Chapter 20: Veiled Ones on the Horizon
Rayden emerged from the Citadel not as a boy branded by failure—but as something more. The Berserk Ascendant System pulsed in his chest like a second heart, radiating energy that scorched the very air. The skies above Shatterspine trembled with unnatural lightning. The world felt different—quieter, as if it was holding its breath.
[System Update Complete]
System Class: Ascendant-Type – Forbidden Tier
Aura Signature: Untraceable (Cloaked)
Enemies Alerted: 1 (Veiled Ones – Scouting Entity En Route)
The moment he stepped onto solid ground, the world responded.
The clouds above split—not in weather, but in space. From the rift descended a figure cloaked in shadows, its face concealed by a mask of mirrored glass. Long robes floated weightlessly behind it, and wherever it passed, the grass withered, the ground fractured.
Rayden instinctively dropped into a defensive stance.
[Enemy Identified: Veiled One – Scout-Class Harbinger]
System Class: Unknown
Hostility Level: Passive-Observational
Warning: Combat not advised unless provoked.
The figure spoke—not aloud, but directly into Rayden's mind.
> "Ascendant detected. Protocols breached. Order must be restored."
Rayden frowned. "You mean sealed again."
> "Your existence fractures the Design. The First was an error. The Second… an impossibility."
He gritted his teeth. "And yet I'm standing here."
A pause. Then the Veiled One extended its hand, revealing a sphere of folded dimensions—each flickering with an image of Rayden at a different fate: dead, chained, erased.
> "We have seen your end in a thousand futures. This path leads to collapse."
Rayden stepped forward, flames beginning to curl from his shoulders. "Then I'll make a thousand new ones."
The Veiled One tilted its head. The air around it cracked. It withdrew a dagger—not of steel, but of memory, humming with erased timelines.
> "This is your warning, Berserk Ascendant. The Elders will not be as merciful."
And with that, it vanished—folding space around itself and disappearing like smoke caught in a vacuum.
Rayden exhaled slowly.
> They're watching now…
He turned toward the distant lights of the world beyond Shatterspine. Somewhere, kingdoms still flourished. Systems still controlled lives. The High Seer still told lies in golden robes.
He walked on.
For days, he moved through wildlands, honing his new abilities in isolation. Wrath Genesis allowed him to manifest his emotions—literally. When focused, rage took shape as burning swords or kinetic shockwaves. But when unfocused? It could destroy the ground beneath him.
He needed control.
He needed answers.
And he needed allies.
In a quiet valley near the ruins of Akrion, he found the first of them—Kaelri, a girl with the Seer's Mark who had fled the Temple before her own Awakening. She wasn't like the others—she saw through the Systems.
And she recognized Rayden at once.
"You're the one they erased from the records," she whispered.
"I'm the one they couldn't."
She led him to others—System outcasts, rebels, and broken warriors whose paths had diverged from fate. They didn't have the strength he did—but they had the will.
Rayden looked at them and saw what the System feared.
Not destruction.
But freedom.
He stood before them beneath the stars, cloak tattered, eyes lit with Ascendant flame.
"They're coming," he said. "Veiled Ones. Elders. Enforcers."
Kaelri asked, "What do we do?"
Rayden clenched his fist, summoning a flaming spear of wrath into his hand.
"We break their rules."