🔥 CHAPTER 28 "THE SHATTERING"
Rian had seen countless fragments of his past—glory, destruction, despair, loyalty—but nothing prepared him for what he was about to face.
The night sky above the Broken Ridge Mountains was unusually silent. Neither beasts nor wind dared make a sound. The world waited, as if holding its breath. Even the stars dimmed slightly, like tiny candles flickering before a storm.
Rian stood alone on the ridgeline, his cloak fluttering against the cold wind.
He had sensed the pull again—an echo from his past life calling him.
But tonight… it was different.
Tonight, the echo felt terrified.
"Why now…?" Rian whispered.
A sharp ringing suddenly pierced his ears. Not a normal sound—something cosmic, metallic, ancient. The air trembled. The world flickered.
Then—
CRACK.
A loud, world-shaking sound reverberated across the sky.
It was like someone had struck a gigantic glass pane that wrapped around the heavens.
Rian staggered back.
"What was that?!"
Then, he saw it.
Above him, across the entire night sky…
A massive crack—white, glowing—split the world like broken glass.
The crack spread from horizon to horizon, searing across the heavens like lightning frozen in time.
The air buzzed with divine energy.
Rian's heart slammed in his chest.
"This… isn't possible. The Sky Veil… is breaking?"
The Sky Veil—an invisible barrier that separated the mortal world from the realms beyond. Even in his past life, he had only heard of it. It was said the veil could only crack under ONE condition:
Something from outside the world was trying to force its way in.
Rian gritted his teeth.
"Who dares break the veil?!"
The crack widened—spreading like a spiderweb. The mountains trembled. Birds screamed. The beasts began to flee. Even the oldest spiritual trees bent away as if kneeling.
And then—
A giant, dark figure stepped out from inside the crack.
Not a beast.
Not a god.
Not even a demon.
It was a silhouette—an enormous humanoid shape made entirely of shadow, with burning white eyes that cut through the darkness like stars.
Rian's breath froze.
No…
It couldn't be him.
It wasn't possible.
But the voice that came next—
It made his blood run cold.
"Rian."
The voice echoed like thunder, shaking mountains, ripping apart clouds.
Rian stumbled back.
He had heard that voice before.
In his past life.
Long before he became emperor.
Long before he restored the fallen clans.
Long before he unified galaxies.
This was the one person Rian feared.
Not because he was evil.
Not because he was powerful.
But because…
He was the only one who had ever defeated Rian in his past life.
A man known by a single title:
---
"THE SHATTERED STAR KING."
---
Rian whispered shakily:
"…How are you here? You shouldn't exist in this timeline."
The silhouette stepped fully through the crack as the world shook violently.
"The cycle broke… long before your rebirth."
The crack in the sky widened further, making the heavens rumble like collapsing mountains.
Rian clenched his fists.
"What do you want?"
The giant shadow leaned forward.
"To warn you."
Rian froze.
Warn?
The most dangerous being he ever knew… was warning him?
"About what?"
The voice boomed through the world:
"About YOURSELF."
The mountain beneath Rian split apart.
Chunks of rock floated upward as the heavens bent around the Star King's presence.
"Myself…?"
The shadow extended one massive hand.
Inside it—raging and snarling—was a burning image.
A figure covered in golden light.
A man who looked exactly like Rian's past life, but older… darker… twisted.
Rian's eyes went wide.
"No… that isn't me—"
"That IS you," the shadow cut him off.
"Your TRUE last incarnation. The one even you never remembered."
Rian took a stumbling step backward.
Impossible.
He had thought he knew his past.
He had thought he had lived only one previous life as the Emperor of Goldian.
But the Star King's next words shattered the entire world:
---
"Rian… you had THREE past lives."
---
The mountains exploded.
The world shook.
The crack in the sky pulsed violently.
Rian gasped for breath.
"No… that's— that's impossible!"
His memories flashed:
The empire
His captain
His troops
His death
His rebirth
Everything he had seen so far…
Was only from one of his past lives.
But three…?
Rian felt the ground slipping from under him.
The world spun.
And the Star King wasn't finished.
He pointed to the twisted version of Rian in his hand.
"This was your FIRST life."
The destroyer.
The conqueror.
The being who nearly collapsed galaxies.
Then he pointed at the memories Rian had been seeing.
"Your SECOND life…"
The Emperor of Goldian.
And lastly—
He pointed directly at Rian.
"And now, your THIRD."
Rian's throat tightened.
"Why… why don't I remember?"
The Star King answered quietly:
"Because someone erased it. Someone powerful enough to rewrite fate itself."
Rian's pulse hammered in his ears.
"Who?!"
The Star King paused.
The sky darkened.
The crack glowed brighter.
The ground trembled.
And then he spoke:
"Your killer."
Rian's heart stopped.
"…My killer?"
The Star King's voice became heavy—like the weight of collapsing stars.
"Yes. The one who murdered you in your FIRST life.
Who hunted you in your SECOND life.
And who will return… in this life… very soon."
The heavens cracked again.
Rian clenched his fists, rage burning through him.
"Tell me WHO IT IS!"
The Star King slowly opened one giant eye.
A reflection of a face.
A silhouette.
A smile dripping with malice.
And the universe itself seemed to recoil.
"His name…"
Everything went silent.
Even the wind froze.
The mountains stopped shaking.
The world waited.
"Is—"
A blast of cosmic force tore through the crack—
RIPPPPP!!!
The Star King was suddenly pulled backward, mid-sentence, as if a cosmic chain was dragging him.
A different voice echoed from beyond the crack—cold, amused, terrifying.
"That's enough."
Rian's blood iced.
That voice…
His killer.
The murderer of his first, second, and now hunting his third life.
"We don't want him to know too much… too early."
The Star King roared in fury:
"Rian! RUN! He has—"
Before he could finish—
BOOOOOOM!!!
The crack sealed shut.
The sky returned to normal.
The mountains stilled.
The world reset.
As if nothing had happened.
But Rian…
was left trembling.
Sweating.
Shaking.
Because now he knew:
He wasn't fighting fate.
He wasn't fighting destiny.
He was fighting a being powerful enough to erase memories across lifetimes.
A being who killed him twice.
And almost killed him a third time before birth.
A being who could tear open the sky at will.
Rian whispered to himself:
"…Whoever you are… I'll kill you."
And far beyond the heavens—
A soft laugh echoed.
---
END OF CHAPTER 28