[Chapter Size: 2200 Words.]
Third Person POV
In the abyss.
...
...
Severus entered the portal as darkness took over on the other side.
He felt that he had two choices since he entered that world: either he could stay there and live, whether that was real or not, or he could find a way to return. Having already understood how he could go back, he knew exactly how to corrupt the Veil to create a portal after absorbing all the power of the Deathly Hallows.
Severus could not help but think that he was in the game of a very powerful being.
He thought about what would come next as the darkness continued to take over everything. In that vision, he felt as if his body had descended into the depths of something. Deep down, he knew what it was: he was in his deepest darkness, within his own power. He was in the abyss, the source of his strength.
His eyes narrowed when he realized he was not alone there. "Appear, whoever you are, I know you're here.", Severus said in a calm tone.
Eyes began to emerge. Blue eyes materialized in the darkness, until they started to form a face with purple flames like his hair on the helm and a body. The darkness itself began to take shape.
A tall creature, as tall as a Ruler, made only of shadows manifested before him, and Severus recognized him immediately.
"You are the Monarch of Shadows... the real one, aren't you?"
"Yes." The voice was powerful in itself, worthy of someone with such a position. "My true name is Ashborn."
Severus had never heard that name before. "Ashborn... I think the architect and the ruler mentioned that name..."
"Yes. And it is you who possesses a part of my power."
"So you've been with me this entire time? Just as all the other Monarchs expanded their influence to the heirs of their rings... But I feel it's different. I feel that you do not control me."
"No. My intention was never to dominate your body," said Ashborn. His flames burned as if they were part of his hair, and he looked at Severus with interest.
Severus knew he had changed since he acquired the power of the system. He knew he had become darker, more ruthless. Even so, he was still himself. There was no drastic change in personality like he felt had happened with the Giant Monarch or the Frost Monarch.
He had changed more as if he were becoming more apathetic, colder, more self-centered. But he was still himself.
"Why? Why didn't you act like the others?", Severus asked curiously.
"Because it is not my desire to return... I needed to find someone who could replace me and many of them appeared over the millennia, other heirs like Morou Kaind, but only you managed to have this power, thanks to the fusion of two souls, Severus Snape and Morou Kaind."
"Are you saying that it was because Morou and Severus became me, that I was able to obtain your power?"
"A little more than that, after all without the system, it would have been impossible to pass on my powers all at once, the system served to release it little by little."
"I understand..." Severus was a little disoriented by this. But there was something Severus wanted to ask him. "...but why didn't you want to fight that war? I saw your visions. But I also saw you being betrayed by the Monarchs themselves. And I saw the Rulers kneeling before you. I never understood what that meant," Severus commented, remembering the vision in the Architect's lair.
"That happened a long time ago. I let you see that vision when you gained the Black Heart. It was about the first war."
"..." Severus was a little confused because of that war. He never understood what had happened there.
"Tell me, Severus Prince... Would you like to hear my story before I ask you a final question, the one that will decide what will happen to you?"
Severus already knew he wanted to understand what had happened in the First War. The information was vague, almost nonexistent in the history of the Order. No one truly knew what had occurred in that era.
"Yes." He replied.
"Very well. I will tell you everything from the beginning."
Soon, a light began to manifest, illuminating the void around them. Ashborn began to speak about his life. He explained that both the Rulers and the Monarchs had been created by a single entity, called the Supreme Being — a name Severus had heard a few times as well.
The entity had the same appearance as the colossal statue that cast lightning, the one he had to bring down when the Architect cornered him with his creations — the statue that represented the Supreme God, just as it had been described in that place.
The vision showed the Supreme Being giving rise to the Rulers. There was one among them who should not exist in the records, and Severus widened his eyes when he recognized him.
"That is me," Ashborn said beside him, as they watched the story unfold before them.
Severus was speechless. Ashborn was a Ruler. He had been created as one of them. So what happened? He waited to see an explanation.
After that, the Monarchs were also created by the same being. And then all of them were made to battle one another, countless times, for thousands of years, choosing worlds as battlefields. Those worlds were destroyed while the Rulers tried to stop the advance of the Monarchs, who continued to expand their armies, consuming entire planets — exactly as they were doing in the present time.
One day, the Rulers discovered that the war was intentional. It was a way to entertain the Supreme Being himself. And he would never do anything to stop it from continuing. Feeling betrayed, the Rulers decided to rebel and kill their own creator.
All of them, except one.
Ashborn refused to destroy his creator and fought against the Rulers themselves. He was the most powerful among them, but he could not face all of them at once. Thus, he fell on the battlefield, dead, with several spears and swords embedded in his body.
"It was at that moment that I realized that was not my end," said Ashborn beside Severus.
They watched the vision of his former Ruler body lying dead, when a darkness began to emerge, starting from the helmet.
"Shortly before dying, the Supreme Being transferred his power to me. Then, in my death... I awakened the darkness and a power that should have never existed."
The darkness quickly began to take shape throughout his entire body. The wings turned into shadows, and there he was reborn as the Monarch of Shadows, with his body entirely made of darkness itself.
With a single movement, he raised his entire army — those who had fought against the Rulers and died. They returned to existence as shadows. It was the same army Severus had received in Cokeworth. Although there had been fewer at the beginning, a little more than fifty thousand shadows stood there, ready to fight once more alongside the Monarch of Shadows.
When Ashborn returned to the place where the Supreme Being was, he found him dead as well, still seated upon his throne, with countless spears embedded in his body.
Ashborn had failed to protect him.
And so, he turned against the Rulers, beginning to fight alongside the Monarchs.
However, Ashborn's power was too much even for the Monarchs. They felt threatened. Ashborn explained that the Demon Monarch and the Beast Monarch had joined forces to kill him. Severus had already seen this in the previous vision.
After that, the Rulers arrived, just as Severus had also seen before. But this time, the wizard could clearly see what was happening.
They simply knelt before Ashborn. They asked for forgiveness. They begged him to forgive them for what they had done. But Ashborn, frustrated, merely turned his back and left.
It was then that, lost, Ashborn realized he no longer wanted battles. Every side betrayed him. He no longer wanted that eternal war. He sought out the Rulers once more, in search of ending all of it.
They had created a trap for the Monarchs without their knowledge. A battlefield — an entire planet — had been isolated so that the sealing could take place. Ashborn secretly helped the Rulers, and thus all the Monarchs' powers were sealed, preventing them from acting.
The creatures were destroyed after that, but the Monarchs could not be killed. So they were sealed into rings, to maintain balance. The Rulers also sealed their powers to remain contained while balance returned to the universe.
This lasted until the balance was broken by the Order's betrayal.
One of the Rulers themselves, who had foreseen all of that, secretly created a system together with Ashborn and the Architect, without the others knowing. The objective was to shape the future after the great period of peace across the worlds of the universe came to an end.
Severus watched all the scenes until they finally ended.
"After all that... came the Order's betrayal, my new body as Severus Snape, my rise as Monarch of Shadows with your powers and the system, and we ended up here," Severus said.
Ashborn agreed. "Yes. This is where we end."
"And now? What comes next?", Severus asked.
"One question. And you will make a decision."
"..." Severus remained silent.
"You have two choices. You can stay in that world created with the older Snape, where you will be able to reverse all your bad decisions, live a peaceful life, without Monarchs or the threat of destruction. Or you can return to the current world. I will go to eternal rest, and you will assume all of my power. After that, you will have to fight the battle against the Monarchs, inside and outside your world and it may last decades of struggle... The choice is yours."
Ashborn let the words hang in the air, while Severus looked at him the next moment without needing to think.
"I wish to return. I wish to fight," Severus replied without hesitation.
Ashborn nodded. "Very well. I knew you would not run away. But you already know how to return."
Severus took a deep breath. He closed his eyes for a moment, facing the abyss beside Ashborn. Then he opened them again, ready to pronounce his next words.
"Arise." The moment he said that, everything began to explode with magical energy. Severus felt the system opening itself to him once more. Finally, he began to gain levels one after another, rising from level 580 to 600, where a mark indicated the maximum — that was the limit the system could grant.
[You have reached level 600, maximum level!]
Severus merely grunted at that, but soon felt the system begin to break apart.
He no longer needed the system.
A black aura, far more powerful even than the Black Heart he had received, enveloped his body. He felt the true power of the Monarch of Shadows flowing through him. His shadows also began to be unlocked.
"My king, it is an honor to meet you after my former lord and now to follow you." The voice was one Severus had never heard before, but he knew who it belonged to.
It was Igris.
He was speaking for the first time.
Severus immediately understood what was happening. Igris had always been powerful, but his abilities had been sealed. If Severus had faced him in the Dungeon of the God of Death in his complete form, he would never have stood a chance of winning. Igris was far stronger than he had been at that time.
He was at Beru's level.
Severus could also feel that all the shadows could now speak freely. He felt the energy coursing through his body and was satisfied as he began to leave that place.
That world created by Ashborn, with a slightly older Severus Snape, did not belong to him. Perhaps that world did not even exist anymore, since it had been created by Ashborn himself.
Severus cast one last look at the darkness before his eyes glowed dangerously in purple.
"Let's hunt."
In the next instant, he felt his body returning to the real world.
And at that same moment, in the real world.
The Ruler was at a distance, observing Severus' pierced body lying on the ground. He ignored the sound of the helicopters around him, as if he were waiting for something, staring fixedly at the corpse of the most powerful human in that world.
In the blink of an eye, a black aura exploded, covering Severus' entire body and surging toward the sky. The Ruler raised a hand in front of his face as the energy intensified. Within that dark mist, a figure began to rise, covered in black marks all over his body.
The Ruler kept his gaze calm as his clothes, hair, and wings were thrown back by the explosion of energy. Then, he opened a smile.
"You have finally returned. Now let us finish this." With those words, he summoned his staff, while the figure within the mist held a small wand.
There would be no more magical restrictions.
They would fight with everything from that moment on.
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