The Prince of Ashes
Kaelen awakens in the body of Leo—a minor villain in a cliché fantasy tale, slated for execution in Chapter Seven. But Kaelen is no ordinary soul. He is an Architect, a being from a forgotten age who understands reality as a narrative construct—a tapestry of golden threads dictating every hero’s triumph and every villain’s downfall.
Stripped of divine power, trapped in a weak, disposable body, Kaelen’s only weapon is his mind. With a single, subtle edit, he unravels his own execution, revealing a terrifying truth: this world is a story, and everyone in it is a character following a script.
His first and only ally is Princess Elara—the story’s canonical villainess, a jealous royal destined to die forgotten and hated. But Elara possesses a rare spark: the ability to see the cracks in her own narrative. Recognizing her latent potential, Kaelen offers her a dangerous bargain:
“I will not teach you to survive your role. I will teach you to rewrite it.”
Together, they claim the ruins of the Voidwatch Tower, a place forgotten by the plot. Here, Kaelen begins Elara’s education in the art of narrative manipulation. He teaches her to:
Observe the predictable patterns of the “hero” and “saintess.”
Identify the pressure points in the social and political tapestry.
Edit small, crucial story beats—turning a loyal guard’s doubt into rebellion, a prophet’s dying words into a seed of revolution.
But every edit has a cost. Each deviation Kaelen engineers feeds a slow-growing power within him—not magic, but authority over the narrative. Yet each change also attracts the attention of the world’s enforcers: the zealous Templars of the Canon, who hunt “plot anomalies,” and the story’s own protagonist, Prince Cedric, whose heroic instincts sense the story slipping from his control.
As Kaelen guides Elara from a pawn into a cunning player, they must navigate a deadly game of political intrigue, social engineering, and narrative warfare. They will build a shadow empire from forgotten characters, weaponize story tropes against their enemies, and fight not with swords, but with plot twists.
But Kaelen’s past is a mystery even to him—fragments of a greater war against the Authors who first penned reality. And as his power grows, so does the fear: is he freeing this world from its chains, or is he simply writing himself a new throne?
The Prince of Ashes is a cerebral, slow-burn fantasy where the ultimate power lies not in strength or spells, but in understanding the story—and daring to change the ending.
"Your fate is not to weep over a prince," he tells her, his voice echoing with ancient power. "Your fate is to kneel to no one. I will teach you how to rule the shadows so completely that the light has no choice but to serve you."
Under Kaelen's ruthless, calculated mentorship, Elara transforms from a pawn into his most powerful piece. Together, they dismantle the original plot. They turn the hero's allies against him, corrupt the kingdom's sacred institutions, and build a hidden empire within the cracks of the narrative.
But as Kaelen's true power seeps back, the celestial beings who sealed him sense his return. To protect his new kingdom and his protégé, the Prince of Ashes must finish what he started eons ago—and this time, he won't just kill gods. He'll teach his villainess to do the same.
6. Tag Category & Tags:
