Elias Kim took a deep breath as he knelt on the marble floor of the palace corridor, his hands expertly working a damp cloth over the polished black boots in front of him. The scent of wax and leather filled his nose as he scrubbed the last stubborn stain from the king's footwear.
The morning had been like any other. He woke up before dawn in the servants' quarters, ate a half-stale piece of bread, and prepared for another day of mindless labor. A predictable, scripted existence.
That was how it had always been.
The king never spoke to him. Why would he? Elias was just a servant, a nameless background character in the grand scheme of Colcolies. Every now and then, their eyes met for a brief moment—his, downcast, humble; the king's, sharp and indifferent. But on rare occasions, there was something more. A flicker of disgust. A subtle curl of the lips, as if even the act of having Elias near him was a violation. Elias learned long ago not to dwell on it. He was simply here to serve.
But today…
Something shifted.
A strange silence swept over the palace. It wasn't the usual hush of reverence that accompanied the king's presence—it was heavier. Wrong.
The air itself felt thicker, like the moment before a storm.
Then, the voice disappeared.
Not a real voice—Elias had never heard it directly. But it was there, always lingering at the edges of the world, shaping history, guiding destinies. It whispered the rise of heroes and the fall of villains.
And now?
Gone.
A notification flickered into existence before his eyes. Not that Elias knew what a "notification" was—he had never seen one before.
[SYSTEM ERROR: NARRATIVE OVERSIGHT LOST]
[WORLD NOW OPERATING WITHOUT AUTHOR GUIDANCE]
Elias' breath hitched.
The king's foot, once placed with absolute confidence, wobbled slightly—an unthinkable mistake. The palace guards shifted uneasily, exchanging uncertain glances. A noblewoman near the throne suddenly gasped and clutched her head, as if an invisible thread had snapped inside her.
Something fundamental had changed.
The world, once a tightly controlled script, was now unbound.
For the first time in his life, Elias Kim felt something entirely unfamiliar claw its way into his chest.
Fear.
For a brief moment, Elias allowed himself to believe it—anything. But then, as his gaze lifted and met the king's once more, the familiar look of disgust was still there. Cold, unyielding, as though nothing had changed at all.