The wind shifted.
As Echo-Ward rolled away from the ruins of Silvermark, its massive limbs shaking dust from collapsed towers, the world around them no longer felt silent. Something had stirred. Not just in the systems—but in the land itself. The silver dust that had coated the skies before now moved with purpose, streaming eastward like a whispered warning.
Kian stood alone on the forward deck, watching the clouds swirl.
[Codex Notification]
▸ Regional Shift Detected
▸ Environmental Data Reconstructing…
▸ Warning: System Density Increasing
"What does that mean?" Jerie asked behind him, stepping up with a frown.
Kian didn't answer at first. His eyes remained fixed on the horizon, where faint flashes of light were blooming in the clouds—like lightning, but rhythmic. Not natural.
"Another system's waking up," he finally said.
Inside the chamber below, Kess had already pulled up projections. Three separate signal threads crisscrossed the sky from the east, converging on a point labeled simply: Ashwall Gate.
"It's not a city," she muttered. "It's a convergence point. Like someone's drawn three system currents together."
Gellon leaned over her shoulder, squinting at the glyph traces. "Then who's drawing them?"
"Someone who doesn't want us alive when we get there," Veyna said simply.
Kian nodded. "It's a trap."
They made the decision quickly—don't avoid it. Convergence meant instability, but it also meant opportunity. System fragments couldn't exist without architecture to anchor them. If someone—or something—was forging a node intersection, it could be stolen. Or broken.
Either way, they had to move fast.
Kian issued the command. Echo-Ward's bulk creaked as it began a full sprint across the wastes—massive feet carving deep scars through the ash-covered ground. Above, clouds fractured and swirled as though being stirred by a will greater than wind.
They arrived at Ashwall by nightfall.
It wasn't a wall, not anymore.
The name had once referred to a kingdom-sized barricade built in the Second Reign to keep the sea from swallowing the eastern lands. Now, it was a scattered graveyard of broken stone, charred spires, and giant bones. Massive, ancient bones.
Kian's boots crunched against crystalline ash as they stepped down from Echo-Ward's forward deck.
[Predation Alert]
▸ Apex-class mana traces detected
▸ Species Signature: Draconid | Fused Variant
▸ Status: Dormant or Dead
Jerie's voice caught. "That… thing had wings."
"Had." Gellon pointed. "Looks fused with the ground. Part of the system now."
Veyna knelt by a shattered rib the size of a wagon. "These dragons didn't die in battle. They were burned from the inside."
Kian's hand brushed the air. Threads of memory flickered in the dust—like fireflies made of echo. He reached for one, and it danced away—leading him deeper into the ruin.
At the heart of the Ashwall Grave lay a stone basin, carved with runes older than any they'd seen. Around it, five crystalline pylons formed a rough circle—none active, but humming faintly.
In the center, hovering above the basin, was a sphere of compressed system data, dark as pitch, rimmed in burning light.
[System Convergence Node Identified]
▸ Core Signature: ???
▸ Status: Unstable | Active | Bait-class
▸ Codex: Suppression Protocols Active
▸ Predation: Aggression Restraint Locked
▸ Memory: Archive Scan Interrupted
Then a new signal cut through the interference.
Sharp. Focused. Intentional.
"Kian of Ashfall. You are observed."
Everyone froze.
The voice wasn't mechanical. It was human.
But layered—like a hundred people whispering at once.
"You carry what should never have been bound. The Codex. The Hunger. The Dream-that-Remembers."
"You will break. Or we will break you."
"Let us begin."
The ground exploded.
From beneath the basin, a metal tower erupted—unfolding like a spine, unfurling dozens of limb-like constructs. Atop it stood a figure clad in warped architect robes, face hidden behind a crystal helm, body pulsing with overlapping system threads.
[System Opponent Detected]
Name: UNKNOWN
Type: Rogue Architect
Affiliation: NULL
Systems: Triple-Bound (???, ???, ???)
Threat Level: Severe
Kian stepped forward, hand closing around his spear.
"Who are you?"
The figure tilted its head.
"I am what you could become… if you stop pretending to be human."
Then it moved.
The Rogue Architect struck first—a spear of crystallized predation slicing the air. Kian countered, triggering Momentum Anchor, redirecting the blow into the ground. Veyna flashed in behind, blades striking the rogue's shoulder—but they passed through, distorting as if through liquid.
"Projected form," Kess shouted. "He's not fully here!"
[System Trait Triggered: Echo-Ghost]
▸ Clone strikes right after Kian
▸ Hit confirmed – shell fractured
A crack raced down the rogue's mask.
"You built well," the voice whispered. "But you build wrong."
It raised its hand.
The five pylons roared to life.
And the convergence began.
[System Convergence Initiated]
▸ All system effects magnified
▸ Cooldowns halved
▸ Abilities distorted
▸ Warning: Long-term exposure may cause Thread Collapse
Kian's spear split into three shadows. His next strike echoed seconds before he moved. The battlefield distorted around them—memories, weapons, sounds all bleeding into one another.
Jerie fell to a blast of inverted gravity.
Gellon pulled him to cover.
Kess formed a memory shield that flickered between moments, freezing time to allow Veyna a perfect angle.
Kian struck the rogue again—shattering the last piece of its helm.
Beneath it was… him.
Not a doppelgänger. Not a reflection.
An older Kian. Pale. Ash-white eyes. No team. No Echo-Ward.
Just a single brand over his heart: a broken Codex glyph.
"This is who you become if you choose the world over the people in it."
The light flared.
The convergence exploded.
And the world went dark.
End of Chapter 32