Hope quietly watched the scenes play out. Full Monarch showed her everything he could. Space and time were put on display, and she viewed the number one hero's failures. He didn't hold anything back. He showed her everything all the way up till his end, and she watched it all unfold in silence.
Alpha lost.
Full Monarch also lost.
The scene changed. One moment it showed Full Monarch embracing his greatest enemy, and then the next he was bleeding out. The Emperor, the second one, Nier, rammed his claws through Full Monarch's back, spilling his blood and injuring the number one hero.
The scene shifted again to Nier using his power and giving in to his other side. His body expanded and twisted. Scales covered his form, wings jutted from his back, and his neck expanded. A tail formed from his wear, and he became a great beast of black flame. A dragon.
Alpha's spirit might have given up, but Nier's was only just beginning.
He devoured Sini and Max Lightning, attempting to grow and expand his power, and battled Full Monarch. Nier and Jackson. The hero of the past and the greatest hero. The father who lost his family and the man who kept gaining a new one.
Both failures.
The scene changed again, with Full Monarch defeating the Emperor one last time. Alpha wielded Storymaker, and with the help of Lucifer, he managed to split the Emperor's stomach open, freeing Max Lightning, saving the Lord of the Sky and Weather, just in time for Full Monarch to unleash what power he had left and wipe the Emperor out.
Nier was defeated. Completely. His body was reduced to ash, and yet, of course, his title as a Ruler allowed him to survive. Piece by piece, he put himself back together up in space, rebuilding, waiting, and planning, all for the day he could return. For the day that the Rulers could finally finish this game of cat and mouse.
The image changed again. Alpha placed the body of Full Monarch down. He walked away. He left and returned to Hell Hound's side just in time to hold her as she passed away. Everyone was gone. All by his own hands.
He dug her grave. One by the beach. He thought about stealing the child. The one the Emperor had done this all for. The one named Sky. He didn't. After all, he had given her location up to Mermaid. A hero could look after her and keep her safe.
Alpha ceased to be. Jack Larison joined the Cleanup Squad and spent his time rebuilding the damage that was done. The planet had taken a beating. Most of the Enforcers were either dead or injured so badly they'd never be heroes again. Some of them flat-out quit, unable to keep up or having a desire to do so.
The Emperor was dead. In the eyes of the public, this was a fact. His helm was mounted on a stake, held high, and a new hero began to rise from the bottom. She called herself the Victorian. A warrior of gold and light, the daughter of Full Monarch. His only child.
Jack died. Not right away, but slowly. He allowed guilt and his hate for himself to eat away and devour all that he was. He cleaned, and he cleaned, and he cleaned, over and over in an endless cycle. He lived in a world without Full Monarch. A world that got worse and worse. A world where the Beast would still come and a city would be wiped out.
He lived in this world, and he waited for the day that a hero the world would need would appear. The day that the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos would arrive.
Years passed, and he got older, fatter, and heavier; he slacked off; he died inside; he stopped having hope, and he began to drink.
And then one day it happened.
He went to a bar, attempting to forget, and a young girl crashed through the wall. The room became a mess, and he turned and found himself staring at her.
The hero had arrived.
The one this story had been for.
And so it finally came to an end.
Hope Lauren was here.
Humans have always had a strange addiction to telling stories. Poets, playwrights, and authors. They've existed for just as long as humanity. Storytelling is a job that will likely never vanish off the face of the Earth.
There is one piece of storytelling that addicts more than others, however.
Heroes.
They could be found everywhere. Tales of knights saving their kingdom, rebels fighting against tyrannical warlords, or even just simple cowboys fighting for what's right.
When it comes to heroes, people can't seem to get enough of them. So much so that they needed more. The heroes themselves needed to be more.
They needed to be Super…
She used to believe in that. Hope used to think that it would be easy to be good. That if a person had superpowers, then they should be a hero and use the powers of being a Super to save the world.
After so much had happened, she honestly wasn't sure what she believed in anymore.
The memories that Full Monarch showed her faded. Fire burned them away, and soon all that was left was her and him. They were seated in a void of darkness with only a campfire between them.
The number one hero stared down in defeat. He didn't look brave; he didn't look strong; he wasn't smiling, and he had no hope. He was just tired. Finally, he looked up, and his eyes met hers.
"I showed you that to show where I went wrong."
Hope glanced back into the fire, unable to meet his gaze. "What do you mean?"
Full Monarch reached out and placed his hand over the flame, feeling its warmth. "I didn't do enough." He said. "I couldn't save everyone. I made so many mistakes. Looking back at it, there was a lot of stuff I could have done better. I could have stopped my friend, but I didn't. I allowed Nier to suffer alone and threw myself into his work. When he needed me most, I wasn't there, and when he finally snapped, I couldn't save him or bring him back. I allowed him to keep changing. To keep walking down a dark path. He died, and the Emperor was born. Everything that monster did is a sin I myself hold. I also failed my daughter. I couldn't spend as much time with her as I wanted. There was so much more we could have done, and I still had things I wanted to teach her. Most importantly, I failed you." He glanced back at her.
Hope shook her head. "You didn't fail me. I wasn't even born until after you died, and just so you know, the world I was born into wasn't all that bad. There were a lot of good people and great moments. I made a lot of friends, met a girl I really liked who also liked me back, and got to live my life doing things that I liked. I could only be here because of the choices you made."
"Still, even with all of that, I can't help but feel like I messed up." Full Monarch chuckled. "Your power was split. I showed you what Alpha has become. That… Thing. He'll become it again soon. His body is currently slowly morphing into it. Last time, I was able to save him by placing a piece of the Cosmos power into him, repairing him, and fending off his soul's destruction. This crippled your full power. You were a Lord with only half your power, and even now you only have around seventy percent. The Cosmos was permanently melted down, and it'll never recover. You also lack a Super Soul naturally, meaning you can't even repair it with your own power, nor can you replace the missing piece. As a Lord, I've crippled you. If you weren't the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos, you'd be only slightly above normal Supers."
"And you want me to do that again, right?" Hope asked. "You want me to sacrifice another piece to try and bring him back? Well, I really don't want to do that. That would just further weaken the next Lord of the Sun and Cosmos who comes after me."
Full Monarch shook his head. "No. I don't want you to give him a piece of your soul to save him."
"What?"
Full Monarch glanced at her, and his eyes dropped slightly. "Hope Lauren. You have to kill him. You have to slay Alpha."
Hope's eyes widened in shock, and she stood up, shaking her head. "What do you mean? No. Why the hell would you suggest that?"
"A Ruler can only be killed when it is slain by all four Lords. When a Ruler dies, their soul will attempt to go to the other Rulers. This can not happen." Full Monarch gave her a serious look. "If a Ruler gains even a second Ruler soul, then it's all over. Their power will skyrocket. Nier set the stage so that Alpha would become a threat that must be put down. He's the strongest of the Rulers, just as the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos is the strongest of the Lords. If Alpha gets out of here, if he makes it to Earth, he'll destroy the planet. The only solution is to slay him."
"No!" Hope raised her voice and growled. "If we kill him, that'll just do what Nier wants. Or worse yet, someone like Lucifer could get the soul."
Full Monarch once again shook his head. "I showed you the way I saved Alpha's soul. That was for a reason. That process can be done in other ways. You can affect the soul itself. You've already proven that you're gifted at this and even absorbed a piece of another Super who affects the souls. A Ruler needs a body. It can not survive without one, but it can only be given up willingly by the host or by the body dying. The body must be killed by all four lords; otherwise, it will be immortal, but there's a trick to this. The soul of Alpha is still in there. Buried deep beneath the sea of darkness. You must destroy that soul. Don't kill the Ruler. Kill the human."
Hope recoiled and felt sick. Her face paled, and she imagined Mr. Larison looking at her as she plunged a knife into his chest. "You want me to kill him?"
"With the host soul gone, the body will fall into a critical state. The Ruler soul is far too large and will begin to destroy the body due to it not having the host soul, but because it is still a Ruler, this will cause it to 'glitch'. It'll be stuck in a cycle of life and death. This makes it so it can't move, as it'll be far too busy healing. That effectively puts the Ruler out of commission."
"S-So then I can do that to the Emperor, Lucifer, and Legend? Right?"
"Yes, and you should, as well as do it to Alpha." Full Monarch sighed again. "While they're in this state, they can technically be absorbed by any other Super. The Ruler soul can be swallowed up by someone else, and if that happens, then one of the other Rulers could get the piece. What you should do is break the host souls of all four. One at a time, then teleport the shattered body somewhere only you know so the other three can't get it. This process isn't something that is permanent either, hence why it is so important to do it to all four. I did this method on Lucifer when I first awakened my power. I shattered his soul and wiped out his molecules, but he was eventually able to reform and rebuild dozens of years later. Even destroying the human soul will only slow them down, and eventually the Ruler soul will recreate it; however, as the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos, you can be immortal. You can live forever. If you destroy the souls of all four of them, you can place them on the sun, and every time they are about to reform, you can shatter their souls again, keeping them trapped forever."
"But why?" Hope balled her hands into a fist. "I could do that to the others and then save Mr. Larison."
"Could you?" Full Monarch raised an eyebrow. "I tried. I gave up the power of the Cosmos, but that won't be a fix forever. Sooner or later the power will be eaten away, or he'll simply die, or the power will be passed down, or something else entirely. We can't let something like that happen."
"That's your son."
"Do you think this is the answer I want to give?" Full Monarch's look shifted into a glare. "I'm a failure. I told you. I failed to save him, and because of me, he is in this situation now. How many people will die? How many will suffer? I kept trying to kill him, but I couldn't bring myself to do it, and because of that, he kept harming people. From the moment we met, I could have stopped him, but I didn't. I didn't stop him, and I didn't stop Nier. And if even one of them, or God forbid, the Beast, does manage to absorb a Ruler soul, then the entire universe is over. We all lose." Full Monarch's shoulders slumped down, and he let out another defeated sigh. "What's more important? The universe? Or one man?"
"A hero should be able to save both."
"You're right." Full Monarch nodded. "A hero should be. But are we really heroes? Was there ever a time we actually embodied that, or were we all just soldiers? I don't know if hell is real or not, but I can bet that's exactly where I'll end up. The blood on my hands is far too much, and every other person based themselves on me. A bit ironic, wouldn't you say?"
Hope turned away. "I'm not going to kill Mr. Larison. I'll find a way."
"And if you can't?"
"I'll find a way." She somehow managed to smile. "I still believe in heroes. I still have hope. If you want a good ending, then you have to fight for it, and lately I seem to always be fighting. Now, how do I get out of here?"
"We are on the blank page. A realm of nothingness. Just make something, just as you made me." Full Monarch hummed.
"I made you?"
"Well, sort of. More like the Lord soul in you made me, since it recalls who I am, and I'm just the bits of my old soul left over from the Cosmos half. Soon that'll fade, as I said earlier, and I'll cease to be. In fact, that'll happen as soon as you are out of here."
"So should I stay?"
Full Monarch snorted. "No. I kept you here long enough. I think it is time you return home. I showed you what I could and gave you my final advice. You're your own person. You're the hero, Cinder. Whatever you do, it's all in your hands. I just hope you make the right choice."
Hope gulped. "That's a lot of pressure."
"Sorry?"
"Don't be. So, how do I leave again?"
"In here we exist, but nothing else does. It is a blank page. So, if you want to leave, if you want to escape, then all you need to do is add something to the blank page."
"And how do I do that?"
"How does a quill leave its proof on the page?"
"Can you just stop with the metaphor and tell me…"
Full Monarch chuckled. "Sorry, it's this trick this Dragon guy showed me once. Actually, I wonder what old Arthur has been getting up to-" He shook his head. "Never mind. Look, spill your blood. Your blood can make a door. Focus on the Cosmos half you have and try to alter reality with your own blood."
"Okay?" Hope brought her thumb up to her mouth and bit down. She tried not to wince and pierced her flesh. After that, she held her hand out and allowed the drops to spill out. She waited for a moment and frowned. "Nothing's happening-"
A surge of power erupted somewhere in her stomach. She felt her power start to activate on instinct, as her desire to escape fueled it. The red kept flowing, but then it suddenly shifted into an inky black color.
The ink rained down onto the shadow, which then started to twitch and change. Black liquid started to rise and mold itself into a shape, getting higher and higher, until eventually it formed into a swirling portal.
"Whoa." Hope's eyes went wide as she stared at the portal. "That's like what Mr. Larison does! Did I create a portal?"
"Pretty cool?" Full Monarch smirked slightly and slapped her on the back. "I only figured out how to do this recently. While I've been dead, my soul has sort of just been stuck in limbo, the fragments scattered all over the place. One of my pieces ended up in this bizarre world that Nier visited years ago when he was out in space. That world was filled with dragons and other stuff, and I wonder if that's where Nier got his dragon obsession from." Full Monarch rubbed his chin and hummed. "Anyway, the portal might not be as good as Alpha's, but it should get the job done. Just be careful. Spatial manipulation can be a bit tricky."
Hope nodded, feeling very lost. "Alright? So, what now? Do I just go into the portal?"
"Yep." Full Monarch patted her on the back again. "It should transport your consciousness and soul back to your body."
Hope stepped forward, and she reached out to the portal but stopped. She stared at it in silence and then turned around and smiled. "I don't think you were a failure. Sure, you made some mistakes, but who hasn't? A lot of people really trusted you and put their faith in you. One of them was me. You are a hero, Jackson. You're the greatest hero, Full Monarch."
She stepped through the portal, and it shut behind her.
Full Monarch watched the portal close in silence, leaving him alone in the void. Soon, even the fire went out. "I really hope she can save you, Alpha." He glanced up, and he began to slowly fly. "I'll have hope in the next generation. Until then, I guess someone else needs my help. What was that woman's name? Ah. That's right. Haru. I should help Haru out."
Meanwhile, through the gate with Hope, she saw darkness. One that was even colder and more lifeless than the previous void she had been in moments ago. Then, she was struck with a terrible sense of dread as the black began to fade.
Before her eyes, she saw a sea of white. Thousands of massive hands, all a pale color, reached out across an infinite sea of space and time. They twisted and bent and grasped, and beyond them were trillions upon trillions of stars and planets and bodies without heads and oceans of fire.
She saw so many different things in a single moment. A wall of ice at the end of the universe, a world of wishes and wonders where knights fought dragons and a phoenix took flight.
Then, just as quickly as all that started, it was replaced with a new scene. Hope smiled and looked around the stone room, then she glanced at the large stone chair where the Lord of the Sun and Cosmos resided.
"Hey! I made it back."
The Brightest Star huffed. She had changed, having fused further with Hope and gained back the lost Cosmos half, which made it so she was at least no longer in the form of a child and now instead appeared fully as an adult.
"About time," the Lord stated. "I was beginning to worry your soul would be lost to the void of nowhere."
"Was that where I was?"
"Indeed. A place out of time. It is nowhere in the universe, for it does not actually exist. A long dream, or the forever sleep. But you're back. You can take control of your body. I think it's about time we deal with the threats outside."
Hope nodded and gave a thumbs up but stopped. She could take control back and wake up, but she didn't. A thought was still going through her head. "Do you think I can save the day?"
"What?" The Brightest Star raised an eyebrow.
"Do you still think I can save everyone? Including Mr. Larison and the people trapped in this realm." Hope repeated. "Is it still possible to save everyone? Can I be the hero that is needed?"
"Are you doubting yourself?"
"No. Well… Maybe a little. But I'd like to know if you have my back or not."
The Brightest Star hummed. "Time is a strange concept. For beings on the level we are, we defy and break fate. That which is standing in stone is merely a pebble on the path that we can avoid."
"Meaning?"
"Things look bleak." The Lord said in a flat tone. "I don't think you can get the ending you want. It has already been written out. Yet, as I just said, our kind do not have to listen to fate. The Almighty does not govern us, for there is no longer an Almighty. The concept of what comes next has long since faded away. We are beings who can do what we wish, as we wish. If you wish to save the day, then give it all you have and do that."
The Lord waved her hand; a bright burst of fire seeped out directly in front of Hope. The flame crackled and shifted, and it began to take on various images. She saw herself. Then Full Monarch, then the Lord before him, the one before them, and the very first Lord, the true form of the Brightest Star in all its glory.
The image then began to flicker again and changed without warning. This time it showed her a planet. One filled with wheat, and a strange man stood in the center of it. He was dressed in what looked like an astronaut's space uniform, but his helmet was off, allowing snow-white hair to spill out, and he clutched a scythe, which was resting over his shoulder.
"Time does not matter for us." The Lord said again. "What you do will affect the future. You could create the perfect world. One in which someone like him exists. A young farmer, with the dream of exploring the cosmos."
The fire flickered again, and suddenly she saw a different sight. Another man stood, this one dressed in shadowy black armor with a flowing white cloak over him. He clutched a sword and stared down eight massive beings of power that rivaled the Rulers themselves.
"Or you could fail and create a cursed world in which Knights of Ebony fight beings from other worlds." The Lord closed her hands, and the flame shifted once more into the image of Cinder, and it began to flick through different versions of her life and all the many outfits she wore. "The Rulers are not the only threat. The universe is a big place. The Beast comes from space, and the Lordians will eventually arrive. The battle here is not the only one you should be worried about. Fate and what it has in store for you are of no concern. Instead, you should simply look to the present and do your best."
Hope closed her eyes. "I know. God, do I know. Still. Part of me just worries that I won't be enough."
"Then simply become enough."
She managed a smile. "Yeah. You're right. It's really so simple, isn't it?" She chuckled and then nodded one last time. "Alright. Well, let's get this party started right."
In the real world, her eyes began to open.
Cinder was back.
It was time she took hold of this story and directed it to her happy ending.
"Let's save them all."