The void spat them out like a swallowed breath returning to the lungs of the world.
Sai Ji hit the stone hard. Knees screamed.
Aeliana grabbed his arm, keeping him from face-planting.
Nyx landed like a predator, blades drawn. The bodyguards formed a perfect wall in a heartbeat.
Riven—silent, impossible—landed without a sound. His cloak of bleeding twilight swirled, fading like smoke.
The air tasted of ozone.
The cavern was black, so black it drank the light from the silver runes crawling over the walls. It felt alive. Like the lungs of a planet.
Sal Vera's voice trembled in Sai Ji's mind. "My King… this is the Wraithbone Sanctuary. The Maw of Ancestral Night. Neutral ground. Even empires fear it."
Sai Ji groaned into his palms. "Why is everywhere we go a capital offense? Can't we just… visit a tavern? One that doesn't double as a war crime?"
Aeliana's whisper was tense. "This is beyond illegal. Step foot here, and the Black Dawn Legion can erase your soul."
Nyx's eyes never left Riven. "They cleanse continents for less."
Sai Ji deadpanned. "Fantastic. A five-star death trap. My favorite." He staggered. "Okay, whoa. Dizzy."
And it wasn't just dizziness.
Silver light spiderwebbed under his skin.
Pressure built behind his eyes.
His proto-Domain was thrashing, raw sovereignty struggling against a mortal cage.
Riven moved.
One moment, he was still. The next, he was in front of Sai Ji, moving like a shadow with impossible grace.
"Hold still." His voice was cold. Absolute.
Sai Ji opened his mouth. "Don't you dare touch m—"
Two fingers pressed to his forehead.
Silence.
Not the absence of sound. The absolute excision of it.
The roaring in Sai Ji's veins popped like a soap bubble.
Silver light drained away, spiraling into Riven's fingertips.
Sai Ji sagged against Aeliana. Gasping.
His heartbeat was human again. Normal. Frantic, yes—but normal.
"What… what did you do?"
"Sovereign backlash. Your Domain is a star trying to ignite in a cardboard box. I… applied a suppressor."
Sai Ji blinked, relief making him stupid. "So… you're a healer?"
"No."
"A buffer? Support-class mage?"
"No."
"Touching foreheads until the glow stops?"
"No."
Aeliana coughed. "Sai Ji… maybe now isn't the time to interrogate the man who just stopped your soul from exploding."
Riven finally pulled back his hood.
Sharp, handsome beauty. Ink-black hair cropped short. Obsidian eyes, empty of reflection.
A slashed crescent moon burned over his left brow—the same symbol that flickered in Sai Ji's unleashed aura.
Nyx hissed. "That mark… Sovereign Hunter."
Riven's smile was slow, razor-thin. "Former. But yes. I hunted incarnations of divine will."
Sai Ji's stomach lurched. "You… hunted people like me?"
"I killed the previous Werewolf King," Riven said casually. "The one whose throne you're inheriting."
Silence.
Aeliana tightened her grip on Sai Ji's arm. Nyx readied his blades anyway.
"He… requested it," Riven added. "It was… mercy."
"He what?!" Aeliana whispered.
Sai Ji's mind went black for a second. "What kind of retirement plan is 'please murder me'?!"
Riven's obsidian eyes seemed to peer into a memory.
"Sovereignty cracks minds. Warps souls. He chose a clean end over slow decay. He was… sane, in his way."
Sai Ji laughed. Hysterically.
"Perfect. So my genetic legacy is divinely powerful and suicidally depressed. Bright future, check."
Riven moved toward the depths of the cavern.
"Your future is whatever you make it. But you must move. The Empire tracks subtly but relentlessly. You won't have more than an hour here."
Sai Ji followed.
What else could he do? His week had included: kidnapping by a cult, accidental godhood, public cosmological announcement, military siege… and now, a tour of a forbidden crypt by his past life's assassin.
Just another Tuesday.
Aeliana leaned close. Her voice dropped to a thread. "Sai Ji… now that the truth is out… what do you want? Truly?"
Sai Ji froze. Then he walked, slow. Thoughtful.
"I want what I wanted from the beginning. Before slimes. Before guilds. Before any of this."
She waited.
"I want to be an Adventurer. Normal.
Explore. Grind quests. Fight monsters that don't bow to me. See Aetheria as it was meant to be seen. Not a king. A tourist with a sword."
Nyx stiffened. Aeliana's expression softened, fond and sad. "It's a good dream."
Sal Vera's voice warmed his mind. "Then it is our command."
Riven paused at the cavern's mouth.
"Frostfall City is two days northeast. Guild large. Anonymous. You'll get lost in the crowd. Start there. And Sai Ji… try not to die. The world has… invested in you."
Sai Ji opened his interface. His new status glowed reassuringly:
[PLAYER STATUS — HUMAN SAI JI]
Name: Sai Ji
Race: Human (Veiled)
Class: Unassigned
Level: 1
HP: 120 | MP: 60
STR: 7 | AGI: 8 | VIT: 6 | INT: 10 | WIS: 9 | LCK: 15 | CHA: 42 (???)
[HIDDEN STATUS — SOVEREIGN FORM: STABILITY 12%]
"Level one," Sai Ji muttered. "With the charisma of a love-struck deity and the strength of a sickly scholar. This… I can work with."
Aeliana nodded. "A proper beginning."
Nyx sheathed his blades. "Discretion."
Riven's silhouette lingered. "And a reminder: your Empire's hounds are subtle, but persistent."
A scream tore through the forest.
A figure skidded into the clearing. Armor dented, cloak shredded, eyes wide.
"HELP! THEY'RE—THEY'RE EVERYWHERE! IT HAS TO BE A BUG—!"
Sai Ji's interface pinged:
[Midnight Wolf - Level 24 - Player]
Behind him, the forest erupted. Goblins. Hundreds. Thousands. Armed with sticks, crude axes, and pure fury.
Nyx whispered: "They're fleeing."
Aeliana's face drained. "Fleeing from what?"
Sai Ji didn't care.
A normal problem. A normal fight. Finally.
He stepped forward, between the player and the goblins.
Arms spread wide.
"HEY! BACK OFF! FIND SOMEONE YOUR OWN SIZE!"
The goblins paused. Blinked. Sniffed. One shrugged.
Then, in perfect unison, a thousand green shoulders lifted.
They bolted. Into the forest. Into the low hum that had caused them to flee in the first place.
Midnight Wolf gaped. "Bro… what are you? An NPC? A raid trigger? A visual effect?!"
Sai Ji grinned, offering a hand. "Sai Ji. Just a new player. Totally human. Extremely human."
Riven sighed, massaging his temples.
Sal Vera chuckled. "Legend begins not with a roar, but a bluff."
Nyx muttered to Aeliana. "He's going to get us all killed."
She smiled faintly. "But with that Charisma? We might just survive."