Master spy Salin had never felt so much terror before in his long years of existence.

  He'd been a common soldier before his recruitment, a captain in the Glorious Liberating Army of Solaria. A lofty position, one would say, but still a just common soldier.

  He was no Pillar of the Empire, the walking natural disasters capable of wiping out entire armies within short instants. He wasn't part of the lofty oligarchs who had a great say in how the Empire was run. Heck, he wasn't even part of the shadow commanders of the Hidden Protectors.

  Those beings were the stuff of nightmares and legends, breeding widespread cataclysmic devastation wherever they went.

  On rare occasions—shadow operations carried out deep in foreign soil—he'd been fortunate, or unfortunate, to bear witness to one or two appearances, and he was always left in awe and dread at the powers that were displayed. Powers that turned night to day, redirected entire rivers or cleaned them off completely, with a mountain or two leveled as an extra.

  Their battles seldom left little witnesses, and the ones who survived were forever scarred.

  Having been recruited into the ranks of the most powerful clandestine organization in the entire continent, most likely the world, Salin had felt his entire world turned around in one short instant. It was like a dream he hadn't thought to dream of—even imagined—coming true.

  Outsiders referred to them as spies, but he liked the term 'Hidden Protectors' more, since it evoked a more mysterious and enthralling aura, like watching the distant stars up above. For an added bonus, he liked it when outsiders quivered at the mention of Solaria's Hidden Protectors.

  Recruited into the sanctum as thanks for the mere luck of stumbling upon and revealing a devious plot against the son of one of the Empire's pillars, said Pillar had shown his appreciation by sponsoring his entrance into the ranks of the Empire's Hidden Protectors, elevating him so high that he shared ranks with some of the most powerful wielders below the Spirit lord realm. That was far higher than he'd ever thought to reach in his entire life.

  His rise through the ranks of the Hidden Protectors was nothing short of explosive. Salin had grasped the title of Master in two important skill sets within a decade. He had infiltrated dozens of impregnable strongholds and put to permanent sleep people who'd been unfortunate enough that their names had fallen into the Protector's Book of The Dead. They didn't need to be powerful, just people with knowledge of things they shouldn't have.

  Salin had been extremely wary when he'd been boldly approached, his identity swiftly unwrapped as an Empire Hidden Protector, and without a shred of fear from the man who'd done so.

  There were very few people in the world who could successfully see through his subterfuge with extreme clarity, and he knew for a fact that all of them would never be seen in a city like this. There was nothing of interest here to warrant their attention, so his only conclusion came down to the possibility that the young man must have gotten access to information he shouldn't have, and it was Salin's top priority to uncover his identity and who his backers were.

  If one of the Empire's enemies already had eyes on this place, there was a high likelihood that others also had. And if that was the case, Salin had to quickly inform his superiors.

  Honestly, when he'd warned the stranger not to bother running, he'd still expected him to flee. After all, no one in their right mind would wait for a Hidden Protector to come for them. So he was more than surprised when he found the stranger, and with such ease at that.

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  Looking back, it should have been his first sign to get the hell out of the city immediately.

  Infiltrating the man's room had been child's play. There were no protective runes lining the building, no formation buried underneath the earth to trap and light up any intruder into a walking bonfire. No pet beasts nesting somewhere around in a dark corner, ready to feast on intruders. The locks were even left open, windows drawn a little bit open to allow in the fresh air, or more likely pave the way for a stupid predator turned prey to willingly climb into.

  His first warning sign lit up when he stepped into the room, exacerbated further when he found the man simply sitting at the foot of his bed, attentive like Salin's visit had been long expected, probably anticipated.

  He'd tamped down his unease, intent on carrying out his mission with utmost zeal. There were going to be screams, and how loud they were depended on how forthcoming the stranger was. Their types liked to prove stubborn, and he loved the thrill of breaking them.

  "I've blocked out sounds from leaving this room, so you're free to scream all you want. Fair warning; The length and volume in which you scream from now on will depend on how forthcoming you are with my questions."

  A bit of construct deployment had silenced the room, and Salin had imagined the fear of the unknown that must have crept up into the man's mind. But that was where his luck ended and shit hit the roof.

  The stranger laughed, a loud bellyful of laughter that did not reach his eyes. "You seem to be under the misconception that I'm trapped in here with you. Quite the opposite, in fact. You, good sir, are trapped in here with me, and you will happily answer all my questions without a single physical prompting from me."

  Salin had looked into the eyes of the man then, and despite the natural darkness and no working of power being conjured, that single look alone sent heavy shivers down his spine, so much so that he ran before he could even think more about it.

  He barely made it more than two steps before he felt a sudden familiar lightheadedness as power gushed into the room, which led to a swift knee drop. The feeling lasted for only a moment after which it disappeared, leaving Salin still in the same room but in an entirely different location.

  A glance out the window sealed whatever fate had been installed for him.

  The stranger stood up from his bed, crossing the room toward a chair across. "Now, where should we begin?"

  Salin had contemplated jumping through the window and taking his chances at whatever strange dimension the stranger had moved them to, even though he knew intuitively that he was never going to survive out there. At least it was better than what the strange man had in store for him.

  "I wouldn't do that if I were you," the stranger, whom Salin was now increasingly realizing was at least a Spirit lord, said. "The realm of the unreal is a den filled with strange and terrible creatures, creatures that would send most beings into complete and irrevocable madness."

  He smiled.

  "Your brain would melt and every orifice in your body would leak enough blood to make a fountain jealous. And that's among the lesser consequences, the best of which is a simple and instant death.

  "But if you're unlucky, a creature of the unreal might just bore a hole into your psyche and make itself comfortable. Creatures of the unreal are very curious, I've learnt, and the human mind is a very interesting piece of study."

  All through this, the man kept up a tone of playfulness, with an almost nonchalant expression. This only served to increase the terror brewing within Salin. What have I gotten myself into?

  The stranger gestured toward the bed. "Would you kindly have a seat?"

  That was not phrased as a command but Salin took it as one. He walked up to the bed, trying unsuccessfully to control his shivering body.

  "We haven't properly introduced ourselves yet. I'll start, my name is Damien, Damien Elason. What about you?"

  Salin kept staring until the man raised an eyebrow.

  "I am called Salin, lord."

  He didn't know whether it was permitted to call the man by his birth name. He had always been told that when meeting powerful figures never to call them by anything other than their titles.

  "Just call me Damien; I do not care for the overly ostentatious titles your Pillars seem to fight for. bad memories and all." His eyes flashed, and Salin's heart froze

  "Sorry about that. Now that we have the formalities out of the way, I am going to ask you some questions, and you are going to answer them truthfully to the best of your abilities. Please do not make me resort to forcibly drawing out answers from you."

  Something in his tone changed, Salin didn't know what, but any brewing plan to lie was forcefully tamped down and smothered.

  The man must have seen this in Salin's expression because he smiled and nodded.

  "Now, tell me why the Empire has suddenly gotten interested in this little desert city?"