
by Solos
He was never meant to exist. He woke alone on a colorless hill with no name, no face, and no idea what he was. The only thing he knew was the storm inside him. Then Maren found him. A dead woman with nothing left to lose, she should have walked away from the strange, unfinished creature trembling in the empty Between. She didn't. She stayed. She taught him words. She taught him how to smile. She helped him build a face, a voice, and eventually a name. For the first time, he began to understand what it meant to belong to someone. But there is something terribly wrong with him. The power sleeping inside his soul is far beyond anything an ordinary dead soul should possess. The Between has begun to notice him. And somewhere in the darkness beyond it, something ancient has already looked his way. He doesn't know what he is. He doesn't know what he will become. But the reader might. Because this is not the story of how a monster was born. It is the story of how a monster learned to be human first. What to Expect Dark fantasy with a strong character-driven story Slow-burn progression and power growth Mystery surrounding the protagonist's origin A deep central relationship between Eremos and Maren Supernatural abilities with increasingly massive consequences Missions, worldbuilding and a larger cosmic mystery Foreshadowing that rewards attentive readers A long-term descent toward something far darker Moments of warmth contrasted with increasingly brutal consequences The story starts quietly. The world does not stay quiet.
No streak history
One state-enhanced oracle order, filtered by each list. Observed Royal Road ranks remain separate ground truth.
Rank updated 19 Oct 2026, 22:08 UTC
Entry forecast updated 19 Oct 2026, 22:08 UTC
Ranking model: rs-public-oracle-state-v1
Forecast model: rs-model-entry-v1
Chart history contains only this ranking model's runs; legacy points are not spliced in.
Not enough recent follower history to estimate a shadow rank yet.
beats 13% of similar stories
not enough data yet
beats 48% of similar stories
Mid-pack, room on both levers
Traffic and conversion both sit mid-field for a story this size. Growth here compounds from consistency: steady cadence feeds traffic, and a sharper hook lifts what each view is worth.
Benchmarks: 8,060 active Royal Road stories, percentiles within the 50–149 chapters band, cohort of 2026-07-02. Conversion is measured as followers gained per 1,000 views over the recent window.