Chapter 1: The Pitiful Jamond Maxith

Jamond woke up with a start. His entire body was still trembling and quivering, the pain of being roasted alive so fresh in his mind. His spirits were dull, and he felt so weak and drained that he couldn't even move a finger or open his eyes.

"Phew."

After an indefinite amount of time, the pain slowly faded. Jamond slowly opened his sore eyes and found himself in a dimly lit cell, barely six feet by four and no brighter inside than the gathering gloom of dusk. The walls around him were made of ugly coal-grey stone, but instead of a wide window with a flower box, there was a mean barred opening with thick metal bars and no glass. The bed was a plank of wood on legs, with neither a mattress nor cushioning, but only one thin blanket. An even more alarming issue was that his ears were picking up screams of what seemed like tortured souls from a distance. He was obviously no longer in his workshop in Hong Kong but in some gloomy prison cell, and a terrifying one at that.

Where the hell on earth am I? Jamond's back broke out in cold sweat. He sat up suddenly while trying to make sense of his circumstances.

He'd been in his workshop, working on his latest painting. Then, out of the blue, his building had inexplicably caught fire, the flames increasing in intensity so quickly and trapping him within. He'd failed to escape — and with no other options, had experienced the feeling of being roasted alive. Fortunately, the agony hadn't lasted long, and he'd blacked out from lack of oxygen within seconds. And that was why he couldn't explain how he survived and arrived in the prison cell.

This doesn't make sense.

Jamond rubbed his head, attempting to clear his mind. But right then, his head started aching fiercely, and his upper body sank back to the stony ground. He clutched his head, holding on for dear life as he endured the horrid feeling that was akin to thousands of worms drilling into his mind. He gasped for air, taking in lungfuls to calm his spirits until the pain faded after a few seconds.

"What the hell?"

Jamond suddenly realized that memory fragments that didn't belong to him had appeared within his mind. They were memories of another Jamond, with a different surname, living in a totally different world.

That Jamond was 18 years old, with the surname Maxith. He was a bastard son of Count Gileon Maxith, the head of the renowned Maxith family. He had suffered since his younger years, often having to endure the teasing and harassment of his half-brothers and sisters.

But that was not all. Just because of the other Jamond's status as an illegitimate son of a powerful man, the official wives of Count Maxith couldn't leave him alone. They had also banded together to make his life a living hell and even pestered his mother to death a couple of years ago. And then, just a week ago, they had again taken action and gone all out to make him disappear, once and for all, by framing him for a crime he didn't commit.

"What a pitiful soul!" Jamond lamented with a sigh. But why are the memories of this guy in my head? Could this be the reincarnation of legend?

Jamond's eyes widened as he slowly lifted himself up from the hard cold floor. Then, he took a deep breath and inspected his entire body.

I'll be damned. I might have really reincarnated.

Jamond exclaimed after noticing that his body wasn't really his. Thin and slender arms with smooth skin that glowed under the dim lighting of the cell had replaced his once muscular upper limbs. He was a head shorter than his previous six-foot self and with a leaner physique and long black hair cascading down his shoulders. He looked like one of those sissy boys he'd always despised.

Damn! So, I'm now Jamond Maxith. Unbelievable!

Jamond finally understood his circumstances after suppressing his volatile emotions. He had probably died in the fire and then reincarnated and taken over someone else's body. Moreover, he hadn't reincarnated on Planet Earth but in a strange world called Egios. It was a bizarre world with many powerful alien races, like elves, demons, and fairies, who lorded over various domains. They were all scary races who would easily dominate Jamond's former world, Planet Earth, with their miraculous abilities, which could flatten mountains and drain seas. But surprisingly, in Egios, they had to bow their heads to the humans just because of the presence of a few insanely powerful individuals termed as psionics.

Psionics were the masters of Egios. Over years of inheritance, they had mastered psionic energy and could use it to train their minds and bodies. The end result would be transcending the limits of mortality and gaining abilities that one could only describe as heaven-defying. Thanks to their powerful mental abilities and insanely powerful bodies, they could dispose of powerful demons with a flick of the hand and kill weaker beings with just a thought. They were just like gods that stood above every other creature in the world of Egios.

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This guy was also from a powerful family of psionics!

Jamond sighed and began reviewing the foreign memories in his head again. Count Gileon Maxith, the biological father of his current body, was a powerful four-star psionic, able to burn down enemies with just a thought. Many across Blackfen City and the entire planet of Egios referred to him as the Fire Sage. He commanded a lofty status due to his unparalleled mastery of fire, a sub-path of the Path of Elements.

But surprisingly, he'd given birth to a son with no psionic talent 18 years ago. That son was the other Jamond, with zero gifts to understand psionic arts. Maybe, it was because the other Jamond's late mother was just a maid of common birth, but no matter how hard he had tried, he had still failed to awaken a psionic totem. That sealed the other Jamond's fate as useless trash in the Maxith family, leading to his father ignoring his issues. And with no backer and no ability to defend himself, he could only silently endure the bullying and harassment of the other wives and step-siblings throughout all his years in the Maxith Castle.

So, this guy is in prison for allegedly assaulting his older step-sister. What a sinister way to frame an honest guy!

Jamond couldn't help but shake his head. The other Jamond had always been a reserved person with almost zero interest in the matters of others. He was also hardworking and had never given up on the research of psionic arts, even after failing to awaken a psionic totem. He could spend hours in his room just studying a psionic model or reading about psionic energy.

A week ago, just as he was reading another book about psionics, he heard a sharp scream of a girl coming from beyond his bedroom door. As a concerned person, he'd hurried out of his room to check out the source of the commotion. And that was when he realized the scream was from his older sister's bedroom at the end of the hallway.

With all the haste he could muster, he rushed into the room, hoping to help his sister. But what happened next took him completely by surprise.

Tyra, his elder step-sister, jumped on him and tackled him to the ground. She then interchanged their positions with expert agility to create a scenario of Jamond forcefully pressing her down. Then, the sinister Tyra locked her legs around Jamond's buttocks and started shouting, "R@pe, R@pe," repeatedly, over and over again. To make matters worse, she even rocked her hips up and down, gyrating erotically to excite Jamond's sexual urges while shouting for help. And surprisingly, Jamond got shamefully rock hard for his step-sister, and what followed was pretty obvious.

Count Maxith's wives happened to arrive at the 'crime scene' in seconds and caught Jamond in the act. They immediately claimed that the evidence was conclusive, especially after they noticed Jamond's bulging pants. And without even trying to ascertain the exact flow of events, they labeled him a rapist before dispatching him off to the Forsaken Temple of Merciless Nightmares.

As for Jamond's father, Count Gileon Maxith, he was on a campaign in another world, fighting wars to acquire resources and keep his family name on the map. The count wasn't aware that one of his sons had already been condemned to one of the most horrifying prisons in the entire world of Egios by his wives.

I'm fucked once again.

Jamond frowned and started pacing nervously around the prison cell. Even though he had reincarnated in some other world, he was still in a precarious situation. That was because he'd learned from the other Jamond's memories that criminals condemned to the Forsaken Temple of Merciless Nightmares hardly ever made it out alive. They would either be sentenced to death in a few days or used as guinea pigs in psionic experiments. Unless one escaped, there was no other way out of the prison except as a dead body.

What happened to the other Jamond? How did I take over his body?

He struggled to gather his wits through a pounding headache, piecing together fragments of foreign memories until, with a dizzying rush of clarity, he remembered what had happened to the other Jamond during his previous three days in prison. His heart started to thud like a drum in his chest, and the fear made his entire body cold.

He had just recalled how the other Jamond had suffered a brutal series of mind-numbing experiences during the past three days. He'd been used as a guinea pig in an experiment to test out a potent elixir rumored to be from an ancient ruin. The resulting pain had been too much for the weak-willed Jamond to handle, and he'd eventually died in his sleep within a few hours after the third experiment. And that allowed the Jamond from Earth to take over his body and have a chance at reincarnation. That seemed to be the exact series of events.

"Tap! Tap! Tap! Tap..."

Just as Jamond was still contemplating his circumstances, his ears picked up the rhythmic tapping echoes of boots treading across the floor. They were quickly growing louder and louder with the passing of every second, meaning that someone was approaching the prison cell.

"I better not attract any attention for the moment," Jamond thought and hurriedly slipped into his bed. He immediately covered himself with his sorry excuse of a blanket and then attempted to make his breathing steady. His acting was passable, and he was soon like a person in a deep sleep.

"I know you're awake," a voice croaked from the prison cell's door after a few more seconds. "Don't bother pretending to sleep. If you do, I'll enter and give you hell. Mark my words."

On hearing the threat, Jamond's entire body shuddered involuntarily. He could understand the words even though they were in a foreign language he was hearing for the first time. He quickly opened his eyes and immediately noticed the silhouette of a hooded man standing outside his prison cell. From first impressions, Jamond could tell he was a very frightening individual based on his aura alone. He looked menacing in his grey cloak, with only his red eyes glowing from under his hood.

"Hurry, and get up," the hooded man commanded. "The head warden wants to see you immediately." The cloaked man fished out a set of keys from one of his pockets and opened the door. Then, he started glaring at Jamond as if he was about to rush forwards and take his life.

"Shit!" Jamond cursed inwardly, and his heart sank into the abyss of desperation. He suspected that he was in for another torturous evening. Maybe: the head warden would use him as a guinea pig for some inhuman experiment or sentence him to death. Or maybe, the warden would torture him to pass his evening before using him as a sacrifice for some ritual. There were many possibilities, and Jamond didn't know what to expect as he was in a new world without the concept of human rights.