Chapter 71: The Memories Of A Lost World

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Riven’s hand extended forward and gently touched the core. The moment his fingers made contact, countless vivid memories of a long-destroyed world flooded into his mind like a rushing river.

The world from which the Fallen King, these Giant Knights, and the other strange fauna had originally come was a world similar to Earth in many ways. It possessed a clear blue sky, yet it was illuminated by two bright suns during the day and watched over by a single large red moon at night.

He saw how the dominant species of that planet were Giants. They resembled humans in basic shape, but they stood between ten and twenty meters tall. These Giants were divided into countless separate tribes that constantly competed with one another.

Over many generations the tribes were eventually united under a single flag by the Fallen King’s oldest ancestor. That great unification created one powerful Kingdom. As time passed, the Kingdom slowly divided once more into many smaller nations spread across the planet’s single gigantic Pangea-like continent, the only landmass that existed in that world.

The people of that world waged endless wars for territory and resources. The fighting continued without rest until one day mysterious Gates suddenly appeared. A System emerged alongside them, and the Giants began to awaken supernatural Classes while being blessed under various Authorities.

However, much like how humanity was currently behaving on Earth, the Giants warred among themselves and fought viciously over these new resources. They abused their newly gained powers without restraint and eventually destroyed any chance for their race, and their entire planet, to fulfill the conditions required for Ascension.

And eventually... the end came.

The skies turned a deep, bloody red. Their own moon suddenly cracked and broke apart, revealing a gigantic, unblinking eye that gazed down upon them from the heavens. The seas transformed into rivers of thick blood. The monsters of the world mutated into horrific aberrations that began to devour everything and everyone in their path.

People themselves became zombies and mindless undead, turning on their own children and families in mindless hunger. Ezekiel, the Fallen King, who practiced powerful Arcane Arts, sealed off his castle and the surrounding Kingdom in a desperate attempt to protect what remained. In a failed effort to save his people from this horror, he absorbed everyone’s madness into himself.

The entity that had come for them whispered its name directly into his heart, and he finally learned what it was.

Cosmic Monarch – The Bleeding Moon.

Much like how Riven had witnessed the Abyssal Gaze destroy his own planet with countless black holes that slowly consumed the world while horrifying Void Beasts tore humanity apart, this Cosmic Monarch had arrived to perform the same kind of judgment in its own terrible way.

It was Pruning.

"No...! NOOOOOOO!"

Ezekiel screamed in pure despair as he resisted the spreading madness. In a final act of defiance he tore his own heart out of his chest and turned himself into an Undead. His entire Kingdom crumbled under the crushing weight of the curse, falling into a giant abyss of endless caverns that quickly filled with monsters of every kind.

Since then, he was never the same. The world he once knew and loved had been completely erased. Eons later, he found himself trapped in another world. Small people began pouring through a gate that connected to his realm. They came only to kill his men, butcher them apart, and rob every last piece of his remaining riches.

He was killed several times, yet he could never rest. The System forced him to revive over and over again, trapping him in an endless cycle of pain and loss.

"How sad," Riven sighed quietly, shaking his head as he slowly regained full consciousness. The vivid Memories of that Forgotten World of Giants, Gigantia, still lingered strongly in his mind. "And I killed him so ruthlessly..."

Riven shook his head again, a heavy wave of guilt washing over him. He felt deep regret for having tortured a soul that had never deserved such cruel punishment. Yet the deed was already done. What he had done was the only way to finally take this burden away from the old king and grant him the eternal rest he had longed for.

He felt the faint presence of the King standing just behind the glowing Dungeon Core. The old man’s tired face showed a gentle, understanding smile as he whispered to Riven one last time.

"Don’t let Greed consume your people... the only way to survive is by working together. It is still not too late... I am entrusting to you what remains of my Kingdom, Young Lord."

"I will protect the small piece of your world, Ezekiel," Riven answered with quiet resolve. "And I promise... that I won’t let my world fall the same way yours did."

Ezekiel nodded in silent gratitude and slowly began to walk away. His form grew fainter with every step until he finally disappeared, his soul at last finding the eternal rest it had been denied for so long.

"Ahhh... my wife... my children... Papa is finally coming home."

Faint, warm memories of a better life passed through Riven’s mind like soft echoes. He saw a completely different version of the Fallen King — the man once known as the Wise King. In those memories Ezekiel was a genius Archmagi who protected his Kingdom with powerful magic and raised entire generations of skilled magicians.

He had a beautiful wife and three children he loved more than anything in the world. Riven watched as Ezekiel walked across a wide green grassland with two of his children happily sitting on his broad shoulders. His wife walked beside him, gently holding their third child, a small baby, in her arms.

She smiled with pure warmth and whispered softly, "Welcome home, dear."

FLASH!

Riven’s eyes snapped open. Everything he had just witnessed vanished in an instant, leaving only the cold reality of the present.

He gripped his fists tightly, the weight of what he had seen settling heavily on his heart. Once again he was forced to face the cruel nature of this universe and the way the pruning came for everyone, no matter how hard they fought or how much they loved.

But why?

Why did this keep happening? What force drove the universe itself to destroy entire worlds and feed them to these "Cosmic Monarchs"?

And what exact role did the Authorities play in this endless cycle of destruction?

"R-Riven?" Daniela’s worried voice interrupted his dark thoughts. He turned to look at her.

"Sorry," he said, rubbing his temple. "I... saw a lot of things just now. Ugh. My head still hurts a little. But I’m fine. Don’t worry."

Daniela nodded slowly, still watching him with concern. "So... what exactly happened here?"

Riven looked up at the high ceiling of the chamber and then at the glowing crystal floating in the center. A faint determined smile crossed his face.

"Well, in simpler terms," he said, "I have made this gate my own property."

"...Huh?!"

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