You ever stroll into a city and discover a monument in your honor?
No? Yeah, me neither.
Until today.
I was strolling further into the city, still reeling from the fact that a demon child somehow addressed me by name, when I stumbled into the center of a broad, open square. Birds passed overhead. People congregated around stalls hawking magic candy and radiant trinkets.
And there it was.
An imposing statue of marble.
Of me.
Same frayed cloak. Same sleep-deprived face. Same subtle scar above the left eyebrow — the one I acquired in World 344 when I attempted to wrestle a celestial chicken deity (don't ask).
But it wasn't the unnerving similarity that left me reeling.
It was the epitaph.
"Here lies the Savior Who Must Never Return."
I didn't take a breath.
Onlookers around me spotted me. Staring. Wide eyes. Then… silence.
A woman pulled her child back. A vendor dropped a bag of silverfruit. A guard tightened his grip on his communicator crystal.
".Okay," I said out loud, trying to wrap my head around the bizarre scene, "Did I miss the memo where I became Voldemort's chill cousin?"
I approached the statue. My boots rang off the gleaming stone. A shiver ran through me that had nothing to do with the wind.
That sentence.
Must Never Come Back.
What the crap did I do here?
I hardly remembered anything from my previous lives. Flashbacks. Screams. Fire. Agony. And now… statues?
A teenage boy whispered behind me, "That's him. The Ghost Hero."
"He's not supposed to exist."
But he seemed real enough to flee from.
I turned slowly. People were retreating.
I attempted to talk. "I don't know what you all think I am, but—"
"Rhaizen?"
It was not the voice of the crowd.
It was behind me.
Four men in navy-and-gold uniforms stood at the border of the square. Smooth armor under long coats. Regal symbols shone on their shoulders — The Crest of the Crownshield, emblem of the Kingdom's Central Peacekeeping Order.
Their presence thickened the air.
The foremost man, a serious man with greying hair and half-moon glasses, stepped forward.
"By command of the Royal Peace Council, we request that you accompany us. Peacefully. Voluntarily."
I blinked.
"Royal Peace Council? That exists?"
One of the younger knights awkwardly rummaged in his pack and produced something from it. "It's okay! We brought. cookies?"
He extended a packet of chocolate-mint cookies enchanted with heat-fresh illusions.
I scrunched my eyes. "Cookies going to make me want to go with time cops in armor?"
"They're limited edition?"
Aaahh. Tempting.
But everyone else remained frozen. Gazing. No one moved towards me. No one hurled rocks or fireballs. They simply gazed at me. As if I were a ghost. Or worse — an artifact that had no business resurfacing.
My gaze wandered back to the statue.
The Savior Who Must Never Return.
I wasn't meant to be here.
And yet… here I was.
Again.
Alive.
"Alright," I finally said. "I'll come with you."
The knights seemed relieved. But I wasn't finished.
"On one condition," I said, descending from the base of the statue. "You explain why I'm not welcome here."
The lead knight's eyes narrowed.
"Because peace," he said softly, "came at a cost."
He walked away.
"Come. The King desires answers as well."
And as they took me away, the city square murmured behind me like an open wound.