In the year 2047, Lagos drowned for the third time in a decade.
Not because of the rain- the rain stop coming years ago
The city drowned in something far worse : mana rot
Neon signs flickered like drying fireflies above Carter bridge while black sludge that used to be seawater crawled up the side of the half collapsed skyscrapers. People didn't call it flooding anymore
They call it "the Devouring "
Karl Eze, twenty three professional corpse carrier (level 1 Scavengers License), was dragging yet another water bloated -body towards the collection barge when the sky tore open.
Not dramatically.
Not with thunder or biblical light .
Just… a quiet, surgical rip.
Like someone took took scissors to reality itself.
A silver sentence appeared in front of every living humans vision at the exact same moment
[Final Calibration — Sequence 0007 Complete]
[Earth has been deemed: UNSALVAGEABLE]
[Sovereign Selection Protocol — Activated]
[Choosing one Candidate among 8.4 billion…]
Most people screamed.
Some prayed.
A very small number laughed hysterically.
Kael just kept dragging the corpse.
He was already three days behind on this quota.
The syndicate didn't care about apocalypse— they cared about numbers.
Then the second message came.
[Candidate #1 selected]
Name: Kael Eze
Age: 23
Soul Rank: Damaged (F-)
Compatibility with Throne of Ashes: 99.9997%
Error… Recalculating…
Compatibility with Throne of Ashes: ERROR
Final Verdict: ACCEPTABLE]
The corpse he was dragging suddenly became very light.
No — it became dust.
Everything became dust.
The barge, the black water, the bridge, the screaming people, the mosquitoes that had evolved to drink mana instead of blood — all of it collapsed into grey ash that spiraled upward like reverse rain.
Only Kael remained, standing on nothing, surrounded by nothing, breathing nothing.
Then came the third message — the cruelest one yet.
[Welcome, Last Sovereign Candidate]
You have been granted the lowest possible starting authority:
Authority Rank: 0.0001%
You will begin at the bottom of the Infinite Staircase
First Floor: The Ashen Cradle (Difficulty: ☠️×7)
Death here is Final.
No respawn. No second chances.
No mercy.
Do you accept the Throne of Ashes?
[YES] / [NO — instant soul disintegration]
Kael stared at the floating words for a very long time.
Somewhere in the distance, inside the grey void, he thought he heard the sound of a baby crying… then choking… then silence.
He looked down at his calloused hands — hands that had carried more dead strangers than living friends.
Then he whispered, voice hoarse from three years of shouting at looters and crying children:
"…If I'm already the bottom,
what exactly do I have left to lose?"
He pressed YES.
The world didn't explode.
It simply inhaled.
And Kael Eze disappeared from every record, every memory, every photograph that ever contained him.
Even his own.
[Throne of Ashes — Bound]
[Sovereign Name registered: None]
[Current Title: Ash-Walker (Newborn)]
[First Trial commencing in 3… 2… 1…]
Welcome to Hell, little king.
Try not to die in the first five minutes ♥
A heartbeat later, Kael opened his eyes inside a crib made of blackened rib bones.
He was very small.
Very naked.
And very, very angry.
A beautiful woman with six obsidian wings and eyes like dying stars looked down at him and smiled with too many teeth.
"Congratulations, little calamity," she purred.
"You were born approximately… negative seven hundred years ago."
She leaned closer.
"Now let's see how fast you can crawl before the ash-eaters smell fresh sovereign meat~"
Somewhere deep inside Kael's infant skull, a cold, mechanical voice added one last line:
[Hidden Trait awakened]
Soul Devouring Gluttony (EX)
Devour anything. Become anything. Regret nothing.
The baby opened his mouth.
And for the first time in seven centuries…
the ash began to scream.