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Regressed Heir of the Black Throne

Kai_Seraph
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Synopsis
“I died betrayed, buried beneath my own empire. Now I return memories intact, power unsealed, mercy forgotten.” Luceris Dreadwyn was born to rule. Crowned as the heir of the Dreadwyn Empire, groomed in war and shadowcraft, he should have inherited the Black Throne unchallenged. But fate had other plans. Poisoned by his brother. Burned by the church. Buried by the very court he swore to protect. He awakened again, sealed beneath the palace in the forgotten tomb of his ancestors his soul stitched together by ancient fire, and a girl who shouldn’t exist. Now, armed with forbidden knowledge, sealed magic, and a memory of the future drenched in blood, Luceris walks the path of vengeance. The nobles who plotted his downfall. The brother who stole his crown. The priest who whispers to gods behind masks. He remembers them all. And this time, the empire won’t survive his mercy. Power is not given. It is reclaimed. And the Black Flame remembers everything.
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Chapter 1 - Chapter 1: The Dead Prince Lives

The taste of ash still clung to his tongue.

Luceris Dreadwyn had died with a blade through his heart, stripped of his title, his blood spilling across the very floor his ancestors once ruled from.

Betrayed. Forgotten. Burned without a grave.

And yet 

He awoke beneath velvet canopies, his skin unscarred, his hands young, his lungs heaving air like fire.

It wasn't a dream. It was regression.

He sat up slowly, heart pounding. The royal bedchamber was exactly as he remembered it before it became his prison. Moonlight spilled through stained glass, and outside, the bells of Astravar tolled midnight.

I'm back.

Luceris swung his legs over the edge of the bed, the silk sheets rustling like whispers of the past. He could still feel the cold iron shackles. Hear the laughter of his brothers as they watched the 'flawless heir' fall from grace.

The same brothers who poisoned the Emperor.

The same nobles who cheered as the rightful Crown Prince was dragged into the Obsidian Chamber.

Now they breathed, ruled, schemed all believing he was years away from ruin.

They were wrong.

He had two months before it began. Two months before the poison, the false rebellion, the ritual betrayal. This time, he would be ready.

This time, Luceris Dreadwyn would not die.

He moved through the palace halls like a shadow reborn.

Guards bowed. Servants flinched. None of them realized the boy they served now wore the mind of a dead man.

He passed a polished mirror and stopped.

A seventeen-year-old face stared back. Pale violet eyes, hair black as raven's wings, and no scars. His features were regal, calm masking the soul of someone who had clawed his way out of the grave.

I know everything now.

Who to trust. Who to kill. Where the bodies were buried and who buried them.

The empire had made a mistake.

It let Luceris live.

The Imperial Council chamber smelled of rosewater and lies.

Twelve nobles sat in their golden seats, dressed in finery that couldn't hide their rotting ambition. Archdukes, high priests, warlords. Power brokers of the empire. They once smiled at Luceris while twisting daggers behind his back.

Today, he smiled first.

"Your Highness," drawled Archmage Voren. "We weren't expecting you."

"I know," Luceris replied, voice smooth. "That's why you're all still breathing."

A few stiffened. Others laughed awkwardly. Only Duke Malgrand met his gaze directly. Loyal, once. Then bought by his brother Elric for land and titles.

Luceris would take it all back then take their heads.

"I've reviewed the southern uprisings," Luceris said, stepping toward the war table. "You will dispatch the Iron Flame Regiment, not the outer garrison."

Duke Valen blinked. "The Iron Flame? That's"

"Under my command," Luceris cut in. "And the only force loyal enough to stop rebels without burning villages to the ground."

They stared. In his past life, he'd hesitated. Played politics. Waited too long to act.

Now? No time for mercy.

"I'm assuming direct control of all central deployments," he added. "Effective immediately."

"That violates imperial procedure," said Priest-King Solvir, narrowing his eyes.

"The Emperor is dying," Luceris said coldly. "Unless one of you plans to raise him from his bed, I suggest you start listening to his heir."

Silence.

No one objected.

They feared him.

Good. Let fear be the leash before the sword.

Night fell again before Luceris returned to the one place he swore never to enter again.

The Obsidian Chamber.

The room they killed him in.

The room where the ritual had taken place the one that tore his soul from fate and allowed him this second chance.

Cold stone. No windows. Just a cracked black altar and runes long erased from recorded history.

Luceris knelt, pressing his hand to the glyph etched into the floor.

I remember the pact.

A hum answered from the walls.

I accept the cost.

A flicker of smoke coiled from the altar then fire.

Not flame as men knew it. Black flame.

It crawled across his skin like ink, searing his flesh with symbols older than the empire itself.

"You again," the voice rasped from the flame. Ancient. Hungry. Familiar.

"You owe me power," Luceris whispered. "I died to claim it. I died screaming your name."

"You should have stayed dead."

"No." His eyes burned. "Now I become king."

The fire surged and the seal returned.

Not on his skin. In his soul.

The Forgotten Flame an ancient force that devoured not magic, but destiny itself had chosen him once more.

This time, he would master it.

Footsteps echoed behind him.

Luceris turned, summoning fire to his palm

But it was no assassin.

A girl stood at the chamber entrance. Barefoot. Dust-covered. Too young to be a threat.

Except... her eyes.

They glowed violet. Same as his.

She stared at him like someone remembering a dream.

"I saw you die," she whispered.

Luceris said nothing.

"I watched them kill you. I tried to stop it. And now... I think I'm back too."

Another regressor?

No... something else. Something worse.

The gods weren't just giving him a second chance.

They were moving pieces.

And Luceris Dreadwyn would burn the entire

board before he lost again.