Chapter 3 — Saltspire's Teeth
Saltspire rose like a broken ribcage out of the sea—spires of rusted steel and biofused towers looming above crashing waves and smoke-stained clouds. Kael Sorrén stood at the threshold, his cloak shredded, his breath low but steady. Vyrmclaw padded beside him, limping slightly, scales dull from the long journey.
The gates were jagged, reinforced with bone plating and hybrid sinew. Codex scanners hovered in the air, blinking red.
[Codex Entry Required. GENMARK Toll: 10,000 Marks.]
Kael stepped forward.
The scanner stopped.
[Codex Override Detected. Echo Tier Host Identified.]
A low alarm rang—subtle, but the kind that made people look up.
Above the gates, figures began to whisper. Codex lenses focused. Someone unseen muttered:
"He's here... The Ash-Crowned."
The gates parted.
Inside Saltspire was chaos, dressed in commerce.
Streets layered like scars, each one stacked above or below the next. Neon veins pulsed across walkways made from shipwreck hulls and scorched alloy bridges. Bio-hybrid merchants yelled over crackling loudspeakers, auctioneers offered engineered tendons, and children ran through vapor clouds selling black tokens for under-the-table Codex boosts.
Kael moved silently through it all.
He wasn't unknown. Just... unwelcome in the open.
A man found him first.
Polished. Confident. Cloak lined with gold-thread mesh. His eyes were like polished obsidian.
"Kael Sorrén," he said.
Kael's hand moved near his blade.
"No need," the man smiled. "Name's Auren Drax. I represent the Auction Guild. You're turning a few tides just by breathing, friend."
Kael didn't answer.
Drax continued, gesturing toward the upper spires. "This city's older than you think. Older than most Codex hosts realize. But it favors those who understand the rules."
He held out a small black shard—pulsing faint blue.
"Consider this a token. A key to places you won't find on a map. Saltspire doesn't just sell goods. It sells legacy. And right now, your name's trending in places you don't want it to."
Kael stared, then took the shard.
"We'll speak again soon," Drax said, disappearing into the crowds.
Later, Kael found himself drawn toward the lower pits—the Grind District.
A hybrid roared from below—a hulking brute with hammerfists and split jaws. In the crowd, men jeered, women screamed, and gamblers threw marks at pit guards.
One figure was being dragged forward—a wiry man with patchy synth-armor, grease stains, and cracked goggles.
"I didn't sabotage anyone's containment field! That beast broke out 'cause you spliced it with a faulty basilisk gland!" he yelled.
"Shut it, Serrin!" someone yelled. "You're lucky we don't feed you to the damn thing."
Kael raised a brow.
The wiry man spotted him in the crowd.
"Hey! Big guy! You look like you've got a functioning Codex! Want to not let me die today?!"
Kael walked away.
He found Serrin again three hours later, trying to hack into a Codex terminal with a bent fork.
"You again," Kael said.
Serrin grinned. "You again! See, fate! Or the Hybrid Lords just think we'd make a great buddy cop team. Either way... you're bleeding. Sit."
Kael reluctantly let him patch the reopened wound.
"Name's Serrin. Tinkerer, Codex-patcher, certified coward. But I'm alive, so I must be doing something right."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "You're annoying."
"And you're broody. See? Already we're learning."
That night, Kael received an encrypted ping from Drax.
A private auction chamber. Access granted.
Kael followed the signal into the high spires—into the Black Gallery.
Inside were ten pods. Each one floated in a sealed containment field. Hybrid organs. Preserved Codex interfaces. And one child.
The child floated in stasis. Eyes closed. A mark glowed on their neck.
[Codex Compatibility: 98.7% — Echo Tier Potential.]
[Lineage Trace: KAEL SORRÉN – DNA MATCH: 72%]
Kael staggered back.
Next to it, a chained hybrid—slender, canine, with armor plates and red-tinted bone growths. Its eyes met Kael's.
Not Ravager.
But kin.
Serrin met him outside.
"You look like someone punched your soul."
Kael handed him the black shard.
"Decode this. Quietly."
"Oof. You don't make small talk, huh?"
Kael walked on.
Behind him, Serrin watched the horizon.
Elsewhere, in a sealed room beneath Saltspire...
Auren Drax watched Kael's movements through a holotable. Codex feeds streamed data.
"He's on schedule," Drax muttered.
Another voice replied: "And he believes you."
Drax smiled coldly. "He wants truth. We'll sell him his own reflection."
He activated a silent command.
[Codex Fragment Mission Initiated. Bait Protocol: Active.]
[Codex Notification: Hybrid Auction Lot 47-B]
Class: Echo-Fused
Status: Pod Stabilized
Compatibility: 96%
Flag: LINEAGE MATCH DETECTED — HOST: KAEL SORRÉN
[End Chapter 3]