The wind blows with a lighting of situations, everyone got set for the show of the night. The clan ground that was once thrummed with celebration now lay uneasy and silent. There above the rooftop, gather much heavens themselves who are ready to witness the event.“ They have thought evil against me. Even the Darkveil which seems to be my path.” Arin who had sat with his legs crossed on a cold stone overlooking the courtyard.Then comes the faint blue light of the system which hovered before him, pulsing like a heartbeat. Incoming Events: Stormfang Clan Retaliation: within 72 hours. Heavenly Temple Summons: active for 7 days. Optional Directive: Survive both encounters. Reward: Path Advancement Spirit Core Ignition.He exhaled slowly. “Seventy-two hours,” he murmured. “So the storm comes early.”Behind him, footsteps approached—soft, deliberate.“Still here?” Lyra’s voice was quiet but carried a weight of concern. Her silver-lined robes swayed with the wind, and her dark hair

Arin felt the Dragon Vein thrumming louder, not from defiance now but from recognition; the vein had found the tunnel’s old wards and answered them, and the resonance in his chest promised one more thing — a way through that was not wholly escape: a path to return.He stepped forward and met the Elder’s gaze. “You think yourselves saviors,” he said. “But your hands are just the same as the ones that once broke our doors open to steal grain and name.”The Elder laughed, a cold rasp. He gestured, and the courtyard filled with a shimmering lattice — not the Temple’s gold but the clan’s own binding marks, centuries-old magics reforged into instruments of control. “Then be bound as we see fit.”Arin’s body turned into motion. He didn’t plan a fight — he made one. It was not for trophies but for breaths. He caught the first binding thread in his palm and let the resonance shiver through it, then folded that power and flung it outward. The thread burned like paper and snapped. The Elder’s ey

Rain fell in knives.The bridge between ridges swayed under the weight of the storm, ropes groaning like tired lungs. Arin stood at the midpoint, cloak plastered to his frame, his eyes locked on the scarred woman opposite him. The Dragon Vein’s pulse beneath his boots seemed to echo the thunder above — old powers arguing over who would break first.Behind her, Stormfang riders waited in disciplined silence. Their armor wasn’t the polished silver of temple soldiers — it was pieced together from bone, iron, and memory. Every spear tip gleamed with stormlight. Every face looked carved from endurance.The woman tilted her head. The scar that slashed from her left temple down her jaw caught the light — a reminder of what fire had taken from her, and what she’d taken back. “You’ve got nerve,” she said. “Marching into our land with your heart still beating.”“I didn’t march,” Arin replied, voice low but steady. “I followed what’s still alive.”“Alive,” she repeated, tasting the word. “That’

“You’re pushing yourself too far,” she murmured. “You won’t make it to the Northern Citadel in this condition.”Arin’s eyes, still burning faintly blue from the Adaptive Core’s aftermath, lifted toward the moon. “I don’t have a choice. The corruption’s spreading — and if the Elders fall completely, every clan under their command will turn.”Lyra’s jaw tightened. “Then we need answers before we move.”She reached into her satchel and pulled out a crystalline shard, humming faintly with embedded runes. “We can’t reach the Citadel blind. This… was given to me by the Warden before I left the Inner Order. It can unlock sealed archives from the Clan Martial.”Arin’s eyes narrowed. “The Clan Martial? The forbidden archives?”Lyra nodded. “Exactly. The truth they’ve buried for centuries.”The System pulsed faintly at Arin’s side.SYSTEM NOTICE: Hidden Archive Detected — “Clan Martial Codex” Access Level: Restricted (Authorization Required) Override Possible: Celestial Core Fragment Sync

The wind sharpened as dawn crept over the ravaged valley. Arin stood still for a long time, watching the light spill across the snowfields, he watched through the ground. " You seems to be confused." Lyra asked him His eyes flickered silver once more — faint, but pulsing in sync with the Core’s rhythm.Lyra touched his shoulder. “You’re drifting again.”“I remembered something,” Arin murmured. “The Void Spire… the space I came from before all this. It wasn’t destroyed. It was sealed.”Lyra frowned. “Sealed? By who?”“By the Elders,” Arin said, voice low. “To contain the Celestial Fragments. Including mine.”The System pulsed in acknowledgment.SYSTEM NOTICE:Spatial Memory Recovered — [Void Spire: Origin Node]Data Integrity: 27%Coordinates: Unknown / Encrypted by Elder Protocols.Lyra studied him. “So… part of your power is still trapped there?”“Not power,” Arin corrected. “Truth.”He turned away from the parapet, his cloak rippling in the wind. “We move. The longer we wait, the