Chapter 60 - The King Who Saw the FutureThree days after the restoration, the sun rose over Asterwyn for the first time without the shadow of the fracture.
The kingdom celebrated.
Bells rang from every tower.
People filled the streets carrying banners of blue and gold.
The vanished buildings had returned.
The western tower stood proudly above the palace walls.
Families were reunited.
The old roads no longer twisted through broken timelines.
Time moved forward.
Normally.
For the first time in centuries.
Ethan stood on the palace balcony beside King Aldric.
The king looked younger.
The black markings on his wrist had disappeared.
The Heart of the First Hour had stopped glowing.
For the first time, Aldric was free.
"You saved us," he told Ethan.
Ethan shook his head.
"We all did."
Aldric smiled.
"That's what makes you different from the others."
Below them, the crowd cheered.
Captain Rowan stood beside the royal guard.
Elara had returned to the archives.
Mira waved from the courtyard.
Daniel Cole waited near the ancient gate that now connected Asterwyn to Earth.
Ethan turned toward him.
"Can we really go home?"
Daniel nodded.
"The bridge is stable."
Ethan looked at the kingdom.
At the people he had come to love.
He had arrived here frightened, confused, and desperate to escape.
Now leaving seemed almost as difficult as staying.
King Aldric placed a hand on his shoulder.
"You will always have a home here."
Ethan smiled.
Then he noticed something.
The royal portrait hanging above the balcony had changed.
Previously, it showed the founder as a twelve-year-old boy.
Now it depicted Ethan as an adult.
Beside him stood a woman in silver armor.
And two children.
One was Mira.
The other was a boy Ethan had never seen.
The boy had black eyes.
Ethan stared at the painting.
"Your Majesty?"
Aldric followed his gaze.
His smile vanished.
"That portrait wasn't there yesterday."
Ethan stepped closer.
Beneath the image, a new inscription had appeared.
THE KINGDOM WAS SAVED. THE FIRST WORLD WAS RESTORED. BUT THE TRUE FOUNDER HAS NOT YET RETURNED.
A cold wind swept across the balcony.
Far below, the gateway to Earth flickered.
Daniel turned toward it.
"Something's wrong."
The light inside the gate darkened.
A figure stepped through.
A teenage boy.
About nineteen years old.
Brown hair.
Gray hoodie.
Black eyes.
Ethan recognized him immediately.
The replacement.
The boy who had lived his life on Earth.
For a moment, neither spoke.
Then the older boy looked toward Daniel.
"Dad?"
Daniel went pale.
Ethan stepped forward.
"Who are you?"
The teenager looked at him with an expression of terrible sadness.
"My name is Ethan Cole."
The crowd fell silent.
The two boys stood facing each other.
The same face.
The same family.
Two different lives.
Then the older Ethan reached into his jacket and removed a folded photograph.
He handed it to the younger boy.
In the picture, their mother stood in front of their house.
Beside her was the older Ethan.
And between them stood someone impossible.
King Aldric.
Ethan stared at the photograph.
"How?"
The older boy whispered.
"Because the kingdom you saved isn't the first one."
King Aldric took one step backward.
His face drained of color.
The older Ethan looked directly at him.
"You remember now, don't you?"
Aldric trembled.
"No..."
The older boy nodded.
"Tell him."
Ethan looked at the king.
"Tell me what?"
Aldric stared at the two boys.
Then he whispered the words that terrified him more than anything he had experienced in a thousand years.
"The first Ethan Cole never came from Earth."
Silence swallowed the balcony.
"He came from the world that existed before Earth."
Ethan could barely breathe.
"Then where did I come from?"
The older boy pointed toward the sky.
A second sun appeared above Asterwyn.
Then a third.
Across the heavens, enormous golden doors began opening.
Behind them stood a kingdom larger than any Ethan had ever imagined.
A kingdom suspended between stars.
A kingdom with thirteen thrones.
And on the highest throne sat a figure wearing a crown of white fire.
The figure slowly raised its head.
Even from an impossible distance, Ethan could see its face.
His own.
The figure spoke.
Its voice shook both worlds.
"MY SON. YOU HAVE FINALLY FOUND THE WAY HOME."
Ethan stumbled backward.
King Aldric dropped to his knees.
Daniel covered his face.
The older Ethan closed his eyes.
And somewhere beyond the golden doors, an army of a million soldiers lowered their weapons.
Not toward Asterwyn.
Not toward Earth.
But toward the twelve-year-old boy.
Because the truth was finally clear.
Ethan Cole had not fallen into a medieval kingdom by accident.
He had been sent there.
Hidden there.
Protected there.
Until the day his true father came to reclaim him.
And now that day had arrived.
END OF CHAPTER 60
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TO BE CONTINUED — THE THIRTEEN THRONES
The boy who saved two worlds is about to discover why the universe once feared his name.
