The air outside Sanctuary felt different.
Not just colder—but older, as if something beneath the surface of the world had begun to breathe again.
Kieran Vale adjusted the strap on his supply pack and gave the gate guards a nod as they passed. Riven walked beside him, quiet but focused, her eyes scanning the path ahead with practiced precision. The twin moons hung overhead, one bright and whole, the other cracked and bleeding faint light like a wound in the sky.
They were alone.
The council had offered no escort, no support.
This wasn't a mission. It was a test. And possibly a sentence.
The road east had once been a forest trail. Now it was a broken corridor of scorched bark, cracked stone, and silent trees. No birdsong. No wind. Even the insects had gone still.
[Codex Alert: Entering Unstable Zone – Ravenspire Proximity Detected]
[Mana Density: Moderate-High][Environmental Risk: Variable]
[Codex Note: Prolonged exposure may attract anomaly entities.]
"Feels like the air's watching us," Riven said softly, hugging her jacket closer.
Kieran didn't respond.
He felt it too. Not just being watched—being judged.
An hour passed in silence before they reached the first marker.
A half-buried stone pillar, carved with faint Codex runes. The symbols flickered under moonlight—static, inconsistent, like a faulty signal.
[Codex Ruin Marker – Tier I Gate Anchor Detected]
[Fragmented Data Recovered…]
["The gate we buried did not stay buried. The blood still remembers the shape of the door."]
Kieran knelt beside it, brushing his fingers along the surface.
The stone felt warm.
That was wrong.
Stone didn't hold warmth at night. Not in this kind of cold.
"Whatever's waiting up ahead," Kieran muttered, "it's active."
Riven unslung her makeshift spear and checked the edge. "Then we hit it fast and hard, like everything else."
He didn't disagree—but something in him said this wasn't a normal encounter.
Thirty minutes later, the trees gave way to a clearing of ash and broken earth.
The Ravenspire Ruins.
Or what was left of them.
Once a towering watchtower overlooking the valley, the spire had long since crumbled. In its place was a jagged crater of black stone, warped metal, and bones—many, many bones. Some human. Some not.
The earth here felt wrong. Not poisoned. Wounded.
At the center of the crater, where the remnants of the spire had collapsed, a vertical tear shimmered in the air. It wasn't quite visible—more like a ripple in water, a distortion where light bent away instead of through.
A Gate.
But it hadn't fully formed.
[Codex Anomaly Identified: Incomplete Gate Signature][Status: Unstable / Corrupted]
[Warning: No known exit. Entry may trigger emergent evolution.]
Kieran and Riven stood at the crater's edge.
"This is suicide," Riven said quietly.
"Probably," Kieran replied.
He took a breath. Stepped forward.
[Codex Sync – Initiating Gate Interface][Warning: Unknown reaction detected. Soul signature matching… external entity?]
[Gate forcibly stabilizing…]
The ripple in the air expanded, then hardened into a blood-colored shimmer—like glass infused with magma.
From within, a voice whispered.
It wasn't in any language Kieran recognized, and yet he understood it.
"Blood answers blood. One has walked this path before you."
Riven stiffened. "Did you hear that?"
He nodded.
[Codex Fragment Detected: Crimson Ascendant – Echo Gate Variant][Enter? Y/N]
He looked at her. "I can go alone."
She punched his arm—lightly, but firmly.
"Shut up and walk."
Crossing the Gate felt like falling without moving.
One heartbeat, they stood on broken earth.
The next—they were inside a hall made of red stone and black sky.
No ceiling. No sun. Just columns that stretched into nothing, casting no shadow. The floor was smooth, but when Kieran stepped on it, it rippled with memories.
Voices.
Laughter. Screams. Footsteps.
Blood.
This place was alive.
[Welcome to the Ravenspire Echo Gate]
[Trial Initiated: Memory of Dominion]
[Objective: Survive the entity that once ruled this land.]
[Codex Alert: Time is unstable here.]
Riven shivered. "What does that mean?"
"Means we're not alone."
A low hum echoed through the stone.
Then—a shape.
Far ahead, descending the central stairway of the ruined spire's echo, came a figure cloaked in red and silver. No face. Just a smooth helm of bone and molten light where eyes should be. It held no weapon, yet every step it took pressed on their lungs.
[Entity: Remnant of Sovereign Isskar][Tier: II+][Status: Fragmented Spirit][Known Abilities: Blood Chains, Mental Suppression, Memory Severance]
[Codex Note: This entity has killed 11 recorded Codex users.]
Riven gripped her spear tighter. "Back out?"
Kieran gritted his teeth.
"No retreat option."
[Gate Lock Active.]
Figures emerged behind the entity.
Spectral warriors. Echoes of an army once bound in blood. Their armor was cracked, broken. Their faces warped with pain—but they moved with purpose.
"I'll handle the big one," Kieran said. "Keep the echoes off me."
"Try not to die."
He smiled, blood forming into the Bloodsteel Edge with a low hum.
"I'll do my best."
The first blow came fast.
Isskar raised a hand—chains of solidified blood erupted from the ground, lashing forward with jagged hooks.
Kieran rolled, barely avoiding the strike, then surged forward, blade aimed at the figure's center mass.
The blade met resistance—but not flesh. A shimmering barrier of crimson caught the strike and threw him back across the floor.
[-19 HP][Status: Bleeding – Minor]
Riven blocked two echoes with her spear, spinning into a low sweep that tripped one and stabbed it through the eye.
[+10 XP]
Kieran stood again, ignoring the blood dripping from his temple.
He called out, voice clear.
"Codex—Blood Domain: Surge Trigger!"
Nothing happened.
[Domain Locked. Conditions not met.]
Isskar moved.
Not with speed—but with authority.
Each step altered the space around him. Chains erupted again, sweeping wide. Kieran ducked, then launched a spear of blood from his palm—one of his older techniques, weaker but faster.
This time, it pierced the barrier.
Isskar reacted—only slightly.
But it was enough.
[Weakness registered: Rapid strikes destabilize spirit armor.]
Kieran's eyes narrowed.
"Then let's break you down."
Minutes passed in blood and fire.
Riven fought with fierce precision, her spear dancing between echoes, while Kieran hammered Isskar with relentless strikes, weaving in bloodblades, spears, and jagged tendrils.
Each hit took its toll.
Each block chipped away at his health.
But Isskar began to slow.
His armor cracked.
His chains dulled.
And finally—Kieran saw the opening.
He drew everything he had, every drop of energy, and formed a spinning lance of blood—a drill of crimson, vibrating with his remaining mana.
"Fall."
He hurled it.
The weapon struck dead center, and with a shattering roar, the Sovereign's body split apart, bleeding red light across the stone.
[Entity Destroyed.][Level Up: 7 → 8][Codex Fragment Obtained: 2/7 – Crimson Ascendant Path]
[New Skill: Blood Vortex (Lv. 1)]
[Codex Reward: Codex Heartstone (Dormant)]
Kieran dropped to one knee, panting, vision dimming.
Riven walked over, bloodied but alive.
"You win?"
He looked up at the collapsing hall.
"I think we both did."