Across the vast expanse of stars and galaxies of the Kaelith Realm, far away from mortals. There was a realm called the Immortal Realm. There, time bent and twisted, where the very core of life flowed through the hearts. It was a place where people who had surpassed the limits of humanity and attained godlike power could go. These Immortals were the guardians of the cosmic elements, manipulators of Qi, and rulers of mortals' fate. They could shape the powers that controlled the cosmos, bending the laws of nature and threads of time at their will.

  For thousands of years, the Realm of Immortal had been standing as a fort of strength world of ethereal beauty where mighty cultivators soared, leaving the mortal coils in their wake, to become forever beings. And time in the realm was told not in terms of years, but in years of cultivation, and mastery and control of beings who lived inside it. Reaching this world would require the mortal to become extremely strong, not to mention the martial and spiritual disciplines that were used to govern the universe. Not many have been able to succeed, and fewer still managed to attain such power that one can rule over the natural forces of Qi.

  Dimitri Miller was one of those few beings, a legendary figure whose name had been inscribed on the pages of history. His was a great success story marred by an all the greater tragedy.

  Dimitri Miller's life was simple in the early years, but the fire within him was relentless. He wanted to guard the kingdom he loved, a vast and prosperous empire on the mortal plane, the Kaelith Realm. The Kaelith Realm, under the reign of Emperor William, was always threatened not only from the outside, through invading armies, but also by internal treachery. Dimitri rose as a hero, who conquered the enemies of his armies and rescued his people from despair and darkness. His fame spread fast; his name is whispered with reverence and fear throughout the empire.

  Dimitri grew into a very young cultivator when his powers accelerated in leaps and bounds. Channeling Qi was a piece of cake for him. Martial combat mastery was easily done, and his proficiency in spiritual arts made him nearly unstoppable. He reached cultivation levels that only a few could imagine, and within a very short period, he was a ruler of the Immortal Realm, among the greatest of immortals that had long passed the realm of mortal understanding.

  But as the years passed, the hunger for power inside Dimitri continued to grow and increase. Peace, he fought for began to ring hollow inside of him. There was beauty in the Immortal Realm and peace, yet he felt a certain lack in its challenge. He had conquered everything; thus, he could only desire more. He came to believe that there existed a higher plane of existence—a supreme power that could protect not only the Immortal Realm but all realms, mortal and immortal alike. During his search for this last strength, Dimitri found a forbidden ritual that would give him the strength to help him cope with the life stressors.

  The ritual needed the ten souls, such steep sacrifices rarely considered by anyone. Their life force was to feed a mythical flower, the Malice Bloom, that possessed huge powers. This is a flower from which that person could get immortality and unlock untold powers. It was an artifact, dangerous to both the mortal as well as to the immortals. Its potential could heal, but at its option, destroy.

  With all the dangers, Dimitri decided. The greater good was justified by the cost of the ritual, he believed. To save the realms, he would take ten souls' life forces to fuel his ascension. It wouldn't be easy, but he knew that the promise of ultimate power was too enticing to resist. The path was set, and Dimitri moved forward with determination.

  The first nine sacrifices were offered quite without difficulty. Dimitri, ever the strategist, chose victims he deemed worthy of their fate. Criminals, traitors, and those whose lives were already stained with darkness—these were the souls Dimitri claimed. Each sacrifice drew him closer to the power he sought, and each one left a mark on his soul. With every life he took, a piece of his humanity slipped away; however, with each life, he felt stronger.

  But it was the last victim, the tenth soul, to which Dimitri had to prove his commitment. This soul was not like the others. This soul was pure and unsullied, connected to the very heart of the Kaelith Realm. This soul belonged to Riven Brax, the newborn son of Emperor William, ruler of the Kaelith Realm. He was innocence personified, yet so full of power; that's why he had chosen him for his final soul for the ritual.

  Dimitri was a friend of Emperor William for long. Both shared mutual respect with each other, and the two were well respected. Emperor William had given trust to Dimitri in safeguarding the realm; now, however, Dimitri was going to break that trust in a manner which he would not even think possible. He knew the act would go further than just cutting across his chest. He could be sacrificing much more than just himself. He believed he had the power to protect the realm and its people, more effectively than ever if he gained the power of the Malice Bloom. Just one innocent soul's death would save thousands, or so he thought.

  He comes to Isaac's house under the night cover and makes a beeline for the crib where Riven slept undisturbed with a glimmering shroud of twinkling stars overhead. He didn't know that there was the worst fate awaiting him in that crib. With the quivering hands, Dimitri raises the blade. His heart weighed with sorrow, his conviction laden with an evil choice, yet all these collected into that quarter of the back of his head as there was no scope of returning to those tracks he covered this long.

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  But just as the blade headed for Riven, a surge of power unlike anything Dimitri had ever felt, emerged from the child. The air around them vibrated in power; reality shook. In a moment, everything went topsy-turvy for Dimitri. The Malice Bloom, which he hoped to control, was awakened.

  The flower seemed to be made of pure moonlight, its petals a deep crimson that glowed with an eerie light. It grew from a twisted, blackened stem, its roots sinking deep into the ground, drawing energy from the very life force of the world around it. The flower's veins pulsed with an iridescent glow, radiating dark energy as it spread, its petals wide. The golden core was at the center of the flower. It was an orb, shifting between gold and obsidian, depending on the ambient energy. This was where much of its incredible power originated.

  Then and there, before his stunned gaze, the flower bloomed in its beauty and malevolent design. Dimitri had heard about the Malice Bloom but could not have dreamed of this coming about so miraculously. A fine dust full of its pollen spread throughout the air with shimmering evil designs; its presence created an awful influence akin to poisoning itself deadly kind of curse ready to ravage everything along the way.

  Teeming with the plague spreading around him, Dimitri sat in sorrowful awe. He had never initially wanted this to happen. The very thing he wanted to control was now turning against him. He unleashed a power beyond his comprehension, and now, the realm he vowed to protect is paying the price.

  Sensing the imbalance in the realms, the immortals arrived to check on things. They arrived at Dimitri, who was standing in Isaac's house and was powerless against the Malice Bloom. The nine immortals or the leaders of the world could not delay on their judgment. They found Dimitri guilty of releasing the plague and destroying the peace that once was in the realms.

  They took away his spiritual powers, cutting off his Qi connection, and leaving him powerless. They threw him out of the Immortal Realm; what once was his great strength had disappeared. Punishment also meant that they took away his sight, leaving him blind, for his soul was blinded. Dimitri Miller__most powerful being in existence was now a broken, frail figure, cast out to wander the desolate lands of the Thalassa Kingdom.

  Dimitri roamed the halls of the Thalassa Kingdom, lost and abandoned. His name was forever spoken only in fear and loathing. The legend of Dimitri Miller was no more, and so was the hope that people once had for the realms.

  But even in the middle of hopelessness, a fire of resolve remained. Dimitri knew that the damage he had done was irreversible, but he also knew that there had to be a way to undo it. He had made a terrible mistake, but he would not let it define him. There was still a chance, a glimmer of hope that perhaps, someday, he could find redemption. And so, he wandered, blind and broken, though never really defeated in his quest since he knew that even in the dark there could exist an avenue to redemption.

  [The Malice Bloom System Activate]

  Dimitri stilled, heart missing a beat. His senses were tight but his vision had left him; and the voice that was present made his skin crawl. There had been whispers of such systems in the legends in the older books—system that had powers to put rules and goals in an entity and could drive them in a game to life and death.

  [The voice continued!!]

  [To stop the curse, you must play the game...]

  Dimitri's breath caught in his throat. A game? A game for what? What did it mean?

  [The game starts...]

  [Loading...]

  [Initializing...]

  Dimitri's heart raced in his chest. This was no ordinary voice. Something in the air seemed to shift, as though reality itself was bending.

  [Welcome to the Malice Bloom System.]

  Dimitri thought as the chill, mechanical voice echoed in his mind and the weight of its word settled over him. There was a game in which he was caught in the middle with stakes higher than anything he had ever faced so far. And this, actually, was the Malice Bloom, insofar as that which was in the very act he let free, just that now looked like it had become a mind on a leash, controlling whatever goes on.

  [Objective: Remove the curse of the Malice Bloom Flower.]

  A flood of memories surged through Dimitri. The Malice Bloom, the cursed flower that had brought about the plague in Kaelith, was now the center of his life. And now, it was so clear: that game that started was his only way to redemption, for if he failed, the curse would prevail, consuming many more lives.

  [Warning!!] [The flower’s curse has a will of its own] [Trust no one] [Every decision alters the fate of the realms]

  Dimitri felt his spine shudder. What could it mean? Trust no one? Every decision changed the fortune of the realms. The admonition pressed his entire soul, and doubt of what this would bring assailed him mercilessly. After all, thousands of decisions his life had required him to make so far had accumulated to this moment. Now, every choice he made would eventually dictate the outcome—not just for him but for the entire world.

  A moment of silence passed before the voice returned, cutting through his thoughts.

  [Do you wish to proceed?]

  Dimitri stayed quiet for so long. What other choice did he have? Suffering, letting the curse continue? Releasing the realms to more decaying destruction? He'd ruined enough. Something he could try at least: stop it.

  "Yes," he whispered, voice shaking. "I will proceed."

  Just as he opened his mouth to say something, the world around him seems to warp and twist. Air seemed to thicken with energy, and his very presence felt a pull from the inside out. A pulse of energy begins to course through him, and for the first time since his fall, Dimitri felt something. It was weak and almost imperceptible, but it was there. The power of the Malice Bloom System began waking within him.

  [System Activation was Completed!!]

  [New Objective:] [Seek out the source of the Malice Bloom’s will] [Defeat it] [Save the realms]

  The voice faded as Dimitri stepped into the ravaged Thalassa Kingdom, now carrying a destiny that was of a new fate. The game begun. The stakes were set higher than even he could possibly imagine. All he knew at this point is that to eliminate the curse caused by the Malice Bloom he would have to face his past, and his mistakes to finally face its very essence through the flower responsible for this doom.

  The flower, once an instrument of power, had now became the source of redemption or destruction for him. And contemplating that thought, Dimitri made his first move in a direction that would decide his fate and that of Kaelith Realm, if not all realms.