(Disclaimer: This is chapter is just the genesis of the world. Feel free to skip or read)A Scholar’s Account of the Crested AgeBy Archivist Veiran Thale, Former Geneticist of Noctra AcademyPreface of the Scholar• They warned me that curiosity was the first contagion.I did not listen.I have dissected gods in the name of science, and all I found beneath their ribs was humanity’s Imperfection, frightened, and desperately reaching for immortality.What follows is not revelation. It is confession.The world of Eidrix was not born; it was manufactured. Every continent, every vein of soil, every crest upon human flesh is the scar tissue of a design long forgotten.The people worship Crests as blessings. They are wrong.The Crest is a wound that never healed, a genetic echo of an experiment that sought to rewrite the essence of man.I record these findings not to enlighten, but to warn. Knowledge is a venom that feeds on faith, and I have drunk too deeply of it.** On the Nature of Eidr

The Eidrix Codex: Volume I, Part IVThe Black VeinBy Veiran ThaleThe Black Vein is not a faction. It is an infection that learned to organize itself.Officially, it exists as a government-funded division for Crest research and genetic innovation, the public sees it as the nation’s pride. Unofficially, it is a sect built around one belief: that evolution must be forced, and that emotion is the obstacle to perfection.The Vein’s core members operate under layers of false titles and ministries, but the hierarchy is older than the state itself. Their earliest documents date back to before the first Crest awakenings. They speak of a “Root Signal,” a biological code buried deep in human DNA, capable of rewriting both mind and matter when properly awakened.They have spent decades trying to control that code.The initiation rituals for high-ranking members are never recorded, but leaked testimonies suggest they undergo a form of neural imprinting where their Crest signatures are merged int

Chapter: The Call to NoctraThe message arrived at dawn, carried by a silver courier drone that sliced through the gray morning air above Vexhold District. Its metallic wings hummed like a warning and a promise at once. People stepped out of their homes, shielding their eyes as the drone descended into the school courtyard, its lights flashing the royal insignia of Noctra Academy.Every ten years the academy chose students from each district. Students who showed not just intelligence but rare potential. Students who could handle the academy’s trials, its combat simulations, its mind-skill regimen. Two who could become protectors of the realm.And this time the drone had come for Vexhold.Ryan was already awake, practicing balance drills on the cracked concrete behind the school building. He had always been different. Quicker. Sharper. His body reacted before thought arrived, as if wired for action. When the drone landed, he paused mid-movement, chest rising with quick breaths. A tingl

CHAPTER: The Dormitories of NoctraThe path to the dormitories led through a corridor of towering silver pillars, each etched with symbols that seemed to shift when looked at from different angles. Ryan couldn't tell if it was advanced tech or just his nerves playing tricks on him.Instructor Valis walked ahead with steady, echoing footsteps. “Your dormitory is not just a place to rest,” she said without looking back. “It monitors your vitals, adapts to your training conditions, and evaluates your psychological stability. Everything inside these walls watches, listens and learns.”Some students slowed at her words.Enisa muttered, “Comforting.”They reached a massive archway that curved open at their approach. The inside was unexpectedly warm. The Dormitory Hall stretched out in three wide tiers, each one lined with private pods stacked neatly like honeycombs. Soft lights glowed along the floors, and screens displayed students’ names as they approached their assigned pods.Ryan breath

CHAPTER: First Strike in the NullforgeThe Nullforge Grounds hummed with energy, the floating platforms shifting beneath their feet. Ryan gripped his pulse staff tightly, feeling its weight uneven in his hands. Beside him, Enisa twirled her dual-weighted baton, testing its momentum.The constructs—the mechanical forms of Crest Beasts—were stationed at the far end of the arena, motionless. Between them and the targets, a swarm of hovering drones began to materialize, each one the size of a sparrow, bristling with sensors and mini-projectiles.Instructor Valis’s voice echoed from above:“Your first task is simple. Destroy the stationary targets and disable the drones. Accuracy and speed are key. Power alone will not save you.Also the drones will attack you on a minimal scale. This is just a test.”Ryan exhaled sharply. Simple. That word was a lie. Their abilities had yet to fully awaken, and they had no control over the energy-flow disciplines the academy expected them to wield.He glan