Chapter 2: The Voice Inside His Soul
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Chapter 2: The Voice Inside His Soul
The first thing Aiden felt when he opened his eyes was pain.
Not the ordinary kind of pain caused by a wound or an injury.
This was different.
It felt as if his entire existence was being pulled apart and rebuilt at the same time.
Every muscle in his body burned.
Every breath felt heavier than the last.
For several moments, he could not remember where he was.
Then reality slowly returned.
The broken wooden floor beneath him.
The cold air entering through the cracks in the walls.
The strange silver ring lying beside his hand.
Aiden slowly pushed himself up.
His breathing was unstable.
"What happened to me?"
His voice sounded unfamiliar.
Not because it had changed.
But because something inside him had.
He looked around his small room.
Everything was the same.
The old table.
The empty shelves.
The damaged walls.
Yet somehow, he felt like he was looking at a place he had never seen before.
Aiden looked down at the ring.
The mysterious object seemed ordinary again.
The strange energy was gone.
But the voice remained.
"You finally awakened."
Aiden immediately stood up.
His eyes searched every corner of the room.
"Who is there?"
Silence.
Then the voice answered.
"You already know."
Aiden's expression darkened.
"No, I don't."
The voice remained calm.
"You do. You just refuse to accept it."
Aiden clenched his fist.
"I am Aiden Voss."
A brief silence followed.
Then...
"Yes."
The voice sounded almost amused.
"That is the name you were given."
Aiden froze.
"What does that mean?"
"It means you have spent nineteen years believing you were only one person."
The room suddenly felt smaller.
The air around him became suffocating.
Aiden hated uncertainty.
He hated not understanding things.
All his life, he had accepted that he was ordinary.
But now, something impossible was happening.
Something that challenged everything he knew about himself.
"Tell me the truth."
His voice became serious.
"Who am I?"
For the first time, the voice became quiet.
Almost hesitant.
Then it spoke.
"You were once known as Emperor Aiden Arclight."
The name struck him like lightning.
Aiden stepped backward.
"No."
"The Immortal King."
"No."
"The ruler who united the Nine Realms."
Aiden covered his ears.
"Stop."
"The man who disappeared after the Eternal War."
"STOP!"
His shout echoed through the house.
The silence afterward was terrifying.
Aiden stood there, trembling.
He didn't know why.
He didn't know this name.
But hearing it created a strange feeling inside his chest.
A feeling of familiarity.
Like hearing a song from childhood that he had forgotten.
For the next several hours, Aiden refused to move.
He sat beside the window, staring at the city outside.
People walked through the streets.
Children laughed.
Merchants shouted.
Life continued normally.
But his life had changed completely.
Aiden had always wondered why he had strange dreams.
Why he could understand ancient languages despite never learning them.
Why his body reacted instinctively during dangerous situations.
He remembered a moment from years ago.
When he was thirteen, three armed criminals attacked him in an alley.
He had no training.
No experience.
Yet somehow...
He defeated them.
He never understood how.
Now he knew.
His body remembered something his mind had forgotten.
A warrior.
A king.
A monster.
That was what he was.
Suddenly, a loud explosion shook the city.
Aiden immediately stood.
The sound came from outside.
Another explosion followed.
Then screams.
His instincts awakened before his thoughts could catch up.
Danger.
Someone was coming.
Not someone ordinary.
Someone powerful.
Aiden moved toward the door.
But before he could open it, a shadow passed across his window.
Someone was standing outside.
Impossible.
His house was three floors above the ground.
Aiden slowly stepped backward.
The window shattered.
A figure entered silently.
A woman.
She wore dark clothing, a silver mask covering half her face, and carried a thin blade in her hand.
Her eyes locked onto him.
Cold.
Focused.
"You are Aiden Voss."
Aiden said nothing.
The woman raised her weapon.
"I was hoping the rumors were false."
Her grip tightened.
"But unfortunately..."
She looked at the ring.
"They were true."
Aiden stared at her.
"Who are you?"
The woman ignored the question.
"Do you know what you are?"
Aiden remained silent.
Her expression changed slightly.
"You don't even remember."
There was something strange in her voice.
Not hatred.
Not anger.
Something closer to sadness.
"I have been ordered to kill you before your awakening is complete."
Aiden's eyes narrowed.
"And if I refuse to die?"
The woman looked at him.
For a moment, she seemed to see someone else.
Someone from a thousand years ago.
Then she whispered:
"Then prove you are really him."
She disappeared.
Aiden barely saw her movement.
The blade flashed toward him.
His body reacted.
Without thinking...
He moved.
His hand caught her wrist.
Both of them froze.
The woman stared at him.
Because Aiden had moved faster than any normal human could.
And Aiden stared at himself.
Because he had no idea how he did it.
The voice inside his soul spoke again.
"Your body remembers, even if your heart does not."
Aiden's eyes changed.
A strange purple light appeared within them.
The woman stepped back.
For the first time...
She looked afraid.
"The Immortal King's eyes..."
She lowered her blade.
"It really is you."
Aiden looked at her.
"Who are you?"
The woman remained silent for several seconds.
Then she removed her mask.
"My name is Seraphina Vale."
Her expression was complicated.
"I was once your enemy."
Aiden prepared himself.
But her next words shocked him.
"And I was also the person who watched you die."
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