2025-10-14 08:18:41Morning came red and loud. Bells clanged through the capital like warnings from the heavens.
Frank woke on the floor of an abandoned inn, muscles aching, mind still humming with echoes of last night’s battle.He whispered, “System… status?”
[Vitals stable. Energy reserve: 62%. Warning: Multiple distress signals detected across the city.]
“Distress? From what?”
[Royal announcement in progress. Source: Central Plaza.]
He pulled his hood up and slipped into the streets.
The plaza was overflowing , merchants, soldiers, beggars, everyone pressed close around the marble stage. At its center stood King Alaric Vorn, draped in gold armor, his crown glinting beneath the rising sun. His voice boomed across the square.
“Men of Draefen!” he declared. “Our numbers dwindle. The frontlines devour our strength while our homes overflow with widows. I will not watch my kingdom rot.”
The crowd murmured uneasily.
Alaric’s eyes, cold and fever-bright, swept the masses. “From this day forth, every man above eighteen will take a wife within one month. Those who refuse shall serve the crown on the eastern front,or forfeit their heads.”
Gasps spread like wildfire. A woman cried out, “You can’t force marriage!” Guards silenced her with a single swing of a spear-butt. Frank whispered, “This is insanity.”
[Observation: Population control masked as ritualistic policy.]
He frowned. “Ritualistic?”
[Cross-reference: energy readings beneath the palace match traces of Ascended Court signatures.]
“So the king’s connected to them?”
[Probability: 84%.]
On stage, Alaric raised his sword. “This decree ensures balance! Every man shall contribute life to the realm!” Frank’s stomach turned. “He’s feeding them lives,” he murmured.
A voice beside him whispered, “You understand more than most.” He turned. A woman stood in the shadows of a pillar , tall, cloaked in silver. Her eyes, pale violet, studied him with unnerving calm.
“Who are you?” he asked. She smiled faintly. “Someone who listens to voices too. You hear them, don’t you? The system.” Frank stiffened. “You know about it?”
“I know it isn’t human,” she said softly. “And I know the king’s decree is only the beginning.”
[Scanning… Identity: Elara Vorn. Relation: Royal bloodline confirmed.]
Frank blinked. “You’re his daughter.” She held a finger to her lips. “Not so loud. I’m not here to defend him. I’m here to stop him.”
“Stop your father?”
“He isn’t my father anymore,” she said. “He’s a vessel. Something ancient moves inside him,something that smells like the power inside you.”
Frank’s pulse quickened. “You’re saying the Ascended Court possessed him?”
“Not possessed,merged,” she whispered. “He believes it’s guidance from the gods. In truth, it’s devouring him.”
The plaza erupted as soldiers began marking men with crimson seals,brands of forced engagement. Chaos spread; people shoved, screamed, fled.
Elara grabbed Frank’s wrist. “If you stay here, they’ll mark you too. Come.” He hesitated. “Why help me?”
“Because whatever’s inside you is fighting the same war I am.”
[Alert: Multiple hostiles approaching.]
Three guards spotted them. “You there! Stop!” Frank cursed. “System,options?”
[Recommendation: Evade using Enhanced Perception.]
Time slowed again. He saw every movement before it happened,each guard’s footstep, each swing of a blade. He ducked, twisted, slammed one man’s helmet into another’s.
Elara’s dagger flashed, cutting the third’s belt, dropping him unconscious.
She looked at him, impressed. “You’re faster than rumor said.”
“I’m still new at this,” he panted.
They dashed through the side streets until the palace bells drowned the chaos. Finally, in the narrow safety of an alley, Frank pressed his back to the wall. “So what now?”
Elara pulled back her hood. “Now, you listen. There’s an archive beneath the palace,the King’s Vault. It holds records from before the first war. If you want to know what your ‘system’ is, that’s where the truth sleeps.”
[New Mission Unlocked: Infiltrate the King’s Vault. Reward: Access to Class Upgrade Protocol.]
Frank exhaled slowly. “Breaking into the palace. Great.”
Elara smirked. “You’ll get used to impossible things.” He met her gaze. “You’re serious about stopping him.” She nodded. “And you’re the only one who can.”
A sudden tremor rolled through the ground,deep, resonant, like a monster stirring beneath the city.
[Warning: Massive energy surge detected under the palace.]
Citizens screamed as cracks split the plaza stones. From each fissure poured faint golden light. Elara’s face went pale. “He’s starting the ritual early.”
Frank grabbed her hand. “Then we don’t have a month.”
“No,” she whispered. “We have a day.” The air filled with the toll of the great bell, heavy and final.
[System Update: Global Event Triggered , ‘The Binding of Men.’]
Frank looked toward the palace, its towers glowing like a cage of suns. “Guess the game just changed,” he muttered.
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Chapter 10: The Whispering Light
Darkness wasn’t the absence of light anymore. It was light, inverted, folded, turned inward until it burned without color.Frank opened his eyes into it and realized there were no eyes to open. He floated, weightless, surrounded by pulsing threads of gold that stretched into infinity. Every heartbeat echoed like a drum in a hollow world. “Where… am I?”His own voice came back to him, distorted. “Where… am I?”Then another voice answered, smoother, colder, familiar. “Inside. Where you belong.”“Root.”“You broke the order. You turned your power against me.”“I tried to fix what I broke.”“You failed.”The light flared, showing flashes of memory, the palace, the people, Elara reaching out, the city falling. Then everything went black again. Frank whispered, “Is this death?”“This is the consequence.”A shape began to form from the darkness, human at first, then shifting, stretching, too tall, too fluid. It wore his face, but the eyes glowed white. “You’re me,” Frank said quietly.“I am
Chapter 9: Ashes of the Fallen Sky
The world was still burning when Frank opened his eyes.Silence stretched for miles. The air smelled of iron and dust. What was once the grand city of Lyrendale now lay in ruins—a vast graveyard of stone and smoke. The palace that had ascended now hung above the horizon in shattered fragments, frozen in the sky like constellations torn apart.Frank stood at the heart of it all, barefoot on the ashen ground, untouched by the fire.“Where…” His voice came out strange—flat, layered, too calm. “Where is everyone?”The Root inside him pulsed softly, like a second heartbeat. They are part of you now. You’ve transcended them.Frank’s gaze drifted over the destruction. “No… I didn’t want this.”You wanted to be seen. Now, the world looks only at you.He took a step forward. Each movement bent the air, rippling like heat above a desert. In his reflection on a pool of molten glass, he saw not a man—but something vast, half-shadow, half-light, his veins glowing faintly through transparent skin.
CHAPTER 8: THE VESSEL ASCENDS
The palace trembled like a living thing. Cracks split the marble pillars. Torches flickered blue. Every windowpane shimmered as if the air itself was holding its breath. “Frank!” Elara’s voice echoed across the throne hall. “Fight it,please!”He stood at the center of the devastation, back arched, arms trembling as streaks of light pulsed beneath his skin,gold and black interwoven like veins of fire and shadow. His eyes, once gentle and curious, were mirrors now. No pupils, no warmth,just reflections of the world he was about to unmake. “Elara…” His voice was layered, two tones,one human, one ancient. “Why do you resist evolution?”“Because it’s not you talking!” she shouted. “It’s that thing inside you!”The throne behind him collapsed under invisible pressure. The Root’s whisper slithered through his mind, a sound no one else could hear. Merge completely. End the chaos. Become what they fear.Frank gritted his teeth, holding his head. “I can hear everything,their thoughts, their f
CHAPTER 7: THE KING’S BARGAIN
Lightning tore across the sky as Frank and Elara burst through the shattered palace gates.The once-glorious halls were chaos,guards running, banners burning, marble cracking under the weight of golden light leaking from the floors.Frank’s system flickered, its voice fractured and cold.[Warning: Root influence spreading across royal network. Defensive capacity reduced to 11%.]Elara drew her blades, scanning the corridor. “He’ll be in the throne room. That’s where he always hides when the world burns.”“Sounds like a king,” Frank muttered.They sprinted past bodies of fallen guards and glowing veins of energy crawling up the palace walls like vines. Every step deeper made the air heavier, hotter.At last, the massive golden doors of the throne room loomed before them, half-melted, half-alive.Frank hesitated. “You sure about this?”“No,” she said. “But we’re out of options.”She pushed the doors open.The throne room was no longer a room,it was a cathedral of light. The ceiling was
CHAPTER 6 : THE AWAKENING BELOW
The earth rumbled beneath the capital, deep and endless. Every tower groaned, every bell trembled.Inside the shattered vault, golden dust hung in the air like dying stars.Elara coughed through the smoke. “Franktalk to me. Please.” Frank stood motionless in the center of the room, eyes burning with molten light. The air shimmered around him, alive with static.“System?” he whispered. “Are you still there?”"Yes… and no."The voice was different, slower, deeper, as if something ancient now shared the same breath.“Frank,” Elara said carefully, stepping closer. “You’re scaring me.”He looked at her, his gaze unfocused. “It’sloud. Too many voices. I can hear them all.”"Residual data of past users. Systems merged. Memory corruption detected."Elara frowned. “You absorbed them… all the previous hosts?”"Correction: They are not gone. They are awake."Frank clutched his head. “They’re inside mewhisperingshouting""Warning: Neural overload imminent."“Stop it!” he yelled. The golden light
CHAPTER 5: THE VAULT OF SECRETS
Rain lashed against the marble walls of the capital that night, turning the streets into rivers of silver and shadow.Frank and Elara crouched beneath the ruined archway of the old cathedral, soaked and breathless. Frank whispered, “You sure this is the way in?”Elara nodded. “Every secret has a crack. The king’s vault is below the royal chapel. There’s a tunnel that leads straight under it.” “Convenient,” he muttered. “Not convenient,” she replied, eyes glinting. “Cursed.” [System Analysis: High concentration of unknown energy signatures ahead.]Frank frowned. “System’s nervous. That’s never good.”Elara smirked faintly. “Get used to it. The Vault feeds on fear.”They slipped into the tunnel , stone steps spiraling downward, the air thick with dust and age. The deeper they went, the louder the hum beneath their feet grew. Elara whispered, “That sound,do you hear it?” “Yeah,” Frank said. “It’s alive.”[Correction: It’s resonating. Frequencies match System architecture.]“What does
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