*Date: 33,480 Second Quarter - Chalice Theocracy*
The silence stretched. Through Lyra's feed, Aris could see the security room guards frozen, staring at their monitors. Even Aeloria had gone still, her face pale.
Then the old man moved. One step forward into the breach. His boots crunched on broken stone.
"Hello everyone," his voice carried, calm as a morning greeting. "I am Lex De Souza aka Rainz."
The spell broke.
"What the hell is going on?" Voices erupted from the summit chamber. "Seize that man!"
"Guards! Protect the Covenant!" Aeloria's voice cracked with fury as she spun toward the door, robes whipping behind her.
But in the security room, several of the guards were backing away from the monitors, not rushing forward. One dropped his spear. It clattered on the stone floor.
"Ghostblade," Warchief Grakthul Ironfang's whisper was barely audible through the surveillance.
"Jaguar of Aethyros," Queen Aria Dewsinger breathed, her fae features going ashen.
"Firefang Rider," King Brokkar added, and for once the halfling wasn't smiling.
Emperor Therain Vaelorian raised a weathered hand. "Those are just titles from—"
"From the War of Ascension," Queen Nerithis finished. "This man killed a Titan. Alone."
The feed shifted as Kurgodan rushed after Aeloria, carrying the camera with him. Now the view was bouncing, showing flashes of corridor, then guards scrambling, then finally—through another doorway—the summit chamber itself.
Through Kurgodan's hands, they saw Lex De Souza standing in the breach, one hand raised in a casual gesture. "Woah, woah, keep your places. You know what this is?" He lifted the glowing tesseract slightly.
The old man showed the tesseract. "I am just here to talk. Four years ago, you guys imprisoned us here without our consent. And now you're playing here like the United Nations. Guess what is missing? The other fifty fucking races. Well, if you consider player humans another race, fifty-one races missing representation."
He took one step forward. "I nominate myself as representative for the other fifty-one races."
Through the feed, Aris watched the Covenant leaders exchange glances. Some looked angry. Some looked afraid. None moved.
"Who is this insolent fool? Arrest him immediately!" Aeloria burst into the chamber, Kurgodan right behind her with the camera. The view now showed the chamber from the doorway—the Eleven Kings frozen at their table, Lex standing in the breach like a stage performer.
Kurgodan took one step forward, hand moving to his weapon.
But an orcish hand the size of a dinner plate clamped onto his shoulder. "Stop." Warchief Grakthul Ironfang's voice was low, dangerous. "This is Ghostblade. Even without that bomb, he will shred a low zone dweller like yourself in his sleep."
Warchief Grakthul Ironfang continued, his voice steady. "What do you really want?"
The old man's expression didn't change. "If killing you all would strengthen our chances of getting out, I would have done it so much before. I just want to know who is the actual mastermind."
Silence. The weight of the question hung in the air.
Then—"BOOOOM!"
Another explosion. Different wall. Same devastating precision. The palace shook again, and through the new breach, another figure appeared.
The same graying old man in pristine black leather armor. The same glowing tesseract.
"Hello everyone," the second Lex said calmly. "I am Lex De Souza."
"What is this? What's going on?" King Brokkar stumbled back from the table.
Queen Serenya pointed at the first breach. "He's still—there's two of them?"
Kurgodan broke free from the Warchief's grip and rushed toward the first figure. As he got closer, the image flickered, stuttering like a bad illusion. He reached down to where the man's feet should be and snatched up a small device emitting pulses of light.
The moment he grabbed it, the first Lex De Souza vanished like smoke.
Kurgodan held up the device, recognition dawning on his face. "It's a recording. A projection. Creator tech."
Aeloria's face went from furious to horrified. "The second breach—check the dungeons! NOW!"
A guard burst through another entrance, armor askew, blood trickling from his temple. "Your highness..." He gasped for air. "It was a diversion. He entered the dungeons and freed the Shadowborn prisoner."
"WHAT?!" Aeloria's shriek could probably be heard throughout the palace.
The view lurched as Kurgodan sprinted back through the corridor, the camera bouncing wildly in his grip. He reached a window overlooking the eastern gardens and grounds.
Through the feed, Aris saw it: A figure in black leather armor carrying an unconscious Shadowborn, sprinting across the palace grounds with impossible speed. A white blur—some kind of creature—kept pace beside them. And behind them, the dark knight on its mount, a rear guard of living shadow.
Kurgodan thrust the camera toward the window, giving them all a clear view as the real Lex De Souza reached a strange vehicle—sleek, hovering, like nothing Aris had seen before. He placed the Shadowborn on it with surprising gentleness.
Then Lex looked up. Directly at the window. Directly at the camera.
He smiled. Tipped an imaginary hat.
And mounted the vehicle.
Kurgodan's hand tightened. Through the feed, Aris heard the crunch of breaking crystal and metal as the Crusader squeezed, his fury manifesting in pure strength.
The visual feed went black.
"He destroyed it," Lyra whispered.
For a moment, the three of them just stood there in the alchemy room, stunned into silence.
"Did that just happen?" Aris finally asked.
"Woooow," Lyra breathed. "That was the most badass thing I've ever seen."
"I am gonna catch him," Fox announced, already moving toward the door.
"Catch who?" Aris asked.
"What do you mean who? The badass just humiliated the Covenant."
"Wait. Let me place this. We can watch from here." Lyra pulled another transmitter and attached it to Fox's ear.
Fox started running at lightning speed, jumping stairs in threes.
"I didn't know he was this fast," Aris said.
Lyra opened her feed. But it was just Fox running in the dark. "I think he was heading east," Lyra said.
"He can hear us?" Aris asked.
"Yeah, I activated voice receive for this one."
"Where do you get all this?"
"I have my ways."
"Who was he? The attacker?"
"A high ranker, probably. I didn't know they were this badass."
"He could have ended it all. Saved us," Aris said.
"Aris, killing the kings wouldn't save anyone. And by the looks of it, he knows that too."
Fox saw a gurgling noise coming closer. In the dark night, a hovering bike was coming with all its momentum. Fox changed his course and took to the side with all his running speed.
"Slow..." Pant. "...down." Pant. "...please," Fox gasped.
Lex pulled his hand from the handle. In the darkness of the night, what he was riding wasn't all that visible. But the old man slowed down.
"Who... what are you?" Lex asked.
A white small passenger removed his head from below. "Can't you see it's a pet? Don't say another beastkin. I will rip your throat."
"Fine, fine. You are getting so aggressive," Lex said.
"What is that?" Aris whispered.
"Shh," Lyra hissed.
The vehicle slowed down to Fox's pace. "What do you want?" Lex asked.
"We had a bug inside and somehow witnessed your dare. Question is, who are you?"
"I am Lex, my fox friend. I was there to save my friend." The white bunny was removing the bindings on the Shadowborn, trying carefully not to fall from the hovering bike.
"Oh yeah. We are a small group infiltrated into Chalice trying to figure out their experiments," Fox explained.
Lex took a cigar and lit it, taking a whiff. "Chalice is not important. High Priestess is nobody. Come to high zone settlements. Real resistance is there."
"Fox, can you hear me?" Aris called.
"Yeah."
"If he is traveling the world, ask him about Demir. If he saw a boy named Demir, tall, brown spiky hair, in his twenties."
Fox asked the question.
"Wow, you have a communication device. Nice. If I had time..." Lex started.
"They are coming," the Shadowborn interrupted.
"On what?" Lex asked.
"Pegasuses."
"Start blasting then."
The Shadowborn started drawing aura around himself and launched meteors from his hand like ground artillery.
"I have to step on it, Fox. Sorry, I didn't see or meet a kid named Demir. Goodbye."
When he rolled the handle to the fullest, the vehicle almost vanished from the transmitter's vision.