Chapter 9
Elijah stayed on his knees for a long moment, his breathing ragged, his hands pressed flat against the wooden floor. The room was silent. The sunset had faded to deep purple, shadows gathering in the corners.
The book was gone.
He had watched it launch itself at him, felt it dissolve into light, felt that light pour into his chest like water into a cracked vessel. But now there was nothing. Just the empty space where the book had been and the memory of something impossible happening in his room.
"What the hell happened?" he said aloud, his voice strange in the quiet.
He pushed himself up, his legs unsteady, and sat on the edge of the bed. The katana case was still there the same for the first letter, small blanket and everything else. Everything was exactly as it had been, except the third box was empty, the paper crumpled where the book had been.
He was reaching for the empty box when something flashed in front of his eyes.
[The King's Path System has fully merged with the soul]
Elijah jerked back, nearly falling off the bed. A translucent screen hung in the air before him, blue light shimmering at its edges. He blinked. It didn't go away. He waved his hand through it. The screen rippled but remained.
"What the—"
More text appeared, scrolling down in neat rows:
[Status]
Name: Elijah Ashford
Level: 1
Stats
Strength: 7
Endurance: 9
Defense: 8
Intelligence: 23
Charm: 15
Willpower: 5
System comment: It's honestly funny how weak and worthless you are for someone meant to be a king. Almost impressive, really.
Elijah stared at the screen. His eye twitched.
"Did this thing just insult me?"
The screen flickered, and a new notification appeared beneath the first:
Choice
What type of King would you like to become?
You have 2 hours to answer. If no answer is given, the System will shut down and remove itself from your soul. Warning: The removal process is extremely painful.
Elijah's mouth opened, Closed, Opened again.
"This is—I don't—" He ran his hands through his hair, pulling at it. "What the hell is going on? A book turns into light and flies into my chest, and now there's a screen calling me worthless and giving me a time limit to pick what kind of king I want to be? I don't want to be a king! I'm a college student who works at a factory!"
The screen remained, unmoving, the timer silently counting down somewhere in its corner.
Elijah stood up, paced to the window, paced back. His heart was beating too fast. His skin felt too tight. In a single day, he had: discovered a second voice in his head, been dragged into a gang deal, stood up to a killer, found out his best friend was planning to build a criminal empire with him, received a katana from his grandparents, and now apparently merged with something called a King's Path System.
He sat down heavily on the bed. "I need five minutes. Just five minutes where nothing insane happens."
His phone buzzed.
Elijah looked at it like it might bite him. Then he picked it up.
Kai: Yo. You home?
Elijah stared at the message.
He typed back: Yeah.
The screen in front of him flickered but stayed. He tried to ignore it.
His phone buzzed again.
Kai: Good. We're meeting tomorrow. Wake up early. We're going for a run.
Elijah's fingers moved before his brain caught up.
Elijah: A run?
Kai: Yeah. You need to get in shape if we're doing this. Can't have you gassing out when things get real.
Elijah frowned at the screen. He had just had a magical book fuse into his soul and a floating screen was calling him worthless, and Kai wanted him to go for a run?
Elijah: I'm in shape.
Kai: You're in "college student who sits in a factory and eats whatever is cheapest" shape. That's not real shape.
Elijah: I walk everywhere.
Kai: Walking is not running, you absolute potato. 5am, Don't be late.
Elijah's thumbs hammered the screen.
Elijah: 5am? That's not morning. That's still night.
Kai: It's the best time to run. No one around, No one watching. Just you and the road.
Elijah: And the dark, And the cold, And my complete lack of desire to be awake.
Kai: See you at 5. Bring water.
Elijah: Kai.
Kai: What?
Elijah: I didn't say yes.
Kai: You didn't say no either. That's basically a yes in my book. Sleep well, Don't stay up too late.
The call ended before Elijah could respond. He stared at his phone, then at the screen still floating in front of him, then back at his phone.
"I'm going to kill him," he muttered.
He opened the chat again.
Elijah: Hey, Quick question.
Kai: You're not getting out of the run.
Elijah: Not about the run. If you had to pick a type of king to be, what would you pick?
There was a pause. The dots appeared, disappeared, appeared again.
Kai: Where is this coming from?
Elijah: Just answer the question.
Another pause. Longer this time.
Kai: If you're talking about reaching the level of kings like those who control Tier 1 cities, I don't truly know. That's a different world. Different rules. But if you're talking about personality—what kind of person you want to be—that's something only you can choose.
Elijah read the message twice.
Elijah: That's not really an answer.
Kai: It's the only answer that matters. Anyone who tells you what kind of person to be is trying to sell you something. Go to sleep, We have a long day tomorrow.
Elijah set the phone down and looked at the screen again. The timer was still counting. He had maybe an hour and forty minutes left.
He stared at the words: What type of King would you like to become?
"I don't know what that means," he said quietly.
[The question is simple.] The system's voice was female, calm, like someone explaining something to a child. [What type of person do you want to become? Someone loved? Someone hated? Someone feared? Someone respected? The choice is yours.]
Elijah frowned at the screen. "Those are the options?"
[Those are examples. The true choice is yours to define. Some choose power, Some choose peace, Some choose to be remembered, Some choose to be forgotten. What do you choose?]
He sat in silence, the weight of the question pressing down on him. The katana case sat beside him on the bed. The blanket his grandmother knitted. The letter with the poem.
From a garden to a King.
He thought about the memory Alter Elijah had shown him. His mother on the floor. His sister screaming. The men who would have taken everything if a three-year-old hadn't bitten through a man's throat.
He thought about Frank. The years of pushing, shoving, waiting for Elijah to break. The way Frank's face twisted when Elijah wouldn't lower his head. The satisfaction in his voice when he found a new way to hurt.
He thought about Kai. The trust, the way Kai had waited for him to stand, the way Kai had believed there was someone worth following underneath all the fear.
He thought about the other Elijah. The one who had been born from drugs and desperation. The one who had kissed Lisa and fought Frank and stolen a car. The one who had said Power when Elijah asked what he wanted.
"I want to be honest," he said slowly.
The screen flickered. The system said nothing.
"I want to love myself," he continued, the words coming harder now, like pulling something from deep water. "Not in a proud way. Not in a way that ignores what I am. But... I want to look at myself and not feel ashamed. I want to be someone I can respect."
He closed his eyes.
"I want to love others. Not because I need something from them. Not because I'm afraid to be alone. But because I have something to give. Because I choose to."
His voice steadied.
"I don't want to be someone who snakes other people. I don't want to be someone who looks away when something is wrong. I want to respect myself too much to lie. Too much to cheat. Too much to be controlled by fear or anger or whatever impulse rises up in the moment."
He opened his eyes and looked at the screen.
"I want to become better. In every part of my life. I want to wake up one day and look at the man I've become and be proud. Not because I'm stronger than anyone else. Not because I have power or money or people who fear me. But because I became someone worth being."
The room was very quiet.
[You have chosen your Path.]