The blinding gold faded.
The fractured valley dissolved.
And Aiden—now bearing the mantle of a King with no throne and no script—felt the world pull him back to where he had come from.
Not violently.
Not as a command.
But as an invitation.
A pulse of light wrapped around him and carried him across folds of space.
When his boots touched the ground again, it was solid stone—familiar stone—the courtyard of the Sanctuary of Unwritten Stars.
Wind rushed across his face. Voices filled his ears again. Warmth returned to his skin. The world smelled real.
Alive.
The moment his form stabilized—
"Aiden!"
Footsteps thundered toward him.
Yunaria reached him first, nearly slamming into him with the force of panic and relief. Her arms wrapped around him before she even checked if he was standing properly.
"Aiden—Aiden—Aiden—" She said his name like chanting a spell to anchor herself. "I thought you were gone. I felt the valley collapse. I felt your source flicker. I thought—"
"I'm okay," he murmured.
It wasn't entirely true.
But it wasn't a lie, either.
She pulled back enough to look at him, and her expression changed. Confusion flickered through her eyes. Then awe. Then something like fear—not of him, but of what he had become.
"Aiden…" she whispered, fingertips brushing the rim of the mantle trailing behind his shoulders. "This isn't the throne's binding. This is—"
"My choice," he said.
Her breath hitched.
"You forged your own dominion?"
"Something like that."
She shook her head softly. "Not even the First King could do that."
Aiden offered a tired, crooked smile. "Then we can add it to the list of things I did without permission."
Before Yunaria could answer, a gust of wind swirled past them—followed by three figures appearing from the Sanctuary hall.
Selas, Lyrin, and Caelis.
Selas froze mid-step. "Oh. Oh stars. Oh no. What—what is that?" She pointed frantically at the mantle. "That's not allowed!"
Lyrin stared like someone watching an impossible creature. "You… changed your source form. Without dying."
Caelis stepped closer, hesitant, his normally cold expression flickering with unshielded astonishment.
"You broke the Crown Law."
Aiden shrugged. "It was stupid law anyway."
Selas made a horrified squeak.
"YOU CAN'T JUST SAY THAT LIKE YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT SPEED LIMITS!"
Aiden rubbed the back of his neck, slightly amused despite exhaustion.
"I didn't erase worlds. I didn't merge with the old king. I didn't destroy anything."
Caelis's eyes narrowed. "…Then what did you do?"
Aiden lifted his gaze.
"I made a third option."
A silence hit them like a wave.
Even the Sanctuary seemed to pause.
Yunaria's voice came soft, but steady:
"He rewrote the system. He freed the throne from the cycle. The eras will return—gradually. Safely. Without the resets."
Selas' jaw dropped so hard it nearly hit the floor.
Lyrin swore in three languages.
Caelis blinked, which for him was the equivalent of fainting.
Yunaria turned to the others.
"And Aiden now holds a mantle… unique to him. A sovereignty that doesn't consume or erase."
Lyrin stared at Aiden. "…What do we even call that?"
Aiden raised a brow.
"'Aiden' works."
Selas threw her hands in the air. "THAT IS NOT A TECHNICAL TERM—"
Caelis cut her off. "He's a Guardian King."
The group fell silent.
Aiden looked at Caelis.
"…You heard that term somewhere?"
"No," Caelis said slowly. "I felt it."
A ripple of energy spread from Aiden's mantle. Not violent. Not demanding. It resonated with the Sanctuary, with the air, with every timeline thread around them—like the soft ring of a bell after a miracle.
Selas touched her chest. "I felt it too. Like something… lifted."
Yunaria nodded. "A weight that shouldn't have existed."
Caelis studied Aiden more closely. "Your soul output is stable… no corruption… no memory bleed…" His eyes widened. "You are whole."
Yunaria's breath trembled.
"Aiden," she said, stepping closer, eyes shining with a softness she rarely allowed, "you did something no king has ever done."
Aiden looked at his hands—steady, unburned, wrapped in a faint glow that felt like responsibility made gentle.
"I didn't want the power," he whispered.
"I didn't want the throne. I just… wanted a way that didn't end in tragedy."
The mantle shimmered lightly, like answering him.
Selas wiped at her eyes. "I can't believe it. I can't believe someone finally broke the cycle."
Lyrin, for once, didn't tease. "Good job, kid."
Caelis inclined his head. "You restored hope."
Aiden blinked back a wave of emotion.
But the air… shifted.
A cold ripple.
A distortion.
The others felt it too.
Yunaria grabbed his arm. "Something's coming."
The sky above them darkened—not with clouds, but with fissures. Black fractures spiderwebbed across the horizon, glowing with hateful violet.
Selas gasped. "No way—not now—not after everything—"
Caelis drew his weapon. "The Oblivion Scourge. It senses the change."
Lyrin swore again, louder this time. "Because of course it does!"
Aiden stepped forward, mantle rising behind him like wings made of golden wind.
"No more running," he said, voice steady.
"Aiden…" Yunaria whispered, worry threading through her voice.
He glanced back at her—softly, reassuringly.
"I changed the rules," he said. "Now I'll protect them."
He lifted one hand.
The mantle flared, bright and warm, radiating stability.
The fissures shuddered.
A massive roar echoed across the skies.
The first wave of the Scourge broke through—
—and Aiden stepped forward alone.
"Let's see what a Guardian King can do."