The sky above Stormrift was unnaturally clear.
No clouds, no wind. Just an eerie stillness that settled over the region like a warning. Birds refused to fly near the capital. Even summoned beasts — usually restless and wild — had grown silent and cautious.
Kaelen stood on the outer balcony of the High Hall, gripping the edge tightly as he stared at the horizon. The Primordial Evolution Core pulsed faintly in his dimensional storage, still dormant, but radiating threads of energy across the fabric of the world.
Behind him, Selene walked in slowly. "Something's wrong with the ley lines," she said, eyes glowing as she finished a divination spell. "The core's energy... it's acting like a beacon. A very old one."
Kaelen nodded. "It wasn't just a vault. It was a signal."
Far to the east, in the volcanic region of Ashmar Cradle, the obsidian monoliths — long buried beneath the magma plains — cracked open. A surge of violet mist erupted, sending Lords scrambling to contain the outbreak.
One of them, Lord Atrius of the Flame, watched helplessly as his Firebound soldiers were turned to stone by invisible tendrils.
Global Alert: Ancient Entity — "The Watcher in Glass" — has awakened.• All Lords within 500km are advised to fortify defenses.• Consequence Level: Catastrophic (Tier: ???)
Even across the Moonreach Tundra, cold winds reversed their flow. The ice began to melt unnaturally fast, revealing colossal ruins buried for millennia. A female Lord of the region stared in disbelief as a humanoid figure carved from starlight walked out of the ice and vanished into the sky.
Back in Stormrift, Kaelen's heart pounded.
His name appeared in a new global message.
System Broadcast – Domain Triggered: Origin Path (Kaelen Stormborn)Status: Watched by the Hidden Sovereigns.Warning: You are being evaluated.Prepare for the Trial of Sovereignty.
Kaelen called a summit — his first ever with surrounding Lords.
Dozens arrived from neighboring lands: mountain fortresses, jungle valleys, even from nearby desert fiefdoms. Most were fellow Earthlings, all summoned like him, each ruling their own isolated land — each given a chance to survive, build, or die.
At the roundtable in the Stormrift Hall, Kaelen stood in full command, with Aria seated beside him and Riven leaning quietly against a pillar.
"I know what many of you are thinking," Kaelen began. "You've seen the alerts. You've seen the storms. What's coming... is more than a beast tide."
One of the Lords, a scarred man in crimson robes, narrowed his eyes. "And you expect us to trust you? You're the one who triggered this."
Kaelen didn't flinch. "I didn't trigger it. I unlocked what this world buried. But now that it's free, none of us can ignore it."
Another Lord, a woman from the snowy plains, nodded slowly. "My ice is melting. We all felt the same chill. He's right. We must prepare."
Kaelen laid out a plan:
A Defensive Network of border beacons.
Exchange of Evolution Paths among trusted allies.
Shared Summoner Formations for synchronized cross-region warfare.
And the formation of a Continental Alliance, led under oath by binding System contract.
At first, many hesitated.
Until the sky cracked.
A fracture appeared above Stormrift — a spiderweb of light tearing across the heavens. From it, descended a creature unlike anything seen before: humanoid, robed in darkness, with no face — just a mirror where its features should be.
System Alert – Dimensional Herald Detected: "Facet of the Hidden Sovereign"Class: UndefinedOrigin: ExtradimensionalMission: Observe, Challenge, Judge
The room shook.
The Herald turned its head toward Kaelen and pointed.
"Lord Kaelen Stormborn. Origin-bearer. You are hereby summoned to the First Sovereign Trial. Failure results in domain collapse."
Kaelen narrowed his eyes. "When?"
"In three days," the Herald replied, before vanishing in a flicker of static light.
As the Lords dispersed to prepare their lands, Kaelen and his closest circle returned to the High Tower. Riven followed silently, eyes more focused than usual.
Kaelen stopped him outside the war room. "You felt it, didn't you?"
Riven nodded. "It's not just a trial. It's a selection."
"For what?"
Riven's gaze darkened. "To choose who's worthy of surviving the Convergence."
Inside, Aria sat with her spellbooks spread out. Her summons curled around her like loyal guards. She looked up and offered a faint smile.
"I'm going with you," she said.
Kaelen frowned. "It could kill us."
Aria tilted her head. "Then we die together. But if we survive... we'll unlock something no Lord ever has."
Kaelen sat beside her. "Then let's begin."
Deep underground, in a subterranean citadel untouched by time, a cloaked man stood before a massive mural of Kaelen's face, projected by an ancient obelisk.
"Stormborn..." he muttered. "The first spark has lit."
Behind him, thousands of armored soldiers knelt in unison. Their banners bore no symbols. No name. Only a black star etched in crimson.
"Prepare the Oathless Legion," the cloaked man ordered. "The false Sovereigns will fall."