The sun bled gold across the jagged tree line, a halo of fire casting shadows over the thatched roofs of Brenmoor Village. The wind was beginning to shift—Kael could feel it in his bones. He always did on his birthday.Seventeen today. Not that it meant much.He tugged at the string holding his worn satchel, a few bundles of mountain sage and dried yarrow sticking out the top. His boots scraped against the path leading home, a modest cottage tucked between the hills. Smoke drifted gently from the chimney, and the familiar smell of drying herbs reached him before the front door even came into view.A voice greeted him—thin, worn by time.“You're back late, Kael.”His foster mother, Ilna, sat by the hearth, her legs tucked beneath layers of patched skirts. She smiled, brushing flour from her hands. The kitchen smelled of bread and bitterroot stew. Safe.Kael dropped the herbs on the counter. “Ran into a pack of dustrabbits. One tried to make off with the yarrow.”She chuckled softly. “E

The system had changed him. He moved faster. Thought clearer. Even the smells of the forest—sap, soil, rot—were sharper. Yet he still hadn’t unlocked the martial path. His body didn’t feel strong. Not in the way sword-wielders were. He’d never held a real blade, never once swung at anything larger than a bush. So why did his blood itch every time he thought of battle?Today, he was determined to find out.Kael stood in the center of the glade, sunlight dappled through thin clouds. The pendant rested warm on his chest. He took a breath.“System,” he whispered. “Open Martial Path.”[System Response: Martial Path – Locked]Physical Aptitude: 1.9 / 2.0Unlock Progress: 95%Suggestion: Begin Combat Trial to stimulate physical thresholdA combat trial? Against what?His eyes darted around. Trees, wind, birdsong. Nothing threatening.[Simulation Available: Flame Construct]Risk: Mild Burn | Control Mode: BeginnerBegin Trial? [Y/N]His breath caught. Fire?“…Yes.”The glade shimmered.A heat

The forest didn’t breathe that night.Kael could feel it—stillness so absolute it pressed against his ears like cotton. Even the owls had gone quiet. The breeze, once playful, now moved in tight coils, heavy with scent: moss, wet stone… and ash.He stood by the dying embers of their fire, sword strapped over his back, boots wet from collecting water at the stream. Seris knelt a few paces away, sharpening her blade with slow, deliberate strokes. The sound—metal over stone—was the only rhythm left in the world.“Something’s off,” Kael murmured.“I know,” she replied without pausing.She didn’t ask how he knew. His senses had been heightening daily. Not just his eyes and ears—but his instincts, like whispers from beneath his ribs.[System Alert: Abnormal mana fluctuations detected in outer perimeter.]Hostile presence probable. Recommend combat readiness.]He inhaled sharply. The pendant warmed.[CRIMSON PATH – Battle Mode Enabled]Pulse Cut: Live Usage PossibleVital Edge: ChargedStanc

They called it the Veilroad—a forgotten stretch of cracked earth and moss-covered stones that wound through the northern forests, leading toward the jagged cliffs where the Rift slept.The deeper they traveled, the quieter the world became. Birds grew scarce. Even the wind moved differently—curling in half-circles, as if trying to reverse its own direction. The trees leaned unnaturally inward, their trunks bending as if bowing toward something buried.Kael rode in silence on the back of the Windfold, eyes scanning the horizon. Thorne walked beside him, murmuring runes under his breath, while Seris moved ahead like a shadow with eyes.The pendant around Kael’s neck had not stopped humming since sunrise.[System Alert: Mana Density Exceeding Safe Threshold]Abnormal spiritual interference detected.Caution: Temporal anomalies likely within next 12 miles.Kael showed Thorne the message.The old mage’s eyes narrowed. “We’re too close to turn back.”“Define ‘temporal anomalies,’” Kael mutt

The chamber pulsed like a wounded heart.Kael knelt before the ribcage—blackened, cracked, yet unmistakably alive. The crystal coffin barely contained the thing within: a single massive bone, spiraled like a serpent’s fang, etched with runes so ancient the air around them shimmered.[System Alert: Unknown Entity—Wyrmbound Class Detected]Initiating mental defense layer...Warning: Psyche Intrusion Level 2 / Consciousness Drift Risk: 42%Kael's breath caught. “It’s... it’s inside my head.”“Don’t let it anchor,” Thorne warned sharply. “It’ll speak in you. Through you. It doesn’t knock—it leaks.”The voice came not as words, but as feeling: cold rain on a sunless day. Memories not his own surged in flashes.Golden eyes watching a burning sky.Hands—his hands?—gripping a bloody throne of bone.A woman’s voice screaming his name, not as Kael, but something older: “Ardyn... Ardyn, come back!”Kael clutched his chest. “It knows me.”Seris moved closer, sword trembling. “No—it knows him. The