Chapter 1

I jolted awake from the searing, corrosive depths of the Soul-Eroding Abyss.

In the next instant, my consciousness felt like it was being ripped apart and dragged back to a place both familiar and nightmarish—the Hall of Divine Selection in the Godrealm.

The High God hovered in midair, twelve radiant wings spread across the entire vaulted ceiling.

"Elara. Lyra. Today, you will be granted a single fate. You may choose one of two paths."

"Dragon Queen—the highest authority in the Realm of Light."

"Serpentkin—cast into the Dark Realm, despised as lowborn."

This was the final scene before my death.

Back then, Lyra had knelt in front of me, clutching my wrist and sobbing like a deer fleeing the hunt.

"Sis, I'm scared of the Dark Realm... I'm scared of the snakes... I'll die there... please, choose Serpentkin in my place..."

I softened.

Just as I was about to speak and choose for her, she suddenly looked up. The calculation in her eyes was impossible to hide.

The next second—

She shouted before the entire hall:

"I choose Serpentkin!"

I was shoved by force toward the seat of Dragon Queen.

When the Dragon God, Thorin, descended, his golden eyes landed on me and lifted me to the pinnacle of the Godrealm.

I was wreathed in arcs of light, worshipped by the dragon clan, the one and only Dragon Queen envied by all.

But that was only a cage painted in gold.

After I conceived a dragon heir, he personally ripped my divine bones from my body and locked me inside a prison of light.

Inside that gilded cage, I was torn apart by god-devouring agony, forced to offer blessings, treated as an immortal breeding vessel.

And Lyra—

She was married off to Kaelorn, the most lowly cripple in the Dark Realm, a discarded serpent with a severed tail, one blind eye, and spirit veins shattered by the dragons.

She poured every bit of her humiliation onto him, lashing his already-rotting back with a whip and forcing him to kneel by the poisonous marsh and lick the tips of her boots.

On the night the dragons laid siege to the Dark Realm, she shoved Kaelorn forward to take the blades for her while she ran for her life.

Later, jealous of the glory I seemed to have on the surface, she tricked me into the Soul-Eroding Abyss.

Right before I fell, she leaned close to my ear and laughed softly.

"Sis, as long as you die just a little worse than I do, I'll be satisfied."

I carved those words into my bones.

And now, I had been reborn at the very moment of divine choosing.

Lyra stood at my side, staring at the words Dragon Queen as if she wanted to swallow them whole.

The next second, she slammed into me, knocking me aside and pinning my shoulder hard against the stone steps.

"Sis, are you really trying to steal my life again?"

Her fingers clamped around my chin so hard I could hear the faint click of bone.

"Dragon Queen is mine."

The moment the words left her mouth, she turned and shouted to the High God:

"I choose Dragon Queen!"

A pillar of light fell over her, illuminating the feverish, twisted look on her face.

I pushed myself up, but before I could even speak, a sharp crack split the air—

Lyra swung her hand and slapped me hard across the face.

Pain blackened my vision.

She smiled like a poisonous rose in full bloom.

"Someone like you deserves to spend your whole life under everyone's feet."

Then she lifted her foot high and planted it on my shoulder, grinding me back into the floor.

"Sis, you had your glory long enough in your last life. Now it's my turn."

Just as the light was about to swallow her completely, she lifted one hand—

and crooked a finger toward the corner of the temple.

"Drag that piece of trash over here."

Several serpent guards hauled a blood-soaked figure over and threw him at my feet.

The dull thud of his body hitting the ground made something in my chest tighten.

Severed tail.

Blind in the left eye.

Spirit veins shattered.

Breathing faint.

Kaelorn.

The same man she had whipped, humiliated, and trampled to death in my previous life.

He struggled to lift his head, his one remaining good eye darting around in panic, searching for something—someone—to depend on.

He saw me, then shrank back as if he'd been frightened.

Lyra laughed without restraint.

"Sis, this cripple suits you perfectly."

She brought her foot down on Kaelorn's broken tailbone with a crack, forcing the man to curl up in agony.

Looking down at me, Lyra smiled.

"The two of you are a perfect match. One abandoned by the light, the other abandoned by the snakes."

She bent down close to my ear and whispered in a voice only I could hear:

"Sis, you'll warm this piece of trash's bed. You'll be locked in the Dark Realm for the rest of your life, never able to hold your head up again."

Then she stepped back and raised both hands to the High God.

"I willingly become the Dragon Queen of Light!"

Light gathered around her, condensing into divine sigils as she basked in her own victory.

I lowered my eyes and looked at Kaelorn, lying there half-dead beneath her cruelty.

His trembling hand caught the hem of my dress, like he was grabbing the last thing keeping him alive.

Something inside me went utterly still.

No hesitation. No doubt.

I rose to my feet and spoke to the High God without the slightest pause:

"I, Elara, choose Serpentkin."

The entire hall fell into dead silence.

Lyra's pupils shrank. "What did you say?!"

The power of the Dark Realm crashed down around me. Tracings like living night spread across my skin, and my bones shuddered as they regenerated and grew stronger at once.

I walked to Kaelorn, bent down, and lifted his dying body into my arms.

A tiny, trembling sound escaped him, as if he couldn't believe someone was holding him.

I raised my eyes and looked at Lyra.

"Lyra."

"What you stole wasn't glory."

"It was hell."

The divine sigils of the Realm of Light settled fully onto her body, and her face twisted in horror.

And I, holding Kaelorn in my arms, stepped toward the black rift opening into the Dark Realm.

In this life—

I will tear apart the dragons' chains with my own hands.

I will save the true king of the Dark Realm.

And I will make Lyra understand—

Everything she stole will be repaid a hundredfold.

With a thunderous roar, the gate to the Dark Realm slammed shut.