š³ļøĀ Beneath the World
There were no doors to the Temple of Unmemory.
Because it was not meant to be found.
Lucien stood before the void-rimmed gate carved into the underside of reality itself, at the edge of a dead sea made from the tears of forgotten gods. Every step forward peeled back something from his soulāmemories, names, identities. Even the Crown dimmed here.
"This place hates the living," Serael whispered beside him, voice tight.
"It hates the remembered," corrected Velka, eyes narrowed.
"Only the lost may enter," Kaelira translated, reading the runes etched into the air. "And only the cursed may ask."
Lucien stepped forward.
The world blinkedāand he vanished.
šĀ The Oracle in Chains
He reappeared in a black sphere with no walls, no ceiling, only floating shards of a thousand broken realities.
At its center: Her.
The Oracle.
Chained by silver paradox, her face veiled, her limbs looped in golden time-snakes. Her voice echoed before she spoke.
"He returnsā¦
again.
again.
again."
Lucien approached slowly.
"I need to know who I was."
"You always do."
She turned her head, as if blindfolded eyes could still find him.
"You wear the Crown, child. But you did not inherit it.
You forged it.
Once."
Lucien's breath caught.
"ā¦I created the Crown?"
The Oracle laughedāa soft, shattered sound.
"You are the first Necroking.
The last.
The always.
You killed death and sealed yourself beyond time.
But you forgot."
šŖ¦Ā The Curse of the Crown
Lucien stepped back, stomach twisting.
He saw flashes. Pieces.
A man older than time, building a crown of bone from dead stars.
A bargain struck with a void beyond gods.
A throne built from his own body.
A war so terrible it erased him.
"You meanā¦ I reincarnate?" he whispered.
"You fragment.
You splinter.
You bleed into timelines.
But always, you return.
To wear your Crown.
To fight the gods.
And to lose.
Because you chose to forget why."
Lucien gritted his teeth.
"Then tell me."
šļøĀ The Name Before Names
The Oracle's chains shivered.
"I cannot speak your true name," she said. "It is not allowed. But I can show it to you."
She raised one trembling hand and placed it against Lucien's chest.
For one secondāhe saw.
And remembered.
šĀ FLASHBACK: The King Beyond Death
He stood at the end of time, in a universe that had no gods left.
He wore no crown.
He was the Crown.
And the stars knelt before him, screaming.
A woman, cloaked in wings of entropy, knelt at his feet and said:
"Please, mercy."
And he answered:
"No gods.
No thrones.
No chains.
Only silence."
Then he placed the Crown on his own headāand erased himself from reality.
To start over.
š¶Ā Return
Lucien collapsed to his knees in the black sphere.
The Oracle watched him.
"That is your curse.
You sealed yourself from eternityā¦ to protect the world from what you became.
You built the Crown to limit your own power.
And each time you returnā¦ it breaks a little more."
Lucien swallowed bile.
"ā¦Is there an end?"
"Only if you choose to remember.
All of it.
And become him again."
šĀ The Final Warning
The Oracle's voice faded as the realm began to collapse around them.
"One last thing.
The gods know who you are now.
And they fear you.
That is why they sent the Hunter.
The next will be worse.
It will not hunt.
It will beg.
And it will lie."
Lucien opened his eyes just as the darkness shattered.
And he woke on the ground outside the temple.
His queens stood over him.
Kaelira knelt beside him, blood dripping from her mouth.
"I remember everything," he said quietly.
Velka raised a brow. "And?"
Lucien stood.
"I'm not afraid anymore."
šļøĀ End of Chapter 12
š£Ā CTA (Call-to-Action)
Lucien's past has been revealedāhe's not just wearing the Crown, he is the Crown.
What do you think his true name is?
āļø Comment your theory or vote for the next queen-focused chapter!
š Next Chapter:Ā "A God Who Begs"
As Lucien prepares for war, a divine messenger arrivesānot to fight, but to kneel. But the gods do nothing without costā¦ and this one comes with a gift wrapped in betrayal.