The King’s Path

Edward let out a long sigh as he walked through the grand corridors of Imperial Academy, the weight of his so-called "awakening" pressing heavily on his shoulders. His footsteps echoed in the near-empty hallway, drowned out only by the distant chatter of students celebrating their successful awakenings.

"Ahnavat, the Weapon Forger Mage," he muttered under his breath. "I was hoping for something cool, like Achilles or King Arthur.

Instead, I get some mythical blacksmith from an extinct mythos no one's even heard of."

He rubbed his temples, recalling the golden man's cryptic words in the void. "Lead humanity to see the truth beyond the gods, the era of humans."

"What the hell does that even mean?" Edward groaned, pushing open the heavy wooden doors to the Imperial Academy Grand Library.

The scent of old parchment and leather greeted him, a stark contrast to the high-tech city outside. Towering bookshelves lined the massive room, filled with volumes detailing the history of awakened heroes, dimensional invasions, and the Outer Gods.

The library was one of the last places where printed books were still revered, despite the world's shift to holographic databases.

"Looking for something?"

Edward turned to see Anastasia , his ever-composed childhood friend, standing behind him. Her ice-blue eyes regarded him curiously, arms crossed in that usual no-nonsense stance.

"Decided to stalk me now, Ana?" Edward smirked, trying to mask his inner turmoil.

Anastasia rolled her eyes. "You looked troubled after your awakening. I thought you'd be here trying to make sense of it."

"Wow, you know me so well. Maybe I should be worried."

"You should be," she shot back with a smirk of her own. "Now, what exactly are you looking for?"

Edward hesitated, then sighed. "The Heroic Wars and the Outer Gods."

Anastasia blinked. "That's... an odd topic to study after we took a year long class on it, and you complained about studying old history . Why now?"

"Just an impulse ," Edward said, waving a hand dismissively. "I mean, if I can't fight like an A-rank hero, I might as well hit the books and figure out how not to die."

Anastasia gave him a long, searching look before nodding. "Alright. Let's see what we can find."

Edward ran his fingers across the spines of the history section before pulling out a thick, worn book titled "Chronicles of the Heroic Wars." He plopped it down on a nearby table, flipping through the yellowed pages while Anastasia sat across from him, watching in silence.

According to the records, the Heroic Wars occurred nearly 2,000 years ago, following humanity's first victory over the invading Outer Gods and the subsequent death of First era of heroes . After receiving blessings from divine entities, humanity entered a golden age of heroism—but power, as always, led to greed.

The strongest nations sought to use their awakened heroes for conquest rather than defense, leading to a war that spanned a century. Nations fell, alliances crumbled, and millions perished.

Edward grimaced as he skimmed through a section detailing how once-glorious champions—heroes blessed with spirits like Achilles, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Siegfried and Alexander—were reduced to mere tools of destruction.

Anastasia leaned over the book, her white hair brushing against his arm. "It's sad, isn't it? They were given power to protect humanity, but instead... they destroyed it."

"Humanity never changes," Edward murmured. "Give someone power, and they'll find a way to screw things up."

She looked at him, frowning slightly. "You sound... different today. More cynical."

Edward shrugged, offering a lopsided grin. "Maybe reality just hit me harder today than usual."

Anastasia sighed. "The war only ended when the Council of Heroes was formed to mediate conflicts and prevent another catastrophe."

"Yeah, and here we are, centuries later, still walking on thin ice," Edward mused, tapping the page.

His gaze drifted further down the text, and something caught his attention—mentions of black gates.

"Black gates," he read aloud, narrowing his eyes. "The last known black gate appeared 3,000 years ago, before even the Heroic Wars."

Anastasia leaned in. "It says that these gates were considered unconquerable... that even the strongest awakened failed to contain them."

Edward frowned. "Then how did they disappear?"

Anastasia pointed to a section further down. "It says here they were sealed, but there's no record of how, or by whom."

Edward tapped his chin. Could it be connected to that guy I saw? The golden chains, the way he spoke about humanity's shackles... was he part of that history?

Feeling unsettled, Edward closed the book and reached for another titled "The Outer Gods: A Study of the End Bringers."

He flipped to a page listing the seven known Outer Gods, his eyes scanning through names that sent a shiver down his spine.

Urg-Sulath, the Senseless.

Del-Karzithoth, the Spiral.

Zul-Szerkal, the Breath.

Cthulhu, the Dreaming Horror.

Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God.

Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat of the Woods.

Hastur, the Shepherd of the Stars.

Edward paused at Hastur's section. He had heard whispers of the Yellow Sign in conspiracy theories, but seeing it recorded in an official historical text felt unsettling.

"Hastur is known as the Whispering King, the Shepherd of the Stars. His influence is subtle, infiltrating the highest levels of power. It is said that even speaking his name aloud draws his attention."

Edward sat back in his chair. "Yikes. So much for casual conversation."

Anastasia studied the page. "The Council of Heroes heavily censors information about him. It's rumored that some world leaders might even be under his influence."

Edward grinned. "Great. So not only do we have gods who 'saved' humanity, but also ones that manipulate us from the shadows. Just fantastic."

Anastasia shot him a sharp look. "Edward, what exactly are you trying to find?"

He hesitated, weighing his words carefully. "...I'm just trying to see if history is as black and white as they taught us in school."

She raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

After a couple of hours, Edward leaned back in his chair and stretched. His mind was buzzing with new information, but one thing was clear—there was a lot humanity didn't know, and even more that was deliberately hidden.

And somehow, that golden-armored figure was connected to it all.

He glanced at Anastasia, who was watching him expectantly. "Thanks for sticking around, Ana."

She shrugged. "I know you well enough to realize when you're onto something. Just... be careful."

Edward smiled. "Careful's my middle name."

"Liar," she deadpanned.

Edward laughed, closing the book in front of him. 'If I'm going to figure out what's really going on, I need to get stronger... and fast.'

Because one thing was certain—whatever that golden man represented, he was a piece of a much bigger, much more dangerous puzzle.

Edward sat cross-legged in a secluded corner of the Imperial Academy Grand Library, the dim golden glow of the overhead lamps barely reaching the towering shelves around him. Dust motes floated lazily in the air, disturbed only by the occasional rustle of pages as he flipped through yet another ancient tome.

He had gone through books about the Heroic Wars and the Outer Gods, but none of them provided the kind of clarity he was looking for.

With a frustrated sigh, he leaned back and ran a hand through his hair. "There's gotta be something they're not telling us..."

Anastasia, sitting across from him, glanced up from her own reading. "You look like you're trying to unravel the secrets of the universe, Edward."

"Honestly? That might not be too far off," he muttered, tapping his fingers against the cover of an old, dusty book he had just pulled from the shelves. It was titled "Forgotten Myths: Lost Civilizations and Extinct Gods."

It was an odd book. The spine was cracked, the pages yellowed, and the author's name had long since faded away. Edward had almost missed it, tucked away in the farthest corner of the history section under a pile of newer books no one had touched in ages. Something about it felt... off, like it wasn't meant to be found.

Curiosity piqued, he opened it and began reading.

Edward's eyes widened as he read.

"The Sumerians were the first civilization of humankind, long before the age of the Heroic Wars. Uruk, their crowning jewel, was said to be the greatest city ever built—an architectural and cultural marvel unmatched by even the Olympians or the Norse.

But this glory was short-lived, for a great flood, an endless deluge said to have been sent by the Outer Gods, consumed the earth 3,500 years before the modern era."

The flood wasn't just a natural disaster. It was described as a divine punishment, a cleansing, a last-ditch effort to contain something far worse than human greed.

"In the war that followed, the Sumerian gods stood alongside the pantheons of Slavic, Zoroastrian, and even the forgotten gods of lesser-known tribes, fighting to push back the invading horrors."

But then Edward's heart clenched as he read further.

"The price of victory was the annihilation of these pantheons. The gods of Sumer, Slavs, and Zoroastrians perished in battle, sacrificing themselves to create the barriers that sealed the outer dimensions from Earth.

Their legacy was lost, and mankind was left to rebuild from the ruins, with no memory of what came before."

Edward frowned. "That's... convenient."

Anastasia, who had moved closer to read over his shoulder, narrowed her eyes. "Convenient?"

"Yeah. Doesn't it seem strange to you? An entire civilization along with most of humanity wiped off the face of the earth—no written records, no surviving cultures, nothing passed down?

And then suddenly, the Olympians, Norse, and other pantheons just took over? It's like the entire foundation of human civilization was reset."

Anastasia tapped the page thoughtfully. "The gods that survived gifted humanity with the power of heroic spirits after centuries to defend themselves from future threats."

"Yeah, yeah," Edward waved his hand dismissively. "Nice story, but..." He turned the page and his breath caught.

In one obscure paragraph, buried among details of Sumer's glorious past, was a sentence that stood out like a beacon.

"The greatest city of mankind was ruled by the greatest king of men, a heroic figure blessed by the gods, an almost perfect existence who reigned for centuries."

Edward's brows furrowed. "Wait, centuries? That doesn't add up."

Anastasia leaned in closer. "Who was he?"

Edward flipped the page... and frowned.

Nothing.

After that one mention, there was no further reference to this so-called 'greatest king.' No records of his reign, no tales of his accomplishments, no mentions of his fate. It was as if history had been scrubbed clean of him, leaving behind only a whisper.

Edward felt his skin crawl. "They erased him."

Anastasia looked unsettled. "Or someone wanted him erased."

He continued reading, eyes darting across the pages, piecing together fragments of forgotten history. The book hinted at the idea that this "greatest king" was not merely a ruler but a being of extraordinary power—one who may have rivaled even the gods.

Yet, there were no depictions, no myths, and no legends left behind.

Edward muttered, "It's like he never existed."

Another thing began to bother him. After the flood, survivors of the catastrophe should have had some recollections of their past civilization—fragments of knowledge, cultural practices, or even stories of what happened.

But instead, the timeline after the flood showed a strange amnesia.

The surviving pantheons—Olympian, Norse, Chinese, Shinto, and Celt—somehow took over as the dominant forces of worship across the world. They rebuilt human civilization from scratch, gifting the concept of heroic spirits to safeguard against future invasions.

But something was missing.

Edward pointed at a passage detailing the Hindu pantheon. "Look at this. The Hindu gods had heroes strong enough to rival the greatest warriors—Karna, Arjuna, Bhima—yet they never took part in the global fight against the Outer Gods?"

Anastasia frowned. "It says they were too preoccupied with their own battles... something about a great war against the Asuras."

Edward's fingers traced the words. "And they both went extinct after that."

The implications were chilling. Did they know something the others didn't?

"Something's not right here, Ana," Edward said, his voice quieter. "It's like the world got a total reboot after the flood, and all the inconvenient details were deleted."

Anastasia bit her lip. "You're saying the current gods... might be lying about how things really happened?"

"I'm saying we don't have the whole story," Edward said grimly. "And I think I know why."

He slammed the book shut, his heart racing.

The golden figure he saw during his awakening—the regal man chained beneath the withered tree—he wasn't just some forgotten warrior.

He was part of the missing history.

Edward could feel it in his bones. The flood, the erased king, the suspiciously convenient rise of the surviving pantheons... they were all connected.

Anastasia placed a hand on his arm. "Edward... this is dangerous. If what you're suggesting is true, you're digging into something that could get you into serious trouble."

He nodded slowly. "I know. But I need to figure this out. Whoever that guy in my awakening was... he's tied to all of this."

"Wait, didn't you awaken a crafting type hero from Sumerian mythology ?" Anastasia looked at him suspiciously.

Edward chuckled nervously, " I can't explain everything now Ana. Just trust me on this."

Anastasia sighed. "Then I'm helping you."

Edward blinked in surprise. "You don't have to, Ana. It will probably drag you into some messy situation."

She gave him a look. "You're an idiot, and you'd probably get yourself killed alone. Besides, I have a feeling you're onto something bigger than we can imagine."

Edward grinned despite himself. "Glad to have you on board, partner."

With that, he tucked the book under his arm, a new sense of purpose burning within him. He didn't know how deep this rabbit hole went, but he was damn sure going to find out.

And for the first time since his awakening... he felt like he had a real reason to be here.