The world grew silent.
Not the peaceful kind—but the kind before a cataclysm.
The man who stepped through the rift radiated command. Even the light bent around him, as if space itself refused to defy him. His cloak shimmered with the constellations of forgotten galaxies, and his footsteps echoed in ways footsteps shouldn't.
Steven felt it immediately—his magic shrank in this man's presence.
(What… is he?)
Zaira took a cautious step back. "I can't feel his aura. It's like it's before magic itself."
The Shadow Archivist lowered his head in reverence. "Behold… Cal'dor Eternus. The First Starcaster. The one who transcended the Codex."
Steven's fists clenched. "You said he wrote the Codex."
Cal'dor spoke. His voice was like a choir of fading stars—ancient, echoing, and final.
"I did not write it… I bled it into reality."
Steven took a defensive stance. "Then why are you here? To take it back?"
Cal'dor studied him. There was no hostility. No rush. Just cold, divine observation.
"You fractured the Veil. That is both a crime… and a necessity."
Zaira stepped forward. "If you're the original Starcaster, then you're part of the reason the realms are unstable."
He turned to her. "The instability was inevitable. Reality is unthreading itself. I simply came to witness the echo... and the replacement."
Steven blinked. "…Replacement?"
Cal'dor walked slowly toward him.
"The Codex seeks a new voice. One born not of stars, but of choice."
He stopped a few feet away from Steven. "You are not ready. But you must be. Or everything falls."
Steven's mind raced.
(Why me? Why now? Is this why the Codex chose me? Am I just a tool for some ancient cosmic script?)
Cal'dor raised a hand. "Let me show you."
Suddenly, the world inverted.
Colors drained. Sound muted. Steven's eyes burned with light—and then he was falling.
A vision.
A dead world.
A shattered moon.
Stars blinking out one by one like dying candles.
He saw a version of himself… kneeling in ash, bloodied, alone.
Above him stood Pain—his nemesis. Transformed. Godlike. Radiant with divine corruption.
Pain laughed.
"You waited too long. And now, all of it ends."
Steven screamed—
And snapped back to reality.
He staggered, clutching his chest.
Zaira grabbed his arm. "Steven! Are you okay?!"
He looked up at Cal'dor, eyes burning with defiance.
"I saw it. The end. The world… destroyed. Pain wins."
Cal'dor nodded slowly. "That is the final page of the Codex… if you do nothing."
Steven stood. Slowly. Eyes hard.
"Then I'll rewrite the damn book."
The Codex pulsed inside him—once. Loud.
Cal'dor smirked. "Good."
He stepped back toward the rift.
"Your paradox awakened the true Codex. But that power comes with a cost. The more you use it, the more reality will rebel."
"So what now?" Steven asked.
The Shadow Archivist spoke for the first time since the arrival.
"Now, Steven Lethal… you gather the other Spellcasters. The ones the Codex forgot."
Cal'dor vanished into the rift.
And Steven was left with a new mission.
Find the Forgotten.
Rewrite the Codex.
And stop Pain… before the final page is written.
(To be continued)