Thorns of the Crown: The Time Voyager

The world ended in a deafening silence. Ergi von Obsidian coughed, spitting out clumps of black blood that stained the tattered remains of the military uniform on his chest. Around him, Neo-Aethelgard had become a graveyard of glass and iron. The sky above Aethel-Tower was no longer blue or violet; it burned with pitch-black mana fire, as if the universe were trying to erase the city's existence from the map of reality. "Look at you, Ergi," a sickeningly melodious voice echoed through the billowing smoke. Gabriel, the Crown Prince they worshiped as the light of the kingdom, stood with a terrifying grace. Behind his back, a pair of wings woven from black magic stretched wide, dripping a dark fluid that ate holes into the marble floor. In his left hand, he carried an object that made Ergi’s heart stop. It was Bravy’s head. His poor younger brother, who had always believed his older brother could save the world. Bravy’s eyes were wide open, frozen in an eternal expression of shock. "One more sacrifice, and this crown will be entirely mine," Gabriel smiled. The smile was genuine, and that was what made him look like the purest of demons. Ergi had no strength left to scream. His lungs were punctured, his bones crushed. Yet, his hand still gripped a crystal orb pulsing inside a secret pocket of his coat. The Heart of Chronos. A forbidden artifact that demanded a life in exchange from anyone who dared to turn the hands of time. If I cannot defeat you here, Ergi thought with a hatred that scorched the remnants of his soul, then I will kill you before you ever get the chance to dream of becoming God. With one final jolt, Ergi slammed his fist against the crystal orb. CRACK! The world instantly exploded. A painful white light blinded his vision. Ergi felt his skin peeling away, his cells forcibly pulled through a narrow, sharp temporal wormhole. The pain exceeded death itself, like thousands of hot needles being drawn through his spinal cord. "Join your hands under the witness of the light. Let the blood speak, let fate bind." That heavy, authoritative voice struck Ergi's consciousness like a steel sledgehammer. Ergi jerked awake. His head throbbed violently, as if his brain were being squeezed by an invisible hand. He tried to inhale oxygen, but his lungs felt full of water. His eyes opened slowly, but all he saw were flashes of blinding white light and the hum of millions of overlapping voices. Where am I? Am I in hell? His vision began to focus. He was no longer in the ruins of the shattered tower. He was standing on a circular podium made of clear crystal. Around him, thousands of people in lavish attire sat in towering grandstands. Dozens of drone cameras shaped like metal spheres buzzed in the air, their lenses glowing red, broadcasting his face live to every corner of the Neo-Aethelgard Kingdom. He was wearing a tailored black suit with the stiff gold embroidery of House Obsidian. At his waist, a ceremonial sword hung with a very real weight. The Day of the Holy Betrothal, he realized with horror. I’ve returned to that day. "Duke Ergi?" The High Priest, an old man in white robes embroidered with magic circuits, stared at him with a furrowed brow. "Proceed with the ceremony. Give her your hand." Ergi was still suffering from intense disorientation. The side effects of the time-jump created hallucinations before his eyes. He saw the shadow of the future Gabriel, with black wings and Bravy’s head, standing right in front of him. Ergi’s breath came in gasps. Combat instincts honed over years on the battlefields of the future took over his body. In his chaotic mind, he mistook the ceremony for a trap. He had to protect whoever he could reach to use as a hostage or an ally. Beside him stood a woman covered in a transparent silk veil. In Ergi’s blurred vision, he saw her not as an enemy, but as the only anchor in the middle of the temporal storm. Without warning, Ergi moved. His movements were far too fast for a nobleman performing a formal ritual. He grabbed the woman’s hand roughly, pulling her toward the center of the mana circle glowing on the altar floor. "Come here!" Ergi hissed, his voice hoarse from the residual blood of the future. "Duke? What are you—" the woman’s voice was cut off by a system scream. BZZZZZZT! BOOM! The altar's magic circuits, programmed only to synchronize the blood frequencies of Crown Prince Gabriel and Princess Ivy, suffered a fatal error. The mana energy that should have flowed gently like water suddenly surged wildly into blood-red electrical currents. The palace magic security system detected a "contract anomaly." BOOM! A mana shockwave exploded from the point where Ergi and the woman’s hands met. The crystal altar beneath their feet shattered into a thousand cracks. Red lightning struck from the cathedral dome, hitting the line of royal guards standing at the altar's perimeter. The sound of human screams filled the once-magnificent hall. Three guards in the front row exploded instantly, their bodies charred to ash before they even hit the floor. Fresh blood sprayed into the air, raining down upon the holy altar. A few drops of hot blood landed on Ergi’s cheek, jolting him back to full consciousness. Thin smoke rose from the floor. Ergi looked down. He was still clutching the woman’s hand—so tightly that his knuckles were white. When he looked up, the woman’s veil had been blown back by the explosion. Sharp silver eyes stared at him with a mix of shock, anger, and deep-seated fear. This was not his fiancée. This was not the woman he was supposed to marry for a mere House Obsidian political alliance. The woman was Ivy. The future Queen, the fiancée of Crown Prince Gabriel. "What... what have you done, Ergi?" Ivy’s voice trembled, her breath hitching in her chest which rose and fell in shock. Ergi turned to the other side of the altar. There, under the protection of his guards' magic shields, stood Gabriel. The Gabriel of the present did not yet have black wings. He still wore a pristine white uniform with rows of medals for bravery on his chest. However, his facial expression was something Ergi would never forget. The angelic face had turned deathly pale, his lips trembled, and his eyes stared at Ergi’s hand, still gripping Ivy’s, with an indescribable fury. Across the room, dozens of giant holographic screens were still broadcasting the scene. Millions of Neo-Aethelgard citizens had just witnessed the "Monster Duke" ruin the kingdom's holiest ritual and seize their prince's bride-to-be. Suddenly, an agonizing pain struck Ergi’s wrist. He groaned, releasing Ivy’s hand by reflex. On the skin of his wrist, a black pattern began to emerge. It was a magical tattoo that spread like the rotting roots of a tree, forming a perfectly circular ring of thorns. Ivy gave a small cry, clutching her own wrist. The same pattern, symmetrical and identical, appeared on her smooth skin. "The Swapped Blood Swear," the High Priest whispered with a trembling voice, falling to his knees on the blood-soaked floor. "The contract... is locked. They are bound." Ergi panted, staring at the thorn tattoo on his hand. He had returned to the past to change fate, but in the very first second, he had created an even greater disaster. "Ergi von Obsidian..." Gabriel’s voice cut through the harrowing silence. The Crown Prince stepped forward, walking past the still-smoking corpses of his guards as if they were nothing more than trash in the street. He stood directly in front of Ergi. "Do you think, with this cheap magic, you can take what is mine?" Gabriel hissed, his voice so low that only Ergi could hear him. Ergi looked up, meeting the eyes of his eternal rival. The pain in his head began to fade, replaced by a coldness that pierced his bones. He knew that from this second on, there was no turning back. The crown was already thorny, and those thorns were now piercing his skin. "I didn't take it, Gabriel," Ergi answered, his voice now cold and steady, despite his racing heart. "Time gave it to me." Under the glare of media lights flashing like lightning, and amidst the metallic scent of scattered blood, the war that destroyed the future had just officially begun ahead of schedule.