Chapter 1

Thousands of disciples, draped in a rugged cloak and a hood, marched into a staging area..a staging area that was shadowed over by a towering citadel in the heart of the capital of the urban planet…

KANG DAE…

The Universal Capital of the New Galactic Dominion. 

At the centre of the unison march, a chamber was pushed through. They slowly entered the palace that was roaming with countless Dominion energy wielders. The citadel served as the castle of evil. The epiphany of chaos. The triumph of Soulas.

~

The chamber was isolated in a bay. Widespread of nothing but darkness and a void underneath, the chamber stood on a hovered platform, where a familiar figure stood in front of it.

“Master Sorcerer, the Emperor is expected.” A cloaked figure spoke out to the Sorcerer.

“We shall not keep his majesty waiting.” Dunamis, the master of Monarch, gently replied through his devilish voice.

A platform formed to the chamber from seemingly dark ends. Without much waiting, he appeared.

“O mighty Emperor, I thank you for your wise decision to extend your undying gratitude to my disciple.” Dunamis, significantly taller than Soulas, kneeled over to his majesty.

Soulas loomed over Dunamis, with a woman by his side and guards in the masses behind him.

“I permit the revival because he is a valuable asset.”

Soulas spoke straight to the point. He cares not to waste time. A rebellion must be vanquished.

“My beloved will oversee the full recovery of the Supreme Leader. She dwells in spiritual cognition and will be of great assistance alongside your sorcery.” 

As the Emperor commanded, the woman stepped forward.

Empress Alesso. Wife to the Dominion Emperor. Leader of the republic, Kingdom Thark. The most powerful woman in the universe.

“It is an honour to serve with you, your majesty.”

“You can seize with the proprietary Sorcerer.” Alesso scoffed at his loyalist behaviour. Striding across the platform, she quickly marched over to the chamber, ignoring the pleasantness the environment aided to her.

“Do not fail me, Master Sorcerer.” Soulas swiftly turned, walking back into the darkness he crawled out of.

Dunamis gently panned to Alesso, his eyes growing ever more impatient to the Empress’ disgust to seemingly nothing.

“What became of the Monarch?” She sternly asked.

“Arrogance consumed him. Hence, he paid its debt.” 

“It would seem he learned extravagantly from his master to do the same.” She commented further. She gave a slight chuckle at the end of her sentence as she glided her fingers on the glass surface of the tube.

Her fingers left a mark. Her eyes glowed to the rhythmic pulse of the life system, mimicking the heartbeat of the man within.

“He is a wounded dog…” She slowly collapsed her palm onto the cold surface of the tube, mentally connecting herself to the Supreme Leader.

She’d leave Dunamis to admire from behind.

~

Her eyes flickered to a different environment. Darkness of the room shifted to an endless void of purple storm. She had entered the mind of the King. The mind of Monarch.

She gently strolled the endless void in hopes to find the spiritual incarnation of Monarch inside his mind. Her stroll broke waves in the ground.

 A gentle streak of her foot in shallow water with waves that continued for miles without end. A voice called to her.

“Orion.” She’d hear it.

“I hereby sentence you to serve the remainder of your service behind bars for treason against the Allegiance.” An old desolate voice echoed across the plains.

She looked around to admire such a phenomenon.

“Sometimes, you must lose so that others can win.”

Orion’s younger voice echoed.

It would seem Alesso found herself deep inside Monarch’s mind. His own cage of secrets.

“I love you.” Destoria’s voice echoed as well.

“I got your back. Don’t worry!” So did Ryan’s.

“You could use a break.” Ava’s voice lingered as well.

“You’re the closest I have to a brother.” Athena’s voice remained to be the last that echoed before silence.

A cascade of voices overlapping one another before dying down completely, leaving the Empress alone to her breathing, and her pulsating heartbeat echoing in the endless void.

As before, the sounds died down. She’d then hear shifts in the water below her. Her gentle turn greeted her with Monarch. Though it may seem to be a corpse.

Alesso approached Monarch, who was on his knees with an arrow pierced through his heart with wounds across his outfit.

“Monarch?” She greeted him.

The corpse responded. His head tilted up prior to her call.

“Your…highness?” A destroyed voice replied in utter pain.

She’d approach to remove his helmet, to which his bloodied gauntlets grabbed her arms.

“Don’t…”

The Empress hesitated. Eventually, she gently removed his helmet.

The cracked visor slowly dimmed its glow as the helmet came off Monarch. She gently tossed it aside, admiring Monarch’s face for the first time.

“When Bloodshot told me that the Supreme Leader was human, I scoffed in disbelief. I didn’t expect the Monarch to be the former protector of Earth, Orion Hubolt.” She kneeled down to Orion’s level, looking over to his eyes.

Ruined by his purple aura and popped veins, Orion looked into her eyes.

“Why visit my final moments, your highness?” He struggled to ask.

“Save me the lacklustre formality, Hubolt.” She’d assist in wiping the blood away from his face.

“Why…did you call me that?” His voice peaked as he inhaled sharply. He’d maintain his composure whilst fighting the excruciating pain he was embedded with.

“Are you not Orion Hubolt?”

“I am Monarch. The Supreme Leader.” Even in such an epiphany, he replied proudly.

“You follow the wrong examples, boy.” She’d try to pull the arrow out from his chest.”

“NO!”

Monarch’s devilish voice echoed. His hands grabbed Alesso’s tightly.

“You don’t…understand…” He’d slowly loosen his grip.

Alesso looked over to him, unable to help herself but feeling a slight pity and care for the broken soul.

She’d grab his shoulder to allow him to lean on something to rest. Her calm demeanour allowed Orion to open up.

“The universe took everything from Orion. From me.” Tears, diluted with the darkness of blood flowed down his face as he softly continued.

“Monarch was who I can be to be strong. To be powerful.” Orion kindly rejected her support, going back to his knees.

“Perhaps it is not the title that gives you power. Perhaps it is Orion that did, though on a platform different from who you were back then.” Alesso retaliated. Her words caught Orion’s attention.

“I studied the archives. I know what the Allegiance took from you. You were presented with an opportunity to be stronger and you took it. I don’t blame your creation of Monarch.”

She slowly rose up to her feet.

“Now, Monarch can be something else. You need not a shell to hide your suffering. Monarch can be…”

Perhaps…her plan may work…

“Monarch can be a symbol of true justice. A powerhouse of good. A true protector, as you once were.” Her hopeful eyes looked at him.

Orion’s eyes looked to hers, diving into a deep stream of thoughts as it forced him to look down. Dwelled in a decision, he realised…

“You are…right.”

She gave a soft smile.

“Monarch and Orion are one.”

She slowly lowered her stance.

“As much as a protector Orion was…”

She attempted to look into his eyes.

“The monstrous tyrant, Monarch, will ever be.”

Her smile quickly faded.

“There…balance. I found my strength.”

He’d pull the arrow out of his chest as his wounds faded at an instant. The skies glowed a phenomenal violet nirvana as Monarch’s aura clouded the entire void.

“Only when retribution is sought for, shall I act the role I was meant to be.”

Alesso stepped back. Her plan may have failed. Though in the grand scales of the mission, Alesso did as ordered. She revived the Monarch's spirit.

Perhaps it is fate that he shall remain to be the monster. Perhaps he is to remain a king.

A king reborn.