2025-03-24 17:14:37Ethan slipped through the winding alleys of Black Hollow, moving beneath the cover of darkness. His breath came sharp and steady as the System’s glow pulsed faintly at the edge of his vision.
The stolen broadsword pressed against his back beneath his cloak. His dagger, still wet with blood, sat heavy against his hip. He adjusted the weight absently as his eyes scanned the empty street ahead.
Rain dripped steadily from the crooked eaves above. The uneven cobblestones beneath his boots were slick with water and runoff from the nearby tannery. A rotting stench clung to the air — wet leather, burning oil, and human waste. The usual perfume of Black Hollow.
He moved fast, sticking to the shadows. He knew the layout of this district better than anyone. A dozen bolt holes and hidden passageways. He just needed to reach The Cut — the old underground sewer network — and disappear.
Stay alive.
Figure out the System.Find out why House Valtorin wants it.A simple plan. Except for the part where the most powerful noble family in the kingdom was actively hunting him.
[New System Alert]
"Vital Signs Normal. Strength Threshold Reached.""System Evolution In Progress."Evolution?
Ethan’s steps slowed. A thin pulse of heat rolled beneath his skin — not painful, but noticeable. His muscles felt tight, his vision sharper. His hearing picked up the faint sound of distant footsteps and whispers.
His hand brushed against the stone wall beside him. His palm tingled as the System’s interface flickered across his mind.
[System Status]
Level: 3Health: 70/70Stamina: 45/55Strength: 4Speed: 3Skills:Blade Strike (Lvl 2)
Stealth (Lvl 1)
Shadow Techniques (Unlocked)
His stats had climbed fast. Too fast.
Ethan’s lips tightened. Power never came without a cost.
"System," he murmured.
No response. The screen flickered, but the cold mechanical voice remained silent.
Figures.
A sudden noise snapped him back to the moment.
The sound of boots striking stone. Fast. Military cadence.
Ethan’s gaze narrowed. He pressed his back against the cold brick and slipped deeper into the shadows as two figures emerged from the opposite end of the alley.
Crimson-and-black cloaks. Valtorin guards.
Their boots splashed through puddles as they moved toward him. One guard held a torch, the flickering light casting sharp shadows across their faces.
"Report said he came this way."
"Yeah, and he killed three of ours." The second guard’s mouth twisted. "Fast. Precise. This wasn’t some gutter rat."
The first guard’s eyes darkened. "The Heir wants him alive. But Lord Darius—"
The other guard snorted. "Lord Darius wants him dead. And you know who’s going to win that fight."
Ethan’s jaw tightened. Alive for Selene. Dead for Darius.
Interesting.
The first guard’s gaze swept toward the darkened alley where Ethan stood. "You see anything?"
"No."
The guard’s gaze lingered. Ethan held his breath.
[Stealth Check: Success]
The guard’s eyes passed over him without recognition.
Ethan exhaled slowly through his nose.
"Come on," the first guard said. "Sweep the next block."
The two guards turned and started down the street.
Ethan’s hand flexed on the hilt of his dagger. His muscles tensed. He could take them both. Two quick kills — fast, clean.
No.
He let them go. Too much noise would only draw more attention.
Ethan slipped deeper into the alley, moving parallel to the guards. His feet barely made a sound against the slick stones as he followed them from a distance.
Listening.
"Think he really unlocked it?" the second guard asked.
"System activation doesn’t happen by accident."
"But he’s a rat. A nobody. No bloodline."
"And yet, here we are." The guard’s mouth twisted. "Selene says it shouldn’t be possible."
Ethan’s eyes sharpened. No bloodline.
The System had always been tied to the noble houses. Strength, power, and bloodline magic were passed down through the ruling families. That’s why the nobles ruled and the commoners suffered.
So why did the System choose him?
The first guard shook his head. "Doesn’t matter. We find him, we kill him. Selene can pick through the corpse afterward."
Ethan’s jaw tightened. His fingers brushed the edge of his dagger.
His gaze flicked upward toward the narrow windows along the alley’s second story. A metal grate, half-broken, hung loose beneath one of the windows.
Perfect.
He leapt.
His fingers caught the edge of the grate, and he pulled himself upward, boots scraping against the wall. He slipped through the window and rolled onto a dusty wooden floor.
[Agility Check: Success]
He crouched beneath the window, listening.
The guards passed beneath the window without noticing. Their footsteps faded into the rain.
Ethan allowed himself a slow breath. His eyes adjusted to the dark. He was in a small storage room. Crates and sacks of grain lined the walls. A single broken lantern sat on a shelf, its glass shattered.
Ethan stood, brushing dust from his cloak. His breath was steady now. His heart no longer hammered wildly in his chest.
He crossed the room and pushed open the wooden door, stepping out into a dark hallway. The air was dry and stale. His hand lingered on the hilt of his dagger.
No hesitation.
The System pulsed faintly at the edge of his mind.
[Stat Synchronization Complete]
"System evolution stabilized."
The hallway led to a spiral staircase of rusted iron. Ethan descended quietly, counting each step.
At the bottom of the stairs, a wide stone arch opened into a larger chamber. The ceiling was low and arched with damp stone, thin streams of water running down the walls.
A single torch flickered against the far wall, casting dim light over a stone table. A figure leaned against the wall beside it.
Kael.
Kael’s dark hair was pushed back from his face, still damp from the rain. His dark cloak draped over his lean frame, and his hand rested casually on the pommel of a curved dagger at his hip. His eyes, cold and sharp, lifted toward Ethan.
"You’re late."
Ethan stepped into the light. "Ran into some trouble."
Kael’s gaze swept over him, noting the new sword, the blood-streaked dagger. His mouth quirked.
"I heard you made some noise tonight."
Ethan’s expression didn’t change. "They started it."
Kael’s eyes darkened slightly. "And you finished it?"
"Something like that."
Kael studied him for a long moment. Then his mouth curled in a faint smile. "You’re getting better."
Ethan’s eyes sharpened. "The System."
Kael’s smile faded.
"Yeah," he said. "We need to talk about that."
Ethan’s jaw tightened. "What do you know?"
Kael straightened, his hand lingering on the hilt of his dagger.
"Only that House Valtorin’s been looking for someone like you for a long time."
Ethan’s gaze darkened. "And why’s that?"
Kael’s mouth curled into a sharp smile.
"Because the last time the System activated…" His eyes glinted coldly. "…it created a king."
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Lyra’s Poisoned Gift
The upper quarter of Black Hollow had once belonged to merchants, bankers, and minor nobles. Now it belonged to fear.Lyra walked through it dressed like a message.Tight crimson leathers, one dagger visible, five not. Her cloak was black silk that shimmered when it caught the torchlight — spun from noble funeral robes. She’d stolen it off a Valtorin corpse weeks ago.The guards saw her. And looked away.No one stopped her anymore.She didn’t walk fast. She strolled, because speed would’ve admitted risk. And Lyra never let herself admit fear — not out loud, and never to herself.The House Valtorin estate towered ahead — not the Spire where Selene ruled, but a city manor used for "outreach" and political intimidation.Tonight, it would bleed.[Side Quest Active: Provocation – Embarrass Selene Before Her Arrival]Target: House Valtorin's City SeatObjective: Plant a forged relic, steal back a true one, and leave a mark.Risk: ExtremeReward: +10 Infamy | Selene’s rage escalates encounte
The Box That Whispers
They didn’t return to the Guildhall. Too exposed. Too obvious.Instead, Ethan led the crew into the catacombs beneath the burned-out husk of the old cathedral — the one Black Hollow’s priests abandoned after the God of Silence stopped answering.Only the brave or the cursed came here now. Ethan was probably both.The air was thick with old ash and mold. Dead candles littered the floors. Bones, too.Kael set a perimeter. Lyra lit three torches and wedged them into the crumbling stone. Nara laid down an inkline ward circle — fast, practiced, whispering in that inhuman tongue she used when working.Ethan sat at the center of it all, the black box resting on his lap.[Item: Sealed Black Box]Status: Locked – Requires Forbidden Lineage AccessWarning: Unknown consequences on open“You’re sure about this?” Kael asked, crouched nearby, blood still drying on his temple.“No,” Ethan replied.Lyra sat cross-legged behind him, blade out, expression unreadable. “Good. We’re already cursed. Might
Whisper-Path
Beneath Black Hollow, past the abandoned waterway and through the cracked aqueduct wall, the whisper-path opened like a throat cut into the earth.It was silent. Too silent. Not the kind where you can hear your own breath — the kind where you start to forget what breath sounds like.Ethan moved first.His dagger was drawn, but it wasn’t the blade he trusted — it was the System, humming just beneath the skin, highlighting every motion, every sound, every stone out of place.Behind him, Nara walked barefoot. Her steps didn’t echo. The sigils inked into her skin pulsed like faint, slow heartbeats — one red, one black, one pulsing to a rhythm no one else heard.Kael moved third. His breathing was calm. Focused. Calculated. Every step had purpose. Every glance had a weight.Lyra brought up the rear, flipping a silver coin between her fingers like they were walking into a tavern, not a noble vault heist.[System Alert: Whisper-Path Detected – Forbidden Construct]Type: Residual Thought Echo
The Gathering Storm
The rain fell hard on Black Hollow.It poured down the slate roofs of the slums and sluiced through the cracked alleys like veins bleeding water. Thunder rumbled across the sky in long, low groans — not angry, just tired.The city listened. It always listened. Especially when things changed.Tonight, they had.The Guild was his now.Ethan stood beneath the great skylight of the Guildmaster’s sanctum, high in the center of the old blackstone tower. The rain tapped steadily against the stained glass above, casting distorted ripples of color across the chamber walls.Kael stood to his left, silent, arms crossed. The shadows beneath his eyes were darker than usual.Lyra lounged across a half-collapsed velvet settee to Ethan’s right, boots kicked up, blade twirling idly between her fingers. She was dressed in black tonight. No red. No smiles.They had all killed this week.Ethan’s fingers traced the edge of the map spread across the stone table in front of him. The city was etched into it
Lyra’s Game
The Eastwatch brothels glittered like dying stars.Red lanterns hung low over narrow alleys, casting flickering shadows across sweat-stained walls. Perfume, wine, and blood all clung to the same sticky air. Music drifted faintly — hollow flutes and off-key strings — masking the whispers and screams in the rooms behind closed curtains.Lyra moved like smoke through the crowd.She was dressed in silk now, all deep red and gold, a slit riding high up one leg, a dagger sheathed against her bare thigh. Her face bore a velvet mask, but her smile was all teeth.[System Interface: Linked – Guild Captain Elimination in Progress]Target: Sarn VoxLocation: The Crimson Lantern, EastwatchStatus: Paranoid | Drunk | Surrounded by escorts and mercsShe slipped past a heavy-set guard at the door with nothing more than a wink and a whisper. He didn’t even look back.Inside, the Crimson Lantern was less a brothel and more a palace for the wicked. Every corner overflowed with noise — laughter, moans, m
A Throne of Knives
The throne room smelled of blood and smoke.Ethan stood beneath the carved silver insignia of the Guild — a blade beneath a crown. The corpse of Varric Kaen, the Guildmaster, lay slumped at the foot of the throne, blood pooling beneath his body in slow, widening rings.Kael cleaned his daggers with calm, clinical precision, but his eyes were on Ethan.Lyra was already climbing the steps to the black stone throne. She dropped into the seat with a sigh, crossing one leg over the other.“Well,” she said brightly, twirling her dagger, “that was dramatic.”Ethan didn’t move. His breathing had slowed, but the System still pulsed in the back of his skull — cold, alive, watching.[System Update: Title Opportunity Available]"Position of Power Vacant: Guildmaster."Would you like to claim this title?[Y/N]Ethan’s eyes narrowed on the interface.“Do it,” Kael said. “No hesitation.”“Obvious trap,” Lyra muttered. “Still… power’s power.”Ethan stared at the floating text for a moment longer. The
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