I stood up immediately.

  No hesitation.

  No noise.

  A short teleport — and I was already behind the tavern. Cold night air hit my face. My chest felt heavy, dense, like my heart was being squeezed.

  My head was chaos.

  In my mind there was only one thing: Are you doing the right thing?

  I walked.

  My arms were folded tight, crossed as if I were hugging myself. From emptiness. I walked without lifting my head, and the same question rolled inside me the entire way:

  Am I doing the right thing?

  Maybe I should at least talk to them?

  Right.

  Wrong.

  There was no answer.

  I reached the stable.

  The smell of hay. Wood. Warm living bodies.

  Noxus.

  “Zen?” His voice was sleepy, slow. “Why are you here so late?”

  I walked up and sat against him, pressing my forehead into his mane.

  “Let’s go,” I said quietly.

  He hadn’t even stood up yet.

  “Why do you need a horse?”

  I froze.

  Slowly climbed down.

  “Zen…” Noxus turned his head. “What’s wrong with you?”

  I wanted to tell him everything.

  Everything that was in my chest.

  Say it.

  Drop it.

  Unload it.

  But in my head, calm, almost lazily, it sounded:

  — Why?

  — What’s the point?

  I clenched my teeth.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  — Will he solve your problems?

  — Is he useful?

  Pause.

  — No.

  I didn’t say anything.

  I just turned around and left.

  No explanations.

  No goodbyes.

  I rose into the air. Just disappeared from the ground.

  I flew over the streets, over rooftops, over other people’s lives.

  My thoughts began forming a plan.

  I will try to make peace with the demon-kind.

  If it doesn’t work — then… I’ll destroy them.

  If someone stands in my way…

  I stopped in midair.

  The words didn’t want to form.

  …I…

  …I’ll destroy him.

  The silence inside was absolute.

  “You don’t need anyone,” I told myself.

  I continued flying.

  “And no one needs you.”

  Somewhere far away, beyond this night, there was Mira.

  The only one who I…

  But right now…

  Right now there was only me.

  And that was enough.

  Chapter: “The Border”

  Five hours.

  For an ordinary rider, that would be a journey of several days. For an army — a week of exhausting march. For me — only five hours of watching clouds and my own emptiness.

  The landscape below changed reluctantly. The green forests of the human kingdom gradually lost their brightness, turning brown, thorned. Fields gave way to gray wastelands carved by sharp rocks like fangs rising from the earth.

  I felt the world’s background shift. The mana here was different — heavier.

  The land of demons. My home? Or my prison?

  — You’re still hesitating, the voice inside said again.

  I didn’t answer. I just flew, cutting through the cold current of wind with my chest.

  — Five hours, Zenhald. You could’ve been here in ten minutes if you didn’t spare your strength. Saving it? For whom? So you don’t scare the birds? Or are you still waiting for someone to catch up on horseback?

  “Shut up,” I thought back.

  — Oh, we’re talking now. Progress. But look down.

  I looked.

  The border wasn’t marked by a wall or fence. It was marked by death. A thin strip of scorched earth where even weeds didn’t grow. A line humans had feared crossing for centuries.

  — How long would it have taken with them? the voice softened, almost coaxing. With your “team.” With Dorwood? With Inea? Another week? Two?

  I stayed silent.

  — And then what? A camp. A fire. Liara stroking your head again while you close your eyes like a well-fed cat, forgetting who you are. You’d lead them to slaughter, Zenhald. You’d watch demons tear them apart because you decided to play “friendship.”

  I descended lower. My feet touched the gray, dry soil of the East. Dust rose in a small cloud and immediately settled. There was no wind here — only frozen anticipation.

  — You’re already here, the voice continued. But you’re still hesitating. You’re standing at the border and looking back. There’s nothing there. Just an empty tavern room and a cold breakfast.

  I took my first step onto demon land.

  The air smelled of sulfur and old leather. Somewhere in the distance, beyond a ridge of black rocks, a column of smoke rose. A signal fire? Or just someone’s burned life?

  My plan was simple. As all brilliant things are.

  Make peace. Show them power they can’t challenge. Turn them into a tool, not an enemy.

  And if not…

  — If not, you know what to do, the voice inside smirked. You’re best at it. Breaking. Burning. Grinding into dust.

  I looked at my small, childish hands. Fingers that had held a silver coin in the adventurers’ guild just yesterday.

  “I don’t want to kill everyone,” I said aloud. My voice sounded strange in the dead silence. Too thin. Too human.

  — Want, don’t want… what difference does it make? You’re either King or nobody. And “Nobody” doesn’t survive in the East.

  Ahead, from behind a boulder, a shadow appeared. A low, squat creature with scaled skin and eyes glowing a rotten yellow. A scout. Or just a scavenger.

  It froze, sniffing. It saw a child. A small, lone boy in the wasteland.

  It bared rows of small teeth and crouched, preparing to leap.

  I didn’t even raise my hand.

  I just looked at it.

  “Leave.”

  There was no arrogance in that word. Only exhaustion. And an endless, ancient darkness that briefly flashed in my pupils.

  The creature shrieked, convulsed, and fled without direction, whining like a beaten dog.

  — The beginning is made, the voice stated. Go, Zenhald. Your throne awaits a new master. Or the old executioner.

  I adjusted my clothes and walked forward, deeper into the territory I once called mine.