The world had stopped screaming.
That should have been comforting.
It wasn't.
Silence in a broken world never meant peace. It meant the horrors were simply watching.
Waiting.
Aiden stood at the center of the ruined plaza, wind tugging at his coat as violet lightning traced the fractures in the sky. The faint golden crown behind him flickered like a halo of defiance… or a warning.
The girl clung to his sleeve.
"H-hey… are you really human?"
It wasn't fear in her voice anymore.
It was uncertainty.
Aiden didn't answer immediately. He wasn't sure he knew the answer either.
Before he could reply—
Footsteps echoed through the fractured city.
Not monsters.
People.
From the shadows of half-collapsed buildings and cracked alleyways, survivors emerged one by one. A man with blood running down his forehead. An office worker holding a child with trembling hands. Elderly. Students. People who should have died… but hadn't.
And every pair of eyes stared at the same thing.
Him.
Some were filled with hope.
Others with suspicion.
One man finally spoke, voice hoarse.
"…You did that. Didn't you?"
He gestured to the shattered battlefield, the twisted metal spears, the sculpted stone… a warzone shaped by a single will.
Aiden sighed internally.
So much for staying unnoticed.
Before he could respond, something shimmered in the air above him.
Not a monster.
A symbol.
The crown blazed brighter, casting golden light across the ruins like a false sun.
[Territory Claimed: Central Ruin District]
[Population Detected: 87 Survivors]
[Morale: Fractured]
[Threat Level: Catastrophic]
Then another line appeared.
Slow.
Heavy.
Final.
[They have seen your Crown.]
Aiden's heartbeat faltered.
The survivors flinched as the sky trembled. The air turned cold. Something vast shifted beyond the bleeding heavens.
Like eyes opening.
Like something ancient smiling.
The ground cracked beneath his feet as another message burned across his vision.
[Attention, Monarch Candidate.]
[Your existence is acknowledged.]
[Let the Selection begin.]
Aiden's jaw clenched.
"…So it starts."
The girl tugged his sleeve harder.
"What's happening?"
Aiden forced a calm smile onto his face.
"Nothing you need to worry about," he lied softly. "You're safe here."
For now.
A tremor shook the district.
But it wasn't the sky.
It was people kneeling.
One by one, survivors dropped to their knees, heads bowed. Not out of worship — out of desperation. Out of the primal instinct of humans clinging to the strongest thing in reach.
"Please… save us."
"Protect my son…"
"Don't let us die…"
Their voices blended into a chorus of pleading.
Aiden's chest tightened.
Last time… he had run.
This time… fate gave him no escape.
Being a Monarch wasn't power.
It was burden.
Responsibility that crushed.
Before he could respond — a shadow passed overhead.
A floating island drifted closer.
No… not an island.
A piece of a city fused with colossal black chains, dragging itself through the air like a chained beast. At its center burned a twisted emblem shaped like a jagged crown.
Another Crown.
Another Monarch.
And unlike Aiden's, this one radiated malice.
A chill crept across his spine.
The girl whispered shakily.
"…Someone's coming."
He could feel it too.
Someone… powerful.
Someone who already embraced this world's darkness long before he ever had.
A cruel, distorted voice echoed across the sky.
"Found you."
Aiden looked up.
And smiled coldly.
"Good."
He had been waiting.
Because the world had already taken everything from him once.
This time…
He would take something back.
The crown behind him burned brighter.
The selection had begun.
And Aiden Vale was done running.