Thirty floors above the capital, the highest chamber of the royal palace stood open to the night.
Cold wind drifted through the tall windows, brushing against the long black curtains that hung beside them. The room itself was enormous—large enough to hold a banquet for hundreds—yet it felt empty. The golden throne behind the man had not been used in weeks.
Ryan stood at the edge of the balcony, one hand resting against the stone railing.
Below him stretched the largest city on the planet.
Millions of lights flickered across the night like a fallen constellation. Streets carved through the city in glowing lines, stretching all the way to the distant coastline where dark waves rolled against the cliffs.
Far beyond that, the endless ocean reflected the moon.
And even farther still—on the opposite horizon—the massive flat-topped mountain pierced the sky like a silent guardian watching over the world.
All of it belonged to him.
The entire planet did.
Ryan slowly exhaled.
"Has it really been a hundred years…?"
His voice sounded dull, stripped of emotion.
A hundred years had passed since the Awakening.
A hundred years of war.
Monsters had crawled out of fractured skies. Cities had burned. Nations had collapsed. Humanity had nearly been wiped out.
Ryan had fought through it all.
He had crushed beasts that towered over mountains. He had slain kings and tyrants. He had unified what remained of humanity under one banner.
His banner.
Now there were no enemies left.
No monsters.
No wars.
No rivals.
Ryan was the undisputed ruler of Earth.
The strongest being alive.
And yet…
"For a hundred years I fought everything this world could throw at me."
His eyes drifted across the glowing city below.
"I gained power… authority… dominion over the entire planet."
His fingers tightened slightly on the stone railing.
"But I lost everything that actually mattered."
His voice lowered to a whisper.
"Before the real war even began."
Silence swallowed the chamber.
The king stood alone with the wind.
Then—
"Do you truly believe you have reached the end?"
The voice was soft.
Gentle.
Feminine.
Ryan's eyes narrowed slightly.
Someone had entered the chamber.
Impossible.
No guard had announced a visitor.
No footsteps had approached the door.
And yet the voice had come from directly behind him.
Slowly, Ryan turned.
"And who might—"
The words stopped in his throat.
Standing several paces away was a woman.
For a brief moment Ryan wondered if the moon itself had taken human form.
Golden hair flowed down her shoulders like liquid sunlight, moving gently in a breeze that didn't exist. Her white dress shimmered faintly as though woven from threads of light.
Her face was partially veiled by a soft golden glow.
Yet even through that radiance Ryan could tell—
She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
A quiet laugh escaped her lips.
"There's no need to look so startled," she said softly.
Ryan's expression returned to its usual calm.
It had taken an enormous amount of effort over the last century to dull his emotions. Even now, the shock was already fading.
"That depends," Ryan replied. "Most people cannot walk into the king's private chamber unnoticed."
The woman tilted her head slightly.
"Let's just say I am here to show you the path you should have walked from the very beginning."
Ryan studied her for several seconds.
His senses stretched outward instinctively.
He could feel mountains from hundreds of kilometers away.
He could hear the tides shifting along the distant shore.
He could sense the magical barriers surrounding the entire capital.
Yet…
He couldn't sense her.
At all.
"What does that mean?" Ryan finally asked.
"You have achieved much," the woman said.
Her voice was calm, almost soothing.
"But you have barely touched the surface of your true potential."
Ryan frowned.
"That seems unlikely."
He gestured toward the world outside the window.
"I rule the planet. Every creature on this world fears or respects me."
The woman smiled faintly.
"That might be true."
Her golden eyes lifted slightly.
"But do you truly believe this planet…"
The air around her shimmered faintly.
"…or even this realm… is the only one that exists?"
Ryan froze.
For the first time in decades something stirred deep within his chest.
Curiosity.
Just a flicker.
But it faded quickly.
Ryan turned back toward the window.
"I don't care."
His voice was quiet.
"What reason would I have to pursue more power?"
The city lights reflected faintly in his eyes.
"I already lost everything that mattered."
He lowered his head slightly.
"The people I cared about…"
His voice grew softer.
"They were gone before the real war even started."
The chamber fell silent.
For several seconds the woman said nothing.
Then—
"You have suffered greatly."
Her voice carried a quiet sadness now.
"Which is why I want to give you a chance to erase that suffering."
Ryan slowly turned back toward her.
Disbelief crept into his expression.
"That isn't possible."
"There is no power in existence that can bring back the dead."
The woman's golden gaze met his.
"Not in this timeline."
Ryan's brow furrowed.
"But there is a way…"
Her voice grew softer.
"…for you to begin again."
Ryan stared at her for a moment.
Then he laughed.
The sound echoed through the empty chamber.
"Do you think I'm a fool?"
The air shifted.
A brilliant golden light erupted from the woman.
Her hair lifted as if caught in a celestial wind. The faint glow surrounding her body intensified until the entire room was bathed in radiant gold.
Ryan felt something he had not experienced in a century.
Pressure.
Power that dwarfed his own.
"I will send you back," she said.
Her voice echoed through the chamber like distant bells.
"To the moment before the Awakening."
Ryan's eyes widened slightly.
"You will return with every memory from this life."
The world around him began to blur.
The palace walls trembled.
Reality itself seemed to unravel.
Ryan stared at the glowing figure before him.
"Who… are you?"
The golden light grew brighter.
"You may call me Iris."
Her voice reached him as the world dissolved into darkness.
And then—
Everything vanished.
***
The king's chamber stood empty.
Only one figure remained.
Iris gazed out across the fading world.
The city lights dimmed.
The ocean dissolved into shimmering fragments.
Mountains crumbled into dust as the fabric of reality unraveled.
"This timeline will now be reset," she whispered.
Her voice was filled with quiet sorrow.
"I could no longer watch you endure it alone."
Her golden eyes drifted toward the horizon where the ocean had once been.
"I waited so long to see you again."
The world continued to disappear piece by piece.
Space itself fractured like shattered glass.
Iris closed her eyes.
"I don't want our reunion…"
Her voice trembled slightly.
"…to be with a broken man."
The final fragments of existence faded into golden light.
And as the last embers of the world disappeared, her whisper lingered in the void.
"Please come back to me…"
A small smile touched her lips.
"My love."