Lone Warrior

As children, they were commoners bound by friendship, not blood. One day in a forbidden forest, they found a hidden cave holding an ancient box. Inside slept a demon, who offered them anything they wished. Without hesitation, one of them said, "I want to be king." Years later, that wish came true. His friend, now a celebrated war hero known as the Commander, never suspected the cost behind it. But the demon never truly left—it lingered in the King's soul, feeding on his fears and ambition, growing stronger with each compromise. When the King saw his own people begin to love the Commander more than they feared him, jealousy—and the demon—won. He branded his oldest friend a traitor and cast him out. The soldiers who once followed the Commander into battle turned their backs on him, believing their king's word over the man who had bled for them. Now a lone wanderer, the Commander trusts no one, carrying a wound deeper than exile: betrayal by a brother he never stopped believing in. But the truth is far darker than he knows—the King is no longer fully himself. Buried beneath the demon's control, his old friend might still be alive inside. To save him, and the kingdom, the Commander must return to where it all started: the cave, the box, and the wish that cost a friend his soul