Silence lingered in the chamber long after the echoes of battle had faded.
The Codex Core stood dormant now. Its deep, pulsing light had dimmed to a steady glow, like embers cooling after a storm of blood and memory. Cracks still lined its surface, but the rhythm was stable—no longer angry, no longer hungry.
Kieran Vale knelt beside it, blade buried into the obsidian floor at his side. His hands trembled faintly, not from weakness, but from the aftermath—the spiritual recoil that followed every Codex trial.
His breath came slow. Controlled.
[Codex Update – Status Log: Updated]
Title(s): Unchained, DepthwalkerPath: Crimson AscendantTier: IIFragments Acquired: 4 / 7Codex Affinity: 30%Anchor Bond: Riven Amari (Level 3 Trust)
New Skill: Crimson Pulse (Lv. 1) – AoE knockback + armor reduction. Cooldown: 45sPassive Trait: Depthwalker – Blood skill cost -5%, minor resistance to illusion and Codex mental influence.
The interface faded, but the weight of it lingered.
He looked down at his hand—still stained with the blood of the trial. Not all of it was his own. Some belonged to phantoms. Some, to the pain he'd buried. The Codex had ripped it out of him, shaped it into a weapon, and then asked him to use it again.
He'd done it.
But the ache hadn't faded.
Across the chamber, Riven Amari sat against a stone outcropping, elbows on her knees, her head tilted back against the wall. Her breathing was steady, but her shoulders were tense. Her spear lay at her side, blood-spattered and cracked at the hilt.
She hadn't spoken since the illusions shattered.
Ashen Lyel sat opposite her, one leg curled beneath her, eyes half-closed as she meditated, or perhaps processed something deeper. Her expression was blank—not cold, but unreadable.
For the first time since they'd met, she looked… unsure.
Kieran pushed himself up slowly, the muscles in his legs resisting, his Codex-stabilized body still adjusting to the emotional fallout of the trial. He stepped over a blood-slicked crack in the floor and approached Riven in silence.
She opened her eyes as he neared. "You look like hell."
"I've had worse," he replied, voice dry.
She shifted slightly, brushing a strand of hair out of her face. Her braid had come loose at the end, dark strands clinging to her cheek.
Kieran crouched beside her.
For a moment, neither of them spoke.
Then, quietly, he said, "The girl in your memory. Was she your sister?"
Riven's jaw tensed. Her eyes shifted away. "No."
Kieran waited.
After several seconds, she added, "She was just someone I couldn't save."
"That still counts."
She looked at him then—not with surprise, but with something heavier. Grief layered beneath hard-earned endurance.
"You think passing that trial means I've made peace with it?" she asked.
"No," he said. "I think it means you're strong enough to carry it."
The silence between them changed. No longer empty. Just... full.
[Anchor Sync Deepened – Emotional Stability Reinforced]
Shared Trait: Tactical Merge (Lv. 2) – Duration: 20 seconds. Cooldown: 3 mins.New Emotion-Based Buff: "Steadfast" – If fighting within 10 meters of bonded Anchor, gain +2% defense and bleed resistance.
The update flashed across his mind and faded almost as quickly. He didn't mention it.
The moment didn't need a system window to matter.
They left the Core chamber slowly, guided by the Codex's recalibrated path. The spiral stairwell that had once bled light now pulsed softly, the blood-crystal veins dormant but still alive.
Ashen walked silently behind them, her hands clasped behind her back. She had yet to speak.
Riven noticed too. She slowed her pace until she was beside Ashen.
"You saw something different in that mirror," she said quietly.
Ashen didn't respond at first.
Then, still walking, she murmured, "I didn't just relive it. I remembered what I was meant to forget."
Kieran turned his head slightly.
"Your mother?"
Ashen nodded once. "She activated a path like this one. She wasn't chosen by it. She tried to override it. It killed her in pieces."
"Why didn't the Codex kill you too?" Riven asked.
Ashen's voice dropped, a whisper laced with something old. "Because I was born inside it."
The stairwell opened into the ravine.
They emerged into a gray morning sky, clouds low and heavy with rain that hadn't yet fallen. The forest around the shrine was still. The wind had changed direction. The air was colder.
The world outside the Crimson Depths felt older somehow.
Kieran felt the shift in his blood before he saw it.
[Warning: Codex Resonance Detected – Tier II Entity Within 8 Kilometers]Rival Path Signature: Crimson Warden (Kael Draven)Synchronization Level: 38%Ascendant Fragment Count: 4 / 7
Status: Dormant. Movement predicted toward Eastern Convergence Gate.
Kael was still ahead.
But not by much.
He exhaled slowly. "He's moving east. There's another gate forming."
Ashen's head lifted. "You'll need to reach it first. If Kael claims Fragment Five before you, the Codex may begin restructuring the remaining trials to favor his logic."
Riven frowned. "What does that mean?"
"It means your fragments will stop asking what you're willing to sacrifice—and start asking who."
They camped at the base of the ridge that night. Ashen set the perimeter using strange blood-infused runes that melted into the rocks and trees like faded tattoos. The fire was small, shielded by a stone ring. The light barely touched the shadows beyond the clearing.
Kieran stared into the flames, arms resting on his knees, his thoughts heavy.
Four fragments.
Three anchors—Riven, Ashen, and... someone else he hadn't met yet. The Codex made that much clear. There were more souls out there meant to cross with his, to challenge or shape him.
But not all bonds would survive.
He pulled the pendant from beneath his shirt. The one with the photo. Faded. Worn. Liana's face blurred by ash and fire.
He didn't speak aloud.
But the Codex heard.
[Anchor Status: Ghost Thread Detected – Liana Vale (Deceased)]
Passive Effect: Echo Memory – When below 10% HP, mental resistance increases +5% for 10 seconds. One use per battle.
He closed his eyes.
The Codex didn't care about guilt.
But it recorded it.
It remembered.
So would he.