The stormline cut the sky in half, a bruised violet band flashing with gold forks of lightning. Kael kept the cohort moving along a razor-thin ridge while wind clawed at their cloaks and static prickled hair. Every second rumble felt closer than the last.
[Veilcore Sync 46 %]
Fog from the Library still clung to their boots, leaving ghost prints that blew away as soon as they formed. Thorn set the pace; Elias limped behind, favouring his arm while the broken gauntlet hissed with each step. Rei's breath came in short bursts—Blink fatigue lingered like poison in her legs. Veyra's figments circled warily, translucent shapes flaring every time lightning strobed.
Ahead, the path widened onto a plateau of fractured stormglass. Shattered mirrors reflected nothing but cloud, and every shard hummed like a plucked string. In the centre stood an obsidian monolith wrapped in chains that trailed sky-ward to vanish in stormcloud.
Elias's eyes lit with recognition. "Anchor post. Keyhole cut for a Codex Key." He raised his damaged gauntlet. "Slot it and the storm may weaken."
Kael nodded; Rei pulled the spiral key from her pouch. The instant the metal touched stone, chains rattled. A pulse of blue fire raced up the links into the clouds. Thunder bellowed; lightning struck the monolith and split into spiderweb filaments that arced over stormglass.
System script flashed:
[Paradox Lock Disengaged — Storm Pressure -30 %]
Relief came like a pressure valve opening. The wind calmed enough for words to carry.
But the plateau wasn't unguarded.
From cracks in the stormglass rose figures hammered from pale lightning, limbs forked like branches, faces an empty glare. Five… seven… nine.
[Veil Entities — Fulmin Shades]
Thorn lifted his shield just as the first Shade hurled a spear of charged air. Impact rang like a cathedral bell; Thorn skidded three steps. Kael pivoted—Phantom blur, free—and severed a spear arm. Sparks rained, searing the ridge.
Rei inhaled, Essentia curling inside her core. She pushed. Two units burned; her Blink carried her through a Shade, electricity lashing her skin but leaving the Shade destabilized. She spun, knives singing, cleaving its core. The entity burst in a white flash, scattering crackling dust.
A line of System text skimmed Rei's vision:
[Threshold Achieved — Seed evolving…]
Pain surged through her calves, then vanished as energy threaded veins. She felt a new reservoir ignite.
[Sigil Awakened: Stormbind]Condense lightning into tethered blades. Base cost 8 Essentia; each extra strike drains 3.
She didn't hesitate; let Stormbind spark to life. Twin arcs of blue-white power licked down her daggers. She flung them; lightning-knives stitched two Shades together, ripping their forms apart in a strobing blast.
Elias braced, channeling a low-power Vector that pulled incoming darts off course without shattering his repair. Veyra wove two figments—one fox, one wolf—sending them streaking around Shades to distract. While illusions danced, Kael dashed—Shardwalk at base cost, four-metre phase—reappearing beside a Shade to shear it cleanly.
Essentia dropped to 22/60, heat blooming behind his ribs. Each kill released micro-bursts of charge that drew into the monolith. Chains glowed hotter; stormlight dimmed.
Thorn caught a final bolt on burning shield, redirected it downward; stormglass beneath their feet melted to slag. Kael finished the last Shade with a diagonal cut that left hair singed and armor crackling but intact.
The plateau fell silent except for cooling glass.
System whisper:
[Anchor Stabilised — Essentia +6, Sync 48 %]
Rei exhaled, electric haze fading from her daggers. "Stormbind feels like cheating."
"Spend coin carefully," Kael said, eyeing her trembling fingers. "Push too far, price doubles."
She nodded—already sensing the yawning drain of another use.
Lightning now sheathed the chains in a cool blue glow instead of violent arcs. Clouds opened enough to reveal the horizon: a jagged basin ringed by colossal pillars. At the center crouched the chained monstrosity—its form clearer now. Serpentine body, wings half-wrapped in links the width of city walls, eyes blazing with auric fire.
Elias swallowed. "That… is a Cataclysm-Class entity."Thorn's voice was flat. "The Chain-Crowned Leviathan.""Older than any Fallen myth," Kael said. "If those chains snap, none of us walk away."
He turned from the spectacle. "We need distance, and we need to find the next anchor before Malkyre catches up."
They left the stormglass plateau, Sync pulsing like a second heartbeat, page-key stowed, new power earned. Behind them, thunder rolled softer—as if the sky, too, were drawing breath for whatever came next.