“Halt! Identify yourself!” The guard shouted.

[Um… Gerald Fireborn, personal Disciple of Elder Li.]

“Is that so?” He squinted. “Where is your badge?”

[Uh…] Looking through my pouches as well as the ring, I was unable to find it. Instead, I offered an innocent smile. [It seems I have lost it. But we can just call the Elder to vouch for me, right?]

“Is that so?” The squinted eyes and clear suspicion on the guard’s face didn’t fill me with much hope. Especially after a few more guards came and surrounded me from all sides.

An older man came, holding a pair of handcuffs. “You won't mind wearing these while we investigate your claims, right?” Without waiting for a reply he already began putting them on.

[Erm… sure, I guess.] It wasn’t like I had much choice. They didn’t even let me answer before cuffing me. And those things sealed all magic inside me as soon as they were put on. Not to mention that they were made out of Ferrite. I couldn’t break them even if I tried.

“So, what are we dealing with here?” The man asked the first guard.

“He claims to be a personal Disciple of Elder Li. Says his name is Gerald Fireborn.”

“Gerald Fireborn, hmm?” The guy took out a scroll and slowly unfurled it. “Oh! Found him! But… hm…” He gave me a curious side eye which probably meant more trouble. Damn it.

“Says here that he is presumed missing in action, possibly dead. But that is old information. The last update was over a month ago. Do we have any way of confirming his claims?”

The guard shook his head. “I’m afraid not.”

[You could just ask Elder Li. He can vouch for me.] I reminded them.

The old man gave me a look and then turned back to the guard. “There is nothing more we can do. We’ve done our job, it's up to the Law Enforcement Hall now to sort this mess out.”

[Hey! I just told you-!]

“Will you shut up already?! That’s not how any of this works! There are protocols in place for situations like this! What if you are a spy with the memories of the original, hm? How easy would it be to fool someone? Not to mention that we can’t just bother an Elder for every little thing!” The old man rumbled, visibly irritated.

He waved his hand in a dismissing manner. “Take him away before I get angry. Make sure those guys get all the details. Don’t leave anything out. Including his insistence to speak with the Elder. We might have a mole in our midst.”

“It will be done!” A guard cupped his fist, then grabbed me by the elbow, and led me into an adjacent room. In the middle was a circular stone platform surrounded on four sides by curved pillars that nearly touched the ceiling. Inside was a weird shimmering light that I didn’t recognize.

But whatever it was, it felt powerful. And I was shoved closer.

“Let’s go!” The guard pushed me onto the platform and then into the swirling lights. All my senses were immediately cut off and my head started to spin, as if I had just exited a tumbler after rolling around in it for over a year.

It lasted only a split second and everything came back, and I stumbled and fell on the ground, my head still spinning like crazy.

“Ah… First time going through one?” The guard behind me asked and then pulled me up. I felt like puking but held myself back by sheer force of will. What an awful experience.

Looking around I noticed we were in a large room, much like the one we just entered. The raised stone platform was there behind us, as were the pillars and the shimmering light. The only difference was that two Cultivators stood beside the door, with clearly visible insignias of the Law Enforcement.

Short-range teleportation? Instead of walking to the inner part of the Sect we just… jumped through a wormhole or something? My mind was still muddled, but it was getting better. Whatever that was, I didn’t like it.

“Greetings!” My guard bowed to the two. “I brought a suspicious person. We captured him at the western border trying to enter the Sect.”

The two Law Enforcement Cultivators looked at us and then opened the door.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Follow me.” One of them said. I was led into a small room with two chairs and a table while my guard continued down a hallway. They locked the solid metal door to my room so I couldn’t see where he went, and I was left alone in the windowless cell, with only a small oil lamp on the wall providing light.

And then I waited. And waited, and waited…

How long did they plan to leave me alone in the tiny cell? Long enough to get bored apparently. I was just about to fall asleep since I had nothing to do when I heard the locking mechanism clicking and the door opened.

Two Elders stepped inside, one of them probably just over the threshold of Spirit Realm judging by his young appearance, and the other one much older, possibly his mentor.

“Well, well, well… What do we have here?” The older one pulled out the chair and sat down, slamming a bunch of papers on the table. The other guy just stood in the corner, silently observing. “Gerald Fireborn, huh? Or that’s who you claim to be.”

[I am Gerald Fireborn.] I insisted.

“Yeah, yeah... I’ll be the judge of that.” He waved me off dismissingly and took a few papers in his hand.

“We did some investigating. It says here that you were on a mission by the Sect Mater himself. Apparently, you uncovered some secret spies from the Brilliant Sword Sect. That got you in good graces with Master Yo Shi, isn’t that right?”

[Well… Yes?]

“A special mission… Killing bandits, I see? And you somehow managed to stumble upon a group of Cultivators from the Brilliant Sword Sect. With an Elder as well.” The old man said, reading from his notes. “We already questioned the Junior who was with you and came carrying the news. Took copies of her memories as well, so we know it's true.”

[I mean… Yeah, that’s what happened.] I admitted. What else could I say? He was right. They did a pretty good job investigating.

“And I know two of your teammates died.” He leaned closer. “Both of them at the peak of Golden Core, killed in one strike. But that was over a month ago.” He squinted his eyes. “But you… A Golden Core, First Layer. You somehow survived all this time and even managed to come back. With no injuries! Care to explain that?!”

[Well…] He really put me in a tough spot. I didn’t want to tell them everything that happened, but somehow I doubted things would end well if I lied.

[It’s a long story.] I eventually said.

The man smiled and I could swear I saw a glint of victory in his eyes. “We got time.” He said. “Please start at the beginning.”

I quietly sighed and made myself comfortable in the chair, as much as I could. It was a plain wooden construction, probably purposely made so it would be uncomfortable. Keeping the suspects on edge and all that nonsense.

[It happened like this… The Elder in question, De Danw was his name, did not wish to immediately kill me, for you see, I am wanted by the Brilliant Sword Sect for accidentally destroying their Portal Nexus. He wanted to torture me first, and as such took me to his secret lair after beating me, where he imprisoned me.]

“Really? And I’m assuming something happened between then and now so that you managed to escape? Did the Elder forget to lock your chains or something?” The old man asked with a smirk.

[No, the Ferrite chains were quite sturdy, much like these.] I lifted my hands to emphasize my point. [But I managed to escape them, and then killed Elder De Daw.]

“You killed the Elder?” The old man lifted an eyebrow.

[Yes.]

“Do you have any proof of such a claim? A body perhaps?”

[Well… See… Here’s the thing…] I blushed shyly. [I ate it.]

“You ate it?”

The two Cultivators looked at each other.

“He ate a Spirit Realm Cultivator?” The younger one questioned skeptically.

[That’s what I just said!]

“Let me get this straight. You, a Golden Core, First Layer, killed a Spirit Realm Cultivator, and ate him?” The old man repeated my story.

I nodded. [That’s right. Oh, but I didn’t beat him in a fight or anything.]

“No?”

[No, no!] I saw where the confusion might arise and tried to explain it. [See, my blood is poisonous, and he ingested some. After a while, he wasn’t able to move anymore or use his Qi, that’s when I killed him.]

“Oh! So you have Poison Body or something?”

[Yeah! Something like that.]

“Hmm.” The old guy looked at his partner and then at his papers. “Poison Body. That’s new.”

“I also never heard of one managing to disable a Cultivator of a higher Realm.” The younger one said.

“True, true. Well…” He slammed on the table and stood up, smiling. “Alright. I think we are done here.”

[I’m free to go?] I asked, hopeful. The old Cultivator burst out laughing.

“Hahaha! No, no I don’t think so. Poison Body capable of skipping Realms, a Junior eating a Spirit Realm Elder. What nonsense!”

He slammed on the table again and leaned closer, an angry expression on his face. “Listen here, kid! I don’t know what your game is, or how you are lying to me so blatantly without me detecting it, but we’ll get the truth out, don’t you worry!”

He took a fresh scroll and a quill and began writing down some things. Don’t know what, I couldn’t see. When he was done, he rolled up the scroll and handed it to the younger guy.

“Take this. It contains everything we’ve talked about. Let’s see if the kid keeps this up when we break open his Soul. I’m really curious now, what we might find in there.”

“What about that Elder Li? Could he also be a part of this?”

“Bah! Elder Li… He’s been keeping to himself, but he has some connections to the Sect Master. Let the higher-ups decide what to do about him. Our job here is done.”

“Understood, Senior!” The younger Cultivator bowed, cupped his fist, and left to deliver the message.

“As for you…” The old guy turned to face me one last time. “Enjoy your time in the slammer. And come up with a better story next time. This one was pathetic.” He then knocked on the door and another person opened it from the outside.

“We’re done here. Take this criminal to the dungeons. We’ll deal with him later.”

And so I was escorted by two new guards into my new prison cell. It was a small room with a wooden bench on one side with a thin cloth covering it as a bed.

I grimaced as the doors slammed shut behind me. Back in jail. Home, sweet home. They didn’t even take off the handcuffs! A bunch of bullshit if you ask me. Who knew that telling the truth would be just as bad as telling lies? Just my fucking luck, I tell you!