quite well. His gently tanned skin was ravaged by many scars stretching across all possible nooks and crannies of his figure, suggesting that he was a warrior who had gone through many battles.

"Chap" and again "chap" and again "chap" one drop hit him right in the bollocks, and it finally woke him up.

The first thing he felt was a debilitating headache, exacerbated by the constant whistling in his ears. He was without energy and strength. He didn't know how long he had been unconscious, but his dry lips and wandering stomach suggested that several hours if not days.

He couldn't even open his eyes. With the calmness of a man who probably did not find himself in this situation for the first time, he concentrated only on his breathing.

'Dude, again, fuck my life.'

He just breathed for a few minutes, straining his ears to hear at least something that would tell him more about his surroundings. Whistling in the ears and headache gradually subsided, but they were immediately replaced by burning skin around the handcuffs and ropes. Not only the burns but all his stiff muscles gradually began to resound.

And one drop after another kept falling on him, which certainly didn't add to his already bad mood.

After a while, he was finally able to open his eyes. The line of sight despite the mask was perfectly normal, many would be surprised, but he was already used to it. It was not a "normal" mask after all. He swallowed several times so he could use his vocal cords and get rid of his dry mouth and whispered.

"Hey, you there?"

But nobody seemed to answer. 'Fucking hell, I must look like a total idiot.'

"Hey, wake the fuck up, you mongrel !!!"

Still, nothing happened.

When he wanted to speak for the third time, this time with better-prepared curses, the door opened.

'Perfect timing as ever.'

Two men came in with halberds pointing right at him, ready in case of need. They wore long knee-length black robes covering a chain mail with the white sun shining in the center of the torso. The sun's rays spread in all directions, and there were innumerable. Their heads were covered with dark iron helmets, of which only their eyes shone. They wore leather gloves covered with steel on their backs. And large dark steel boots reaching below the robes.

Their whole appearance was that one could not look away from the irresistibly beautiful sun in the middle everything else was as if in shadow.

'Well, this doesn't look very good.'

After checking the room, they stood to attention, transferred the weapon to their left hand, and recited with their other hand placed right in the middle of the sun.

"All hail The Eternal Sun Goddess, let her rays shine forever upon this dark world."

Then there was a long silence, and when everyone's nerves were in the greatest tension. A woman entered the room. Her face and visible skin seemed to glow. She was wearing a long golden robe that covered her from head to toe. The white sun was situated right in the middle once again.

He had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. It seemed to him that the goddess herself had honored him with her presence. Golden eyes, smallmouth yet full lips, and perfectly shaped nose only added to her grandeur. Her presence filled the whole room. She seemed much bigger than the knights despite looking so young at most 25 years old.

"We pray in humility." She shouted highly. While spreading her arms wide and looking at the nonexistent sky.

The room fell again into silence as she stopped any movement for a few minutes.

"You there, don't you have anything to say to our savior the great goddess?!" She asked as she was looking at the chained man.

"Well, I don't know. Get me out, I guess." He answered calmly.

Her face suddenly changed. The glowing skin stopped shining as she stopped focusing. It was exactly, as he thought. She used spells to maintain the appearance of the goddess, and after annoying her, the magic failed.

She pointed at him and said: "Don't you realize where you are, you infidel."

The man remained calm, and for the first time, he looked away from her to look around the room. They were in a dark windowless room where all the walls were the same shade of gray, and the only thing that distinguished the ceiling was the accumulating and dripping water.

He looked back at her, and with a smile, she couldn't see answered. "Well, judging by this beautiful room and the fact that I am tied to a chair naked. I guess I'm probably in a sex dungeon and that you are the priestess who will preach Kamasutra to me."

As soon as he finished the sentence, one of the guards was with him and slapped him with a steel part of his glove. The priestess looked at him out of disgust and immediately asked someone behind her for a piece of clothing that would at least cover the most important parts. Someone handed her a piece of dirty and bloodied rag, which she quickly handed over to one of the guards, who threw it exactly where it was supposed to be.

After this quick action, the woman seemed to calm down a bit.

"Unfortunately, you are wrong, you are in the temple cellar after they caught you trying to steal the Holy Fruit."

'Unfortunately.' He thought.

"Nah, I don't remember trying to steal something like that and it still certainly doesn't explain why you got me naked."

She looked shocked, he definitely surprised her. "Well, we had to search you if you didn't have anything else stolen."

"Did I?"

"No." She answered embarrassingly.

"Then where are my clothes?!"

"I don't know, I wasn't the one that undressed you!" Then she finally realized that the man was mocking her. As the guards around her were softly chuckling.

She took a deep breath to calm herself, and as if nothing had happened, she started talking again. "I am Eszila Doria de Mar, the Holy Virgin of the East and the highest priestess of this temple." She tried to sound as sublime as possible. Not giving him a chance to say anything. "And I ask you who you are?"

'There is gonna be a lot of fun with this little girl.' The man thought as he answered. "Who am I? I am no one. But you can call me Sane."