The stars pulsed like wounds in the sky.
Riven stood at the edge of the restored temple, Fragment beside him, its eyes scanning the horizon with glitching loyalty. The storm had passed, but the world was shifting beneath his feet. He could feel it.
Something bigger was coming.
---
> [System Alert: Divine Champions Incoming]
Threat Level: Catastrophic
Objective: Capture or Destroy the Codebreaker
Estimated Arrival: 72 hours
Origin: Tower of Acelith
---
"Seventy-two hours," Riven muttered. "And they're sending champions?"
He turned to Fragment. "What kind of enemies are we talking about?"
The beast hissed, its mouth glitching open in multiple directions.
> [Data Detected: Champion Class – Godbound Initiate]
Attributes: Divine Core, System Authority Access
Immunity: Normal Rules of Mortality
Directive: Erase the Paradox
---
He clenched his fists.
He had no realm, no army, no proper control over his powers. Just a half-formed Codebeast and a reality-damned temple built atop a buried lie.
And yet—
He smiled.
Because the system had made one fatal error.
It warned him.
---
He didn't need to be ready.
He needed to be unpredictable.
---
📍 Elsewhere…
In the skies above the fractured continent of Caldris, where floating islands drifted like shattered memories, a pillar of golden light cracked open reality.
Out of it fell seven figures—each armored in divinity, cloaked in fate.
At their center stood a girl with hair of silver fire, her eyes glowing with code, her right hand shackled by divine gold.
Name: Selaris, Chosen of Acelith
Rank: S-Class Initiate
Class: Judgement Spear
Specialization: Reality Anchor | Code Stabilizer | Anti-Paradox Agent
---
"Target: anomaly known as Riven," she spoke without emotion.
The others bowed.
One among them, a boy with runes carved into his bones, asked, "Do we kill him?"
"No," she replied. "We return him to Acelith. Whole."
She didn't say why.
But she remembered something no one else did—a dream of a boy who once broke the stars for her.
And she wondered why he wore Riven's face.
---
📍 Back at the Temple…
Riven stood in the sanctum's core, glyphs swirling around him like orbiting planets. He was trying to access the next level of Codebreaker authority—but it wasn't responding. Not properly.
> [Attempting Sovereign Thread Expansion...]
Status: Incomplete
Cause: Anchor Not Yet Forged
He needed a base of power. A realm, a seed—something of his own.
---
So he reached into the temple's core and rewrote it.
> [New System Function Created: Sovereign Node]
Location: Temple of Solum
Effect: Partial reality ownership | Skill incubation | Companion housing
Realm Progress: 2%
Power Required: Rift energy
Rift energy… like from the Riftspawn.
Or better yet—
From the Rift itself.
---
He grabbed his companion.
"Fragment. You're going to take me to the source."
The Codebeast tilted its glitchy head.
Then opened its mouth.
A void shimmered inside.
> [Fast Travel Enabled: Code Path – Ancient Riftwell]
Status: Stable
Coordinates: Outside known space
---
They stepped inside.
---
📍 The Riftwell
The moment they arrived, Riven felt it—gravity didn't exist here. Logic spun sideways. Sounds echoed before they were made. Shapes folded in upon themselves, collapsing into particles of color and memory.
But at its heart was something familiar.
A throne.
Broken.
Shattered.
Covered in chains.
---
And on it—
A corpse.
His corpse.
Riven staggered back.
"What the hell…"
---
> [Warning: Temporal Loop Detected]
Anchor Point: Self
The anomaly has entered a paradox of recursion.
Recommendation: Abort
---
He stared at the body—same face, same eyes.
Only this one had scars like lightning burns and a brand across its throat.
A divine brand.
One he recognized.
Acelith's mark.
---
He reached for it.
The corpse's eyes opened.
"You're early," it rasped.
"I'm… what?"
"You're not supposed to be here for another cycle. You haven't lost her yet."
---
Riven stepped back, but the corpse stood now, walking like a puppet.
It wasn't hostile.
Just tired.
"I am the Echo. The failed version. You've diverged."
"So I'm not you?"
The Echo laughed bitterly. "You're worse. You've made the gods panic sooner."
---
It reached into its own chest and pulled out a glowing shard.
"This was meant for you anyway."
It tossed it.
Riven caught it.
> [Item Acquired: Core of the Broken Sovereign]
Use: Anchor Creation
Effect: Unlocks Sovereign Realm – Phase One
---
The Rift shuddered.
The Echo's body turned to dust.
Riven felt his code solidify.
The shard in his hand pulsed, anchoring him to something deeper.
> [You have forged the Sovereign Anchor]
Realm Seed: Active
Location: Floating just outside the Rift
A glowing platform formed beneath him.
His first realm.
Small. Cracked. Glitched.
But his.
---
He returned through Fragment's voidmouth.
And when he emerged—
The sky was already burning.
---
📍 Temple of Solum – Present Time
Selaris and the Champions had arrived.
They stood at the temple's edge, looking at the sigils in the sky—the ones warning: "This place is not yours."
She stepped forward.
"Riven," she whispered. "You're not supposed to exist."
And from the rebuilt temple, Riven walked out.
Wreathed in glitchlight, his eyes glowing like broken stars.
"I know," he said.
"But I'm tired of what's 'supposed' to be."
---
He raised his hand.
The Realm Anchor appeared behind him.
And the war officially began.