As soon as the words left my lips, I felt the air around us change. The atmosphere thickened, as if the very world were opposing what I had just said.

I didn't even have time to wonder what had gone wrong before Eldric appeared before me in the blink of an eye. His figure seemed more distinct, less ethereal. He looked at me with such anger that I involuntarily froze.

"Repeat. Immediately," he commanded. His voice, which had been full of mockery moments before, now sounded stern and dangerous.

I didn’t know what to expect—but certainly not this. I took a half-step back, yet he did not flinch. He looked at me intently, as if trying to read the truth from my soul.

"Chaos Tower," I repeated cautiously.

Something in him trembled. For the first time, he looked like someone who was truly afraid.

"Don't lie," he growled. "Don't you dare utter those words if you have no idea what they mean!"

"I'm not lying," my own words sounded more confident than I felt. "Chaos Tower lies within my territory. It has been there since I arrived."

Eldric clenched his fists. His face was etched with a mixture of fury and something I couldn’t quite name. He still looked as if he were about to tear me to pieces at any moment, yet he didn’t take a single step forward.

"Stop lying," Eldric snarled. "Chaos Tower was destroyed long ago. It cannot exist—not after what Aldreith and Veylith did."

I furrowed my brows, feeling a growing sense of unease. Those names… they didn’t sound familiar. I searched my memory, but found no recollection that could link them to anything I knew. Yet something in the way Eldric uttered them made me feel a slight apprehension.

"Aldreith? Veylith?" I repeated, frowning. "I've never heard those names before. Who were they?"

Eldric looked at me in disbelief, as if he couldn’t believe his own ears.

"Every Lord in the world knows who they are!" he roared. "It was because of them that a gigantic catastrophe befell the world of Lords! Don't tell me you've been living under a rock your entire existence."

I furrowed my brows even more.

"A gigantic catastrophe? What are you talking about?" I asked.

Eldric snorted, as if he couldn’t believe I actually had to ask.

"A war that shattered the very foundations of the world of Lords! Aldreith and Veylith, using the Chaos Tower, created monsters that were impossible to control. These beings, unlike ordinary summons, had their own system—just like the Lords. They obeyed no rules, not even those of their creators. And then…"

"And then?" I asked cautiously, watching as Eldric clenched his fists.

"Then they united," he hissed. "Just as the Lords once ruled the world, these beings established their own hierarchy. They were no longer chaotic monsters—they became something more. And as their power grew, they turned against us, igniting a war the likes of which this world had never seen."

For years we fought, but they were different. Not only did they possess their own system, but they also learned, adapted, and—just like the Lords—were capable of evolving. Every victory cost us more than we could bear, for with each foe we felled, others grew stronger. Thousands of Lords were sacrificed to halt their invasion, and yet we barely managed to win.

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"And yet, you managed to defeat them?" I asked, unable to comprehend how such a war could ever have been ended.

Eldric was silent for a moment, then he smiled bitterly.

"We managed to defeat them only because the Lords united to exterminate them all," he said in a serious tone. "Something like that had never happened before. The Lords had never been united; there were always disputes, struggles for power. But then... then we had to act together. We sacrificed thousands—entire civilizations crumbled—so that we could win. And it was precisely then that the Chaos Tower was destroyed. After what transpired, no one would dare rebuild it… And yet you tell me it exists?"

"I don't know what to tell you," I replied, folding my arms. "I had no idea about this war, about these creatures… and now it suddenly turns out that every Lord should know about it? Maybe it was all hidden? Perhaps the system erased that information?"

Eldric narrowed his eyes, his anger giving way to deep contemplation.

"The system does not have that kind of power over history. At least... it didn't," he murmured, wiping his forehead as if suddenly burdened by troubling thoughts. "If you truly live in a world where no one knows these events, then someone deliberately erased them. But who? And why?" He fell silent for a moment, his gaze growing distant. "It makes no sense. Even if they intended to cover up this war, no one could completely erase it. Has the system changed so much that it now controls even what the Lords can remember?" His voice was quiet, as if he were speaking more to himself than to me.

Suddenly, his gaze refocused on me.

"Tell me, what does the world of Lords look like now? Do great kingdoms exist? Do the Lords still hold power over their domains? How does the system function?

I hesitated.

"I don't know exactly. I don't know anyone who rules the way you're describing. There are no great kingdoms, no councils of Lords. If they exist, they hide. I haven't seen any signs of their power."

Eldric grimaced, as if he couldn’t believe it.

"That's impossible..." he whispered. "If the Lords have really fallen this low, it means something else has happened. Something that no one recorded in history."

Suddenly, his gaze sharpened, and suspicion sparked in his eyes.

"Who were your parents? What kind of Lords were they? Since you inherited the Lord’s system, they must have belonged to the old order."

I froze for a moment, surprised by the sudden change of subject.

"I don't know," I finally admitted. "I didn't have Lord parents. The system chose me and granted me the status of a Lord as soon as I appeared in this world. I inherited nothing from any parents."

Eldric narrowed his eyes, watching me intently.

"Impossible. Every Lord knew their origin, their bloodline. The system did not choose Lords at random. If you truly claim that it chose you..." he trailed off, as if he couldn’t believe his own words. "That means something has changed. Something that even I do not understand."

His face stiffened, and his gaze turned cold and analytical. After a moment, his eyes widened in a sudden flash of understanding.

"No... that's impossible..." he whispered. "But if the system chose you, then it means you are like the first Lords. In the era of the primordial age, the system itself designated who would become a Lord—before bloodlines and dynasties existed. If that has happened again..." he trailed off, his expression mingling both fear and fascination. "That means the world is returning to its primordial state. And that changes everything."

His gaze darkened, and a sudden realization dawned on his face.

"Maybe... maybe that's why you don't remember these events," he began speaking more quickly, as if struck by a new thought. "Something must have happened. Something so powerful that it erased all the Lords and forced the system to restart the cycle, just as in the primordial age. That's why you and the other new Lords have no memories of the old world."

"So you're suggesting that the system simply reset the world?" I asked, crossing my arms. "But why? And how did it happen?"

Eldric shook his head, his gaze clouded with thought.

"If I knew the answers, I wouldn't be asking so many questions," he sighed heavily. "This isn't something that should be possible. If the system truly restarted everything, it means the primordial structure of the world was completely destroyed. Who could have caused that? And more importantly... why did the system allow such a reset?"

"Maybe it just had no choice?" I suggested, trying to find any sensible theory.

"The system always has a choice," Eldric grumbled, giving me a stern look. "If something like that happened, it means we faced a force that even it couldn't control."

"So you're saying that there could have been something... even more powerful than the Lords?" I raised an eyebrow, unsure whether what he was saying made any sense at all.

Eldric fell silent for a long moment, then looked at me with something that, for the first time, resembled unease.

"I don't know, but if that's true... it means we're no longer at the top of the food chain."