The first bounty notice came by air.
Not by bird.
Not by courier.
But stitched into the side of a dying mercenary, pinned to his chest with a blade made of blood-writ silver.
Marra found the body by the outer trench — what was left of it. No note, no sound, just a gutted corpse slumped against the wall, the sigil-blade vibrating with faint magic.
Kian examined it under the Codex lens.
[Artifact Identified: Royal Writblade – Zarethian Bounty Enforcer Tag]
Purpose: Formalized target designation. Death or retrieval = reward.
Target: Kian Thorne – Codex Anomaly / Containment-Class Threat
Reward: 5,000 Sovereign Marks
Bonus: Mage Known as "Veyna" – Status: Mythic Hazard. 10,000 Additional Marks, Alive Only.
Even the blade trembled with the weight of it.
Inside the hall, settlers argued.
"This place's gonna be ash in a week," a black-bearded forager hissed. "You all saw what he brought down on us. The flare. The mercs. Now the Empire?"
"He saved your life last week, idiot," Gellon snapped, standing behind Veyna with a half-drawn rune blade.
"No one asked him to!" the man shouted. "Now we're all dragged into it."
Eyes turned toward Kian as he stepped into the room.
And silence followed.
His voice, when it came, was cold iron.
"Anyone who wants to leave can walk out the west trench. Take a bag of food, a tool, and don't come back."
No one moved.
[Codex Notice – Morale Check Passed]
Settler Loyalty Adjusted: +8 (Trust reinforced through authority)
Later, Kian and Veyna sat by the Beacon spire.
She studied the bounty blade like it might bite her.
"They knew my name."
"Yes."
"They knew what's inside me."
Kian didn't answer.
He didn't need to. The sealed entity in her core was no longer sealed, and the way her magic bled through her skin at night… there was no hiding anymore.
"You're not scared?" she asked.
He looked at her, calm.
"No. I'm angry."
Outpost Mission 01 – Ruins of Redwater Spire
Kian knew the Bastion had to grow outward — trade, salvage, defenses — but the wastes were too vast to reclaim alone.
He assigned a scouting mission to a team of five: Gellon, Marra, two salvager twins, and an engineer named Bryke. Their goal: locate and extract usable forge machinery from the ruins of Redwater Spire, an old watchtower buried half a day northeast.
He gave them:
A mobile Codex Construct cart (basic defense) Two trap glyphs One flare shard
And a warning.
"If something smells wrong," he said, "you don't investigate it. You run."
They nodded.
They left before dawn.
They didn't all return.
Just three came back — bruised, bloodied, and dragging the broken construct cart behind them.
Marra limped into the Bastion with Gellon half-carried over her shoulder.
"No hostiles," she muttered. "At first."
Kian helped set him down.
"Then what?"
Bryke — the engineer — walked up last. Silent. Not injured. Eyes too calm.
Marra caught her breath. "It wasn't monsters."
Kian's gaze sharpened. "Then what?"
"A signal trap," she whispered. "A flare planted. With our frequency. Someone knew we'd be there."
[Codex Alert – Signal Signature Compromised]
Possibility: Internal Leak (High)
Veyna appeared in the doorway, her voice low.
"We have a traitor."
That night, the Bastion locked down.
Kian sat alone with the Codex, reviewing settlement logs, supply distributions, assignment records — and cross-checking every settler's entry time, movement, and skill set.
[Settlement Protocol: Observation Mode Enabled]
Culprit Probability: 3 Candidates Flagged
Bryke (Engineer – has mapping knowledge) Forager Derran (recently hostile) Newcomer Isalene (healer – background unverifiable)
Kian frowned.
Each had access. Each had motive.
And each could still be lying.
He activated the Codex Surveillance Construct, deploying a tiny floating eye-rune into the walls.
They would not hide for long.
Meanwhile, Veyna burned.
In her chamber, she tried to meditate — but the fire wouldn't sleep.
It whispered.
Ash to ash, kin to kin… He comes.
"What do you want from me?" she hissed aloud.
The flames writhed.
You were once fire's daughter. You sealed me to survive… but now you will burn again.
She gasped — her hands suddenly alight with violet flame. Not her usual blue. Hotter. Older. Starborn.
Her Codex interface flickered — confused.
[Flame Type: Unknown – Not Registered to Planar Codices]
She screamed as the sigils on her collarbone pulsed again — and something ancient stirred within her memory.
She wasn't just a mage.
She was reborn from something long forgotten.
And it was waking.
Back in the war room, Kian stood alone, blueprint spread wide across the table — plans to expand Ashfall Bastion into a full-blown fortress city.
He stared at the names listed for work crews.
One of them would betray him.
But he wouldn't wait for it.
He would build faster, stronger, smarter — and when the traitor struck...
He would be ready.
End of Chapter 8