When Loryn opened his eyes, the first thing he saw wasn't peace. It was ruin.
His once-pristine bedroom lay in tatters. The balcony had been obliterated, its marble railings torn away into the void. Fractures split the walls like spiderwebs, and shards of crystal glass glittered across the floor. A faint shimmer of golden light still pulsed in the cracks, the last remnant of the black hole he had lost control of.
And amidst this destruction sat Aurelia, the Omni Queen.
Her golden hair spilled across her shoulders like sunlight made flesh, her eyes glowing with divine warmth. She held her son's hand tightly, as though afraid that letting go might make him vanish forever.
"You frightened me, Loryn," she whispered, brushing a strand of his hair from his face. The deep blue strands, inherited from his father, shone faintly even in the wreckage. His eyes opened fully, and for a moment the golden flecks within his irises glimmered like tiny stars. "Do you see what you've done? To yourself… and to this room?"
"I… I didn't mean to—"
"Enough." Aurelia's voice sharpened, though her touch never faltered. "No matter what you believe you must prove, you are not to endanger yourself this way again. You are my son before anything else."
The air shifted. The temperature plummeted. Even broken stone seemed to bow.
His father had arrived.
The Omni King stepped into the ruined bedroom, his azure robes shimmering with constellations, his own hair glowing a sharper blue than Loryn's, his gaze piercing as though it could cleave the cosmos. His presence was suffocating — the kind of authority that made even gods kneel.
"You are reckless," he rumbled, voice deep as thunder. His eyes lingered on Loryn, tracing the resemblance — the blue hair like his own, but softened by the golden sparks of Aurelia's eyes. "And weak."
The words struck like a blade, but before despair could consume him, the King placed a heavy hand on his son's shoulder.
"But you are my son. And weakness will not be your fate. Not while I draw breath."
The ruined doors groaned open, and voices spilled into the wreckage. His siblings had arrived.
"Loryn! What in the stars happened here?!"
"You could have destroyed the palace!"
"Idiot, do you know how worried we were?"
They surrounded him — his protectors, his rivals, his family.
Selene, the eldest sister, strode forward, a pillar of composure. Strapped to her back was the Sword of Eternity, their father's legendary blade, now hers. She looked him over, her gaze flickering from his messy blue hair to his golden-flecked eyes. "You have his hair… but Mother's eyes. Don't waste that bloodline on recklessness, little brother."
Kaelion, the second-born, stood tall in his dark officer's coat, the insignia of Count of the Northern Universe CP01 gleaming across his chest. He crossed his arms. "You look like him, but right now, you're nothing like him. Carry yourself with strength, not foolishness."
Veyra, the third sister, pushed forward with a smirk. "Still collapsing, even with that hair and those eyes? Do you realize how much others would kill to inherit a face like yours? I'm top scorer in the Academy — don't humiliate me when you join." Her teasing tone failed to mask her trembling hands.
Eryndor, the fourth-born, leaned against the shattered doorway, cold eyes narrowing. Only two years older, his sharp mind was already feared across battlefields. "Your resemblance to Father won't save you, brother. Power is more than blood. Learn restraint, or your looks won't matter when you're dead."
The room filled with their overlapping voices, equal parts scolding, worry, and affection.
Loryn brushed strands of blue hair from his face, his golden-flecked eyes lowering. For the first time, he realized… they didn't hate him. They weren't holding him back out of malice.
They were afraid of losing him.
Yet inside his chest, something else stirred.
I don't want to be the one they protect. I don't want to be the fragile child hidden behind their shadows. I want to stand beside them… no, I want to surpass them.
And in that ruined bedroom, with his family around him, the 13th Monarch clenched his fists softly under the sheets.
His path had only just begun.