The sky ruptured.A spear of lightning cleaved through the clouds above the Ashen camp, splitting the veil of night with a violet blaze. Trees howled as their branches were ripped into splinters. Wind slammed through tents and watch posts. The Vesh had arrived.It didn’t walk into the camp—it bled into it, its body oozing out of a tear in space, limb by twitching limb. Its height rivaled a siege tower, cloaked in writhing veils of shadow that peeled back to reveal bone-pale skin etched with roving sigils. Its arms were too long, ending in claws more like scythes. Its face was less face and more… void, two orbs of electric stormlight locked inside a mask of runes that shifted like puzzle pieces. Then came the drones.Tyrant Drones scuttled from the rift like ants from a dying hive—dozens at first, then hundreds. Thei

Won’s eyes were locked onto the battlefield. His Sensari was pulsing with alarm. The Vesh reappeared fifty meters north, surrounded by drones that had regrouped into a phalanx. Its core was still hidden behind layers of rotating sigils—but it was faltering. Weaker. Overexerted.“We can’t catch it,” Won replied, spinning his star-iron wire into a controlled coil. “We have to corner it. Burn its energy down.”“Then get ready to bleed,” Leo said, rejoining them. His clothes were torn, blood staining his left sleeve. “Because it’s not going down until it kills one of us.”Suddenly—Boom.A radiant figure detonated between the Vesh and the drones.Aviva.Last Updated : 2025-10-29

Won was thrown backward, crashing into a twisted piece of stone. For a second, he couldn’t hear. Couldn’t move. His Sensari was static. His thoughts were gone.Then—Silence.The storm disappeared. The fold in the Veyne’s space smoothed. Gravity returned. Reality settled. And the Vesh collapsed, its colossal body hitting the scorched earth like a fallen god. Black ash drifted up from its remains. The runes across its body faded, their last glow retreating into the soil. A soft chime rang out in Won’s head.[You have slain the Vesh.][You have acquired: Vesh’s Arcane Core.] [Boons may be claimed or divided.]But he didn’t move.Bec

The day we were supposed to attend our first class of the academic year was delayed by three days after they cleared the Veyne. On the third day, every student sat in rows facing twenty nine coffins, the ones who had been sacrificed in all the Veynes that had appeared that night.Orson and Won arrived late; they had been summoned for the fourth time in three days to report on what they had encountered in their Veyne. Both were dressed in black. Won took the seat beside Leo, whose eyes fell upon the badge on Won’s sleeve, the emblem dedicated to the martyrs.“You are wearing it wrong,” Leo murmured, gently adjusting the badge.“Thanks,” Won muttered back.“Why do they keep calling you two?” Leo asked quietly.“Probably because