The Eternal Crown was quiet Too quiet Not the silence of nothingness but the silence of something so vast that sound could not travel across it Ryo walked across its surface as if he were walking down a simple village road.
Serath trailed behind his face pale He still could not believe what had happened The Writer was gone The Crown Cosmology had crowned Ryo its master fiction all swallowed like dust
And yet Ryo walked casually breaking a piece of bread and chewing like this was an ordinary day
Serath: I… I don't understand Why do you act like this is nothing? You just became the ruler of the greatest cosmology ever conceived!
Ryo: And what do you want me to do? Dance? Cry? Being at the top doesn't mean I stop eating bread.
The wolf pup barked happily running circles around Ryo Even the little beast seemed to sense that nothing in existence could touch him anymore.
The Path of Crowns
The surface shifted as Ryo walked The Crown Cosmology was no longer a place of infinite thrones and structures Under his steps it became a path a road stretching forward without end
Every step Ryo took caused fragments of reality to form: cities made of light seas made of thought skies that rewrote themselves with each blink None of it lasted The moment Ryo passed the fragments folded back into him.
Serath: It… it's as if the Crown itself is shaping a journey for you Like it wants to be walked.
Ryo: Then let's keep walking.
The First Encounter
A shadow moved ahead Not a god not a monster but a man dressed in robes of silver ink His face was blurred as if even the Crown could not remember him
The man bowed deeply.
Unknown Figure: Lord of the Crown I am a Fragment a remnant of a story erased long ago I was born when my author abandoned me Until now I drifted in silence But your presence… woke me.
Serath stiffened.
Serath: Fragments… I've read about them Lost beings erased from all cosmologies They shouldn't even exist
The Fragment raised his head.
Fragment: I have only one question Do I serve you… or do I vanish forever?"
Ryo stopped chewing He stared at the man for a long moment then answered calmly.
Ryo: Serve me or vanish? That's not a choice You already belong to me Everything does.
The Fragment trembled His blurred face sharpened into clarity reshaping itself under Ryo's words His very existence stabilized for the first time in eternity.
Fragment:I… I exist because you allow me My Lord then my only role is to follow where you walk.
The Road Grows
More steps More Fragments appeared. Beings erased by writers forgotten by storytellers left unfinished Some were half complete heroes others broken villains Some were just whispers of universes that never came to be
All of them bent their knees when Ryo walked by None could resist None dared to.
Serath whispered under his breath.
Serath: He's not just master of the Crown Cosmology He's becoming the god of the forgotten… the king of everything left behind.
Ryo tore another piece of bread and shrugged.
Ryo: If they want to follow let them I'm not stopping.
The End of the Path?
After what felt like eternity the path of the Crown began to rise curling upward into the horizon At the very peak was something strange: a gate made of mirrors reflecting countless realities that no longer existed.
The Fragments shivered.
Fragment: That… that is the Gate of Lost Time. No one has ever passed through Even gods who tried were swallowed and undone.
Serath turned to Ryo his voice shaking.
Serath: Ryo… maybe we should stop here The Crown has no end You don't need to walk through that gate to prove anything.
Ryo smirked tucking the last piece of bread into his mouth.
Ryo: I don't walk to prove I walk because the path exists And if there's a gate then I'll open it.
Without hesitation Ryo placed his hand on the mirrored surface The gate trembled the reflections inside screaming shattering collapsing into shards of light.
The Fragments cried out Serath fell to his knees the wolf pup howled.
And the gate began to open.
The Gate of Lost Time groaned as it unfolded not revealing another layer of the Crown but something no one had ever seen before.
A darkness without origin A light without end A place that was not place a time that was not time.
And Ryo smiling as always stepped forward.
Ryo: Let's see what's waiting on the other side.