Evening light leaked through the curtains of the Apex Tower dormitory, painting the room in golden orange. The city below buzzed with sirens, traffic, and the distant roar of helicopters… but inside the room, everything felt still.
Agilan sat on the edge of the bed, palms trembling slightly — the only sign that his heart wasn't calm. He had woken from that nightmare drenched in sweat, and he still felt the echo of that ancient throne pulling at him like gravity.
The door clicked.
Shalini stepped in first. Vinod followed, expression uneasy.
Agilan instantly straightened himself — expression blank, steady, unreadable.
Vinod forced a laugh to lighten the tension. "Bro… I swear, I never expected to see you inside some kind of… Korean superhero HQ."
Agilan didn't smile, but he nodded. "Neither did I."
Shalini didn't laugh. She stared at him with worried, small eyes.
Her voice trembled. "Agi… why were you talking to yourself… in your sleep?"
Silence.
Agilan didn't shift, didn't blink. His breathing was controlled perfectly — but his heart pulsed violently.
(Fake calm… hold it.)
He answered in the softest voice: "Just… a bad dream."
Shalini moved closer. "It didn't sound like a dream. You said names. You said… 'Y'therax.' And….'"
Vinod swallowed hard. "Bro… what does that mean?"
Agilan's eyes lowered to the ground — a single second. Vulnerability flickered and disappeared.
"It means nothing you need to worry about."
The cold tone shut them down — but not cruelly. It was protective.
Vinod looked frustrated, wanting answers but scared to push. Shalini looked like her heart was breaking for him.
She whispered: "If something is hurting you… don't carry it alone."
Agilan didn't respond.
Because if he did, he'd break.
A knock saved him.
Vinod nodded and whispered to Agilan: "We'll talk later. I won't give up."
Shalini paused at the door. "If you're drowning, we'll pull you out. Even if you push us away."
They left.
Only when the door closed did Agilan breathe again — but it wasn't relief.
It was fear.
Not fear of death… Not dungeons… Not monsters…
Fear that the two people he loved most would get killed because of him.
His heartbeat echoed — not alone.
A deep, ancient voice vibrated inside him.
"Trying to protect them again… even while you're breaking."
Agilan clenched his jaw. "Y'therax."
The room darkened — not physically, but in the mindscape around him. The air rippled like reality was thin.
Agilan didn't panic. He spoke like a king questioning a traitor.
"Tell me everything. No riddles this time."
For the first time, Y'therax didn't sound like a parasite or a monster.
He sounded… tired.
"A long time ago… I was not mold. I was a king. The original Flesh Monarch of the Viralverse."
Images flashed — a world of gods built from veins, bone armors, and viral energy. A throne of living flesh. Billions kneeling.
Agilan's breath hitched — only once.
"What happened to you?"
"I was cursed. The Virality Gods feared my power. They deformed me, buried my throne, turned me into mold — a degenerated form of my true existence."
Agilan whispered: "And the meteoroid?"
Y'therax answered like a confession.
"The Virality Gods built meteoroids filled with mold — trying to infect Earth and collapse humanity. I hid inside one, so I could recover a successor — someone who wouldn't serve them."
A pause.
"You were not chosen because you were weak… but because you break and survive."
Images hit Agilan: — the heartbreak — the accident — the surgery — his dying heartbeat
"You dying when you're heartbroken and an near fatal accident. That moment… that pain… that purity of intent… allowed me to fuse with your heart."
Agilan gripped the bedsheet— first true reaction since the scene began.
He wasn't a monster because he was angry.
He was a Monarch because he cared too much.
A single tear fell — but he wiped it before it reached his jaw. No one would ever know.
He spoke quietly: "So what now? Am I supposed to take the throne you lost?"
"No."
The answer stunned him.
"You are not meant to rule. You are meant to survive. Because the Virality Gods are coming — for you and....protect the world..."
Agilan froze.
And then — the door handle turned.
Not Vinod. Not Shalini.
A shadow stood outside — hesitating before entering.
Agilan whispered instinctively: "Who's there?"
The door opened.
Ananya.
She looked at him — not with anger, not with coldness… but something halfway between fear and concern.
"I heard you say… 'Flesh Monarch.'"
Her voice was barely audible.
"Agilan… what are you?"
The chapter ends.