The silence inside the dungeon of the Arkadia Empire's fortress was as thick as the darkness that wrapped around it, broken only by the slow dripping of water from a damp, stone ceiling.
Adam opened his eyes blindly, finding himself lying on a rough mat that smelled of mold and moisture. This wasn't his comfortable bed, nor his familiar room in his original world. Everything was strange—starting with the heavy shackles binding his wrists and ankles, and the dull ache gnawing at his head and chest.
"Where am I?" Adam whispered, but his voice came out hoarse and unfamiliar—not his own.
He tried to move, but the shackles bit into his skin, reminding him of his miserable situation.
Suddenly, blurred images flooded his mind: emblems he had never seen, angry faces shouting words he couldn't understand, and flashes of violent battles. Then one word echoed in his head like a thunderclap:
"Traitor!"
Confusion overwhelmed him. His name was Adam—just an ordinary young man from an ordinary world, working as a video game developer.
How did he end up here?
And who was this "traitor" they spoke of?
It didn't take him long to realize that the body he inhabited wasn't his.
His muscles were stronger, his height greater than he remembered, and his right hand bore a long scar running from his wrist to his elbow.
This isn't me, Adam thought in panic.
With every deep breath, he felt a strange current flowing through his veins—not blood, but something like cold electricity gathering in his palm.
He focused, and a faint blue glow flickered from his cuffed hand before fading just as quickly.
A power he had never possessed in his world.
Magic? Impossible…
The iron door of the cell creaked open suddenly, revealing a massive guard clad in heavy armor. He didn't speak, only gestured toward the exit.
"Time for your trial, traitor."
A sharp, mocking voice came from behind the guard, making Adam shiver involuntarily.
Adam knew instinctively that he was in a kind of trouble he had never imagined.
This wasn't a video game.
Nor a dream.
This was harsh, grim reality—and he was trapped in the body of a man accused of a betrayal he knew nothing about.
He had to escape. Or at least understand.
But how?
And time was running out.
Adam rose with difficulty, dragging his heavy shackles, a growing sense of urgency building inside him.
This new world was throwing him into a vortex of conspiracies and mysteries, and all he had to survive were the body of a traitor… and an unknown magical power.