"You didn't kill it. You just closed its eye."
—Ashra, on the Depth's silence
Day 10 of the Depth War – Aftermath
Stormwatch stood still.
Not from exhaustion—but reverence.
Three chains had been broken, and in doing so, a depth-born catastrophe had been stopped. The tremors ceased. The echo-chambers no longer pulsed. Tunnels were quiet.
Too quiet.
Jag—the Nameless Bastion—stood with Ashra and Branwyn atop the central tower. Below, laborers reinforced the stone arches with fresh metal beams. New banners flew: a black circle over a silver chain, snapped in three places.
Rialt arrived with grim news, scrolls in hand.
"No surface anomaly has appeared. No reaction. No retaliation."
Branwyn frowned. "Then we won?"
Rialt shook his head. "No. We paused it."
[System Report: Depth Threat Contained]
Rift Stability: 92%
Sealed Chains: 3/3
Core Entity Status: Dormant
Codename: The Sleeper
Classification: Unknown
Estimated Power: ???
Behavior Pattern: Passive – Contained beneath Depth Layer 4
Next Activity Cycle: Unknown
Midnight – The Eye's Chamber
The Forsaken Eye pulsed erratically.
It hadn't blinked since the Third Chain fell.
Ashra stood in the room, watching it carefully. "It's agitated."
Jag entered alone, armored only in leather, his sword sheathed.
The Eye projected a glyph they hadn't seen before.
"DEBT PAID. DOOR SEALED. THE SLEEPER REMAINS."
And then, beneath it, another line.
"BUT DOORS REMEMBER."
[System Prompt: Global Update Triggered]
World-State: Shifted
Subterranean Routes Rewritten
New Locations Revealed:
– The Hollow of Teeth (Depth Layer 5)
– The Library of the Broken Sun
– The Ashen Vault
Warning: These areas are unstable and forbidden
Entry requires activation of "Bastion Oath"
Jag stepped back. "It left the door shut but gave us a key."
Next Day – War Table Meeting
Branwyn slammed a new map onto the table.
"Our scouts found this near the ruins of Frostbane Tower."
The paper was lined with hex-based movement grids, old-world numerology, and a strange watermark: a crown, upside down, with roots beneath it.
Rialt analyzed it swiftly. "It's not a map of the surface. It's a seed."
"A what?" Ashra asked.
"A blueprint for spreading something. Like the Depth. Except this isn't for rifts—it's for memories."
[New Questline Unlocked: Echoes of the Sleeper]
Objective: Identify 5 Seed Sites
Progress: 1/5 (Frostbane Confirmed)
Reward: Artifact – Depthbound Compass
Special Status: These sites do not show up on standard maps
Note: Each site may awaken the Sleeper further
Ashra stared at Jag.
"So what do we do? Let it rest? Or poke the god again?"
Jag replied without flinching. "We prepare for when it wakes on its own. And if the world forgets… then we'll remind it."
Nightfall – Personal Chambers of the Bastion
Jag sat alone. The black tome from the Forgotten Archive rested on his lap.
He turned to the final page, where the name Vael'Korrin burned faintly even without ink.
Then, faintly, the letters rearranged.
Not a name. A title.
Not one god. A cycle.
Crownless.
Ashborn.
Depthwrought.
The next will rise.
Jag closed the book, stood, and looked out the window.
Stormwatch wasn't just a last defense anymore.
It was a beacon.
And the deeper they looked, the more the world would realize: the bastion hadn't just survived the siege—it had been chosen by something older than fire and deeper than gods.