2025-03-18 16:02:02Aiden stood on the rooftop overlooking the Dawnspire estate. The cool night breeze stirred the loose folds of his cloak as he watched the last flicker of torchlight fade from the stone courtyard below. His enhanced senses sharpened beneath the silver glow of the moon, tracking the subtle movements of the guards stationed along the perimeter wall.
He could still feel the warmth of Kellan’s blood on his fingertips. His claws had faded beneath his skin, but the lingering heat of the Dragon Code pulsed faintly beneath his veins. His strength had increased. His awareness had expanded.
"Target identified," the system’s voice whispered through his mind. "Valeria Dawnspire’s carriage is scheduled to depart at dawn."
Aiden’s mouth curled faintly. "Not if I get there first."
The rooftops stretched out before him—dark spires and slanted tiles forming a jagged network of escape routes. Aiden’s gaze narrowed toward the far side of the estate, where a pair of large iron gates barred the exit road.
Three guards stood at the gate—clad in black and silver armor, halberds resting at their sides. Their stance was relaxed, casual.
They thought they were safe.
Aiden’s fingers flexed. Heat curled beneath his ribs.
"Shadow Step recommended."
Aiden’s smile sharpened. "Let's make an entrance."
He stepped forward. His body dissolved into smoke—
—and reappeared behind the nearest guard.
The man barely had time to turn before Aiden’s claws tore across his throat. Blood sprayed against the gate. The second guard stumbled back, his hand lifting toward the hilt of his sword.
Aiden moved.
His hand shot toward the guard’s chest—
Dragon Claw Activated
His claws punctured through armor and bone. The guard’s mouth opened in a soundless scream before Aiden ripped his hand free. The body dropped to the ground with a heavy thud.
The third guard turned and bolted toward the estate.
Aiden exhaled. His gaze sharpened.
Shadow Step
Smoke curled around his feet as he reappeared in front of the fleeing guard.
The guard stumbled to a halt, wide-eyed. "Wh—What—"
Aiden’s claws ignited with red light. He smiled faintly.
"Wrong way."
His arm blurred. Claws raked through the guard’s chest—piercing chainmail, cutting through bone. The guard’s body dropped hard against the cobblestones.
[Essence Absorbed: Human Guard]
+2 Strength+1 SpeedThe courtyard fell into silence. Blood pooled beneath Aiden’s feet as he surveyed the wreckage. The gate stood unguarded now.
"Clear."
Aiden took a slow breath. He could feel the system’s power adjusting beneath his skin—strength flowing through his muscles, sharpening his senses. His claws flickered once before fading back beneath his skin.
He turned toward the estate.
He wasn’t finished yet.
The estate's main hall was dark when Aiden entered. Tall stained-glass windows lined the narrow corridor, their pale silver glow casting fractured patterns across the polished marble floor. The scent of burning oil lingered faintly in the air.
Aiden moved silently. His enhanced vision cut through the darkness, sharpening every detail—the fine carvings along the stone pillars, the deep red velvet curtains drawn along the walls. He could hear the distant sound of footsteps—slow, measured. A single guard.
"Target approaching."
Aiden pressed himself against the wall.
A black-armored guard stepped into view. His halberd rested lazily across his shoulder. His eyes were half-closed. Bored.
Aiden smiled faintly.
His hand shot out.
The guard’s head snapped sideways as Aiden’s claws punctured his throat. The body collapsed to the floor before the man could make a sound.
Blood trickled along the marble.
Aiden crouched over the body and wiped his claws across the guard’s chest. He could feel the essence flowing into his limbs—a faint pulse of heat beneath his ribs.
[Essence Absorbed: Human Guard]
+2 StrengthHe rose to his feet and moved deeper into the hall.
A pair of massive iron doors loomed ahead. The doors bore the carved sigil of House Dawnspire—the coiled serpent wrapped around a silver sword. Magic pulsed faintly from the etched lines, forming a protective barrier.
Aiden’s hand curled toward the handle. Heat rippled beneath his skin.
"Barrier detected."
Aiden’s smile sharpened. "Break it."
Red light flickered across his fingers as he pressed his hand against the door.
Dragon Claw Activated
The runes beneath his palm pulsed. The barrier shuddered. The system’s energy coiled through Aiden’s limbs—he pushed harder—
Cracks splintered through the metal.
The barrier shattered.
The iron doors swung open with a low groan. Aiden stepped through.
The hall beyond was lit by a single row of torches mounted along the stone walls. The polished marble floor stretched toward a raised platform at the far end—where a figure stood, bathed in pale torchlight.
A young man with dark hair and sharp blue eyes. His black robes were lined with silver thread, the crest of House Dawnspire pinned to his chest. He stood calmly, hands clasped behind his back.
His gaze sharpened as Aiden entered.
"You’ve made quite a mess."
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. "And you are?"
The man smiled faintly. "Nathaniel Dawnspire."
Valeria’s younger brother.
Nathaniel’s gaze darkened. "You should be dead."
"That makes two of us."
Nathaniel’s smile thinned. "You’re not leaving this hall alive."
Aiden’s claws pulsed beneath his skin. His enhanced heartbeat slowed. His body coiled.
"I’d like to see you try."
Nathaniel’s hand lifted. Magic coiled between his fingers—a sharp blue light cutting through the shadows. The torches along the walls flared.
Blue flames erupted beneath Nathaniel’s feet.
Aiden’s eyes narrowed. His muscles tensed.
"Threat Level: B-Rank."
Nathaniel’s mouth curled. "Shall we begin?"
Aiden’s smile sharpened.
"Gladly."
Nathaniel’s arm shot forward. A spear of blue fire erupted toward Aiden’s chest.
Aiden moved.
Shadow Step
He dissolved into smoke, reappearing behind Nathaniel. His claws ignited with red light as he struck—
Nathaniel twisted. A pulse of blue energy flared from his palm. Aiden’s claws met the barrier with a sharp hiss of heat and magic. Sparks erupted as red and blue light clashed.
Nathaniel’s eyes narrowed.
"Interesting."
Aiden’s hand flexed. His claws pulsed beneath his fingertips. Heat curled beneath his ribs.
Nathaniel’s smile sharpened. "Let’s see how long you last."
Aiden’s gaze darkened. His breath steadied. His claws curled.
"Engage."
Aiden lunged.
Nathaniel’s body blurred as blue fire erupted between them.
Aiden’s claws cut through the heat—
Nathaniel’s palm shot toward his chest— Smoke and sparks exploded across the hall—Aiden’s smile sharpened beneath the firelight.
Now it was getting interesting.
[System Update: Threat Assessment Increasing]
[Dragon Claw + Shadow Step Synchronization: 75%][Host Level: Rank F → Rank F+]"Shall we continue?"
Aiden’s claws burned beneath his skin. His gaze sharpened beneath the crackle of fire and smoke.
"Oh, yes."
Previous Chapter
Latest Chapter
The True Script
They hit the ground hard.Not dirt.Not stone.Parchment.The floor was a canvas of endless pages, stretching into shadow. Each one written in a different tongue, some human, some impossibly abstract—squiggles that moved, curled, and reshaped as Aiden’s eyes tried to follow.Quill groaned beside him, one hand clenched tight around her wrist.Her forearm now glowed with raw narrative code, like veins rewritten by living language. It pulsed in rhythm with something buried deep below them.“You okay?” Aiden asked.She looked at him, dazed. “I saw him.”“Who?”“I… don’t know.” She shook her head. “But I think he wrote me.”The air trembled.Far ahead, the floor dipped into a basin of swirling script. Words flowed like water—uphill, sideways, twisting into impossible spirals. At its center stood a narrow stone lectern, and on it—A blade.Not the one Aiden remembered.But its echo.The original.Unfinished.[LOCATION: THE PALE DRAFT]› Accessing Authored Memory...› Forbidden Script Detect
Glitchborn
Rain fell upward.That was the first thing Aiden noticed.The droplets shimmered like crystal dust, reversing their descent just before touching the ground, vanishing into the sky with a soft plink.He sat on a bench made of folded codepaper, staring across the strange village square—a place that looked cobbled together from ten different realities. Half the buildings floated. The other half leaned at angles no engineer would ever approve of.A bird passed overhead.Its wings were musical notes.None of it made sense.But then, neither did he.“Hey.”The voice belonged to a girl no older than ten. White scarf, too-large coat, fingers stained with glowing chalk.“You're new,” she said.Aiden blinked. “I guess I am.”“You don’t have a name?”He paused. “Do I need one?”The girl squinted. “Everybody needs a name. Otherwise the world forgets you.”That felt important.Somewhere in his chest, a distant pain pulsed. He touched the spot above his heart. No scar. No wound.But something burne
Writer Versus Written
The air rippled.Not with energy—but with intent.Aiden’s blade shimmered in his grip, and across its surface, glyphs began to form—not runes, not code, but sentences.[Narrative Authority – Level 1 Active]Permission Granted: Command-reality interface now unlocked.› Type: /editThe Anti-Aiden halted mid-step, sensing the change.“Oh,” he murmured. “They gave it to you.”Aiden raised the blade. “No,” he said. “I took it.”He whispered:“/edit: opponent’s next strike misses.”The moment the Anti-Aiden moved—blade whistling toward Aiden’s ribs—it curved mid-swing, missing by inches, as if the world refused to allow it.The twin’s eyes widened.“You broke story-law.”“No,” Aiden corrected, stepping forward, “I rewrote it.”He slashed—missed—and immediately whispered:“/edit: blade trajectory realigns.”The sword snapped back mid-motion, catching his twin in the shoulder.The Anti-Aiden stumbled back, glitching.“Clever,” he said, voice vibrating with suppressed rage. “But every edit has
The Thing Below the Core
The Core fell.Not onto the ground.But into herself.Her body collapsed inward, pixel by pixel, layer by layer, as if the very idea of her identity was retracting. As if the universe no longer had a reference point for what she was.[CORE INSTANCE NULLIFIED][BEGINNING SYSTEM MEMORY DUMP…][WARNING: UNCONTAINED ARCHIVE DATA BREACH IN PROGRESS]The room—if it could still be called that—was unraveling.Lines of script peeled from the walls like torn paper, folding into spirals, spinning into infinity and then vanishing.Aiden shielded his eyes as an eruption of golden-white data burst from the center of the Unseen Root.Each strand of information burned through him as it passed.A planet that never formed.A child made of algorithms.The first line of code ever written on this world, by someone with hands made of language.[Memory Integrity Breach: Acceptable Loss Ratio Exceeded]CONTAINMENT BREACH – TIER NULLAiden turned—And the floor was gone.Beneath the dying Core, beneath the cr
The Unseen Root
Aiden landed without impact.There was no floor—just the impression of one. Light beneath his feet, as if he stood on a frozen sun. Above him, the void pulsed like a dying brain, fractal lines of red lightning crackling across unseen domes of pressure.[SYSTEM: NONFUNCTIONAL][AUTONOMOUS THINKING DETECTED][Reality Permissions: Suspended][Anchor: Blade Sync = 47%]In the center of this place hung the Unseen Root.It wasn’t a machine. It wasn’t code.It was alive.A twisting knot of blackened branches, pulsing like arteries, each root-thread wrapped in a different memory. Some were crying. Others laughing. One sang a lullaby in a language Aiden didn’t recognize—but it made his chest ache.The knot pulsed.And the world changed.Aiden blinked—and he was standing in a quiet home, bathed in orange light. Wooden floors. Open windows. The smell of tea.Syl was humming in the kitchen.“Breakfast’s almost ready,” she called. “And don’t forget, we promised your brother we’d visit him.”Aiden
The Lockless Door
The Prototype’s chamber faded like static unraveling on a dead screen.Aiden stepped through what looked like a torn veil—shimmering fragments of source code breaking off his armor as he passed. His boots hit nothing.He walked anyway.The world stretched forward without texture or depth, until finally, something solid appeared ahead.A door.Hanging in space. Suspended in the middle of the void like an accusation.It was blacker than black, so dark it absorbed light from the very code around it. No keyhole. No handle. No border. Just a rectangle of silence.Then a system prompt burned across his vision:[LOCKLESS DOOR DETECTED][UNSEALED ONLY BY TRUE NAME][SPEAK: The last line flickered. Nine characters. All blanked out.Aiden’s breath caught in his throat.He’d seen this before. In dreams.No—not dreams.Crashes. Data loops.Every time the System reset him. Wiped a failure. Hid something too large for his fragmenting mind to hold.He reached out, hand trembling just inches from th
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