1 Chapter 1.

Monarch Of Shadows.

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"Open your eyes, we don't have much time." A deep voice resounded throughout a cave like area. His voice held power, so much so that just that simple sentence caused the surrounding area to shake.

Pebbles and small sharp edges of crystalized mana, were shaken off their original home. Clacking and hitting the floor, causing the small puddles of water to jump up with great vigor. A boy not even seventeen, had his eyes shoot open as he frantically looked around.

His eyes were filled with panic and confusion, waking up in a strange cave with no light or source of sound, started to fill him with fear. He slowly scooted back, using his hands in place of his feet. His eyes were darting all over the pitch-dark cave, but suddenly...

A dark purple, ominous light revealed itself within the dark, giving the boy a sense of hope, and dread as well... The boy stopped his panic-struck breathing and forcefully calmed himself down, never moving his gaze from the light in front of him.

He didn't know what to do, his head was filled with thoughts that would make any one who could read them get a nasty headache the moment they tried too.

His fear had grown. The last thing he remembers is bleeding out with a sword in his chest... His old world was blurry to him, nothing besides his death was he able to remember.

The boy slowly got up, he decided that it would be best to see if that light was his way out, though he doubts it since if it was something like sunlight, it shouldn't be that ominous purple. Tip toeing slowly, he made his way towards the light.

Ashborn, the one and only Shadow Monarch, had watched the boy in front of him with an air of impatience. He's a pacifist by nature, but that doesn't mean he wouldn't use violence to rush a interaction or get a point across.

[Rulers Authority.]

The boy was suddenly halted in place, a suffocating feeling washing over him, causing him to widen his eyes in surprise and panic. He tried to thrash around but the crushing feeling only got tighter when he moved, making him relinquish his thoughts of escape, surrendering himself to his fate.

He closed his eyes, accepting death. Ashborn saw this and halted in his original plan, he was looking for a successor and he was running out of time, so he pulled the boy into his residence. Hoping that the boy in front of him had what it took.

Ashborn had used his abilities to look through the boy's life experiences and saw that he was what he was looking for, someone who was constantly surrounded by death and he himself was always close to it.

It was like a match made in heaven.

But the scene in front of him made Ashborn rethink his choice. He didn't expect the boy to just... Give up his life because he couldn't escape. Filled with disappointment, Ashborn went to release the boy, but as he went to do so he felt resistance in his telekinesis.

Looking back towards his source of disappointment, he saw something that made the disappointment recede and be replaced with the feeling of relief and happiness...

The boy was struggling once more, a new refined look in his eyes, just like the ones the boy had when Ashborn looked through his life's experience. A small smile appeared on Ashborns face as he slowly brought the boy closer to him.

The boy who was still struggling in the mana created hand, felt that he was moving. The feeling of unease hid itself in his stomach, making him feel like he was going to throw up, but he held on and kept struggling.

He didn't want to die just yet, and he certainly wasn't going to give up when he just got a new chance at life... Potentially.

'Come on! Come on!' He screamed internally, grasping at the air in front of him, but to no avail... He couldn't escape. The same feeling from before, the feeling of being trapped and cornered. The fear he felt when he was at deaths door reemerged.

Causing the boy to slowly lose hope, his body relaxed, his arms flopped to his side as his legs dangled underneath him. His dead grey eyes that held nothing but impatience stared at the growing deep purple light that was now right in front of him.

Now that he was closer, he began to see that the purple light was being emitted from a deep purple flame with a black highlight to it. The more he stared the brighter it seemed to get, until it stopped growing. Filling him with confusion.

His hand reached out towards the flame unconsciously, almost like it was an instinctual feeling.

A small smile appeared on Ashborns face, his powers and knowledge were finally about to be passed on, he could finally rest... A foreign feeling to him overwhelmed him, he couldn't describe it... It felt like he was anxious but over flowing with excitement at the same time.

In normal words, he was relieved and impatient.

He watched the boy come into contact with his soul, and when they made contact, he relived everything the boy went through in his short life while the boy went through the same thing, but it lasted longer do to Ashborns longevity.

Once it was done, Ashborns smile was replaced by his ever-present emotionless face. He watched as the boy's eyes went hollow, it was caused by the sudden 'attack' on his soul.

He relieved everything like he took Ashborns place. He saw his creation, to the place in the war between the Rulers and Monarchs, and finally, how Ashborn became the Shadow Monarch. Along with the experience, he also absorbed everything Ashborn knew about mana, the cup of reincarnation, the Rulers, Monarchs...

The Absolute Being.

He learned it all, engraving it into his mind, the boy's eyes regained their light. The boy let out panted heavy breaths as he was still suspended in the air, but that soon changed when a fading but deep voice sounded in his mind.

"... Thank you, and I'm sorry. I hope you can fulfill what I couldn't."

The boy didn't get startled by Ashborns message. As he fell to the ground due to the sudden release of the telekinesis that was suspending him, he had multiple thoughts run through his head.

'.. Ashborn... Monarchs... Rulers... Shadow Monarch... Cup of Reincarnation... Mana...' Thoughts of all of these subjects flooded his mind, but as he was too focused on the changes inwardly, he didn't notice the dark purple shadowy hue that enveloped him.

...

A few moments had passed since the boy's bestowal of power. By this time, he's already been attuned with his new powers and knowledge, but what threw him off was the change in his body.

It was now that of a five-year-old.

〖. Pov Azrael. 〗

My hands... Why are they so small? I'm Six-teen, right? Or at least I should be... It seems that Ashborn didn't fully give me the rundown of what happened to me. I get the gist of why I was given his powers, his inheritance.

This new world, however is of new grounds for me. Ashborn didn't get to explore it as he was on his last straws, coming to this world in hopes of finding a successor. Me.

Shaking my head, I rid myself of these thoughts as I look around this cave. It was grand in size but in looks... I wasn't so lucky. The walls of the cave were jagged and rough, it looked as if it could cut me with just a rub against it.

The lighting was terrible, without the use of mana, I wouldn't be able to see a single thing, that's how dark it was. There were also faint sounds of water dripping to the floor, causing a splash to resound throughout the air due to the various puddles that littered the floor.

I stood up off the ground, ready to head out of this cave and see what this world has to offer as well as prepare myself for the upcoming battle that will inevitably happen... I just hope that it's farther into the future.

Sending a wave of mana throughout the cave, I gained a sense of semi-omniscience. Everything that my mana touched was relayed back to my mind, giving me a clear image of what it was that blocked the path of my deep purple mana.

'.. There.' I thought, looking to my right. The path was dark, but my mana spread the most there and it eventually led to a tree like object that my mana came into contact with. There were also flowers and grass. I'm not wrong to assume that it was my way out, I doubt there would be a big hairy man with a tree on his back...