Crownless Kings: Court of Fire - Chapter 18 – Embers in the Rain

A story about a history teacher gaming-addict with familial trauma, and a peculiar woman seemingly stuck out of time and beyond out of touch.The two have been thrust into the weird and whimsical world of Altros, a planet with divides born of very real superhuman strength cursory of an odd ranking system, and, naturally, species differences.Not exactly the best of news for our resident Scottish history teacher whose ears have changed into fox ones alongside his nine new fluffy tails.First though, Darren, or Lone, or whatever else the weird system claims he's called, has to figure out how to live with his new companion Sofia, for seemingly forever while also just barely managing to survive being stranded on a monster-infested island with a self-proclaimed former-immortal who can see despite being blind, can freely teleport, and who also, of course, seems prone to experience bouts of extreme depression.Not an ideal situation when he himself hasn't been in a great headspace for over a decade now. But hey, at least there's an incredibly expansive litRPG system to keep the both of them entertained, right? That'll fight off the fear of death, surely.

It was in the middle of the night that the woman who would be the Duchess came to see me.

She said my father and mother died, and my kind uncle became king.

She said it’s not worth it for me, the crown prince, to be living in hiding, too.

“A while ago, Your Highness had been hiding from me. With all due respect, is that for the sake of survival? Just because your parents died doesn’t mean you have no reason to survive. Actually, that fact alone made it all the more reason why you should live. If you die now…”

If I died now?

When I asked her while looking at her eyes, the woman eventually brought out the harsh truth with empathetic eyes.

“It’s like a dog’s death.”

“That’s rude….”

It’s been a long time since I said that. In a short while, he has been treated as a madman and beaten to death just by saying similar things. She loosened her arms that held me and I suddenly stiffened up due to it. Because I thought she might have loosened her arm to hit me. But she didn’t.

She knelt down with one knee in front of me, just like a knight.

“Hastred’s Sarian raised her salutations. May you accept it gladly.”

My first knight is beautiful and kind.

“Are you on my side?”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

It was all a lie.

With the descent of the first blood rain, the world underwent a dramatic transformation.Once bustling cities became playgrounds for zombies.Some people merely survive in this post-apocalyptic world, while others thrive using their strength in this new world.Opportunists are on the move, and lone wanderers roam the land.Firearms, artillery, superhumans, and mutated creatures drive the world in a new direction.Clove Russell is reborn at the dawn of the apocalypse, leveraging his Space Element superpower to unlock the genetic limits of the human body, dominating the post-apocalyptic world without rival.Linda: “This bastard has no feelings whatsoever, only using me to vent his desires!”Kelly: “He's so strong, so formidable!”Wendy: “I will conquer him! Clove conquers the world, and I will conquer Clove!”

"Be my son's mother."