It began with the sky.
Thin lines, like cracks in glass, stretched across the morning above Ashfall — glowing faintly red, then blue, then white.
[Codex Alert: Grid Interference Detected]
Leyline Disruption Across Northern Sector
Cause: UNKNOWN
Stability: 19% and Falling
No armies came.
No warnings.
Just a hum, deep beneath the basin.
Then the walls of the Codex Tower trembled.
The Collapse Begins
Inside the Tower, systems sputtered.
Blueprints glitched.
Structures shifted without input.
[WARNING: Hybrid Node Overload]
System fusion exceeding containment parameters
Codex and Predation no longer synced
EMERGENCY: Architect Seedpoint Detected
Directive: DELETE OR ABSORB
Kian froze as the interface shifted from tool to predator.
"You are a threat to balance."
"You are no longer Architect — you are Contagion."
And then the walls burst into light.
Systemborn
Dozens of Systemborn erupted from the earth.
Not beasts. Not constructs.
Living codex threads, shaped into human-like figures — faceless, perfect, merciless.
They fell on Ashfall like a plague.
Villagers screamed. Glyph-towers fired. The Ashhounds bit and tore and died.
Kess activated a full memory barrier, shielding children and builders.
Gellon called to Kian, blood on his face. "They're not here to conquer! They're here to erase you!"
The March Begins
Kian's eyes snapped to Echo-Ward.
Still dormant.
He reached out through the hybrid system.
[Living Construct Activation Confirmed]
Command: "Protect. Carry. Leave."
Core Sync: 82% – Stable for mobile migration.
The beast stood.
The ground cracked under its legs.
Ashhounds fell in behind it.
People scrambled up its sides as it knelt.
Kian raised one arm.
"We walk. Now. Or we die here."
Veyna's Last Stand (Ashfall)
At the base of the Bastion, three Systemborn circled a flame-locked chamber.
Inside, Veyna stood still — her mark burning now to her collarbone.
[Flame Saturation: 47%]
Stability: Critical
Emergency Command Available: "Ignite All."
She whispered it.
The world didn't explode.
It stopped.
Flames didn't burn — they rewrote the Codex code inside the Systemborn, bending it until they collapsed to ash.
Veyna fell to one knee, smoke curling from her skin.
"Go," she whispered. "Before I burn too much."
Kian caught her as she stumbled onto Echo-Ward's back.
The End of Ashfall
Ashfall didn't burn.
It folded.
[Codex Directive: Total Reclamation Active]
Structures not authorized by Root Architect removed.
Data Fragmented.
Territory Marked "Anomaly Wound."
Towers crumbled.
The walls turned to mist.
The Beacon's light fractured into a spiral and vanished into the sky.
Ashfall was no longer a city.
It was a scar.
Epilogue – March Begins
Days later.
Echo-Ward trudged slowly across black plains.
Kian stood atop its shoulder, wind in his face, Veyna asleep behind him.
Kess adjusted her scrolls.
The Ashhounds scouted ahead.
None of them spoke much.
But when Kian looked forward, the horizon held mountains of bone, skycities built from tethered ruins, and a sky where dragons roamed like storms.
His Codex whispered again.
But this time…
[New Region Unlocked: The Shattermarch]
Warning: No maps available. No allies confirmed. No rules enforced.
Welcome to Arc 3.
End of Chapter 17 — End of Arc 2