"Seeing my ever-deteriorating health," An old voice trembled throughout an enormous plaza, "I hereby announce my eldest son, Shaun Reese, as the next lord of Crosshaven."
The moment those words echoed through the plaza, the world seemed to freeze.
Thousands of people stood packed together, beneath the grand marble arches.
Banners fluttered all over the place, all of different colors and designs, belonging to different groups.
But of those, four stood out a lot more than the rest.
'Those four banners!'
Amidst this chaos, a tall, decently jacked individual was standing on the balcony from where the old voice was coming.
His long, lustrous, dark-brown hair drifted in the pleasant wind, as his grey eyes glistened in the sun.
He was wearing ceremonial formal robes with a lot of jewellery, reflecting the warm sun above their heads.
He was handsome, but his complexion looked pale.
His grey eyes were trembling as he recognized the four banners in the crowd.
A wave of murmurs rippled through the crowd, but Shaun heard none of it.
His mind had simply stopped working.
'This simply isn't possible…'
He murmured as he looked at the back of the old man delivering the speech there.
He was wearing the very same formarwear as him, with a black fox head on the robes.
Gulp!
His throat ran dry.
Dozens of guards in armor lined up on the ground.
Priests in golden robes stood behind them.
And at the forefront were 4 structured groups of people, each with a distinct banner in front.
Nobles followed, murmuring and whispering behind their silk sleeves.
Merchants with jeweled rings stood behind.
And all of them looked at a certain individual.
Him.
His heart pounded louder than any engine he had heard previously.
'This can't be fucking possible!'
His eyes immediately fell on the center of it all.
A colossal bronze statue of a crowned merchant holding a scale in one hand and a sword in the other.
He knew that statue.
In fact, he had edited this part.
"-for decades, the Reese family has protected the neutrality and sovereignty of Crosshaven City."
Shaun's guts twisted.
Crosshaven.
This ever-so familiar name.
The neutral city.
The trade city.
The… crime city.
Memories of something familiar flickered through his mind.
–"Kevin, do you think the political structure makes sense?"
–"Kevin, you think I should give this family a redeeming feature?"
–"Kevin, should I kill the father?"
Kevin.
Right!
This was his name.
Kevin Hartley.
A college graduate managing his father's mundane business.
While also working as a part-time editor on his best friend of 23 year's novel.
He was 24 years old this year.
The old man's speech pulled him out of his trance temporarily.
"And today, as the four radiant empires of the continent bear witness, I declare…"
Kevin's mind spiraled yet again.
To a certain conversation he had with him last night.
A phone call.
His friend's excited voice.
–"There's one more chapter."
–"The biggest twist in the story."
Kevin had laughed at this.
–"What twist? The ending is already out."
This sentence was followed by a pause.
And then a strange reply.
–"Do you want to find out?"
He thought back to the years he had spent on this long novel that he had made countless edits and tweaks for.
Countless hours to sort out whatever imperfections he could find.
To make the story as intriguing as possible.
This had become a routine for him.
Of course, he wanted to find out.
And the call hung up the second he affirmed.
Urgh!
Another memory assaulted his mind.
It was the hours after the phone call had ended.
A knock on his apartment door.
And as he opened it, a masked man greeted him.
And not just that.
But also a cold metal on his forehead.
A gun.
–"Enjoy the last chapter, my good friend."
The words that followed were still echoing in his mind.
Harder than the gunshot that followed.
Bang!
Aah!
The tall man on the balcony yelped, but the sound was overshadowed by the words that followed.
"I declare my eldest son, Shaun Reese, as the next ruler of Crosshaven."
The plaza erupted in loud cheers, gasps, and shouts.
But Kevin's brain stalled.
No. Not Kevin.
Shaun.
Everyone was staring at him now.
Thousands of eyes.
Peasants, normal citizens, merchants, envoys, guards, clergymen, and so on.
'Son?'
He looked at the old man, staring at him now.
His eyes were inviting.
Wrinkled face, sharp nose, and the unmistakable physical features belonging to the Reese family that he once helped describe in the chapter drafts.
'Is this a dream?'
He pinched himself hard, but to his dismay, nothing changed.
He really was in his friend's novel.
A really hit novel with 3000+ chapters, with him being his only editor till the end.
Even after the money and fame he had received after the hit, his friend kept him as his editor.
And this specific moment was still cemented in his mind.
The point in the novel after which everything fell apart for this city.
And the name he was being referred to as?
Shaun Reese.
The dictator of Crosshaven city.
And a major antagonist of the latter half of the story.
Who was slain by the Protagonist before this city was dissolved.
'Shaun Reese? Me!?'
His trembling hands rose, pointing towards himself.
As if asking the old man if he really was addressing him.
Maybe there was someone else he was referring to?
Maybe he was mistaken?
But the old man nodded, calling him out.
"Yes, you, my son, come forward."
'Ah, fuck!'
It really was happening.
This didn't feel like any hallucination.
And if this was all set up as a prank for him, it was in real bad taste.
But under thousands of pressuring gazes, he stepped forward.
He was about to take over the city, which he himself suggested.
A hub of crime lords, spies, assassins, riots, negotiations, and trade.
The attention was unbearable.
A priest stepped forward and handed him something.
A crystal amplification orb.
This world's equivalent of a microphone.
All these cues only solidified his doomed thoughts.
"Lord Shaun," The priest backed off after a curt bow.
He stared at the orb in his hand and then at the crowd.
Even if this was a hallucination, he was doing it.
He was now the city lord's son.
No.
He was now the city lord.
And the new head of the Reese family.
The family that ruled over the entire city, including half the crime syndicates in it.
Across the plaza, peasants and nobles alike bowed.
Everyone watched him carefully.
Their gazes convey different emotions.
But one thing was certain.
Every single one of these people expected him to speak.
–"It will be the beginning of the end."
His friend's last words echoed through his mind.
His throat ran dry as he lifted the orb.
Everyone perked up their ears.
Everyone was wondering what he was thinking.
No one expected him to think about the impending apocalypse over their heads.
Not everyone here would survive.
Not even him.
But they didn't know.
But he did.
He had read the ending.
He knew what was coming.
And this exact scene was the beginning.
Everyone would die.
Shaun opened his mouth and forcefully uttered his first words.
"...Right. I am taking over this city."