World guide · 時の継承者

The world of the heirs

Gods from beyond. A power that costs a heart. Two peoples split by glass. Scroll — we’ll tell you everything.

1,500 years ago…

four gods tear open the sky.

Scroll ↓

Four gods.

Four powers.

Grogo
Grogo
Karma
Karma
Nérothis
Nérothis
Morpheus
Morpheus

I · Strength · destruction

Grogo

Destruction Imprints: brute force, regeneration, fire. The strongest in battle, the closest to Rupture. Marked on the arms, back and shoulders.

II · The elements · nature

Karma

Nature Imprints: wind, water, stone, plants. A communion with all living things. Marked on the hands and legs.

III · The mind · knowledge

Nérothis

Knowledge Imprints: reading weaknesses, bending minds, sensing intentions. Marked on the face and eyes.

IV · Shadows · illusion

Morpheus

Illusion Imprints: mirages, shadows, walking into dreams. Marked on the neck and chest.

The pact between the gods and humans

They offer limitless power.

The price: your heart.

Those who accept receive an Imprint: they become the Inhumans. Those who refuse follow Ophæ — neither god nor Inhuman — who raises machines from stone.

Then the gods vanish.

Why did they come? Why did they leave? No one knows. 1,500 years later, the question still haunts the world.

Timeline

Before the gods

Simple kingdoms, no technology. Humanity lives off the land, trade and faith. No one looks at the sky in fear.

The sky tears open

Grogo, Karma, Nérothis and Morpheus descend. Each one rules a continent. They do not ask for faith: they demand obedience.

The first Imprints

The power of the gods in exchange for human hearts. Those who accept become the first Inhumans.

The first Ruptures

Too much power, not enough heart: Inhumans turn into Bestials. No one comes back.

Ophæ

Neither god nor Inhuman. Ophæ raises machines from the stone and gives humans a choice: fight, survive, or vanish.

The great divine war

Humans, rebel Inhumans and Bestials clash beneath the gods. In the end, the gods vanish. The Humans take refuge under the spheres of Ophæ.

A fragile peace

95% of the world bears an Imprint. The T.A.X keeps order. Under the domes, the last Humans prepare their return.

The capital of the Inhumans

95% of the world

Inhumans

The great cities, the Capitol, the T.A.X worshipped like stars. A power for everyone… and one heart less.

Live among them →
A human city under a glass dome

The last

Humans

Powerless, hidden under Ophæ’s glass domes. They kept their hearts… and they’re preparing their return.

Live under the glass →

Two peoples. One wall of glass.

Akio unleashes a huge hexagonal barrier

The Imprint

A mark left by a god in the flesh. It grants a unique power: an ability. But it replaces the heart. The more you use it, the more it grows… and the more you risk losing yourself.

  • 01The god’s symbolIts shape shows which god the power comes from.
  • 02A heart of energyIt replaces the heart given up in the pact.
  • 03A unique abilityNo two Inhumans share the same power. Akio: the Absolute Barrier.
  • 04An irreversible markThere’s no going back.
  1. 1AwakeningThe power bursts out in fits, driven by emotion.
  2. 2Partial MasteryThe basic form. The level of a Capitol student.
  3. 3Advanced MasteryThe ability evolves. The level required for the T.A.X.
  4. 4TranscendenceTotal fusion with the god. A legend… that Akio will reach in Volume 3.

  • Pain

    Every intense use burns the body.

  • Loss of self

    Memories and emotions fade.

  • Corruption

    Divine energy takes over.

  • No return

    The Rupture. The Inhuman becomes a Bestial.

Akio loses control, his eye turns into a star

0%

Control

The power obeys. The Inhuman is master of their ability.

To prevent it, the T.A.X fits Locks: compression rings that restrain the Imprint. Akio has worn one since the attack.

No one has evercome back from a Rupture.

Akio did.

Why? The answer unfolds volume by volume.

In the middle of the Rupture, Mina doesn’t run. She reaches out to the beast with a smile. The light returns. Akio is human again.

Séria can “hear” Akio’s Imprint: it rages when he’s rejected, and calms when someone trusts him. Under the domes, it shines every time someone is kind to him.

The Imprint of Awakening also feeds on people’s kindness. When an entire city believes in him, Akio reaches Transcendence.

The heart the gods took,Akio rebuilds it from everyone else’s.

The world

Map of the world of Heirs of Time

  • Grogo

    America · strength of the body

  • Nérothis

    Europe · powers of the mind

  • Karma

    Asia · the elements

  • Morpheus

    Africa · the shadows

The Humans live in sphere-cities scattered across the globe, protected by Deus's technology.

The Forge

This is where Inhumans with unstable powers end up — the ones deemed too dangerous. Their teacher? A stern man who plays video games… and who is none other than Morpheus.

  • Akio

    Fallen prodigy · 0.01%

    Akio

    The royal academy's idol loses his powers in an attack. Use even a fraction and he turns into a demon. He lands at the Forge… convinced it's only temporary.

  • Midori

    Unstable healing

    Midori

    The quietest of the group. She watches, listens and heals — but every healing can turn against her. Akio will be the first to believe in her.

  • Shion

    Working name · to confirm

    Shion

    Eyes hidden behind his hair, he always says less than he knows. Nobody at the Forge really knows his power.

  • Krogu

    Dark glasses · big heart

    Krogu

    Always relaxed, always joking. He melts in front of every new recruit… and fights like ten when a friend is in danger.

  • Kogo, Karma and Krogu bickering

    Nogou, a little help with her?

    Deal with it yourself, Mr. Muscle.

    Only male recruits?! ♥

The factions

  • Inhumans

    The Capitol

    The most prestigious academy. It trains the elite of the T.A.X.

  • Inhumans

    The T.A.X

    An elite unit worshipped like stars. It takes down Bestials.

  • Inhumans

    The Bastion

    The school for the “unstable”. The missions even the T.A.X avoids.

  • Humans

    The Council of Spheres

    The leaders of the domes. Maëve is preparing Operation Return.

  • Radical Humans

    The Return Front

    Sol and his rebels. They’re the ones who strike the Capitol.

  • The Bestials

    Inhumans lost to the Rupture… maybe not as lost as everyone thinks.

Characters

  • Akio

    17 · Inhuman · hero

    Akio

    Imprint:
    Awakening
    Ability:
    Absolute Barrier
    He wants:
    to join the T.A.X, then to prove he’s not a monster.
    His fear:
    hurting the people he protects.
  • Inoé

    17 · undercover Human

    Inoé

    Imprint:
    Ophæ’s (artificial)
    Ability:
    Time Manipulation (a few seconds)
    He wants:
    to complete his mission for the Council.
    His fear:
    getting attached to the people he must betray.
  • Kaël

    18 · Bastion prodigy

    Kaël

    Ability:
    Gravity Distortion
    He wants:
    to bring down the T.A.X, which “erased” his brother after he turned Bestial.
    His fear:
    ending up like him.
  • Séria

    17 · mystery

    Séria

    Ability:
    Astral Resonance: she hears hearts and Imprints.
    She wants:
    to understand why the gods “speak” to her at night.
    Her fear:
    no longer knowing which voices are her own.
  • Mina

    16 · childhood friend

    Mina

    Ability:
    Glow (minor healing)
    Role:
    the one who reaches out to the Bestial. The first clue to Akio’s secret.
  • Captain Vael

    35 · T.A.X captain

    Vael

    Role:
    Akio’s idol — then the one who puts the Lock on him. Neither good nor evil: he believes in order, whatever the cost.
  • Director Hana

    Director of the Bastion

    Hana

    Role:
    ex-T.A.X, one-eyed, stern and bone-dry. She realised before anyone else that Akio’s power responds to other people’s trust.
    Her secret:
    she lost her eye… bringing someone back from a Rupture, twenty years ago.
  • Eli asleep in Akio’s arms

    10 · Bestial

    Eli

    Who:
    a child turned Bestial by a Rupture, locked up in the Ash Prison.
    Arc:
    Akio brings him back with gentleness, not force. He becomes his little brother… and proof that Bestials can be saved.
  • Kaël in front of Ren’s tank

    20 · sleeping Bestial

    Ren

    Who:
    Kaël’s big brother, taken by the T.A.X after his Rupture.
    Arc:
    found in a Project Ash tank (Volume 1), he wakes up at the end of Volume 3.
  • The Council of Spheres

    Council of Spheres

    Maëve

    Role:
    Councillor of the Dawn Sphere. She raised Inoé “like a son… and like a weapon”.
    Her plan:
    the Purifier, an Ophæ machine that can erase the Imprints of an entire city.
  • The Return Front

    Leader of the Return Front

    Sol

    Weapon:
    a mechanical arm forged from a relic of Ophæ.
    Arc:
    he wants to take back the surface by force. Facing Akio, he learns that an Inhuman can protect Humans.
  • The Dawn Sphere, under the dome

    8 · Human of the domes

    Pip

    Who:
    a little girl from the Dawn Sphere who has never been afraid of “monsters”.
    Arc:
    her family takes in the heirs. Her drawing of Akio is the first portrait anyone has ever made of him.

The story, volume by volume

The first arc is fully storyboarded. Every chapter can be read online, page by page.

Volume 1 cover

Volume 1

The Awakening

  1. 1

    The prodigy. Akio, top of the Capitol, falls into Rupture during an attack… and comes back.

  2. 2

    The Bastion. Exiled to the Bastion, he discovers his barrier grows when people believe in him.

  3. 3

    The Ash Prison. First mission: an escaped Bestial. It’s just a terrified child.

  4. 4

    A monster’s heart. Akio saves Eli with gentleness. The T.A.X wants him dead.

  5. 5

    Kaël’s brother. Beneath the prison lies Project Ash: hundreds of sleeping Bestials, Ren among them.

  6. 6

    The Lock breaks. Vael attacks. Backed by his friends, Akio breaks his Lock.

  7. 7

    Inoé’s secret. Inoé’s Imprint peels away: he’s a Human from the domes.

  8. 8

    The Heirs. Hana reveals the fresco of the heirs. The Council of Spheres moves to phase 2.

Read Volume 1 →
Volume 2 cover

Volume 2

Under the Glass

  1. 9

    Two worlds, one secret. Inoé’s childhood under the dome, raised by Maëve.

  2. 10

    The invitation. Through Ophæ’s channels, the team enters the Dawn Sphere.

  3. 11

    The glass people. Pip and her family. A people without power… but with their hearts.

  4. 12

    The Return Front. Sol and his rebels prepare to reclaim the surface.

  5. 13

    The hunt. Kaël uses his power to save children: the chase is on.

  6. 14

    The Purifier. Maëve unveils her machine. Inoé must choose.

  7. 15

    Inoé’s choice. Ten seconds of stolen time, paid for with his own life.

  8. 16

    The cracked dome. Akio holds up the sky over a human people.

Read Volume 2 →
Volume 3 cover

Volume 3

Resonances

  1. 17

    The voice. The gods never left. The Bastion falls.

  2. 18

    The trial. Hero or monster? Mina testifies, and the city tears itself apart.

  3. 19

    Grogo awakens. The god of strength had been sleeping inside Vael for twenty years.

  4. 20

    The city on fire. A colossus marches on the capital. Eli saves children.

  5. 21

    Resonance. Séria links the hearts of an entire city to Akio’s.

  6. 22

    Transcendence. Absolute Sanctuary: Akio frees Vael. Grogo flees.

  7. 23

    What remains. Ren wakes up. Project Ash is opened. Inoé paid a heavy price.

  8. 24

    The Age of Doubt. Humans and Inhumans at the same table. Ophæ opens its eyes.

Read Volume 3 →

The saga

  1. Arc I · The Age of Light · Volumes 1–3

    The Awakening

    Volume 1: Akio’s Rupture, the Bastion, the Ash Prison and Inoé’s secret. Volume 2: under the domes, the Purifier and the cracked dome. Volume 3: Grogo’s awakening, the Resonance of an entire city and Akio’s Transcendence. Read Arc I →

  2. Arc II · The Age of Doubt

    Under the Glass

    The team sneaks into a dome. The Humans aren’t the monsters they were told about. The Council launches Operation Return.

  3. Arc III · The Age of Darkness

    The return of the gods

    Séria discovers the gods never truly left: they sleep inside the Imprints. And some are waking up.

  4. Arc IV · The Age of Choices

    Heirs of Time

    Humans and Inhumans must choose: destroy each other, or build a world where hearts are no longer for sale. Akio becomes the bridge between the two peoples.