Chapter 134: The Madness of Kings
The madness began as whispers in the void.
Reed watched the tactical display with growing horror as red markers proliferated across the dimensional map like a spreading infection. Each marker represented a reality that had gone silent—not destroyed, not conquered, but emptied. Kaedon had escaped his dimensional prison seventy-two hours ago, and in that brief span, he had already visited fourteen separate realities.
None of them had survivors.
"Status report on Sector 47," Reed commanded, his voice hoarse from sleepless nights and endless tactical briefings.
Lieutenant Commander Axis manipulated the holographic display, zooming in on what had once been the thriving industrial hub of New Kepler. "Population of 2.3 billion confirmed... present. All life signs stable. All neural activity..." He paused, swallowing hard. "Zero."
Reed closed his eyes, feeling the familiar weight of impossible grief. 2.3 billion people walking, breathing, eating, sleeping—but no longer thinking, feeling, or dreaming. They moved through their daily routines with mechanical precision, their bodies functioning perfectly while their minds had been surgically removed by a five-year-old child who believed he was showing them mercy.
"Sir," Communications Officer Vale called out, "we’re receiving a transmission from Reality Fragment 23. It’s... it’s from Kaedon himself."
Reed’s blood turned to ice. Direct communication from his youngest son could only mean one thing—the boy was ready to share his twisted revelation with the universe.
"Put him through."
The holographic display flickered, then resolved into an image that carved itself into Reed’s soul with surgical precision. Kaedon stood in what had once been the Grand Plaza of Meridian Prime, surrounded by thousands of empty-eyed figures who moved in perfect synchronization. The child’s small form radiated power that bent reality around him like heated glass, but it was his expression that truly terrified Reed—the serene smile of someone who had discovered absolute truth and found it beautiful.
"Hello, Father," Kaedon said, his child’s voice carrying harmonics that resonated across multiple dimensions. "I wanted to show you what peace looks like."