The world around him was not a world at all. It was a patchwork, a tapestry of broken timelines and shattered realities. A place where the laws of nature bent, twisted, and shattered under the weight of a thousand different dimensions colliding.
The boy stood in the heart of this chaos, feeling the pull of the Throne System once more. It was drawing him forward, urging him to move despite the unsettling instability of the space around him.
His hand still tingled from the obelisk, the fragment he had uncovered. Memories—or fragments of them—had surged into his mind when he touched it. Visions of a past he couldn't fully grasp, of battles fought in the heart of reality itself. He remembered a time when he was not a lost soul but a king, a ruler of worlds.
But the crown—the throne—had betrayed him.
And now, all that remained was the quest to destroy it.
With a deep breath, the boy took a step forward. His surroundings rippled like a reflection in broken glass. The air itself seemed to flicker, revealing glimpses of other worlds—worlds he could never touch, worlds already gone, worlds that might never exist again.
The Throne System pulsed within him, its presence growing stronger with each passing moment.
**❖ Throne System - Interface Update:
Command: Search.
Objective: Unlock Key Fragments of the First Realm.
Current Location: Fragmented Pathway.
Threat Level: High.**
The boy had no time to waste. The Vanguard Class that had been pursuing him was still out there, somewhere, and they wouldn't stop until they had either killed him or taken control of the Thronebearer's power.
Suddenly, the world shuddered. The ground beneath his feet cracked, and the air vibrated with an unnatural hum. He looked up to see the sky itself warping, the very fabric of reality shifting as if something—someone—was trying to tear through it.
Without warning, a blinding light erupted from the horizon, followed by the sound of cracking space. A rift, but this one was different—bigger, darker, more alive.
From it, something emerged.
A figure.
Tall, clad in armor that seemed to shimmer between the real and unreal, its outline shifting with each passing second. The air around it crackled with the weight of its presence. It was not human—it was something older, something more ancient. It walked through the rift as if it belonged to both worlds, its eyes glowing a deep, eerie blue, and its presence brought a feeling of dread unlike anything the boy had ever known.
The boy instinctively stepped back, his heart racing. The Throne System reacted immediately, its interface flashing a new message:
**❖ Entity Detected:
Name: **Zerath, the Void Warden.
Status: Hostile.
Classification: Reality-Warping Entity.**
Zerath's voice echoed out, booming across the fractured space. "So, the Thronebearer has finally come. You should not have left the safety of the First Realm, child."
The boy's pulse quickened. Zerath, the Void Warden. A name he had heard whispered in the shadows of the realms, one spoken of only in fear. A being that existed to guard the secrets of the First Realm—secrets that no one was meant to uncover.
"I did not choose this path," the boy replied, his voice steady despite the terror that rose within him. "But I will see it through."
Zerath's laugh was cold, like the void itself.
"You have no choice," Zerath replied, his voice ringing with ancient authority. "The throne you seek to destroy is the very foundation of everything. Without it, all will crumble. Do you truly understand what you are trying to do?"
The boy's mind flashed back to the fragmented memories of his past. He had once worn the crown—once ruled all of creation from the First Realm. But he had been betrayed, his kingdom torn asunder, and now he was caught in a war not of his making.
He clenched his fists. He didn't have all the answers. But he knew one thing.
He couldn't let the throne's legacy continue.
"I don't care what it was," the boy said, his voice stronger now. "I only care about what it is. And this throne—this power—belongs to no one. Not you, not me, and certainly not anyone who thinks they can control it."
Zerath's eyes flared, glowing brighter as the space around them warped. "You speak as if you know the true cost of what you seek. You are not the first to try and destroy the throne. Countless others have failed. What makes you any different?"
The boy's answer was simple. "Because I'm the last one standing."
With a sudden motion, he raised his hand. The Throne System responded, unleashing a burst of power so intense it sent a shockwave through the fractured world. The energy crackled through the air, sending Zerath stumbling back.
But the Void Warden wasn't defeated. He straightened, his body glowing with the energy of the void itself.
"You think that you can destroy everything? That you can unmake the throne? You are wrong."
Zerath stepped forward, the ground beneath him shattering with each footfall. "You are nothing but a fragment, a remnant. And I will not let you undo what has been done."
The boy braced himself. The Throne System hummed around him, its energy building as the Void Warden advanced. He was no longer a lost soul. He was a force of reckoning, and it was time to prove it.
❖ Authority: Thronebreaker — Level 2.
❖ Command: Obliterate Threat.
The boy reached for the energy within him, gathering it all in his palm. The world seemed to bend around him as he focused all his strength. With a roar, he thrust his hand forward, releasing the energy in a devastating wave.
Zerath's expression didn't falter. The Void Warden raised a single hand, countering the boy's attack with an equally powerful surge of energy. The clash of their powers tore through the fabric of the fractured world, sending shockwaves through the dimensions.
But the boy didn't flinch. He would not lose here.
As their powers collided, something changed. The rift—the broken timeline—began to crack open further, threatening to collapse entirely. The boy's focus wavered for a split second, and Zerath seized the moment, shifting the battlefield once again.
"You will fail," Zerath declared, voice filled with certainty. "And when you do, the throne will remain. Unchallenged."