Morning broke over Novarim in muted gold, but peace never reached the castle walls. The air was thick with rumors; every servant's step carried a whisper, every guard's glance was edged with unease.
An assassin had crawled into the heart of the royal castle and lived long enough to be dragged into chains.
Vivan stood alone on a balcony overlooking the courtyard, the morning breeze carrying the clang of blacksmiths reforging shattered locks and bent latches.
He should have felt relief. Instead, the reflection in the polished glass door behind him flickered in the same blue shimmer as Samuel came walking toward him.
The Eye of Veritas did not sleep.
"Couldn't rest either, could you?"
Samuel's voice came from behind.
He was still in armor, eyes shadowed with the kind of fatigue only anger could keep awake.
His hand rested near his blade as if habit, but Vivan noted the distance he kept- half a step too far for camaraderie, half a step too close for trust.
"You rewrote a man's will last night," Samuel said.
"That's not something any soldier should wake up to."
Vivan didn't turn.
"He was about to poison himself. I made sure he lived to speak. That's all."
"That's not all," another voice cut in, softer, but sharper.
Elara approached with a folded cloak over her arm, her eyes fierce despite the sleepless night.
"What you did wasn't protection. It was… control. That man's loyalty is no longer his own. It belongs to you. Don't you see what that makes you, GhostWalker?"
Vivan met her stare then- calm, steady, unreadable.
"Alive," he said simply. "And keeping Novarim alive with me."
A slow clap broke the air.
"Well said, Lady Elara. And well deflected, GhostWalker."
Hollowart descended the stairway leading to the balcony, robes flowing like the pages of some ancient tome.
His expression was unreadable, but his tone carried the measured calm of a man who already knew the weight of every word being spoken.
"But perhaps," he mused, stepping into the morning light, "you're asking the wrong question. Not what he did, but how he knew he could."
His eyes flickered purple for the briefest instant- so faint only Vivan could notice.
Hollowart's smile curved, patient and sharp.
"Tell me, GhostWalker. When Novarim trembles before the Serpent's fangs…"
He paused, gaze sweeping across Samuel and Elara before returning to Vivan.
"Should it fear the predator outside the walls or the one we just let in?"
The morning felt colder than night.
Vivan narrowed his gaze to Hollowart as the Eye of Veritas flickered in gold around Hollowart's body.
"That depends on how Novarim sees its own follies!" His smirk sharpened as his eyes lingered on the scholar.
Hollowart's calm face twitched, a fleeting shadow of unease.
"So we should not judge by a person's actions… instead, we judge by the reason of his actions?"
Vivan began walking toward the castle gate, smiling faintly.
"Well! It's never how a person thinks about the people around him, but what the people of the selfish circle, made of personal needs and demands called society, thinks about him. Right?"
His silhouette was about to cross the castle wall when Hollowart called after him.
"The King is expecting you at the evening council meeting, Lord GhostWalker!"
Vivan raised a hand in silent acknowledgment and continued down the stone path, his steps carrying him toward the awakening market.
Vivan's thoughts churned as he left the castle walls behind. If Hollowart could keep his player code hidden… there could be others, too.
The idea gnawed at him like a blade against stone.
He willed the Eye of Veritas open, azure shimmer bleeding faintly into his vision.
The marketplace unfolded before him not just in color, but in truth- every passer-by wrapped in a faint blue outline, their codes steady and unbroken. NPCs. Every last one.
The streets swelled with life.
Merchants sang their prices, guards patrolled with nervous glances, and children darted between carts as if the castle hadn't nearly bled out from an assassin few hours before.
Yet beneath the noise, Vivan felt it: an unease coiling like smoke. Whispers of the Serpent. Whispers of conspiracy. Whispers of him.
He stopped first at the familiar door of the Starlit Hearth.
Ellen greeted him with her usual grace, golden hair catching the morning light, and Roswyn appeared at her side, red ribbon holding her unruly curls.
The azure shimmer confirmed it- blue code. Both of them. NPCs.
Ellen's smile faltered only a little when she handed him tea.
"Sir… be careful today. These days even smiles carry daggers."
Roswyn gave him a knowing look, half-guarded, half-playful.
"You always carry storms with you, GhostWalker. Try not to bring one back here."
Vivan inclined his head in thanks and left without explanation with the thought lingering in his head.
"The news of Royal Castle surely spread fast, HUH!"
The air thickened as he crossed into the Scorch Forge. Heat and hammer blows greeted him, sparks leaping in showers as Borin Emberforge struck iron.
The dwarf's braids swung with every strike, sweat shining on his back.
When Borin finally turned, the azure shimmer pulsed blue. NPC.
Vivan exhaled- relief, disappointment, he wasn't sure which.
"Morning, Borin."
The dwarf squinted.
"Bah. Don't waste my morning with greetings. What's gnawing your skull, boy?"
Vivan didn't answer right away. Instead he asked, calm and pointed:
"Tell me, old man. What do you know of the Serpent?"
The hammer froze mid-swing. For a heartbeat, only the forge's hiss filled the room.
Borin lowered the iron slowly, his jaw working behind his beard.
"You don't ask that name in daylight."
"I just did."
Vivan's gaze held steady.
The dwarf grunted, eyes narrowing. Then, with a reluctant sigh, he set the hammer aside and leaned against the anvil.
"Arathen had a brother, long ago. Younger, sharp-tongued, clever with words. But twisted in heart. He wanted power and other's life bent to his will, no matter the cost. Tried to join the Dark Guild, they say."
Vivan's brows furrowed.
"And?"
Borin spat on the forge stones, the hiss sharp.
"Thought he was dead as he never came back. But Paul Palmer his bodyguard, the man you defeated and got the pendant of Amionisa from, joined the dark guilds."
Vivan's eyes widened.
"You thought he was dead?"
Borin allowed himself a smirk.
"Well! Novarim thought. But let me tell you that snake was not weak enough to die if his bodyguard was fine."
Vivan smirked as pieces of puzzle coming together slowly, jagged and dangerous.
"And what do you think on the possibility that Veldrick Hollowart could be the snake's tail?"
Borin froze for a heartbeat then a precautious gaze fell upon Vivan.
"Depends on who is asking? If it is royal investigator then I have no idea."
Vivan's eyes smiled in compassion.
"And what if it is the boy who made your dead brain sparkle last time?"
Borin's laugh was humorless, like stone grinding steel.
"That sharp-tongued scholar knows too much, hides too much. Mark me, GhostWalker- he'll be Novarim's undoing if he isn't already."
Vivan hid his reaction behind silence. His azure sight confirmed Borin's blue shimmer- truth untainted. The dwarf believed every word.
"Last thing," Vivan said at length, changing the subject. "I need better gear. Something that lasts."
Borin smirked.
"Your steel's fine. What you need is a second skin. Armor woven to fit you, not borrowed scraps. Only one in Novarim does work like that."
He jabbed a soot-stained finger toward the south lane.
"Whispering Saffron. She weaves silk like steel, charms code into cloth. Don't bargain. Pay what she asks. If she even agrees to make you something."
Vivan inclined his head, slipping back into the market as the forge's heat gave way to the afternoon breeze.
The sun had begun its slow tilt westward, shadows stretching long across the cobbles.
The air tasted different now- thicker, sharper. Every step through the crowded square made his senses prickle. More eyes on him than before.
More whispers that cut short when he passed.
The azure shimmer of Veritas revealed only blue, steady, unbroken, normal. But the feeling was not normal.
Not at all.
By the time the sign of Whispering Saffron came into view, Vivan's instinct made him equip his sword from inventory.
Something was coming.
His instincts whispered louder than truth: something was waiting. Coiling, watching. Ready to strike.
Vivan advanced toward Whispering Saffron, every step measured, his instincts clawing at him to stay alert.
The boutique's glass windows shimmered in the fading light, displaying gowns and cloaks of impossible beauty. Yet behind the elegance, something darker pressed on his senses.
The sun dipped beneath the horizon, and shadows crawled across Novarim.
A sudden flicker of green flared in the corner of his eye.
Reflex screamed before thought- Vivan dropped into a roll as twin kodachi hissed through the air where his head had been. Steel bit nothing but wind.
He twisted, rising into stance, sword flashing into his grip. A single rippling strike surged toward the assailant.
*Clang*
Twin blades intercepted, sparks screaming between them- then a surge of violet mist burst outward, swallowing the street in a shimmering veil.
The world outside vanished. No sound. No wind. No escape.
Inside the suffocating silence, the assassin lowered his blades, voice sharp as cut steel.
"You've stepped on the Serpent's tail, boy. And for that- you die."
Green lightning crawled along the kodachi, snarling like thunder chained to steel.
Vivan shifted, left foot forward, right pivoted, blade levelled across his arm.
Blue arcs flickered around his weapon, lightning answering lightning. His smirk cut through the tension.
"Then tell me, assassin. Do you have a name?"
The figure bared his teeth in a grin.
"Sebastian Harold. The First Fang of the Serpent."
In a blur of green, he lunged, blades crossing.
"X-Scissor!"
An X-shaped crescent of lightning ripped through the veil, screaming toward Vivan with blistering speed.
But azure light swirled in his eyes as the Eye of Veritas spun, code unraveling before him.
"Heh. That's the logic? Pathetic."
He raised his sword, voice like thunder.
"Code Breaker!"
The lattice of lightning fractured, threads of code shattering into nothing. Blue sparks surged along his blade, answering the call.
"Arcane Strike!"
Vivan's muscles coiled and released a single yet brutal slash that cleaved across Sebastian's guard as blue lightning exploded on impact.
The assassin's body flung backward, crashing hard. Blood spattered across the veil, his twin kodachi clattering against the stone. He clutched his stomach, disbelief flooding his eyes.
Vivan's silhouette loomed, blade humming with crackling azure. His smirk was merciless.
"Then tonight, Harold, I'll make sure the Serpent comes crawling to me—missing a fang."
Sebastian's eyes burned with fury even as his wound bled.
"You think killing me will be easy, boy?"
A silver pendant slipped free from his neck, crackling with purple lightning. His grin widened, feral and mocking.
"You're too naive."
But the Eye of Veritas spun again, rings clicking clockwise. Azure glyphs of Sigilforge crawled across Vivan's right arm, his lips curling in a knowing smirk.
"That trick's ancient, old man."
His fingers snapped forward.
"Code Breaker!"
Blue circuitry coiled around the pendant like a living chain.
The Curse Sigil of Amionisa flickered, sputtered and then sank into silence, forced into hibernation as its activation sequence shattered.
The veil trembled as the silence deepened.
…To be continued