The world did not break.
It folded.
Kael felt the floor vanish beneath him as the vortex swallowed everything.
There was no light.
No shadow.
No sound.
Only a rushing pressure like a thousand oceans collapsing inward.
Mr. Han's terrified shout disappeared instantly.
Riven's hand slipped from Kael's grasp.
His domain flickered wildly, shards spinning in chaotic orbits as the air itself bent around him.
Then the darkness cracked.
A jagged tear opened in front of him, and Kael slammed down onto solid ground.
Hard.
Breath exploding from his lungs.
He pushed himself up slowly.
His body still pulsed with the aftermath of the Heart Shrine's power.
He was not in the forest.
He was not on the E Floor.
He was nowhere he recognized.
An endless plane stretched out before him.
A sky made of fractured mirrors hovered overhead, each shard showing a different floor of the Labyrinth.
In some reflections, Kael saw forests.
In others, deserts of bone.
Other shards showed glowing cities carved inside living mountains.
And in the largest shard overhead…
Kael saw a throne.
Empty.
Cracked.
Leaking blue light like blood.
Riven and Mr. Han appeared nearby, thrown from separate tears in reality.
Riven hit the ground in a crouch, blade already out.
Mr. Han stumbled but remained conscious, shaken and pale.
Before Kael could speak, a voice thundered across the mirrored sky.
"You fall into the Convergence and survive.
Interesting."
A giant silhouette stepped forward from the reflective horizon.
A being of brass and fire.
Its joints glowed molten red.
Its face was a smooth metal mask shaped vaguely like a man's.
The symbol of a burning crown hovered above its head.
Riven sucked in a sharp breath.
Her voice cracked.
"Kael… that is a Monarch.
A real Monarch. Not an Echo.
Not a remnant."
Kael stood still.
The Monarch's presence pressed against his chest like a falling star.
Riven continued.
"That is Ignivar the Astrolance.
The Monarch of Ember Paths.
Rank B."
Ignivar stepped closer.
The ground under him melted into slag with every step.
"You carry the scent of a dead king."
His mask tilted slightly.
"Incomplete.
Fragile.
But dangerous."
Riven whispered to Kael without taking her eyes off Ignivar.
"Do not provoke him. He could erase you with a gesture."
Kael said nothing.
He could barely breathe.
The shards around him strained, flickering in pain under Ignivar's overwhelming heat.
A gust of wind sliced through the air.
Feathers as black as void rained down.
Another Monarch arrived.
Tall.
Wrapped in a cloak of storm clouds and swirling wings.
A hood hid her face, but Kael felt her gaze like razor wind.
Riven's jaw tightened.
"She is Veyra.
Monarch of the Howling Gale.
Rank B minus."
Veyra drifted forward, her voice soft and cold.
"You should not exist, Shard-born.
No new Monarch should bear a dead Dominion so early."
Kael clenched his fists.
Blue light crackled beneath his skin.
A third presence seeped into the air like decay.
The ground cracked.
Roots burst upward.
A tree grew in seconds—gnarled, twisting, covered in faces that screamed silently.
The tree bent in a mockery of a bow.
A deep whisper came from within its bark.
"Come closer, little Monarch.
Your scent is… perfect."
Riven staggered.
"That is Theru.
Monarch of the Rooted Ossuary.
Rank A minus."
Kael felt cold terror grip him.
An A minus Monarch was near god-level.
Even Ignivar stepped backward slightly, wary.
Veyra's feathers flinched.
Theru's many mouths spoke at once.
"Do not fear.
I do not eat new Monarchs."
A long pause.
"Not immediately."
Kael felt something ancient stir inside him.
The Echo.
Watching the Monarchs with amusement.
A whisper echoed through his skull.
They test you.
Do not bend.
A king who bows is no king.
Ignivar took another step, molten sparks dripping from his fingertips.
"Shard-born.
State your Dominion."
Kael swallowed hard.
His voice felt small in the vast mirrored plane.
"Shard Dominion."
Veyra's hood shifted violently.
Theru's branches twisted with hungry interest.
Ignivar's molten eyes dimmed.
"So it is true," Ignivar said.
"The Echo of the Fractured King chose a new vessel."
Riven stepped forward, placing herself slightly in front of Kael.
She was trembling, but she didn't move aside.
"He did not choose anything. This was forced—"
Ignivar silenced her with a wave of heat that burned the air.
She froze instantly.
Veyra drifted closer, her wings spreading wide.
"Shard-born.
Do you understand the consequences of carrying that Echo?"
Kael stayed silent.
Not out of fear.
But because he didn't know the answer.
Theru's bark groaned as he leaned close enough for Kael to smell rot.
"The Echo you absorbed belonged to a Monarch who once shattered seven floors of the Labyrinth.
A king who killed gods.
A king who broke the Labyrinth's laws.
A king who was erased from history."
The mirrored sky cracked above them.
A single glowing image appeared.
A figure sitting on a throne of broken mirrors.
Crowned in blue shards.
Eyes like dying stars.
The Fractured King.
Ignivar's voice thundered.
"Shard-born.
Do you intend to claim his throne?"
Kael lifted his head slowly.
The shards around him spun, growing brighter.
His pulse roared in his ears.
And a single memory from the Echo whispered through his mind:
Kings do not follow paths.
They carve their own.
Kael stared at Ignivar.
At Veyra.
At Theru.
Three Monarchs ranked far above him.
Predators among predators.
Gods among mortals.
He did not bow.
His voice rang out across the mirrored plane.
Steady.
Cold.
Certain.
"I intend to rise."
The plane went silent.
Completely still.
Then Ignivar laughed.
A sound like cracking magma.
Veyra's wings spread in delight.
"How bold."
Theru's bark split into a grin of twisting mouths.
"Delicious."
The Monarchs stepped closer—
circling him like wolves around prey
or judges around a claimant.
Ignivar raised a molten hand.
"Then rise, Shard-born Monarch.
Rise…
and survive us."
The Convergence shattered.
The Monarchs unleashed their power.
And Kael was forced to face the first trial of kings.