Wokji_Dimfwina

Superheroes were supposed to be immortalized. Legends. Symbols of hope.

But one by one, they vanished. Erased from history, from memory—like they never existed at all.

Riven Steele, once the world’s strongest protector, awakens from a decades-long stasis to find reality itself rejecting heroes. No statues, no stories—only fragmented echoes of a world that refuses to remember them. A new generation of unstable, dying heroes rises in their place, their powers unraveling, their existence hanging by a thread.

At the heart of it all is a whispered name: The Hollow Monarch. A being that doesn’t kill. Doesn’t destroy. It simply erases.

As Riven fights to uncover the truth, he begins to unravel, his own reflection warping, his memories twisting. The Monarch’s influence isn’t just erasing heroes—it’s rewriting them. And when it finally speaks to him, it says the one thing that chills him to his core:

"You were never real."

Now, Riven must lead the last surviving heroes in a battle not just for survival—but to prove they should exist at all. Because if they fail, history itself will erase them forever.

And this time, there will be no one left to remember.

THE LAST SENTINEL

Riven's pulse thundered in his ears.

"If you don't fight it, it'll turn you into one of them."

Vex's words clawed at his mind, but the deeper truth was worse.

Because Riven already felt it happening.

He wasn't the same as when he first woke up.

His fingers twitched when they shouldn't. His breath hitched in a pattern that wasn't his own.

When he looked at the Echoes—those forgotten, erased things—he swore he could feel something pulling.

Like he was one step away from joining them.

Vera's hand landed hard on his shoulder. "Riven."

He jerked back. Too fast. Too inhuman.

Instead, she turned back to Vex. "You're saying the Monarch doesn't just erase people. It… keeps them?"

Vex exhaled sharply. "No. It lets them linger." His gaze flickered to Riven, then away. "Pieces of them, anyway."

Was that all he was now? A fragment of something that used to be whole?

He couldn't think about that. Not yet.

Vex led them deeper into the city. Every step felt wrong. The air was heavy, thick with something unseen.

Vex moved like he had memorized every street, every twisting corridor.

Because for him, weeks had passed.

Finally, they reached the entrance of an abandoned subway station. The rusted sign above flickered between real and not.

Vex shot her a sharp look. "The Echoes don't go underground."

The air was colder here. The shadows stretched wrong.

Vera caught it first. She turned toward him, eyes narrowing. "You don't hear that, do you?"

Vex's face didn't change. "Hear what?"

Before Riven could say anything, they heard it.

Vera turned, already raising a fist. "We've got company."

They moved wrong. No steps. No weight. Just flickering, shifting forms—silent, patient, watching.

Something pulled at him, ripping at the edges of his mind.

Memories blurred. His own name slipped away for a fraction of a second.

Or at least—the version of himself that didn't make it.

A Riven who belonged to the Monarch.

And for a moment, he wasn't sure which one he really was.

Chapter 14: The Hollow Rot