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 didn't speak for a long time after the thing disappeared.

Words felt distant, like they didn't belong to him anymore. He clenched his fists, grounding himself in the physical—the weight of his body, the air in his lungs, the distant hum of reality barely holding itself together.

Or worse—something else had taken its place.

They swept the area, searching for anything—signs of the copy, clues to what had just happened, some kind of logical explanation.

And the faint, lingering sense that something was still here. Watching.

Vera turned to him, eyes sharp. "Talk to me."

But then he forced them out. "It… showed me something."

Riven swallowed. "A version of the world. Like this one, but… wrong. Like it had already lost."

The name itself felt heavy in the air, like saying it was enough to draw its attention.

Vera crossed her arms, her face unreadable. "You're saying it's already won somewhere else?"

Because the look in his copy's eyes before it vanished—

The room they had been in didn't exist on any of the schematics.

Another gap in reality. Another sign that the Monarch's corruption was spreading.

And Riven could feel it, deep inside his bones—like a sickness he couldn't shake.

They retraced their steps through the corridors, but the deeper they went, the more Riven's head throbbed.

Shadows that didn't move like they should.

And suddenly—he wasn't where he was supposed to be.

The walls were peeling. The furniture—wrong. The color of the sky outside—too dark, too still.

She lifted her head, smiling like they had known each other their entire lives.

"You were supposed to be gone already," she said.

Vera's grip on his wrist tightened.

Vex cursed. "What the hell was that?"

But something inside him felt even more wrong than before.

Like something else had followed him back.

The longer they stayed here, the more unstable things got.

And Riven was running out of time.

He could feel it—something unraveling inside him, piece by piece.

And when they finally reached the exit—

Because for a brief, terrifying second—

He wasn't sure if he was the same person who had walked in.

Chapter 22: The Hollowing