I had always been a frail woman, from childhood to adulthood. My life expectancy was directly tied to my family's wealth, and even then, I was never able to be a physical person in any capacity. I spent my life bouncing between my personal bed and a hospital one. Such a life would have left me unable to develop a social one and I would of had to rely on my siblings and tutors for companionship, but technology ensured this wasn't entirely the case.

I spent much of my free time, which I always had in excess, gaming. Intellect-based games quickly came to fascinate me, and were my primary focus when looking at new ones. Strategy RPGs, RTS, Turn-based, they all appealed to me. I spent much of my life playing through them, and in that time, one stood out. It was my old faithful, the game that I could reliably enjoy whenever I didn't have anything else to play and was waiting for new releases or frustrated with my current play-throughs.

That game was known as Sacred Chronicles, and was a blend of 4x and strategy RPG. Playing as one of several factions, the player built up their faction and armies, and explored and conquered. Battles with roaming mobs or enemy factions took place in turn-based strategy battles not unlike a certain Emblem or Shining series. Your units gained levels and could even promote into higher tiers of units. The game has seven total playable factions, divided between two Good, two Evil, and three Neutral ones.  my personal favorite was without a doubt one of the Evil ones, known as Runeterria, who were also one of the more unique factions in the game to play as.

Runeterria was a Kingdom of Monsters, ruled by the Demon King. The game began with the Demon King's resurrection which triggered a large-scale war, and if the player chose any other faction, then they would always have to fight and defeat Runeterria. And if you played as Runeterria, like I prefered to, you would always have to fight and defeat everyone else. Diplomacy and alliances weren't possible as Runeterria, and their relations would always worsen over time until war was declared. They had strong units that generally preferred having high initial stats with low stat growths, as well as access to powerful Dark Magic. Using this, one would overwhelm and overrun the other factions. They could also field more armies, especially in the early game, than the other factions generally could afford to without risking the most embarrassing of defeats to bankruptcy or starvation.

I'm not sure what drew me so much to Runeterria and its Monsters. Most games didn't let you play as a more 'villainous' faction, but I always tended to when it was available in some form or another. A part of it, I believe, was that I simply found more freedom in these factions. Another, pettier, reason was the fact that while I was what could objectively be called a virtuous person in life, it was by little choice of my own. My fragile health couldn't take much and sleep was the only physical pleasure available to me. It was frustrating, and I enjoyed vented those frustrations in my games by imagining myself as something... something more than I felt I had been allowed to live as by some higher power.

*Come...*

There was another one, however, a 'true' reason in a way. But... strangely, I found myself unable to recall it.

*Lead us...*

Indeed, I found much of my memory muddled, or perhaps, fragmented would be a better word. It was all broken up into seemingly random bits and pieces. I could remember the basics of my life, the many games I had played, but many of the specifics and personals were absent.

*Destroy them all...*

What was I doing again? I strangely couldn't remem...

*Bring ruin to the world, your Majesty...*

----------------------------------------

I felt my consciousness slowly coming back to me as I stirred from what felt like a deep sleep. A killer headache spasmed within my skull and my memories thickly clouded. I tried to think back to the last thing I had remembered, suspecting last night's medicine to be the cause. It wasn't uncommon, though this was a little more extreme than usual. I would need to notify my personal Physician about this when I managed to get up.

"She awakens." A deep, echoing voice that could only be called completely inhuman suddenly spoke. The emotionless and toneless words cut through my sleepiness, replacing it with alarm and a bit of fear.

"Yes, Her Majesty awakens!" A second voice spoke, this one sounding raspy and strangely breathy. More like a wind's howl than someone speaking.

"Glory to Runeterria!" A third and final voice spoke, this one somehow sounding the most bizarre. The only way I could describe it was if several dozen metal knives were being scrapped against one another and somehow came out as 'speech.'

But wait, what? Runeterria? What did that have to do with anything? Alarm subsided slightly into confusion and I dared to open my eyes, having no idea what I was about to see. Fear, surprise, these came quickly and as expected in this kind of situation. What I didn't expect was to also feel familiarity and... nostalgia.

Before me was what could only be described as a total nightmare or perhaps a view of Hell itself. I found myself sitting in an odd throne of sorts that was made of stone, in a large hall that by logic had to be a throne room or great hall of some kind. However, it wasn't something beautiful or majestic, at least in the typical meanings of those words. Instead, it was nightmarish and at best grotesque. The floor and walls were made of black stone bricks, with thirteen pairs of pillars lining the path from the massive iron gates that served as the main entrance to this room up to the stairs that led up to the throne I sat upon. Between the walls and pillars on each side ran a moat of thick, dark purple water with small stone bridges leading back and forth across them. The walls were decorated with large stained glass windows which were mostly red and purple in color, and depicted various horrific scenes and monsters in them like snapshots from the pits of Hell. The pillars each had several gargoyles sitting on them, some more demonic while others were more humanoid, and all of them wielding various weapons that looked to be made of bronze. The ceiling was by far the most bizarre part of the throne, however. Instead of stone or a typical smooth ceiling of any sort, it was what looked like a mass of gnarled roots or tentacles made of petrified wood. These tendrils pulsed and writhed despite their statue-like appearance, and snakes up and down the tops of the walls and pillars, some even occasionally coiling around parts of the gargoyles. Several glowing purple flames that dimly illuminated the entire room seemed to move and dance among the tendrils, while also revealing the numerous skeletons and decaying, unidentifiable corpses that were also entangled among them.

A truly nightmarish scene to take in, and yet, it was a familiar one. I had only seen it in pixels and art, and indeed, a part of me had always wanted to see this place in real life. Though I certainly never thought that want would be granted and I would get to see the throne room and final battle area of Runeterria in reality, and I somewhat regretted that fantastical wish. Nor did I think I would ever meet the Monsters who also loosely filled up this throne room.

Indeed, several types of Monsters were set before me and I recognized all of them. They were the basic, starting Units of Runeterria. While they were certainly much more intimidating and outright terrifying in the flesh so speak compared to pixel art, they were each still clearly recognizable for what I had memorized in the game:

Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.

Bone Warriors, which appeared as animated, monstrous skeletons with too many bones, sharp fangs and claws, and burning red flames in their eye sockets. They wore maroon brigandine armor made with bronze, the rivets clear in tight lines across the different pieces. Sheathed at their side was a Messer sword, also made of bronze, with a simple shield sling over their backs.

The other most common type of Monster besides the Bone Warriors were Revenants, which appeared as heavily decayed but bulky corpses with rotten, sunken skin just barely stretched over the bulging dark purple muscles like tattered clothing. Their faces were covered by black leather masks that had been sewn into them, leaving only sharp fangs and burning red eyes visible. Their bodies were loosely protected by heavy red gambesons, made from layers of thin leather and heavy wool stacked atop and bound tightly together. Each of them wielded a large bronze Hafted Axe.

Less common, but still present in fair numbers, were Wraiths and Arachnids. The Wraiths looked like skeletal ghosts made of dark winds and 'wearing' long robes, while the Arachnids appeared as giant spiders the size of cows with dark red and purple bodies and glowing yellow eyes and numerous long fangs dripping with glowing pink venom.

At the front of the pack and at the base of my throne was a Monster similar to the Revenants, but with several key differences. He was taller and even bulkier than the Revenants and his skin wasn't in tatters, though it was still heavily discolored and clearly rotting. His mask was made of bronze instead of leather and was made in the form of a snarling, almost demonic visage. He had long, spiky hair that was black as ink and looked oily. He wore heavy leather armor and dark furs over a gambeson, and several pieces of bronze plate covered his arms, shoulders, and legs. He held a massive bronze battle axe in one hand, and had a longbow and quiver slung over his back. While the others were generic combat Runeterria Units, he was not. He was one of the generic General Units for Runeterria, and was the one you started with a single one of at the game's start normally, a Revenant Chieftain.

They all stared at me with emotionless, glowing eyes and horrific faces. I wanted to believe this was nothing but a dream which would actually be enjoyable, but this wasn't. It was too realistic for my mind to imagine, and the smell, the sounds, the headache, all of it was too much for even the most lucid of dreams the human mind could create. It was also simply too crazy to be the side-effect of my medication and this all to be some extreme hallucination, I was too coherent for that. So, somehow, this fantastical nightmare was indeed the reality I found myself faced with. I didn't know what to expect next. Would I be torn apart by the Monsters I had admired so? I was surprised they had bothered to wait for me to wake up.

The Revenant Chieftain looked up at me, eyes burning brightly. "Greetings, Your Majesty. We await Your command."

Shock pierced through fear in an instant, leaving way to even greater confusion. So I hadn't misheard? But what did they mean 'Your Majesty?' Why would he refer to me as such? My shock grew further when the Revenant Chieftain and every other Monster bowed or knelt in some fashion towards me, and at the same time, something within me changed abruptly. My headache vanished, but was replaced with a burning sensation as dozens of voices and emotions that weren't mine suddenly bombarded me.

*Lead us!* *Glory to Runeterria!* *For Her Majesty!* *We shall conquer in Her name!* *Glory to the Demon King!* *Guide us to victory once more!* *For Her Majesty* *Lead us!* *We shall conquer in Her name!* *Glory to Runeterria!* *Glory to the Demon King!*

The chorus of thoughts were accompanied by muted emotions of joy, bloodlust, excitement, and other such burning emotions. They came from these Monsters, I realized, all of them. I could hear them, but more than that, I realized some part of me was connected to them. Not my conscious, not directly, but rather my subconscious was merged with all of theirs in a great web of wills, with my own being at the very center of it and serving as the core which they were all tied to. They were each a part of me, and I was within the heart of each of them.

"The Demon King of Runeterria? Me?" I spoke softly, not really to anything in particular as my mind struggled to wrap its head around what was happening. This couldn't be happening. "Surely not."

The Revenant Chieftain looked up at me, burning eyes glowing behind his bronze mask as his inhuman voice spoke clearly. "Without a doubt, You are the Demon King, Your Majesty."

His masked face was completely incapable of emotions, his inhuman voice incapable of displaying more complex tones. He was completely incapable of showing his emotions, but he didn't need to, because he was a part of me. He had a much stronger presence in our shared subconscious, and it made it easy for me to directly feel his emotions. Even if he had been capable of showing them, I still would never have been able to so clearly know his feelings as I could because of this bond. I could feel the devotion and faith he had in the truth of each word and in me. The other Monsters quickly spoke up with similar sentiments to the Revenant Chieftain, their own faith in me also coming through those less distinctly than his though no less clear.

"The Demon King who serves as all our Hearts!" A Bone Warrior raspily clattered.

"Her Majesty who guided us through countless campaigns and battles!" An Arachnid chittered in its strange method of grinding its fangs together.

"Who will lead us once more to victory and bring glory to Runeterria!" A Wraith howled like a fierce wind.

Such devotion, I feel the truth in their words and the absolute confidence they had in me. Each of them believed without even the faintest room for doubt that I was the ruler of Runeterria, The Demon King. From their words, it seemed they somehow remembered all the time I spent playing the game and the victorious campaigns I had completed. Was it somehow through the shared subconscious and they could access my still somewhat broken memoires? I didn't know, how could I?

By all rights, I should go mad from this. The situation I found myself in was not one where a human could possibly remain sane. And yet, as I felt myself calming and my emotions cooling, my analytic mind overcoming and strangling my emotional one, I was found myself strangely at peace. Perhaps the shared subconscious was somehow holding my mind together and preventing me from going insane, or perhaps a part of me already had gone mad and I couldn't tell. Either way, I did not think it really mattered to the situation at hand.

"What do you want?" I asked the Monsters finally, unsure of how exactly to proceed or what it was they wanted me to lead them to.

"Victory," the Revenant Chieftain replied without hesitation.

"Glory for Her Majesty!" Added a Bonewalker.

"Conquest for Runeterria!" A Revenant joined in.

Simply and insistent demands, in concept if not execution or explanation. They wanted victory and for Runeterria to expand, just like in Sacred Chronicles. How to accomplish this, I had no idea. I didn't even really know where I was and it seemed they didn't really either or care. Was this the same world as Sacred Chronicles, or a different world entirely? Did I already have enemies I needed to be aware of and achieve victory over? This was vital information I had no way to acquire at the moment, instead of it being handed to me at the start like when I began a new Campaign.

But, did I really have a choice to do anything but accept their devotion and desires? They were completely loyal to me, and had faith in my ability to lead them to victory. If I didn't do that, what would happen? Would that loyalty change or break? Would they get frustrated with me and slay me? I found myself upon a tall pedestal, and one I had to be careful not to carelessly tumble off of if I wanted to live.

I didn't know why I had been brought here or what miracle, blessing, or perhaps even curse had brought this about. But it didn't matter. I chose to accept this role and destiny that had been given to me, if not by some outside force then by the Monsters of Runeterria themselves. I would become The Demon King they desired, though even I at this moment sorely underestimated what sort of Monster I myself would become in the pursuit of that goal.

New Game Start!

Game: Sacred Chronicles

Game Type: Campaign

Difficulty: ???

Player: ???, The Demon King

Faction: Runeterria

Other Players: ???

Victory Condition(s): ???