Chapter 68 – The Boy Who Couldn’t Save Anyone

Rain pelted down in cold sheets as young Ren stood before the gravestone. His fists trembled, not from the chill—but from the sheer helplessness gnawing at his heart.

[Name: Ardyn Kael]
[Status: Deceased]
[Cause of Death: Rift Creature Attack | Mission Failure | Heroic Sacrifice]

Those words carved into the stone burned deeper than any blade.

Ren had always idolized his older brother. Ardyn was fearless. A protector. A dreamer who once said:

“Someday, you’ll surpass me, Ren. But promise me… never walk alone.”

But that promise shattered the night Ardyn died saving a town Ren was supposed to protect. The boy who couldn’t save anyone—that was who Ren used to be.

[Temporal Trial: Phase One]
Objective: Relive the Moment. Do Not Interfere.

“No,” Ren muttered, struggling against the temporal bindings. “I’m not watching him die again!”

But the System didn’t care.

He watched his younger self kneeling, crying, screaming as Ardyn bled out in his arms. Around them, Rift Beasts circled—a storm of claws and madness.

And in that memory… a figure watched.

A cloaked entity with crimson void-eyes stood where no one had been before.

“You…!” Ren growled, eyes narrowing. “You weren’t there. WHO ARE YOU?”

The figure tilted its head.

“You don’t remember me yet. But I’ve been with you since the beginning.”

A flick of its hand—and the scene shifted.

[Temporal Trial: Phase Two Initiated – Divergence Triggered]
Warning: Trial has been Hijacked by an Unknown Entity.

The sky turned red. The Rift Beasts froze in time. And suddenly, Ardyn turned to face Ren—fully alive.

“What if I never died, little brother?” Ardyn whispered, his eyes glowing unnaturally. “What if I was taken?”

Ren stepped back, stunned.

“You’re… not him. You’re not my brother.”

“Aren’t I?” the figure smirked. “Or did the Abyss reshape me into something better?”

From the shadows behind Ardyn stepped the cloaked figure—now unmasked.

It was Ren.
Older. Twisted. Wearing a Monarch’s crown of thorns, his eyes void-black. The Ren who embraced the Abyss.

Next: Chapter 69 – Abyssborne Ren: The King That Could Have Been