The room was silent but tense. Veylin sat with his back to the glowing System screen that still floated above his bed. The ritual markings etched into his skin had stopped pulsing hours ago, but a low ache throbbed beneath each line like an echo of what was lost—and what was gained.
He hadn't moved since dawn.
System Message [Condensed]:
[Curse Alignment Stable: Tier-1 Binding Confirmed]
[Restriction: Emotional Processing Delay - Active]
[System Protocol: "Chainweaver's Awakening" – 83% unlocked]
[Warning: System Fragmentation Detected. Manual Override Required.]
Veylin's fingers hovered over the fractured menu, his eyes scanning the cascading options. None of it was straightforward. Nothing ever was. Not since the day of the Mass Severance. Not since they took his sister.
A knock interrupted the silence. Three slow taps.
Veylin didn't respond.
The door creaked open anyway.
Mira stood at the threshold, cautious, holding a bundle wrapped in weatherproof cloth. Her presence felt sharper than usual—measured and tense. She didn't meet his eyes at first.
"I found something in the ruins," she said quietly, holding out the bundle. "Not in the open market. Deep, almost… hidden."
He took the cloth silently and unwrapped it. Inside lay a fragmented core stone, pulsing with violet light—unstable, cursed, and humming with dormant sigils.
"Tier-2 remnant," he murmured, recognizing the embedded glyphwork. "Who gave you access to a closed quadrant?"
Mira didn't answer. She watched him carefully, and when she finally spoke, her words carried weight.
"I traded a name. One of yours."
Veylin's eyes lifted, his face unreadable, but his grip on the stone tightened. "Whose name?"
"Does it matter?" she asked. "You need power, Veylin. And you're not the only one crawling toward it."
The silence stretched like drawn wire between them.
Outside, the city hummed. The Upper Tier mages were making their presence known more frequently now—blinding sigil flares lit up the sky every night. Something was shifting. Everyone could feel it.
The Binding Writings that laced the spires had begun to burn crimson during nightfall.
Another war was brewing. Or worse — a Selection.
Veylin stepped back and stared at the fractured System interface again.
There it was, buried behind layers of protocol:
[Unlock: System Override Path - "Forbidden Chain Logic"]
Cost: Permanent Attribute Corruption (Tier Unknown)
A cold laugh escaped him.
"The price of power," he said under his breath. "Always debt. Always bleeding."
He turned back to Mira, who now leaned against the wall, watching.
"I'll need a proxy. Someone clean. Someone desperate."
Mira raised an eyebrow. "You want a Proxy Link? That's banned tech—burned out of most systems since the Fragment War."
"Not if you route it through the Chainweaver's logic," he said, the glint in his eye sharper than before. "I don't need the whole system to function. Just enough to pierce Tier-2 thresholds before the Selection Trials start."
She inhaled slowly. "You really think it's coming? That they'll open the arena this early?"
"They have to," Veylin said darkly. "The chain pressure is rising. If they wait, the bindings across the city will fracture. And the moment that happens…"
He didn't finish the thought. He didn't need to.
Mira nodded, then stepped forward, voice low.
"Then let's do it. Let's pull the first thread."
End of Chapter 14